The words of Elector Rick set all the nobles who attended the banquet talking in low voices.
The crisis brought by Vlad was almost hopeless.
The ability to constantly resurrect frightens many nobles.
At that time, many people had already pessimistically believed that the empire would be destroyed by a vampire.
Those mysterious travelers who came from nowhere were like the light of salvation. They saved Middenheim with powerful means and defeated the terrifying vampires and the undead army.
If those mysterious men simply wanted to become the emperor of the empire, the nobles would surely raise their hands and feet in approval.
Nowadays, the various electors are in constant civil strife, the position of emperor has remained vacant, the empire is in pieces, there is a decadent atmosphere from top to bottom, and it is unable to resist the many threats from the outside world.
Having an emperor who holds great power is undoubtedly a good thing for them.
At least they will be more confident when facing beastmen, ratmen, and other messy threats.
The problem is, those guys want too much.
He actually wanted to abolish the hereditary rule of the aristocracy and hand over power to the ignorant people who only knew how to farm.
This would mean that the nobles would lose power.
They cannot tolerate such things.
The nobility is the cornerstone of the empire. They possess noble spirit and powerful strength and are the first line of defense for human survival.
They really couldn't figure out what kind of mental state the other party was in when issuing the decree.
An empire without its nobles is like the god of war without his weapons, or the god of love and beauty being an ugly monster.
"This is indeed a problem. Those people challenged our traditions and shook the foundation of the empire. It is very likely that the empire will be shattered." Duke Artur, the elector of Nuln Province, said, "We must stop them before they cause more damage."
"This matter is not that simple. It only took the group that occupied Midden Territory a few days to capture Vlad and wipe out his army of vampires and undead. Vlad was once a major concern of ours, but he was easily solved by the other party. What ability do we have to deal with those guys now?"
"How many days? I heard that it only took them half a day. A ray of heavenly fire turned all of Vlad's troops into ashes. In the face of such a force, our army is as fragile as an ant."
Count Andrew, a famous general of the Empire, interrupted the conversation of the great men with a mocking tone.
"If the intelligence is true, our attack on Middenheim would undoubtedly send those excellent soldiers to their deaths."
"That's a terrible thing. Maybe we should clean our necks and let those guys rush into our mansion with their mud legs and kill us all." Another noble sneered sarcastically: "In that case, perhaps those excellent soldiers can survive."
"I'm telling the truth." Count Andre stared at the noble and said, "We are no match for those guys. We can't even deal with Vlad, so how can we deal with those mysterious people who are countless times more powerful than him?"
"What I said is also true." The noble said: "Since we are not going to resist, why don't we clean our necks and wait for death?"
"Haha, we really should wait for death, so let's disband." Count Andre changed the subject. "The people of the territory have a good opinion of me. When they take away our property, they may spare my life and the lives of my family. Unlike some people, those cruel decrees and punishments, tsk tsk, how many do you think they will use on you?"
The nobleman was choked by Andre's words and his face turned red, and fear appeared on his face.
"Okay, we are here to solve problems, not to quarrel." Sokol, the Elector of Westerland, interrupted the argument between the two.
"I think what Count Andre said is right. We are no match for him at all. Why don't we go back and divide our property among those peasants, and then beg them not to kill us!
” exclaimed a noble from another province, making no effort to conceal his delight in watching this argument.
"There is no point in discussing this anymore, just surrender." said another noble.
"That's enough, arguing won't change anything."
The shouting silenced everyone.
The nobles looked towards the person who spoke, their faces revealing contempt and anger.
The man was thin and sturdy, with sharp blue eyes and short blond hair.
Wearing a simple dress, a ring with exquisite craftsmanship is worn on the man's finger.
He is a man of status.
But it was obvious that his clothes were not as luxurious as those of the nobles.
The person who spoke was a Cressi who was promoted by the deceased former emperor.
He was in charge of the Janissaries of Altdorf.
This guy doesn't come from a very good background.
He was just a peasant who was selected into the Royal Guards by luck.
However, during a hunting activity, he saved the former emperor who was almost killed by a wild beast.
In order to protect himself, the former emperor promoted Cressy to be the commander of his imperial guards.
Avoid being assassinated again in the power struggle.
After all, it is not a coincidence that a ferocious beast was released into the hunting ground like that.
The previous emperor passed away, but the current emperor has not yet been determined.
No one had the power to remove Cressy from command of the Royal Guard.
Even if the current emperor came to power, he would probably try to win over Cressy.
After all, a royal guard commander without an aristocratic background is far more trustworthy than other noble children.
Those dirty political games are unimaginable to ordinary people.
The emperor also had to carefully deal with various forces and maintain a balance, otherwise it was not uncommon for him to die suddenly the next day or fall into the water.
Cressy holds great power, but this does not prevent the nobles from despising this upstart without family heritage.
His rudeness towards several nobles of long-standing families was an outrage worthy of the gallows.
"Watch your tongue." A rough-looking nobleman roared, his hand on his sword: "Be respectful, or don't blame me for being ruthless."
Anger flashed in Cressy's eyes.
But after a moment, he chose to give in.
These nobles may not be able to deal with the vampire Vlad and those mysterious men, but they are more than enough to deal with him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, my Lords." Cressey said in a low voice, "It's just that a few noble Lords quarreling like this will not help solve the problem."
"Arguing really won't solve any problems." The host of the banquet, Louis II, the Elector of Reikland, said, "We must unite, and Count Andre doesn't need to be so desperate. Those mysterious men certainly defeated Vlad in a way that we can't imagine, but that way is not incomprehensible."
"What do you mean? Do you know how those mysterious men exterminated the vampires of Middenheim?"
Count Andre asked, looking at Louis II who was sitting at the head of the banquet table.
"Aren't there enough unreasonable things happening in our world? The rise of the Skaven City, the Maelstrom, if you are willing to read the ancient history and adventurers' travel notes, you will find many things like this." Louis II smiled, and greasy wrinkles appeared on his fat face, making his whole face look like a chrysanthemum.
"Those mysterious people in Middenheim are no more than relying on some powerful magic or ancient artifacts. Nothing is impossible in this world. Nothing is invincible either."
As soon as these words were spoken, all the nobles began to discuss in low voices.
"Our problem is actually not difficult to solve. As long as we find a powerful enough artifact or seek help from the high elves hiding overseas, we can easily destroy those mysterious people." Louis II expressed his opinion.
Magic is ubiquitous in this world.
However, the Empire does not recognize the status of mages and regards them as potential corruptors.
Groups that use the wind of magic can easily summon some life that does not belong to this world, causing terrible crises.
However, those groups generally possess powerful forces. If they are combined with complex rituals and used properly, they can release unimaginable terrifying forces and destroy all targets.
The idea of Louis II, the Elector of Nokland, was simple: to find those wizards, or seek those terrible artifacts left over from ancient times, as well as the high elves hidden overseas to assist them.
Before the nobles had even assembled, Louis II had already begun implementing his plans.
He ordered scholars to search the empire's largest library for clues to the artifacts.
He hired money-hungry mercenaries from the Adventurer's Guild and asked them to deliver letters for him.
He also used organizations such as the Thieves Guild to gather intelligence for himself.
The reason he did all this was simply because Louis II felt that he might be able to use this opportunity to become the emperor of the empire.
Even this banquet was held to show off his financial strength.
Louis II had already made relevant preparations.
Faced with the questions from other nobles, he handled them with ease, calmly responded to their questions and gave explanations.
He controlled the direction of events.
After all the nobles agreed to his proposal, he then took the opportunity to reveal the ultimate purpose of the banquet.
"We have to choose a leader so that we can coordinate the forces and unite to fight against these enemies."
... ... ... ... ... ...
Middenheim.
After Fisher returned to the city defense system and handed over the patrol work to the guard who took over, he planned to go to the Pig's Head Tavern for a drink.
His steps were brisk.
The smile on his face did not disappear because of the day's fatigue.
There were sounds of knocking and moving from both sides of the road.
The workers are still working.
They are all refugees who came from all over to participate in the reconstruction work.
They worked and talked excitedly at the same time.
"Yesterday a scholar came to my house and told me that all my children had to go to school, otherwise the soldiers would knock on my door and put me in jail."
"They expelled Sigmar's priests and asked us not to trust any false gods but only the emperor. This really confuses me. Isn't Sigmar the emperor?"
"Have you heard about that man from White Hat Street? Tsk tsk, he was chopped on the buttocks by his lover's husband yesterday. His buttocks were so white and sticky."
"I heard that those wizards who practice witchcraft have been granted permission to establish a college. This is really worrying. I heard that those guys often attract demons."
... ... ... ..
Everyone was discussing various interesting things and jokes.
No one remembers Vlad and his army of the dead.
People quickly recovered from the terrorist crisis brought by Vlad and regained confidence in life.
Those mysterious people declared that Midden would no longer accept the rule of the nobles, and expelled all the nobles who had escaped before and wanted to return to the territory. Those who stayed to fight against the vampires and the undead army were given a chance to serve.
However, the rule of the nobility has come to an end in Middenland.
Those nobles who tried to resist were either expelled or sent to do hard labor.
As we were almost at the bar, a rumbling sound came from the center of town.
A huge factory emitting billowing black smoke appeared before Fisher's eyes.
The factory was a real behemoth for Fisher.
Much larger than the palace of Middenheim's former ruling family.
Those mysterious people with steel installed on their bodies made a comprehensive transformation of the original steam machinery, greatly improving its efficiency.
Nowadays, steam-emitting mechanical equipment can be seen everywhere.
Those mechanical devices made the reconstruction of Middenheim particularly smooth.
In just one and a half months, the ruins of Middenheim were transformed into a brand new one.
Many streets have been renovated.
The residents' houses were also rebuilt.
The only drawback is that the population is not as large as before.
Fisher firmly believes that rebuilding Middenheim will bring new life.
Soon, the ancient city would regain its pre-Vlad invasion population.
Nowadays, every day there are tourists coming from all directions, wanting to stay in Middenheim.
There are unrecognized mages, serfs who escape from the nobles, freemen who cannot afford taxes, and merchants who are trying to make a fortune.
There are all kinds of classes.
Everyone wants to have a brand new life in Middenheim.
The bar's decoration is quite nice and it was opened by a merchant from the province of Nuln.
Even now, all the nobles have issued notices, requiring merchants not to come to Middenheim to do business, in order to isolate this outlier who tries to destroy traditions.
However, driven by money, merchants still came from all directions, exchanging various goods for Middenland's specialties, seeking wealth in the ruins.
"Have you heard? The ruler of Middenheim is going to sell some steam machines in exchange for ore and coal."
"This is a good business. The steam machinery of the Empire is simply useless. The steam machinery of Middenheim is much better than that of the Empire. If we can get it, we will definitely make money."
The conversation between the two businessmen made Fisher look at them for a while, then he walked to the bartender and asked for a glass of ale.
The cold beer washed away Fisher's fatigue of the day.
He ordered another drink, but this time he didn't drink it in a hurry. Instead, he listened to the conversation between the two businessmen to see what the latest news was.