The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The army of Anjou was more difficult to deal with than Judith had imagined.

This may be because, apart from the tank crew, the infantry responsible for coordinating the advance on Judy's tanks were all green recruits, and the terrain to the southwest was more complex, so the tanks could only advance along a fixed route.

Moreover, Anjou's army is clearly more flexible than the demons, who can only rely on bloodline magic and the power of demon god offspring to fly around.

However, they were only slightly more difficult to deal with than Judith had imagined. The armored forces were far more mobile than any army of this era, and they were also equipped with special military communication machines. This gave Judith complete control over the armored forces, allowing her to reclaim the territory that Anjou had seized during the defense of the capital in a blitzkrieg-like manner.

Looking at the battle report sent on the communicator, Judith felt for the first time that fighting was so simple. No wonder the Governor of the North, now the acting Chancellor, could so confidently use this war to train new recruits.

Of course, the main reason was that Linde was worried that the soldiers from the North would not adapt well to the South, as almost all of them were new recruits except for the officers.

As for why Judith could appear so freely on the battlefield in the Southern Territory, it was naturally because the rule that dukes could not leave the capital was now a mere formality. Although this rule was originally established to consolidate royal power and restrain the great nobles, it was no longer necessary.

With the advent of communication devices, information exchange became increasingly convenient, and the capital's reach could extend to every corner. During periods of central dominance, such rules would seem to restrict one's actions.

Meanwhile, due to Lind's assertive attitude and Judith's relentless attacks, Alberto returned to the negotiating table.

Linde also showed great sincerity, with Lucanus representing Linde directly in negotiations with Anjou and Alberto.

Lind's demands were simple, with no hard requirements regarding territory. He only needed Anjou to sever ties with the demons, repatriate its personnel from the Kingdom of Avar, cease research into super-level magic, share the unearthed intelligence and technology of the old empire, and allow Lind's personnel to enter the ruins of the old empire within Anjou's territory. In return, the two sides could cease hostilities and return to a state of brotherhood.

But for Anjou, this was tantamount to slow suicide. Putting aside the issue of sharing the old empire's technology, severing ties with the demons and the Kingdom of Avar was essentially tantamount to Anjou voluntarily abandoning all its allies. With Capet's superior weaponry, Anjou had essentially lost all its bargaining chips.

If we can't win a direct confrontation and we don't have any allies, then we'll be at Capela's mercy.

Even though many of the conditions were actually proposed by the Tower and not Lind's original intention, the negotiations still made no substantial progress.

Lucanus wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he took a stroll around the capital of Anjou during the downtime between negotiations.

Cassius stayed close behind Lucanus, since no one knew Lucanus's true purpose better than Cassius. If they weren't careful, Lucanus might steal important information about Anjou.

Although neither of them are ancient turtles, they are at least a hundred years old, so they are well aware of what the other wants to do.

"Not bad, it's much more prosperous than I imagined."

As Lucanos walked through the streets of Anjou, he nodded frequently.

"It's even more magnificent than Capet's capital, no wonder you were so devoted to assisting the king you chose."

Although it was a compliment, Cassius didn't appreciate it. Lucanus's attitude made Cassius feel even worse than if they had directly argued, because Lucanus's tone made it seem like he no longer considered Cassius an opponent, but rather was making a neutral assessment.

In response to the silence of Cassius, Lucanus said:

"Those relics from our hometown, weren't you helping with that? Aren't you breaking the rules by doing this?"

Lucanos turned around, smiling, and faced Cassius, as if questioning him, but also as if he no longer cared.

"The world is about to descend into chaos, and it will be no use adhering to the old rules."

As he said this, Cassius's gaze drifted elsewhere. Clearly, Cassius also did not approve of his own actions as a member of the record-keeping faction, yet he was the first to break the rules.

"Oh? So you recorders will also write these things down truthfully?"

"Of course, don't confuse us with you bunch of guys who treat history like a joke!"

Unlike Lucanus, who always wore a smile and had a mocking expression, Cassius, though usually expressionless, wore his anger on his face.

"But you lot, you don't really intend to abide by the rules of those towers, do you? Have you forgotten that the towers turned a blind eye to the collapse of the empire? Do you really want to trust those guys who just cower in the towers and then come out to seize the empire's research results at the last minute?"

“Lucanus, you should remember our ultimate purpose in being created: to restore the glory of the old empire. Super-level magic, demons, towers—none of it matters. They will all eventually grovel before the glory of the old empire!”

Cassius clenched his fist with one hand, his expression excited, as if this was the most important thing to him.

“But Cassius, you record-keeping people know better than us what a crude technology transplant will bring, don’t you? That’s why we try to avoid having our respective kings directly use the technology from the old empire era.”

Lucanus, unusually, showed no sign of jest, and instead spoke quite seriously to his former colleague:

“My king once told me that many technologies are not transparent in their operating mechanisms and underlying logic. They are like mechanical devices that exist in a black box. People only know that what goes in will come out, but they do not understand the underlying principles. Such technologies must be used with caution.”

“Cassius, my colleague, our birth and existence are inherently intertwined with technological black boxes. You should also know that the rebellion we faced back then was also instigated by our colleagues who were born at the same time as us, using the same technology. My king is right. We must be extremely careful with this kind of technology. There is no room for error in the empire's revival. Every step must be taken with utmost care.”

When Lucian spoke of the rebellion that led to the empire's downfall, Cassius's expression was not good. In the end, Cassius snorted coldly, but only said, "I know that, of course. I know what I'm doing. The empire was destroyed because of our compatriots, so we naturally have an obligation to restore it to the world."