Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 352 North-South Layout
"One is Sunfire City on Summerset Island," Cassius introduced. "It is rumored that before the War King was exiled, the city lord, Earl Oren, once fought against him. Although Earl Oren was defeated, he also won the respect of the War King. He was recognized by the world as having outstanding strength in the field of heroes, and was also one of the first local nobles to be awarded in the East."

He glanced at Latan and continued, "I heard that Earl Oren has a close personal relationship with Lord Mugram of Kalia. In recent years, Sunfire City has also maintained very close trade relations with the Western Territory. I think they have already made plans, which will be very beneficial for His Highness Latan to contact the other party in the future. However, three months ago, the news that Earl Oren was seriously ill suddenly came. I wonder if Your Highness has heard about it?"

Latan was slightly startled and said, "No."

"According to our informants in Sunfire City, many people with suspicious identities have appeared in Sunfire City recently. In particular, several mysterious beings have visited the City Lord's Mansion many times. I'm afraid there is something fishy going on. If Your Highness is determined to conquer Sunfire, it would be better to go south as soon as possible. This time, Your Highness has the unparalleled reputation of killing evil gods. As long as you go to Sunfire in person before chaos occurs, no matter whether the mastermind behind it is the New Party, secret envoys, or those shady cultists, they will all be defeated without any attack."

Latan exchanged glances with several demigods, then nodded seriously and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Chief. After the meeting, I will go to Sunyan immediately."

"I have said that after this battle, you can drive me wherever you want. Your Highness Latan does not need to thank me," Cassius smiled faintly, "but Your Highness should bring someone with you on this trip."

"Who?"

"Your Highness's opponent in the first round of the Rhea Lukalia Duel Tournament is the Sea Mage Oga. You may not know that he is the only son of Count Oren and the only heir to Sunfire City."

"That's it, I understand."

Lucia understood what was going on as she listened. It turned out that Latan had such a connection with Oga, the most famous of the Red Lion Knights.

Judging from the geographical location, Summerset Island is the large island connected by the Unbreakable Bridge, and "Sunfire City" is the "Red Lion City", the capital of Gaileid in the future where Latan will be stationed.

Just now, Latan used his eyes to silently ask for his and Michaela's opinions, actually to confirm whether the two parties accepted Kalia's plan to take away Sunfire and the South Gelide area to which Sunfire belonged.

The three parties actually had a tacit understanding on this point. Lucia had long known about Kalia's strategy in the Sunfire direction for many years. Although Michaela belonged to the Golden Party, his interests were different from those of the New and Old Parties. He also had no intention of competing for territory this time, so naturally they had no objection.

"Now that we have talked about Sunfire City, the last city-state worth noting is Ionia, the largest city in western Gelide."

Cassius's expression became more serious. He said, "If Sunfire City's stance is inclined towards Kalia, it is just that it has encountered changes recently and is still wavering. Ionia has completely turned to the New Golden Party."

"The Lord of Ionia, Count Agnes, unfortunately died while hunting three years ago. The cause is still unknown. He left no offspring before his death, and there happened to be no direct relatives in the family who had the right of inheritance and sufficient strength. Therefore, the real power fell into the hands of the Count's widow."

"This Lady Agnes is not very powerful and has a rather brutal and cruel personality, but she has always maintained an improper relationship with the Marquis Julius, the East Territory Guardian. Over the past three years, she has used the power of the East Territory Guardian Office to firmly grasp the real power of the city-state. She has also launched wars and invaded the land of neighboring states several times, which makes her quite famous."

"With the military forces that the princes currently command in Gailede, it would be as easy as raising a stone to hit an egg, let alone a mere Ionia city. But the crux of the problem lies in the unclear relationship between Ionia and the East Border Guard House."

He looked at Lucia and said meaningfully, "If Your Highness is not ready for a full confrontation, then you should not be too direct and rough when dealing with the problem of the East Territory Garrison."

What is direct and rude?

Everyone knew it well. Sending troops to overthrow Julius's East Border Garrison and dragging people like Lady Agnes directly to the city center to be beheaded as a warning to others was called direct and brutal.

In this way, with Ionia as the center, the entire northern Gelide can be conquered in one fell swoop. But correspondingly, Lucia will have to bear the price of directly tearing its face with the Golden Dynasty.

Although it is not unbearable now, launching a full-scale confrontation at this moment is not in the interests of the Ancient Dragon Dynasty. Instead, it gives the new party who hate him an opportunity to provoke a war. "I will go," Michaela suddenly said, "Please ask Priest Lance to accompany me. Within three days, I guarantee that Marquis Julius will withdraw from Gaileide with the East Territory."

Lance Shanks, who had been listening quietly, narrowed her eyes slightly. Michaela asked her to accompany her not out of consideration of military force, but because she needed a subordinate with enough weight around Lucia to accompany her, so as to take over the sphere of influence of the Ancient Dragon Dynasty after the withdrawal of the East Border Garrison.

This move was equivalent to safely placing half of the Galide in Lucia's hands.

However, Lance did not agree directly, but looked at Lucia quietly, waiting for his reply.

"The Ancient Dragon Dynasty doesn't have to have Ionia," Lucia said calmly, looking directly at Michaela, "In order to establish a new legal system, you also need a base. If you need it, my troops can be withdrawn to the northern Gelide area centered on Torrens Port, and Ionia and Kilim will be left to you."

"Thank you, Lucia—" Michaela smiled slightly, and the pure and holy light on her face made it difficult for anyone to have the slightest evil thoughts.

"Given our relationship, I won't be polite to you. It's just that although the land of Gaileid is fertile and rich, it is not a place for me."

He thought for a moment and said seriously, "I can vaguely feel that if there ever comes a day when I want to stop and establish laws, it might be in the North."

Lucia was stunned for a moment. After experiencing so many earth-shaking changes in this life, would Michaela and Malenia's future eventually return to the sacred tree at the end of the world?

After a brief thought, he sighed softly, looked at Lance and said, "Sister Lance, please take the trouble to accompany Michaela for a while."

Lance smiled and nodded: "Okay."

"However," Lucia turned to Michaela, "until you figure out the way forward, you should stay in Ionia for now. Things have been turbulent in the capital recently, and I feel like something big is going to happen. It's not safe to go back. Besides, if you stay away from that tree, Marennia will recover faster."

Michaela knew that the rich and pure golden power under the golden tree would make the scarlet corruption inexplicably ingrained. Now that Marennia had just escaped the curse of corruption, it was indeed not suitable for her to return. So she smiled and said, "Okay, then for the next few days, my brother and I will be under your wings."

Marennia didn't understand all these military and national affairs, but when she heard that she could still stay with Lucia, she blinked her big eyes and had a silly and happy expression on her little face.

On the other hand, Lani was mostly focused on her magic research and had little interest in the meeting itself. Her only hope was to get Marlenia, who was becoming less and less lovable as she grew older, back to the capital as soon as possible.

In this case, considering that Priest Lance is busy with official duties and cannot stay with Lucia for long, doesn't he have an opportunity? Bah, doesn't he have to work harder to take care of this stupid dragon?
Seeing that her plan had failed and her sister's smug and hateful face again, the Moon Princess held her snow-white cheek in her hand dejectedly, sulking to herself.

After the general direction was decided, everyone discussed in detail the details of the plan's implementation.

After all, the situation at this time is very different from that before the war. With 300,000 loyal troops in hand and several demigods holding the supreme prestige of slaying evil gods, even if they want to do something as big as splitting off Gaileyd, they are destined not to face too much resistance.

"That's it for now..." Lucia stood up and greeted everyone present, "Everyone, take your own actions. When the East Territory is settled, we will discuss the next step here."

(End of this chapter)