Ch.229229. Revolutionary War (1)

While Seorabeol was in turmoil over the debate on revising Awakened laws, the Yamato Union was preparing to put leashes on Awakened, but Europe was walking a completely opposite path from East Asia.

If Seorabeol and the Yamato Union had already regained stability and were establishing laws suitable for the apocalypse, France was now engulfed in a revolutionary war that burned everything.

Moreover, this revolution didn’t start in Paris but began as a rebellion in provincial cities opposing Paris, the heart of revolution.

“We’ve taken Créteil. Now Paris isn’t far away.”

Créteil, on the outskirts of Paris.

Once a peaceful city filled with markets, cafés, and the smell of baking bread.

Though destroyed by the apocalypse and essentially turned into a slum for Paris, it was still a city with history and tradition. Now it had become a battleground between revolutionary and government forces.

The rooftops were covered with flags of the Phoenix Cult bearing the phoenix symbol, while the streets were littered with destroyed drone debris and abandoned tank remnants as evidence of the war that had taken place.

The bodies of government soldiers that had been scattered across the streets were turned to white ash by the Phoenix Cult’s fire, disappearing into dust. The cult was erecting a memorial for fallen comrades and placing cremated remains there.

“The battlefield cleanup is complete. Now it’s time to attack the hateful Paris.”

“Is it finally time to end this revolution? Tere… or should I call you Leader now?”

“Yes. The end of the revolution is finally approaching.”

A man entered the tent that had been converted from a war-torn building into the allied forces headquarters. Teresa quietly informed him that the battlefield cleanup was complete and it was time to attack Paris.

When the man called her Leader and mentioned ending the revolution, she looked at him with eyes transformed by Phoenix’s magic power, smiled broadly, and agreed that it was time to end the revolution.

Yes, revolution.

The reason these people could gather in one place to oppose Paris and government forces was because everyone on this battlefield was dedicating their lives to the word “revolution.”

However, the man hung his head at the word revolution, sighed, and spoke.

“Revolution. Revolution, huh? Haha. Not everyone agrees with the Leader’s call for revolution. But it seems they’ve united under ‘We all hate Paris,’ right?”

The man seemed bothered by the word revolution.

He declared that not everyone here followed the ideology of Teresa Mari, the leader of the Phoenix Cult, but they could unite under one banner because they all hated Paris.

Therefore…

“So please don’t force revolution on those who aren’t related to them or the revolution. I won’t deny the revolution that’s happening now. But think about the blood that’s been spilled because of it.”

“Yes. I have no intention of forcing revolution on everyone. Above all…”

The man warned Teresa not to force revolution on others, and Teresa looked at him with a bitter smile and gazed at the sky.

And then…

“My god seems to refuse the act of forcing or spreading revolution.”

“That would be right. She never had such thoughts.”

She informed him that Phoenix strictly prohibited forcing and spreading revolution.

Yes, Phoenix, who never wanted revolution in the first place, wouldn’t want to force the Phoenix Cult’s ideology of revolution on other countries or people.

The other side also had a contractor, the Saint, so they didn’t intervene in this war, but they were still suppressing Teresa’s rampage so the Phoenix Cult could focus on the revolutionary war without going out of control.

Perhaps thanks to this, Teresa could focus quietly on the war without breaking the unity of the alliance with the word “revolution,” and now Paris was within reach.

“But thinking about it now, it’s quite an unlikely combination. Religion and revolution. Weren’t they traditionally antagonistic?”

“That’s by past revolutionary standards. And unlike the past, isn’t this an era where gods directly intervene?”

“…That’s right. It’s an era where gods directly intervene. Though it seems the gods themselves didn’t want to intervene proactively.”

The man scratched his head and mentioned how two incompatible words had merged, and Teresa countered that the past was just the past, and now was an era of divine intervention.

The man responded bitterly, saying it was an era of divine intervention, yet the gods didn’t want that.

“In today’s world, even a slight movement from a god causes death. So gods could have moved but chose not to.”

“God simply answered our human wishes. The reason people like us can call for revolution is because God saw us.”

“Yes, that’s right. The fact that you could get this opportunity in this way was because Phoenix gave you the chance. Whether she wanted it or not.”

However, he agreed with Teresa’s words and lamented that it was an era where the weak masses died due to divine intervention. Teresa disagreed, comforting him by saying that it was because God saw them that they could challenge Paris.

The man acknowledged that wasn’t wrong, saying Phoenix had given them an opportunity, and steeled his resolve.

“Big trouble, Leader!”

“What’s happening?”

“The government has started attacking!”

Though it was still dark dawn, the city began burning with war again.

When they came out of the headquarters, Phoenix Cult Awakened were already assessing the situation, wearing clothes marked with red symbols and shooting magic into the sky.

“The flame of revolution will never be extinguished! Disappear, government dogs!”

“Long live the revolution! Long live the Phoenix Cult!”

Bluish flames were bringing down aerial drones from the sky, but the drones were merely decoys. While they distracted attention, France’s Awakened mechanized infantry were advancing toward the city.

“I’ll issue orders to each garrison. Tell them to conduct guerrilla warfare according to their own judgment!”

“Good grief. Making people busy even in the middle of the night. That Saint over there.”

“It seems they’re getting desperate too. We expected to be quickly suppressed, but after a month, not only have they failed to suppress us, they’re actually being pushed back.”

The man expressed exasperation at the Saint of Orleans throwing full-power punches, but Teresa commented that the Saint was getting desperate.

Of course she would be desperate.

From the government’s perspective, the revolutionary army they expected to suppress quickly was actually pushing them back due to the variable of Awakened.

Initially, the government forces focused on moderate suppression, but as time passed, their response grew fiercer, and now they had introduced extreme measures to the point of engaging in large-scale war with the revolutionary army.

The battle between the two sides was this intense, with advances and retreats on both sides, but as time passed, neither the government forces nor the revolutionary army could smile.

“We’re short on food. Both sides are.”

“That’s right. Was this revolutionary war originally caused by food shortages? Both sides are reaching their limits.”

As the long night ended and morning approached, the lengthy battle ended. The government forces retreated, and the revolutionary army went to eat to recover their tired bodies, but no one could smile.

Considering that even Teresa, who could be called the Leader, finished her meal with just one potato, the ration rate for ordinary soldiers on the field was desperate, and the man couldn’t help but turn away from such a miserable meal.

Yes, it was natural for war to consume a lot of food, and if they had engaged in intense combat, enormous calories would have been burned, requiring calories to replenish that energy.

However, in post-apocalyptic France, there were no regions that could produce enough food to satisfy military forces, and with the revolutionary war breaking out in this situation, the already scarce food became even scarcer.

“I suppose it’s fortunate that the food shortage is the same on their side.”

“What’s the situation over there?”

“Hmm. Their soldiers are reduced to brewing moss instead of coffee, and the food given to ordinary soldiers is terrible. It seems commanders and Awakened at least get expired combat rations?”

It was the same for the French government forces.

In the man’s view, there were many soldiers who barely held their weapons while maintaining a vigilant posture, and soldiers who had collapsed from hunger were common.

Four out of ten were essentially unable to fight, and the morale of the soldiers working in the field was terrible.

This was why the government forces couldn’t defeat the Phoenix alliance despite having overwhelming power—the broken state of the soldiers on the front lines.

“It seems they were afraid of the Parisian citizens. To think the Saint’s army, living with such pride, is in such a state.”

An army needed to eat to move, but the Saint, afraid of losing Paris’s support, failed to properly distribute food rations to the army, and because of that, she failed to suppress the Phoenix Cult.

To win, she would need to starve Paris, but that would risk plummeting support for the Saint of Orleans’ regime.

Between victory in war and stability of her regime, the Saint chose the latter, though she wasn’t doing nothing.

“Time isn’t on your side, which is grim.”

“The Lord Protector’s support?”

“Yes. According to my connections, the Lord Protector has already begun preparations to support the Saint with food.”

Movements to support the Saint had already been detected from the alliance.

The man predicted that the Lord Protector would help the Saint, his political ally, from falling, and Teresa was accepting this with a heavy expression.

The Lord Protector’s participation had been predicted for a long time, and they were actually grateful it had been delayed.

“There’s also good news for your revolutionary army.”

“Good news?”

But just as the Saint of Orleans had the Lord Protector’s support, the revolutionary army also had something comparable.

“President Arthur of the United States is considering supporting you. He plans to deliver weapons and food.”

“You seem to know about the political situation in the US as well.”

“I have connections there too. They’ve been informing me in advance. But using that is always up to the Leader. I’m just a neutral zone acting as a messenger.”

The United States had shown willingness to support the Phoenix alliance.

Initially skeptical, the US began to recall the Revolutionary War period as the Phoenix Cult started winning against government forces. They invoked the name of General Lafayette, a hero of American independence and a great general from their former ally, and appealed to citizens to support the Phoenix revolutionary army.

The Saint of Orleans, who had been forcibly using American power to recapture Paris, was already known in the US as a dictator and someone not to associate with. American citizens enthusiastically welcomed President Arthur’s appeal at this golden opportunity to thwart the Saint, and through this national support, President Arthur had officially declared support for the Phoenix revolutionary army.

The Saint of Orleans expressed regret, calling it betrayal that support was declared for the Phoenix revolutionary army, a rebel force rather than a European country, but no one sympathized with her.

“It’s ultimately the Saint’s own doing. I’ll let it pass.”

It was simply karma returning for what the Saint had done to the US at the international organization reconstruction meeting six months ago.

If the giant that was America deliberately supported the Phoenix revolutionary army, it meant the revolutionary army would gain a foundation to not easily back down against government forces, and the risk of defeat due to food shortages would decrease.

“The problem is that the longer overseas supplies continue, the longer this revolutionary war will drag on.”

“……..”

But the downside was that this revolutionary war would stretch endlessly.

Cities would gradually turn to ruins, no one would be able to call for justice, and hunger would continue.

The revolution would leave ashes, but the sins caused by that revolution would remain for those living now to settle.

“You know, right? The longer the war continues, the more suffering there will be. Not just for you, but for ordinary citizens of Paris too. And right now, it’s the apocalypse.”

The man, the dragon god Bahamut, warned Teresa, the Fire Priestess.

If they continued the war any longer, only more suffering would remain.

And…

“Even as war rages, monsters are appearing across the European continent. Continuing a war while there’s a common enemy is foolish.”

It was the apocalypse now, and he firmly stated that human war during this apocalypse was foolish.

“…I know.”

Teresa couldn’t be unaware of this, and she also felt burdened by foreign intervention.

“If the government side is willing to negotiate, I am also willing to come to the negotiating table.”

So she answered that if the other side was willing to negotiate, she would be willing to respond.

‘But how long do I have to intervene in this?’

Until this revolution changes direction and doesn’t come to Seorabeol.