Chapter 593 – 48. Awakening, Outbreak of War (4)

“Irena. Status report.”

“Yes. I will show you the status board first.”

After all, it is more efficient to listen while watching the explanation.

Irena brought a board through the door connected to the secretary’s office and levitated it in the air with magic.

Letters written in summary along with continental evangelism.

The content is simple.

Kingdom of Ulstro 62%.

Kingdom of Ventorino 41%.

United Republic 89%.

Three-way alliance 75%.

Dezak Empire 55%.

And at the top, Simon Holy Kingdom 3%.

It was the progress of each country’s occupation.

Other detailed information and the demon king’s army’s advance route were written down, but what he needed right away was the occupation status.

These figures simply take into account territory, but this alone shows that half of the continent has already been swallowed.

No, more than that.

This is surprising considering how little time has passed since the declaration of war.

Irena continues her explanation while looking at the status board.

It was intuitive in its own way, so there wasn’t much explanation.

“Hmm.”

“Even if there’s something you don’t like…”

“No. It’s faster than you expected, right? You shouldn’t overdo it.”

“Still, a little bit is okay if you want.”

“Haha, that’s enough. This is enough.”

Now that the land has been taken in quick succession over the past 10 days, it is time to seek stability.

In fact, strictly speaking, the only places taken were the Desak Empire and a very small number of other places.

The rest all surrendered on their own.

Of course, in the four countries excluding the Holy Kingdom of Simon, national leaders are urging their nobles and officials to surrender.

At the same time as the declaration of war, documents containing appeasement were also sent to these countries.

Each and every one of them was filled with attractive proposals, such as preservation of the royal family, recognition of territory, promise to prevent massacres, recognition of property excluding expenses, etc., So that if you do not want to shed innocent blood, you have no choice but to agree with this side. In addition, indirect threats are made through the enormous power shown by the empire.

Thanks to this, the speed of surrender accelerated in the rear.

This was the case where 3% of the Holy Kingdom, who had strong faith and loyalty to the Goddess Church, were scared like this.

‘Except for some things, it’s not a promise I wouldn’t keep.’

And strictly speaking, breaking a promise would make the nobles more inclined to do so.

The person who disciplines him is the former leader of that country.

His continent does not need people who crouch and hide their daggers or nobles who are greedy and incompetent.

“The pace of the United Republic and the Three-Point Alliance is definitely fast.”

“First of all, the ties between the countries themselves are not strong and they do not want to shed blood needlessly.”

“I understand. That’s better.”

Valdez stroked his chin and pondered.

The number of surrenders has increased rapidly over the past two days, so it may be nearing the end.

However, Valdez also does not want to shed blood.

He said after tapping the calculator in his head for a moment.

“Okay. Send me another surrender document with a few more conditions.”

“Is it extra?”

“Oh. And at the bottom, write that if you don’t do it within 5 days, it will be pushed away.”

“All right.”

Add 5 days to the 10 days, for a total of 15 days.

Wouldn’t this be enough time to make up your mind?

There is no reason to be considerate of those who have a lot of worries when they do not have enough time.

“Any other problems?”

“Nothing. Supply, reserve troops, local governance, control of public sentiment, etc. Everything is running smoothly.”

“Good.”

Valdes nodded his head.

For the most part, things are going well compared to what was prepared and expected.

The military commanders and generals have been sufficiently reinforced and there are no problems.

Unless something absurd happens, such as a strong man in hiding suddenly appearing or dragons waking up, the war will end within a month.

In that case, the place we should now turn our attention to is the northern part of the continent, the Holy Kingdom of Simon.

It is a small country that is embarrassed to be called a kingdom, but it is sustained only by the Goddess Church and the Holy See.

Except for a few courageous people, surrender is not easy because of the name of the Goddess Church.

Since he was the only one who did not even recommend surrender, there was probably chaos internally.

“I’m going to the Holy Kingdom.”

“Huh?”

Instead of Irena, who returned to her secretary’s office to write a document, Sylvia, who was relaxing next to her, reacted.

“What do you mean, West?”

“Try to go a little early.”

“But…”

“I’m just stopping by for a moment to put some pressure on you. I’ll leave and come back in a day.”

“…”

“In the end, you have to catch the goddess to really win, right? You have to use some strength to make it move the way you want.”

Valdez looks like he will never give up his opinion.

Sylvia finally answered that she understood with a sigh.

It’s disappointing, but he’ll be back soon, so he has to endure it.

As the first wife and chief wife, she must also be merciful to the West.

… “Not long ago, she learned about her marital duties from some female demons.

“Go quickly and come back.”

“Uh.”

Since there doesn’t seem to be anything to do right now, I’m planning to just inspect the documents and leave.

Before going to her secretary’s office, he walked up to Sylvia and kissed her.

“Tsk, haha.”

“Thank you for listening.”

“Hmph…♡”

Although her eyes were disapproving, her lips had already loosened and she kissed her again.

My first visit to the Holy Kingdom in almost a year.

Valdes left the office with an expectant smile.

The continent was in chaos due to the large-scale invasion of the demons, but the Holy Kingdom and the Holy See were more than that.

Shambles.

We had not yet been able to create a new hero party led by hero Kang Jin-hyuk.

It’s not that there was no time, but funny enough, this time it was also due to a power struggle.

As they tried to fill it only with people from the Goddess Church, there were too many cardinals and high-ranking priests who interfered.

There are dozens of candidates selected in that way.

Among them, there are paladins with low skills who were selected solely for blood ties and money.

Meanwhile, Kang Jin-hyuk is still contemplating what to do.

Saint Cloudy sneered to herself, saying that even the worst people are not like this.

“The Goddess Church. It’s more rotten than I thought.”

She recalled the meeting she had today.

No, the meeting was still in full swing.

There was so much shouting and making noise and fighting that I only came out briefly to use the restroom.

The main topic of the meeting was, of course, measures against the invasion of demons.

So there is no way for a proper opinion to come out.

The Dejac Empire is now more than half gone, and the rest, far from being okay, is in a state of trouble.

The reason the Demon King’s army stopped its advance was simply because they were worried that the plan would be ruined by an unreasonable offensive, and it was not because the awakened imperial army did a good job of stopping them. This can be clearly seen in the fact that successors still do not cooperate with each other.

What is the difference between different countries?

The document sent from the Vatican in the name of the Pope’s Vicar was ignored, and rumors had already spread internally that he had already decided to surrender.

The reality of the Holy Kingdom was that even if it tried to create its own army, it could not recruit 10,000 soldiers.

Even if you gather all the paladins and priests, it’s barely around 10,000.

Even taking into account the problem of compatibility, he probably wouldn’t be able to handle one Demon Lord’s army divided into five.

Meanwhile, just an hour ago, another major incident occurred.

“Nice to meet you, you foolish goddesses of the Goddess Church. My name is Valdes. I am the ruler of the continent who was newly crowned Demon King a month ago and will rule over you all.”

The devil who descended over the Holy See.

Even Cloudy was surprised because it was an unplanned move.

The final awakened body that resembles Pedro, the hero I saw for the first time.

An old-fashioned way of speaking that feels somewhat clumsy.

The Demon King, who had brought excitement and laughter to his saints, laughed at them by burning down one of the goddess statues.

After that, the demon king abandoned his faith in the goddess and left after saying that he would gladly accept her surrender if he believed in him.

Not like other demons, they were unable to do anything when the demon lord approached the sacred site and was even attacked.

A few paladins attacked with enthusiasm, but were defeated just by the devil’s gaze.

As criticism against the cardinals has become more intense, it is inevitable that the meeting will turn into a mess.

‘It’s earlier than planned, but the Demon King has appeared…’

It was time to tell the story.

A proposal to allow the goddess to descend or to open a passage to heaven, or rather, for angels to come down.

Originally, it was planned to be done when more than 80% of the continent was in the hands of the Demon King and the Demon Army was just around the corner.

However, the appearance of the devil would be a greater threat to the Vatican than that.

“Good.”

The saint returned to the conference hall with curiosity.

However, something unexpected was happening in the conference hall as well.

“…?!”

Even with her door flung open, no one gave her a second glance.

There is one reason.

It was because everyone in the conference room was focused on one person.

At the head of the conference room was the Pope, who was somehow sitting in a wheelchair.

An old man with a pale face who looks as if he has already died, and who even looks like he has trouble sitting upright.

Her eyes caught the sight of a bright light above him, along with a thick concentration of divine power.

It was definitely a goddess.

‘Goddess, you say?’

“How…”

She felt scared for a moment.

She was afraid that the goddess would single her out as an apostate unbeliever.

She wasn’t afraid of losing her life, but she was afraid of never seeing the Demon Lord again and not being able to help him.

However, the light of the goddess did not bother Cloudy one bit.

Instead, she conveyed her meaning in a slow but verbose voice.

-Road… Second… Enumeration… La…

“…?”

-Path… To me… It works… To the sky… Destined… Path…

That was the end.

After repeating similar words a few more times, the light disappeared.

However, there was no one who could not understand the same message over and over again.

“It is the goddess’s salvation—!!”

“Oh! The goddess! The goddess gave an oracle to save us!”

“He told me to open the road!”

“This is definitely to send angels from heaven!”

She would have been happy if an oracle had chosen her warrior, but the goddess said more than that.

She asked to open a heavenly path to reach the goddess.

What does this mean, other than sending angels to save poor believers?

In the frenzied atmosphere, Cloudy felt a strange feeling.

‘Is that really the intention?’

She watched while others were lying on the floor and unable to come to their senses from shock.

The red color that was glimpsed in the goddess’s brilliant light.

The same color as the demonic spirit that Valdez had heard about.

I wondered if it might be a trap set by a demon god targeting the demon lord.

“Now, doesn’t anyone know how!”

“Let’s look in the library’s archives room right now!”

“Wanted! There must be someone familiar with torture deciphering and rituals, so let’s get them wanted!”

There seemed to be no way to stop the excited Cardinals.

Anyway, the passage to heaven is what the devil himself wanted.

‘I can’t help it. It’s not appropriate to contact me right now, so I’ll let you know later. First…’

Cloudy cautiously raised his hand.

“I think I’ve seen it briefly before. I don’t remember the details, but it was probably in the archives room in Building B of the Vatican Library…”