Chapter 239: Peace

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After flying across many cities, the group of hot air balloons finally landed in an open area in the south. As the alchemists disembarked from the balloons, they knew that they needed to make some plans.

They quickly figured that they could not return to the north. This was because it had been colonized by the city of Fanse.

“Teacher, where are we going?” While Marina carried the blue-haired Gina, she followed behind Akkad.

Gina was observing the hot air balloon. She still couldn’t figure out how it was able to fly!

Akkad looked at everyone and considered his options. These people followed Akkad without question because they trusted him unconditionally. Hence, their lives were really in his hands.

“I am afraid that the world won’t be peaceful for quite some time now. The evil ambition of King Tuten has been exposed! We have to go further south now! We are going to the city of Tephis!” Akkad announced.

Akkad then led his students and the higher-ups of the Akkad Alchemy Workshop to the southern Tuten Dynasty, as he knew that they would be welcomed by the city of Tephis.

Tephis was one of the trading cities in the south. It was also the first coastal city that Akkad had arrived at within the Tuten Dynasty. On top of that, it was Marina’s hometown.

Once they arrived, Akkad soon rebuilt his alchemy workshop and college. This brought great joy to Marina, who hadn’t returned to her hometown in a very long time. In fact, all of the alchemists happily made their new homes in this coastal city.

On the other hand, north of Tuten Dynasty, in the city of Fanse and the current Tuten Marlbus, Tuten was using his political power and strict order to weaken the power and control of each city in the north. Then, with force, Tuten slowly united the northern part of the Tuten Dynasty.

Meanwhile, many workshops were being taxed heavily. All of the graduates of alchemy colleges had to be registered within the government registries.

In this way, a large number of graduates who had learned a vast amount of alchemy knowledge, and even those alchemists who had been awakened, were captured. They were then forced to work for Tuten.

Due to their forced labor, large amounts of wealth were gathered, all to be used to support the Tuten Dynasty. Thus, the rise of alchemy had brought big changes to the Tuten Dynasty, none of which were good for the alchemists!

At this moment, everything depended on the influences of the alchemists. Even when King Tuten wanted to control the north or wage war, he heavily relied on the alchemy college graduates that he had basically made into indentured servants!

The workshops produced weapons and armor for Tuten military purposes. They kept the large amounts of Tuten soldiers in top-of-the-line gear. Many workshops even provided Tuten with money so that he could wage wars and unite the north.

As for the cities in the south, they were terrified by the actions and political orders of Tuten. They had especially begun to get nervous when many heads of the northern cities were killed or arrested, seemingly for no reason at all!

Understandably, the cities in the south were highly disturbed. They were afraid that any one of them might be the next unlucky person to be killed!

For this reason, the cities of the south had gathered in an independent meeting that was held along the border between the south and the north. The meeting took place in the city of Lamech, which was near the Pegasus River.

Shortly after the meeting adjourned, thirty-two cities declared their independence from the Tuten Dynasty. They called themselves the City Alliance of Sheehan, which was a namesake taken from a local sacred tree.

The formation of the City Alliance of Sheehan announced the official break between the north and the south of the Tuten Dynasty. As such, King Tuten Marlbus immediately declared war against the City Alliance of Sheehan.

One side was fighting in the name of taking back the country, while the other side was fighting for freedom. Thus, a civil war started. The battle quickly extended to areas near the Pegasus River, which immediately resulted in the two sides having a tug of war battle over who controlled the river.

At the beginning of the war, King Tuten had an absolute advantage over the City Alliance of Sheehan. This was because they were most fighting inside the core area of the City Alliance.

The Tuten forces had rounded up a hundred thousands soldiers in a castle called Finnlit. The siege lasted for a few months, which pushed the City Alliance to the edge.

However, they were defeated by reinforcements from the city of Tephis and other coastal cities. After this, the war continued for three years. But from then on, it was a very even battle, as the two sides had equally suffered devastating losses.

The crippling effects of the war, as well as its lengthy duration had again made the north unstable. As a result, rebellions kept rising up everywhere.

Many cities and nobles that were unhappy with King Tuten’s actions were constantly causing trouble. Finally, King Tuten could only sign a peace treaty with the City Alliance Sheehan in the city of Lamech, which happened to be the exact same place where the independent meeting had happened all those years ago.

For King Tuten, the loss of this battle was a deep humiliation. This was made even worse by the fact that he saw the City Alliance of Sheehan as the enemy that stole his lands.

Years after the peace treaty was signed, King Tuten was able to finally solve the problem in his country. After that, once he had gathered enough power, he returned again to wage a war against the City Alliance of Sheehan.

However, at this moment, the Batko area in the northwest part of the Tuten Dynasty had united again after suffering through many conflicts. Upon winning countless battles, a country called Pusuote had united the area.

From that victorious moment, Sky Temples were built in every city of Batko, while the Kingdom of Pusuote took over the area. The belief of the Sky Temples had replaced all of the messy religions, thus becoming the main religion of the Batko area.

Many priests of the Sky Temples walked around Batko, spreading the secrecies of the Church of the Sky while holding the book of the living. For the underworld, this was considered as being the expansion of the Sky Temples.

The whole underworld was projected on the ground. It had changed a from surreal form to a half-real state. Many angels of death would rush out of the underworld at anytime, taking in those souls that refused to ascend. The underworld had finally started to function like it was supposed to all along.

Kingdom of Pusuote, City of Baber

The City of Baber was once the capital of the Batko Empire. It was built by the first emperor, Yip Ima Batko. However, it was invaded by the city of Fanse under the authority of the Tuten Dynasty. The city was then raided and the last emperor of the Batko Empire was killed.

Now, Cetisius had moved here. Today, he was wearing a deep black robe and his face had grown from a teenager into that of a middle-aged man.

In the palace, many people were going about their tasks. Since Cetisius had built the Kingdom of Pusuote, he had slowly united the whole Batko area, finally becoming the true owner of this land.

At this moment, Cetisius just received a report that had been sent to him from far away. After he read it carefully, he stood up and gathered all of the generals under him to hold an emergency meeting.

The invasion of the King of Pusuote, while King Tuten was waging his second war, had shocked everyone within the Tuten Dynasty. The twenty hundred knights of the Pusuote area had invaded the Tuten Dynasty from the northwest.

They quickly went down along the border and took over the northern part of the Tuten Dynasty. The army then rounded up the entire Tut City. After a few days, Tut City surrendered.

The Kingdom of Pusuote had then taken the rich lands and all of the wealth! Thus, the strong city of Fanse instantly became a thing of the past, put to an end by the Kingdom of Pusuote from Batko. In this way, everything came full-circle.

Meanwhile, King Tuten had lost the country. His head was even cut off by his own soldiers! The army of Tuten then surrendered to the City Alliance of Sheehan soon after his execution.

The Church of True God, which was popular in the north, was quickly suppressed. The priests of the Sky Temples drove out all of the believers and prophets of the Church of True God.

They did not even allow the souls of the prophets of the Church of True God to rest in peace after their deaths. Instead, they sent them to the underworld as heretics to await their judgements.

As for Heckfoss, he could only escape with the remaining prophets. They all ran into the City Alliance of Sheehan, looking for a chance to strike again.

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“When will this war end?”

“Yea, all the men went out to fight. Aside from women, there are only old people and children left.”

“Shouldn’t it end soon?”

“Who knows? They are warmongers!”

“Hey did you hear that? King Tuten turned into a terrifying monster when he died!”

“Yes, yes. He didn’t die when his head was cut off. He was burnt until he really died. The whole army must have seen that scene.”

“I knew it. That da*n guy must be possessed by devils. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be waging war everyday.”

Marina was looking at a bunch of the women, who were chatting while they were sewing on sewing machines. The model of using workshops had become popular in the entire City Alliance of Sheehan. These women, when it was not farming season, would come to work in the workshops to earn some extra money for their families.

In the city of Tephis, small workshops like these were everywhere. These workshops always needed laborers badly.

Also, during wartime, the prices of the goods that they produced were inflated so much. Throughout the city of Tephis, there were complaints about wars everywhere.

Many men died in battle, while others who survived didn’t return home for years. While they were away, no one knew if they were still alive or not.

Marina felt heavy. After she walked through a few streets, she arrived at a castle in Tephis. There were people walking around in the castle. This was the site of the new Akkad Alchemy College.

In the principal’s room at the top level, she saw Akkad. He had aged greatly since she had last seen him. His hair was white as snow and his back was crooked. Seeing him in such a state made Marina sad.

“Teacher, the war ended!” Marina said as she entered the room.

“What was that?” Akkad pushed up his glasses and asked her to repeat what she had just said.

Marina repeated herself, talking a bit louder for his old ears, “The King of Pusuote, Cetisius, signed an agreement with us. They drew the borderline. I heard from others that Cetisius is an honorable king. I think this peace agreement should last for some time.”

Akkad nodded. “This is only temporary peace. The task of obtaining true peace I must leave to you guys, as I’m getting old.”

Marina refuted his assertion immediately, mostly due to wishful thinking, “Teacher you are still in good health. You can definitely last until you’re a hundred years old or more!”

Akkad burst into laughter. “Are you cursing me?”

Marina realized that she had said something wrong, so she stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

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