Chapter 295: The Hilin Kingdom

"Princess, please sit!"

In the newly built Wang Gong of the City of Miracles, the fox woman Sister Qing Ling said.

The palace's interior did not follow a lavish path, yet it still appeared magnificent—not the opulent, stifling kind, nor the overly flamboyant gold-hall kind, but a magnificence suffused with refinement and design.

This was the first time Princess Luoying had seen a palace of this style; living in such a palace would never feel dull or boring!

Princess Luoying forced her gaze to stop wandering and fixed it on the fox woman Sister Qing Ling.

She had not expected Sister Qing Ling to be so young.

Nor had she expected the king of Yan Country to be a queen!

She had heard she was also the Holy Maiden of the Flame Lord!

On the fox woman Sister Qing Ling's face was a light, thin veil.

Yet even that veil could not fully conceal her delicate beauty!

It was easy to imagine how stunning a face lay beneath it.

Though Princess Luoying's own beauty was no less, Sister Qing Ling, as Holy Maiden and Queen, carried an aura and presence that slightly surpassed hers.

This was the glory brought by status and position!

For Sister Qing Ling, this was the radiance bestowed by the Flame Lord!

Radiance was not an empty phrase—it was real, tangible glory!

Princess Luoying sat down with proper courtesy; on her person could be seen the refined upbringing of the royal house of the Continent of Gods.

She was a standard royal princess, possessing the finest traits of a human kingdom princess on the Continent of Gods.

Being sent as an envoy to Yan Country proved Princess Luoying had a sharp mind; in fact, she was also a magician of considerable talent.

Princess Luoying said: "Your Majesty, I represent the royal house of the Hilin Kingdom to extend our congratulations on your nation's founding. Here is our gift list—please review."

Beside her, the sword-bearing girl presented a sheet of gold paper to Sister Qing Ling.

A maid took the gold sheet and handed it to Qing Ling.

Qing Ling took the gold sheet and examined it carefully.

Princess Luoying's gaze could not help but steal a glance at Meng Ying, seated across from her.

According to the information she had received, Meng Ying should be Yan Country's Grand Mage, possibly even a Forbidden Spell Mage!

Meng Ying also wore a white veil; at seventeen, she had the standard figure of a young girl, but Princess Luoying could not be certain of Meng Ying's true age.

Because Forbidden Spell Mages lived long lives and almost all had mastered ways to preserve youth or appear younger!

Meng Ying seemed not to notice Princess Luoying's gaze, sitting calmly as before.

Throughout the entire hall, besides themselves, there were only a few maids—Princess Luoying's hundred guards had no right to enter and waited outside the Wang Gong.

The list on the gold paper was long.

The text was written in magical script, the universal language of the Continent of Gods; this magical script had the advantage that even the illiterate could understand its meaning.

This was likely created by the royal house fearing the beastmen could not read, and also a demonstration of Hilin Kingdom's strength.

Strength meant comprehensive strength, reflected in countless details.

A few minutes later, Sister Qing Ling handed the gold sheet to the maid beside her, instructing her to keep it.

The royal house of Hilin Kingdom had been generous this time.

The value of the gifts sent was conservatively estimated at over a million gold coins.

Seeing Sister Qing Ling finish reading the list, Princess Luoying spoke again:

"Your Majesty, your Divine Beans are exquisite, affordable, and delicious—a heavenly gift to benefit the people—and should be widely promoted. For this visit, I have brought a permit signed by my father's own hand: from now on, your nation may freely sell Divine Beans throughout the entire territory of Hilin Kingdom; anyone who obstructs this shall be deemed in violation of the kingdom's laws!"

The Divine Bean Sales Permit!

Upon hearing Princess Luoying's words, Sister Qing Ling exchanged a glance with Meng Ying.

In the Divine Temple, Sister Qing Ling, Meng Ying, and several Holy Maidens gathered together.

The meeting with Princess Luoying had not been long.

Princess Luoying, as envoy of the Hilin royal house, had delivered her gifts and stated her purpose—no more time was needed.

Princess Luoying had originally intended to leave immediately after presenting the gifts, as she did not wish to stay long in a beastman city.

But after Qing Ling invited her to dinner, she agreed.

Because this city gave Princess Luoying an entirely different impression—she suddenly wished to wander through the City of Miracles.

If Yan Country's king had been a male beastman, she might not have stayed longer.

But Sister Qing Ling gave her a good impression; this city was nothing like the filthy, chaotic, and poor beastman cities she had imagined.

Princess Luoying now had the mood for it.

With plenty of time before dinner, Princess Luoying, accompanied by a maid dispatched by Sister Qing Ling, began touring the City of Miracles.

Sister Qing Ling and the others held council in the Divine Temple.

"It seems Hilin Kingdom will be plunged into war within no more than a month."

Sister Qing Ling said.

Meng Ying nodded and said: "I sent Lord Hawk to gather intelligence. The attackers targeting Hilin Kingdom are likely the neighboring Hutton Kingdom—they have been massively expanding and conscripting troops. Once their new army is fully armed, war will begin."

Sister Qing Ling asked curiously: "How many people does Hilin Kingdom have?"

Meng Ying replied: "Hilin Kingdom's population is between twenty and thirty million. Hutton Kingdom's population is smaller; Hilin Kingdom's strength is slightly greater, but if the gods have abandoned them, they cannot possibly defeat Hutton Kingdom."

Nearby, the other Holy Maidens listened in silence; they knew little about human kingdoms.

The cat princess Lodi couldn't help exclaiming: "So many people!"

Of course, though surprised, her face showed no trace of worry or concern.

Her astonishment was primarily over the sheer number of human kingdom populations.

Remember, Yan Country's current population is only two million.

And any random human kingdom has tens of millions of people.

Yan Kingdom, with just over two million people, has set its sights on the Hilin Kingdom, which has over twenty million people, while simultaneously facing the Horton Kingdom as well.

It looks no different from a snake trying to swallow an elephant.

But those present were not particularly worried.

Meng Ying nodded and said:

"Human populations are always this large; in the west, there are even larger nations. Don't worry—their armies won't be that big. According to my estimate, the combined forces of the Horton Kingdom's royal army, church army, and conscripted noble troops should exceed fifty thousand. As for the Hilin Kingdom."

She paused, then said: "The Hilin Kingdom's army should be even larger, reaching six or seven hundred thousand."

This is where humans differ from beastfolk.

The Xiong Zu, with only a few thousand people, can still muster two thousand qualified Xiong warriors.

The ratio of population to fighting force can reach five to one, or even three to one; at worst, it's still ten to one.

Right now, if Yan Kingdom mobilized fully, it could raise a beastfolk army exceeding four hundred thousand—but the quality wouldn't be as good as it is now!

But among human kingdoms, the ratio of population to fighting force rarely reaches ten to one; it's usually above twenty to one.

Of course, the fighting force mentioned here refers only to qualified warriors: armored, helmeted, armed with iron shields, and carrying at least one long and one short iron weapon, with solid physical conditioning.

If you counted any civilian armed with a weapon as a warrior, the Hilin Kingdom could conscript an army exceeding two million.

But that would be useless!

This isn't a purely cold-weapon world!

In a purely cold-weapon world, giving a civilian a knife grants them some combat ability—they can be counted as a warrior, and mass human-wave tactics work.

But this is a world surrounded by gods, where swords and magic prevail.

A thousand-man knightly order composed of Second-Rank or higher knights can easily crush an army of over ten thousand First-Rank or lower common warriors.

If those warriors lack armor and helmets, and are merely civilians armed with nothing but knives, even fifty thousand of them couldn't defeat that thousand-man knightly order!

If you replace that ordinary knightly order with elite Temple Knights, the killing power becomes even more terrifying!

Not to mention the terrifying existence of mages!