*******************
A few days before the Holy Emperor's decision.
When he came down from the residence and left Azgrom alone in front of the television, Nishley proposed to Edmond to separate, which Edmond accepted. Edmund and Nishley decided to go their separate ways. Edmund headed for the human domain, while Nishley headed for the elven domain.
Reverting to his mortal body, Edmund landed in a dense forest, not far from the capital of the Holy Empire, the capital could be seen a few miles away, dominating the view of the landscape, lit by a sun in the sky that illuminated the capital with a sense of sanctity. He immediately headed towards the capital, on foot, in case anyone was watching. But as he approached the great gate, twice the size of Humec's, he came upon guards who stopped him.
"Stop! Stop! Where are you going?" one guard shouted, as I passed the queue. "Where am I going? To the capital, just a few metres away from me." I said this hypnotizing all the people around me who were stopping all their activities with a blurred look on their faces, as I walked quietly through the big door and immediately out of sight of the guards, I released my hypnosis.
"...you? What ? Where did the guy who was in front of me a second ago go?"
"Hm... I feel like something happened, but I don't know what..."
This moment will remain a mystery to the guards, one possible guess being that a mage appeared and disappeared with a spell.
***
Edmund finally arrived in the city, he looked around, the streets were crowded with stalls selling all sorts of goods, like sweets, weapons, everyday products. As he walked, he could make out patrols, including paladins patrolling inside the capital, wearing shining armor and a cloak on their backs with an inverted cross symbol.
"That inverted cross must be a symbol of my religion?" I asked myself, "I don't remember leaving that behind. They must have created their own symbols," I said, shaking my head at the clever act. "Just appearing and showing special powers is enough for humans to fall into the fantasy.
As we continued walking, we came to the central square of the capital, where there were usually many people praying. From there, one could hear earnest prayers directed at the huge 30-metre high statue which, to the naked eye, was probably bigger than the emperor's palace.
One mother prayed with her baby in her arms before the statue: "God, I ask for your blessing in these difficult times. I pray that you will give me your blessing in these difficult times. I pray to our God Protector for the safety and well being of my beloved son, begging for a life full of happiness and not misfortune" she recited, she was not the only one praying, around her were many mothers with their children, by the naked eye we could count about 300.
"What a good return of divine power. What sincere prayers!" I mumbled as I felt the flow of faith through my body, "I am proud of you, loyal and devoted to your family as well as to me, I will give you my protection and blessing, rejoice." I said as I swayed the power of faith in their direction. Suddenly in the sky, a beam of light landed on the Hundreds of people were praying, forcing those praying to look up to the sky, feeling the warmth of their God Protectors through their bodies.
"God...! Thank you for your blessing!" said different women and men, crying countless tears and bowing several times with devotion. At the same time, this attracted a lot of attention from the crowd, so I could leave the scene quietly.
As I walked, I heard some voices through a bar talking, "In the middle ages, bars were often useful for gathering information...", I muttered. Let's go in.
As I entered, there were many men getting drunk with alcohol, glancing inside the bar, I spotted a free table, a few moments later, a woman approached.
"Hello sir, what do you want?" she asked in a professional tone.
"What do you have available? This is my first time here," I said directly.
"Oh, you're not a regular, you're probably not a native of the capital..." she said. She said, let her imagine stories, "It's not so bad, actually we have on the menu, a white champagne wine, a popular wine currently made from grapes such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, as well as cider, ginger beer and other fermented drinks made from fruit or plants." she said, handing me a menu card.
"I'll have white wine and champagne. I said, holding out the card, "Good choice, sir! Here it comes!" she said, moments later before returning with a bottle of white champagne wine in her arms, filled to the brim.
Taking a sip of the good white champagne wine, some of the men started talking, "Hey man! Have you heard the recent rumours about our Holy Emperor?" a man at the counter said in a loud tone that could be heard unconsciously just sitting there.
"You mean the rumours about the Holy Army?" replied another man next to the other.
"Yes, I heard rumors that the Holy Emperor might give the order to mobilize the Holy Army to fight against the elves!" he said excitedly.
"What? Fool..! The mere mention of this army would scare any Empire or Kingdom, they are fanatics and devotees filled with madness! The last time they were mobilized was 300 years ago to face the heretic kingdoms! After the passage of the Holy Army, only ruins remained! No survivors! There's no way he could deploy it again, it's too dangerous!" shouted a strong man accordingly.
"No! That's just it, there's been news recently in the Western Kingdoms that the soldiers positioned in the war line are dwindling, and that they are in trouble due to the increasing aggressiveness of the elves lately," he said as he took a sip, "In particular, the Western Axis Coalition is getting weaker and weaker,
"Interesting, is it Nishley's fault that the elves are starting to get more and more aggressive? It looks like she's chosen to accelerate the war..." I said, smiling at the turn of events.
"Look, the guy's been talking to himself for a while, do you think he's okay?" said a man.
"Shh, shut up! He's a nutcase..." whispers the man as he lowers his head to the man looking at me.
" ... "
"I should go and rent a room in an inn..." I say to myself.
***
A few days later, as planned, a war order was issued by Augustus von Humec throughout the Holy Empire, followed by all nations. At the same time, a recruitment of reservists was organised in order to recruit people to carry supplies for the Holy Army. Of course, I signed up and met all the requirements. I was taken to a temporary tent where there were other people like me, of different ages.
To my left, sitting on a wooden bench, was a young man with dark hair, brown eyes and worn clothes, a person you would find anywhere in the capital. To my left, a muscular man with prominent veins visible through his shirt was fast asleep. Let's not wake him up just yet, I thought.
Then, on the bench opposite, two middle-aged men without any hostility and a young woman squirming in all directions, probably because of the anxiety of being surrounded by men. Suddenly a blindfold fell to the floor, I picked it up and handed it to the young woman, "Ah... Thank you," she mumbled into her mouth.
I smiled in response, a few minutes later a paladin wearing the same armor as those patrolling with only one difference, an iron badge on the armor directed us to several tents where we could sleep outside the capital, not far from the main gate of the capital, of course the young woman was placed aside with other women to separate the men and women, after that I slept. After all, the weather was not the same here as at the residence.
At dawn we were awakened and hurried to carry the supplies into the carts, of course with my power I didn't really feel the weight of the loads and we quickly finished, followed by the tens of thousands of other reservists. At the same time a trumpet sounded in the capital, leaving everyone in a state of anticipation. After a while, a man in golden armour with an authoritative aura emerged from the main gate, followed by hundreds of thousands of paladins, priests and mages.
"Onward to the forest of the Brudes! The forest of the elves!" shouted Augustus von Humec in an authoritative tone on his warhorse followed by all his fanatics.
"Yes!
The total number of soldiers mobilised by the Holy Empire is 500,000 paladins, 100,000 templars, 50,000 priests and 50,000 mages as well as 100,000 reserve soldiers. Out of the 8,000,000 inhabitants of the Holy Empire, this represents about 10%, which is very high in the Holy Empire. All these troops were heading for the Brudes Forest, the forest that had been stagnating on the battlefield for some years.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from various places also headed in the direction of the Holy Empire. A total of 3 Empires including the Holy Empire and 8 kingdoms participated in the Holy War, which historians have dubbed the First Great Crusade of Mankind, with a total of almost 2,430,000 soldiers ready to fight for God, an astonishing number for today's times.