I waited, and I kept waiting while running the advertisement.
The effects of the advertisement only appeared after a very long time.
Someone finally tried to summon me.
Unfortunately, something was lacking. Although they attempted the summoning, there was no fishing line-like connection dropping from above as before.
Still, the important thing is that someone made an attempt. The more attempts there are, the higher the chances that I’ll return to that world.
In the meantime, many things happened in the world where I first set foot.
First, Isula decided to avenge Witega. She stayed in the Ansellus Kingdom because she knew Wyde hated Tis-ha and would invade the kingdom no matter what. Her reasoning was that if she stayed in the Ansellus Kingdom, Wyde would eventually come to her.
Additionally, she calculated that she could strike Wyde when both he and Tis-ha were exhausted from fighting each other.
Thus, Isula decided to remain in the Ansellus Kingdom, training herself while she waited for Wyde to come.
Surprisingly, the Ansellus Kingdom allowed her to stay. Of course, it wasn’t without conditions. Unlike Tis-ha, they effectively confined her to a remote location far from the capital.
Considering the loss of her country, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Tis-ha had decided to execute her, no matter what she said. In that sense, it was a fairly merciful decision.
Meanwhile, Tis-ha worked with his comrades to rebuild the Ansellus Kingdom.
Like something out of a novel, one of his comrades turned out to be a member of the Ansellus royal family.
Conveniently, the person who defeated the villain responsible for destroying the Ansellus capital was also the perfect candidate to become the next monarch.
To be precise, she became the next queen.
It wasn’t him—it was her.
What’s more, she harbored feelings for Tis-ha. Despair and heartbreak often intertwine with love, so I’m quite familiar with those expressions.
However, the situation was extremely complicated. The relationships between men and women were tangled, and it wasn’t a situation where they could marry based on mere affection.
From Tis-ha’s perspective, I can’t say for sure, but it seems there were plenty of other issues as well.
So, while things were postponed time and again...
Some nobles revealed their ambitions. It might seem sudden to call it ambition, but you have to consider the broader context.
First, the Ansellus Kingdom as a whole wasn’t entirely devastated. Only the areas attacked by the Future Hope Sect suffered significant damage.
In other words, apart from the capital and the path of the sect’s advance, the rest of the kingdom remained intact.
Even if someone had been a loyal subordinate when the kingdom was stable, it’s only natural for others to have different ideas when the throne is left vacant.
Yes, exactly.
Eventually, a civil war broke out.
To be honest, I’m not good at predicting political matters. But I can hear about them from others.
Since Tis-ha was a key figure in the current royal administration, he participated in meetings and heard various accounts. This is why blessing someone of high status seems advantageous.
Anyway, despite their ambitions, it seems that because they were from the Ansellus Kingdom, or perhaps because they lacked the justification to overthrow the current royal family entirely, none of the nobles aimed to kill off the remaining royalty and claim the throne outright.
Instead, they declared that the queen’s close advisors were puppeteers manipulating her like a marionette.
It’s amusing, considering they intended to do the same—control the queen as a puppet.
Moreover, the current queen was still a young girl.
She was of an age where forced marriage wouldn’t seem strange. Essentially, she was a living crown.
To claim that crown, two noble houses—the Earldom and the Marquessate—raised their banners and rebelled.
At first, I thought, "Are mere counts and marquises staging a rebellion?" But it turns out their ranks don’t align strictly by hierarchy here.
The Marquessate I could somewhat understand.
But the Earldom seemed too low. However, I soon learned that the Earldom was the most powerful faction in the Ansellus Kingdom.
Their territory contained both iron and silver mines. Moreover, their land was situated on the southeastern border, controlling a critical trade route.
Thus, they were a formidable noble house.
And what about the remaining nobles?
They remained silent.
They claimed neutrality, saying they didn’t know who was right, as they couldn’t predict the future if either side won.
This was especially true given that the girl who became queen was initially never expected to ascend to the throne.
In short, it was an extremely dangerous situation.
From the moment I first encountered Tis-ha, I thought, "This story revolves around him like he’s the protagonist."
But seeing things directly from Tis-ha’s perspective, being a hero isn’t easy. Tis-ha barely managed to survive with his regenerative abilities, suffering greatly.
In most stories I’ve seen, the hero spends time bonding with their companions, then overcomes crises through battles, gaining wealth and fame in the process.
But things weren’t so easy for Tis-ha.
He had to oversee preparations for battles, manage the kingdom’s operations, and handle all the responsibilities simultaneously.
Normally, he’d have had people to assist him with such tasks, but they were all killed when the royal capital fell.
Wyde and the other blessed individuals, in their paranoia, slaughtered every living person in the palace.
That day alone, I gained over 100,000 units of warmth.
Hehe.
Ahem. Anyway, because of the shortage of manpower, the living had no choice but to work tirelessly to fill the gaps.
Regenerative abilities are truly remarkable.
Without them, Tis-ha might have died from overwork long before fighting the Mirae cult or the rebellious nobles.
While he was working nonstop, the two noble houses suddenly issued declarations and raised their weapons.
The first to fight was the Marquessate. Their territory was relatively close, so they reached the capital first.
The battle ended quickly.
The capital’s defenders were elite troops who had survived fights against the superhuman army, while most of the Marquessate’s soldiers had little combat experience.
The Marquis was swiftly captured and thrown into the castle’s dungeon.
But the Earldom was a much tougher opponent.
Instead of immediately raising an army and marching, the Earldom slowly tightened its grip on the economy.
No matter how powerful the Earldom might be, it’s difficult to corner the royal family outright. I didn’t realize this until I overheard the queen’s frustration during a meeting Tis-ha attended.
She was furious that no one was offering any help. She lamented that if the conflict continued, there was no guarantee of victory. And indeed, if they kept fighting, Tis-ha was certain to lose.
Why, you ask?
Do you remember those who split from Wyde? The blessed individuals who fled east with him after being utterly defeated by Tis-ha and his forces? They had lost faith in Wyde, deeming him untrustworthy due to his loss of authority and power, and they abandoned him.
They drifted southeast after parting ways with Wyde.
Remember how I mentioned the Earldom is located in the southeasternmost region?
Precisely 17 of them ended up joining the Earldom.
If there had been an older, more experienced person among them, things might have been different. But they, like Wyde, were blessed individuals who had been children when they received their powers.
They were just strong children, so persuading them was simple.
Yes.
When you suddenly gain great power, greed is inevitable. The Earl likely decided to seize control of the current royal family by force.
He marched toward the capital with the blessed individuals leading the charge. Unfortunately, the Earl made the wrong choice.
It was a time when resentment against the Future Hope Sect still lingered. And the Ansellus Kingdom’s official religion was the Sacred Light Religion.
This was a nation so devout that it had once wiped the theocratic Yongrang Gyoguk off the map in the name of faith.
Nobles opposed to the Earl joined the fight, rallying around the capital.
The odds began to shift.
At this point, something remarkable happened.
Isula decided to fight alongside Tis-ha. She reasoned that if Tis-ha died, it might dissuade Wyde from invading. So she joined the battle.
Hehe.
Of course, I know the real reason. She was lonely.
Isula had been confined to a remote area of the Ansellus Kingdom, practically in isolation, with no one she knew.
In truth, she wasn’t physically restricted—she just had guards accompanying her whenever she went out. Even that arrangement disappeared when the Marquessate attacked.
When her guards vanished, Isula felt even weaker. You’d think she’d rejoice at her newfound freedom, but she didn’t.
She hated being alone.
So she joined the group. Of course, she made excuses to Tis-ha and his companions, saying that she’d grow rusty if she didn’t train, or that she needed to be ready to kill Wyde when he arrived.
But at night, she clung to her blanket, trembling and whispering, “I hate being alone.”
That was the real reason.
Isula joined the fight, as did nobles from the north and west.
Soon after, the battle began.
Many lives were lost in that battle. Tis-ha, Isula, and the 17 blessed individuals all killed people.
In other words, they provided me with a significant amount of warmth.
Hehe.
But war is war.
The 17 blessed individuals dwindled to 8, and Tis-ha lost a friend during the battle.
The battlefield became a place of unrelenting hatred, leaving no room for retreat until the bitter end.
At that moment, surprisingly, Tis-ha proposed a truce. He suggested stopping the fight, saying that too many had already died.
There was fierce opposition. The nobles who had joined forces with the queen’s side shouted that the Earl must be branded a traitor and executed.
But Tis-ha forced the truce. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered if the Earl refused the negotiations...
But the Earl accepted.
From the perspectives of Tis-ha, Isula, and the remaining 8, it must have been because both sides had suffered too much.
They agreed to halt the fighting and clean up the battlefield littered with corpses.
Only then did people begin to see the battlefield through Tis-ha’s eyes.
Once a forest, it had become a charred plain. Rotting corpses were being devoured by wild animals. To someone sentimental, it was a scene of profound sorrow.
Both sides stopped fighting and spent two weeks cleaning up the bodies.
Only after that did they agree to find another way to resolve the conflict and returned to their homes.
But do you know?
This was the moment when the Ansellus Kingdom was at its weakest.
It was while Tis-ha and his forces were returning to the capital.
Wyde appeared, leading the Mirae cult to kill Tis-ha.
It was an extremely dangerous situation. The exhausted soldiers now faced the Mirae cult’s warriors, sporadically mixed with superhumans—a formidable enemy.
The queen’s supporting nobles, Tis-ha, and his companions...
They were ambushed at their most vulnerable.
Let’s rewind slightly.
Andrew originally intended to dissuade Wyde from attacking the Ansellus Kingdom. But the circumstances shifted in Wyde’s favor.
A civil war, of all things?
On top of that, the prolonged conflict between the queen’s side and the Earl’s forces gave Andrew ample opportunity to manipulate Wyde, promising to fulfill his desires.
At the moment the fighting stopped, Andrew unleashed Wyde, the blessed individuals, and all the fanatics he had gathered.
And so, Wyde, Tis-ha, and Isula ended up in the same place.