The First Magic World War

Andreas finished the bowl of noodles down to the last bit, wiped his mouth, then finally spoke up, "My father wants to go to Bryon, but I don't want to go..."

"I also don't want to become a vampire!"

Charles burst into joy and exclaimed, "Andreas! Come to me, I will treat you like a brother."

Goat Herolf glanced at Andreas and thought, "Not long ago, someone was treated as a son by him."

"If you're willing, you can change your last name to Mecklen, Brittany, Axler, whichever you like!"

"I know you want to completely separate yourself from the past, and I have a secret technique of the Orc Assassin Alliance that's not passed on lightly: the Beast God Transformation Technique. You can even show yourself in the guise of a beastman!"

Suddenly, Andreas felt an urge to punch Charles, who had arranged things too meticulously, and that was what made it all the more annoying!

He said softly, "I never said I wanted to defect to you!"

Charles quickly responded, "How could you say such a thing out loud? Let me say it for you."

"Lord Andreas! I sincerely invite you to join the Mecklen Family, to join the Westwind Knights, and let us build a great enterprise together..."

Andreas couldn't help but retort, "Charles, why do you look so eager to rebel?"

"After all, Brittany is your father-in-law."

Goat Herolf dryly interjected, "Julius Axler is also McLaren Brittany's father-in-law."

The old goat rendered both Charles and Andreas speechless.

After a moment of silence, Charles said, "Get out!"

Goat Herolf felt a surge of wicked pleasure as he strode out of the room, only to then hear Charles call out, "Come back!"

He found himself involuntarily walking back in.

Charles didn't glance at Goat Herolf again, but eagerly said, "If Lord Andreas is willing to ally himself with us, I can appoint Goat Herolf as your adjutant!"

The old goat hadn't expected Charles's "retaliation" to come so swiftly.

This time, he dared not utter a sound.

Andreas remained silent for quite some time before he finally said, "I've never thought about changing my surname!"

Grasping his hands, Charles said, "Then we'll do as you wish, no changes!"

During this period, Andreas felt extremely despondent and downcast, as if there was nowhere in the vast world he could turn to, consumed by frustration. But after staying with Charles for a short while, he began to wonder, "Am I being conned by a scoundrel?" and, oddly enough, his mood didn't seem quite so gloomy anymore.

Andreas was known as the youngest of the Sacred level in the Black Phoenix, and in fact, he hadn't been at the Sacred level for many years, just like Vigo at the nineteenth rank, but he was much younger than Vigo and had much more potential. Plus, his father was Constantine, in the future, he might well become one of the top powerhouses on the continent, just like Antonio.

Charlotte saw this as a preemptive investment!

Anyway, even if Andreas never recovered, he was still a standard Sacred level figure, and valuing the virtuous and respecting the capable was not exactly a loss.

After a long silence, Andreas said in a low voice, "I will not participate in the fight against the Black Phoenix!"

Charlotte patted his shoulder affectionately and said, "No worries, I definitely won't make things difficult for you."

"The Black Phoenix, after all, is..."

Charlotte hesitated for a moment before retracting the comforting words he had been about to offer. No matter how tactfully put, such consolation wouldn't sound right, so he slightly shifted the topic, saying, "From now on, you'll be responsible for the persuasion process and also help me take care of the captives. After all, I'm not one of the Black Phoenix People. I might not be thorough in attending to details and customs."

Andreas's greatest use was certainly not on the battlefield. Charlotte had plenty of the nineteenth rank beneath him, and he immediately found a "more valuable" job for the youngest Sacred level of the Black Phoenix, asking him to persuade the four captive Sacred level figures to defect. If Andreas really did well in this task, it would be much more effective than him participating in battle.

Andreas had no idea that Charlotte would dig such a hole for him. Hearing it was about persuasion and caring for his captive brethren, he readily agreed. This task sounded much more humane.

Charlotte was truly considerate. He immediately arranged several attendants for Andreas and secured accommodation for him, sending him off to bathe and change clothes. Although these sons of top nobility could endure hardship, they weren't really accustomed to living tough.

The priority was to get him to change into the uniform of the Fars Empire as soon as possible.

After Andreas left and daylight began to break, Charlotte called his subordinates together again for another military meeting.

The topic of this military meeting was very clear: how to take down Sesath?

Thanks to Andreas, Charlotte's thinking had broadened. He proposed sending letters of persuasion first to the four nobles blocking the way, and this suggestion received unanimous approval.

Charlotte took up the pen himself, starting the letter with: Constantine and Andreas, father and son, are now in a certain camp. The Black Phoenix is destined to fall. Why not plan for your survival early?

After finishing the letters, Charlotte sent messengers to deliver them to the four Black Phoenix nobles.

The lands of these four nobles were quite distant, and it was no short journey for the messengers. Therefore, without waiting for their replies, Charlotte finally received news of the four-nation alliance against the Black Phoenix. He was two days late in getting this news, and by this time, the allied army of four nations had already split into more than twenty groups, led by top nobles of various countries, and had invaded the Black Phoenix territory.

How could the army loyal to the Black Phoenix withstand such a fierce offensive? Even with desperate resistance, they managed only to hold off a few of the main armies, leaving no forces to confront the rest, letting the noble knighthoods of the allied countries run rampant within Black Phoenix territory.

Five or six days later, the four nobles responded differently. One of the barons killed Charlotte's messenger, swearing to fight him to the death; but the other three nobles all expressed willingness to surrender, each setting forth various conditions.

At this point, Charlotte was running out of patience—he needed to seize more land. After all, the lands he could take would surely become the Earl Mecklen's territories, and he had never counted on acquiring other lands seized by someone else.

Charlotte promptly issued a war threat, demanding that the three nobles surrender unconditionally and join him in attacking the baron who refused to surrender. He guaranteed the three nobles the same status in the Fars Empire and gave them a three-day deadline. He stated that once the time passed, he would mercilessly slaughter their entire clan, leaving none alive.

Charlotte's threat was, in fact, just for show—he had never really committed such genocides, as such actions were too inhumane and a transmigrator simply couldn't bring himself to do it.

However, he did not know that his reputation among the Black Phoenix was not very good. His sending opponents to Cappadocia led many of the Black Phoenix People to one conclusion: those who opposed surrender would disappear, never seen alive nor found dead. There were even rumors that Charlotte's Beastman army had eaten the dissidents.

The three Black Phoenix nobles, upon receiving the war ultimatum, were trembling with fear and panic...