When the Northern People’s Commune of Copenhagen was established, the Northern countries collectively fell into a deathly silence—too fast, the Revolutionary Army took the capital in a single day, completely erasing the entire Noble ecological system from this land. When the situation in the Western Province and the Southern Province was already settled, the resistance from the small, barren city ecological rings in the North became insignificant—even to the point where it was questionable if the Nobles in these small cities could escape this nation at all. Perhaps taking a ship would be a good idea, but after the National Fleet of the Northern Kingdom ultimately chose to rise in rebellion, it became impossible. And in the Eastern Province... the Northern Province once had the concept of the Eastern Province, but now it possessed only a tiny amount of land, a few cats, and they have probably long been hanged at the city gates by the City Guard who have chosen to rebel. Having taken over the city, Malin had Link and Jon responsible for reassuring the civilians within the city, repressing those restless big Merchants and the so-called black market magnates—the former, regardless of time or place, always like to profit from national calamities, and the latter, well, if people don’t do, they won’t die, but they usually like to present themselves as ostentatiously obnoxious in front of everyone. Then he, together with Carter Robinson and Stein Mansenheim, led the army southward—the few small countries in the South were reportedly frantically attempting to unite to sweep away the audacious serfs and mud legs of the North—they apparently did not realize that Malin had already arrived. Meanwhile, Malin had already arranged for the transportation fleet heading North to be escorted by the elves’ assault fleet. Upon seeing Malin for the first time, the ambassador declared that whatever concerned Malin was also a matter of the elves, while mocking the miserably solemn Dwarves—look, those small punts of the Dwarves simply weren’t qualified to escort Malin’s large ship fleet. However, the Great Craftsman of the Dwarves immediately rallied a few clans of Northern Dwarves, joining in on Malin’s southward march, bringing with them their prized cannons. Malin had seen them, all bronze antiques, though he intended to have them pack these antiques away, yet considering the feelings of the Dwarves, Malin could only take them along. Then Malin’s army encountered the coalition forces at the southern border. Seeing the opposite phalanx, still with smoothbore guns and horse-drawn small bronze cannons, Malin was at a loss for words. And Carter Robinson claimed that just deploying his division would be enough to thoroughly sweep those antiques into the dustbin of history. Malin thought for a moment, suggesting starting by spreading the lines and allowing a few rounds from the Dwarves’ cannons. "But why, Your Highness, you see the enemy. Our skirmishers only need to fire two salvoes from three hundred meters to send all the fools in their front row to hell." Carter was still somewhat puzzled. But Stein understood: "No, what His Highness Malin means is not to let our Dwarf allies work too hard. You see, they have been dragging those cannons for two days. They are exhausted enough, and since they’re here, they should be allowed to contribute somewhat and achieve some merit, right, Your Highness?" "Carter, you should learn from your General Stein." Malin smiled and instructed the Dwarf Messenger to convey his orders. Not long after, the Dwarves pushed their cannons up to the front. The appearance of the Dwarves caused a commotion among the coalition forces across from them, and then, shortly after, a Knight holding a white flag rode over, bringing news from the coalition—they noted that since both sides were human, the coalition hoped to hold a Champion Duel, where the losing side would surrender voluntarily. As the army’s commander, Stein Mansenheim was slightly stunned and then looked at the Messenger: "I would like to know who your champion is." "It is the Champion of the Deity of Praise and Poetry." The Messenger provided a name and then turned and rode away. Malin asked Stein about the backstory of this Deity of Praise and Poetry, to which Stein explained that it was a weakly-powered deity dealing with elements like poetry, having somewhat of a market among the Nobles of the Northern countries. "In other words, quite weak?" Malin inquired. "... Do you intend to take the stage? No, Your Highness, not even an ordinary champion could match you; you are even stronger than that one." Carter quickly expressed disapproval, stating anything to prevent Malin from taking the stage—because it would be too unfair, even he, as an insider, couldn’t stand it. "I’ll just go on to scare them a bit." Malin replied. "Is that really what you intend?" This time, even Stein joined the questioning line. "Indeed, you see, I, Malin, am not the kind of tyrannical person." Malin thumped his chest. Out of respect for a Highness, Carter and Stein ultimately braced themselves to let Malin enter the field—using their words, even if Malin overpowered everyone on the opposing side, it would be an unwieldy victory. "Then why didn’t you tell me when I took you to Copenhagen?" Malin was also full of resentment about this. "Because you are also a member of Northern Ideals, but as for now, we face these small nations’ coalition, and they are inviting a Champion Duel, not a Deity Duel; the nature is different." Unexpectedly, Carter’s reasoning made some sense to Malin. However, Malin truly had no intention of actually overwhelming the opponent—so upon seeing the opposing champion arrive at the center between the two armies, beginning to receive cheers from the soldiers, Malin handed his cloak to Carter and then took the stage holding a staff.