Before the kingdom's army even left the capital, the Southern Grand Duke sent word—someone tipped them off that the Church of the God of War's Holy Army was preparing to attack Highgarden City in the southern territory!

The Southern Grand Duke, the Duke of Highgarden, had governed the southern territory for generations. They possessed the Kingdom of Dawn's second most fertile plain region and also the kingdom's second most densely populated area. The only risk was border conflicts with the Gray Fort Empire, but that was handled by the kingdom's border army and didn't require their management. Long-term comfortable living had made their family a bit too content with the status quo—they'd even seemingly abandoned their family motto.

Not until this moment did they finally know what panic meant. But in a short time, gathering enough forces to resist the Church of the God of War's Holy Army was extremely difficult. They had no choice but to call the capital for help.

Highgarden Duke's manor. The Duke of Highgarden's face was cold. "The Forrester family, Fossoway family, Florent family, Dane family, Tarly family, Crane family... almost all fell into war at the same time?! Did I hear wrong, or did you report wrong?"

With each family name that appeared, everyone present couldn't help but tremble. These were all hereditary families loyal to the Highgarden ducal family. Each family was a core force in the southern territory. But now, when Highgarden City faced the risk of being breached, these families all sent messages saying they were being attacked, or even already breached. Their castles were burning, their knights and scholars and even relatives were being hanged, their territories were being plundered... How could it be this fast?

What kind of power had this Church of the God of War accumulated?! How could it be like this?

Just how oblivious had he been?

Countless doubts filled his brain. Fear and powerlessness made him momentarily unable to breathe.

In past wars, with one order from them, these families would bring their knights, soldiers, and some supernatural beings to respond. But this time, they truly had no help.

How could this be?

Was the southern territory still the Highgarden family's southern territory?!

For the first time he felt regret—regret that when those small families had trouble, he should have immediately called for help, immediately gone all out. But now, the enemy numbers were just too many. They could only place their hopes on aid from the capital.

But thinking about who was at the capital's Council of Seven, he felt the future was pitch black. Aside from Berion, the others definitely all had ulterior motives... Had he known, he should have purchased large amounts of military equipment from Roster territory in advance. That way, at least for the sake of this big customer, the one in charge of finances and the Hand of the King would both think of him.

"No wait, purchasing now isn't too late either!" Suddenly, the Duke of Highgarden stood up and walked toward his room, leaving a crowd of family members and important ministers looking at each other, not knowing what the duke was up to.

The news reached the capital.

Shockwaves everywhere.

"Viscount Roster, I know your territory is currently producing equipment called magic power cannons. I wonder how powerful this equipment is? What's the production capacity? You're in charge of finances, so you should know how much money the treasury can still produce. We need to produce as many magic power cannons as possible to transport to the south to suppress the Church of War's Holy Army, and we need large batches sent to the border to prevent the Gray Fort Empire from marching north in force!" This time, Berion didn't gather the others for a meeting but found Viscount Roster alone.

After settling things more or less, then he'd inform the others. Following the previous meeting's rhythm, the south would probably be conquered before they could discuss anything concrete.

"Magic power cannons are divided into two types—magic power railguns and magic power super cannons... At full production, we can produce four thousand magic power railguns per day. But if we match them with shells, production capacity will greatly decrease. My suggestion is to produce one thousand magic power railguns daily and use all remaining capacity to produce shells... As for magic power super cannons, we have enough materials to produce at most one hundred units that can fire 1000 shots of high-level magic... Oh, and we also have specialized gun carriages that I think are very suitable for this battle... Additionally, we have a batch already produced that was originally planned for transport to the western territory, but now it should probably be transported to the south first..."

Viscount Roster actually felt that the Gray Fort Empire wouldn't invade at this time, because... he'd already communicated with Wolf General. Based on the Gray Fort Emperor's personality, he'd wait for both sides to suffer losses. As long as their side wasn't crushed and destroyed, it was fine—especially after the last war when the other side learned of Magic Conductors' might, even more so.

But so what?

Selling weapons was most important!

Without something like this as stimulus, when could these military Magic Conductors be popularized?

Taking advantage of this opportunity to rapidly distribute Magic Conductors was most important. Look, even the Southern Grand Duke who used to be as hard as a rock wasn't he obediently placing orders now? Wasn't it because he worried these seven wouldn't provide aid? First "buying them off" through profit?

In a viscount's territory over thirty kilometers from Highgarden City.

Several high-ranking Holy Army members and senior clerics of the Church of the God of War gathered together. One of them couldn't help but ask, "Archbishop, are we really going to launch an attack on Highgarden City? No matter how weak and feeble the Highgarden family is, Highgarden City's magical defense shield is still extremely terrifying..."

A thousand years of accumulation, constant improvements—almost every important city and fortress in the Kingdom of Dawn had large numbers of magic towers and magic arrays that could provide very strong defense for the city. To breach it required gathering massive force, long-term attrition, exhausting all the magicians in the city to death before it could be breached.

With the popularization of self-charging magic arrays and the Magic Power Network, now you even needed attacks on the defensive magic array that consumed more than the self-charging array absorbed magic power. The difficulty could be imagined.

Wanting to breach it with this Holy Army mainly composed of farmers and slaves wasn't an easy thing.

"We don't need to take down Highgarden City. We just need to confine the Highgarden family within Highgarden City. That way we'll have more time to plunder the south and start infiltrating the surrounding areas." The archbishop said coldly. "Don't forget our goal. Our goal is to expand faith, expand war, accumulate funds, push for war between the Gray Fort Empire and Kingdom of Dawn. When both suffer losses, then we'll make the final harvest, converting these two great countries like the surrounding areas into war nations, plunging the world into ultimate war!"

"But the kingdom's army..."

"Also a part of war. The more people join the war, the more beneficial it is for us."

"But if we're defeated..."

"Defeat is also part of war. Even surrender is part of war. As long as we transfer the treasure in advance, even if the Holy Army besieging Highgarden City is defeated or surrenders or all die, for us, there's no difference."

With every sentence the senior clergy spoke, the archbishop would give a perfect answer—perfect as if it had been rehearsed countless times before. To put it bluntly, they just didn't treat the Holy Army as people. As long as they could achieve their goals, these people fighting for the god, dying for the god—that was fine too.

What they cared about was only the plundered wealth and... greater war!

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