It was difficult for Conny to accept her new circumstances.
She had bet on the Council and had lied to Duke Whirlwind to achieve her goal.
Yet, the lies she had told had been transformed into reality. The words she had spoken had been intended to become a reality. Count Sword was supposed to die in the city, and she was about to die.
But now, everyone was alive, and the entire world would believe that she had completely betrayed the Council, even though that had never been her intention.
Sadly, she had to accept her new circumstances now.
Her family truly was in danger, and she wanted to save them.
Now, the only way to save them was to work for Duke Whirlwind.
She hadn't wanted to betray the Council, but now, she didn't have any other choice.
She had to work for Duke Whirlwind now if she ever wanted to see her family again.
Jerald contacted the warriors and informed them about how to proceed.
Several of the warriors approached Conny, and she looked at them with an apathetic expression.
She only cared about her family. She didn't really care about what would happen to her.
"According to the words I've spoken," Jerald said with a polite smile, "You are going to be put to work for a couple of years. Your intentions do not matter. The fact is that you have helped us."
Conny remained silent.
"When you are done working, the internal war of the Skythunder Kingdom should already be over, and if everything goes according to plan, you will see your family again."
Conny looked at Jerald with hopeful eyes when she heard that.
"From what I have gathered from Duke Torrent's memories, you are not one of the people that went against the warriors in a zealous manner. It's not too bad to have someone like you amongst my people."
"Just look at it like an annoying vacation."
After Jerald said that, Conny was taken away by the warriors.
She didn't even think about resisting.
The fate of her family was now deeply connected to Duke Whirlwind's success.
The warriors entered the city and took control of it.
Just like with the Empress Cobra Zone, the normal citizens were mostly ignored while the True Mages were to be investigated by the Inquisitors.
Another big group of True Mages would die today.
As the warriors took control of the Deepwater Shark Zone, Jerald met up with some of the new High Mages he had gained in the past couple of days.
It was time to duplicate the golden crystal.
Of course, duplicating something like that was way more costly than just duplicating a simple letter, but it would all be worth it.
The High Mages listened to Jerald's orders and forwarded them to the army of True Mages below them.
In an hour, over 200 True Mages were busy duplicating the golden crystal.
After around six hours, the Mages finished duplicating the golden crystals, and they brought them over to the True Path Stage warriors.
The True Path Stage warriors put the golden crystals into their Space Rings and took to the skies.
This time, they would disperse the golden crystals over far more than just the surrounding Zones.
They scattered and flew in different directions.
50 of the 65 True Path Stage warriors were dispersing their wares this time, and every warrior would go to a different Zone.
Yes, these crystals would be dispersed over 50 different Zones.
That encompassed nearly the entire Skythunder Kingdom, including the relatively new Western Skythunder Kingdom, the place where the Grandmountain Kingdom had once been.
Over the next hours, 200 crystals per Zone were distributed amongst the villages, cities, and even amongst some crossroads in case the guards in the cities decided to confiscate everything.
Just duplicating these crystals had cost Jerald over 500 million gold, which was an insane amount of money.
But Jerald was certain that it would be worth it.
The citizens and guards in the different cities looked at the crystals and watched them.
This time, the reactions were far more intense than when Jerald had distributed the letters.
This was indisputable evidence that the Council had threatened one of their own High Mages with her family!
If the Council dared to do something like this to their most powerful people, what would they be ready to do to people that weren't as important?!
Even very loyal Mages started to look at the Council with anger and disgust.
Many of them knew of Conny. After all, there weren't that many High Mages, and they knew that she had been very loyal.
Yet, they still dared to threaten her with her family?!
The heartbroken display Conny had put on gave the entire situation more emotional weight than it would normally have.
Of course, many of the Mages hated the warriors and Jerald, and they certainly wouldn't do anything drastic. However, they also started to dislike the Council.
Some of the more neutral Mages started to look at their families with more concern.
It didn't feel real that the Council would start to threaten them with their families, especially after everything that had come out today.
Yet, their feelings still told them that they should be careful.
Because of that, many of the Mages decided to relocate their families to be closer to them.
For a High Mage, lifting a castle out of the ground and placing it down in a new location was not something difficult.
Especially the newer High Mages and the ones not stationed near the frontlines grew worried.
The ones near the frontlines wouldn't get pulled into this gigantic political war, and their families would be safe.
But what about them?
They hadn't been called to stop Duke Whirlwind yet, but how long would that persist?
How long until the Council decided to simply throw everything they had at Duke Whirlwind in an effort to weaken him?
When that happened, all these Mages would die.
Were they powerful enough to take care of Duke Whirlwind's army and Count Sword if they all attacked at once?
Probably. After all, the combined offensive power of 100 High Mages was terrifyingly powerful.
But what about Duke Whirlwind himself?
Everyone knew that the agreement between Duke Whirlwind and the Council was not set in stone.
At the moment, Duke Whirlwind didn't get involved so that his army could gain more power. Like this, Duke Whirlwind would manage to weaken the Council's forces without directly attacking them.
But if all the High Mages in the territories attacked Duke Whirlwind's army, Duke Whirlwind would certainly get involved himself, and everyone knew that Duke Whirlwind would kill all of them.
After that, it would be Duke Whirlwind, his army, and the Council.
The Council wouldn't have any more forces to pull from without compromising their borders.
Duke Whirlwind would win the war.
All the High Mages were afraid of this eventual battle.
Would they want to battle Duke Whirlwind's forces?
Of course not!
Nobody wanted to fight in a war!
Did the Council know that no High Mage would want to fight?
Of course!
So, what would the Council do to convince these High Mages to enter a suicidal battle?
These were the thoughts of most of the High Mages.
In the golden crystal, they had already seen one possible answer to that question.
Meanwhile, the warriors were not fighting because they were forced to but because they wanted to.
They wanted to fight for a brighter tomorrow for themselves.
Duke Whirlwind didn't need to threaten them with anything.
They followed out of their own free will.
As the Mages started to worry about their future, another bombshell arrived.
The warriors were distributing the next set of letters.
