Chapter 1,448 Riot

In March of the year 736 of the Christian era, several articles on the forum detonated this virtual space that connected the entire Lost Land.

’ I remember I was guarding the magic tower at a traffic intersection. Overnight, I became an island guard! ’

There are several articles like this, and the authors are all tower owners of magic towers. They used their own angles and writing styles to describe the apocalyptic thunder that struck one day, ravaging the land and everything on it like a downpour.

That natural disaster storm didn't last long, but the result was quite terrifying. The land is gone!

What was once a mountain has become a sea. What was once a plain with endless farmland has become a sea. Where there were once lush forests, it became the sea. Even what was once a busy port or town has become the sea.

The trees and plants that once grew on the land, the wild beasts and monsters running around, or the living people one after another, all disappeared with the land.

No one would be naive to think that these people or creatures migrated to live elsewhere. Because there is no time at all!

However, the descriptions of the Magic Tower owners are only the beginning.

Countless requests for missing persons. There are also many emotional articles claiming that their former home has turned into a vast ocean and they cannot go back even if they want to.

There are also very few people who have witnessed with their own eyes the article about the thunder melting away the land. And death is probably only a few steps away from the author. These people were all lucky enough to hide within the range of the magic tower, or they crossed some invisible boundaries.

When the news spread in the Karlsruhe Empire Conference Hall that the Grand Duke Frias had declared war on a magician, everyone was shocked to realize that the Grand Duke's territory, which was the protagonist of the declaration of war, was completely gone!

It wasn't that it was deprived of its title, it wasn't that it was usurped by neighboring nobles, it wasn't that it was occupied by enemies, it was that it was 'gone' in a practical sense. It’s gone at the land level.

Also because of the coastal location, sea water poured in, turning the former territory of the Grand Duchy into an ocean! And not only the territories directly under the Grand Duke, but also the territories with secondary titles that he entrusted were in the same situation.

Then what caused all this was a metal monster that could emit thunder, and the witness was everyone in Neuquen Imperial City. Including dignitaries and common people, and even lower-level untouchables or foreign businessmen, adventurers, and mercenaries.

People all over the country were telling the same thing in unison, and it was difficult for outsiders not to believe it. Because there were too many witnesses, there was no point that could be questioned. The only question is, where did those metal monsters floating in the sky come from?

Finally, the most exciting news is that the magician had a fight with the Lord of Guardians and survived! The witnesses were a bunch of nobles from the empire.

They had no intention of hiding the news and even spread it widely. In particular, he warned the children in the family that no one should mess with the magician.

Because of that battle, many people watched the beginning, and even more stayed until the end. Although it is not the outcome of who defeats whom, facing a god with powerful divine power sequence, it is almost a miracle that the magician can survive.

Furthermore, there are too many families that, because of the battle between the magician and the guardian lord, have arranged the funeral of the family head and started large or small civil strife over the issue of inheritance. The tragic situation of these families is also the sequelae and evidence left by that battle. No one can pretend to be blind, let alone want to be a part of it.

In short, for a person who can dig up a grand duke's territory into an ocean with just one order, and even fight with the Lord of Guardians, let alone take him seriously, he simply avoids him for fear of being caught!

All conspiracies and calculations have been suspended. In the face of absolute strength, crushing all conspiracies is not a big problem. No one wants to be the one who gets crushed.

Even the position of the empress supported by the magician became more subtle. After all, the adultery between the two people has long been known to the public, and the nobles also regard this relationship as a handle, hiding it, just waiting for a suitable opportunity.

Now they don't dare to move, and no one dares to take the lead. No one dares to bet on whether the magician will act recklessly regardless of the consequences. No one can afford the consequences of the magician going crazy.

But it was impossible to turn around and change his stance to curry favor with the empress. Rather than going through the relationship with the Empress, it would be better to go directly to the magician.

But it is a point of view that was avoided before. No one wants to contact that one because they have no effective checks and balances. It is impossible for such a person to accept the recruitment of nobles, and no nobles dare to recruit them. What the nobles need is a dog that can bite people, not a master to take home and provide for them.

So is it going to cause a stumbling block and overturn what the person is promoting recently? Then find a way to invite that great god out and get him out of the empire as soon as possible.

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When the nobles put it together, the best way was to accelerate the magician's plan!

Fortunately for the bank, the initiative lies with the goddess of gold coins. Although the magician is the chosen one of the goddess, he does the same things as other elves, and he is not particularly outstanding or has the power to control. Everyone even heard that that person had lost his identity as a voter!

This news is not surprising at all. Anyone with some foundation in family inheritance knows the past relationship between the Gold Coin Goddess and the Three Holy Lights. One side is a comrade-in-arms and the other side is a servant. It is obvious which side a normal person would choose to support. Gods are no exception.

As for the establishment of the constitution, that matter was to remove the power of the emperor and put the power in the hands of the nobles. Although there is an additional law as a nominal restraint, an additional lower council has been set up, and some members have come out to raise their hands in approval, the emperor's power is gone. How can the magician who is very close to the empress still make a difference? .

...it seems possible...

But thinking about it from another perspective, as long as the empress hands over the power legally, even if she is attached to the magician, she will not be able to conquer the sky! This is very important.

On the contrary, the nobles now have to worry about whether the empress will simply stop the matter of establishing a constitution and rely on the strength of the magician to clean up all the nobles.

No, not a single grand duke is gone.

Archduke Frias was still alive, as were his wife and children.

The Grand Duke's residence in Neuquen Imperial City was destroyed, and a bottomless pit was left on the scene that seemed to lead directly to the abyss.

But because the incident happened during the day, everyone in the Grand Duke's family went out to participate in a social banquet hosted by others. Therefore, along with the Grand Duke's mansion, only some servants and minor nobles who had served the Grand Duke's family for a long time were gone.

Archduke Frias' estates everywhere were basically intact. Includes strongholds in various important towns and related manpower. Those are all profitable industries and capable manpower.

Backed by the reputation of the Grand Duke, his family was always the one who ate meat and drank soup in the Karlsruhe Empire.

But the Grand Duchy was all gone. In a real sense, everything is gone, including the land and people.

Whether it was the excellent Duke's Guard or the territorial heritage that could be drafted to form several legions at any time, everything was gone. Agricultural output, mineral output, tax revenue, these are also gone.

Even if he insists that the ocean, which was originally the territory of the Grand Duke of Frias, is still his territory. The Grand Duke also had no one to organize fishing and generate income.

Strictly speaking, such a person is no longer qualified to be called a noble. At most, he is a wealthy businessman...

Yes, after losing the territory and its population, although the title of Grand Duke was not removed, can he still be regarded as Grand Duke?

It’s not like the down-and-out nobles don’t have anyone to lend a helping hand. Because as long as the title is still there and you have the qualifications to rule a certain territory, there will naturally be people who are willing to rely on these conditions to do some fancy things.

But now... many nobles remembered what the magician said in the meeting hall. When the territory and population are all gone, will the noble bloodline and long-term connections still exist?

At least at the moment when Archduke Frias was jumping up and down, no one planned to respond to his request and target the magician who was 'beaten by the Lord of Guardians until he lost one hand'. It was as if that little bit of disability made the magician victorious.

No nobleman wants to test this with his own wealth. Especially since there was an unlucky guy in front of him who gambled his fortune. Although it was not the point of going bankrupt, it was not far away.

Not only was there no hope for the revenge war that Archduke Frias tried to provoke, but all the originally planned marriages were also aborted. Some commercial cooperation, whether under negotiation or in progress, has been interrupted, especially grain sales and iron ore transactions.

It means that the territory is gone and the people are gone. Even if the food is not produced, no one will eat it if it is purchased from others. The same goes for those minerals. Therefore, a considerable part of the business cooperation was interrupted, not because the other party looked down on the remaining Archduke Frias, but simply because there was no demand.

There are also some political opponents of Archduke Frias who are secretly colluding to deprive...it should be said to cancel the title of 'Grand Duke Frias'.

Even though one has no territory, one can still be granted the title of nobility. However, there are many falsely titled nobles without territory in the empire. However, the Grand Duke has the title of a prince and is responsible for protecting the land, which is different from ordinary nobles.

Therefore, the suggestions made by political opponents to add insult to injury can only be said to be just right, and no one can find fault with them.

But despite the death, the nobles still maintained a certain respect for Archduke Frias. There is no snobbery in beating the other person into a civilian on the spot and turning a blind eye.

On the one hand, it is also because the Grand Duke still retains some of his property outside the territory, and everyone is looking for ways to divide it up, trying to allow themselves or their families to absorb as much benefit as possible, or to take over peacefully.

With the current strength of Archduke Frias, he cannot protect so many interests. It is the right thing to give something to others, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

With the example of the Grand Duke in front of us, everyone must be cautious in their attitude towards the emperor.

Thanks to the establishment of the Constitution, the magician was the one who took over the power from the emperor. Everyone enthusiastically and spared no effort to support and take action, even the magician couldn't say no.

Therefore, the current situation of the Karlsruhe Empire is a bit strange and unpredictable. Everyone was vaguely rejecting a certain magician and the empress who was connected to that magician. But for the things that the magician promoted, it was like a horse with wings.