Chapter 477: Chapter 476 White Crow
Several days had passed in the blink of an eye.
Richard had left the Black Holy Mountain Kingdom and rode his horse alone towards the north.
“Clip-clop! Clip-clop! Clip-clop!”
The horse galloped rapidly on the road while Richard, riding atop, thought about various things, mostly about what he had seen in the private library of the Black Holy Mountain King.
From the contents of the books, he had learned much about the Black Spirit Empire, not realizing anything at the ti of reading. However, over these past few days, as he slowly digested the information, deep suspicions had erged.
According to his understanding, the Black Spirit Empire could be broadly divided into two periods.
During the earlier period, the atmosphere in the Black Spirit Empire was incredibly relaxed, and all industries flourished.
Wizards and commoners lived harmoniously within the territory, safe from external threats under the firm rule of the officials. Likewise, internally there was no oppression, resembling a thoroughly harmonious society.
In such an environnt, things like wars and rebellions simply did not exist. The only conflicts that arose were from various competitive sports.
For instance, the Fireball Technique competition: Nurous wizards were invited to continually attack small, rapidly thrown targets using only the simplest fireball technique, scoring points based on the number they hit, with rich rewards and high honors for those scoring the highest.
Another example was a collaborative competition between wizards and commoners called the Discos Ball ga: Scoring points by capturing a Discos Ball and placing it in a designated area. In this competition, wizards and commoners each had their specific roles, which could not be mixed, and they strictly followed certain rules, or else they would be penalized by the referees. This event was highly popular among both wizards and commoners. Many cities even ford specialized teams to compete against other cities in turn, creating a phenonon where streets emptied as everyone gathered to watch the competitions.
To Richard, this seed just like a wizarding world version of a shooting competition and a football league.
It also showed that the Black Spirit Empire permitting regular gatherings of most of its people certainly did not co from so oppressive totalitarian rule – the current rumors on the East Coast were wrong.
In fact, according to the writings, during this period, the Black Spirit Empire was absolutely a beautiful realm that everyone yearned for, where even commoners could find their worth.
Within the empire, wizards were considered a special kind of talent, perhaps held in higher esteem than commoners, but not excessively so. Besides the highest level of governnt (Black Spirit King), most official positions were not hereditary but filled by selection and appointnt, often requiring a degree of public approval.
Thus, a common person with talent and willingness to work hard could achieve a higher status than a wizard.
This regi, although not described in further detail, still gave Richard a sense of a blend between feudal and modern democratic flavors.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the political system of the Black Spirit Empire was likely a hybrid of absolute monarchy and constitutional monarchy. This had already vastly surpassed the dieval era of the current world, where, based on dieval standards, most countries still practiced the most primitive form of feudal monarchy.
That is, a king by conferring titles divided territory among many great lords, who in turn divided their lands among smaller lords, in a tiered system of enfeoffnt. Ostensibly, the king held sovereignty over the entire kingdom, but beyond his direct territories, he could hardly manage the lands of the great lords. Ambitious great lords might even band together with many small lords to oppose the king.
The system of the Black Spirit Empire evidently had remarkable advancent, so much so that it seed almost unreasonable.
However, this situation changed in the later period.
According to records, after the first few decades, the relaxed atmosphere of the Black Spirit Empire gradually tightened from the top down. Recreational activities were increasingly restricted, and all kinds of competitive sports were canceled, replaced by massive conscriptions and training.
Nurous wizards were also gathered to collectively develop highly destructive joint magic. Besides this, many organizations similar to the “Secret Police” erged, monitoring every aspect of the empire, overtly and covertly, as if catching so deeply hidden enemies to ensure the overall security of the empire.
This gave the impression that the Black Spirit Empire was preparing for a national war, and due to a lack of confidence, had to operate and even squeeze the state machinery at full speed.
But the question was, who was the Black Spirit Empire’s opponent in this war?
According to the records, the Black Spirit Empire had already unified the entire East Coast, including islands in the sea like Lisben Island, within its jurisdiction.
The only possible enemies for the Black Spirit Empire were the far-off Smans Island or the Mainland of Mann, which was separated from the East Coast by nurous mountain ranges.
To attack “Smans Island” required a strong fleet to cross the entire sea. Attacking the “Mainland of Mann” was nearly impossible through the hazardous Ten Thousand Mountains and would also require rounding from the sea with a powerful fleet.
Yet, records stated that the Black Spirit Empire did not develop its fleet, focusing instead on wildly expanding its land forces and the number of “Secret Police” organizations.
It felt like the enemy did not co from outside, but from within.
As for whether this war ultimately erupted and who the enemy was, the books did not record, but the outco was already known—the Black Spirit Empire fell.
Looking comprehensively, one conclusion could be drawn: the drastic change and even the fall of the Black Spirit Empire were caused by a single factor.
It was because of this factor that the Black Spirit Empire moved from its earlier stage to its later stage and ultimately to its destruction, leaving behind the rumors of “brutal rule.”
But what was this factor?
Richard puzzled over this, knowing in his heart that if he could understand this, he should also be able to uncover the ultimate secret of the Black Spirit King, discover missing history, and thereby uncover a deeply buried truth of the current world. This would also bring him closer to his ultimate goal.
He hoped Mo’er in the north might have so relevant clues.
Thinking thus, Richard spurred his horse forward. The next mont, he suddenly sensed sothing amiss, pulled on the reins, and stopped his horse, turning his head to look at a tree beside the road, frowning slightly.
Due to entering Cold Moon, the leaves on the neighboring trees had almost withered, appearing bare.
And on the bare branches of the tree perched a crow.
What was noteworthy was not the color of the crow’s feathers, not black, but completely snow-white, similar to a white dove—perhaps there was a saying that “all crows under heaven are black,” but in fact, white crows did exist, albeit rarely.
However, what made Richard stop and frown was not the color of the crow’s feathers but its gaze. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but he felt the white crow perched on the branch was looking at him like a person would.
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