Chapter 43 A Chaotic Future: Will Myrcella Become a Good King? ...
Will Myrcella become a good king? Eleanor doesn't know.
She had no intention or power to change the current outcome; she simply longed to go home and return to Enlin as soon as possible.
So after Mysella's coronation ceremony, the new king's sister left the capital with her personal guard and returned to Enlin.
Mysella was quite generous to her meritorious followers.
She quickly married her fiancée and bestowed official titles upon all her comrades who had contributed to the battle. All the warriors and slaves who assisted in the fighting received houses, freedom, and large amounts of treasure.
She opened the doors wide for the Marigold Merchants' Guild on the border, reducing miscellaneous taxes and writing letters to the lords asking them to give her sister more face.
However, she became more cautious the closer she got to the capital.
Myrcella and Eleanor discussed it and decided to nationalize the post stations and manors outside the capital and close them to the public.
This is normal; emperors need to fully secure their power.
Eleanor didn't bother to think about it further; she devoted more of her energy to overseeing the Chamber of Commerce, improving various tools, and contacting shipbuilders.
She maintained some contact with the capital, but mostly sent people to the Lake Kingdom of Belai to gather information, lest the merchants' agents, who were constantly running around, be mistaken for spies by Mysera.
The next three years were uneventful.
Nothing got better or worse.
The title of "Mediocre King" from Ophelia's previous life flew down from her head and landed on Myrcella's crown.
Eleanor was relieved to hear the news.
That's great, at least Mysella didn't mess around, and the people around her are relatively normal.
As soon as Myrcella ascended the throne, she repeatedly reshuffled the list of talented people recommended by many ministers and her sister. Heaven knows who is now surrounding her.
Fortunately, Sister Wang isn't stupid; she shouldn't be fooled too badly by them, right?
Eleanor's progress is going relatively smoothly.
With the addition of the great scholar Parna, she successfully established the most basic township medical system in Enlin.
Eleanor had discovered in her previous life that the overall level of medical care in this world was very low.
Take poisons, for example. Some powerful families—like the Norlana royal family—possess poisons with incredibly potent effects. But ordinary people only know how to use natural poisonous snakes and herbs, and are completely ignorant about concoctions.
While natural toxins can be used to treat poisons, the situation becomes even more awkward when it comes to medicines.
Because soldiers are very different from ordinary people, the infection rate on the battlefield is relatively low, and even those with severe limb infections can recover on their own.
This resulted in even fewer scholars caring about ordinary people or slaves.
Many people believe that death is due to reasons such as "divine grace" and "physical quality," and is something the patient deserves. Therefore, they will not improve treatment methods to avoid accidentally curing "those who deserve to die."
Eleanor immediately implemented preventative measures upon arriving in Enlin, such as boiling water, washing hands frequently, and using soap. However, it took a long time to gradually replicate the practices from her previous life when it came to medication, and only now has it begun to show some results.
She recorded some of the drug formulations while quietly waiting for the date the large ship would be launched.
There is no chance to go back in this life.
Eleanor would spend a long time each day repeatedly memorizing important blueprints, prescriptions, and personal information.
Another year has passed peacefully, and Norlana's future seems unchanged.
Somewhat embarrassed, Mysella asked her for more taxes in her letter, with a simple reason: the border was developing so well that it was only natural to pay more taxes to replenish the national treasury.
Eleanor was too lazy to argue, nor did she pursue her sister for the official title and rank that she had "forgotten" to bestow upon her.
She traveled among the various city-states, bearing the title of a border lord and the identity of a princess, maintaining her vast yet loosely connected power.
Some people started clearing land.
They built small villages around post stations and wells, and then these villages merged into small towns...
The lords in various places pretended not to see anything, and no one demanded money from the villages.
They assumed that it was the princess's private property, and no one paid any attention to the people who were busy on that land—those freed slaves and commoners who were neither pretty nor brave enough.
As time passed, Princess Eleanor's naive idea that "everyone needs a salary" remained unchanged.
There were always some nobles who, in order to please the princess or learn from her fashionable money-making experience, would free some slaves to become free citizens, or give bonuses called wages to their servants.
The world hasn't gotten worse, or rather, everything is thriving?
However, time continued to flow, until the spring of the fifth year, when a thunderclap came from Hetuya!
They—Hetuya's wolf king Aguno, in the prime of his life—are dead!
How did Agno die? That's hard to say.
Some say it was purely accidental; Aguno fell into a valley while hunting and then unfortunately encountered a sudden wildfire, resulting in him being cooked alive.
Some say that Agunor was too arrogant and accidentally offended the reincarnated god, so he was struck by lightning and died in the wildfire caused by the lightning strike.
Both of these theories spread widely, but some people still believe she was assassinated.
There are two prime suspects: the two princesses of Hetuya: Princess Alisa and Princess Andra.
Another theory, which is also gaining traction, suggests that it was indeed an assassination attempt, but the assassin was sent by Nolana.
After all, Norlana and Hetuya have a long-standing feud. Didn't Queen Eva of Norlana and Princess Attila of Hetuya perish one after the other a few years ago?
At the time, the matter was also the subject of much bizarre and trivial arguments.
Norlana claims that the cause of their king's death is questionable, and that his remains were gruesome; perhaps Princess Hetuya poisoned him and then committed suicide by self-immolation out of guilt.
Hertuya, on the other hand, claimed that their eldest princess's death was more suspicious. She had come happily to offer birthday greetings but died in their forest, and her body was eventually burned to charcoal. What else is there to say?
Norlana had a guilty conscience, and his ministers desperately tried to stop Myrcella from personally leading the army to conquer the Great Roc: they presented a long list of debt reports, which frightened the new king so much that he immediately collapsed back onto his throne.
Hetuya had barely managed to save enough food in the past few years and didn't want to waste people's resources.
They didn't really care about a princess; they could have more children, no matter how good they were. Besides, the one who died was a king, so they wouldn't gain anything by arguing.
Thus, the unresolved issue between the two countries was shelved until recently when it was brought up again.
However, it was only mentioned briefly; Hetuya's later development was quite bizarre... or perhaps quite normal?
The chaos of a power struggle between two kings did not occur.
Princess Andra is nominally the legitimate heir, but her strength is exceptional.
Perhaps she was not afraid to use intrigue and trickery in the shadows, and gained the support of the tribal chiefs through various exchanges of benefits.
But what ultimately allowed Andra to deliver the decisive blow at an unimaginable speed was her immense strength.
Andra set aside his orthodox identity and directly adopted the oldest custom on the grasslands—the wolf king's battle to chase the sun.
The conflicts between legions were forcibly limited to the one hundred bravest warriors recognized by Hetuya.
Each of them is a renowned warrior, and their mere presence during the hunting season is enough to garner a large following of admirers willing to follow them.
The warriors, surrounding the princesses they had sworn allegiance to, charged toward the opposing princess.
How strong is Andra? Very strong.
How strong is "very strong"?
People's original concept quietly dissipated after Andra drew his sword.
clang--
Her sword pierced through Alisa's defenses, fiercely repelling her sister.
A close-quarters fight?
No, Andra was clearly riding a horse, but the way he wielded his longsword was as if he were dancing freely on flat ground.
Ha ha ha ha--
She didn't say anything, she just laughed, a hearty and unrestrained laugh.
Three, two, one.
The onlookers seemed to see the God of War clapping behind her, while his attendants floated around counting for her.
One, two, three...
Many renowned warriors lost their heads and arms in this way. They were much older than the princesses, and their once-acclaimed strength and talent were like the most despicable jokes in front of Andra.
This was a wasteful and extravagant massacre.
Andra is too strong—does she really need those 99 people surrounding her?
The blood-soaked battlefield became her stage for rampage, and the others were not even part of the dance, but merely blades of grass swiftly harvested by the scythe in the background.
If Eleanor were watching this match, she would surely remark, "So diligent practice is also very useful for a genius of this caliber."
In this life, there's no crazy love princess to hold him back, and he even has the best swordsmanship instructor in Norlana. Young Andra already has the demeanor of the future Holy King Anya.
......
Since Eleanor didn't go to the grasslands, she naturally couldn't see Andra's exhilarating performance.
But when the report, filled with writing, was slammed onto the table, she still let out a groundhog scream: "Aaaaa, Aguno—she's dead?!"
Three years! Three years earlier than in my previous life!
Andra, you didn't even hesitate to attack your own mother? And Alisa, you're too weak! You couldn't even last three years, you could have at least lasted three months! You're such a useless piece of trash, kneeling down in three rounds!
Eleanor angrily threw the report aside and began pacing back and forth in the study.
This is bad.
Her original plan was based on a six-year timeframe, but Andra's speed was a year faster than six years, and now she doesn't even have a chance to escape by boat.
Wait, why should I run away?
Eleanor stopped walking by leaning on the table.
This life is different from the last. Andra is stronger, uh, Mysera is still alive.
Myrcella and Andra’s faces appeared alternately, placed on the scales on either side of her.
Thump!
The weight on the right side slammed heavily onto the ground.
Hmm... It seems like she's not of much use being alive.
Neither Norlana nor Hetuya experienced a prolonged civil war, so in that respect, it's a draw.
However, considering the fighting strength of the king and the army, their only advantage is that Hetuya has not yet experienced the cold disaster, and the people are not very motivated to fight to the death.
However, given Andra's personality... she'll definitely cause trouble everywhere after she ascends the throne.
Eleanor slumped into a chair and picked up her pen to write a letter to Myrcella.
The pen tip, dipped in ink, flows out in a free and flowing stream of words.
She gave her sister a long analysis, the only central idea of which was: You hurry up and train the troops, train them to death, and use a defensive formation to hold out for me!
She had never seen anyone defeat Andra on the battlefield, but what if—what if swords and spears had no eyes and the Queen got stabbed?
Although Andra's personal combat strength is stronger in this life, many of her original generals have been poached by Eleanor, so she can only use the Hetuyas to fill the gaps.
Moreover, accessories such as horseshoes, saddles, and stirrups had not yet been "invented," so the difference in combat effectiveness between the two armies should be slightly smaller than in the previous life.
Eleanor wrote diligently for an entire afternoon.
She packed a large amount of intelligence along with a lengthy analysis and words of encouragement, and after thinking for a moment, she called her servant over while sealing the letter, asking her to retrieve a finely crafted sword from the storeroom and send it to Myrcella along with the letter.
She understands her sister Wang so well.
Without a conspicuous gift accompanying the letter, Myrcella might have opened the envelope with a sigh after a while, and by then, she might have looked up to find Andra already standing below the city walls, waving.
Eleanor examined the gleaming sword in her hand with mixed feelings.
Even after her rebirth, she still remembered the improved iron smelting techniques from her previous life.
So as soon as she arrived in Enlin, she quickly contacted various skilled craftsmen and used brand-new blast furnaces and coke to carefully produce a large number of high-quality iron products, including a small amount of steel.
This sword is actually a fine steel sword forged with a lot of manpower and resources. Since it was made from more than one type of ore, it can also be considered one of the earliest alloy swords.
This sword belonged to Andra in a past life.
To promote Andra, she even fabricated a story about the sword in the lake, so that everyone would believe that Andra was destined for greatness.
The stories from my past life seem unnecessary now; let me dedicate them to Mysera in this life.
Eleanor stroked the smooth surface of the sword, and her heart gradually calmed down until the servant left with the letter and the sword.
What should I do next?
Eleanor's mind began to go blank; her usually quick thinking froze, as if she had instinctively given up thinking in the face of difficulties.
What else can I do but rely on Mysera?
No, she was absolutely certain: even if she dragged Myrcella down and put herself on the throne, assuming all other conditions remained unchanged, she still couldn't defeat Andra.
The reason she used gunpowder when dealing with Attila was to test whether gunpowder could still exert its original power in this world.
Although Eleanor in her previous life also created basic gunpowder, Andra had no need for these fancy things in the war.
Considering that adding gunpowder might increase the intensity of war, Eleanor in her previous life stopped at this technological path.
In any case, if gunpowder is useful enough, there will always be people who continue to study it.
Unfortunately, the results of this experiment were not optimistic.
She ordered the princess's guards to ambush Attila with gunpowder arrows, but most of the damage came from the flames.
Even though the gunpowder exploded so close to Attila, he was still able to run out and start slashing people, but in the end, he was killed by cold weapons.
This means that the warriors in this world have extremely high resistance to gunpowder. Even if she can produce large quantities of black powder, she probably won't be able to close the gap between them and Andra.
Moreover, once Hetuya masters the method of gunpowder production during the war, she will most likely use it for siege warfare, which will also make it easier for them to eliminate Nolana's manpower.
"Phew..." How am I going to win this round?
Eleanor touched the gold pendant on her chest and cupped its smooth petals in her palm.
The only option is a fight to the death.
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Author's Note: Attila in the Sky: Little Princess of Nolana, what have you done!
Alisa with a broken bone (pain mask): Ughhhh, my sister is human? Human?
Eleanor: Don't look at me, it's not my fault...
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