For a large town built in under a year, Iustitia was beautiful. It was such a large, productive machine that Climb understood why they called it a 'Fortress City'. The land could easily hold 200 000 people and feed them indefinitely, the town was certainly not in want of food, money or unskilled labour which was why they had the most skilled levies to come out of or occupy any city. The members of the Order of Justice: Military Unit could be hired to serve as trainers and educators to even peasant households so every one of the fifty thousand and counting citizens were already or were well on their way to being fully literate.

It was a system devised for providing temporary housing for their members and education to the masses as the members were to be live in tutors who only took breaks on that duty when attending to their other duties; such as assigning new recruits to the posts or checking on refugees who would soon turn conscripts.

A percentage of the money earned would then pay for supplementary undead labour and guards and to their temple to ensure that the cost of healing magic was kept low as well. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said about healing potions as they were ordered at a fixed price from E-Rantel, they were also low on alchemists. The temples also recieved large donations which were sent to the only orphanage in the town which in itself was a combined Order of Justice temple and military base, it served to train children who lost their parents in village raids as well as find talented individuals.

It went without saying that the system worked the same way as the Orphanage in E-Rantel did, except this one wasn't run by 'widows', these women were no longer sinners who would hide under the bed while their husbands went off and dealt with whatever monster was knocking at their door, these woman knew better now and would fight to absolve themselves of their weakness; of their sin.

What Climb saw while walking through the central square of Iustitia was simply unimaginable, people working besides undead. Children playing on the streets as if the Death Knight at the post they were playing around were a mere statue and every now and then a spine chilling undead horse would pass by, though those were relatively few in number.

"Why aren't their more undead horses? Wouldn't it aid everything if there were more?" Climb asked deciding to ignore the undead like everyone else was doing lest he be called the crazy one.

Reiner yawned, it was safe to say that the past weak passed them by with little in the way of sleep as they started spotting more Southern scouts ... well that and the relative discomfort of the outdoors.

"It sure would, but right now the Church is focusing on buying more Death Knights and armour, even if it isn't enchanted. We have more magic casters and a few semi-skilled blacksmiths so that solves that. And because if we get more undead horses our well trained war horses will soon be demoted to farm labour or we'll have to sell them."

"Then sell them." Climb said plainly. Reiner chuckled lazily. "Any other day, but in the game of survival everything is a resource that can be used for you or against you. Ah, finally! Here we are. The smaller building is the Church, but it's really more an administrative building really. Sermons are held outside to ensure that everyone can make it, but the Pope won't be doing her usual rounds here this month."

The 'smaller' building wasn't that small. It was a two storey building which Climb suspected had a basement. The first floor was clearly separated into an audience area and the private offices of the members of the Order of Justice. The larger one – he was told – was the Orphanage which currently had one hundred children between the age of five and eleven, as from the age of twelve they would be conscripted, this was subject to change once peace was restored.

"Only the Pope speaks?"

"Well ... she does it better than the rest of us. We can all speak about the greatness of His Majesty but none of us served as his personal squire for months ... so yeah ... she does it better." There was a hint of uncertainty and self-deprecation in Reiner's voice.

"Penelope. I hope the day finds you well." Reiner's voice suddenly called out to a red haired girl who was waiting for them in front of a door. They saluted in what Climb learned was the Order of Justice's salute and entered the office.

"For you to come personally? Is Prart already in danger?" though it was clear that the question was sarcastic the sincerity in her soft voice – and this wasn't an overstatement; Climb had strain to hear her and room itself was already devoid of noise – wasn't lost at all.

"Haha! I'm not that bad a priest. No I came to introduce you to someone personally assigned to you by the Holy King, I know the Paladin Order isn't big here but there are a few right?"

"Yes, about two hundred or so. Penelope Seraph, Head Priestess of Iustitia, I hope the day finds you well." She stuck out her hand for Climb.

"I am Climb. Is that a special greeting?" her hands were soft. The type of feminine softness that never saw war or harsh training.

"No, we genuinely wish each other well, instead of crudely asking 'How are you?' only to receive a response so practised it might as well be a lie, we are projecting well wishes first and foremost." Her voice may have been soft but she was stern in her delivery.

Slane Theocracy:

To call the creation of Ulbert Alain Odle a thorough demon was a grave understatement of his capabilities. Demiurge was an archfiend that believed that the winner was already decided before the match, or rather one didn't fight a war that wasn't won, which was why he was very pleased.

He was patient. He was well aware that five days he spent laying down his plans wasn't enough to actually get much done, but he was still pleased. There was nothing the Theocracy still had that justified their inaction, so all he had to do was remove the hesitation. He had ensured word reached them that the Southern Holy Kingdom was mobilising their forces against the North. They knew the Elves were no longer a threat, the Beastmen hordes had gone quiet – for now, at the very least – and he knew Dominic Ihre Partouche was getting the most dire news earlier than the others. But it wasn't perfect.

The conversation he was about to listen in on now would determine whether he still needed to make adjustments or not. There was always room for improvement, just like how these people could learn to use proper anti-divination magic.

I spent months gathering intelligence on the Holy Kingdom, confirmed it twice over and laid out my plan, so what's the difference? ... I'm rushing the process ... I have to let the Theocracy think the South is winning ... heretics ... Beastmen? Wall? The wall? Yes, it's ten metres high, approximately two hundred square kilometres ... stone, undead guards ... then Prart? Yes. But first let's give them some external motivation.

"I will create a path for the Southern armies to trickle into Prart, forcing Iustitia to move a few members, maybe remove a few Death Knights, they are very demotivating for the enemy, well ... such is war, it isn't exactly fair. Kukuku." He spoke those words as he wrote them down to give to Sebas later. He didn't like rushing through his work, but he was thorough. His most required commodity was not on his side.

After cleaning the statues of their Gods and themselves, the Cardinals of the Theocracy sat at the table for a meeting that was now becoming so frequent you might as well call it breakfast.

"Firstly, I'd like to say ..." Raymond Zarg Lauranson was cut off before he could greet everyone.

"Enough, Raymond! This is enough! First we get beaten by the elves in a war ordained by the Gods for us to reclaim humanities glory, then shamed by some heretical fanatic, robbed by an undead and now this?! Spare me the formalities and tell me you have a plan." The Cardinal of Wind was now getting information from somewhere just as soon as Raymond did, so now all but two were left clueless.

"Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedule to meet up like this." Raymond decided it was better to ignore his colleague and pretend nothing happened. Someone wasn't pleased.

"Starting with; the former Extra Seat of the Black Scripture and former guardian of the Legacy of the Six Great Gods ..."

"And traitor." Dominic chimed in. " ... Zesshi Zetsumei is now the governor of the now province, former country, of the elves and extends a hand for us to witness her in ceremony to officially claim this title." Raymond finally finished.

"Is the child mocking us? For all we have done for her this is our thanks? Unless she is giving us back the property they forcefully took, I want no part of it." If one was to ignore the content of the words spoken and simply listen to the voice one would swear you were hearing a kindly grandmother talking to her grandchildren. Raymond looked incredulously at the Cardinal of Fire, Berenice Nagua Santini. Was she seriously considering a possibility where they would break Post War Agreements? He didn't want to find out if she really did, but he had to ask just in case.

"Berenice, you're not serious, are you?"

"I am. How much longer are we just going to sit idly by while that undead expands his territory? He mocks us by having one of our treasures sit in an open and vulnerable position, while the others are hidden in a place the Gods only know where. He wants us to attack her so he can destroy us."

"Maybe it was the child's idea? Maybe she wants to help us, like a double agent." The Cardinal of Light, Yvon Jasna Dracrowa spoke.

"Yvon, you saw her. She genuinely believes us to be weak." Berenice said sadly.

"We still raised her! The Slane Theocracy is her home too! She was probably buying us time to rethink our strategy." Dominic was clearly losing it.

Raymond knew Zesshi, and he saw the way Ainz Ooal Gown had operated. He definitely knew that Zesshi wasn't a strategist, and definitely not a schemer. His fellow cardinals were deluding themselves because they felt they were cornered. And that they were. The biggest problem with all this was that they had no circumstantial evidence that the Sorcerous Kingdom illegally entered their borders and robbed them. All evidence pointed to an inside job. Their best bet which until now he figured was not a viable idea was to support the Southern Holy Kingdom.

They had chosen not to intervene with them because the country was a lost cause, but now they were basically stripped bare themselves. The South was steadfast and still a human nation, while the North was integrating undead. If they managed to strip the Sorcerous Kingdom of the North ... well it wasn't like he cared about the humans, the country was useless. It only held heretics who were quick to call an undead a 'God', but its influence was going to be the cornerstone of the larger Sorcerous Kingdom. So while they would gain little, if not nothing in this venture he was about to propose, it meant that the Sorcerous Kingdom's focus would be in multiple places at once and that was a war all on its own. This was their only chance at crippling it.

"How about we do what the Sorcerer King is doing?" Raymond started.

"What do you mean?" Berenice asked.

"We offer the South weapons at a lower price, a few scripture members, nothing too big. Enough that it won't become an international war?"

"Let's meet up with Zesshi first, try and discern where she stands." Dominic had clearly already lost his mind, but surprisingly enough the rest believed his words and were going along with that plan first. In the end Raymond was the only one who believed that this was a bad idea.

"Then we help the South?" Raymond asked. "Depending of her answer."

Demiurge smiled as he listened in on the meeting, it was too easy. Raymond was intriguing but messing with Dominic was a lot of fun in its own way, he would carry on with the Theocracy once his current mission was done, for now Iustitia had to be attacked.

Caspond's Private Office.

Sebas had been watching Climb through a Mirror of Remote Viewing for the past week and diligently taking notes of anything that happened, which if you excluded moving South towards Iustitia wasn't much of anything. What made that obvious was the fact that Demiurge had decided to take to the field himself, but in the Theocracy.

Of course the Archfiend didn't tell Sebas much just that he would report when he returned, and so Sebas watched intently at the town that resembled E-Rantel in more ways than one. There were two large reserved plots of land at the east and west side wall of the town that were guarded by Death Knights at regular intervals that rotated large yields of staple crops per harvest. It was a genius system that would ensure that the soil would never go fallow with little need of magical intervention.

Space distorted and a very pleased demon entered the room.

I don't know which is worse; seeing him upset or seeing him pleased. Does it even matter? Either way, he will go out of his way to upset me.