After reaching the maximum level, my "soft rice system" finally arrived.

Page 44

Unsurprisingly, Silvia chose a development path for her country that was based on faith and a theocratic state.

And she truly lived up to her title as the Dawn Saintess. Relying on her extremely high initial charm value, she easily raised the morale of the kingdom to near its maximum level through just a few virtual reality simulated speeches.

Isabella chose to govern through law and order, promulgating a comprehensive and well-ordered legal code within her kingdom and quickly establishing an executive bureau to ensure that every policy was implemented effectively.

Kurod spared no effort in developing commerce, and soon established several large caravans, traveling between various kingdoms and neutral forces to earn the price difference.

As for Ciel—

"Extended working hours - at the cost of a 30-point drop in public opinion, in exchange for every citizen working an extra 8 hours a day, sounds pretty good."

"The Child Labor Law—at the cost of a 50-point drop in public opinion, allowing minors to participate in daily work seems like a pretty good thing."

"Which should we choose: extended working hours or child labor laws...?"

Charles stared at the options in the policy tree, lost in thought.

Finally, he came up with a good solution to his indecisiveness.

"It's just a drop of 80 points in public opinion rating, isn't it?"

"I want it all!"

...

According to the normal game flow of Fantasy Chess—

In the early stages of the game, the focus is mainly on developing your power, clearing out wandering monsters and neutral factions on the map, and incidentally mining resource points.

Because the players' starting kingdoms are far apart, there will be very few player-versus-player battles in the early stages of the game unless it is intentional.

However, even in the developmental stage, the differences between people inevitably become apparent.

"Why are all the random events I trigger during my exploration negative events like 'Beast Tide Attack,' 'Unknown Plague,' and 'Cultist Riot'?"

"And the random events you trigger are all things like 'the allegiance of the half-elf tribe,' 'the lost treasure,' and 'the long-forgotten treasure map'?"

Sylvia looked at Charles and blinked her beautiful, deep blue eyes: "I don't know, maybe I'm just lucky?"

Charles casually dispatched soldiers to suppress a popular rebellion that broke out within the kingdom, leaving him somewhat speechless at Sylvia's explanation.

In real life, the Dawn Saintess, who was chosen by the Dawn Church from among countless candidates when she was young, can indeed be said to be a true chosen one.

As a chosen one of this world, isn't it only natural that I have a knack for drawing divine spells?

As time went on, Kurod also began to vaguely notice some anomalies.

In reality, he is the leader of the Golden Deer Merchant Guild, the largest merchant guild in the Western Continent, and the future leader of the Renault Lords Alliance.

They were adept at developing commerce and conducting diplomacy through trade.

Therefore, in the early stages of the game, he easily accumulated a large amount of wealth by relying on his real-world experience and multiple caravans. He then used this wealth as a bond to navigate between several neutral countries with ease.

However, when he tried to develop in the territories belonging to Isabella and Silvia using similar methods, he was met with a firm refusal.

Of these, Isabella's kingdom was the most affected.

Every mission and caravan that was dispatched was ruthlessly devoured by Isabella.

They disregarded the long-term benefits that the other party's caravans and envoys could bring to their country, or the reduced national reputation in the game due to the indiscriminate killing of envoys and caravans.

Claude glanced at Isabella, who was sitting upright, then at Sylvia and Charles beside her—

He recalled the prize the two had deliberately added before the game started.

A guess arose in my mind.

"Could it be that you intend to clear things out first...?"

Isabella smiled at Claude.

However, the chill hidden in that beautiful smile made Claude instinctively shut his mouth.

Player "Isabella" has declared war on player "Claude," and the nations of both sides have officially entered a state of war.

A cold, impersonal notification sound rang out.

From the very beginning, the nation that Isabella built was primarily focused on developing its military, with all options such as national policies and wonders dedicated to enhancing the army's combat capabilities.

Now, after dozens of rounds of development, it has taken shape, with well-equipped and orderly troops that easily wiped out all the neutral factions in the vicinity.

Kurod's nation prioritizes commercial development, with policies and other options serving as supplementary measures.

Although they have amassed a large sum of money and resources, they have not yet had the opportunity to convert them into actual combat power.

Of course, with sufficient funds, the speed of building an army is very fast; it only takes a dozen or so rounds to completely convert resources and money into a usable army.

But it's clear that Isabella isn't going to give Claude that time.

...

The kingdoms of Claude and Isabella are located at opposite ends of the map's diagonal, separated by the kingdom of the Shire.

Isabella looked at Ciel with her beautiful, dark purple eyes: "Excuse me, I'm going to kill him."

"Don't believe this woman's nonsense, Ciel!"

"You should understand the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold,' right? Those two are trying to clear the area!"

"Have you forgotten our friendship of so many years? Have you forgotten how many glorious achievements we've made together in business history?"

Kurod's urgent words rang out one after another.

Charles looked at the silver-haired Third Princess and shrugged: "As you can see, I still understand the principle of using a pretext to destroy another country."

"Crowde is my dearest friend, brother, and comrade-in-arms who has shared life and death with me."

"so--"

He glanced at Claude.

"You have to pay more."

............

Claude's heart sank.

A slight smile slowly appeared on Isabella's icy face.

She sent a remittance request to Charles.

"One hundred thousand gold coins."

Without hesitation, Charles approved the application: "Deal."

He looked at Isabella: "Hurry up and give my brother a quick death."

Isabella's smile widened even more: "Of course."

............

Moments later, the war between the nations came to an end.

Of course, describing what just happened as a war is somewhat inappropriate.

To put it more accurately, it was a one-sided massacre.

Even though Claude rapidly increased his army in these few rounds and spent a lot of money hiring mercenaries from other neutral factions to help him, it was all in vain.

As an imperial princess who received imperial education from a young age, Isabella's tactics and her ability to command on the battlefield were on a completely different level from Claude's.

In just three rounds, the mercenary alliance that Claude had assembled at great expense was wiped out.

Five rounds later, the Black Eagles' banner flew over the capital city, which represented the majesty of Claude's own kingdom.

[With the breakthrough, the Crouching Dragon emerges from the mountain.]

[Player Claude's capital has been captured, officially eliminating him from the game. His remaining resources, assets, buildings, and territories will be inherited by the victor.]

"Charles, you traitor!"

Claude's grief-stricken voice rang out along with the cold, in-game notification sound.

Charles slowly lowered his hands, which had been covering his eyes.

"Sigh, I'm getting old—"

"Some people can't bear to see these bloody scenes."

He thought for a moment, then sent a built-in interactive emoticon to Claude, who had already been eliminated.

Player "Charles" sent you a "pat on the head" emoji.

Looking at the head-patting emoji, Claude felt a strange anger rising within him, yet he couldn't pinpoint the source of it.

Then, he received two more messages.

Player "Isabella" sent you a "pat on the head" emoji.

Player "Sylvia" sent you a "pat on the head" emoji.

............