The war in the south remained tense. Ever since the resistance suddenly emerged to strike at the empire, it had indeed caused many repercussions for the empire, making it impossible for them to divert their attention to the Northern Country.
For Cerydra, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Unifying the north was currently Cerydra's most important task, and the biggest difficulty in this matter was not knowing when the empire in the south would intervene.
Those strange and varied Teigu, while not enough to pose a fatal danger to Cerydra and Hysilens, still possessed a certain threat, forcing her to be on guard.
And what Cerydra worried about most was that those Teigu Users would take advantage of the time they were dispersed to slaughter the Northern Country's army.
Even the strongest soldiers would appear powerless when facing Teigu Users, unless they were Teigu with special abilities and no combat power; otherwise, the probability of victory would not be very high.
And now, the empire was actually being held back by the resistance?
Thinking of this, the smile on Cerydra's face could not be stopped, because the four-person group from the Assassination Society she had met before gradually surfaced in her mind.
Why would the resistance suddenly make such a big move at this time?
Why did it happen to provide effective help to her?
Cerydra didn't believe those people would act out of kindness, unless someone among them played a key role!
Undoubtedly, it must be Barbara and Meela.
Cerydra had once entrusted Barbara to assassinate the old emperor of the Northern Country, which could be considered a collaboration to a certain extent.
And later, letting Barbara's three disciples go, along with sending them several carts of gold, was also an action to express goodwill.
Although there was no correspondence, and they hadn't even met many times, the smart people on the side of the resistance must have already known what she wanted to do, which was why they took this opportunity to launch a large-scale attack on the empire's territory.
The interior of the empire was naturally filled with experts; if they deployed all their combat power, it might not be impossible to deal with both the resistance and Caesar.
But that was the problem; the corrupt empire, due to its internal issues, simply couldn't deploy all its combat power, let alone fight a two-front war, which was why they were being dragged within the empire's territory by the resistance.
"Since you have gone this far, then I will not be polite!"
With the empire unable to spare its hands, Cerydra could focus all her attention on the nobles within the Northern Country and order the Daughter of the Sea and the Dux Frigium to take down all the noble territories in the Northern Country at the fastest speed.
With Cerydra's iron-fisted methods, the rebels naturally wouldn't have a good ending and would only be cut in two by the two powerful warriors.
And while surrendering could preserve their lives, they would be directly stripped of their original noble titles by Cerydra, completely reduced to ordinary people, no longer enjoying everything they originally had.
Caesar didn't need those old oily figures in the political arena, but rather young people with ideals, ambitions, and loyalty to her.
If they could demonstrate their talent and value in the war, whether it was outstanding combat power or leadership, as long as they produced effective results, they would be directly conferred titles by Caesar.
In just one short month, over a dozen talented individuals appeared under Cerydra, and they were personally conferred titles by Caesar.
The Northern Country, which had been crumbling just a month or two ago, had miraculously completed the unification of power in an extremely short time, which could simply be described as astonishing.
However, with such a big event happening in the north, the name that spread was not that of the Northern Kingdoms Prince Numa Seika, but of a god-slayer named "Cerydra."
That's right, Cerydra no longer blocked news or covered up the war in the Northern Country as before; for the next move, Cerydra needed her name and identity to spread and stir up a sensation in the world.
Next, the whole world would be shocked by the news of "Cerydra" and "god-slayer," right?
But Cerydra didn't care about these things, because she had more important things to do next...
—
Inside the magnificent palace, a group of warriors dressed in various attires walked step by step toward the throne deep in the palace. They formed ranks according to their status, allowing one to recognize the differences in identity at a glance.
The two leading them were two beautiful young girls; one had soft black hair, and the other had bright blue hair. They were the Daughter of the Sea and the Dux Frigium who had followed Cerydra from the beginning.
Following them were over a dozen individuals who had shown talent in the battles in the Northern Country. They were all given catchy titles by Cerydra, such as Duke of Winter Rain, Duke of Chanting Wind, and the like, all of which were titles taken from Caesar's former subordinates.
Because these people were special warriors, they reminded Cerydra of her former subordinates, which was why she chose such titles.
And Caesar also told these "second-generation" new dukes that the names of the titles they obtained had special meanings, and they should not tarnish their names casually, otherwise...
Caesar would strictly punish those who tarnished them!
By the way, the "Kindness Duke" Najenda, who had surrendered, was in this group. Apparently, this strong woman had already recognized the reality and joined Caesar's command.
However, upon hearing that she had been conferred the title of "Kindness Duke," the expression on Najenda's face seemed a bit strained... but that was none of Cerydra's business.
And at the end of the line were the hundred or so people who had performed excellently under Caesar, all possessing decent talents. Perhaps it was combat, perhaps management, or perhaps logistics...
Although they couldn't compare to those in the front, they belonged to the better batch in this world, and most of them were loyal to Caesar. Cerydra also needed these talents to help her manage the army and logistics.
These hundred or so people were chatting and laughing, not at all like normal officials in a palace, but rather like friends on an outing. And when they reached the throne, no one performed the kneeling ritual; instead, they raised their heads and looked at the petite figure on the throne.
The reason they did this was not because they completely ignored the person on the throne, but because they knew her too well...
Although Caesar was iron-fisted, she was unexpectedly indifferent to those cumbersome rituals. Whether it was kneeling, bowing, or the so-called foot-kissing ritual, they had all been completely abolished by this person.
Moreover, according to news leaked from the inside, this person seemed not to like those who were taller than her, deliberately lowering their heads to below her height.
Hmm... although it was strange, no one was dissatisfied with this; on the contrary, they developed different feelings for this Caesar.
Naturally, some people opposed the cancellation of the foot-kissing ritual, but they were beaten up by Caesar's most loyal knight, Hysilens, and no one opposed it ever since...
Seemingly noticing the strangeness under the throne, Cerydra, who had been meditating with her eyes closed, gradually opened her eyes and swept her majestic gaze over those she had conferred titles to below the stage.
Then, a rare smile appeared on the young girl's face.
"Since everyone is here, let's begin!"
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