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Translator: adomman
Editor: Snorri
This event was related to two kingdoms, and King Asher of Hittite made a request to the city of Salem. The city of Salem was established in the nominal territory of the Hittite kingdom, and the entrance to the Charcoal Marsh was also held by the Hittite kingdom, so it was considered very polite for King Asher to use the term “request”. In fact, it was equivalent to an order, and this was what happened –
After the war, Aesop had to quickly fulfill the promises made before the war to reward the warriors for their merits in order to attract more people to work for the city of Salem. But many of the fallen warriors were foreign explorers and workers who did not have family in Salem, and so they could not even find a target to send the rewards to. If the situation was different, it would have been fine, since it was not that Salem did not reward them, but that these people did not manage to survive to get rewarded.
But after Joshua and Aesop discussed the matter, they issued a very interesting decree: according to a prior agreement, the warriors would be given land on the Plains of Duc according to their merits. Many of the warriors who had made contributions were killed in battle, but Salem still gave them land.
Next, Salem published the names of the men, their identities, and the lands they were granted, and issued a proclamation that if the rightful heirs of these fallen soldiers came to Salem, they could register at the city hall to receive their rewarded lands, provided they could prove their identities.
The largest number of warriors who died in battle were the group of workers sent by the city of Syah. They died in battle on the Plains of Duc but left behind land to their heirs, and many could hardly believe it when they heard about it.
So there was a constant flow of people from Hittite territory through the Charcoal Marsh’s trade route to Salem, some of whom came to inherit the rewarded land and others to join the city of Salem in search of opportunities.
Through Joshua’s new policies, Aesop was able to greatly increase the population after the war in a short period of time, exceeding ten thousand in total. The two trade routes in the direction of Charcoal Marsh and Marduc City were also bustling as never before. At this time, King Asher of Hittite sent Celia as a messenger to bring a letter of state to Salem, making a request to the city governor Aesop as well as Amon at the same time.
Hittite was preparing to start a war with Bablon once again, and their first target was Marduc City in the southeast corner of the Plains of Duc. The battle plan was to seize the land east of the inland lake and west of the Euphrates River. King Asher planned to send two legions to attack from the north and south of the inland lake. The legion going from the south would of course march along the Syah desert, while the other legion would need to cross the Plains of Duc.
It was difficult for large legions to enter the Plains of Duc, but after the opening of the trade route in the Charcoal Marsh, this tactic became possible. The exit of the trade route was in the hands of the city of Salem, So King Asher requested to borrow the road to march through the territory controlled by Salem, and from there, they would go southward and attack Marduc City. This request was difficult for Aesop to agree or to refuse.
Why did the Hittite king want to wage war against the Bablon Kingdom at this time? The reasons were complex, the most important being that the young king wanted to make up for regret in his heart and to realize the great imperial dream of achieving territorial expansion.
When Asher was a prince, he fought a great battle with the Bablon army as the commander-in-chief with the assistance of Golier. It was supposed to be a great victory, but he had to give up on it due to his father’s sudden death and his brother usurping the throne.
Asher also had the dream and ambition to leave a legacy in the history of the kingdom, and when his position was secure and the situation in the country was stable, he wanted to start a war to punish the Bablon Kingdom, which had offended Hittite. The war hardly needed a pretext, because the newly established Marduc City was located in the territory of Hittite, and although the Kingdom of Hittite never really controlled that area, it was after all the nominal territory of the kingdom.
Another goal of the war was to gain the success that should have been achieved back then, by pushing the Bablon Kingdom back to the east of the Euphrates River. As for the next larger strategic goal, Asher did not say but one could guess that if the Marduc City and the land west of the Euphrates River were captured, it would be possible to control the entire Plains of Duc. But this was only a vision, and the first thing to do was to win the battles before it.
After learning of King Asher’s intention, Golier neither encouraged nor opposed it, but excused himself from the matter because he was too old and wanted to concentrate on researching magic arts. Golier had a godlike status in Hittite, and King Asher had lived long enough under his shadow. This time the king had intended to build up merit entirely on his own achievements and abilities, and he was the one who had devised the battle plan personally.
Golier understood the young king’s thoughts, knew why Asher wanted to start this war, and knew that he could not persuade even if he wanted to, so he did not comment on it. In fact, King Asher’s war was also related to an oracle, which Enlil sent down at the right time, instructing the Hittite kingdom to attack the Bablon Kingdom. This oracle catered perfectly to King Asher’s mind, and it was impossible to make him change his mind.
For the two-front plan of attack, the Anu Legion would enter the Plains of Duc by passing through the trade route controlled by the city of Salem. King Asher made it very clear in his letter that he was sending his legion to march by way of the road and would not threaten the city of Salem, but would only target Marduc City in the southeast.
King Asher was well aware that Salem was fighting against Assyr in the north and promised to keep the trade route through the Charcoal Marsh open so that Salem could receive continuous logistical support. The implication was that if Salem did not agree, he would order the city of Syah to close the trade route.
If Aesop agreed, it would be the same as putting an elite regiment of the Hittite Kingdom into the Plains of Duc, which could turn out to be a threat in the end. If the Hittite Kingdom really captured Marduc City, it was hard to say that they would not go on to take the whole Plains of Duc, including Salem. If they took advantage of the battle between Salem and Enlil City to launch a surprise attack from behind, they might very well decide to take Salem first.
If there was a choice, Aesop definitely did not want this situation, but if he refused this request, King Asher could close the merchant route in the Charcoal Marsh with a single order, cutting off the logistics supply line that the city of Salem was in dire need of. Aesop and Idu were unable to decide, so they came to the shrine to call on Amon for guidance.
By this time, Lynk was now guarding the fortress that Raphael had been guarding, and Hardedef had been sent to guard the other fortress. Aesop, Idu, El Mar, and Raphael, who remained in Salem, all came to the shrine, called out in prayers to the statue, and read the letter sent by King Asher. They knew that Amon must have heard them and would reply if he wanted to.
After the letter was read, they did hear Amon’s voice: “For a request that cannot be refused, one can only consider in what way to agree to it, and you must have already discussed it, so what exactly have you decided to do? Since Asher wants to send a legion into the Plains of Duc, he would have known what the city of Salem would be worried about, and he would not have done nothing to dispel your doubts, so what promises did he make?
Aesop replied with a bitter smile: “What we just read was only the letter of state, there’s another letter of appointment brought by Celia as well. King Asher appointed you as Prince of Salem, an Honorary Great General, and this title and status are higher than when you were in Ejypt! The Hittite Kingdom also granted you a large territory around the city of Salem, which is the same plot granted to you by the previous Pharaoh. In addition, he promised to open up trade and exempt taxes, and the city of Salem is only required to provide services to the kingdom in times of war.”
Amon’s voice was filled with laughter: “This is something that we have earned through our own struggle, but now he is giving us what we achieved ourselves in the name of the kingdom. If I accept this appointment, I will officially incorporate Salem into the territory of the Hittite Kingdom, and if I refuse this appointment, it means that Salem will not cooperate. In fact, this appointment is a kind of promise from the Hittite Kingdom to Salem, what do you think should be done?”
Idu replied: “Actually, it is very easy. You are God Amon and have been training in a divine kingdom, so even a king’s orders are difficult to deliver. We leave these documents in the city, but they cannot be delivered to you, and you need neither accept nor reject them.”
Amon: “Yes, that’s exactly how it should be disposed of. If the request of the Hittite kingdom is granted, naturally there are advantages and disadvantages, so what is the biggest disadvantage?”
Idu: “If we allow the legions of the Hittite Kingdom to enter the Plains of Duc to attack Marduc City, then the trade route between us and Marduc City will be cut off, and supplies must all rely on the Charcoal Marsh trade route for replenishment.”
Amon: “The trade route in the Charcoal Marsh is much more important than the trade route in the direction of Marduc City. If you refuse, the more important backup will be cut off, so the right thing to do is to accept the lesser evil.”
Aesop added: “In the long run, letting a legion into the Plains of Duc is always a potential threat.”
Amon interrupted him and said: “The struggle for the Plains of Duc will inevitably involve more parties sooner or later. Even the current population of Salem is obviously too small, not to mention the hundreds of miles of fertile land. In the future, there will be more than just three cities on the Plains of Duc.”
Idu nodded his head and said: “Indeed, we should have such foresight. King Asher has chosen the right time, as we have only just held off the encroachment from the north, and he has taken the opportunity to enter the hinterland. Even if he does not attack Marduc City, he can still choose a suitable place to establish a city.”
The final result of the discussion was to agree to King Asher’s request, not only agreeing, but also offering more assistance. Salem would serve as a logistical transit point for the Hittite Kingdom’s expeditionary force, providing trading, stockpiling, and transferring military supplies, and also becoming a landing point for the legion’s large number of logistics personnel entering the plains, showing a full cooperation attitude.
This kind of cooperation was exactly what the expeditionary army desperately needed, and in this way, it also meant that it would bring greater prosperity to the city of Salem. Other than that, a regular army legion had thousands of logistics personnel, and if they all stayed in Salem, that would bring great profits as well since they would need to transport a large number of supplies.
On the other hand, official combatants of the Hittite Kingdom were not allowed to enter the city, and the defense of the fortress at the exit of the Charcoal Marsh trade route had to be solely handled by Salem, and the expeditionary legions were not allowed to interfere. Salem had built three fortresses on the outskirts, two of which were on either side of the northern route, to counter Enlil City.
The other fortress was at the edge of the Charcoal Marsh, guarding the exit of the trade route. If the Hittite Kingdom made any strange moves, simply closing this fortress was also equivalent to cutting off the most important logistics supply line for the Hittite expeditionary army.
The promise to provide logistical services was based on the same idea. If the cooperation was sincere, both sides would benefit, and if the Hittite kingdom had other plans, then the logistics supplies of the expeditionary army would be in the hands of Salem. If there was no trickery, King Asher should agree to this condition which was beneficial to both sides.
These countermeasures were something that Aesop and others had already discussed, and they were just asking Amon for a final decision. Amon nodded in agreement and finally said: “You have placed me on the altar, and I need to concentrate on training, to pursue the realm of true transcendence of eternal life, so I may not appear for many years. Even if I appear, I may not be using the identity of Amon. All the affairs of the city are in the hands of the people of the city, and since it has been decided, then do it right.”
The matter had been discussed, and Aesop and others were about to bow and leave, but Raphael touched his nose and coughed as he said: “God Amon…Master Golier wrote me a letter, and the letter also mentioned another thing. I think I should tell you about it.”
Amon: “Oh, what else did Sir Golier say?”
Raphael, however, stammered and asked: “Don’t you think the appointment given to you by the Hittite Kingdom is a bit strange? You are not a royal noble, so why were you exceptionally given the title of Prince?”
Amon: “This King Asher does things in a unique way. You are a Hittite noble and have the status of the high priest of the city of Syah, I would like to hear your opinion.”
Raphael, however, did not answer directly and asked again: “Do you know why Asher deliberately sent Celia the supreme mage as a messenger? As far as I know, the expeditionary force sent into the Plains of Duc by the Hittite Kingdom is the Anu Legion, which will appoint Celia as the chief priest of the legion. Her status is that of a princess of the kingdom, and her father is the brother of the former king Lucier.”
Amon had not said anything yet, but El Mar anxiously interjected from the side: “Why are you beating about the bush? Do you want God Amon to play riddles with you?”
Raphael was a little embarrassed as he said: “This is what Master Golier told me privately, he understood the intention of King Asher, that he was hoping to marry Princess Celia to God Amon, it’s a long story to explain…”
Celia was the princess of the kingdom and she was also young and beautiful, so she naturally attracted many suitors, many of whom were princes and nobles from the surrounding countries. But on the other hand, she was also a supreme mage, and this status gave her the qualifications to be even more proud. In other words, her standards were too high, and she did not take a liking to any of the suitors thus far.
When Lucier was alive, he was worried about his niece’s marriage, and he once asked Celia: “What kind of man do you want to marry? All the heroes in the kingdom, as long as you like any of them, I will immediately give orders for marriage.”
However, Celia replied: “I do not care about status; the one who pursues me should be more accomplished than I am and must defeat me in a duel.”
This one sentence was the same as rebuffing all the suitors since none of them could defeat a supreme mage. The people who were pursuing Princess Celia did not have this ability. As for those who had this ability, those supreme warriors or supreme mages already had their own families as well as success and fame, so they were unlikely to pursue this princess.
But then something happened that everyone knew, and that was the duel between Celia and Amon, which Amon won! This duel naturally had nothing to do with the pursuit of Celia, but people inevitably linked the two events together. There were a lot of people talking about it in the capital of Ejypt, and many even said that for a supreme mage like Princess Celia, only a great hero like Amon would be worthy of her.
This time King Asher sent Celia as a messenger to talk about cooperation, more or less to test whether Celia herself was willing to come to see Amon, and Celia accepted this task. If these two really had some interest after meeting and Salem was willing to cooperate, King Asher would then play matchmaker. This was in a sense a political marriage, and a means to control the city of Salem.
After Raphael said the reason, Idu kept gesturing to him by the side, wanting to stop him from continuing and even began coughing. The statue of Goddess Mourrin was standing on the altar as well, so it seemed inappropriate to bring this up!
Raphael finally said helplessly: “As far as Master Golier knows, King Asher does have this idea, and it seems to be related to Enlil’s oracle, but for a matter between the gods I can’t really comment. But King Asher did not say it clearly, and Master Golier just asked me to send his greetings to God Amon, so at present, there seems to be nothing to worry about, because God Amon did not appear in the city of Salem at all.”
Amon smiled and replied: “There is no need to talk about this matter anymore, I think it is King Asher himself who thinks too much.”
Raphael added: “It’s no wonder that His Majesty would think too much, it is a fact that you have not settled down yet, and what kind of girl could be worthy of a great hero like you? In all honesty, Princess Celia is an eighth-level supreme mage, and it is rare for a woman on the continent to have such an achievement.”
The speaker had no intention, but the listener had an intention. For a moment, Amon was surprisingly silent on the altar. Far away in Eden, he inexplicably thought of another person, and that person was Maria, the Adoratrice of the Shrine of Isis.
The people in the shrine were waiting for God Amon to speak, but suddenly they heard the statue let out an alarming cry: “Gabriel, come quick! ……” Then there was silence, and they could no longer sense the gaze of the statue. Amon suddenly left the shrine, not even bothering to listen to the events of Salem.
Idu and the others looked at each other, something important must have happened in Eden!
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