forest kingdom

Outside, it was the silent darkness of snow and ice, and inside the room, there was a dim light hazy due to water vapor.

Lawrence sat in the warm hot tub and closed his eyes quietly.

The exotic princess sitting next to him did not attract Lawrence's attention.

Several dark elf maids with their hair tied up in buns soon came in and helped Lawrence relieve the fatigue accumulated from the journey.

Meiqier quickly made way for the scene, watching it with some curiosity, shyness and nervousness.

Lawrence didn't do anything indecent, he was just tired.

Emma came in with bath towels, combs and other things, sat by the sink where Lawrence was leaning against, and combed Lawrence's hair.

“Master, you were out for a long time this time. Did a lot of things happen over there?”

Lawrence closed his eyes and uttered "hmm" softly.

"It took me several months to sort out some trivial matters this time. At least I won't have to worry about Western affairs for a few years."

"There are also a lot of things to deal with in the south and the east, but there is no rush. For a long time to come, we will focus on solving the problems in the Ice Land."

"Let's talk about it later. There's no rush."

Emma said gently, "Yes, Master."

Lawrence took a quick shower and quickly got up and left the bath. Before leaving, he looked at Meiqier, who had not been able to get a word in.

"I have sent someone to deliver a return gift to your kingdom. You can live here peacefully in the future. You can also study and visit the monastery and the Saint's College."

"But this is my private bathroom. Tomorrow I will arrange for someone to build you a bathroom in your room. It will definitely be smaller, but it will be enough."

Mercier said quickly, "Yes, great prophet."

Lawrence went back to his room to rest and had a good sleep in the company of Sophia, Sally, Catherine and Emma.

In the early morning, the warm sun outside shone into the glass windows of the castle and onto the head of the bed.

Lawrence sat up slowly, looked at the women around him who had not yet woken up, and then looked out the window.

It looks like it will be a nice day today.

There is still one or two months before the eternal night, and there are many things to do this winter, such as researching food, taking care of children, understanding the current teaching progress and teaching staff, and looking at the research results of the witches.

Lawrence started getting up and exercising.

After not coming back for a while, there was not much change in the guard shift. After talking to Anyul and Candice about what had happened recently, everything soon returned to the same state as before.

In the afternoon, the Lawrence family chatted in the warm living room.

In the evening, I chatted with the nobles who made the pilgrimage to Oak City this year.

Andersen and Grimm, now teenagers, came up from the town of Pumice.

Lawrence decided to have a talk and called over some of the children in the house.

Including Andersen, the child of Derren, Grimm, the child of Cassandra, and Isolt, the child of Catherine.

Stella's child is Aladdin, Rastana's child is Athena, and the Queen's child is Edward.

Because there were too many children, Lawrence only allowed these children and the Aruchu brothers and sisters to come.

Sophia and others also came to the living room. They felt very strange when they saw shepherdess Torrevi and Lana Yubao in addition to several children and their mother.

"Bull and Dana are here too." Salil came down from upstairs and looked at this strange group. "What does Lawrence want to say? A meeting?"

Deren sat on the sofa at one side and said nonchalantly, "You'll know in a moment."

Lawrence also came down from upstairs. When he saw everyone was there, he smiled and said, "No need to get up. Eat something to warm your body while you listen to me tell you something to remember."

Tasna stood beside Bull, who sat with Lady Lathander and Khalan.

Lawrence said, "This year, when I was busy at Flying Fish Harbor, the Knight of Orange Mountain found me and reported some very bad news to me."

"The mayor there, Hall, died in his bed. When his wife called him to get up, she found that he had stopped breathing."

The rest of the people didn't feel anything after hearing this. Even the shepherdess and Bull didn't feel too sad about this very common thing.

For most people, this is definitely not good news, but it is not very bad news either.

"Who is Hall?"

I don't know who asked this question out of curiosity.

Lawrence sighed and waved to Yubao.

Yubao quickly moved away from Lana's legs and came to Lawrence.

Lawrence asked Yu Bao to sit next to him, placed Yu Bao on the sofa with both hands, and handed Yu Bao a piece of sugar cube.

Soon Lawrence put his hands in front of him and took the hot tea handed to him by the maid, showing a somewhat emotional expression.

"I don't have many friends left. When I was managing and checking the affairs at Flying Fish Harbor, I also thought about many things, including the future of the Star Country."

"I was thinking, if one day I am gone, the Star Country will continue to be strong, and someone will continue to do many, many things in my name, whether good or bad."

"I made people believe in me and made many people fight for me, but after I die, this contract will still be in effect for a long time."

Lawrence raised his head and looked out the window.

"If I leave, will this country be able to take action against foreign countries as smoothly as it is now?"

Andersen said quickly, "Father, our attack on the Holy Light Church is going very smoothly. The people there are no match for us. We will conquer the population and land in the south in one or two years at the latest!"

Lawrence shook his head. "That's what I'm worried about. It's going so smoothly now because I'm here to stabilize the rear. I've made all kinds of efforts and sacrifices to stabilize the situation so that the people in the Ice Land won't suffer because of the war."

"If one day it comes to the time when everyone must contribute, for example, every place must send people out to fight."

"For example, the monastery will send out women who can fight. For the so-called victory and glory, Lana and Yubao will also go to the battlefield. The craftsmen and Jifeng will also go to the front line to fight."

"Every man took up his weapons and marched to the battlefield, dying in the water or in the ditch for victory."

Lawrence put the teacup on the coffee table and reached out to touch Yubao's head.

Yu Bao looked at Lawrence in confusion, and could sense Lawrence's concern. Lawrence looked at Andersen, and also at the witches such as Losander and Heidi across from him.

"I have never taught Yubao to fight. It's not that I don't have the ability or the idea, but I don't want the child to take risks."

"This protection may be a bit bad for many children, as it will cause them to lose the opportunity to grow and also lose their glory."

"But when I thought about my children and people going to the battlefield one day, and fighting without knowing anything, I felt that I had to do something."

"I stayed in Flying Fish Harbor and the West for so long this time just to try to avoid this kind of thing."

"Not only will it prevent meaningless wars and failures, it will also prevent any accidents from happening to me. I will take good care of my body and live longer than all of you. This is the best protection for many children."

Lawrence said to Andersen: "I will give you a chance to prove yourself. Take my soldiers and generals to fight in the south. The noble blood flowing in your body should not be buried."

"But the main reason I called you here today is to let you know what I think. I must tell you what I will and will not do."

"This way you won't be deceived in the future, nor will you misunderstand me. You are all my family and trusted partners, and I think I must make this clear to you."

Kehalan asked doubtfully, "You don't want to start a war?"

Lawrence explained: "I am not afraid of war, nor do I fear war, but I don't want you to be involved in wars, wars instigated by people with ulterior motives."

"I believe that when enemies appear outside, Yubao and many others will bravely stand up to protect our homeland, but what is victory? How do you understand victory? And how do you distinguish the essence of war?"

Salil responded directly: "We can't tell the difference. These are the things you are doing. It feels hard to understand."

"It's not hard to understand." Lawrence smiled and said, "It's just that you are often unwilling to calm down and think."

Out of selfishness, Lawrence did not want his family and children to be involved in the war.

A pure-blood wizard like Andersen would definitely not be afraid of war, and he might even be the initiator of war.

Because he sensed the changes in the future and the motivation for external war as the country became increasingly powerful, Lawrence had to resolve various hidden dangers.

Lawrence’s bottom line is to prevent children like the nun and Yubao, who have no ability to fight, from being involved in the war.

Although Yubao and some of the nuns are indeed powerful, they are not smart.

They believe in themselves, and Lawrence doesn't want to betray this trust, nor does he want these children to become tools in the hands of others.

"I have my bottom line, and everyone has their own mission. For example, the mission of nobles is to protect the people and territory within the territory, and the mission of merchants is to circulate goods and distribute wealth evenly rather than collect it."

Lawrence thought a lot about the future and finally realized that the only solution might be to live a few more years.

No matter what system it is, it will eventually become a distribution system. It would be much better if there is a concept to support it, but the stars and the sea are a bit too empty.

Andersen asked, "Father, what exactly do you want us to do? I don't understand."

Lawrence sighed and said, “I just want the people around me to live a good life. You don’t understand my thoughts because you already have a good life.”

"You have grown up. You need to go out and see the world outside, and meet more people and things, whether they are good or bad."

"This winter I will sort out some political content at home and write a textbook for you to read, telling you how to understand my ideas."

Lawrence waved his hand and said, "Go to Oak City to rest and get to know the lords and nobles outside. When you go out to fight and adventure in the future, you will need a group of trustworthy companions."

"Yes, father." Andersen agreed.

Lawrence didn't want to talk about too many boring things, so he said to the others, "Don't worry, I pay a lot of attention to knowledge about health preservation. Rather than believing that someone will do better than me in the future, I would rather believe that I can continue to rule."

Sophia showed a happy look, "Master, you and Will have been studying immortality, and the Holy Light Church has also researched something, right?"

"Will is researching this, and there should be results next year, or maybe even longer." Lawrence explained, "Will is not an impatient person, and his research also takes time."

"Take your time. Leave the war to those who are willing to fight. You can continue to live a stable life."

The wizard Will is studying the achievements of the Church of Holy Light in the south, while Lawrence is stabilizing people's livelihood and taxation in the west.

There is no need to worry about war. The Ice Land has no shortage of military geniuses or commanders who have grown up in war.

People's livelihood, military, culture, technology, and entertainment are all improving steadily, and Lawrence is about to bring political ideas that are in line with the current era.

In the dual capacity of king and church prophet, he spread his political ideas.

The changes in political thought in many dynasties came from struggle and game.

But human history always advances through repetition.

Lawrence felt that it was more important for him to stay alive than to teach others politics.

After all, what is handed over to others will also be transformed by the next generation of the ruling class into a modified version that is beneficial to them.

But some ideas must be retained, and while retaining the ideas, we must also establish a material foundation to match them.

Only when the material foundation and strength match can the relevant political ideas have the soil to be maintained.

Equality for all is impossible in an era of underdeveloped material conditions.

There has never been such a thing in the Ice Land. The base of Lawrence and the Ice Land is naturally dozens of times higher than the refugees coming from outside.

Lawrence himself can even arbitrarily define whether others are his own people.

Because he was worried that his family members would be exploited and deceived, Lawrence spent a lot of time this year thinking about various systems and methods.

After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that no matter how powerful the ideas and systems are, they will not work without people.

Once people are gone, the things that protect them will turn them into tools and weapons.

Lawrence didn't want Yubao and the children to take up arms one day and die in a conspiracy.

What to fight for and why to fight, as well as why the war happened, what to get after victory, and what to do after victory, these are all things that need to be figured out.

Lawrence believes that people like Lana who are not influenced by the prophet's thoughts are necessary.

Of course, the most important thing is to protect yourself well. Lawrence decided to live longer than his remaining companions.

Pig the wild boar, Gale the giant wolf, Yubao, and the witches around him.

If possible, longer than the Elf Queen!
Keep healthy! Keep healthy! Keep healthy! (End of this chapter)