Establishing the Echo Empire amid turmoil is often very vibrant, especially when compared to the aging noble class of the Solun Continent. Many roots of the Empire are ignored, and among these elderly nobles, tales often get exaggerated over time. One might say that the Empire is currently experiencing the glory days that the Solun nobles speak of regarding their ancestors.
For instance, on the Black Sail, there are many nobles from the Solun Empire who have come with the army. Some of these nobles are even the only sons of their families. In the Solun Continent, even the most adventurous families would not allow their only sons to take risks unless there was no other option.
However, in the Ror Empire, these families not only send their offspring onto the ship but also secure spots based on familial influence and connections. It’s possible for them to fight for a spot, and the ones sent are undoubtedly the most promising children of the family.
After all, gaining military positions on M Continent is incredibly difficult. Outside of the Black Sail, other smaller vessels are packed, and it often comes down to interests. Still, the Ror Empire is indeed more radical and adventurous than those nobles of the Solun Continent.
The Laurent Family relied on their connections, having allied with a family during the Northern Border War. With Pierre Laurent managing things well and Emily Laurent being active in the army, the old Pierre finally secured two spots and sent his two worthless sons onto the Black Sail. He doesn’t expect much from them, just to gain a bit of military merit for future protection, so if anything happens, they might receive leniency.
After all, Emily is solely focused on Darsi and the army. Although she throws some flirtatious glances toward Myron, Pierre knows that it’s impossible now to court Emily.
Even though Pierre is experiencing a resurgence and remarried the mother of his two sons, he still needs to consider future matters.
His two sons, while looked down upon by old Pierre, are not foolish. They might be considered average, but benefiting from noble education and Pierre’s teachings, both sons, after graduating from the Northern Border Academy, can manage on their own. If nothing unexpected happens, they might be able to carry on the Laurent Family in the future.
At this moment, old Pierre is reading the newspaper, pondering where his two sons might be, probably already in the Solun Continent. If Lord Sean moved quickly, they might have already fought their first battle. I wonder if those two managed to gain any military merit?
Contrary to old Pierre’s thoughts, Rene and Alan have not gained any military merit yet. The two brothers have just been pulled from their clerical work and assigned the task of receiving the “Morning Star Apostles” sent over from Cartiel.
This all starts with old Pierre’s wife. She comes from a small noble family and lacks broad vision but is very fond of Emily and her two “foolish” brothers. Therefore, through special channels, she sent gifts to Myron before departure, hoping he could look out for Rene and Alan, so they could rank high in the first wave of troops.
Myron, while very angry, thinks that while they haven’t even fought yet, these nobles are already planning what to gain. Although they indeed have a significant advantage, there is little talk of bloodshed or sacrifice, but corruption often arises from such seemingly trivial matters. It should be noted that the Black Sail is still isolated at sea, leaving no room for carelessness.
As he thought more about it, Myron not only refused the gifts but also highlighted this issue before launching the offensive.
“Someone wants her sons to charge to the front line; I will have them do clerical work instead!”
All the noble offspring who tried to sneak to the front line were kicked back by Myron to handle clerical work.
Rene Laurent and Alan Laurent were thus sent to the rear. Although they were not foolish, especially after their studies at the academy, their work abilities were far superior to regular clerks, which is why Sean let them receive the Morning Star Apostles sent by Cartiel.
The two brothers had no complaints since, under Pierre’s repeated education, they clearly understood their roles and dared not engage in any tricks.
“Is this what’s called an apostle?”
Alan looked at the lean, yellow-skinned people before him and turned to ask his older brother, “Aren’t these just refugees?”
“You guessed it.”
After Rene counted the number of people and confirmed it was accurate, he said to his brother, “They are indeed very similar to refugees, perhaps even worse off.”
At that moment, other officials present fell silent. They had heard Sean’s account of the so-called Morning Star Apostles. Essentially, they were brain servants from the Lantern Dream, and what would become of the brain servants? According to the Lantern Dream’s description, if they lack protective devices, their brains were likely burned out, which is a pretty dire outcome. Most of them end up becoming idiots, unable to extract any computational value, cruelly discarded once their brains are burned.
Let alone according to Ms. Bernice’s analysis, the Night Sanctuary’s technology is quite backward. Not only do they lack protective devices, but they even resort to human sacrifices, praying to their brutal god for the rituals to proceed smoothly—resulting in low efficiency and irreversible damage to the human brain.
Looking at the child before him, who was only slightly taller than his knees, Rene bent down to wipe the dirt off the child’s face and asked, “Where are you from?”
“Montaras.”
The dirty child, indistinguishable between male and female, replied in a muddled accent.
“Where is that? Do you know where it is located in Castile?”
“No, I don’t know. What is Castile? We only know of Count Montaras.”
It was evident that the child was very nervous, only using their hands to gesture the location of Montaras, and the child named more and more unfamiliar place names that were not marked on maps.
“You actually do not know Castile?”
Not only the child but many of the sent Morning Star Apostles shook their heads. Some genuinely didn’t know, while others were from regions outside Castile, having come to the relatively prosperous Cartiel to earn a living.
Afterward, Rene and Alan asked these people many questions, had them cleaned up, and settled them in before starting to prepare the report for Sean.
Rene discovered a crucial issue among these sent Morning Star Apostles: the concepts of ethnicity and nationality on the Solun Continent are extremely weak.
Since M Continent had been unified by the Old Empire and both major kingdoms claim to be heirs of that empire, people from both major kingdoms, even in the most remote places, understand at least that they are An Zhu people.
But in Solun, there is none. The concept of Castilians only exists in the mouths of relevant nobility. Most commoners only know the surname of their lord. This kind of fragmentation is far more severe than the past when the Cape was divided. After all, the Cape not only inherited the unified territories of the Old Empire but also gathered power under Augustine. However, Castile has fractured into seven parts under the manipulation of those nobles.
It should be noted that both An Zhu and Cape have contemplated swallowing each other to restore the glory of the Old Empire and have worked towards this goal. Which noble would want to split their nation into seven pieces? Even when Lind was about to bring the Northern Border to de facto independence, Klan still thought about maintaining a gubernatorial title to keep Northern Border nominally under Cape. The thought of splitting into seven pieces was something they wouldn’t dare to imagine.
However, the nobles of Castile indeed did this; they had no concept of unity. Moreover, other than Cartiel, the other six countries coexist without any issues, mutually recognizing each other. Splitting into seven parts seemed like a relief rather than a burden to them.
Of course, if one must say, at least in resisting the Avar people, these ordinary folk do have an idea, since opposing Avar is a consensus among all members of the alliance, but that’s all.
Rene finished his report. Even though he had previously questioned many merchants about the situation in the Solun Continent, nothing compared to asking the common people on the Solun Continent what this world was truly like.
Some bloody realities of the Solun Continent were now on Sean’s desk thanks to this group of Morning Star Apostles.
