Chapter 57 History (1)

  On the vast land of the north, indigenous people work hard, they harvest grains, they fell giant trees, and they excavate minerals.

  Behind them were swords and whips.

  The development of the Velsa Empire was extremely rapid, and these people called themselves the Chosen People of God, establishing themselves as conquerors from the beginning. The Chosen People of God naturally had a sense of superiority. The ignorant residents of the cold and bitter lands in the north were, in their eyes, excellent slaves serving the divine people. They should be grateful for their fate. Even if they died due to their own weakness, it was still dying in the process of serving the divine people, which was considered a joyful event.

  The invasion of the Velsans can be said to have been like a hot knife through butter, the guardian deities of those tribal villages were annihilated by the gods who followed the army, and the rioters who dared to resist the divine people were exposed. The priests of various gods either coerced or bribed them into accepting these souls that had lost their faith targets after the great war.

  Death was never a joyful occasion, and servitude would not be seen as a blessing. Even being flogged by the king would still hurt. Just one year later, a rebellion - or uprising - swept across the entire north.

  The inhabitants of the North once established their own state, expelling and killing all the Velsans who had enslaved them, driving the military to the current border between Oseadin and the Second Empire of Velsa. These warriors in tattered armor, these warriors with broken weapons, these warriors without priests or mages.

  Lost.

  They were on the verge of launching a strategic counterattack, sweeping away all the incompetent garrison troops and bringing great trouble to the empire. This kind of trouble had never been seen before, whether it was the mountain people in the south or the herders in the west. Before the true god, everyone cowered and trembled with fear, awaiting their inevitable fate. Only these northern barbarians, these rustic people, dared to resist? And still managed to win all the way?

  This is a slap in the face of the Empire! They must be annihilated at all costs!

  Under divine intervention, under the harassment of the more northern barbarians who had been bought off, and with the empire's crack troops thrown in, the north's first unified state collapsed quickly. Although Wiel's army suffered heavy casualties, the clergy were not immune to heavy losses either. In the end, however, the North was defeated.

  "That country, its name is Oserdin." Udhis said in a heavy tone, "After that war, there was the Olvisa Castle, and at that time... it was called the Northern Fort, this is what its name means. What followed was endless, even more brutal enslavement."

  Uther paused at this point. Steven, Odara and Lancelot also lowered their heads in silence.

  For the native Ossetians, those enslaved histories and scenes of miserable years have become a racial memory etched into their souls. The painful past is easy to forget, but with the power of faith, this atmosphere of remembering the past naturally envelops the entire Ossetian kingdom.

  Only a nation that remembers its history has a future.

  "This servitude lasted until the War of the Gods, when it was finally declared over." About a minute later, Uldis began to speak again.

  When those gods who once coexisted in harmony or on the surface were at peace with each other went to war for this and that reason, the Velsans, as the chosen people of the gods, naturally had to prioritize the will of the gods. Strong because of the gods, also divided because of the gods. Gunsmoke rose, hot blood splattered, and the Velsan Empire seemed to collapse overnight.

  Each force discovered the problem of insufficient troops after the initial collision. The barbarous but brave northern land became a new source of soldiers. Although these vengeful and untrustworthy people were not so reliable, someone had to sacrifice their lives in battle anyway.

  Odin and his companions were just emerging at that time.

  Joni listened intently, but the story that followed was a bit cliché - at least for him. Odin was always exuding an aura of majesty, and after a series of heroic deeds, he gained the worship of the Northern people. His sworn brother, Okusta Spencer, as the leader of the Northern resistance army, commanded a massive army. After the great Odin became a god, those who had always followed and worshipped him received blessings, and some devout people became the first priests. These violent elements wielding two-handed swords or axes, carrying Odin's blessing and the wrath of the true God, after that one uprising, the Northern people won again, driving out the enslavers.

  The legend of Ossetin has been quietly circulating in the north. In memory of those pioneers, a new country was named the Kingdom of Ossetin.

  "But by then, the Velsa Empire had already collapsed, and countless plotters and ambitious men stole the fruits of victory. All over the northern fertile land, numerous great and small forces rose up. The oppressed people, once they turned over, either opposed oppression from then on or became new oppressors themselves. Freedom, brief freedom, hard-won freedom, disappeared." Udais said so.

  Joni knew without thinking that it must be Oceddin who had won the final victory.

  But from what I've heard, this country and its god seem quite impressive.

  A country that does not enforce religious control has so many Odinists, which in itself explains some issues.

  "Let's eat first, everyone," Udis said as he sat down. "The food will get cold later."

  The meal was simple, bread and dried meat, accompanied by a bowl of delicious meat soup.

  "Why don't things here differ much from those in the South?" Johnny asked Odara in a low voice, "Don't they have some local specialties or something?"

  Audrey ate quickly and noisily, just like the rest of the people present - except for Astrid. With a slurp, she drank a mouthful of hot soup, and then let out a satisfied sigh before saying: "Didn't my brother say earlier that all the crops in the north come from the south? Of course, apart from meat, it's just like Tabris City."

  Is wheat cold-tolerant? Johnny doesn't know. Since Odala said so, let's just listen to it, maybe the wheat here is some special variety or something.

  "Uncle Udis." Astrid's mouth was as sweet as ever. "What happened afterwards?"

  Although Udhis was a bit wooden and serious in character, he had quite the Osadin manner when it came to eating. Upon hearing Astrid's question, he stopped his movements, chewed quickly twice, swallowed the food, and then spoke: "Later, with Odin's help, under King Spenser's leadership, the brave Osadins defeated all their enemies, achieving unification of the entire north. The War of the Gods was still ongoing at that time. The border had been pushed to Town Northburg. Years of war had already caused great harm to the Osadin people, so Odin and his brother kings decided to take Northburg as the boundary, defend the line firmly, and focus on development."

  Astrid nodded, indicating understanding. However, Joruney had some questions: "Although the Velsa Empire has collapsed, the gods' power is still there, didn't they want to defeat Odin?"

  Udis nodded: "Of course, this is the case, but they are scattered forces after all. Even if they formed an alliance, it's not as elite as the army that marched in back then, so they all failed. Plus, the Osdin Empire didn't have any intention of expanding, and the great Odin didn't belong to any camp, so those forces gave up. Until the end of the War of the Gods."

  Jony nodded thoughtfully, pondered for a moment, and then asked another question: "Why is your forging technology better than that of Tabriz City? If this place was once a barbaric wilderness..."

  He didn't continue, which seemed somewhat offensive.

  Udis took a few more bites while Jony thought, then looked up again: "This is actually easy to understand. The last few years of the War of the Gods completely destroyed the civilization of the Velsa Empire, and even the librarians were conscripted into the army, with many books being burned during the war. If these literati were like this, then the craftsmen were even more so. By the time the war ended, only Ocedin on the entire continent had not been greatly affected. Although the flames of war had also been ignited, they did not last long. Many precious technologies were preserved.

  So, Ossetia is still a relatively advanced region on the continent.

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  After dinner, it's time to study. The Light Spell is just a beginner-level divine spell, and at most, it can be considered a trick for mages, so using it is quite extravagant. Udith muttered a few sentences of unclear meaning, raised his hand and pointed, and a soft and bright light appeared on Johnny's body. Then he put one on himself again.

  "First, let's get to know the thirty-three letters of the common language." Udis sat in front of a desk, pulled out a sheet of papyrus, and motioned for Jony to sit across from him. "You must memorize these letters first, then we can move on to specific texts."

  As he spoke, Udis opened the ink bottle's stopper, picked up a quill pen from one side, dipped it in the ink and began to write on papyrus. After finishing writing, he scooped some fine sand from the other side, sprinkled it evenly over the paper, then carefully lifted the paper, poured off the sand at one place, before handing it to Johnny.

  "Follow me and recite, the first one is 'ah', the second one is..."

  Learning the alphabet wasn't that hard. Although Johnny had seen classmates who couldn't even get the 26 English letters right until fifth grade, he himself was... well, let's just say not that stupid.

  Following Udis' recitation three times, and then reading it aloud himself twice, Johnny began to memorize the somewhat strange characters on the paper.

  Fortunately, he spoke a common language, otherwise he would have been stuck on the pronunciation of those letters for half a day. Johnny secretly felt relieved.

  Udis saw Johnny working hard and didn't rush, but instead took out a sheepskin-bound book and wrote on it with a pen. Although Stephen was the lifelong archbishop of the Odin Church, the affairs of this church had been handed over to his eldest son. Udis had to keep a good diary, first as a backup, and secondly also to leave a historical record for future generations.

  There weren't many things that could be written down on this day, but it was enough for Udis to write for a while. When he put down his pen and looked up, he saw Johnny still staring at the paper, muttering to himself.

  "Joni, did you remember everything?" Udin broke the silence in the room.

  "Huh? Oh." Johnny seemed startled, apparently he was indeed very focused, "Not yet, just getting a little familiar now."

  Udis shook his head. Although he was a bit stubborn and not as clever as his father and brother, he was still the old man's son and had a smart brain. When Stefan taught Udis these letters, he remembered that it only took him a short while to memorize them. However, at that time Stefan was still dissatisfied with him and used a "fox-like cunning" to suddenly raise Udis' IQ by a notch when he was still young.

  An honest person also has his own pride, and Udis has always regarded this past event as a shame, including his entire learning process. He has always thought that he is very smart. Smart people don't need to resort to trickery.

  But that's just for one's own pride.

  "Do you need me to give you a 'Cunning of the Fox'? That divine technique can make you smarter in a short period of time." Udis was indeed more polite than his father.

  Jony felt despised. And is memory and intelligence related?

  But after all, it was a kind intention, and he couldn't beat him anyway, so he didn't say anything. Joanie looked up at Udis, then lowered his head to glance at those familiar yet strange letters again.

  "No need, thank you." The traverser also has the dignity of a traverser, although this dignity was quickly ruined by this waste.

  After silently reciting it over a dozen times, Jony lifted his head and silently memorized it several more times. He nodded to Udis and said, "I've got it all memorized."

  Udis didn't say a word either, he just stretched out his hand to take back the piece of paper in front of Johnny, and then raised his own test question: "Read them all in order."

  Joni didn't hesitate either, closing his eyes and reciting in order.

  Udis nodded in appreciation. Then he took out a sheet of grass paper, picked up his pen and wrote down a row of letters, looked at it, and handed it to Johnny: "Read them out in order."

  Johnny picked up the paper in his hand, and saw that the letters on it were still the same as before, but the order had indeed been scrambled. He read out about ten of them according to the order on the paper, suddenly got stuck, brought the paper closer, then took it farther away, making a face like he couldn't see clearly, his lips slightly trembling, one moment forming this shape, the next that shape. Then he raised his head and looked at Udis with some lack of confidence: "Huh?"

  When Johnny made this sound and saw Udis frowning, he suddenly had an epiphany and shouted: "Ah! Ah! It's 'ah'!"

  Udis shook his head and threw the first piece of paper to Johnny, while muttering to himself, putting the phrase "fox's cunning" onto the young man in front of him.

  As a similarly clever person, Udis now somewhat understands his old man's mood and also understood why his old man was good at negotiating everything except refusing to teach any villager to read. Of course, the villagers not being interested is only one of the reasons.

  Jony looked at the paper in his hand with a gloomy expression. He could feel himself getting smarter, but he also felt a sense of humiliation.

  It's nothing, just saying something wrong!

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  While Johnny was entangled with the letters in front of him and the spell on his body that made himself smarter, Steven was sitting face to face with Odara in another room.

  "You said yesterday that this kid has great prospects. Odara, tell me carefully, what exactly makes you think he's got a future?"

  "Father, he was just a kid who learned martial arts quickly at first," Odala chuckled. "I thought his progress was pretty good back then, so I took him in as my follower. But what's been interesting me lately is his story."

  "A story?" The old man furrowed his brow. "What kind of story could possibly interest you? You're not a child anymore."

  Audrey wore a somewhat self-satisfied smile as she began to recount the stories that Johnny had told on their way, which were about historical events from another dimension. Of course, to them, these were just legends made up by a child...(It's raining today, so I didn't ride my bike. Plus, school didn't let out until 8:30, and I still need to proofread this, so it's a bit late... please forgive me...)