Just as Erwin had predicted, many of the impoverished citizens of the city were unable to afford the first batch of land taxes, and those families all handed over their sons as alternative payment.

This was exactly what Erwin wanted to see. Back when he had first proposed this system, he already knew that this was the direction that things were going to progress in. These citizens of Zans were already used to leading difficult lives, and they were now being presented with an option that could exempt them from paying tax while also receiving military wages. Even an idiot would know what the best choice to make was.

Aside from the men who had joined the army in order to give their families tax exemption, there were also many young men who had voluntarily joined the army in order to earn the promised wages. Thus, in a very short time, the freedom army under Erwin's command swelled to around 6,000 men.

At this point, Count Onen's manor had already been converted into the Universal Church Freedom Army's control headquarters. As the general of the army, the control headquarters naturally became Erwin's workplace. However, in order to dissent from the people, Erwin refrained from moving into the manor. Thus, it was only his workplace. They had only just banished the nobles, so this was still quite a sensitive time period. If he were to position himself on a pedestal above everyone else, then he would quickly lose the support of the people.

All of the lavish furniture, rugs, and artistic artifacts in the manor had been taken away by Onen, so essentially, this building was nothing more than an office building with lavish decor. The likes of Sherry, Georgina, Lanyon, and Shiba were all working here as well.

With such a large influx of troops into the freedom army, Erwin was able to distribute some men to all of the commanders beneath him.

Sherry and Shiba each received 2,000 martial artists, while Lanyon's unit of magicians had also swelled to around 1,800 people.

As for Georgina, he received 200 martial artists who specialized in assassination, and they formed the Shadowfeather Division. These 200 people had been carefully selected by Erwin for Georgina, and their role wasn't to directly feature on the battlefield. Instead, Erwin was planning to use this vision for intelligence gathering and targeted assassinations. Essentially, he was planning to assign Georgina all of the dirty work that couldn't see the light of day.

Initially, Erwin was planning to instruct Sherry and the others to begin training their troops as soon as possible as he knew that the next battle most likely wasn't going to be far away.

However, before he even had a chance to issue such an instruction, Sherry and Shiba had already begun training their troops outside the city.

As for Lanyon, he had taken the airship and was training the magicians under his command, instructing them in the best ways to use magic to support their allied martial artists from the vantage point of the airship. That was something that Lanyon had plenty of experience in, and he felt fit to pass his experience onto the new recruits.

Meanwhile, Georgina was feeling quite troubled. He felt like he was completely unfit to succeed in his role, and he didn't even know what he should've been doing. He was a very innocent young man, and he had no idea how to act as the leader of a band of assassins.

Erwin was naturally aware of this as well. For a young man like Georgina, it was truly a tall order to be leading such an important division on his own. Thus, even though Georgina was technically the leader of the Shadowfeather Division, in reality, he was receiving a great deal of assistance in his duties from Erwin.

As for which people were to be sent to gather intel in other cities like Tellier and Newfando, Erwin had already made arrangements in those areas. In fact, he had even sent spies to keep an eye on Onen. He knew that Duke Eru and Farody Family were undoubtedly constantly looking to bring him down, so he had to be aware of his enemies' plans at all times. As for why he had sent people to the Delair Dukedom, that was a decision that had been made purely based on a suggestion from Christine.

Erwin had a great eye for people, and he knew that Christine's suggestions were very valuable, so he was eager to heed her advice.

Under Erwin's careful management, the distribution of duties among all of the groups in the Shadowfeather Division became a lot clearer, and Georgina's job was also made significantly easier. All he had to do was gather and analyze the intel collected by his subordinates, then deliver a report to Erwin.

When it came to the establishment of the Shadowfeather Division, Erwin had drawn inspiration from the Lodais Organization. He was very envious of the Lodais Organization's incredible intel network, and thus, he wanted to replicate that and create his own intel organization. He didn't want to have to buy information from the Lodais Organization all the time, and there were also important pieces of intel that he had to get his hands onto as quickly as possible.

...

With Sherry and the others overseeing the training of the new soldiers, Erwin ended up with a lot of free time.

Thus, he had spent a lot of time during the past few days in front of his easel, working on his art.

Instead of watching the training of the new soldiers under the hot sun, he was staying in the cool shade of his office, and the main reason for this was because he had some things on his mind.

In his eyes, each victory that he secured entailed that he would only be making more enemies. For someone with such lofty ambitions, he naturally had to spend a great deal of time and energy thinking about how to keep his enemies at bay.

Right at this moment, Faya made her way into the room, holding a cup of iced lime tea. She set the cup gently onto a wooden coaster, and it was clear that she had already adjusted to her new identity as a servant.

After that, Faya made her way back to the doorway of the room, refraining from engaging in any eye contact with Erwin.

Erwin had only just finished writing a long poem and was sitting by himself in an absentminded daze. Only after seeing the cup that had been placed onto his table did he recall that there was another woman with him in the room.

Faya had quickly grown accustomed to her role as a servant, but Erwin was still not used to having someone with him all the time, particularly when he was working or thinking about something.

He turned his gaze toward Faya, who had repositioned herself beside the doorway, and he couldn't help but be amused by the sight of her servant attire.

Faya lowered her head with an embarrassed expression in the face of Erwin's scrutiny.

Right at this moment, Onean just so happened to enter the room, and Faya became even more panicked. She didn't want Onean to develop a misunderstanding and chase her away.

Thus, she was both respectful and fearful toward Onean.

In contrast, Erwin clearly had far thicker skin. Even after Onean entered the room, his expression remained unchanged, and his gaze was still fixed firmly on Faya's legs with a lewd gleam in his eyes.

He knew that if he were to withdraw his gaze and act all sheepish, that would arouse far more suspicion from Onean.

Onean gently cleared her throat, telling Erwin that he could drop the act.

Erwin finally withdrew his gaze, then turned back to the poem before him with an absentminded expression.

Onean made her way directly over to the table, then leaned against it before picking up the sheet of paper to read Erwin's poem.

"Divine Enquiry"

This world on my fingertip, is swaying incessantly because I wish it to be so

Everything should be chaotic and disorderly

Foolish vulgarians

How would you know your own fate?

History has repeated itself in an endless cycle

I have already grown weary

Completely weary

Weary of this eternal time

It is nothing but a cage

A cage to trap me as I watch

These foolish vulgarians racking their brains to amuse me

But this is how the world should be

It is I who should not have appeared in this world I know that I cannot save those foolish vulgarians

But perhaps they do not need to be saved?

So who is actually the laughable one here?

Is it myself?

I know that indifference is the essence of divinity I can watch in detachment as countless years go byAs life unfolds before my eyes

I can ridicule those vulgarians as I please

But what is the point of that?

This world will fall in the blink of an eye

So why do I watch it so intently?

Perhaps I must admit

That I have taken from this dull yet boundless world I'm ashamed to admit that I've even yearned and desiredHence, I must return everything

To this world

This world

All worlds

All time

All space

I cannot restore everything to the initial state of chaos

Because time cannot flow in reverse

All I can do is owe nothing to no one

I know that will be the final chapter of my life If someone asks me whether I'll have regrets I would smile and ask them whether a god would have regrets

No gods would have regrets

I simply no longer wish to trap myself in this cage of endless time

But do I really not have things I don't wish to speak of?

Do I?

Do I really not have any compassion?

Do I?

It turns out even gods would ask themselves these questions they already know the answers to

The reason for this

Is that I deeply fear this title of god

I'm fearful of this title

As it was coined by those foolish vulgarians...

"Is this what your poetry has become nowadays?" Onean asked as she turned to Erwin with an amused expression, but she didn't critique whether she thought the poem was good or bad.

A resigned smile appeared on Erwin's face as he replied, "It was inspired by a dream I had."

"Really?" Onean asked with a skeptical expression.

"Setting that aside for now, what do you think of the poem?" Erwin asked as he turned to Onean.

"I don't really know what to make of it," Onean replied in an indifferent voice, then read through the poem in silence once again.

"Actually, I've been thinking..." Erwin's voice suddenly trailed off here.

"Thinking about what?" Onean asked with a puzzled expression.

Erwin cast his gaze toward Faya, and she immediately took that as her cue to leave the room.

"I've been thinking that given how busy I've been during this recent period of time, I've been unable to focus as much as I would like on my cultivation," Erwin said with his brows furrowed in a troubled manner.

Onean couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this, as if she had just heard a joke. "What are you cultivating? Your ability to attract women?"

Erwin gave her a displeased glare, then explained, "I'm talking about space and time. I can't further my understanding and mastery of those entities by just sitting here all day."

Onean nodded in response with an unconvinced expression, clearly rather reluctant to accept this explanation from Erwin.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Erwin sighed.

"Haven't you delegated all of your duties to others? With everyone else helping you out, don't you have a lot more free time on your hands?"

"I may be able to pass on my duties to others, but I can't just entirely not worry about them."

Onean nodded in response, and she was being genuine on this occasion.

"The main problem is that there are too many things you have to think about, even when you're not doing anything," Onean said.

Erwin nodded in agreement.