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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
“Those who only cling to past glories will inevitably be defeated, huh?”
Lucas Grevilius, the lord of the northern town, muttered to himself as he looked out the window of his room at the town.
The past decade had not been smooth sailing for the northern town.
Although there are no concrete boundaries, the surrounding towns and villages that were under the influence of the northern city have already been reduced to less than half.
The northern town itself had barely been able to maintain its population, but this was due to aid from the northern continent.
The aid did not consist of food, but of luxury items that enriched the daily lives of the people.
As for food, Razequa Amamiya is supplying enough to keep the population from going into exile.
Of course, this supply comes at a price, but the money to pay for it comes from imports from the northern continent.
The northern town itself does not have any major specialties.
There are some processed goods such as materials from monsters that appear in the area, but these alone cannot generate enough income to support a population of nearly 300,000 people.
Until now, various goods have come into the northern cities in the form of aid from churches that want to retain influence on the northern continent in the Central Continent.
But such a snooty relationship cannot last forever.
It was impossible to distribute such goods to all the towns and villages, and over the course of ten years, more than half of the towns and villages had left the country.
If things continue as they are, other towns and villages will be no exception.
The faith of the people in Razequa Amamiya is also on the wane.
The churches of the northern continent do not consider the deities who are believed to have been involved in the founding of Razequa Amamiya to be objects of faith.
It is not that the church does not recognize him as a god, but it does not consider him an object of worship.
This is not unusual.
It is quite common for a god who has few followers or who has been forgotten to begin with to be excluded from the faith of the church.
It is said that the gods themselves recognize this fact.
However, even if the church itself does not recognize the belief, it is often the case that the church later recognizes it once the belief has spread among the people.
As for the deity of the present God, at first, he was not widely accepted by the people because he was a newly born God.
Belief in the deities gradually spread among the adventurers of the Crown organization, who appeared on the scene with their status cards as weapons of war.
As for the state of Razequa Amamiya, it was supported by the people because the city of Razequa Amamiya is located in the Amamiya Tower.
Nowadays, it is even whispered that belief in the god of the living will give you an advantage in the battle against monsters.
The truth of this is unknown, but in the first place, whether it is true or not is not a major issue in faith.
If enough people believing in something say that it is true, then it becomes a fact.
In this sense, the church is doing the same thing, so they cannot be blamed.
Because of this background, even influential people in the northern towns were already talking about joining Razequa Amamiya without hesitation.
To tell the truth, Lucas agreed with them, but he is in no position to say so.
The reason is that it is true that the northern city is maintained by trade with the northern continent, as well as aid.
Joining Razequa Amamiya is the same as refusing aid from the northern continent.
In the case of the northern continent, where the church is strong, there is a possibility that if they refuse the church’s support, the transaction itself will cease to take place.
If this were to happen, even if the northern city were to join Razequa Amamiya, the strength of the northern city would be lost.
The cities in the east, west, west, and south have been able to continue to prosper and not be buried as a city within a nation because they continue to trade with their respective continents.
Lucas does not believe for a moment that the northern cities, which have lost their trade with the northern continent, can develop in the same way.
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“So this is what it comes down to, after all.”
Looking at the report received from the northern continent, Lucas let out a sigh.
The document contained a reduction in the amount of support from the northern continent.
The support did not consist of money itself, but mostly in-kind goods, but the amount of those goods was much less than in previous years.
Lucas was not foolish enough to look at the amount and wonder if something had happened on the northern continent.
He knows that among the Ten Churches there was an opinion that aid to the northern cities should be cut off.
It is not necessary to think about it to know that this time that opinion was in the majority.
The question is, how do we talk about this reduction to the influential people in the northern cities?
“If we told them normally, they would definitely want to secede and follow Razequa Amamiya.”
One of the aides in the same room pouted.
“Well.”
Lucas is not opposed to joining Razequa Amamiya, either.
However, the problem is what happens after they join Razequa Amamiya.
If possible, it would be beneficial for the northern cities if they could be incorporated into Razequa Amamiya while continuing to do business with the northern continent.
However, whether the northern continent would allow this or not is a delicate matter.
Some churches are still offering assistance, albeit at a reduced amount.
To side with Razequa Amamiya would be a betrayal to those churches.
“Do you know which churches refused to support us?”
When Lucas asked, one of his aides shook his head.
“Unfortunately… It’s difficult to know where the money is coming from because it’s coming from donations to the churches.”
“In addition, it appears that the ten churches are also trying not to release any unnecessary information…”
Even though they have cut off support, it means that they will not release any information that would benefit the northern cities.
In addition, the fact that the Ten Churches are secretive is also a spur.
Even if there are internal conflicts, there is little chance of any unnecessary information being leaked to the outside world.
They themselves understand this is the reason why the Ten Churches have been able to maintain their power until now.
“I see. After the defection, they wanted to continue dealing with the forces they had terminated, but they are not that naive, is what you are saying.”
Lucas let out a heavy sigh as he apparently had to make a big decision.
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“It’s about time they got it.”
The Blue Faithful muttered as he sat on a chair in his room.
The report on the aid to the northern city should have arrived by now.
After that, no matter how much the Blue Patriarch tried to make a deal, he could not get an increase in aid.
In the end, they could only send a greatly reduced value.
What kind of conclusion the northern city will draw from this is no stranger to the blue church leaders.
If the northern city were to give Razequa Amamiya a hand, a decade of aid would have been wasted.
For the Blue Patriarchs, this is something they will never accept.
But he is also well aware that there is no advantage for the northern city to continue in its current position.
Although his position as the Blue Patriarch has influence over only a part of the northern continent, the areas close to the northern cities are still within his sphere of influence.
That is why we have insisted on helping them, but the ten years have made the other church leaders lose interest in the northern cities.
If the northern city were to secede from the northern continent, even the Blue Fathers do not know what would happen.
But it was unlikely that things would continue as they had been.
Ten years have passed since Razequa Amamiya was founded.
The Northern Continent was about to undergo a major change.
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