The First Magic World War

Charles, in the Behemoth Duchy, could still feel "peace," with almost no flames of war, but as soon as he entered the Southern Seraph Territory, the aura of war was palpable.

The people of Southern Seraph had originally only hated the Behemoth Duchy, yet after such a prolonged conflict, they harbored not the slightest fondness for the Fars Empire either.

Charles's Westwind Knights had barely entered the territory of South Seraph when they were attacked twice. And these attacks were not even from the South Ceraph Reclamation Army; the bulk of the Restoration Army was still in Ferlanden. These were merely local farmers.

Now possessing a strong force, Charles easily defeated these two attacks.

After the battles, he neither slaughtered his enemies nor magnanimously released them, instead he incorporated them into the Westwind Knights, attempting to indoctrinate them. However, the results weren't good, with frequent escapes by the captives.

Charles never expected that among the dozen or so adept scribes Anne had arranged for him, there was one young man brimming with creative spirit. While copying novels for Charles, he greatly admired the tales of Charles and was inspired to try his hand at novel-writing himself.

After the Westwind Knights entered the Southern Seraph Territory, this quick-handed scribe named Italo Calvino suddenly burst with inspiration. Taking Charles as a model, he wrote a novella. In this tale, he boldly depicted Charles as Jonathan's illegitimate son, and made Cyrus into a faithful knight dedicated to protecting his young master. The two together ruled over Nansela and Behemoth, established heroic feats, and received awards from Emperor Julius Axler of Fars—one being made a duke, the other an earl.

Although the story completely overlooked the plot hole of Jonathan's death, the overall narrative was smooth.

When Charles received Italo Calvino's original novel, he was very impressed. Leveraging his years of experience reading novels, he filled in a section where Jonathan set up twelve trials. He even managed to add a brother for Jonathan, forcefully infusing the mythology of Hercules and the tale of the Lion King into the story.

The story then shifted to the ending where Charles, after completing the twelve trials, was about to inherit Jonathan's ambitions. His brother killed him and framed Charles for the deed...

Zolman was honored!

He would have been forgotten by history, but due to a lack of characters, he was made to be Jonathan's brother and even acquired a new nickname "Scarface." Drawing on many classics, his character was more vivid than in real life—becoming very cunning, thinking three steps ahead, and utterly wicked, with every pore oozing malice and bad schemes.

After several revisions, Charles decisively used this novella, replacing his original plan, to indoctrinate the people of South Seraph.

Charles knew that most commoners in this world couldn't read, so he had the scribes, each with a copy, tell the story to the people of South Seraph.

At first, these Southern Seraphs naturally refused to believe it, but they couldn't stand up to Charles's appearance whenever doubt arose. He would show immense pity and give them some benefits, such as better food or personally bandaging a young South Serif man—limited to wrapping bandages, since he really didn't have a medical skill set.

This indoctrination "novel" unexpectedly had excellent results.

The captured people of South Seraph gradually stabilized in their emotions.

However, because the story worked so well, there was a bit of restlessness among Charles's soldiers of Behemoth origin.

To cater to the emotions of the Behemoth people, Charles quickly released a second version of the story, giving himself a mother from Behemoth. Although his own mother was indeed from Behemoth, to spare her any shame, the character was changed to be Anastasia's mother.

Baron Fel of Silver Pigeon Fort was thus honored with a distinctive colored cap he had never received in his lifetime.

As the "audience" provided emotional feedback, the novel originally created by Strasbourg's quick scribe Italo Calvino and personally revised by Charles, underwent several revisions, with the plot becoming more perfected and the brainwashing effect increasingly potent.

This story quickly spread throughout the Southern Seraph Territory.

On the thirteenth day since Charles entered Southern Seraph Territory, an independent South Ceraph Reclamation Army actually came to join her.
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Charles was overjoyed and took great care of the leader of the South Ceraph Reclamation Army. Upon learning that he had had to start working after receiving a higher education due to his impoverished background, she even specifically imparted to him the Beastman Transmutation: Over-Back Red Bear Warrior Transformation, to the young man named Sebalde.

No one knew whether this young man truly possessed a talent that was unfortunately drowned out by life, but Sebalde actually achieved success in the Hunchback Red Bear Warrior Transformation within five or six days, managing to turn his hands into "bear paws," which significantly increased the strength in his arms.

After this example spread, Charles' march encountered no more obstacles, and almost every day, more people from South Serif came to join her.

As for whether this would lead to disaster,

Charles no longer wanted to think about it; after all, she wasn't going to take over South Serif and the Behemoth, and this issue should be considered by the future rulers of these regions.

What did it have to do with Charles?

Having quelled the rebellion of the South Serif people, the Westwind Knights' advance sped up significantly, quickly approaching the front-line battlefield.

By this time, Kreel Brittany and Ebner Sumei had been locked in fierce battle with the forces of the Black Phoenix Dynasty for seven or eight days. They had no idea that Charles had run back to Strasbourg, otherwise both of them would have been outraged. The front line was under strain while someone in the rear ran back to the capital "for a vacation"! Who could stand such a thing?

Because they knew nothing, the news that Charles personally led troops to reinforce them deeply moved Kreel Brittany and Ebner Sumei. Both were too busy to meet with Charles and simply sent orders for him to capture a nearby small city.

This small city was none other than Interlaken, where Grand Duke Joseph had once been trapped and where he fell in battle.

The Behemoth Duchy's army was completely destroyed here, with only ten to twenty percent managing to escape; the rest found their graves in this small city.

Due to the Battle of Interlaken City, seven tenths of the noble class in the Behemoth Duchy perished, leaving many territories without an heir, such as Silver Pigeon Fort, which was then usurped by Baron Fabolais.

The defense of Interlaken City was entrusted to a Noble Knights of the Black Phoenix Dynasty, numbering only seven to eight hundred. Interlaken had been largely ruined in the previous fierce fighting, with walls damaged everywhere and no longer defensible, and since the Old Continent had no tradition of defending cities, upon seeing the Westwind Knights, the Noble Knights assessed the numbers and wisely chose to retreat.

Charles entered Interlaken and a strand of thought then threaded through his diary: Charles Mecklen became the master of Interlaken City, fulfilling the requirement to set up the thirteenth Labyrinth, and Interlaken was about to undergo Maze-ification.