Time passed quickly in Aretusa Academy, and more than a month had passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, except for occasionally cheating on Triss with the very sexy Principal Margarita, Wayne spent most of his time studying magic and secretly copying magic books in the library.

Because of his close relationship with Margarita, Wayne has access to almost all the books in the library. Except for those banned books, he can read any book he wants at will without any supervision.

The promise with the witch Lani has been half fulfilled.

Of course, Mr. Wayne is not the kind of person who likes to get things for free. After taking such a big advantage, he has to pay something for it.

After in-depth communication with the current principal, Ms. Margarita, and with the support of the principal, the Wayne Chamber of Commerce will replace the supplier that used to provide materials to the college and establish a chamber of commerce base in Qiaotou Town near Aretusa College.

Not only will it provide certain security services for the female students in the college, but it will also supply the college with more goods from all over the world.

In order to show his sincerity, the Chamber of Commerce gave the college preferential prices. Not only was the quality guaranteed, but the variety of goods was definitely more comprehensive than in the past.

Of course, this is a win-win policy. Not only does the Chamber of Commerce make contributions, but the college will also give a lot of support to the Wayne Chamber of Commerce.

The most important point is that the female students in the academy will be employed by the Chamber of Commerce and use the knowledge they have learned in school to provide magical services to the Wayne Chamber of Commerce.

Although these students have limited abilities, not everyone can become an elite sorceress like Triss or Yennefer.

But as magic apprentices with spellcasting abilities, they can still do things that ordinary people cannot do.

For example, they can use magic divination, magic communication, psychic rituals, magic rituals, and even teleportation to a limited extent.

In such a barbaric and backward Middle Ages, even a magic apprentice could play a very important role in special places and was worthy of being won over by the Chamber of Commerce.

Moreover, after these sorceress apprentices graduate, not every one of them can become a royal adviser. Most of them still have to do other unemployed jobs.

If we can build good relationships with them during their apprenticeship period, they will be more easily employed by the Wayne Chamber of Commerce in the future after they graduate.

This is a sure win business.

During this month, Wayne lived a very leisurely life. He almost ignored everything going on outside and focused on reading books of sages.

However, the entire northern countries were attracted by an unexpected war.

A month ago, Count Karn's defeat resulted in half of the Kingdom of Kaedwen falling into the hands of King Demaev of Aedirn, which was something that the other northern kings could have predicted.

However, only half a month later, when Demavi was triumphantly collecting spoils and dealing with the post-war chaos in the southern part of the Kingdom of Kaedwen, a powerful black army suddenly crossed the Pontar River, defeated the defenders of several cities in the Kingdom of Aedirn with a crushing blow, defeated several great nobles, and occupied those cities.

The speed was so fast that almost no one could react.

By the time Demave received the news, almost one-third of Aedirn's territory had fallen into the hands of this army, and the entire Aedirn was plunged into chaos.

Just like this time when the Aedirn army marched into Kaedwen, the war between the two great powers was already the largest war in the North in recent years.

However, the number of troops on both sides was just over 10,000, and almost half of the soldiers were temporary farmers, with only a few thousand truly elite soldiers.

The amount of food and fodder consumed during wartime is unimaginable for ordinary farmers. Armies of this size were the norm in the Middle Ages. After all, in this world, most farmers could hardly feed themselves after paying taxes, let alone support a large number of soldiers.

Apart from those noble lords who can afford to support a group of full-time soldiers and knights, probably only some wealthy businessmen can afford to keep some guards as a guarantee.

Even for those kings, it was difficult to raise an army of over a thousand people in a short period of time. It would take half a month or even a month to mobilize them to achieve this.

However, this group of troops that crossed the river from the south not only had sophisticated weapons and equipment, but also the number of soldiers exceeded most people's imagination.

Judging from the information reported by the scouts alone, this army had more than 40,000 soldiers, far exceeding the total number of soldiers in the Kingdom of Aedirn at the time, and the number exceeded that by more than double, which was almost a crushing number.

Even if King Demavi did not need to reorganize his soldiers and could immediately set out from Kaedwen and return to the Kingdom of Aedirn, given the gap in their strength, it would be impossible for them to defeat this southern army and regain their territory.

In an instant, King Demavi's excitement disappeared, and he was even stunned.

He racked his brains to figure out why the army that suddenly appeared would attack Aedirn, and because it happened so suddenly, he still didn't know which country the enemy's army came from or what force they belonged to. He only heard that they came from the south, but he was not sure which kingdom in the south they were from.

Although there were constant wars and various disputes among the northern countries due to territorial disputes, most of them were minor and could not be brought to the surface.

Moreover, most of these kings are short-sighted and always focus on their own little piece of land. At most, they pay attention to other neighboring countries. They know very little about the intelligence of the Southern Kingdom and basically do not pay attention to it.

Therefore, it was not only King Demavi who was confused this time. Except for a few kings who had trade relations with the Southern Kingdom, most of the rulers in the North were also confused. They had no idea where this army came from. They could only immediately send out a large number of scouts and use all their connections to investigate the origin of this army.

However, Master Wayne, who was far away on Thanedd Island, was not among these people.

As early as several years ago, he, like the elven sorceress Francesca, began to make plans in the Southern Kingdom, laying out many trade routes and planting many intelligence personnel. Although they could not be said to be omnipotent, they were still able to investigate some major events that happened in the Southern Kingdom.

According to their original estimation, the Civil War would take several years to break out, so they did not focus on it.

However, what Wayne did not expect was that for some unknown reason, the usurper, who was clearly not fully prepared, suddenly began to mobilize the army a month ago, thus opening the prelude to the Civil War.

Moreover, this southern emperor who successfully secured his throne through a rebellion by military officers was indeed quite shrewd.

They successfully took advantage of the expedition of King Demaev of Aedirn, and while the enemy's army was away and the country was empty, they achieved considerable results with almost no effort.

This was a good start for the Civil War.

(End of this chapter)