The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 826

Chapter 825
Star Antimony Declares State of Anarchy
At this moment, in Star Antimony, Leipzig.
The silent snow had lasted for a week.
Now the snow had lessened, and the sound of hooves gradually emerged from the snowy curtain. One could also see outside through the now sparse snow, as if the snow would stop before nightfall.
It was clear that the Winter Envoy did not intend to surpass the Amber Heavenly Envoy. Therefore, the number of anomalies could not be eight.
Because of this, many Star Antimony people lamented the northern war situation.
It was just one day earlier, and the Daffodil Duchy had successfully established itself. Now, before the soldiers in the front had even fully retreated to the fortress, the heavy snow was about to stop.
If the Black Hawk people on the front lines had held out for two more days, the situation would have been completely different…
“You’ve held on for months; why can’t you hold on for two more days?”
If they turned back now, they might still make it in time!
Because of this, the public opinion in Star Antimony was suddenly putting immense pressure on the Black Hawk Duchy.
As the snow lessened, the daily production and life in the Star Antimony cities basically began to resume. People engaged in retaliatory shopping and consumption, buying large quantities of food and self-defense weapons for hoarding… Although such heavy snow was unlikely to fall again, its occurrence served as a wake-up call for the people: it turned out that even in situations other than war, crises could occur in the cities behind the lines!
The media, consequently, became unusually excited—
Many people wanted to know what had happened outside while they lived in isolation these past few days, and why Star Antimony had become this way.
The moment they bought the newspapers, they were stunned.
The promotion of the Winter Envoy, the independence of the Daffodil Duchy, the successive deaths of two monarchs, the death of the first Red Phase, the suspected death of Count Leipzig…
“What is all this?!”
How could so many major events have happened outside in less than a week?!
Which of these were true and which were rumors!
Some said that Valentine VIII was already dead, while others said he was not. Similarly, regarding the Red Phase and Count Leipzig, there were people attempting to “dispel rumors,” claiming they were still alive.
There were also those who claimed that Valentine VII had not died at all, but was forced out of the Royal Palace by the usurping Red Phase; another newspaper claimed that Valentine VII and the first Red Phase had perished together; some even claimed that both Valentine VII and VIII were killed by the Queen, who was having an affair with the Red Phase, and that the Red Phase had reincarnated into a true Valentine…
But regardless of the truth, the fact that these news items could be published… already indicated that the highest echelons of Star Antimony were in a state of self-absorbed chaos.
Just as people emerged from danger, they were once again thrown into confusion and panic by the chaotic messages from all sides.
Even those who were least sensitive to politics could realize at this moment… something major was about to happen in Star Antimony.
War, chaos, disaster, and death would arrive unannounced.
And in this atmosphere of fear and anxiety, people became sensitive and irritable.
Many civilian newspapers vehemently criticized the Black Hawk soldiers for their cowardly act of “fleeing on the eve of victory,” arguing that it was this defeat that directly led to the independence of the Daffodil Duchy.
Because for Star Antimony now, the Daffodil Territory was a very important component—after all, only the Daffodil Territory was still stably generating income amidst the overall economic collapse of Star Antimony.
A major reason for Star Antimony’s economic collapse was the overload of the Alchemist system caused by the Goblin merchant guilds.
The Daffodil Territory originally did not have many Alchemists, and even the entire Alchemical industry was not very developed. Of course, this might have been due to the discrimination against Alchemists by the Mages… In the past, during the most prosperous era of the Alchemical industry, the development of the Daffodil Territory was notoriously slow.
But regardless, they had now become the healthiest territory in Star Antimony’s industrial structure. It was only through the Daffodil Territory’s continuous transfusions that Star Antimony could endure in this “dying” and “precarious” state for so long.
And this was precisely the direct reason that led the Daffodil Territory to demand independence—the infiltration of the Moon Children into the Mage lords was a political reason, but the true cause of the Daffodil Territory’s independence was entirely economic factors.
Everyone knew that Star Antimony’s problems were continuous, persistent, and fundamental. This transfusion had no end; no matter how much money was put out, not a single cent would ever return, and it was destined to become more and more.
When the borrower has no intention of repaying, it’s no longer a loan… it’s robbery.
Star Antimony’s mainland was too far from the Daffodil Duchy.
So far that many Daffodil people had no sufficient awareness that “the Daffodil Duchy belonged to Star Antimony.”
Moreover, the army of mixed Alchemical Golems, originally integrated from the Black Hawk Duchy, had only reached the outer perimeter of the Daffodil Duchy. The Daffodil Duchy, in chaos due to the Daffodil Duke’s illness, had already surrendered.
Because they were not truly beaten, they had not formed corresponding memories—in just twenty years, without deliberate indoctrination, few people in the Daffodil Duchy felt a sense of belonging to Star Antimony.
Coupled with the sense of intellectual superiority fostered by the Mage Towers, at least eighty percent of Daffodil people did not believe the Daffodil Duchy belonged to Star Antimony. They generally believed it was merely a strategy of the Mage lords to show goodwill towards Star Antimony—a sort of tributary system, where they would at most pay tribute and show their attitude.
Therefore, when Star Antimony truly began to demand endless money, the Daffodil people immediately refused.
“You were just beaten by the Avalonians; what right do you have to ask us for money?”
Although the infiltrated Moon Children had already prepared for war.
But their incitement had not even begun before it had prematurely declared victory.
And with their collusion with the Black Hawk high command, the result was that the Mage lords had not even officially entered the war… In fact, they could not participate in the war. Because although they had fought for months, they had not even penetrated the core territory of the Daffodil Duchy, and the Mage Towers could not reach the front lines before the Star Antimony-Black Hawk coalition was defeated.
After fighting for so long, the total combat losses were less than half of the casualties caused by the stampede during the retreat. This sounded quite shameful.
Thus, many Star Antimony people began to suspect that the Black Hawk people had not put in their full effort—they actually had no intention of fighting and were merely playing along with the Daffodil people!
Many civilian newspapers began to denounce the Black Hawk territory, demanding they take responsibility for this defeat. Because in Star Antimony, no one could be held responsible for this defeat anymore.
Everyone knew that the independence of the Daffodil Territory meant the complete collapse of Star Antimony’s economy. Without the Daffodil Territory’s transfusions, even the police in Lionheart City might not be able to receive their salaries—and before that, their salaries had been overdue for two months.
And Leipzig, another economic and technological center of Star Antimony, was also in chaos at this moment.
Because their economy was independent of Star Antimony, their superior salaries relied almost entirely on Count Leipzig’s “little treasury.” No one knew what the consequences of Count Leipzig’s disappearance would be… Whether Count Leipzig died or left Star Antimony, it meant that all of them would be unemployed immediately after their existing city assets were depleted. Thus, almost all public departments in Star Antimony began to gradually fall into a state of paralysis.
As they went out to buy supplies, they began to notice something was wrong. All prices began to skyrocket, even to a completely abnormal state. But even so, they had to buy… because there were not many shops still open.
The price of bread increased by thirty percent from the time the queue started to when the person at the end reached the front. Thieves and bandits had already begun to gather nearby, ready to raid shops at any moment.
And the Black Hawk people’s reaction was far more intense than they had expected—
The day after the Daffodil Duchy completed its establishment, which was the evening of March 31st.
The Black Hawk Duchy declared independence.
“Alas, we guessed right.”
We really didn’t want to fight, and we were indeed playing along with the Daffodil people—you are all correct, so do you have any objections?
As night fell, people’s emotions became even more fervent. The spirit of rebellion stirred within them, and years of accumulated dissatisfaction erupted at this moment.
Under the light snow, the banks of the Goblin merchants were smashed one after another by desperate people. Extraordinary individuals formed small teams and began to “hunt” in the cities.
Their primary hunting targets were banks.
Originally, these banks were protected by Troll guards and city police. However, the police were no longer being paid, and in the foreseeable future, they would continue to be unable to collect their salaries. Thus, few people would dare to confront these maddened Extraordinary individuals who had gone blood red…
As the Black Hawk people in the police stations increasingly deserted their posts to return to their true homelands.
Some Star Antimony local police officers also shed their uniforms, disguised themselves, and joined the crowd to participate in the robbery!
After all, their opponents were just Goblins and Trolls! Without the police department deploying Suppression Devices, defeating them was much simpler than venturing into a Dragon’s lair—and it offered the same amount of Gold Coins!
As the culprits, those Goblins too were killed in a fit of rage by the Extraordinary individuals.
Those who were a step too late, when they thought of this, found that basically all the banks had already been robbed once. The most foolish among them began to try to rob nobles—and were subsequently killed by nobles, who were also Extraordinary individuals, and their accompanying guards.
Then, those who were even later, unwilling to return empty-handed, began to try to rob shops on the streets. They were also stopped by other Extraordinary individuals, and without any objective needing to fight, they fell into a deadly struggle.
This was the most absurd and frantic night in Star Antimony’s history.
Moon Children, Demon Scholars, and Alchemists began to converge towards the headquarters of their respective organizations.
As for the current Queen Louise—with the Red Phase dead, perhaps only the Moon Children would obey her command. In fact, the Moon Children were now gathering towards the Royal Palace.
The Star Antimony Ministry of the Army belonged to the Demonology Society.
The Power of Transcendence, born from this chaotic atmosphere, greatly increased their strength, propelling them to become the strongest.
—That night, the Star Antimony Ministry of the Army announced that Star Antimony had entered a state of anarchy. To ensure the basic living needs and personal safety of the residents, the Ministry of the Army would implement military control over all cities on the morrow.
(End of this chapter)