The war between the Papal States and the Boar Empire coalition forces continued for another five full years.

To call it a war would only be accurate for the first three months. After three months of genuine conflict and slaughter, Aryan III deliberately slowed the war's pace, forcibly transforming large-scale warfare into small-scale conflicts of attrition and harassment.

Most battles involved the Boar Empire sending small units to harass Papal States troops, with both sides suffering a few hundred casualties each time before retreating to fight another day.

Aryan III had no choice but to act this way. Not only had the Boar Empire suddenly received intelligence indicating that numerous Holy Knights were still hidden within the Papal States, making Aryan III completely unwilling to invade Papal States territory, but his army's morale had also been shattered during the first three months of major battles, making it difficult to organize effective resistance. Even if they could organize, they knew they couldn't win against the fanatical Papal States soldiers.

To prevent his already diminished morale from suffering further setbacks, he could only use small-scale battles to slow the war's pace, maintaining his army's fighting spirit through increased battle frequency.

One could say the existence of the Holy Knights completely blocked Aryan III's determination for large-scale campaigns, while the Papal States' refusal to withdraw their forces blocked his retreat path. If the Papal States had even the slightest intention of capturing cities and seizing territory, his strategy would be impossible to maintain because if they didn't attack, the Papal States would!

But the Papal States genuinely had no intention of attacking.

His Holiness Adam wanted to exhaust the national strength of all countries, including the Papal States itself, to plunge everyone into a weakened state, allowing them to develop peacefully for decades or even centuries. Therefore, facing Aryan III's war strategy, the Papal States not only refrained from deploying large forces for strong assaults but actually joined him in this prolonged stalemate, engaging in mutual small-scale campaigns.

It must be said that His Holiness Adam's thinking was indeed quite profound.

After five years of continuous consumption, the Papal States and Boar Empire, being massive entities, could still endure, but the smaller nations were crying out in misery!

Behind them, the four hundred thousand poor people released by the Papal States were burning, killing, and plundering in their countries, committing every evil imaginable, throwing their nations into chaos and setting back economic development by decades. On the front lines, military consumption and logistical demands were bankrupting entire royal families and national treasuries.

Even worse, because various lords had their forces deployed externally, domestic security forces were drastically reduced, leading to endless emergence of rebel elements and vicious bandits.

After five years of war with zero gains, these small countries were instead losing everything they had.

This meant these small nations would need twenty to thirty years to recover from the wounds inflicted by this war of attrition.

Not only were the poor suffering, but even the noble lords were having an extremely difficult time.

It was predictable that after this war ended, the entire Southern Continent would indeed enter a period of silence.

Additionally, Rino City was recaptured by the Papal States.

How many vampires the Holy Knights slaughtered that day was beyond counting, but with Norton creating nearly ten thousand vampires in Rino City over three years, of course not all were exterminated. Many escaped during the chaos, spreading throughout the Papal States.

As for the two main culprits who were supposed to be executed—the unclean demons Norton and Abraham—they fortunately escaped, and no further information about them has been obtained since.

His Holiness Adam's campaign to exterminate evil ultimately fell short, failing to eliminate the main conspirators.

Although the vampire nest in Rino City was destroyed in one fell swoop, not only were the vampires not completely eliminated, but they instead infiltrated and spread throughout the Papal States. This was like scattering dung across the sky, planting countless hidden dangers throughout the Papal States.

The escape of numerous vampires from Rino City led to increasing incidents of humans being hunted and killed by vampires within the Papal States.

These new-style vampires were mostly third-generation, appearing almost identical to humans except for their fangs, allowing them to hide easily within cities and giving churches throughout the Papal States splitting headaches.

Although the Church publicized these new-style vampires' weaknesses—fearing silver objects and images of God—few families could afford silver items, making these vampires increasingly brazen. Even the few escaped second-generation vampires began reproducing extensively to expand vampire influence, leading to more people being harmed.

As vampire-related casualties continued to rise, nobles and churches began posting bounty announcements, with some small villages even pooling money to offer rewards for someone to hunt these damned vampires.

Consequently, this gave rise to a new profession within the Papal States: Vampire Hunters!

Although Rino City was flattened, the final outcome still met Norton's expectations.

Perhaps after several decades or even a century, the entire Southern Continent would have no memory left of the old-era vampires.

When people mentioned vampires, everyone would only think of the new-style vampires who feared silver, feared sunlight, and looked almost identical to humans.

---

In a small country within the Boar Empire coalition forces—Sethvia.

After five years of consuming warfare, how the Papal States fared remained unknown, but Sethvia had basically been consumed dry.

In this originally feudal country, the king's tax revenue was already so meager it was almost nonexistent, consisting entirely of his personal wealth.

After years of continuous warfare, not only had his personal wealth been completely exhausted, but even the serfs below suffered multiple layers of exploitation. Now bandits ran rampant throughout the country, with various lords suspecting each other, worried that someone might take advantage of the chaos to seize power and plunder population and land.

Amid this chaotic nation, only one border town near the mountain ridge—Marn—remained relatively peaceful for the time being.

The fundamental reason for its peace wasn't because it was a border town, but because the lord of this place was a descendant of Sethvia's former king.

As everyone knew, the kings of various small countries around the Papal States frequently changed. Because this had been the case for nearly a thousand years, people had grown accustomed to it and developed a strange custom.

That was, after a new king ascended the throne, they would mostly enfeoff the remaining descendants of the old royal family as lords. This served to express their benevolence and generosity, while also leaving a retreat path for their own family. This practice had even become an unspoken rule.

But precisely because they were members of the previous royal family, these remaining royals could receive the title of queen or king, but at most they could only govern a border town, being removed from the power center and rarely able to return to the royal city except for occasional banquets.

The lord governing this border town of Marn was the remaining member of Sethvia's previous royal family—the current twelve-year-old Elizabeth I, also known as Queen Elizabeth.

From this, one could calculate how many generations their royal family typically survived.

Actually, the person who should have inherited the royal title wasn't Elizabeth I, but her brother Edward VI.

But her brother Edward VI died suddenly for no apparent reason upon reaching adulthood, causing the title to fall upon her, meaning the previous royal family now had only her as its final member.

The twelve-year-old Elizabeth I could only live alone in a dilapidated old castle outside Marn Town, maintaining the final dignity of the previous royal family.

And because she only had ten knights protecting her life and safety, while the Boar Empire and Papal States fought bitterly, Marn Town remained relatively peaceful and tranquil.

It was another peaceful night.

Two beggars wrapped entirely in tattered cloth slowly trudged through the dark wilderness...