When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 729 - 685: Southern County Wizard Meeting

After arriving at Solaburg, Horn did not continue to personally command the army but delegated command to a group of officers and witches like Jeanne.

After expelling the troops from several nearby town temples, except for the Divine Punishment Army advancing towards Dragonfly Bay, no other troops continued further.

After all, the supply line was stretched too long, causing some losses, and they started running out of supplies.

During these few days, Horn was either inspecting and receiving visitors in the vicinity or reviewing ledgers and estimating trade and population in Solaburg.

After this battle, these Secret Faction members in the Southern County, including Selomis himself, became much more docile. Although they didn't actively agree to Horn's proposals, they no longer opposed as strongly as before.

As the situation gradually stabilized and the Southern County's war turned from danger to safety, Horn took the opportunity of most of the Southern County's Secret Faction leaders gathering in Solaburg to convene a Wizard assembly, officially discussing the future of the Southern County with them.

Due to the small size of Solaburg, Horn chose the location at a temple outside the city.

Unlike Long Embankment City's natural defenses with walls and long embankments by the water and mountains, Solaburg is divided into a military fort, a commercial port, and scattered residential shops forming the outer city streets.

Standing atop the temple's base, Horn could see the panoramic view of Solaburg's outer city.

In April, the scorching sun curled the grass leaves, and you could even see the moisture in the air evaporating and distorting with the naked eye.

The Falan-style stilt houses and Snake-man characteristic sandstone houses lined up together, with red-purple and even pink flowering trees and vines interspersed between white buildings.

Since Solaburg is surrounded by rocky hills, and the locals have a habit of planting potted herbs, spring brings a vibrant bloom, resembling a sky garden at a glance.

Although the war in Solaburg had just ended, beneath the red-purple interwoven flowers and trees, a crowd moved about to attend the fair.

In such a hot environment, men, women, and children wearing sunshade cloaks and veils walked in small groups under the trees and eaves, going back and forth between stalls and shops, picking and choosing.

Alchemists stirred cauldrons, Astrologers held star charts, and peddlers with red headscarves hit the stalls of fruits with handkerchiefs, while the Close Guard Cultivators hesitated outside shops holding peppers.

Almost within a week, the materials left by the Falan swiftly transformed into bags of pepper and frankincense, exchanging hands between monks and merchants.

Horn had previously surveyed the pepper market here, where the spice's price was about 5 Dinars per pound, and buying wholesale or from the countryside would be even cheaper.

Earlier, he saw residents of Green Blood Town burning cinnamon trees to cook sweet bean porridge, adding pepper and cardamom liberally.

Currently, the market price in the Empire for pepper is about 60 to 110 Dinars per pound. After excluding transportation losses, the nobles of the Clove Corridor could resell them for a pure profit of 20 times.

No wonder the Clove Corridor nobles preferred to oppose the royal family and initiate preemptive wars, resisting the flow of spices to the north.

No wonder Ursion, a Count, had a fortune of 30,000 gold pounds, while Dane, a Duke, had only 60,000, and the Counts in the Thousand River Valley commonly had 3,000 to 6,000 gold pounds.

Horn's gaze passed through the bustling crowd, down the sloped road paved with fine gravel, arriving at the white stone railings with snake carvings on the fronts.

The Snake-man Temple under his feet was about as tall as a normal castle wall.

It was built with block sandstone, shaped like a small truncated pyramid. Above the base was a circular corridor made of pillars, forming this Feathered Serpent Temple.

At this moment, Horn stood before the moldy-green bronze door, watching the Secret Faction leaders in various strange clothes and tattoos walk up the steps.

Each leader who arrived was met with a handshake and greeting from Horn.

As the sun gradually rose into the sky, at exactly 9 o'clock, he turned and walked into the hall, with the bronze doors slowly closing behind him.

As for those Secret Faction leaders who were late or absent, everyone knew the consequences of not attending the meeting; they themselves rejected power.

The circular hall, initially filled with a stench, now brimmed with the fragrance of flowers and the aroma of pepper incense.

On the premade wooden racks, the Secret Faction members seated according to their relationships and origins, and Horn roughly counted about two hundred.

Seeing Horn and the Holy Axis monks taking their seats, Louise, representing the Witch Council and Northern County Governor, walked up to the podium.

Placing her speech on the podium in front of her, she stepped on a small stool, extending her upper body out from the podium, with her white twin-tails styled into a lady's hairdo.

Taking a puff on her pipe, she blew a smoke ring before lazily flipping through her speech in the quiet, smoky hall:

"Esteemed Wizards:

Today, we stand here to celebrate a hard-won victory. When we look back at those darkest times when the Church's army breached our borders and burned our homes,

I once thought that the most prosperous Southern County would fall into the hands of the Church like the Western County in those days, but I was wrong.

The Black Snake Bay People stood firm once again! With staves in hand and courage in hearts, they withstood the most despairing days. Today, we can proudly say: We did not submit!

However, we must recognize that this victory did not come solely from our courage and determination. In fact, our courage played only a small part.

Our victory was achieved because the Holy Axis in the north extended a helping hand, driving out the enemy alongside us.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we bled countless times fighting against the Church, I once asked myself, and perhaps you also asked yourselves:

Why are we so fragile, unable to defend against repeated purges? Why do we, with unyielding warriors, need the Holy Axis's help to stand against them?"

At this point, the white-haired loli took another heavy puff on her large pipe, and continued amidst the swirling smoke in the quiet audience:

"This question may find its answer in the Northern Thousand River Valley. Look at them; they were not born strong. They also once split into various factions, arguing and opposing each other...

But in their most critical moments, they chose unity and sacrifice. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

As a result, they, who were apparently less free and independent than us, not only retained their freedom but completely expelled the Church forces from the Thousand River Valley, even coming to assist us.

So, my wizard friends, today we are not only celebrating victory but also hoping each person will ponder: freedom and independence were once our pride, but have they become shackles now?

As a representative of the Witch Council and the Northern County Federation Council, I do not ask you to answer immediately. I merely hope everyone can seriously recall and reflect on everything we've witnessed these days."

As Louise carried her small stool off the podium, some Secret Faction leaders fell into deep thought about her profound words, while others remained disdainful.

Nonetheless, with the Holy Axis Army at the forefront and after Selomis read the Black Snake Bay Joint Declaration written according to the Thousand River Valley Freedom Charter, everyone applauded and agreed to proceed with the reform similar to the Northern County's.

Secret Faction registration and the formation of the County Council swiftly entered many Secret Faction members' agendas.

But soon, a new issue jammed the next steps.

"We sell our own spices and black sugar, and you set up tax checkpoints just on that. So why aren't we allowed to set up tax checkpoints too?"

As expected, those dependent on the spice trade for their livelihood began to stand up and oppose.