King-Chapter 1453 - 11: Prelude to the New Era_2

Shelter VII asked again.

Although before the negotiations began, he was clamoring to spare no expense for the withdrawal of troops from the two countries, when it came time to cut the deal, he hesitated.

Even selling the faith, one must negotiate!

Compromising and making concessions were primarily to preserve the vitality of the Clergy. If too much was sold, it would be counterproductive.

"Your Majesty, both the Alpha People and Frank people have gained vast lands in the previous wars. They now need a large population to fill these territories.

However, such long-distance immigration is also incredibly costly.

The Frank people might be able to bear the cost, but where does the Alpha Kingdom find such financial resources?"

Just after speaking, Blake realized something was amiss. The look in everyone’s eyes was clearly that of looking at a fool.

The Alpha Kingdom indeed has no money, but the Clergy has money!

They came over this time not just to grab people, but also to snatch some cash along the way.

Although immigration seems to be a heavy burden, they are now paying the price for the enemies.

Those clergy members with countless generations of heritage, who have scoured the Continent, heaven knows how many little treasuries they’ve accumulated.

As long as the homes are searched with care, all expenses are covered.

In fact, not only immigration costs but even the reforms carried out by the Alpha Kingdom rely heavily on the Clergy’s contributions.

Because the tax reform caused a decline in fiscal revenue, they relied on the income from selling plunder permits to make up for it.

If investigated closely, one would find a significant portion of the funding for governments to suppress the Magic Cataclysm also comes from the Clergy’s contributions.

Sacrificing one family for the happiness of the entire Human Alliance.

As the sacrificed ones, the feeling becomes less beautiful. The sense of achievement from a successful plot vanishes in an instant.

"How the enemies immigrate is none of our business. Let’s assess the possible consequences of agreeing to the enemies’ conditions first!"

Shelter VII said moodily.

Compromise was not his wish. However, at this moment, the Clergy had no room to struggle.

Enjoying the benefits brought by the "Magic Cataclysm" requires bearing the resulting negative effects.

After the countries’ propaganda encouraged military retreat, they left straightforwardly, and the previously suppressed "Magic Cataclysm" began to rekindle.

Anyone with discernment could see that this was deliberately nauseating the Clergy by the countries. Although they had the capability to solve the "Magic Cataclysm" once and for all, they chose to leave the problem behind.

Whose territory is it, that person shall watch over it. The countries may not care about the survival of the Papal State, but that doesn’t mean the Clergy can also ignore it.

After the Allied Forces retreated, the small factions that mixed with the Clergy returned to the Clergy’s embrace, along with a series of troubles.

Relatively speaking, the Allied Forces from various countries were still somewhat principled. When retreating, they only looted slightly without destroying granaries unnecessarily.

For the Clergy, troublesome as it is, there remains hope for stabilization of the situation.

Perhaps in warfare, the Clergy is at an amateur level; but in dealing with heresy, they are definitely the most professional.

The army that the Frank people humiliated into submission finally showed some signs of being elite in suppressing the "Magic Cataclysm".

Unfortunately, this held no significance. During the previous conflicts, the armies of most countries had established records of successfully trouncing the Church Army.

No matter how well they perform now, the inherent impression has been formed, and everyone regards them as "weaklings", including the Clergy leadership.

As for the recent good performance in suppressing the "Magic Cataclysm", that was deemed natural. Having summoned them by themselves, they cannot be unfamiliar with them.

Those uncontrollable, ferociously evil gods were arranged for the enemies, while their own territory had at most a few Sanctuary Demon Kings, still restrained by Holy Light.

In this aspect, the Clergy showed no fear, with a significant number of Sanctuary Powerhouses at home, conveniently restraining the enemy.

However, cleaning up the mess also requires time, and during this period, third-party forces must not interfere.

Both the Frank Empire and Alpha Kingdom are restless third-party provocateurs, needing to be cleared out in advance.

"Your Majesty, preliminary estimates suggest that after digesting the war gains, the overall national power of the Frank Empire may grow by about ten percent, and the Alpha Kingdom by roughly fifteen percent.

Optimistically estimating, after all disturbances cease, the Holy Court may retain about sixty percent of the population."

Asprilla answered apprehensively.

These are all calculable. The war has progressed so far that the Frank Empire has plundered at least five million people from the Papal State, while the Alpha Kingdom has looted over four million.

One country is close to the Papal State and the other far, with one landing first and the other taking action later. Logically, the number of people plundered by both should not be so close.

But in this action, the Alpha Kingdom received tremendous support from allies. Only the Alpha Kingdom and Moxi Duchy lacked people in the Five Nations Alliance, while the other three did not expand territories, naturally not needing to grab people.

Moreover, Hudson spent lavishly all the way, creating a massive fleet of transport ships, and forcibly transported a large number of people away.

Besides the initial gap, by the mid to late stages, the transport capacity owned by the Alpha Kingdom was actually more extensive.

With the retreat of the armies from various countries, the fleets that originally transported supplies for those armies have now become free transportation resources.

If nothing unexpected happens, these fleets will surely be hired by the nobles of the two countries, the number of ships hired depends ultimately on who is willing to spend more money.

Besides the regular army, there are also numerous mercenaries, who came along with national armies to profit from the chaos.

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