I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Roland found another book on the bookshelf and said while flipping through it, "You guys should come up with a treatment plan for Diana. Her mental state is very unstable right now, and we have to calm her down tonight."

After he finished speaking, Roland noticed that the holy servants behind him did not respond.

He turned around in surprise and found that there was no one in the carriage behind him.
Wait for the carriage?

"Damn."

Roland rubbed his forehead and said, "I forgot, Theresa and the others have already started working."

The plan has been finalized. Judging from the situation at the negotiations, the holy medicine in Olivia's possession can have a positive effect on her own condition.

That was the prescription medication that Wilmick had given to Diana. Theresa had some of that medication. But Olivia's situation was much more complicated than it had been a few days ago, and the previous prescription medication might not be suitable anymore.

Theresa hopes I can first obtain the Book of Rest, understand Diana's current situation, and then formulate a new holy medicine accordingly.

As for tonight, we'll have to use sleeping pills.

The wizards found many potion recipes in the old scriptures they collected at the Crimson Ruins, and many of these potions have already been successfully refined by the wizards there.

They used the crystal ball to contact Malrod, and the apothecaries at the ruins provided a list and detailed instructions on the effects of the medicines based on their inventory.

Based on this information, Theresa and the others offered several options. I chose 'The Hourglass of Nightmare'. Then, I opened a door depicted in the mural of the Sanctuary and had the wizards from Malrod deliver a box.

Recalling the 'Hourglass of Nightmare', Roland remembered some other things.

"This potion is extraordinary; it is very likely something created by the gods of madness in history. For it is recorded in the Old Scriptures."

According to the records of the Old Scriptures, the God of Nightmares once dripped a drop of this potion into a lake in one of the planes, and the lake was subsequently renamed the 'Lake of Sleep,' where any creature that drinks its water will fall into a deep sleep.

Cupid is the most famous victim of this.

In another Old Scripture account, my father also gave my mother this drug to save her life. Although they are very resistant to it, strange things may happen if the dosage is not up to standard.

But even a single drop of this stuff could bewitch Cupid. If Olivia drank two bowls of soup made with potion as water, she could surely get a good night's sleep, right?

Roland was about to head to the kitchen when he put his hand to his mouth, intending to spit out the snake ring to check the potion, only to find that the snake ring wasn't in his stomach.

"Damn it. I remember now, I came out of the Serpent Ring two hours ago. The Serpent Ring is with Helena."

Roland rubbed his forehead and said, "Helena has already gone. After she gets to the kitchen, Theresa and the others will figure out how to handle things. They're reliable."

If you look at the time two hours later, you'll find that two hours ago was the time when Roland and Helena entered the Serpent Ring.

If anyone were here and heard Roland's words, they would think he was crazy. Because to others, he hadn't entered the Serpent Ring; it was Helena who had entered, and Roland had been standing there reading.

As for Teresa and the others, Roland was not reading in the carriage, but was in the Snake Ring.

But for Helena and Roland, these two 'observers of everything', Roland spent those two hours both studying the potion plan with Theresa and the others in the Snake Ring and flipping through old scriptures in the carriage.

After thinking for a moment, Roland suddenly remembered why he had taken the book from the bookshelf to read.

"By the way, when I was thinking about this problem in the Serpent Ring, I suddenly remembered that after I left the Serpent Ring, I saw the name 'Diana' in an old book, so I picked up the book again and started reading it."

Roland began to peruse the old scripture. The book contained only rubbings of text, seemingly compiled by the Dracula family from numerous old scripture tablets.

The information above is fragmented; sometimes a single sentence contains the entire content of an old scripture.

One of the older scriptures mentions the name 'Diana'.

The first part is a rubbing of text, consisting of only seven or eight characters. The second part is a translation:

Diana is the goddess of the Styx and the sun tree of sleepless night in the mythology of ancient Mald (the Alaya dynasty). She is one of the twelve Olympian gods of ancient Mald and is in charge of the flock of sheep.

In the realm of light and shadow, she corresponds to goddesses such as 'Olivia' and 'Herakka' from the Orbis mythology.

Roland shook his head and said, "This old scripture has been translated incorrectly."

With a light stroke of his finger across the line of translation, the meaning changed.

Olivia Heracles is one of the twelve Olympian gods of the Old Heaven, who governs the cycle of life and death in the human realm.

In the new paradise, she is the goddess of the Orbis mythology, who governs the River Styx and the Sun Tree. Later, she transforms into a shepherdess and follows King Aleya, who names her 'Diana'. From then on, the goddess frequently uses this name, referring to herself as 'Olivia Diana Heracles'.

After closing the book, Roland muttered to himself, "If the New Paradise is a Paradise of Light and Shadow, then what exactly is the Old Paradise?"
The old scriptures record the history of the wicked gods, but the language used is 'forbidden language'.

Was the Old Heaven a mad paradise, or a holy place that imprisoned the Creators?
Or perhaps, both?

The mad gods and the forbidden creators are opposites; logically, the mad heaven and the forbidden sanctuary could never be the same thing.

Roland searched through the old scriptures, and between the lines they revealed a single message—the Mad God was connected to the Forbidden Sanctuary.

At least Diana, or rather Her Majesty, was once a high-ranking forbidden wizard.

At that moment, a series of panicked noises suddenly came from the next carriage.

Roland looked out the window, and then it dawned on him.

The train was traveling through the mountains and was about to crash into the main mountain ahead.

That mountain is famous along the riverbank; it's a natural barrier separating the riverbank from the outside world. Once you cross it, you'll soon be out of the riverbank.

It was precisely because of this mountain that the cold air from the riverbank continued to spread southward.

So this mountain is very magnificent, and it rises abruptly from the plain. It can be seen from a great distance.

The knights had seen the mountain long ago, but because the train had been traveling through mountains recently and had avoided many of them, they subconsciously overlooked the possibility of the train crashing into it.

Everyone assumed that the wizards had found a secret path leading directly to the outside world in these mountains, so they all thought the train would pass through a valley unknown to the church, or a huge cave that ran through the entire mountain.

As the main peak drew ever closer, and the sheer cliffs could be seen not far ahead, the train continued its forward motion, threatening to crash into it. The riders panicked. A series of running sounds came from the next carriage; someone had likely run to the last car, trying to get the train to brake.

But soon enough, the next carriage fell silent again. It seemed everyone had suddenly realized that the train didn't actually need to stop.

After a while, the light outside the window gradually dimmed, and a rumbling echo came through.

It turned out that the train did not crash into the mountain, but instead passed through a long but wide mountain tunnel.

The knights hadn't expected that the wizards, in just a few months, would not only defeat their main force and seize the riverbank, but also level some mountain roads and carve through the largest main mountain. The wizards' transport routes could now run straight to the riverbank.

The appearance of this tunnel made the knights realize that the wizards still harbored a strong desire to attack the south. This was because it led to the Southern Holy See—where the wizards' logistics were clearly absent, replaced by the church's heartland.

If the wizards were given another three months, could they build a road from the riverbank directly to the Holy Court?
Then, the wizards' logistics team, within just two days, traversed more than two thousand kilometers to continuously transport war supplies to the front lines in a very cheap and efficient manner.

Before long, the knights' attention was diverted.

The train passed through a long tunnel and entered a mountain crater.

In this vast valley stands a magnificent fortress, or rather, a city, rising abruptly from the ground.

It is not a fortress because it has neither city walls nor a castle.

Its center was originally a small village, where a large number of priests were left behind when the Crusaders passed through half a year ago.

They planned to transform the small town into a massive military stronghold, serving as a logistical hub for the Crusades, or even more distant future wars.

According to the plan, a magnificent and sturdy castle will appear here within two years, and within five years, the village and town will be expanded 5 to 10 times, building a fortress no less than Grey Falcon City.

It seems that the Papacy is not particularly optimistic about the future war, believing that the wizards may gradually break through Grey Falcon City in a long tug-of-war five years from now.

At that time, this new fortress will replace Greyfal City as the gatekeeper of the Holy Court.

If the Alayes are still unable to breach the Holy Court within ten years, the gods of Heaven who originally sent Olivia to recruit the Alayes will gradually become disillusioned with them and return to supporting Orbis.

The Church believes that the Holy See can last at least fifteen to twenty years without the support of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Even if the River Angels Project succeeds, the Church will be able to launch a counterattack against the wizards even without the arrival of an army of angels.

The church believes that the River Angels Project is bound to succeed, at least in terms of ample time.

In the worst-case scenario, it would take the wizards at least five years to fight their way from Vermeek to the riverbank, and at least ten years to fight their way from the riverbank to the Holy See.

Many bishops who were optimistic about the war believed that the wizards would not be able to reach the riverbank, because the church would be able to expel the wizards of Vermec from the country within three years.

After all, the wizards were too eager for quick results. They had not yet established a foothold in Vermic, and only three months after landing in Vermic, they hastily launched a war.

In three months, what kind of preparations can the wizards make for this massive and protracted war?

It would be quite an achievement to be able to integrate the various internal forces and finalize all the details of the war.

At least that's the case for the church.

In the third month after the wizards landed in Wilmick, they unified their internal voices and held all the meetings in an extremely swift manner.

After the wizards launched the war, the church spent three months addressing this sudden change, once again unifying its internal voice and holding all the meetings.

In the past six months, only one Crusaders force of 70,000 men has been dispatched from the entire south. And this Crusaders were sent out by the Pope under the pretext of "suppressing the Dracula cult," despite the opposition of many.

Without His Holiness the Pope's foresight, the Church wouldn't even have had a peace-seeking team arrive.

Not to mention the castle foundations they had just laid in this valley, and the section of the city wall they had just built—all of which had already been demolished by the wizards.

The entire valley village had become unrecognizable to the Crusaders.

It was expanded twenty times larger than before, with its outermost tower built on the mountainside.

Here, towering pagodas stand tall, with no man-made walls whatsoever. Yet, its walls rise thousands of feet high, reaching straight into the clouds.

From the perspective of the Crusaders, the entire crater is the city wall.

From the wizards' perspective, they had no plans to design city walls at all. After all, what era were they living in? What use were city walls in modern warfare?
The tower was built on the mountain simply because some wizards who had no wizard towers available had filed complaints.

After all, the area here is 'too small,' and the floating islands and other structures are part of the second phase of the project. Many wizards who came here specifically for the 'Riverside Angel Experiment' are very eager to start the experiment.

This is indeed the largest city the wizards have along the river.

Because it is located at the southernmost point, geographically it can form a perfect energy transfer magic circle with the old town of Greyfalcon City.

Once it is built, the energy that Grey Falcon City will continuously produce in the future will be able to cover the entire riverbank.

Wizards will also be able to use this energy to adjust the weather along the entire riverbank at any time.

Then the wizards said, "Let there be light," and there was light. They said, "Let there be snow," and there was snow.

Even when they say that there are angels here, countless angels will be born continuously from the riverbank amidst the light and snow.

When Roland saw the towering buildings that rose from the ground according to some kind of rule in the city, he realized that there was a hidden magic circle there.

Roland thought to himself: 'The riverbank is the best place, besides Malrod, to retrieve mystical substances. It is also the best place to retrieve and raise mystical creatures from the lower world—the latter being the only place without exception.'

The church and we all realized this. However, I didn't have time to pass the message back, or even tell Helena.

Not to mention, I just think this place is suitable; whether it will work or not, nobody knows.

As for Count Barr, he must have had a lot of intelligence, but he only switched sides to our side later. So the secret wasn't revealed by him.

But why is the Eastern Frontier engaging in such large-scale warfare here? (End of Chapter)