Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan-Chapter 82 - 81: End of the Civil War, Return to Reality

Chapter 82: Chapter 81: End of the Civil War, Return to Reality

Inference Day, the four hundred and eighty-eighth day.

The war was over.

The civil war in the Eagle Kingdom had lasted for a total of 176 days.

Throughout the entire Kingdom, total casualties exceeded 860,000.

For a civil war to result in so many casualties, one could only imagine how fierce the fighting had been.

And this number only accounted for the deaths of soldiers on both sides; there was no way of knowing how many Commoners and Peasant Slaves had perished.

In summary, of the five Dukes from the northern duchies, including the Green Vine Duchy, three had died.

The other two were severely wounded and captured.

As for the Truth Church, the Pope was struck down in battle by the third prince of the Eagle Kingdom!

He was given no chance to be taken alive.

And of the six Cardinals, besides Tyr who had sided with the Kingdom, only one survived.

This Cardinal was now being escorted to the Royal Capital to be tried before all the people of the Kingdom.

In this war, more than twenty High Tier Strong Persons and over three hundred Middle Tier Strong Persons were killed or wounded.

It was an immense internal drain on the overall strength of the Eagle Kingdom.

’High Tier... the entire Eagle Kingdom probably doesn’t even have a hundred of them.’

It was a tragedy, plain and simple.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Tyr headed to the Royal Capital immediately after the war.

He was most likely there to negotiate the future scope of the Truth Church’s authority.

From now on, the Truth Church would no longer be allowed to possess a public armed force—that is, the so-called Defender and Punisher Knight Orders.

The Defender and Punisher Knight Orders would be disbanded, and henceforth the Truth Church would be forbidden from owning any secular organizations of force.

The Truth Church would only retain the authority to preach and serve the Deities.

After completing this handover, Tyr would crown himself as the new Pope of the Truth Church.

Although the Truth Church could no longer possess a military force, this was still a world where divine authority reigned supreme. To the outside world, the sanctity of the Church remained unshakable. Even though the royal authority had won, it did not dare overstep by interfering with a papal coronation.

Not to mention, Tyr had also claimed to have received an Oracle.

As for the matter of the Oracle, Lince didn’t know the specifics of how Tyr had communicated it to the Royal Family. But he imagined it had gone smoothly.

The moment Lince learned from York that the war was over, he paid no mind to the people of the Green Vine Duchy and simply withdrew with his Demon Beast Tide.

Speaking of York, although he had only served on the battlefield as a logistical support troop, he was still awarded the title of Viscount.

Basically, York had just taken a stroll through a battlefield and came away with a title for free. He was, of course, overjoyed.

And so, as the entire Royal Capital was immersed in victorious celebration, the former Cardinal, Tyr, crowned himself the new Pope of the Truth Church.

At the same time, Pope Tyr announced that the main cathedral of the Truth Church would be relocated.

The Truth Church would establish its new main cathedral in the Divine Descent Marsh Territory.

This was also a clear signal that the Truth Church was completely withdrawing from the Kingdom’s stage of power struggles.

Pope Tyr’s decision received high praise from King Ackman, the thirty-fourth of his line.

At the same time, to demonstrate his own pious faith in the Truth, King Ackman also announced that all children of the Royal Family Bloodline would, upon reaching the age of six, study the doctrines of Truth in the Church for at least three years.

As subjects of the Deities, in a nation that believes in the God of Truth and Knowledge, Ackman was making a statement: in this Kingdom, no one was more devout in their faith to the great God of Truth and Knowledge than the Eagle Royal Family.

To be honest, Lince was a little shocked when he learned all of this through York’s eyes in the Kingdom.

’I really have no idea how that Old Tyr managed to convince the Royal Family.’

It wasn’t until the Inference Day was nearly over, when York met the busy Tyr again and couldn’t help but ask about his own doubts, that Lince finally understood everything.

Damn it!

’That Old Tyr was hiding some deep secrets!’

’He actually shares the same surname as the Eagle Royal Family!!!’

Even Resident Priest Oleg and the others had no idea about this.

’He really hid it well!’

As for Old Tyr’s exact situation, he didn’t say, and York didn’t feel it was his place to ask.

In any case, connecting this to the fact that Old Tyr was over two hundred years older than the current King left Lince utterly speechless.

’So, does this mean Old Tyr’s arrival in the Swamp Territory might have been at the behest of the Royal Family from the very beginning?’

’Even if it wasn’t, I finally understand why the Royal Family was so cooperative with Old Tyr’s plan to purge the Church right from the start.’

At the same time, Lince pondered for a long while before a sudden wave of understanding and realization washed over him.

"As expected of an Extraordinary world!"

"Old Tyr’s situation is definitely not unique. There were probably many high-ranking members in the original Church who were of the Royal Family Bloodline!"

"And they were most likely the losers of past succession struggles."

Looked at this way...

Lince realized that this civil war in the Eagle Kingdom, this so-called conflict between the Church and the Royal Family, was, in essence, perhaps just a continuation of the Eagle Royal Family’s internal struggles.

Another clash between the alliance of losers and the alliance of victors.

Lince felt his speculation was probably not far from the truth.

In this Extraordinary world, to become the King of a nation, one’s ancestors must have had close ties to the Deities.

In an era where divine authority was supreme, royal authority and divine authority were one and the same.

It was only later, with the slow progress of civilization, and especially after the Deities left the mortal world, that royal authority gradually separated from divine authority.

This separation must have been a good thing at first.

After all, it was equivalent to mortal believers dividing their respective duties.

The Royal Family established the so-called Kingdom, overseeing internal affairs and the people’s livelihood;

The religion focused on sacrificial rites, preaching, and proclaiming the grace of the Deities.

In the beginning, the Royal Family was even the weaker party.

But as the Deities no longer descended to the world, the situation reversed into what it is today.

But no matter how you look at it, in the end, this was an internal struggle among those with the Bloodline of the Divine Favored.

Regardless of who won or lost, it didn’t really change much for the ordinary people of this world.

Lince had nothing to say about that.

After all, for Lince, this whole affair was a great thing.

With how things had turned out, the entire Eagle Kingdom had seemingly become Lince’s personal sanctuary.

After all, the new Pope Tyr was now a firm believer in Lince’s identity as a deity.

This firm belief had even dragged the Royal Family down the same path.

’With the protection of both the Royal Family and the Truth Church, what could possibly go wrong in the Swamp Territory?’

’Isn’t this a classic case of turning a Hell-mode start into a winning hand from the get-go?’

What’s more, the entire headquarters of the Truth Church would be relocating to the Swamp Territory.

’If they all come, won’t they be completely at my mercy?’

’Don’t forget the suppressive effect the Book of Truth has on believers.’

’Even if I’m exposed later, with a single thought, I could instantly turn everyone in the Truth Church into powerless cripples.’

’Wouldn’t they be mine to command then?’

Of course, that was just the worst-case scenario.

Lince would absolutely avoid letting that happen.

After all, right now, the entire fighting strength of the Truth Church could be considered his own.

’With such a powerful force on my side, what accidents do I have to fear?’

’Unless the entire Demon Beast Mountain Range erupts in a massive stampede.’

At that moment, Lince couldn’t wait to see the scene of the entire Truth Church relocating to the Swamp Territory.

Unfortunately, the relocation would take time.

The Inference Day had already ended, and Pope Tyr and York were only just beginning to lead their party out of the Royal Capital.

Lince felt a little regretful about this.

But he could only exit the inference with that lingering regret.

——————

In reality, Lince, who had been lying on his bed, slowly opened his eyes.

He stared at the ceiling, still feeling a little dazed.

’A year and a half in the Game World!’

The memories of being a Rock Steel Giant Dragon, of not being human, left Lince disoriented for a good while.

Lying on his back, Lince slowly reached for the phone on his nightstand.

July 17th, 00:00.

He stared impassively at the date and time on his phone, only sitting up in bed when the clock ticked over to 00:01.

"This feeling is really hard to describe. It’s like time itself is fractured."

"No wonder the system warned me to be careful to distinguish between reality and the game during a Consciousness Descent Inference Day."

Lince sat on the edge of his bed, a hint of helplessness on his face.

He shook his head hard a couple of times, then staggered to the bathroom, steadying himself against the wall, and splashed water on his face.

Only then did he return to his bedroom.

"Finally, I’m more clear-headed!"

"These side effects are pretty intense! I almost forgot how to walk!"

"What the hell?"

"Is it because I got used to moving like a dragon?"

Lince sat down at his computer desk, his brow furrowed.

He couldn’t help but think of ’Brother Cheng Takes Off’ from the group chat.

"If even I’m like this, then that Ah Cheng, who died and has been stuck in the game all this time... if this goes on for too long, it’s probably going to cause major problems."

"Given the current situation, maybe next time I can arrange for people from the Truth Church to investigate the situation in the Land of Death."

"I should help him if I can, though it might not do any good."

As Lince thought this, he had already turned on his computer.

He then skillfully opened up Pi-Station again.

As expected, the True Game video compilation had already been published for a while.

It had taken Lince about sixteen minutes to get reacquainted with his body.

He opened the True Game video compilation.

Lince was immediately stunned.

Because the title of the very first video was as straightforward as it could get.

[The Chief Player has used their privileges to hide their gameplay experience video. It cannot be viewed, but comments are enabled.]

"So this is how they hide it?"

’Nice. This fits the style and bullshit attitude of the True Game perfectly.’

Lince almost laughed out loud.

He casually clicked the title and found that there was still a video.

However, it was a black screen for the entire duration—a one-hour and thirty-minute video with no picture and no sound.

Great!

Just fantastic!

Lince couldn’t help but chuckle.

And a massive number of bullet comments were already scrolling across the black screen.

"???"

"???"

A flood of question marks covered the entire screen, occasionally interspersed with different comments.

"What the hell? Are they posting a broken video?"

"Great, a ’privilege dog,’ huh? Flaunting his cheats right in our faces! Do you have to be so discriminatory?!"

"Boycott this discriminatory treatment! Why does the Chief Player get to hide his video? Isn’t the privacy of other Players still privacy?"

"Did I come to the wrong channel? Is this still the True Game player video channel?"

"...."

There were too many bullet comments. Though he wanted to laugh, Lince still scrolled down the page to look at the comment section.