People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

As he gazed at that face, the Duke of Caesar's voice seemed to carry a hint of melancholy.

"Prime Minister Sherag...why did he choose Wellington and Windermere?"

"A disloyal and treacherous rebel, a simple-minded warrior utterly unfit to be a duke—compared to them..."

"Am I not a better choice?"

She closed her eyes and used meditation to review the series of failures she had encountered in recent months, analyzing the plans that had either failed or ended in failure, the oversights that occurred, summarizing the lessons learned, and making possible adjustments to future plans.

Time passed second by second, and when the clock tower of the Duchy of Caesars rang its long noon chime, the steward waiting outside the ducal gates received a summons from the duke.

"Please adjust my schedule for the next three months."

"I will make time to visit Sherag at least once in the next three months."

Chapter 129 The Dark Humor of Theresis

Londinium, Victoria.

Teacher Da Te was puzzled.

He wanted to tell the Victorians, "Aren't you underestimating us Sarkaz a bit too much? Our homeland, Kazdel, may be a place where we can only see the grimacing heads of corpses in ruins, but we Sarkaz aren't so ignorant that we don't even know what an intercity network is."

Did you not consider that I would also see this video when you posted it on the intercity network?

“General, I suspect that their mention of the chaotic region is a reference to Lontinim!”

Manfred said this in a serious tone, as if he had seen through everything.

Therese glanced at him and almost burst out laughing: "Really? Is it really a hint?"

Manfred paused, taken aback:

"Isn't this an implication? Deep in chaos, suffering violence, and with our lives threatened, isn't this just a slip-up to our names?"

Therese sighed.

He had initially thought highly of Manfred, believing the young man to be a promising talent, but it was clear that his political acumen was somewhat lacking, and he was also quite naive.

You might not believe me when I say you're honest, but when someone insults you, you just accept it! Is this the kind of thing you can just accept?

"Everything is normal in Londinium, nothing has happened at all." Theresis shook her head speechlessly. "Besides, with us 'loyal and reliable Sarkaz mercenaries,' certified by those grand dukes, maintaining order in the city, what trouble could possibly occur?"

Manfred looked blank for a moment, then blurted out:

"Is it possible that the trouble they're referring to is us?"

Therese returned his gaze with an extremely complicated look.

Manfred then realized he might have said something wrong, so he quickly shut his mouth, sat down in the chair, and looked like he was listening to a lecture.

Therese sighed for the second time.

To be honest, he wasn't really in a position to be disappointed. After all, Manfred hadn't received any proper political education. Or rather, almost all the Sarkaz had never even heard of such a thing.

The Sarkaz's initiation lessons are either to become mercenaries on the battlefield, sending off their parents and inheriting their weapons and names, or to spend time in the Kazdel Scar Market reminiscing with the old folks about their glorious past, eventually degenerating into charlatans or defeatist strategists.

In terms of specific experiences, they fared even worse than the Kjerag. Although the Kjerag had not developed for thousands of years, it had also not suffered much. Even in modern times, amidst the political backdrop of great power rivalry and the turbulent international political situation, the Kjerag, due to its unique "neither good nor bad" position, was spared the brunt of most of the war.

This might sound a bit abstract, so let me give you an example.

An unnamed Ursus Patriot captain, during the Ursus expansion under the late emperor, singled out Victoria, Kazimir, and Letania, and thoroughly conquered them all. But Kerrigan remained a thorn in the side, caught between the three kingdoms, unable to advance or retreat. To attack it was problematic; surrounded by mountains and perpetual snow, and like the Sami, it was a religious society, evoking unpleasant memories of "the snow talking." To leave it alone was equally problematic; it blocked the way, forcing travelers to detour, lengthening supply lines, and adding to the unpleasantness of the situation.

The result was that Ursus fought to the very end, then turned around and attacked Laterano, a land similar to Sherag, which was religious but lacked ice and mountains, to vent its anger. Then, it made a high-profile 180-degree turn and went to fight the Eastern Kingdom.

The result was naturally astonishing.

No one expected that Ursus, feared by the nations of Terra and nearly believed it would conquer all of Terra and achieve a grand slam in foreign wars, would suffer a crushing defeat in the Battle of Bloodpeak, losing to the Eastern Kingdom. The Ursus-Eastern Kingdom battle thus became an indispensable battle in modern Terran military theory classes.

Did you notice?

Ursus's name has three characters, while the Eastern Kingdom's name has two characters. Together, they have five characters. And Ursus, once invincible on Terra, was defeated by the Eastern Kingdom, which no one expected to win.

This fully illustrates a point—( ) won't work.

Getting back to the main point. Kjerag was lucky; it wasn't affected by the war. Kazdel was also quite lucky; it wasn't affected by the war either.

The war broke out directly with him.

Before they could even mourn the Allied forces' campaign against Kazdel, the Kazdel Civil War was about to begin. Before they could even mourn the Kazdel Civil War, the Sarkaz were invited into Londinium.

Sarkaz, who was always too busy to face death, couldn't even teach a basic literacy class, let alone a political class; he had to be at the mercy of others to do so.

Therefore, even though she felt utterly helpless, Theresis could only channel her grief and anger into strength and place high hopes on this rising star of the new generation.

"Cough cough."

Teacher DaTe's mini-class is now open!

"Manfred, have the Sarkaz taken over Lentinium yet?"

Manfred nodded: "We've taken it over. Organized resistance has been wiped out, and the city's garrison has surrendered under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Leto. Even if there are any remaining sporadic resistance forces, they have already gone underground. Without a doubt, Lentinium is now in our hands."

“No.” Theresis shook her head firmly. “The Sarkaz did not occupy Lontinim.”

“Manfred, remember, until the time is right, you should answer this question to anyone who asks you the same one I just asked.”

Theresis said slowly:

"Lentinium was never occupied by the Sarkaz. It remains under the control of the City Council. Thanks to the Council's efforts, the Sarkaz mercenaries have eliminated the remaining rebels from the Dukes of Stafford and Cavendish. The heavily damaged city defense forces have also recovered and taken back the duties of protecting the city and maintaining order from the Sarkaz. The city is now in good order, and sporadic security issues are just a normal phenomenon in any city. There is no doubt that there is no chaos, no danger, and no news in Lentinium."

Manfred stared, mouth agape. Only after Theresis coughed again, signaling his understanding, did he nod in realization.

"Understood, Your Highness."

"But did we really not capture Londinium?"

Therese glanced at him and nodded: "Of course we've taken it over."

"But the art of politics is the art of language. Don't those self-proclaimed clever Victorians love to do that? They even smugly gave this rhetoric a laughable name—'fourth-order tactics'."

"We are simply returning to them what they taught us, exactly as it was."

Manfred nodded knowingly, then a new question arose:

"Should we do something?"

"What are you doing?" Tracy raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what Manfred meant.

Manfred explained, "Aren't the Sherags calling on the dukes to help rescue people from Londinium? Should we do something to stop them?"

Therese gave a wry smile upon hearing this. He didn't really want to discourage Manfred's desire to do something; that was good. But he also had to remind Manfred:

"How to stop it?"

“Lentinium has hundreds of mobile blocks, making it the largest mobile city on this land. Underground, there are pipes and roads that even locals would get lost in. If a Grand Duke wanted to infiltrate it and smuggle people out, how would you defend it? Where would you deploy the defenses? How many people would you need to deploy them?”

Manfred was clearly stumped by the question; he opened his mouth, but after a long pause, he finally managed to utter a word:

"If that's the case, why didn't they save people in the first place?"

“Because there’s no profit in it. For those things, saving people is never a matter of whether they can or cannot, but whether they are willing or not.” Theresis tapped the table. “Before, there was no profit, so they didn’t save people. But now, Ernst Shivaish has given them a moral impetus, which is both a potential pressure and an opportunity to gain a lot of public goodwill and support, so the Grand Dukes may take action.”

Therese didn't finish her sentence; she left half of it unsaid.

The second half of the sentence is: "Moreover, Ernst Shivaesh considered things quite thoroughly. He didn't directly name Lontinim, leaving the Grand Duke with a final option. He didn't let this [promotion] turn into [accusation] or [coercion], but instead made it a form of [competition]. At the same time, this can also be seen as giving the Sarkaz a way out."

He also seemed to want Sarkaz to "release the people voluntarily out of humanitarian considerations."

"Thus thought."

Unfortunately, he misjudged his own purpose.

Therese's not simply about wanting to take revenge on Victoria.

The building he was currently in was called the Shard Tower, a superweapon left over from the Victorian era of Aslan. Once activated, it could unleash natural disasters, instantly destroying a city and leaving behind terrifying Originium contamination! It was a strategic weapon far surpassing high-speed warships, truly capable of changing the course of warfare!

The only regret is that it is not yet officially completed, so for Theresis, the time is not yet right.

“Let them do it,” Theresis concluded. “Losing some civilians won’t do us much harm. On the contrary, it will make the dukes underestimate the Sarkaz’s resolve and strength. Rather than expending a lot of effort to guard against them, we should devote more manpower to the construction and defense of the Shard.”

Manfred nodded knowingly and bowed slightly.

"Understood, Your Highness."

The door slammed shut. Without turning around, Theresis stared at the Shard, the tallest building in Londinium even before its completion, a lingering sense of doubt in her eyes.

He was thinking. He was thinking about why Ernst Siwaish would inexplicably want to give Sarkaz a way out, or even a "humanitarian" way out.

The combination of Sarkaz and humanitarianism has a touch of dark humor to it.

However, Therese couldn't help but think of a deceased friend. She also tried to force the two words together.

It's really not funny.

"Your Highness, is something on your mind?"

Theresis had already sensed someone approaching from behind. The fact that the newcomer was a pardoner surprised her somewhat.

He turned around, looked at the man wearing the golden mask, frowned slightly, and asked, "Is there any progress in communicating with the dead souls?"

The pardoner nodded: "Yes, Your Highness, the Dead Souls responded to us today. But the Dead Souls expressed their distrust of the Military Council."

"How do we solve this?" Without asking why, Therese asked for a solution directly.

The pardoner's eyes flickered, as if the words he was about to say to Theresis instilled a slight fear in him. But after a moment of mental preparation, he opened his mouth:

“The dead souls don’t trust you; after all, you are not the Demon King.”

"Is the Demon King that important?" Theresis clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

The absolutioner gave a helpless smile: "Your Highness, no matter how much you deny it, for thousands of years, it has been the Demon King who has ruled the Sarkaz, communicated with the souls, and established Kazdel. The Military Council is, after all, a new thing proposed in recent years. In the eyes of the will of the Sarkaz souls, the time you and the Council have existed is less than the time they have spent blinking."

"There is only one way to gain their trust and get them to help you."

Therese: "What method?"

"With a figure who impressed them, he could serve as a link between the Military Council, the Demon King, and the souls, as a bridge of communication."

Therese seemed to realize something, her expression froze for a moment, and her eyes instantly filled with intense killing intent.

But the pardoner, seemingly disregarding life and death, spoke frankly without any hesitation:

"They hope that Theresa can stand with you again."

"For this reason, they are willing to release the princess's soul and return it to her body."

Haha!

Therese was even somewhat amused by the situation.

Resurrect Theresa?

Do the absolutists not know that the Sarkaz are the race that values ​​death and rest the most? Do they not know that the Sarkaz souls preserve souls, the Wendigo devour the blood of the dead, the scavengers keep bodies from decaying, the blood demons infuse life into bodies, the gargoyles guard tombs, the balora summon sin and punishment, the Banshee's court tolls the death knell and plays the bone flute for the Sarkaz, the shapeshifters reenact everything from their previous lives, and the liches also use the Death Knot to preserve life.

But no race would bring someone back to life or desecrate their soul!

To resurrect Theresa, to resurrect a former demon king, his sister, is arguably the greatest provocation and malice directed at him!

“Your Highness, have you forgotten your oath?” the absolutist said solemnly. “This is not my intention. You can personally communicate with the souls and persuade them, but I do not think they will change their minds because of it.”

"Either you get their help and resurrect that prince, or you give up. It's a choice between two options with no other choice."

Therese clenched her fist.

Ernst's humanitarian rhetoric in the video and Theresa's somewhat ridiculous ideals flashed through his mind again.

To desecrate someone who, until his death, upheld "humanitarianism" and tried to give the Sarkaz, who were consumed by hatred, a way out—what a masterful display of dark humor!

I really can't laugh.

"........"

"go a head."

He turned his head away and said coldly.

Even if you can't laugh at all, you must still laugh along. You won't show a trace of sadness, nor will you look back for a moment. You'll walk straight down a path, even if it leads to a dead end.

This is perhaps where Therese and Ernst, Theresa are so different.

Chapter 130 Hinterlea: Never Before Has There Been Such a Wonderful Start

[Prime Minister Scherrag's initiative has received support! The Duke of Caesar evacuates university faculty and students!]