Ronald is a soldier from the Great Mountain State.

He found a strange container that produced very precious pills some time ago. He didn't tell anyone and kept it for himself, using the pills to strengthen his body.

After all, war was imminent!

The Slow Mountain State is the neighbor to the Great Mountain State. The war is over a piece of land occupied by Slow Mountain more than 10 years ago.

Ronald was always furious that invaders could occupy their land without much pushback, so this war was very welcome.

...

In a meeting room, three people were sitting.

One was the commander of the Great Mountain State's Army, another was the governor's representative, and the last was a representative from the noble forces.

Each was representing their respective sides.

In the Great Mountain State, the military was not under civilian command. It was a separate branch of the government which owned many properties and funded itself independently.

The military was the owner of all mines and natural resources of the state. It had the responsibility of protecting the country from external dangers.

The governor was responsible for civil laws and received half of all taxes.

As for the nobles, they were responsible for criminal laws and received the other half of the taxes.

"Are there any other mines in the 'Middle Mountain'?" asked Tessa, the noble's representative.

Middle Mountain was the contested area between the two states.

"Only one gold mine. But it's huge, definitely worth it," said Jak, the military commander.

"But your mine is costing us a lot of resources to take back! Something has to be in it for us," said Karen, the governor's representative.

"Hey, it's our land, so what we are fighting over is not the gold mine; it's our territorial integrity!" said Jak with a righteous tone.

"Come on! You can trick others, but we know the truth! You were the one who sold Middle Mountain to them just to get that silver mine in the south! Now that they found a good mine, you want it back! So please, cut all the nonsense," said Karen.

Around a decade ago, the forces of the Slow Mountain occupied Middle Mountain, but that was with the coordination of Jak. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been this easy.

"You may know it, but I dare you to say it publicly! After all the propaganda in the last few years, people would be furious to hear the truth, so I suggest you not mention that matter again!" said Jak in a threatening voice.

"Hey, guys, easy! We can negotiate something! How about this? All profits from the gold mine split 1/3 each!" suggested Tessa.

"No, we, the military, own all the mines. This is non-negotiable."

"Alright! You own the mine; you just have to pay us the equivalent of one-third of its profits!" retorted Tessa.

"I concur! Without payment, we will not support you!" said Karen.

The military is independent, but it still needs help from the governor and the nobles in big wars.

"10 percent for each of you for 10 years!" said Jak.

They haggled and settled on 45 percent for the governor and nobles for 30 years, while the remaining share went to the military.

All three smiled and shook hands.

...

After training, Ronald returned to the barracks.

He was a chief soldier.

The Great Mountain State's army had two general military ranks: soldiers and commanders.

Soldier ranks consisted of the following:

Bottom soldier: the absolute lowest rank. The majority of the army held this rank.

Middle soldier: In charge of four bottom soldiers.

Chief soldier: In charge of four middle soldiers.

Field chief: The commander of all soldiers on a battlefield.

The field chief held the highest rank on a battlefield, as no commander would ever step into an active war territory.

As for commanders, they had the following ranks:

One star

Two stars

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Three stars

Four stars

Five stars

Almost all commanders are chosen from nobles or wealthy families.

The number of troops they control is fluid. For example, in battle, a one-star commander might control tens of thousands of troops if he/she is the highest rank present, but a four-star commander might just act as a consultant if a rank 5 commander is present. They control no fixed number of troops; it depends on the situation.

After the commander rank, there remains the rank of General. There is only one, General Jak, the General of the army, navy, and all armed forces, except for the police, which is under the nobles.

The governor also has some guards, but they are not comparable in quantity to the nobles and the army.

Ronald was a chief soldier in charge of 20 soldiers and controlled an entire room in the barracks.

...

The next day was the day of the war.

Ronald, along with his 20 underlings, was on the front lines.

Their side had 20 thousand people, while the other had 17 thousand.

The war began, and he rushed in, starting a massacre. After four months of using pills, he was now powerful.

There was no knight training in this continent, but stronger people existed.

His underlings were stunned as they watched him kill enemies left and right, all in one hit.

Then, a loud bang!

An arrow from a Ballista flew and hit him right in the heart.

He died!

...

The battle continued for one day, and the two sides retreated.

Then, the higher-ups of the two sides met and made a deal.

This gold mine would be given to the Great Mountain State, but another silver mine from somewhere else would be given as compensation to the Slow Mountain.

The battle ended like this. Both sides were quite happy with the results.

They all liked to fight occasionally, because it would rid them of the extra population.

All the wars, drought, etc, have caused the death rate to be very high; most never reach age 60, so the unlimited lifespan doesn't help normal people.

Nobles, of course, live for hundreds of years, as they are protected.

After this war, only ordinary soldiers and commoners who could not see the truth were angry.

In truth, nobles and the rich would always be fine no matter what happens in these wars. They play and manipulate ordinary people for one simple reason: once people are attached to something big, they are easier to control.

The Great Mountain State used the 'pain' of losing territory to generate hatred towards the Slow Mountain State, using this hatred to control people and mobilize them whenever needed.

Some might see through it, but most people are too distracted to notice.

For mortal States, these methods are necessary for the rich and powerful to control people. In mage continents, they don't need any of it because they can suppress everyone with pure power.

After this war, the Slow Mountain State began propagandizing its population about the lost territory, thereby distracting the people from the newly gained Silver mine that the nobles were extracting.

As for the Great Mountain State, they had taken their 'revenge,' so now they needed to distract the populace with something else.

A few months later, a border city of the Great Mountain State was 'occupied' by the West Mountain State, thereby distracting people's attention away from the grief caused by the great economic downturn as a result of the war.

Of course, the city that was 'occupied' was actually sold to the West Mountain State in exchange for a lot of gold.

As for why they did it, after the war, the nobles and the governor were unsatisfied. They had lost a lot in this war, and it would take a while to start mining the gold.

In the meantime, their quality of life might be affected, and they may be unable to hold onto their thousands of servants. So, they decided to sell some land to fill the gaps and also distract the commoners from complaining about the recent drought, which had caused a lot of people to die of hunger.

...

Alistair was in his lab, as always.

"I'm getting better!" he thought.

These days, he was trying hard to learn pill-concocting skills. He had been a Grand Rank 4 mage in the past, but now, even though he had reached Rank 5, he is only considered somewhat high-ranking.

So, he was trying to increase his value.

He went out of the room and saw Sun.

This woman had been the dean of the Blue Light Academy before. Back then, he had used the inheritance of Master Lewis to take control of the formation and seal her, but after high-level mages returned, she was naturally released.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I want to learn pill-concocting too! Please accept me!" she kneeled.

Alistair was able to try to learn because of the resources provided by the Seven Lights Academy, which he obtained as a result of being Lewis's disciple.

However, Sun, a normal Rank 5 mage, couldn't afford it.

She was at Rank 5 peak, not far from Rank 6, but the resources needed to reach Rank 6 were significant.

Alistair thought, "I need an assistant anyway, so let's accept her."

"Okay, but you must sign a contract based on a Rank 9 magic treasure," he said.

Sun had already expected this, so she nodded.

After this day, the two former enemies began to learn pill-concocting together.

...

Doris told her friend she found through a continent-wide contest, "Tell me a story."

The person she chose was good at storytelling.

The boy, who appeared to be around 20 years old, began. It was a very long story, exactly to Doris's taste.

A few hours later, Doris sighed as the story ended.

"You are very talented, John. I'm happy that I chose you!"

These days, Doris's spirits were improving.

She had lost a lot, so it was impressive that she recovered. Some magic antidepressant pills she took might also be part of the reason.

John smiled and bowed.

He was also happy.

The amount of money he received made his whole family rich forever. His own life was also packed with all kinds of luxury.

A knock came.

"Come in," said Doris.

Alivia, still the prime minister, entered and bowed, then handed Doris a paper.

Dyer allowed Alivia to stay as the prime minister of Robels Kingdom, but she took orders from the Seven Lights Academy, with Doris only as a figurehead.

Still, sometimes, she took pity on Doris and at least informed her of the latest changes in the kingdom.

"Huh? A policy change on childbearing? You want to only allow those with rank 10 talent to have children?" Doris asked with doubt.

"Yes, Your Majesty. This is an order of His Majesty Dyer," she said.

Doris sighed and continued reading.

"This agriculture policy will destroy mortal technology! Why use so much magic and not allow mortals to innovate non-magical ways?" she asked.

Alivia repeated the same answer.

"With this change, you are basically destroying public education!" Doris said.

In the past, everyone was educated, and although the education mainly was propaganda, it still had some effect. But now, with almost no children, all schools went bankrupt despite being government-funded.

So, schools were repurposed to become places for adult learning.

The new adult schools significantly boosted public knowledge in all areas.

But now, this policy change has forced everyone out.

From Dyer's perspective, mortal science is junk, so spending even a little money on it is a waste.

Instead, the schools are all to be used for magical research. Even mortals with no mage talent can join if they display good talent in research.

But how many people are talented in magical research? Doris estimated the number and shook her head.

"This is His Majesty Dyer's order," said Alivia.

Doris just crumpled the paper and threw it away, then looked at John again and said, "The next story."

John, who was already tired, gritted his teeth and began with a smile!