Translator: Cinder Translations
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Of course, there are some difficulties in involving mages in the specific breeding work, such as the fact that Anderson, who is in charge of the breeding, happens to come from a religious background.
For well-known reasons, the relationship between these two groups is rather tense, and if they have to interact for work, it could easily cause trouble.
It is best to keep them separate in the process.
Paul instructed the newly established Ministry of Magic to resolve this issue.
This is a small secret department, at least for now, it is secret. Magic and mages are objectively existing things, and as Paul delves deeper into the subject, he feels that the actual scale of this group is not small. Therefore, it is necessary to set up a dedicated institution to handle related affairs.
Originally, he wanted to assign the most trusted mage, Ladia Setia, to head this institution, but she firmly rejected it. He had no choice but to let Cecil select the most tight-lipped individuals from the Intelligence Department to be in charge and choose personnel from the mage community who have always been in hiding as staff members.
The head of the Ministry of Magic must undergo regular or random mental assessments by Ladia Setia.
Hansel told Paul about his observations in the royal capital, Crystal Glare, including his invitation by King Rodney XVIII to a banquet. He shared with Paul the King's inquiries about Paul and his own response to the King, telling everything in detail.
Hansel looked at Paul with a cautious gaze, seemingly trying to gauge whether the lord would be displeased with his response to the King. When he saw Paul just smile and shrug, Hansel breathed a sigh of relief.
"His Majesty will send some young officers to the Northwest Bay. He hopes that you can command them as you would your own soldiers and have them stationed at the frontlines to fight the orcs."
"Training for grassroots experience? We can arrange positions for them."
"Princess Catherine will be coming to the Northwest Bay with them."
Paul nodded. It seemed that Alden was about to welcome a new mistress.
"Uh, there have been some personnel changes in the kingdom's government recently."
"Is there anything we should pay special attention to?"
"The Minister of Finance has promoted a guy named Trevor Stuart as one of his assistants!"
Paul noticed the disrespect in Hansel's tone and a look of doubt appeared in his eyes.
Hansel introduced: "The Stuart family has always had a prominent reputation in the financial world of Crystal Glare."
In this era, "finance" really meant—lending money!
A look of disgust flashed across Hansel's face: "Although many people do this job, the Stuart family especially has no bottom line. But there's nothing we can do; the kingdom's government needs such moneybags right now."
Paul could tell that this prominent reputation was clearly negative.
"Trevor privately spoke to me. He's very interested in our Northwest Bank and bond issuance, among other things. Oh, and your views on the nature of money. According to him, he always had some vague, unstructured concepts in his mind until he heard your grand theory from someone else. He felt like the sky had cleared up. He's very sorry he wasn't present to talk to you personally at that time."
"He just thinks your current approach is still too conservative. If you're willing to cooperate with the Stuart family, he is willing to offer more financial support and... some of his more creative ideas."
Paul shrugged his shoulders. "For people like him, it's best to keep our distance!"
He had no intention of responding to Mr. Trevor's invitation.
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The city of Niceport in the Horns Bay fell into its most perilous moment.
As the largest city in the region, Niceport had a significant draw on the population. Besides the area protected by high city walls, there were also many buildings outside the walls.
Before the Church Army arrived, Niceport quickly built a temporary wall to protect its outer areas. But it was soon breached by the highly motivated Church Army, and all the buildings outside the walls fell into enemy hands.
The Church Army had made thorough preparations to capture this large city. Huge catapults were ominously arranged around Niceport. Soldiers placed large stones in the slings, and turned the winches to pull the long arms back to nearly horizontal positions. Then, they suddenly released them, and the slings shot the stones out, making a terrifying whistling sound as the stones fell like meteors onto Niceport.
As a long-range weapon, catapults were inaccurate, often failing to hit any precise targets, but when there were many of them and they targeted the entire city, they were terrifying.
Almost no civilian buildings in the city could withstand the massive stones falling from the sky. Countless houses were destroyed, and those hit by the giant stones had horrific fates.
In addition to the stone attacks, there was also no stop to the substantial assault on the city. Every time the stone barrage paused, the Church Army's soldiers pushed siege towers, ladders, and other equipment, launching attacks with increasing ferocity, under the cover of arrow towers.
As the major ports on land fell, the Horns Bay Alliance's navy was greatly weakened by the loss of land-based reinforcements, suffering continuous defeats to the Church Fleet.
Once a source of pride for the Alliance, the navy was forced to retreat some of its forces to the last port, Niceport, where sailors disembarked to assist with the defense. The rest were scattered, becoming small pirate groups, desperately harassing the Church Army's passing ships.
These small-scale raids couldn't stop the ever-growing naval power of the Church Army—partly from the Papal support, and partly from the recruitment of defectors.
The Church Fleet surrounded the port, only temporarily unable to break in due to thick iron chains blocking the port.
Whether on land or sea, communication between Niceport and the outside world was completely cut off.
The people inside did not know the situation of their allies elsewhere. They might still be fighting, or they may have already fallen under the enemy's iron hooves. Niceport was the last bastion of the entire New Faith Alliance.
The entire city was shrouded in a doomsday-like atmosphere, and the people inside only managed to hold on because of their fear of the punishments the Church would impose once the city fell.
Since the war began, the Horns Bay Church had made various threats to intimidate the New Faith Alliance, but now, it had become the "spiritual pillar" for the people of Niceport.
All the able-bodied men were mobilized, stationed day and night on the city walls to resist the Church Army's siege. Women with better physical strength were also assigned various logistical tasks.
The elderly, weak, and sick were gathered in churches, praying day and night for the Lord of Light to grant them salvation and punish the fallen ones outside the city who abused the name of the Father to carry out tyrannical deeds.
Perhaps due to their devout prayers, a miracle truly happened.
(End of the Chapter)
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