Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 540: Sabbat Council, Oak Sage

Clover Island, County Clare, Shannon Harbour.

This is a famous safe haven along the coast of the Sea of ​​Monsters. It also has large tracts of pastures that serve as a supplier of raw materials for the wool textile industry and has unique natural and geographical conditions.

More importantly, when Violet was Byron's adviser and was selecting a site for the industrial center, the first best location she proposed was the Kingdom of Hastings.

Because both coal and iron ore resources are abundant here, light industry can be seamlessly connected to heavy industry that produces steel, machinery, armored battleships, etc.

Shannon is surrounded by large coal mines, iron mines, and natural ports, as well as a series of superior conditions ranging from light industry to heavy industry, plus waterborne commodity transportation.

Naturally, it became one of the industrial centers that Byron, Violet, and Catherine had selected for the kingdom after consulting the map and the sea of ​​collective subconsciousness.

While high hopes were placed on this place, it also received a huge amount of resources, including land, capital, manpower, and investment from many nobles.

“Where did the attackers come from?

Even a mid-series [Famine Hunter] shouldn't be able to possess the power to manipulate the forest on such a large scale.

The most their powers can do is domesticate wild species and turn them into crops or livestock, which seems more like black magic or some weird handiwork.”

The first person to discover the accident at the woolen mill was none other than the original lord of Shannon Port, Marquis Thomas Neville.

Before building the factory, he had not yet donated land to Byron. This factory area, which was much larger than the Kingston First Woolen Mill, belonged to his land share.

They themselves also knew that the output of the land nobles was highly dependent on land and agriculture, and that land, as a means of production with an upper limit, meant that they could never become rich.

Ever since reaping the benefits of the Dutch wool industry, China has been able to see the power of the Industrial Revolution, which increased productivity and national strength by dozens or hundreds of times.

However, the wool spinning factory had just opened and encountered such an extremely vicious incident. How could it recruit workers if the news got out? How could it continue to make profits and reinvest to expand its production scale?
Destroying someone’s financial resources is like killing his parents!
This is both a public and private matter, how could Marquis Neville not be annoyed?
"Report, Your Excellency the Marquis, there is no trace of any living person in the forest.

[Scene Re-enactment] also did not show any reaction, only a trace of filthy aura left by the weirdness was found, and it was deduced that the murderer's strength should be the fourth level, which was consistent with [Weird Sheep Eating People].

Next we need to send someone to the accident scene to get more information, but we cannot be sure whether the murderer has gone far, so we need to continue calling for reinforcements."

Not surprisingly, Sherlock, the Crime Buster, as the independent prosecutor of the Star Chamber, has been working with the Royal Tax Inspection Bureau to confiscate land, and this time he ran into the "Woolen Mill Murder Case".

The sheriff's face looked very grim, and it seemed that the public security in his jurisdiction would not improve.

"Since the 'Death Stranding Incident' in the capital last year, various bizarre incidents and evil spirit-harming incidents have been popping up one after another in the kingdom.

Especially since I first encountered His Majesty, the effect of "Final Destination" on me has become more and more obvious.

Originally, I could use murder as an excuse to get away with it three times out of ten when I went to a restaurant, but now that number has increased to seven or eight times.

Now many restaurants in the capital refuse to let me in, which gives me a headache.

I met a Kimberly prophet yesterday, who said that I was doomed, but I am an independent prosecutor, and the only doom that can always shine on me is... cough cough."

He looked around cautiously before pulling himself together again.

Although the number of supernatural disasters has increased, hundreds of people have died at one time, including several craftsmen from the Tower Sequence. This is undoubtedly the worst supernatural disaster event since the "Death Stranding".

Fortunately, just as they completed the initial investigation, support personnel from other departments arrived one after another.

Snapped!
[Phantom Blade] Guts, wearing the [Level 3 Holy Relic: Thunderbird Feather Robe] imagined by the "Fantasy Treasure House", flew over like a swift bolt of lightning.

Behind them came the Doppler heavy swordsman [Sword Master] Hermann and a group of Wild Hunt knights who followed Theresa to the native land of Hastings and joined the Night's Watch.

[Guardian Knight] Bruch, wearing the oath robe and transformed into [Sun Knight], galloped towards him riding on the fairy horse Greengret who has infinite physical strength.

He was still holding in front of him his beautiful wife, the great wizard and dancer [Fairy] Rigrael, who was enough to enchant everyone.

The heroic spirits and titles of both of them are deeply bound to the myths and legends of this land, and they were sent out by Byron at the first opportunity.

Soon, the best players from Byron's organizations, such as the Star Chamber, Storm Cloaks, Flayed Church, Bloodthirsty Order, and Church Night Watch, gathered here.

Byron himself was not present.

Now that he has ascended the throne and the throne of God, he is no longer just the pirate captain of the past, and his style of doing things must change accordingly.

The revised King's Iron Law through the [Golden Law] confirmed in advance that there was no high-sequence aura here, so naturally let others do the work.

If everything has to be handled by him, the king and god, then what is the point of maintaining so many armies, secret police, and officials at all levels?
Who is working for whom? Who is Palu?
Especially since Bruch, Gus, Eight Fingers and other right hands of the King have been with Byron for so long and have never been killed by any major events, they have naturally gained considerable growth.

He had killed many enemies in the previous war for the throne, which invisibly met the requirements for his own career advancement. His aura became more and more powerful, and he was getting closer and closer to the fourth level.

For these extraordinary people in the [Ladder of Glory] sequence, the process of doing things and performing their duties is the process of career advancement.

If you don't go through the trials and tribulations, sooner or later you will not be able to keep up with Byron and be eliminated to the second line.

Replacing them will be latecomers such as [Succubus Princess] Therese, [Painter of Hell] Leonardo, [Angry Fox] Fox, [Star Shooter] Barrett and so on.

This is something that even the original team themselves could never accept.

"It is your majesty's will to establish a country based on industry. Any existence that defies your majesty's will is treason and must be completely purged and uprooted!

Follow me in."

Led by Bruch and Rigel, who were the king's closest ministers and best represented Byron's will, the group read Sherlock's preliminary investigation report and immediately strode into the factory that had turned into a primeval forest.

Giant oak trees that are exactly the same as local tree species but much larger in size are densely packed into every space and spread out hundreds of meters from the core workshop area.

Bruch was worried that the Sun Holy Sword would ignite a fire, so he simply switched to the [Bleeding Fighting Technique] and pulled out a blood-filled rapier from his wrist.

With a slight swing of the sword, the sturdy oak trees immediately fell down one after another like weeds with a "boom".

The cut was smooth and did not cause any obstruction to the sword's edge.

But the red liquid slightly oozing out from the cut surface made him frown.

As a midnight demon who had been embraced by Byron for the first time, he was very sure that it was human blood.

This forest eats people!
Not only that, this forest looks lush and green, but just like the vegetation in the tropical rainforest, it instinctively wants to madly absorb every bit of nutrients in the soil and is extremely domineering and exclusive.

No creature deserves to live except me.

If I had to find a word to describe it, it would be "green desert".

But Sanye Island has a temperate maritime climate, and oak trees never have this characteristic. This is obviously due to the murderer behind the scenes.

"Look there quickly."

The [Fairy] Rigrail beside Bruch pointed towards the depths of the forest.

The spinning workshop was the origin of the accident.

The largest oak tree grew out of here, breaking through the roof and instantly strangling all the people working here. The other trees were derived from it.

When they looked over, they saw densely packed faces.

Hundreds of terrified human faces grew from the trunk of the tree.

They seemed to still have a little bit of consciousness left. When they noticed someone coming in, they looked at them with distorted faces and roared:

"help me."

But this was also the last sentence they spoke with their own consciousness, and it was immediately replaced by another more vast and malicious will:
"sinner!"

"sinner!"

"Anyone who destroys the natural environment must die!"

"There should be no fire, no swords, no guns, no warships, and even less roaring machines. The symbiosis of man and forest is the way of nature!"

The words express a deep hatred for all things unnatural, especially the "humanized world".

Unfortunately, these people are elites who grew up with Byron in the colonies, a place close to the mythological era. The little weirdness caused by the local weak magic environment can't scare them.

Moreover, the claims made by the other party are simply anti-human.

They explicitly deny all the achievements of human civilization and want to make them regress to the primitive age when they could not even use fire and had to eat raw meat and drink blood.

It even fundamentally denies the "anti-entropy" ability of human beings to establish order, supports the natural chaos and "entropy increase" of this world, and even the fate of being completely swallowed up by the Sea of ​​​​Source.

Even among the various old god cults that have become minions of the Sea of ​​Element, this is the most radical one.

At least the whale oil of the Leviathan whale does not even produce smoke when burned, let alone serious water and air pollution.

The "Fog City" in Byron's previous life cannot be called this city at all.

This can attract the hostility of nature. If it were replaced by industrialization driven by coal, wouldn't it devour them alive?

Without waiting for Bruch and his group to react.

call out!call out!call out!
The towering oak canopy and thousands of massive branches lashed down upon them.

The group did not panic at all, and the [Fairy] Rigrael took the initiative to step forward and took off her black cloak.

She was wearing a fiery red dance dress, revealing her white shoulders, slender waist and belly button.

There were silver bells tied around her wrists and ankles, and a pair of bare feet as white as jade, without a speck of dust on them, so white that they seemed to glow.

In the dim woods, the long fiery red hair of the Kimpses looked particularly bright.

A pair of beautiful eyes were originally just gorgeous heterochromatic pupils, one was light blue as transparent as the sky, and the other was gorgeous amber.

As the [Snake Girls] who had been promoted to the third-level extraordinary species, all of them turned into upright snake pupils, with a unique charm that was dangerous and weird.

She looks like a weak and harmless prey, but she is also very bright. However, with the special effect of the title [Absolute Charm] and the professional ability of the dancer [Body Rhythm], she is also the most dangerous predator among all extraordinary professions.

The most dangerous hunters often appear in the form of prey, and few people of the same level can resist her charm.

Ring ring ring.
The slender waist twisted, the hips swayed, and the sound of silver bells suddenly rang, like a seductive beauty snake. The alienated oak tree, which was full of murderous intent towards the group of people just now, suddenly stopped moving.

Rigrael looked directly at the face closest to him and asked in a cat-like, slightly hoarse but magnetic voice:
"Relax, we are not enemies. Tell me who killed you and where did it go?"

That wooden face was already filled with obsession, the initial anger was completely swept away, and there was even a hint of pink in the pair of cloudy eyes.

After a brief struggle, he told her everything:

“It is nature itself that is killing us!
It is angry, it wants to kill all the existences that threaten nature, it has not left, it is still here, it is coming, it is coming
Beware of its arrows!"

Before he could fully explain, a shadow that did not belong to Bruch's team was reflected in his wooden eyes.

In the dim forest dozens of meters away from them, the light and shadow suddenly flickered, revealing a figure that they had subconsciously ignored from beginning to end.

It was not until the victim pointed it out to them that they realized that the figure had always been standing there, yet had completely blended into the forest.

It was a half-human, half-deer monster, with the upper body of a naked, fit human female, a pair of antlers on her head that were much larger than the Golden Deer, and the lower body of a female deer.

Holding a longbow with tender leaves still growing on it, there is a green natural halo under his feet.

The temperament is pure, primitive, vibrant, and full of unreasonable savagery.

The tower sequence naturalist accompanying the team read the other party's name: "Weird·Nature's Wrath.

The rule is to kill indiscriminately any nature destroyers that enter the forest, and habitually turn humans into nutrients for the forest.

The criteria is that anything man-made, including clothing, counts.

Perhaps only those who like to streak naked can escape this fate.”

No wonder the workers who were killed said that the murderer was nature itself, which should be one of the most primitive natural spirits in the mythological era.

But they did not remember that such a thing had ever been born on the land of Hastings since the beginning of the Silver Age.

The moment the other party appeared, he drew his bow and shot an arrow at the [Fairy] Rigrael in the front.

Although this [Snake Woman] masters many black magics and has many snake skins of [Beast Spirit Warriors], her combat effectiveness is very impressive.

But with her husband Bruch, the guardian knight known as the "Iron Wall", by her side, she naturally doesn't need to do the heavy work herself.

clang!
Bruch, who had been concentrating and on high alert, unleashed the [Holy Sword of the Sun] with all his strength, and it seemed as if a sun suddenly rose in the forest.

The ability of [Sun Knight] obviously restrained the grotesque existence, and he cut the arrow shot by the opponent into two pieces in mid-air with one arrow.

The arrow transformed from an acorn fell to the ground, but it took root and sprouted instantly, and grew into a towering tree in an instant, waving its roots to sweep up all the people nearby.

Others nearby dodged.

They finally understood how the factory under construction had become like this.

The oak tree clearly treated all the workers and craftsmen as fertilizer.

While Bruch was defending, [Phantom Blade] Guts, [Sword Master] Hermann and others rushed forward together.

In particular, the Marquis Neville, who held the dictator's staff, took the lead and roared:
"The Industrial Revolution is the future of the Neville family. If you dare to mess with it, you are courting death!"

Back then, his ancestors were one of the main forces that forced Byron's eighth-generation ancestor, King John the Lost, to sign the Magna Carta.

When the divine monarch Byron came to power and displayed the demeanor of a [Ten Thousand Winged Angel], he immediately realized that there would be no good end to opposing royal power, and without hesitation, he led the neutral faction to kneel on the spot.

He voluntarily handed over the military power in his hands and the land he had occupied by various means.

While their generation still has the support of the new king, they should quickly exchange it for shares in a series of large companies. The new king will not let them suffer any loss.

Marquis Neville knew very well that although this [King of the Wild Hunt] valued family affection and seemed very easy to talk to, if one dared not to be decent, the other party would have ways to make oneself decent.

And with his kneeling, the 25-member committee used to supervise the implementation of the Magna Carta disappeared instantly.

Byron's royal power was no longer constrained.

He himself received Byron's First Embrace, and while gaining a long life, he also became a member of Byron's Sabbat Council.

The Marquis of Neville was highly dependent on Byron in politics, economics, and mysticism. Even his only daughter married into the Lancaster royal family. He and Byron undoubtedly had a community of interests, so it was certainly impossible for him to back down when things got tough.

A series of nimble deer hoof sounds were heard.

The weirdo was running through the woods, the trees automatically avoiding her when she passed by, and doing their best to block her pursuers when they passed by.

But even so, with the continuous arrival of reinforcements from the surrounding areas, the nearby nobles also collectively went out to hunt down and intercept [Nature's Wrath].

Soon the entire forest was surrounded by heavy troops, and it was only a matter of time before she was killed.

"Fire!"

Bolt-action rifles and trench brooms made it impossible for the monsters to escape, and the encirclement became smaller and smaller.

At this time, the official strength, organizational ability and centripetal force of the Hastings were no longer the same as in the past.

Although Byron did not come in person, the raven Mist was watching everything quietly on the treetop.

He was very satisfied with the attitude of his subordinates who represented the interests of various groups and wanted to eat Nature's Wrath alive.

"I took advantage of the opportunity to seize the Kingdom of Hastings, consolidate power, and amend the Iron Law of the Kingship in order to make my base an iron barrel.

Is it possible that a mere fourth-order monster could cause trouble on my territory?

Of course, the most important thing is to unite everyone together and integrate forces to the maximum extent to realize the centralized Demonic Banquet Council and democratic centralism!"

Obviously, while Byron was promoting industrialization, he did not forget that software must also keep up.

We cannot continue the old path of the royal family and traditional aristocracy siphoning off all resources and suppressing social vitality;

Nor can we simply copy the original "parliamentary monarchy" or "constitutional monarchy" of the time when the Industrial Revolution occurred, as we could be easily taken over by others if we are not careful.

Coming from later generations, he at least learned that the state of productive forces determines the production relations, and what kind of productive forces there are will ultimately determine what kind of production relations are formed.

When the production relations are compatible with the requirements of the development of productivity, they will effectively promote the development of productivity; when the production relations are incompatible with the requirements of the development of productivity, they will hinder or even destroy the development of productivity.

Once the production relations are completely incompatible with the development of productivity, it will lead to serious social crisis or even revolution!

Therefore, within 150 years after the Industrial Revolution in the previous life, the feudal monarchies all over the world collapsed.

The kings who were sent to the guillotine in the previous life are a lesson for us.

Even the saying "Royal Army, King's Nemesis" was born from that time. The reason why a certain country's army could not add the prefix "Royal" also stemmed from this.

Although the world is different, the economic laws are the same. Instead of waiting until that time and being at a loss, it is better to prepare for it now.

Byron retained the parliamentary system, which meant that he wanted both centralization and democratic decision-making, and widely absorbed outstanding talents to transform them into talents, ensuring the upward channels and preventing the national governance system from becoming rigid.

It is just that equality and nationality in the macro-system cannot cover up the fact of personal dependence in the mysterious realm.

If you want to enter the center of power, you must first be his dependent.

The numerous outstanding talents who can fight their way to the center of power will inevitably continuously enhance the strength of the "Demon Banquet Council".

This targeted parliamentary model ensures both the vitality of democracy and the stability of the concentration of power. It is called "Blacktingist democratic centralism."

It is also a kind of democratic centralization.

The Sabbat Council, led by Byron himself, ensures stable governance, and the blood within the council is flowing.

Although it is not the voting system of the previous life, it is more scientific.

Byron has seen the advanced form of democracy, which gives you two extremely bad options and allows you to choose one of them freely.

It’s not uncommon to see two eighty-year-old men fighting in a ring.

To summarize the core argument, one says: "I'm not stupid" and the other says: "I'm not crazy."

In the past, some nations were good at dealing with the "relationship between man and nature" and gave birth to science; some were good at dealing with the "relationship between man and God" and gave birth to various spiritual practices to pursue inner peace;

Some are better at dealing with "relationships between people" and in the thousands of years of centralized environment, political science was born that has withstood various tests and has never been interrupted.

Anyone who knows will know where Byron's inspiration came from.

Soon, [Wrath of Nature] was surrounded and covered in blood. Byron knew the situation was over and was about to look away.

The [God's Vision] that covered an area of ​​dozens of kilometers suddenly heard a rebuke from a forest far away, with anger suppressed:

"Stuart! We need an explanation.

Why did you expose the [Wrath of Nature] that you raised before everyone was ready?
Many other sects that have now converged on the North Sea region are very dissatisfied with you, the Oak Sages.

When it comes to doing big things, you extreme environmentalists from the Druid sect shouldn’t be dragged into it!”

Byron was shocked.

"Wait, multiple sects? There's more than one causing trouble?!"

(End of this chapter)