Chapter 215: Chapter 170: Itra’s Rebirth
"Call for people from outside? Are you crazy?" Isaac looked at Philo, speechless.
The key to Philo’s plan’s potential success was their high degree of autonomy during the War. It meant that no matter what they did, they wouldn’t attract the attention of outsiders or the Itra Royal Family.
The Terra Empire’s plan was to secretly gain de facto control over the Itra Kingdom, all while staying within the rules. Then, when the time was right, they would eliminate the Itra Royal Family in one fell swoop and legitimately take power.
At least with the Terra Empire’s backing, it would become legitimate.
But this entire plan hinged on one condition: all their actions had to be confined within the borders of the Itra Kingdom. Bringing in people from the outside—especially sensitive personnel like an army—would absolutely alert the Itra Royal Family and other factions. If that happened, forget Philo’s plan; with powerful figures from other factions getting involved, even Isaac’s ritual could fail.
"Then do you have a better idea?" Philo shot back defiantly.
She knew bringing people in from the outside was a huge risk, but she was out of options. She already found it difficult to manage their current territory, let alone expand it further.
"Wait a minute." Isaac thought for a moment, then looked at Philo in confusion. "That’s not right. Before you started working with me, your plan was to take over the entire Itra Kingdom. You couldn’t have possibly overlooked this, could you?"
Philo sighed. "Our original plan was to keep part of the Artificial Human Legion. Combined with the Arcanists we had arranged to collect corpses, governing Itra in the short term wouldn’t have been a problem. But now, you want to sacrifice all of them. And because of your ritual, the monitors of this War have tightened their surveillance over the Kingdom. I can’t bring our people together."
"...Tsk." After a moment of silence, Isaac felt a headache coming on. This was a genuine problem, and not one he could solve with force. ’In this situation, being strong was completely useless.’
"Either way, bringing people from the outside is out of the question. That would be like handing our enemies a weapon to use against us. We’d lose everything."
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"Let me think..." Isaac rubbed his chin. "First, the easiest thing to handle is the local guards. Don’t you have Demonic Puppets and Golems? After so much time, you must have saved up quite a few, right?"
Hearing Isaac bring this up, the corner of Philo’s mouth twitched. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have so few Golems on hand.
"It’s not a lot for a whole territory. Just over three hundred Golems and a little over a thousand Black Iron Demonic Puppets. Forget garrisoning the entire Itra Kingdom; that’s barely enough to defend the four towns we currently occupy. Besides, Golems and Demonic Puppets are just inanimate constructs. They need a person or a Tower Spirit to control them. They can’t handle defensive duties on their own."
"The need for control isn’t an issue. If inanimate objects can’t handle defense on their own, the solution is simple: just bring them to life. We just need to find an Outer God and get some Activation Ability." Isaac waved his hand dismissively, speaking to Philo’s speechless face. "However... that number is indeed a bit low. Forget the Golems. As for the Demonic Puppets, can you make more in time?"
Seeing Isaac was serious, Philo hesitated, but ultimately didn’t shoot down his plan. ’In any case, there’s no way I’m making a spur-of-the-moment deal with an Outer God for something like this,’ she thought. ’The risk is far too great!’
However, she still answered Isaac’s question seriously.
"If it’s just Demonic Puppets, I can make them on the spot. I make it a habit to bring a Demonic Puppet production line with me. Itra has a Secret Treasure that specializes in Nurturing mineral deposits. That’s why, even though this country is plundered once a year, its mineral resources haven’t dwindled. In fact, they’ve been increasing. We have more than enough."
"They have something that good?" Isaac was surprised, then exasperated. "To have so many treasures and still end up in this state... that’s a rare kind of failure."
"Hmph." Philo gave a scornful laugh, clearly agreeing with Isaac. "Their spirit was broken long ago. People like them don’t deserve to be King!"
Isaac glanced at Philo but said nothing. ’The Itra Royal Family is indeed trash, but you, Philo, a Mad Witch, aren’t much better. You’re the kind of Mad Witch who botches a deal and then confronts an Outer God head-on, completely exposing your identity. If someone like you became King, you’d only drag your subjects into the Abyss!’
For the people of Itra, it was hard to say whether swapping the Itra Royal Family for Philo would be a change for the better or for the worse.
But none of this concerned Isaac. He had zero interest in being a Lord. The complicated affairs of a territory would only cut into his time for Magic research. Besides, until the territory was properly developed, it wouldn’t be of much help to him anyway.
In fact, the territory probably couldn’t even keep up with his own growth. After all, he had a cheat.
"Then there’s no problem. You just need to produce enough Demonic Puppets. I’ll pick a suitable Outer God to make a deal with. As for administrative staff, there’s no helping that. We’ll just have to pick them from among Itra’s own people. With Faith to support them, even if the administration is terrible, it won’t collapse in three to five years. We’ll just have to make do."
In just a few sentences, Isaac had seemingly solved a problem that had been so difficult for Philo.
This was only a seeming solution, however, because Philo thought the plan was far from reliable.
The Activation of the Demonic Puppets was one thing. The problem with that step was whether Isaac could successfully complete the deal. As for whether an Outer God even had such a power...
’That wasn’t a concern. There were already corresponding spells in Magic that could achieve the same effect, just less efficiently. So an Outer God would definitely have that kind of power.’
As for whether he could actually get his hands on it...
’Reason told Philo it was a foolish move. Making a high-risk deal with an Outer God just to acquire such a simple ability was simply...’
But on the other hand, Philo also knew that for Isaac to have snatched power from so many Outer Gods, he had to have his own extraordinary talents. He would definitely succeed.
But when it came to the administrative personnel...
’To be honest, I completely disagree with Isaac’s idea! Because before this, the people of Itra have never even been treated as human! Even livestock have it better than them! Even with the Faith Steel Seal, it has only awakened their hope for survival. They’re severely lacking in basic common sense. If they can’t even manage themselves, how could they possibly manage others?’
Isaac saw the doubt in Philo’s eyes, but he had no intention of explaining. It was too much trouble. Once people had Faith, their tolerance for hardship increased dramatically. Besides, for the people of Itra, life had at least improved in the short term.
Self-interest, combined with Faith—even if they did nothing else, the region would stabilize on its own.
Of course, that was on the condition that supplies could be provided—at least enough to meet their most basic needs for survival.
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