Volume 4 Chapter 21: Situation (Middle)

  So-called Narsil Second Empire, in fact neither Narsil nor second, nor empire!

  This is a consensus reached by modern-day Ferelden on the massive political entity known as "Thedas Second Inquisition".

  It is said that "it is not the Narsil of old", referring to the Second Empire of Narsil established before 600, which on the surface seemed to be the successor of the ancient magical empire of Narsil destroyed by Ferlin the Dark, but in reality was completely different.

  Although this Second Empire also has floating cities, great mages, and the so-called "Encyclopedia of Magic" - the Narsil Scrolls (only a few pages remain), and all sorts of great magical achievements. However, the basic component that makes up a country - its people - is completely different from those of the First Narsilean Empire. Even the ethnicity has changed; to say that the Second Empire can inherit the legacy of the First Empire is really not convincing.

  At the beginning of the Second Empire, apart from the 200,000 Naihe people in Yīn Hún City, more than 90% of the population came from various independent city-states in the north. The vast and cold land in the northwest of this continent was completely outside the vision of the Naihe people during the First Empire era, and was contemptuously referred to as the dwelling place of barbarians, with residents being uncivilized tribes unrelated to civilization. The later-added Zhor Elven originally only lived underground and had no connection with the floating Naihe First Empire in the sky.

  The old territory of the First Empire, although controlled by the Second Empire, had long been reduced to a vast expanse of yellow sand by the ravages of the Ferlin's demonic calamity, and only now has it barely regained some semblance of vitality. Thus, the so-called Nai Se Riel Second Empire is merely old wine in new bottles, with a fancy name attached to it.

  "Also not the second" refers to Haruah's insistence that it is the orthodox successor of the ancient Niseral magic empire, or "Second Niseral", and that the current Niseral Empire can at most be ranked third, and should be renamed "Third Empire". Although this statement was ridiculed by the imperial government, it also has its own rationality.

  The Harua Kingdom is located in the southern part of the Ferren continent, with its territory surrounded by mountains on three sides and only open to the ocean in the south. This place is warm and humid all year round, making it a beautiful and fertile land. More than 2,000 years ago, a group of Colorful Riel ancient magic empire earth mages, along with their apprentices and families, came here under the leadership of Grand Mage Lomark to escape the disaster brought by Ferlin's magical calamity, and settled down from then on, marking the beginning of the Harua Kingdom.

  The Netherese mages did not conquer the native Haruans through war, but instead quickly merged the two populations through intermarriage and common interests - an unthinkable feat for the normally proud and enslaving Netherese! The difficulty of this achievement is roughly equivalent to European colonizers giving equal treatment to Native Americans. Assuming that the moral standards of the Netherese mages cannot be overstated, it can only be said that these guys' strength has been weakened by Ferlin's magic and long journeys to the point where they have to take a gentle approach to avoid any wars with the indigenous people.

  The Narsil mages who came fleeing in distress provided a set of organized political, economic, judicial systems and wonderful magical technologies to the indigenous people of Harua, while absorbing locals with magical talents as their apprentices, slowly becoming the ruling class of this region. Later, after the collapse of the Narsil era, some surviving Narsil refugees also came here, clearing out monsters and bandits that had been lurking in the area together with those who arrived earlier, ultimately building a mage kingdom.

  Due to its three sides being easily defensible high mountains, and far from the continent's central region where civilized nations wage war against each other. This country has also suffered foreign invasions and large-scale internal wars. Its territory has never been able to expand, but it has managed to stubbornly continue until now, even surviving the repeated invasions of the Elf Kingdom in recent years. This "Second Norsel" despite having limited population and land, also has a significant position in international politics. And Harua was established even before the fall of the First Norsel Empire, so it is naturally very dissatisfied with the self-proclaimed heir to the Norsel civilization in the north, the Second Norsel Empire.

  "The Non-Imperial Empire" has a double meaning. On the surface, it refers to the fact that since Tarramun-tanshul, the original Dark Lord who slew the gods and founded the Second Netheril Empire, there have been no emperors, and in reality it became an oligarchic and representative republic, known as "the empire without an emperor".

  But on a deeper level, it refers to the internal and external chaos of the Second Empire of Nanzhou in recent years, which is not like a normal country at all!

  "Invasion and massacre of the Kingdom of Elves"

  All humans, dwarves and dark elves even in the government of Yongju Island felt fear. However, Yongju Island used the huge wealth plundered from the Mazka continent to forge the most powerful war machine in history." Ganmery continued to describe the changes brought about by the "Great Elf Invasion" to the situation inside and outside the empire, which was another turning point after the First Continental War.

  "In comparison to the island of Yongju, which is as rich as a mountain of gold and silver and can support an army of one million, even countries like Anmu and Tesse, known for their wealth and power, are not on the same level. Not to mention those dwarf 'kingdoms' that dare to call themselves kings with only a few thousand people. In the face of absolute military disparity, all strategies become meaningless. Therefore, the elven army almost didn't encounter any decent resistance as they conquered the southwestern coastal regions of the continent and further expanded rapidly in all directions. The elves, who claim to restore their ancestors' glory, seem to really have a tendency to become the rulers of the world again, which would be a disaster for all other races."

  "At that time, the Ferren continent had only two countries that could barely match the elven kingdom in terms of national power. One was the Nai'Seriel Empire, which possessed the Dark Territory and colonies on the New Continent. The other was the Sel Federation, whose territory once encompassed nearly half of the continent and monopolized the eastern trade routes. However, at that time, Sel had fallen into continuous division and civil war, no longer possessing the prestige of a superpower. Therefore, the Empire naturally became the leader of the human civilization world, the wartime leader against the elven invasion, but..."

  Here is the translation:

  "Up to this point, Gan Meiril hesitated for a moment, seemingly not wanting to speak ill of her own political backing, but unable to think of more suitable wording. In the end, she still spoke out: 'However, the high-level leaders of the Empire made a rather fatal mistake at this time. They were not satisfied with the position of the alliance leader and instead used various means to let the surrounding countries join the empire in the form of autonomous regions. As a result, the empire's territory and population suddenly increased by one and a half times. On the surface, it was expanding its territory, but in reality, it had put itself in an absolute predicament! The various problems that followed were all caused by this.'"

  "What's wrong with that?" Karl Sasse looked somewhat perplexed. "Isn't expanding territory the desire of any ruler?"

  "Professor Karsus, in your past life, you once obtained the power of the first-generation magic goddess Misrille. What was your feeling at that time?" Ganmell didn't answer directly, but instead uncovered the most painful secret of Karsus's past.

  Karl Sasse's face turned pale and white, although he had slept for thousands of years, his body had changed, and many memories from when he was a great wizard were lost. But the most important moment in his life remained vividly in his mind, as if it were yesterday.

  At that time, the Nacelle Empire was on the verge of destruction under the attack of Ferlin. He tried to gain divine power through his own 12-level magic "Karsus's Avatar". As a result, it thoroughly destroyed the foundation of all magic - the mana net, and almost all floating cities lost their power and fell, and the brilliant Nacelle civilization came to an end. Just thinking about how he foolishly destroyed his beloved country with his own hands, Karsus seemed to see those trusted subordinates tragically falling to death from the floating city, and his heart was suffocated.

  "...I felt as if I was going to explode," he said, pausing for a moment. "Unimaginable knowledge, power and some other indescribable things were pouring into my body, it was both comfortable and unbearable...I couldn't say anything else because at that time I had already become a stone statue due to the backlash, almost completely destroyed."

  "Can it be understood that the power of the magical goddess is too great, your body cannot bear it, and your abilities are not enough to complete the work of the magical goddess, so a huge disaster was brewed?"

  "It should be like this."

  "If you had chosen a different target at the time, one of the weaker deities rather than the powerful Mithral, wouldn't the spell have been much more likely to succeed?"

  "It should be like that, but I'm not sure either." Karl Saus said hesitantly, "When I was reincarnated, I lost all my powers and a considerable part of my memories. I don't even remember that spell, but logically it should be like this."

  "What the Empire did back then and what you're doing now aren't fundamentally different, both are attempts to get something that can't be handled, resulting in bad consequences." Ganmirel explained, "It's just that the degree wasn't as severe as yours, so at first it didn't show up dramatically, but now...". He shook his head, "All sorts of problems have come out!"