Chapter 11

"In my impression, when a woman like you says 'hehe,' it's either a敷衍应付 or a sign of disdain..." Sigma put down the book and asked humbly, "What do you want to express?"

"Naive." Luluwei raised a finger, "You are really naive."

"Your political sense is virtually zero, and you idealize human nature too much. That historian, Herodotus, is ultimately an imperial citizen, paid by the royal family. How could he speak ill of the emperor?" Luluwei sneered, "And do you think the emperor is very wise? Every living being has limitations and desires. As one of the most powerful people on the continent, his only desire is to achieve greater accomplishments. The frontier was still quite desolate at the time, and the great transformation had not yet affected the army. The empire's main forces were completely intact. Even if he felt unable to control such a vast territory, the fertile Bely Plain was just west of the Warhammer Province. Wouldn't it be easy to bite off that piece of meat?"

Sigma countered, "Historians are very principled, right? Some people would continue writing even if they were castrated!"

Luluwei ignored his bizarre statement and shrugged, "In fact, Augustus I had long planned to advance west. The reason it didn't happen wasn't because he learned enough from the fall of the First Empire, but because his military plans were strongly opposed by various forces..."

"Hey, hey, hey, another conspiracy theory?" In Sigma's eyes, Luluwei, who looked like she knew nothing, resembled the keyboard warriors from his previous life. They considered themselves the elite of society, claiming to know the truth of the world, always saying you don't understand and you're too young, spouting wild history, and only expressing emotional nonsense without any solid evidence. So he mocked, "You say that the accounts in 'History' are all to flatter the emperor, that Herodotus embellished and beautified them—then I can also say that your views are fabricated out of a natural aversion to the Holy Empire."

Luluwei was examining her nearly perfect, crystal-clear fingertips. Hearing this, she glanced at Sigma and slowly said, "Sixty years ago, the one who led three thousand necromancers to construct a death ray array at the highest point of the Crimson Mountains, forcing the Holy Empire's sixth-ranked Red Scorpion Legion to not dare to advance west, was me. Tell me, whose words are more credible, mine or Herodotus', who wasn't even born at the time?"

"..." Damn, I've been slapped in the face! Slapped with solid evidence! It hurts! It hurts!

Seeing the stunned Sigma, Luluwei, unusually, did not press her advantage but patiently explained, "The expansion of the Holy Empire was halted by a coalition of major forces. From military to economic, from the people to the government, we all pressured the emperor. Augustus I died of illness ten years after the great transformation, most likely because we angered him to death. Why? The reason is simple: if the Holy Empire swallowed the frontier, it would have the power to unify the continent, and we did not want to see the continent unified."

"Why do this? From a selfish perspective, if human society were unified under a super empire that dominated the continent, forces like the Death Nation, which operate outside the empire but possess immense power, would certainly be viewed with hostility or even invaded, leading to meaningless internal conflicts," Luluwei explained calmly. "From a broader perspective, a unified human empire is not a good thing. Once a country is unified, it will become lax and corrupt internally, and the rulers' focus will shift from strengthening the country to controlling the people. The brave and self-reliant spirit that has arisen in the human world will inevitably be stifled..."

"You..." Sigma hesitated for a moment, "Who are you really guarding against? What are you preparing for?"

"You don't need to know now, and even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it," Luluwei shook her head. "When you advance to the level of a legendary mage, your soul will briefly leave your body and travel to the center of the universe, where you will hear the secrets of the world. During this long yet brief journey, you will understand the truth of the world and what we are guarding against."

"The masters let me decide when to tell you these things. I think you're not the kind of person who is fragile and sentimental, so I'll take the opportunity to tell you during this journey," Luluwei opened up and extended her hand, drawing the full map of Noren known to humans on the small table. "Now, the human world is divided between the Holy Empire and the Northern Dynasty, with six nominal vassal duchies and special organizations like the Death Nation operating independently. There is no intense armed conflict or full-scale war within the human world, but there are still two meat grinders on the Noren continent."

"One is your hometown, the Western Frontier. Vast and rich in resources, but with a complex and diverse power structure, it can never be unified," Luluwei pointed to the west. "Desperate thieves, heinous criminals, extreme butchers, dream-chasing gold diggers, mercenary soldiers who value money above all, and new and old nobles seeking to establish their own achievements... the frontier is filled with all kinds of people, and power is the only law."

"The new nobles who swear allegiance to the Holy Empire's royal family, paying high tributes in exchange for imperial resources and even military support, are supported by major financial and military factions. Super mercenary groups, serving various forces, and even large military organizations directly dispatched by us... this is a never-ending proxy war orchestrated by major forces, a training ground and weapons testing ground for various factions. These organizations continuously send the rich resources and war spoils from their territories eastward, and in return, they receive money, weapons, strategic resources, and talent support from their backers and business partners, using these to expand their strength and engage in new rounds of bloody struggles for interests..."

Sigma's expression turned grim.

Luluwei pointed to the north, "The second meat grinder is the northern border of the Northern Dynasty, north of the Shulong Great Wall, where the orcs live. This race is proud and warlike, valuing combat and despising farming, yet they have a very strong reproductive capacity. To consume their excess population, they are always fighting and raiding southward every year, trying to invade the heart of the Northern Dynasty to plunder food and enjoy war—this surging tide of death is called the 'Black Tide' by bards, who both hate and fear it."

"The Northern Dynasty is also warlike and martial, and they are more than happy to use the annual Black Tide as an excellent battlefield for training and combat. Every year, fearless spellcasters and warriors who practice martial arts travel north to join the military. After all, the Northern Dynasty is known for its brave warriors. The legendary sword god, Yajie Claire, who established a universal martial arts cultivation system and spread it across the continent twenty years ago, built the Warrior City in the northern border of the dynasty. Ha, they claim that eighty percent of the 2.3 million residents are warriors, what a boast. Even if only ten thousand people break through the human limitations and cultivate martial arts, the Northern Dynasty could march south..."

"Alright, let's not talk about this. Besides the Warrior City, we, the Death Nation, have also invested a lot of effort and strength in the north. Because we have an agreement with the human world not to desecrate the bodies of the innocent, we have to pay a high price every year to buy large numbers of orc corpses from the Mountain King Frederick, who guards the Shulong Great Wall. We also support merchant forces, bringing the food, iron, and luxury goods that orcs desperately need deep into the northern plains, inciting internal conflicts and even southern invasions among the orcs—since you are a member of the academy, you should know how much we need corpses and living beings."

Luluwei continued to speak for a long time, until the sun slowly set, before stopping. Finally, she looked at Sigma and smiled, "That's all you need to know about the cruel truths of this world. How do you feel? Are you angry? We manipulate the entire continent like puppets, and countless people dance according to our decisions, experiencing sorrow, despair, anger, and losing important things or even their lives. Would you be angry for them? This is our cause."

Sigma scratched his head, a bit troubled, "Even if you say that, I don't really feel it. I don't know them, and I haven't seen their suffering with my own eyes. Why should I feel angry? I'm not the kind of person with a strong sense of justice who feels heartbroken when thinking about people I don't know suffering in the world. My sense of belonging to this world isn't that strong. It just seems like it's none of my business."

Clearly, his response exceeded Luluwei's expectations, leaving the Queen of Ghosts somewhat at a loss, "I thought you would find it unacceptable, argue with me, and then I could take the opportunity to reshape your worldview. Tell me, do you have any thoughts on this?"

"Thoughts?" Sigma thought for a while and finally managed to say, "No wonder the skeletons of the skeleton soldiers are so thick, they must be orcs."

***

PS1: Ah, long expositions are indeed annoying, but they are necessary. I've tried to write them in a light and humorous tone. Please bear with me, as this is the third update today.

PS2: As usual, I'm asking for recommendations, favorites, and clicks...