Hours after tending to his duties as a man, Lothur saw something strange happen to him for the first time on his journey!
[CON: 5,725 -> 6,081]
After having sex with all of his women, Lothur realized that doing so with those who currently had a higher Constitution than he did gave him results similar to those he had been able to produce with them before.
After caring for Annaliese and Elke, he improved that attribute a bit and was naturally very satisfied.
Considering the amount of Soul Bones his wives still had to absorb, they had a good chance of maintaining this attribute above his own in the future.
It was time for him to benefit from his women's power after helping them for so long!
But Lothur's other two women had experienced the usual effects of having sex with him and had received their husband's blessing, raising their physical quality a bit.
Lothur spent the night taking care of them, and by dawn, they had all left the Three Great Lakes Region to begin the mission he had given them earlier.
Annaliese and Viktoria had left with the elders of the Jansen family, who had already brought some men from their families to help Lothur in the area. These two women and the three brothers went to different borders of Leopoldine to prepare to protect the state and eventually get more "food" for Lothur.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtElke and Rebecca went to work in the interior of Leopoldine, looking for demons, the same work that Daemon's group and the one with the level 19 beast were doing at the moment.
With all his women gone, Lothur quickly helped some of the men there to build his retreat, giving them special potions and pills.
These were not his subordinates, but since it would take time for his people to reach this place, and he had to protect the Jansen family anyway, he used some of the resources he would give to his people to help these men become stronger.
But there were already people of the Ritter, Koch, Becker, and Frost families moving into the area, knowing that Lothur had the resources to help them.
Soon, the forces of Linn Province would change significantly because of Lothur's actions!
...
While Lothur once again focused on creating mechanisms to strengthen his people, within Asken, the powers of that state were already alarmed by the disappearance and death of hundreds of their troops.
That state had more than 5,000 people moving to Leopoldine, but 3,000 went to that state through Linn Province and the rest through other areas.
But suddenly, this afternoon, many of their men died at the border of Linn Province, which was extremely unexpected, considering that there were even high Saints in such a group.
With the disappearance of the strongest and weakest of this group from this world, the capital of Asken was soon in an uproar as the state's top men went into an emergency meeting.
"What the hell happened? How can our men die so easily on the border of that province?" The emperor asked aloud as the people in the area broke into a cold sweat, many of them turning pale.
One of those responsible for communicating with this group opened his mouth. "We don't know, Your Majesty. The group we sent to Linn Province perished without communicating or asking for reinforcements.
My group believes the enemies were so powerful that our envoys couldn't withstand the pressure and were eliminated before they even asked for reinforcements."
"If that's true, we have to consider the possibility that there was at least one Sage on Leopoldine's side..."
"Maybe the Jansen family managed to move up a level?"
"It is possible. Those three old people have been at the peak of their powers for centuries."
Several experts, most of them Supreme Saints, commented at the same time the emperor was as red as a tomato, furious at losing so many of his strongest subordinates and vassals.
However, this was just the tip of the iceberg!
"Very well, prepare more groups." He ordered. "I will call the elders. Let's see what Leopoldine will do if it only relies on three newly promoted Sages!"
...
Meanwhile, something similar to what happened in Asken's capital happened in Lenz and Utrary, where rulers were learning the consequences of the actions of the Sages created by Lothur.
With losses almost as great as Asken's, Utrary and Lenz were in tension, especially the latter state, the weakest of the main territories acting against Leopoldine.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmPrecisely because it was the weakest, Lenz was already moving to contact its allies not yet involved in the war against Leopoldine and that state's hybrid, as it had no Sage to rely on.
Most states in this world had Sages in seclusion, especially the sovereign powers of territories. But Lenz was one of only two states, along with Leopoldine, that didn't have Sages until recently.
On the other hand, while Lenz was searching for its allies who had access to Sages, the sovereign family of Utrary was already moving to awaken its elders!
The leader of this state was currently in a crypt in the basement of her palace, in front of two shiny, well-polished urns that didn't even have a speck of dust on them.
On her knees, this level-21 woman cried out to her ancestors for help.
"Elders, my state is at war with an unexpected enemy. We recently lost thousands of our men suddenly." She said as she felt the aura of those beings hovering more and more chaotically behind the doors of their urns.
"I am afraid that the enemies have Sages acting for them. Since I don't have the strength to fight such people, I ask the elders to intercede. Otherwise, I fear that the state will be destroyed and taken over by the darkness of our enemies."
As she begged, there was a sudden cracking sound, and the lid of one of the urns in the crypt opened.
In an instant, two magnificent auras appeared, and soon, the entire capital of Utrary was shaking.
"All generations really are the same... It looks like someone's trying to intimidate our juniors, old Patrick."
"Humph! Our family is not to be bullied! We'll see who these vermin are plotting against us!" A powerful old man with a Soul power of over 12,000 said this as he looked at the young woman kneeling in front of the urn he had just left.
After more than a thousand years in seclusion, he and his wife were leaving this place for the first time!