Greek Mythology: The Spiritual Dominator.

Chapter 409: War Methods in the Mythological Age

In a remote study in the palace, Andrea remained silent as she looked at the pile of parchment scrolls in front of her.

There was no time to hold a grand funeral for Theseus - in fact, on the one hand, there was no such custom in Athens at that time, and on the other hand, Theseus had no body left.

Therefore, the most urgent task facing Andrea, who had just experienced separation, was to conquer the city of Eleusis, which was now the Kingdom of Eleusis that had re-declared independence.

After all, even though she didn't have much experience, Andrea could see that simply killing a few people would not convince everyone.

Simple speeches can only inspire the people, but cannot convince the nobles and high-level professionals to follow.

So she needed a victory to unite the hearts of the people of Athens by avenging the former king.

Only in this way can she have the ability to resist when facing the upcoming troubles.

But problems arose before it even began, because the former princess embarrassingly discovered that she knew nothing about military issues.

This is not surprising, because she was not even born when Theseus was still leading his troops to war.

By the time Andrea grew up, no large-scale war had broken out in Athens.

Even Theseus's few actions were often for the purpose of deterrence rather than to actually break out in a large-scale war.

"But it's different. Since my father passed the throne to me, he must have thought I could do it."

"Maybe there is something I haven't thought of, or maybe my father left me some guidance. As long as I find it, I can solve the problem I'm facing..."

Andrea pursed her lips slightly and sat upright looking at the figure in front of her.

Over the years, she has grown up and is no longer the same child she was. Not many people treat her as a child anymore.

But when facing Mr. Irving, whose expression had not changed at all, she always felt that she was still the same as before, just like when she was facing Theseus.

She knew nothing and could do nothing, and then faced with the sudden change, it was just like she was lying on the cold altar...only this time, those surrounding her were not cultists, but real gods.

And this time, Theseus, who was originally invincible in her heart, had fallen in front of her.

"So I need to understand the guidance my father gave me," Andrea repeated, taking the scroll in front of her: "Then I can solve them."

That's what Andrea said, and that's how she convinced herself. Sitting opposite her, Ryan took a sip from the teacup and nodded in affirmation.

He had been here for a while and understood the current situation.

But then, looking at the former princess who was actually cheering him up in her heart, Ryan's words were simple and straightforward.

"Well, your idea is good,"

"But Andrea, I wonder if you have ever thought about a question."

"Perhaps King Theseus did not actually leave you any instructions on this matter. After all, he was not omniscient and omnipotent, and he could not have predicted that he would die so suddenly."

"He may have had reasons for passing the throne to you, but the more likely reason is that he actually had no other choice at the time, so the 'high hopes' he placed on you were just a last-ditch effort."

"After all, you have an advantage. You are a clergyman of the church. In his eyes, even if the worst happens, you will not die. You will only lose the throne of Athens."

"And with the weapons he left for you and the support of the gods behind you, you or your descendants will be able to retake Athens one day. What he said before was just a hope for the better, but in fact, this is his true expectation."

Ryan's voice was calm, and his words were not euphemistic at all. He and Andrea were reunited after a long separation, but in fact, it was not really a long separation.

Because over the years, their connection has never ended.

In addition, Ryan didn't care much, and Andrea had just lost a loved one, so when he saw the scene he had foreseen and saw the princess with blood on her sword, Ryan came here as a matter of course to help her with the future of Athens.

"I……"

He opened his mouth slightly, but was somewhat at a loss for words.

There were only two people in the room at the moment. It wasn't that there was no one else Andrea could trust in such a huge city like Athens, but she just didn't want to see them now.

After all, trust is also divided into levels, and obviously, there is a natural gap between those who are "loyal to her because they are loyal to their father" and the former princess. She doesn't really want to show that she knows nothing in front of them.

So faced with such a problem, Andrea couldn't find any other help for a while.

"But I need to do something. At least, I need to deal with Eleusis first."

After a moment of silence, Andrea finally said, "You will find a way, right?"

"Well... that's right."

Facing Andrea's expectant gaze, Ryan finally gave a positive answer.

"In fact, the problem Athens is facing now is difficult, but also simple. The first thing you need to understand is how wars in this era are fought."

"I wonder if you have ever thought about this question - since the demigods and the incarnations of gods are so powerful, they can easily break down city walls and defeat thousands of troops. Powerful divine arts can kill lives on a large scale, and it won't take long to massacre a city."

"If that's the case, then what's the meaning of the country, what's the meaning of the army? This world should become a world where personal bravery determines everything, and wars will never break out."

"In a war between two kingdoms, we can just let the strongest come out to fight. Why bother sending troops? Isn't that redundant?"

"!"

With her eyes slightly widened, Andrea was obviously listening very carefully.

As a clergyman, she had never heard of such things before. And since Athens had not seen a large-scale war for a long time, she naturally had no need to know about it.

"So what is the purpose of the army, or is there a way to weaken the influence of the strong in real war?"

"Of course," Ryan nodded with a smile, not keeping anyone in suspense: "And all of this comes from the God King on Mount Olympus."

"As we all know, Zeus is the king of gods. Although he often calls himself the Lord of Thunder and the Lord of the Sky, in fact, anyone with a little knowledge knows that the reason why he can leap above the gods is his [royal power]." "This originally came from the power of the oldest first-generation god king, and it is the embodiment of the law of the world's will to rule all things in the world. He gave this power to the original Father, so the divine power of the first-generation god king can do many things - he can even act on behalf of the world's power in the name of the god king, anchor new and logical 'concepts', and then give birth to the corresponding priesthood in the world in advance."

"The original [Time Sequence] priesthood came from this. It should have existed in the Third Epoch, with the birth of the four seasons and the inauguration of the twelve main gods. However, due to the supreme authority of the first generation of God King, it appeared directly in the distant past, at the beginning of everything."

"..."

Listening silently, Andrea felt as if she had access to some knowledge that mortals would never understand.

Just listening to what Lai Ryan said, "It's well known," the former princess was a little speechless.

Who is this "people" referring to? It's not me, right?

"Of course, this is the innate royal power of the first generation of God Kings." Without caring about Andrea's little thoughts, Ryan continued: "But the subsequent God Kings are not like this."

"They were able to take over the throne of the God King not because they had done anything remarkable for the world, but because of the evil deeds of the previous God King, and also because of the influence of fate."

"If it is not obtained by oneself, then naturally it will not be complete. So in fact, the authority of the God King is constantly reduced in the process of inheritance. When it comes to Zeus, his kingship is not even much stronger than his natural [Thunder]."

"But maybe it was fate's favor, or maybe it was some other reason, anyway, Zeus got a way, a means to help him complete the [royal power] in another way. And this means, manifested at the level of gods, is the 'Twelve Main Gods', and manifested at the level of 'humans', is the 'royal power' order he created based on the blood of the descendants of gods."

"This is the embodiment of his power and the source of his strength. He will not take the initiative to destroy the system of the twelve main gods he established, so even if he has some opinions about his daughter, he cannot do anything unless she disrupts the order; he will not take the initiative to destroy the order of the divine kingship, so you see, even though there are always kings in the world who provoke the gods, even his own son is no exception, he still has not thought of letting the 'church' replace the 'nobility', and letting the 'religious state' replace the 'kingdom'."

"Because for the God King, the provocation of mortals will only damage his reputation, but as long as it is handled properly, it can prove the greatness of the God."

"But if he takes the initiative to destroy the royal order that he established himself, then what is damaged is his real interests and authority."

“…Is that so?”

As if she had figured something out, Andrea drew inferences from her experience.

"So when Tantalus killed his son, the gods only punished him and replaced him with his godly offspring. When Sisyphus imprisoned the gods, the gods waited until he died before punishing him, and his godly grandson still inherited the throne."

"The gods did not choose a king from among the devout believers. The reason is that the king himself did not want this to happen?"

Her three perspectives seemed to be impacted. In an instant, Andrea felt that her filter for the gods was shattered again.

With Theseus' death, there was little of that awe left, and now it was almost gone.

"Yes, so in fact, Zeus is the most 'law-abiding' one in the entire Olympus."

"Other gods may do things that break the order, but Zeus, although he believes in 'doing what is not forbidden by law', will never take the initiative to break the rules he has set. Unless he has no way out and has to choose the lesser of two evils."

Ryan nodded and found it interesting.

In this situation, if the Divine Court could formulate a fair and just law, perhaps things would really be different because of having such a 'law-abiding' Divine King.

But unfortunately, most of the rules made by Zeus are to help him build and maintain the continuation of the [royal power]. As for other things, he would not make laws at all, but simply treat them as if they did not exist.

"But what does this have to do with the way the war is fought? Is it because of this 'kingly order'?"

Andrea asked again, leaning on the table with her chin in her right hand.

Listening to Ryan talking about the nature of these gods, Andrea couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sense of excitement.

Perhaps my father and those nobles also know the existence of the "royal order". After all, they have all participated in the war personally.

But Andrea was sure that they had absolutely no idea about the inside story.

"Of course, after all, although the gods today can no longer use their divine power in the human world, their authority can still have some macro-influence, but it's not as strong as before."

"Before there were any restrictions, the goddess of agriculture could make half of the world's plants wither, and the god of wind could raise an endless wind that covered the eastern part of the continent."

"Pour the artifact of Hebe, the goddess of youth, on the top of a mountain. The endless fountain of youth will create thousands of rivers, allowing those who drink it to remain young forever."

"But when they lost their divine power and did not have such a strong support, even if the divine power was still 'absolute', they could not control such a large area. But Zeus's [royal power] was still special, not only because his strength was far greater than that of the gods, but also because the power for his 'royal order' was not only provided by himself, but also by the mortal nobles and kings who were willing to support this order, and even every citizen who lived under the royal order."

"Their behavior of following the order itself will provide them with strength, so Zeus's kingship can still cover every kingdom on earth - of course, as mentioned before, once this order is established, he himself cannot violate it. And this order must be beneficial to the nobles and kings of the world. Only in this way will they support it from the bottom of their hearts and continuously provide it with power."

Ryan tapped his fingers on the table and said with a smile: "One of the features of this order is that it gives the concept of 'kingdom' real power."

"At other times, those powerful supernatural beings and incarnations of gods display their power unscrupulously through assassinations, fighting, and adventures. But when a war breaks out between two 'kingdoms', or an individual commits a crime recognized by the world, then this power granted by the 'royal order' is materialized."

"It will instinctively reject power that exceeds its limit - just as the laws of the world also reject divine power. The more kingdoms that join the war, the wider the scope of the impact, and the stronger this manifested power will be."

"By that time, the gods may still be more powerful than ordinary people, but they will no longer be able to destroy an army on their own, and those demigods who roam the world will no longer be able to act recklessly."

"So Theseus's intimidation is due to the combination of his power and Athens' national strength, not just his strength. Only when he possesses both can he make the gods uneasy."

"Of course," Ryan added at the end of the story, "because this power is the embodiment of the 'royal order', and it itself comes from the cognition and compliance of human life, so it is not real-time either."

"It is meaningless to suddenly declare war unilaterally. Only when your people are aware of the war between you can this order take effect. It is also meaningless to unilaterally declare that a person has committed a serious crime. Only when a person's sins are known to the world will he be punished accordingly. So using this kind of thing to launch a sneak attack and lure a strong man into the army to be surrounded and killed is simply impossible, because he must have realized your malicious intentions before that."

"And this doesn't mean that strong men are useless on the battlefield. They just can no longer change the outcome of a battle on their own. But as long as there is no absolute gap between the two sides, they can still influence the outcome of the battle."

"In short, this power actually conforms to the will of intelligent life under most order systems."

"They hope to be meaningful as part of the 'numbers'. And the 'royal order' gives them this meaning."

It has to be said that Zeus is quite capable, and Ryan also admits it.

Just like the 'royal order' he established, it even balanced the secular world and the church to a certain extent, so that although he himself had never established any church, he actually gained an endless supply of faith.

And if you think about it carefully, this is indeed consistent with many things recorded in mythology.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the gods, who can easily break mountains and peaks, have to fight like mortals.

(End of this chapter)