Mental Injury

With an order from Elizabeth, James didn't dare to continue. He immediately sent letters to all nobles around and informed them of the order from Elizabeth.

However, the nobles weren't convinced. They gathered their soldiers and started marching toward James.

James had no choice but to defend himself. Elizabeth ordered him to stop, and he complied; the nobles were the ones continuing to attack.

He couldn't just sit and let the nobles kill him. He had to defend himself and continue fighting despite Elizabeth's order.

So, he also gathered his troops and ran.

The nobles had gathered their armies again, now totaling 40,000,000 combined troops, more than twice James's army. Even without Elizabeth's order, he wouldn't fight them head-on.

He attacked to the west, targeting another count from the Ball family. There were many nobles from the Ball family around here.

James defeated Count Ball easily, but his overall chance of winning here was very low.

He only survived so far by looting resources. He would lose when the resources nearby ran out.

The nobles were also smart, moving all food and useful resources away from available targets.

Because of this, James got very little resources from Count Ball. He would definitely lose this war.

With no chance of winning, he chose complete retreat.

He didn't have any hope of reinforcements anytime soon. It would take months. The royal court and the southern nobles are formally at war, so there will be a war soon. James could only wait for that time.

He gathered the remaining 500,000 royal forces and, using conscripted soldiers as shields, he ran to the north.

…

The world is divided into 5: the center, the south, the north, the west, and the east.

Contrary to what one may believe, the capital is on the western side, not the central part.

Fareast territories are far from the capital, and rebel forces are strongest there. There have been rumors about many independent kings, but they haven't been confirmed.

The west and the north are the richest areas and are completely loyal to the Blue Bloods Kingdom.

The South is considered the poorest and the last one conquered. Nobles there pay taxes and are under the command of the Blue Bloods Kingdom, but they are very disloyal and nearly independent.

The central land is varied; It is the biggest, and some parts are extremely rich, and some parts are very poor. The South of the central lands looks pretty much like the south, and the north of the central lands is like the northern lands.

The king, with advice from the House of Blue Bloods, is responsible for appointing nobles throughout the kingdom.

But, even if they can appoint anyone, their hands are not as free in practice. They must consider many issues, such as the balance of power, local forces, etc.

For example, the capital knew for many years the marquises in the south weren't loyal, but they still couldn't remove them.

Even if they removed, for example, Marquis Ball and appointed another one in his place, that wouldn't change anything; Marquis Ball would continue to hold power.

To take power away, only a pen is not enough; military backing is necessary. But, no matter how many times the Blue Bloods Kingdom attacked and defeated the South, the capital was too far away, and the local nobles would always become disloyal over time.

Control of lands too far away is extremely difficult; even the Blue Bloods kingdom cannot keep effective control. The Blue Bloods Kingdom is, without a doubt, the most powerful kingdom by far, but it is not the only one.

Some rebel leaders have quietly sat on the throne and named themselves king. Of course, they are no match for the Blue Bloods, so nobody counts them as anything.

…

James entered the central lands, but the nobles continued chasing him.

His many millions of cannon fodder he left to delay time surrendered in the first contact; their morals were bottom low, and they were anything but loyal.

The southern nobles cut down the fat, assembled an army of 2,000,000 elites, and started chasing James. No matter what, maintaining an army of millions for a long time was extremely expensive, and James only had a few hundred thousand, so there was no need to keep that many.

In Alex III's time, most of the land was undeveloped, but now, a million years later, few untouched forests are left.

James couldn't run to wild forests to avoid the southern noble's chase.

Fortunately, the nobles of the area weren't all in rebellion.

Even in the southern lands, the nobles were divided on the action they should take against James and the royal court.

They never expected James to be so aggressive; it can be said they were forced into rebellion.

To begin with, all they did at first was to gather troops in one place; they didn't want to attack James. They could have said later that it was a military exercise.

James was the one who aggressively attacked them.

Nobles of the Ball family and Sand family favored fighting and chasing, while many others didn't want to provoke royals anymore.

With even southern nobles divided, what can one expect from central lands nobles?

James was a royal agent, no matter what he did in the South.

He just displayed his badge and left Central Land nobles with two choices:

Let him in and risk the southern noble's wrath.

Stop his entry and risk royal wrath.

The royals have been very peaceful in recent years, but history recorded how scary they can be.

King John I, also known as John the Conqueror, led armies of tens of millions of elite troops and suppressed the whole world. To this day, even those who dare to rebel and label themselves as king would never dare to say it too loudly for fear of attracting too much attention.

Even the eastern nobles, many of whom rebelled and labeled themselves king, still paid their taxes to the royal court. If they didn't, the royal court would have attacked them.

The royal court's redline is taxed; everything else is negotiable as long as it is paid. It's not that the royals don't want tighter control, but they can't do it in the long run.

The kingdom system doesn't allow kings to have too much control. It is baked into the core of the Blue Bloods Kingdom that nobles have autonomy, and with that autonomy, with time, there would come contempt for centralized control.

If the royal court wants tight control, they must directly appoint these southern and eastern lands' governors. But appointing governors directly can never pass the House of Blue Bloods; they are all unanimously opposed to it. That would decrease the power of all nobles.

The dukes, appointed by the king, had their lands mostly in the north and the west. The king has very little actual influence over the south and the east.

The only reason the South and the East still are in name under royal power is their fear of an all-out invasion.

That fear of invasion that stopped many southern nobles from defecting for so many years didn't just disappear because of James. As for central lands nobles, their choice was to allow James to pass and stop the troops of southern nobles who were chasing.

The southern nobles were already divided on whether to chase him, but with even central nobles on the royal side, most decided to stop here.

Ball's family wanted to chase, but with most nobles withdrawing their troops, Ball's family was left with 250,000 elites, even less than James alone. With no chance to catch James, they could only retreat with resentment.

…

Lara felt the past few months were a dream. It was surreal.

She never before experienced any war. But she saw so much bloodshed on this trip that it was unbelievable.

She regretted ever volunteering for this job.

Seeing so many deaths and witnessing those terrible scenes would leave its mark on one's mind.

There are two kinds of injuries. One is physical injury, which is often seen and easier to fix. The second type is mental injury, which is invisible and can be even more damaging than physical injuries.

These days, Lara has nightmares every night. Most of her nightmares are about those children who were cutting meat. She sees herself dead on the ground while only watching as children come to eat her flesh.

In medieval times, these kinds of mental injuries had no drug to fix. At most, people used some natural plants, most of which were addicting.

Lara chose this way, too. She is now addicted to a drug she found in the South.

It is called Purple Smoke, which can completely remove any depression. The only downside is its addicting nature.

No physical problems exist if one doesn't increase the dose too much. Lara has been using it to rest in peace.