After the mass drafts, Jack checked the recruits. Unfortunately, there was no mythical grade this time. Probably the first time was beginner’s luck. He wasn’t too fussed about it. This showed how difficult it was to get a mythical-grade soldier. Even with the boost from World Peace Garden and his absurd luck stat, it was still not a guarantee to get a mythical grade for each draft.

They got plenty of rare elites, though. Even though most were still low-level, the mass drill should quickly bring these soldiers up to acceptable levels.

Jack proceeded to do another mass pay to increase his officers’ loyalties.

It didn’t take a whole day to operate the monarch system this time, so Jack proceeded to attend the meeting arranged by Thaergood. They discussed various matters for the remainder of the day.

The next day, Jack socialized with guests and dignitaries who came to meet him. Some had stayed several days waiting for his presence. Jack tried to be as good a host as possible. Even though he disliked this socialization, he knew it was necessary to help boost his standing. Additionally, some of these guests were also his kingdom officers. This socialization helped increase their loyalties.

All in all, Jack tried to be as best a king as possible with his limited capacity.

By then, the news of the Aurebor Dynasty getting usurped by the World Ruler made a headline around players’ circles. With their instant messaging system, they quickly learn of the change of regime.

John praised the way the enemies conquered another country without wasting soldiers, to which Jack responded by rolling his eyes. Now, the enemies had armies of two countries. It was not something to be taken lightly.

One comforting news they heard was that Aurebor had the same situation as Liguritudum. Many of the native officers quit their posts after the regime change. So many that Master and Mistress had to insert players to fill the posts.

Peniel informed that aside from not getting any benefits, there was another drawback to having players fill the posts instead of natives. The morale of the army would drop during a war campaign.

Now that Jack was a sovereign, he would be able to perceive the morale of the troops during a campaign. Troops with maximum morale at 100 points possessed buffs that allowed them to fight more efficiently.

Several things could be done to boost morale. For example, an encouraging speech before a battle. Jack had done it in previous wars without even realizing that he added a system buff to the troops when he delivered the speech.𝐧𝗈𝐕𝑒𝓁𝒩𝖊xt.𝗰𝑶𝗆

On the opposite side, lower morale could cause the army to perform badly. Peniel said the standard morale was 60 to 70. Going up from 70, a buff was added. It got stronger as the morale went up. Going below 60, debuff was given. Debuff also got stronger the lower the morale was.

Additionally, once morale hit 30, there was a chance for the soldiers to desert or even defect. Hitting the lowest zero morale gave the soldiers a 100% chance of desertion rate.

By putting so many players in the official military positions instead of natives, Peniel said that it would be lucky if the army morale reached 70.

Jack asked what about the time when he was appointed the general of the third army during the invasion war. Peniel said that Jack’s general position was not an official post registered in the monarch system. It was a temporary authority given only for that war campaign. Hence, it didn’t affect the morale governed by the world system.

Jack was glad to hear this. Anything that helped his army to be better than the enemies was welcomed. This also reinforced his belief that Master wasn’t familiar with the monarch system.

*

One day after Jack socialized with the guests, he left for Balgadur, the capital of the Republic of Palgrost.

The formal message he sent requesting a state visit had been approved by Palgrost. President Thelgrun Stoneking made himself available for Jack for one week, starting today.

The last time, Jack went to that city with Grace. This made Jack think of the girl. Jack had not only asked his guild members to search for her, but also Isabelle’s information network. But even now, no one had found her yet.

He didn’t want this to be true, but he had to admit now that the only place left searching was Greed’s sanctum. If he was still his old self, he would have barged right in there to make sure. But he was a king now. He had obligations. He couldn’t do as he pleased like he used to.

If he got trapped inside Greed’s sanctum without a clear idea of when he could escape, there would be much chaos in the country. He would have betrayed everyone’s trust, including the late Prince Alonzo’s. Even though Pandora and a recall plate might break him out, he wasn’t sure if Greed hadn’t reinforced his sanctum’s barrier to prevent the same breach from happening again.

He also couldn’t send someone else to go there and check and risked that person getting trapped indefinitely.

Only after he settled the threats that Liguritudum and Aurebor posed that he could let go of Themisphere and risk himself to reenter Greed’s Sanctum.

He was worried about Grace, but unfortunately, the situation forced him to have to choose one over the other. The country and the world took priority.

With this thought, he figured he wasn’t exactly a romantic person. He wondered if Grace would still think the same of him if she learned about his decision.

He put all that into the back of his mind as he came out of Balgadur’s zone portal. He was astounded to see a platoon of dwarven soldiers surrounding the portal.

“Your Majesty,” A native human called him and bowed. Jack used Inspect and found that she was named Diane. She was part of Themisphere’s officials. She was one of his ministers.

Thaergood did mention he had sent one of the ministers here to liaison with the dwarven officials. Two human soldiers accompanied Diane.

“King Storm Wind, welcome to Balgadur,” A dwarf stepped out from the surrounding dwarven platoon. His name was Broban Deepminer. “Please, follow me. President Thelgrun is waiting in the palace.”

Jack nodded. “I will trouble you to lead the way,” Jack said. He and Diane followed Broban. They marched under the protection of the dwarven soldiers.

Jack was alarmed at first seeing so many dwarven soldiers surrounding him. But thinking about it now, this was a state visit. There were supposed to be security details protecting him. He again missed the time when he could just go around cities freely without all these people crowding him.

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