Second World

Kabaka, Thelgrun, Aldryth, and Horatio looked at one another.

Horatio was the first to answer, "I don't see any benefit of telling them. It will just cause instability. I will tell this secret to my inner circle, but that's it."

"Even if we keep it a secret, everybody has heard what the Liguritudum ruler announced last night," Aldryth said.

"Doesn't mean we have to confirm it," Horatio returned. "I don't think people believe his words. The Liguritudum ruler might be sovereign but he is still a mortal. If the one making the announcement is a God, then that's another matter. Some people might come and ask us about it. We can just deny we know anything about the truth."

"I like him," John said to Jack and Jeanny, who rolled their eyes in response.

"I will follow King Storm Wind's lead," Kabaka said.

"Huh? Me?" Jack was confused hearing Kabaka's words.

"King Storm Wind had known this truth for a long time, yet he didn't tell his subjects. I will do the same."

"Oh…," Jack scratched his head. He didn't think this was an honorable thing to be an example of, but he guessed it wasn't the time to condemn himself.

"I will do the same. For all I know, this is all just bullshit!" Thelgrun exclaimed. "I don't have to tell anyone anything, because I am not sure about it myself."

"… I will also tell this only to my closest people," Aldryth said.

"One thing I have been wondering, though," Horatio said. "Let's say if what you told us is the truth, that it was truly the Liguritudum ruler who had transformed your world into our world. Do you know if he can do what he claimed last night? I assume what he meant about bringing the outworlders back to where you came from means turning this world back into your world."

"I suppose so, but he won't do it," Jack said.

"Why are you so certain?" Horatio asked.

"Because it will just put him back to where he started. He will lose everything he had worked for all this time. He wants to become a God, and he can only achieve that in this world."

"In any case, he has the means to transform this world back?"

Jack looked at John and Jeanny who returned his gaze with a shrug.

"We don't know," Jack answered. "That's the truth. What we know is that he used some sort of machine to transform the world. We don't know if he still has this machine or if this machine can still function."

"What happens to us if the world is transformed back?" Kabaka asked.

"I… I think you will all cease to exist," Jack answered.

"Well, we will just have to assume that the Liguritudum ruler can still do that," Horatio uttered.

"And… What does that imply…?" Jack asked.

"This means it is of utmost importance for us to take him down and prevent him from transforming this world back," Horatio answered. "If his machine is still around, it must be inside Liguritudum. We have to defeat him and scour that country to find the machine, and destroy it!"

Hearing Horatio's words, Thelgrun, Aldryth, and Kabaka nodded. "I agree!" Thelgrun announced.

"I originally am just joining your campaign against Liguritudum to honor our alliance. But now, I will send the full force of my army. This campaign concerns the future of my empire too, and our world," Horatio said.

"I didn't think about that," Kabaka said. "I'm also only joining to honor my friendship with the Themisphere king and to punish Liguritudum for interfering with my country's internal affairs. Now, I will also commit to defeating Liguritudum."

"Well, I already plan to go all out since the start," Thelgrun said. "… with the small army I have left, that is."

"My desire is only to claim my country back," Aldryth joined in. "Now, I have to defeat Liguritudum as well. Not for revenge but to make sure my country can continue to exist."

Jeanny nudged John. "See? A little bit of trust goes a long way," she whispered.

"We are just lucky," John waved her off.

"You're welcome," Jack said to John.

"Well, now that we agree, let us go to the war room and discuss how we shall defeat Liguritudum to make sure that Master didn't do anything to this world," John said to everyone.

The seven returned to the war room where everyone was waiting. Duchess Isabelle was there. She had used the zone portal to return. John called her back because he wanted her to aid Emris in leading the second army from Themisphere while Arther and Meryl led the army that stayed in Palgrost.

John went to the central platform and activated the projection that showed the map of the world.

"Now, before we begin. Let us hear how many troops everyone has and can spare for this campaign," John said. "I will start with Themisphere. We have 1,000,000 troops in Palgrost and 2,148,000 in Themisphere."

Even though they didn't show it, the four allied country leaders were rather surprised to hear this information. They understood that Themisphere had around three million troops before the outworlders arrived. After that, Themisphere underwent multiple wars, domestic and abroad. This came with no small loss of soldiers.

How did they manage to keep their army count the same as before all those wars?

They didn't know that the monarch system gave a clear advantage to outworlders who became sovereigns, especially when it came to ruling powers. Jack received so many ruling powers from multiple sources that were not available to native sovereigns. He had used these ruling powers to speed up multiple developments and constantly doing mass draftings every month. The speed of Themisphere recruiting soldiers couldn't be compared to the other countries that were still ruled by native sovereigns.

"However, almost half of the troops that are in Themisphere are rookies, especially the ones we have just recruited this month," John continued. He wasn't aware of the secret turmoil within the native sovereigns' minds. "After reviewing carefully, the ones we can mobilize for our campaign is 2,500,000 troops. So, Themisphere will move out with 1,000,000 troops from Palgrost and 1,500,000 troops from Themisphere."