In recent times, the situation in the entire kingdom has been turbulent, and the speed of change is truly unbelievable.

Half a year ago, the lords of the kingdom were still taking sides and discussing the competition for the position of crown prince. As a neutral party, Ulysses was not very interested in who would be the king. After all, the decrees from the royal capital had little impact on them, the border lords.

But he didn't expect that the second prince Hattar would have the guts to collude with the notorious wizard and even capture the capital and kill King Bazel! This move shocked the entire kingdom!

Although their new King claimed that it was the Cardinal of the Grand Prince's United Church who committed the horrific act of patricide and that he restored order and ascended the throne, this poor excuse would not even fool the ignorant people!

This move will inevitably incur the wrath of the Vatican!

In view of this, Ulysses pretended to obey Hattar's call and return to the rule of the kingdom, but in fact he joined forces with some border nobles to report the news of the kingdom's fall.

When Edelweir led the punitive army to kill, Ulysses chose to welcome the king without hesitation! He was very clear about the power of the empire and the church. Those followers of the evil god could certainly show off their power for a while and commit the tragedy of killing the king in the kingdom, but as long as the army of the church arrived, they would be slaughtered in an instant!

Ulysses was so convinced, but within a month he received news that the Vatican's expeditionary army had suffered a massive defeat, or even been completely wiped out...

The moment he received the news, Ulysses completely collapsed. He could not believe that such a powerful punitive army would suffer a disastrous defeat. He even suspected that the spies had teamed up to make up a story to deceive him.

After confirming that the news was accurate, Ulysses fell into great panic and was faced with an extremely important decision.

Should he continue to obey the orders of the Church, or turn around and run to the arms of the new king...

As a qualified nobleman, Ulysses did not have mental mysophobia. He would accept anyone, whether they were lowly assassins or notorious wizards, as long as they could be used.

As for the belief in God, of course there is, but not much. After the defeat of the expeditionary army, this piety is even less! Insisting on standing on the side of the victor is the secret of the Ulysses family's survival for hundreds of years and its continuous growth...

However, Ulysses finally chose to wait and see, because for more than a month, the wizards who won the initial victory had not made any movement. This made him begin to suspect that these evil god believers might have also suffered heavy losses in that war, and therefore did not dare to step out of the capital.

Ulysses, dressed in pajamas, paced in the huge manor. Not long after, he received the news that his spies had returned. Without even bothering to change clothes, Ulysses quickly summoned them over and asked anxiously.

"What is the current situation in the capital? Are there any unusual movements by King Hattar and the wizards?"

"Reporting to the lord, the army led by the minions of the evil god has left the royal city. It is roughly estimated that there are more than 30,000 people, divided into three legions. Two of them are temporarily missing..." The burly knight half-knelt on the ground and reported in a low voice.

"Whereabouts unknown?" Ulysses frowned in dissatisfaction. It should be impossible to conceal the movement of such a large army.

"My lord, they... they are right behind us!" the knight stammered.

"Behind?" Ulysses was stunned.

"They are outside the city now! They are less than ten kilometers away from the Steel City!" the burly knight answered cautiously.

"Outside the city?! So fast?" Ulysses was shocked and his eyes widened. The capital was 200 kilometers away from here, and in between was the Earldom of Hansen, with five fortified cities and more than 20 towns! Could it be that this army of more than 10,000 people had suddenly flown in?

Ulysses instantly thought of the intelligence he had obtained previously, about an alchemical creation that was said to be bigger than a house but able to fly in the sky. He immediately rushed out, rode the best warhorse in the manor, and reached the city wall in just five minutes.

Ulysses, wearing pajamas, was extremely conspicuous on the city wall. Fortunately, no one cared about the lord's disgrace at this time, because on the horizon on the other side, a legion of more than 10,000 people was marching towards the Steel City.

In the front row are dozens of exquisite iron boxes, which are somewhat similar to the carriages of horse-drawn carriages, but they are not towed by camels and can gallop freely on the wide plains. There are also ferocious cannons pulling at the back.

Tens of thousands of musketeers followed the iron box in an orderly formation. Such a long formation was able to remain in order. They held a long wooden stick with a sharp knife tied to the top.

If it was the first time that Ulysses saw this thing, he would have thought it was a short spear. However, according to the reports from the spies, this thing called a musket is an extremely powerful long-range witchcraft creation. It contains the power of thunder and fire, and can easily penetrate the armored defense from a hundred meters away, causing the cavalry brigade that Archduke Rickman was so proud of to be defeated...

The only thing that relieved Ulysses was that he did not see any huge alchemical creature flying in the sky.

Even so, their chances of victory were slim, because Seltord could never be stronger than the capital! Moreover, even the Vatican's expeditionary army had suffered a disastrous defeat, let alone them! Ulysses immediately analyzed it and wondered whether to open the gate and surrender.

He did want to, but the Archbishop of Seltod and the priests were right beside him, and they received the news even faster than he did!

"Don't worry too much, Marquis Ulysses." The Archbishop seemed to see Ulysses' fear of fighting and said comfortingly. "I have received the Lord's revelation that Saint Lucia will personally lead the army to strangle these minions of the evil god who have committed serious crimes in the kingdom. As long as we hold on for a while, victory will be within our grasp."

"Then I will show your achievements to the Pope, and you will be the next king of Hadratha!" the archbishop said firmly.

(End of this chapter)