Chapter 250

In the blink of an eye, one and a half months passed.

Weilan's new capital Montdania, Swan Castle issued an announcement to the entire Natural Alliance.

The announcement's name is very short, just four characters: 'Natural Empire'.

The main content is as follows.

"In the Natural Divine Calendar, year 1523, July 19, the Natural Empire was established."

"The empire's first emperor is the former Duke of Weilan, the legendary mage Luosen Saxen, and the first empress is the mortal incarnation of Mother Nature, Miss Rui La Na."

"The former Duchy of Weilan and the former Allen Kingdom will unite to become the core territory of the Natural Empire. The former Weilan's 32 prefectures and Allen's 42 prefectures will be redivided into the Natural Empire's 26 provinces."

"The empire will have one capital, Montdania, and three auxiliary capitals: Dawn City, Lyon City, and Lion Fang City. All four will be directly administered by the emperor."

The announcement also printed a joint photo of Luosen and Qi Ge Rui La Na.

Whether printing or imaging technique, they are the latest magical achievements, not only very clear but even moving, like a small video.

This is also Qi Ge Rui La Na's first appearance in public view.

Her appearance and demeanor are almost identical to the Temple's sculpture, and she also wears a plain long dress identical to the Mother Nature sculpture.

She is practically a living Mother Nature.

Once the announcement's content spread, everyone was stunned, feeling as if a myth had descended upon the human world.

Those devout natural believers who had witnessed the 'Natural Divine Kingdom' in dreams, upon seeing this announcement, gave unconditional support.

Even the true god Mother Nature has married; if such a person isn't emperor of the Natural Alliance, who would be?!

They began to promote vigorously, and even many devout believers started writing books.

The book is titled 'Natural Divine Kingdom Dream Travelogue', vividly describing their experience participating in the divine kingdom's wedding.

About ninety-nine percent of the alliance's population are natural believers.

Although most are superficial believers, their souls all bear the imprint of Mother Nature.

No matter what happens, they like to mention Mother Nature.

Now, the high priests of the major temples, at prayer gatherings, spare no effort to brainwash believers, promoting the loftiness and divinity of the natural emperor.

For ordinary civilian believers, it's hard not to believe.

Thus, the vast majority of ordinary people in the Natural Alliance's populace directly accepted Duke Weilan as emperor.

Who let him be the husband of Mother Nature? This is what ordinary folks think.

As for the mage class that holds knowledge and magic, they are shocked, confused, and bewildered.

The mages feel dazed, sensing they cannot comprehend the logic of how this world operates.

But one point is clear.

If the Natural Alliance must have an emperor, then Duke Weilan is obviously the best choice.

Then does the Natural Alliance need an emperor?

Uncertain, but the mages' wives and parents all think one is needed.

Moreover, some mages themselves also think one is needed.

Thus, the mage class has some scattered resistance, but overall shows an accepting attitude.

Finally, it's the reaction of the Natural Alliance's top-tier elites.

They are mainly afraid.

Because it means the complete overthrow of the old order, meaning their positions will not be secure.

Kao.

Upon receiving the news that same day, the Queen of Kao convened another royal council meeting.

The opening first sentence was:

"Everyone, the time left for us to make a decision is getting shorter and shorter."

The council members all looked at each other speechless.

The queen continued: "Soon, a surge of thought will arise among Kao's populace, and undoubtedly countless people will demand to join the Natural Empire, becoming part of it."

"Whether it's the duke or Mother Nature, both have clearly expressed their will. It's likely that not long from now, the empire will begin military expansion, conquering the remaining alliance until it is fully unified."

The royal family remained silent, each feeling a tremendous psychological pressure.

After a long while, the Crown Prince Lyon said: "Perhaps we can declare Kao a vassal state of the Natural Empire, thus at least preserving our royal family's glory."

The Queen of Kao looked somewhat sorrowfully at her eldest son, then turned her gaze to the other princes.

"What do you say?"

The third prince wore an unwilling expression but said nothing.

The sixth princess also had a pale face and remained silent as well.

The others were largely similar.

They were unwilling but lacked the courage to resist, so they could only stiffen.

The Queen of Kao then said: "Since you want to drag it out, then drag it out; wait until we lose on the battlefield, then announce surrender."

"Mother, we might not lose." Lyon argued.

The queen replied indifferently: "On the eve before the Lion King abdicated, Lyon City saw some chaos; the Radiant Legion pressed upon the Giant Fortress, and the Radiant First Fleet approached the Golden Harbor Strait."

"That night, war was on the verge of breaking out!"

"But in the end, the fleet voluntarily withdrew, and the legion also abandoned its attack."

"My eldest son, you guess, is this due to the empire's mercy or its impotence?"

Lyon's face turned pale: "Obviously it's the empire's impotence."

The Radiant Empire is the Natural Alliance's arch-enemy; whenever there is a genuine opportunity, they would certainly act, and the reason they haven't is only one possibility: they lack confidence.

Why lack confidence?

Obviously, they couldn't settle Duke Weilan.

Even the Radiant Empire was defeated; Kao, which has countless natural believers domestically, how could it resist the Natural Empire? I fear that if war is declared today, by tonight the Silge royal family will be slaughtered by fervent Natural Church followers.

Sage Lai Er Dun spoke: "I'm an outsider, but I have to say, this is a hopeless, surely losing confrontation."

"If they actively surrender, at least they could obtain a city as a family fief like the Dan family. If not

The latter half wasn't spoken, but everyone knows.

The Kao queen then said: "Let's vote, war or surrender, whichever side has more people will be followed."

Then they voted.

After one round of voting, among the 42 clan members, 38 wanted to surrender, only 4 wanted to fight.

The surrender faction held an absolute majority. The Kao queen spread her hands: "Let the minority obey the majority."

The meeting fell into a suffocating silence, but no one voiced opposition.

Thus, the next morning, the Kao Silge royal family delivered the surrender letter to the capital of the Natural Empire, Mondania.

At the same time.

Levinde also experienced a similar situation.

In the Natural Alliance, in this sect where everyone believed a true god existed, the true god marrying a mortal directly shattered everyone's will to resist.

After the cabinet's discussion, Levinde submitted a surrender letter to the newly established Natural Empire and expressed the wish to join it.

The two great kingdoms abandoned resistance; the six great duchies naturally had no thought of resistance and directly surrendered.

Soon, the related news also reached the Radiant Empire.

Zhuo Ya, upon receiving the news, let out a long sigh, but did not feel surprised.

After all, Duke Weilan either does not act, but once he acts, it will surely be a series of successive moves like a storm.

From the moment the Radiant Empire's first fleet withdrew from the Liugin Strait, she had anticipated this result.

The only thing she couldn't understand was the Natural Church.

Everyone says Mother Nature is the true god, and over the past year, the Natural Church's influence among the alliance populace has indeed been growing rapidly, even reaching an unimaginable extent.

Even within the Radiant Empire's interior, some natural believers have begun to appear.

She just couldn't understand: "Could Duke Weilan have cooperated with the Void God?"

"That shouldn't be; isn't he the most wary of the Void God demon?"

"Furthermore, even if it were the Void God demon, it seems unlikely to have the ability to simultaneously respond to countless believers."

"What on earth is going on?"

Not understanding it, she also felt this matter was extremely serious, even more serious than the Natural Empire itself.

If she doesn't figure it out, the Radiant Empire may ultimately lose because of this.

Relying on her own experience was no longer enough; thus, the Empress had to turn to her grandfather for help.

She went to the Wuying Palace and reported the latest information she had obtained.

Her grandfather's complexion darkened at a visible speed.

He directly declared: "There absolutely is no true god in the world; the so-called true god of the Natural Alliance is most likely a trick by Duke Weilan."

"But grandfather, the investigation report of the Shadow Guard indicates that there seems to truly exist an omnipresent great will, continually responding to believers' prayers."

"This great will does not merely respond to one or two hundred people at once, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of responses."

The Lord of Radiance heard it, felt shocked, but still shook his head.

"Impossible; even the Lord of Truth back then couldn't do this; it must be a trick!"

He also couldn't figure it out in his heart.

Although he deemed it a trick, he racked his brains and still couldn't understand how Duke Weilan managed this.

This gave him a sense of helplessness.

But he is ultimately a tough individual; gritting his teeth, a resolve to fight to the death arose in his heart.

"We cannot let Duke Weilan continue developing like this; we must stop him with all our strength, even if it means heavy losses!"

"Zhuo Ya, you must immediately mobilize all forces and attack the Natural Alliance while he is holding his wedding with Qi Ge Rui La Na!"

"But what about the Elven army?"

"The Elves won't take the opportunity to sneak attack; they have promised me."

"If needed, they can also send a troop to cooperate with our attack on the Natural Alliance!"

Zhuo Ya exclaimed in surprise: "Grandfather, the Elves cannot be trusted!"

There is no effective binding authority above the state, so whatever the Elven Empire says is untrustworthy.

By contrast, Duke Weilan has always had excellent reputation; his guarantee is far more trustworthy than that of the Elves.

Because he has spent enormous time and cost maintaining his reputation, he will not lightly abandon it.

Therefore, the Elves are completely untrustworthy, while Duke Weilan can be half trusted.

Therefore, if one must choose a collaborator between the Natural Alliance and the Holy Elven Empire, Zhuo Ya would without hesitation choose the Natural Alliance.

But the Lord of Radiance obviously does not think so.

Yet a hint of madness appeared on his face: "We have no other choice; we can only gamble this one!"

"Grandfather, we cannot gamble!"

"If the Elves break the agreement, we will face a pincer attack from the Elves and the Natural Alliance in reality, which will plunge us into the abyss!"

The Lord of Radiance flew into a rage, letting out a thunderous roar!

"Zhuo Ya, this empire is mine!"

"It's not yours!"

"You must obey me, otherwise you are not the Empress!"

He stared at Zhuo Ya, his brown-black eyes showing an extremely aloof killing light, like a male lion ready to devour its cub.

I know you are good at governing the state, I also know you have outstanding talent in sorcery, but I have crossed ages, I have seen more of the world, endured more hardships than you—ten times more.

My experience tells me, Duke Weilan must die!

I must also warn you, in the long river of thousands of years, there are not a few children whose lives I have personally taken!

As soon as those words were spoken, Zhuo Ya felt all her pores burst; she immediately knew her grandfather truly had murderous intent toward her.

But she was not ready yet; seizing power at this moment would almost certainly fail.

But she had no time left.

What should she do? Zhuo Ya immediately thought of Duke Weilan.

The Duke said, if you need help, you can find him.

So she lowered her head in obedience: "Grandfather, I will immediately begin mobilizing and preparing for war."

"Excellent, this is truly my good granddaughter!"

The Lord of Light was satisfied.

That night, Luosen received Empress Zhuo Ya's message through Ailin.

He immediately knew that the most critical moment for the alliance's unification had arrived.

Whether unification could truly happen depended on whether he could stop the madness of the Light Empire.

(End of chapter)