Although Al strongly desired to subjugate these powerful mortal knights, in this world, aside from straightforward destruction, "strangers," "strange occurrences," and "the human heart" most often also brought threats.
Strangers.
Strangers sent by Lileath.
Who would dare let their guard down?
Just look at Tyrion and Teclis, Bretonnia, his biological mother Isha's avatar the Wood Elf Queen Ariel, the White Wolf God Ulric...
The number of people or gods Lileath had backstabbed was simply too many. The combined kill count of all the Everchosen before the Three-Eyed King Archaon probably wasn't as exaggerated as hers.
Although after the victory of the End Times in this world, the overall trajectory of the world developed steadily and positively. The Goddess Isha, who was murdered by Lileath burying her in ice at the roots of the tree, was also jointly resurrected by the Elven pantheon after the End Times. The sunken Ulthuan was pulled back up by the gods, and the unified Three Elven Factions happily moved back to their old home.
But the entire Elven pantheon, including the Goddess Isha who was poisoned by her own daughter, surprisingly didn't enact any punitive measures against Lileath, who had massively courted death during the End Times. It was merely that the public opinion of this green tea Goddess wasn't very good among the common folk, and that was it. If it were Al who found out his daughter had done these "good deeds," he would absolutely whip out his brass-buckled belt and make her spin like a top for days and nights on end.
The White Wolf God Ulric, one of the strongest gods of the Old World, brother of Taal, and a great contributor during the first Chaos invasion, was directed by Al's new mom [Lileath] to have a certain constantly utilized younger brother (Teclis) steal His sacred fire. This led to the fall of Middenheim, leaving Ulric with only a remnant soul.
From the knowledge Al obtained from his mothers, he learned that even after the victory of the Great War, the White Wolf God did not recover. On the contrary, He died even more thoroughly. His anger and power shattered into fragments, turning into many powerful and terrifying monsters scattered across the freezing North and the frost forests.
The Empire later moved towards the absolute dominance of the God-Emperor Sigmar's faith. The remaining Ulric believers scattered into the forms of warbands and Witch Hunters, accepting employment and hunting monsters, hoping that one day they could hunt down all the monsters and allow Ulric to be reborn from the winter storms.
By the way, they very, very, very much hated Elven things.
The kind of hatred where, if they found out the enemy was on the west side of the city in the morning, and if the opportunity was right, they would run over from the east side of the city with swords in hand by noon just to pick a fight.
You see, even one of the strongest gods in the world could be backstabbed by Lileath until His body died and His dao vanished.
Originally, he had been quite eager to recruit this group of knights, but after knowing they were sent by Lileath, Al became somewhat hesitant again.
If one day during the decisive battle, the knights suddenly turned their spearheads and charged at his central army...
Al feigned deep thought while frantically "calling" the Four Mothers.
The Reveler Mom laughed mockingly, dropped a line telling him to figure it out himself, and slipped away.
The Bloodmother, in a very rare occurrence, spoke to her son properly, conveying the message that Al should accept these powerful warriors.
It wasn't until the brand on his chest suddenly grew hot, and a certain Goddess who also wanted to squeeze into the position of Al's mother impatiently gave him a clear hint, that Al finally made up his mind. He stepped out from the cluster of his bodyguards, walked forward, and took the longsword from the red-striped knight's hands with both hands.
"A fine, robust warrior! Having you all, it is like a fish finding water! Like a fine steed growing wings!"
But the knight clearly wasn't in the mood to play out a scene of a monarch and his subjects harmoniously respecting the wise and honoring the scholars with Al. He just stood up silently, and the rest of the attendant knights also stood up one after another.
The red-striped knight continued in a muffled voice: "We have five hundred and twenty-seven companions remaining outside the forest. We need a camp to rest."
"Sixty-seven battle brothers have been infected with the Skaven plague and require your help to treat them."
"Naturally." Al nodded in agreement, and immediately arranged for the advisors to go coordinate, settling this group of newly defected steel knights in a location in the southwest, situated roughly between the branch camps of his scions Misha and Simon, with the implicit intention of checking and monitoring them.
He had considered it. Currently, every bit of power that could strengthen him was worth cherishing and utilizing. Lileath definitely harbored some ulterior motives, but the price she would demand Al to pay would probably be a matter for the future. With his current strength, it seemed he couldn't even meddle in this Goddess's prophetic schemes (conspiracies and tricks) anyway.
Aside from their combat strength, the Fleur-de-lis, Sword, and Grail Knightly Order would also serve as a good lubricant and bridge between the tribe and humans. It was just that the truth regarding the assassination of the City Prince needed to be handled and utilized properly first, otherwise it would cause a backlash.
As long as Al's nation was established and his blueprint realized by more than half, he wouldn't worry about these mere few hundred mortal knights causing trouble. As for Lileath's end, the Four Goddesses would naturally handle it.
Eight hands surely can't be pinned down by two, right?
Considering Lileath was also from the Elven pantheon, Al suddenly started getting a headache again. Lileath knew of his existence, so maybe Asuryan or whatever also knew. Although the Phoenix was arguably the ultimate shut-in freak—taking a perfectly fine orthodox Phoenix King election (fake sincerity) and stubbornly keeping His mouth shut until it caused the Elves to split, triggering a subsequent series of disasters.
It was clear He was an absolute Neutral freak, in whose eyes even the destruction of the world probably held no meaning.
But Al was still afraid that before he could develop, the Star Dragon Fleet would suddenly arrive over his head.
So since Al had signed this mother-son relationship, then Al still had to act properly filial. Even if it was just superficial, he had to perform "motherly love and filial piety" well.
After having his subordinates send the knights away, Al pondered for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of this matter.
First of all, he definitely had to handle the matter involving the assassination of the City Prince well. It couldn't affect his plan to subjugate the Estalian refugees.
"Hmm..."
"Summon the Blood Oath Brotherhood."
At the same time, he focused his mind, sinking into the All-Knowing blessing, and established a connection with three conspicuous, bright individuals within it.
"Come to me."
The Grand Sister took off her battle armor, shouldered an axe and a saw, and was currently chopping wood alongside the refugee believers. Most of the Battle Sisters were like her, having changed out of their wartime attire, dressed no differently from ordinary women, and personally participating in manual labor alongside their leader.
This was a suggestion Al had given her.
If she always acted as a bystander, a savior descending from heaven, without directly understanding and joining in production and daily life, she could not create a new order relying solely on martial force.
Al instilled the knowledge he deemed useful into the Grand Sister. The Grand Sister felt this made a lot of sense. After returning to the camp, she persuaded her sisters and companions to step out of their repetitive prayers and combat training and participate in a brand new way of life.
She used the argument: "After Sigmar became the tribal leader, he also had to rely on manual labor to lead his tribe; if we are to follow the true faith, we cannot detach ourselves from the secular world," to persuade the other Sisters.
Only a very small number of Sisters, who were increasingly dissatisfied with Grand Sister Helen's heretical behavior, explicitly refused this. However, it wasn't because they hated labor, but simply to express their stance against the Grand Sister's continuous "wrongful actions."
Over this period, Grand Sister Helen actually felt surprisingly good.
She had learned a lot of knowledge she had never encountered before.
She had also closed the distance with the believers. If before they held a blind fanaticism and awe, now there were a few extra degrees of genuine, heartfelt admiration.
Whether it was the Priests of Myrmidia or the Bishops of Sigmar, they were all too far removed from them. The tribal Shamans went without saying; although Al intentionally had them get close, they were not of the same race after all, so there was an innate resistance and rejection.
The only ones truly standing with them, using martial force to protect their lives, and using labor to build their lives together with them, were the Sisters led by Grand Sister Helen.
Their lives were visibly and steadily improving. Despite still facing many difficulties, their sense of security was also continuously growing.
The Grand Sister organized all devout believers capable of labor, regardless of gender, into the form of combat squads, assigning one or two Sisters to lead the labor and prayers for each. During this process, the Grand Sister also gained a deeper understanding of the doctrine of the Mother of the Brave, the one who "made everyone stand up." But she hadn't shared these insights with Al yet.
Otherwise, Al would have been greatly shocked.
When Grand Sister Helen swung her axe and chopped off the final section of the large tree in front of her, Al's summons arrived in her heart right on time.
She placed the axe on the stump, returned to the temporary camp, took a hot towel offered by a female believer to wipe the sweat from her neck and cheeks, picked up the whistle hanging around her neck, bit it between her teeth, and blew it.
Before long, the sound of flapping wings came from the sky.
A magnificent behemoth descended from the heavens.
It was a Griffon.
However, it wasn't the Griffon mother-daughter pair Al had initially subdued, but a member of the monster legion captured and tamed by the tribe later.
Mountains and dense forests are perilous, forbidden lands for mortals; the endless stream of monsters and beasts symbolize death and fear. But to the Beastmen ruled by Al, they are a treasure trove waiting to be developed.
Tamed monsters were a major pillar of Al's legion.
Al's affinity and charm provided a massive bonus to taming monsters like Griffons, which possessed sufficient intelligence and leaned toward Order. Especially the first Griffon girl; after following him for a long time, her body underwent a secondary growth spurt, becoming even more ferocious and robust than ordinary Griffons, developing an aura akin to a "King of the Pack," which provided a massive bonus in subduing her own kind.
The number of his Griffon legion had already reached double digits; counting the Griffon hatchlings that hadn't fully grown yet, there were over twenty of them.
There were also wild Manticores and Great Eagles, though the latter were very rare. The main aerial species in the Inara Mountains were primarily Wyverns and Manticores.
Manticores were highly feral, but they were also easily tamed by the Beastmen who had Al. However, heeding the warnings the Four Gods gave him, Al did not intend to rely too heavily on the monster legion as his main force, especially monsters like Manticores that were easily influenced by Chaos—which meant they could potentially be used by enemies in the future.
He leaned more toward Griffons in his heart, intending to use these majestic, loyal, and noble beasts as his main force in the future.
As for Manticores, they would just be used as ordinary monster units.
The active range of Wyverns was distributed further east, so they hadn't captured many. Including the one subdued during the previous Battle of Veling, there were only four.
There were also Giant Spiders...
The Grand Sister mounted the Griffon, waved to the believers, and soared into the sky, flying toward the direction of the main camp. The believers devoutly paid their respects toward the direction of her departure before continuing their work.
On the other side, Misha and Simon also received Al's summons. They dropped what they were doing and rushed to their little father's location.
The officers—who had been physically preached to by Al using the Winds of Chaos, and whose lifeforms had even been slightly altered as a result—were also rushing over. The "Blood Oath Brotherhood," formed under Al's instructions, was externally an organization cloaked in the pursuit of revenge against the Greenskins, the pursuit of glory and battle, and the rise of the kingdom. In reality, it was a secret cult continuously pulling people in from the army and the refugees, and then spreading the gospel of the Bloodmother to the newcomers.
In the future, they might become a major faction of human believers under Al's command, and Al placed great hopes on them.
The Grand Sister, the Blood Oath Brotherhood, and other branch sects that would definitely appear in the future, as well as the most orthodox Four Gods faith in Al's main camp...
Why does this give a sense of déjà vu
to Christianity...