Chapter 20: King and Mountain Lord

Clearly, the Azeroth Continent which Sun Fei had traveled to was a world that extremely believed in might and deities. Many people thought that gods truly existed. Due to the wars, the God of War was a deity that countless people fanatically worshipped and believed in. So, pushing everything onto the God of War was the most ridiculous reason in his previous life, but in this world it happened to be the most reasonable and perfect excuse.

Sun Fei needed an excuse to explain everything that had happened to Alexander.

Now, he found it.

Sun Fei believed that soon, the things he said tonight would spread throughout the entire Shampoo City through the mouth of this straightforward black-haired man before him. Then he would never have to tediously explain everything to every person again.

Sometimes, rumors were more easily trusted by outsiders than things said by oneself.

Of course, during this process, Sun Fei played a little trick. He deliberately linked himself to the God of War, whom most people in this world believed in, with a vague connection. Many history books from his previous life told Sun Fei that personality cults, which caused ten years of chaos in his previous life, could sometimes be a good thing. They could give you unimaginably great help when you least expected it.

“I don’t seem to remember many things before today… Brook, tell me about Shampoo City and the whole kingdom.”

Sun Fei pretended to be calm and casual on the surface, but he was actually trying to get information again.

“As you wish, Your Majesty. The entire territory of your kingdom is Shampoo City. According to the classification of country levels on the Azeroth Continent, Shampoo City is not an independent empire, but merely a vassal state of a great power. The total population is less than 10,000. The officially organized Royal Guard only has 400 people…” Brook did not suspect anything. He scratched the back of his head and tried to speak clearly, telling everything he knew honestly and in detail.

“Sixth-Class Vassal State?”

Sun Fei had a bad feeling. This term gave him a very ominous premonition.

Indeed–

“Yes, Your Majesty. The suzerain state of Shampoo City is the Zenit Empire. It has 250 small vassal states under it. These 250 vassal states are divided into 6 levels according to their strength. Shampoo City belongs to the lowest level.” Brook explained in detail: “There are a total of 68 kingdoms that belong to the Sixth-Class Vassal State like Shampoo City under the rule of the Zenit Empire…”

Sun Fei was silent and felt very confused in the wind.

This was the truth.

So his kingdom was just this tiny bit. He had thought before how great it was to be a king. It turned out the territory under his rule only added up to just this one Shampoo City. As for the population, it was even less than that of a township in the poor mountainous areas of his previous life. Did that mean he was even worse than a township head?

For the first time, Sun Fei found that reality was not as good as he had imagined.

He lowered his head and thought for a while, then asked unwillingly: “Brook, according to what you said, then our suzerain state Zenit Empire should be a very powerful force on the Azeroth Continent, right?”

Brook’s face became strange.

But after hesitating for a moment, this straightforward man still honestly told the answer he knew: “The Azeroth Continent has vast territory and broad borders. It is said that even deities cannot travel all over the entire continent. There are countless countries on the continent. According to their strength, these countries can roughly be divided into nine levels from level one to level nine. Level one empires have the lowest strength, and level nine empires are at the top of the pyramid of the entire continent. The suzerain state of Shampoo City, the Zenit Empire, is just one of the many weak level one empires…”

When Sun Fei heard this, his heart immediately felt very cold.

He really did not expect that Shampoo City’s status was actually this low. He also did not expect that on this so-called Azeroth Continent, a dignified king of a country was actually this worthless—simply more common than college graduates in his previous life.

Sun Fei thought with a dark face, according to what Brook said, as long as someone had a little bit of land and worked hard to gather a team of three to four hundred people, anyone could occupy an area and become a king. Such a king was almost no different at all from those mountain lords who occupied a mountain and declared themselves king in his previous life’s ancient times.

“What kind of world is this! After talking for so long, it turns out I am actually a mountain lord—and a weak one at that.”

Sun Fei felt like crying. He originally thought that as the ruler of a country, he had everything. Who knew he was actually that frog at the bottom of the well who could only see a small part of the sky and thought he had mastered the whole world?

Sun Fei was confused for a while, then suddenly thought of something and asked expectantly: “Then… the relationships between various countries on the continent… I mean, there shouldn’t be frequent wars, right?”

“On the Azeroth Continent, war is the most ordinary thing…” Brook seemed addicted to ‘opposing’ Sun Fei, and said gloomily: “Everyone was born in war, and dies in war… My parents and family all died in war. Every moment, people die.”

Sun Fei was a bit dumbfounded.

Oh my, if that was the case, then his kingdom could be destroyed by those superpowers at any time? When war came, on the battlefield of millions of soldiers fighting like a meat grinder, no matter how great an individual’s power was, it was limited.

“Then why don’t we ask our suzerain state for help now? As the suzerain state, the Zenit Empire should have the obligation to protect its vassal states, right?” Sun Fei caught the key point.

This time, Brook’s answer finally did not disappoint Sun Fei—

“If they knew the situation here, the Zenit Empire should send armies and strong individuals to help, but the problem is…” At this point, Brook pointed to the black camp across the Zuli River and said helplessly: “They completely blocked the roads from Shampoo City to the outside. We simply cannot send out the call for help.”

So that was it.

Sun Fei quickly found the power structure of the Azeroth Continent from Brook’s words, and also found the key to survival on this war-torn continent.

Without a doubt, the Azeroth Continent’s territory was vast, and its area was huge and immense, far surpassing any continent on Earth in his previous life—even far surpassing the area of Earth itself.

Of course, it also far exceeded Sun Fei’s previous imagination.

What was worse, this vast and boundless continent, which even legendary deities found difficult to traverse, was clearly a world full of chaos and constant warfare. Killing happened all the time. Hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of countries constantly fought each other. War was the eternal theme of the continent.

Sun Fei once again felt the pressure of survival hitting him in the face.

“Damn it, no wonder the previous king was named Alexander. This pressure is really greater than a mountain… It’s obviously a chaotic era, just like the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods in China’s history!”

However, Sun Fei keenly grasped a key point in Brook’s words.

Prosperous times had their glorious chapters, and chaotic times naturally had their survival rules. From Brook’s not very clear answer, Sun Fei vaguely discovered that perhaps due to countless years of constant war life, the Azeroth Continent had formed a very interesting pyramid system suitable for survival in chaotic times. In this system, as long as they attached themselves to the strong, even the weakest countries seemed able to survive.

A night breeze blew, bringing moisture from the distant river.

The atmosphere was a bit heavy.

Sun Fei simply stopped thinking that far ahead. His thoughts returned to Shampoo City: “Brook, tell me in detail about the situation in Shampoo City. As the king, I still don’t know what my kingdom is like. For example, besides me, are there any other nobles with prestige and power in Shampoo City?”

Sun Fei was clearly taking advantage of an honest person, trying to get everything he wanted to know from Brook’s mouth.

Brook thought for a while and said: “Besides Your Majesty, the most powerful person in Shampoo City is Herald Bazel. Because before, you…” At this point, Brook scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to describe Sun Fei’s previous stupid behavior. He hemmed and hawed for a long time, then had to skip that part and continued: “For the past two or three years, Lord Bazel had been exercising the king’s rights of Shampoo City on your behalf. Except for the military aspects, which he could not control because of the existence of Lord Frank Lampard, everything else was decided by Lord Bazel…”

“Herald Bazel?” Sun Fei thought of something and suddenly asked: “Does he have a son who is as fat as a pig, named Gerger, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, Gerger used to be your closest playmate!”

That damn fat pig was my best playmate? Sun Fei sneered inwardly. Bazel, Gerger, these two guys probably were not good people. One held the king’s power, the other accompanied him all the time. They were probably another typical pair of treacherous father and son like Yan Song and Yan Shifan, who abused power and harmed the people, right?

“Go on, besides Bazel, are there any other powerful people?” Sun Fei calmly remembered this father and son in his heart and had a general plan.

“Besides Herald Bazel, Military Judge Conca and Prison Warden Oleg could be considered influential figures in Shampoo City. The former Captain of the Royal Guard, Lord Peter Cech, could also be considered one, but half a month ago, Herald Bazel suddenly found a lot of evidence, exposing Lord Cech for plotting to betray the king. Lord Cech was imprisoned.”

Sun Fei nodded.

He keenly noticed a very interesting phenomenon—Brook dared to call Bazel, the most powerful person in Shampoo City besides the king, directly by his name. But for the former Captain of the Royal Guard, Peter Cech, who was imprisoned for ‘conspiracy to commit treason’, Brook spoke with respect and called him Lord… Did this explain something?

Sun Fei had a feeling that although the Shampoo City Kingdom was pitifully small, the stories that happened there seemed not few at all.