Chapter 234: A Cruel World
"Princess Felicia, the youngest and most beloved daughter of the Emperor of the Orlando Empire in the Mainland." Muria muttered softly, "She possesses the right to inherit the imperial throne. She likes to dress in men's clothing and has a strong sense of justice.
She enjoys using the wealth given to her by her father to form long-term employment relationships with the outstanding elite dragons of the Dragon race. Because of the large number of dragons she has contracted, she has earned the title of 'Princess of Dragons'."
"Huh, this young lady sure has some wild ideas," Muria laughed helplessly, recalling the information she had learned about this 'Princess of Dragons'. "How could the princess of the Mainland Empire appear in Aionia?"
...
"Your Highness! The undead in this city have been mostly cleared, and all surviving humans have been gathered together." Fiona, a slender, ancient green dragon, reported to Muria, who stood atop the city gate.
"How many people are still alive in this city?" Muria stood on the city wall, looking out at the vast whiteness outside the city — the ashes remaining after the red dragon, Otris, had burned the endless undead tide outside the city.
"Nine thousand seven hundred and sixty-two people," Fiona the green dragon provided a very precise number. As an ancient green dragon already starting to learn magic, counting populations was an easy task, requiring just a sweep of her psychic power.
"How many residents did this city originally have?" Muria turned to the brother and sister supporting a Dark Knight beside her.
In order to keep her father's soul fire from dissipating, Lady Orina, the noblewoman, cast Bull's Strength on herself and dragged the Dark Knight, who weighed over three hundred pounds in armor, up the city wall.
Because outside the city walls were countless low-level undead, and for endless years, countless beings had been buried under the earth. Under the call of the top-tier necromantic spell, Necromantic Catastrophe, these bones, which should have slowly decayed in the ground, were all reanimated.
However, these awakened undead had almost been completely slaughtered by the red dragon, Otris. Countless soul fires without bodies drifted in the air, slowly dispersing.
Orina dragged her father up to the city wall for these gradually vanishing low-level soul fires...
Hearing Muria's question, Orina had yet to answer when the Dark Knight, who was engulfing the low-level soul fires like a whale and no longer had to worry about vanishing, responded to Muria's question: "Cecil City had a permanent population of two hundred and thirty-four thousand people. If you include the transient population, it should be around three hundred thousand."
"Three hundred thousand people." Hearing the number given by the undead lord of Cecil, Muria pursed her lips, "Now, less than ten thousand have survived."
"Damn it!" The Dark Knight, his soul fire now stable, heard Muria's words and felt an unprecedented anger, punching the city wall uncontrollably. Numerous cracks spread under his fist, reaching the ground. "Why do my people have to suffer this calamity?"
"Not only your territory was attacked by liches," Muria glanced at the Dark Knight, who had nearly smashed a city wall with one punch, "All cities in your Bavarian Kingdom suffered the same fate. If nothing unexpected happens, from now on, you are nobles of a fallen kingdom."
"We are now nobles of a fallen kingdom!" Orina and the young boy Balk froze, "What exactly happened?"
"The Bavarian Kingdom was targeted by the Council of the Undead. Two days ago, your kingdom's capital was breached," Muria briefly described what had happened, letting them understand what they had encountered.
"Why was our Bavarian Kingdom chosen?" Orina, with resentment and anger, looked towards the ruined Cecil City. "There are nearly a hundred human kingdoms and thousands of duchies in Elasia. Why was my kingdom chosen?"
"Although there's only a less than one percent chance, as long as the Council of the Undead exists, there will inevitably be a kingdom that falls every hundred years. It's certain," Muria said flatly. "There's nothing strange about your kingdom being chosen this time."
"Why does the Council of the Undead have to be so cruel? My kingdom had a population of over a hundred million. All these people, they actually want to kill them all? Are they just satisfying their desire to kill?" Orina's eyes were filled with tears as she looked to Muria for an answer.
Hearing the girl's question, the Dark Knight also turned his gaze to Muria. He too wanted to know why the Council of the Undead decimated nations every hundred years. After all, he was comfortably being a count at home when the catastrophe fell from the sky, giving him no time to react or prepare, destroying everything he had, and turning him into this ghostly figure.
"Cannon fodder collection!" Muria took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slowly uttered four words.
"What?" Orina looked puzzled.
"Every hundred years, the cannon fodder of the Council of the Undead is about to run out. The act of annihilating a kingdom is to collect new cannon fodder."
Muria held his face taut, recounting this brutally harsh reality for the people of the Bavarian Kingdom.
In fact, when he asked the Golden Dragon Sister and learned the purpose of the Council of the Undead's centennial annihilation of kingdoms, he was stunned for a long time.
When he learned this news, Muria truly realized the cruel side of the world of Elasia, where the law of the jungle was vividly displayed.
A top-tier force, to replenish their cannon fodder, could unabashedly slaughter cities and destroy kingdoms. The human kingdoms' population of over a hundred million was nothing more than batches of leeks in their eyes. Every once in a while, they would come to harvest.
"How can this be?" Hearing the reason for their suffering from Muria, Orina's face was blank, and the Dark Knight's soul fire also trembled violently, reflecting his agitated emotions.
"How can it not be?" Muria countered.
"Why does an evil organization like the Council of the Undead continue to exist?" Orina murmured, "Why don't our human empire's top ten empires join hands to destroy this organization?"
"Because the target of the Council of the Undead has always been only human duchies and kingdoms. They never provoke the top ten empires of your human race, so don't expect them to take action."
"With so many duchies and kingdoms, why don't they join forces to fight this evil organization? If one country can't do it, what about ten countries, or a hundred?"
"Girl, do you know the coverage area of the deathly mist above your head?"
"..." The tear-stained girl shook her head.
"This mist covers all the territories of your kingdom but is limited to the Bavarian Kingdom. Not a single wisp will drift outside the borders of your kingdom! When the mist dissipates, a kingdom with almost no inhabitants will appear on Aionia."
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