Under the Red Dragon

“Joshua, why do kings wear crowns?”

Regent Joshua of the Fawn Empire, known as the 'Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets,' dismissed all attendants and guards, standing at the highest point of the imperial capital to gaze afar.

This stern and dignified middle-aged man's gaze extended beyond the imperial capital, once hailed as 'Eycannia's Most Magnificent City,' surveying the traces of time left on this great city.

Reykjavik, this ancient name once represented the center of the entire Central Continent, and even the power center of the entire Eycannia world.

The ancestors of the Fawn Empire, amidst thorny marshes, broke through blood and fire, holding the doctrines of the gods and bathed in the glory of their forebears, establishing a great nation that could only be born in legendary epics.

Even through the long years, with the Fawn Empire experiencing division and reunion, the chaos of kings, and the establishment by nobles, the Fawn Empire's lineage changed several times.

But today, in the Seventh Era, the Fawn Empire still controls the hegemony of the Central Continent, balancing and vying for supremacy with the Luman Empire, which boasts 'Eycannia's Strongest Land Army'.

The two great empires are not only the absolute hegemonic empires of the Central Continent, but their influence and reach also extend to other continental nations and civilizations, making them absolute behemoths in the Eycannia world.

Regent Joshua of the Fawn Empire looked at the child holding his broad hand, lifting the child wearing a small crown.

He allowed this child with black hair and black eyes to sit on his shoulders, overlooking the scenery of the entire imperial capital.

“A crown makes the wearer stand taller, a symbol of supreme status and ultimate power,”

Joshua turned his head to look at the child's obsidian-like shining eyes and smiled slightly, “But the real meaning of the crown is,”

“When disaster falls from the sky, I will resist everything for you, always allowing you to see hope. To wear the crown, one must bear its weight; this is the price one must pay for wearing the crown!”

Sitting on the shoulders of the Fawn Empire's Regent Joshua, Kane Modera, the only remaining bloodline of the Modera royal family, this child of only a few years old asked in a childish voice, “Then this crown is too heavy! Joshua, I will work hard like you in the future to support the crown on my head!”

The stern and dignified imperial regent laughed, his broad hand gently stroking the black flowing hair of the child Kane Modera.

He chuckled softly, “That's good. I also hope His Majesty can grow up quickly,”

“However, if one day in the future His Majesty forgets the meaning of the crown, I will confiscate it!”

The child Kane Modera laughed happily, shouting, “I am the future king! Joshua said I will be the future emperor! I won't be such a failure!”

When Karien and Lido climbed the wide stone steps all the way to the top of the imperial palace, they saw this scene.

The empire's regent, Joshua, was not a member of the Fawn Empire's Modera royal family, but he was the regent and auxiliary king who held all the empire's political and military power, whom all the nobles, merchants, commoners, warriors, and generals of the Fawn Empire had to acknowledge.

Seeing the arrival of Lido, the Fawn Empire's auxiliary prime minister, and Karien, the empire's grand marshal who commanded all the legions, the Fawn Empire's Regent Joshua resumed his stern and dignified expression.

Even though the empire's auxiliary prime minister, Lido, and the empire's grand marshal, Karien, were his close friends.

“Are those delegations ready?” The Fawn Empire's regent's eyes were like a deep, bottomless pool, filled with the sparks of calmness and thought.

“According to your instructions, the empire's delegations, with the help of the imperial court's legendary mage group, have constructed a long-distance teleportation magic gate to the allied army camp of the Northern Kings stationed before the Kingdom of Coria, preparing to visit that Dragon Emperor and the Northern Kings.”

The empire's auxiliary prime minister, Lido, replied.

“That's good,” the empire's regent nodded, looking towards the empire's grand marshal, Karien.

This empire's grand marshal wore heavy and majestic armor, but at his waist hung an ordinary longsword.

Perhaps it shouldn't be described as ordinary; it would be more appropriate to describe this sword as dilapidated.

This sword didn't look sharp, and the thick, long blade was covered in rust, as if dried blood had solidified on the blade and couldn't be washed away.

But the Fawn Empire's Regent Joshua knew that this rusty sword was not ordinary; in the hands of the empire's grand marshal, it could sever all magic in the Eycannia world.

The regent's gaze turned to his trusted grand marshal, and he softly asked, “All of the empire's legions, without my royal decree, cannot be moved due to anyone or any reason, Karien.”

“Rest assured,” the empire's grand marshal, Karien, looked at the empire's regent, nodding with a solemn expression.

“Without your royal decree, without my approval, no legion of the Fawn Empire, no private army of any great noble can leave their garrison, leave the empire and set foot in the Northern Continent, not even within a mile,”

Karien said, word by word, “Those who dare to disobey my military orders will have to ask if my sword is sharp!”

“The millions upon millions of people in the empire, the vast majority would not want to fight the Northern Kings; they will not be coerced by the orders of the powerful and forced into the quagmire of war.”

The empire's Regent Joshua nodded, turning his head to look at the city and empire covered in brilliant golden light under the setting sun.

“War is a game for old men, but it makes young people go to their deaths,” the regent said softly, standing with his hands behind his back.

“After the war, politicians shake hands and make peace, merchants earn their fill, while heroes are left without remains, only cold tombstones and the tears of their blood relatives,”

“The nobles remain high above, while the children of farmers sleep for eternity.”

“The soldiers who fight are all without fault, going to the battlefield without hesitation for the people they love, for the country they love. Most hateful are those who are armchair strategists, who advocate and launch wars to expand their own power and influence.”

The Empire's Regent Joshua softly said, “My kingdom does not need to fight meaningless wars!”

The empire's auxiliary prime minister, Lido, approached Regent Joshua and said in a low voice, “But in this way, the political influence that the empire has created in the Northern Continent for many years, and the geo-political control that has been managed for many years will be wiped clean,”

“If the Northern True Dragon Emperor and the Kings do not agree to our conditions, even if they do agree to our conditions, our accumulation and constructed relationships over the years will be reduced to almost no influence,”

“From then on, the empire's influence and potential control over the Northern Continent will almost be completely lost! It's not entirely unreasonable for those great nobles to want to start a war.”

The Empire's Regent Joshua glanced at his friend faintly, and suddenly scolded softly, “Lido, have you lost your mind?”

“Not to mention what name the empire should use to launch a war from the Central Continent to the Northern Continent, and how much resources and manpower it would cost,”

“Not to mention what the Luman Empire would think of the empire's response, just those Northern Kings and the Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire, what will you use to deal with them, to face them?”

In this era, Caron Gorgomora, the giant dragon of the northern wilderness, unified countless races and dragons in the northern wilderness with unparalleled power and will, and reigned over the northern realm as the Dragon Emperor.

Caron Gorgomora, this ancestral red dragon, not only founded the first dragon empire in the history of the Eycannia world, the future destined Gorgomora Dynasty, but also condensed and improved the civilization, wisdom, and martial power of the entire dragon empire to an unprecedented peak in the history of the Northern Continent's civilization.

He also united and allied those kings and races who had always been scattered and opposed to each other with unexpected ideas and grand ambitions, creating the Northern Kings Alliance that shocked the entire Eycannia.

Even the two hegemonic empires that dominate the Central Continent, the Fawn Empire and the Luman Empire, had to admit the great achievements made by the True Dragon Emperor of the North.

And the same powerful force as the True Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire created great achievements.

“The empire's strength is indeed much stronger than the Golden Empire, but just the True Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire, how many legends does the empire need to send out to contain him?”

Regent Joshua said coldly, “According to the research and discussion of those legendary spellcasters, in the face of the power currently displayed by the True Dragon Emperor, at least five or more legends are needed to have the qualifications to face him.”

“And there are several powerful kings in the Kings Alliance, how many legends does the multi-armed giant king Morgues of the Godforsaken Mountains need?”

“How many legends does the King of the Dark Elves, Anudale, need? How many legends does the King of the Orc Kingdom need? Then what about the Dragon Kings of the Golden Empire? What about those dragons that occupy the shadows of the sky?”

The Empire's Regent Joshua's eyes were cold, and he said, “Even in the empire, those high-level legends have their own tasks, guarding the empire's dimensional plane, are we going to recall them all?”

“Or are we going to invite back those who travel the astral world, exploring the mysteries of magical knowledge?”

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The empire's auxiliary prime minister, Lido, fell silent. The regent's cold aura at this moment made him no longer have the idea of speaking.

The auxiliary prime minister Lido is a mortal, and it is understandable that he does not know the mysteries above the legend.

Although the Fawn Empire's Regent Joshua failed to reach the top of the legend due to handling state affairs and some limiting factors, Joshua is not those great nobles of the Northern Continent. He knows that there are also high and low levels above the legend.

In fact, there is originally no distinction between high-level legends and low-level legends among legends.

Above the legend, there are only the distinctions between legend and legendary destiny. The difference between these two words is as vast as a chasm, a true watershed.

The outrageous extent of this gap far exceeds that of a mortal facing a legendary existence.

However, below the legendary destiny, the difference between legends is actually mostly just a reference to the energy level of power, so there is the saying that high-level legends differ from legends.

And among the Northern Kings, except for Chara Caesar, the monarch of the Hobbes Empire, almost all of them are legendary kings who are naturally more powerful in their basic qualities than the human race.

Before the legendary destiny, the inherent advantages possessed by these legendary kings are extremely huge.

Just like the multi-armed giant king Morgues and the True Dragon Emperor of the Northern Golden Empire, they are almost the ultimate bloodline creatures standing at the very top of the Eycannia mortal world.

Those legendary warriors who claim to be able to bathe in magma, simply relying on the transformation of the legend and their own power to contend against these two naturally powerful kings is simply like daydreaming and trying to stop a chariot with one's arms.

Even those legendary archmages who have experienced the choice of fate, wanting to contend against the innate almost maxed-out comprehensive qualities of the descendants of the ancestral giant dragon and the ancient abomination titan bloodline by relying on the talents transformed by the simple choice of fate is even more difficult than ascending to heaven.

Only by leaping over the miracle gate of that legend and becoming a legendary person of destiny can one possess the wisdom and power to change the world and reverse the situation, enough to compare with the talents of ancestral giant dragons and the blood of abominable titans.

And even if those who reach the legendary destiny are talents carefully cultivated by the Fawn Empire, they will not return from the depths of the astral world for a small war that is unrelated to the fate of the Fawn Empire.

Even the two hegemonic empires in the Eycannia world do not have the ability to slightly restrict such strong people.

The Empire's Grand Marshal Karien nodded, breaking the heavy atmosphere, and he took the initiative to say, “The empire cannot easily pay all its strength for a war that is not critical.”

“Even the empire's high-level legends may not have the certainty of victory. Those nobles of the Northern Continent are all mediocre rats. Hoping that uniting their strength can contend against the Northern Kings is just wishful thinking.”

“Unless the platinum holy sword of the Kingdom of Coria can reawaken the bloodline of the legendary Seraphim, then there is a glimmer of possibility to resist the entire fierce alliance of the Northern Kings.”

The Empire's Auxiliary Prime Minister Lido sighed softly, and he said, “I was negligent in my consideration. The empire cannot popularize knowledge and wisdom like the Northern Golden Empire, and cannot eliminate those nobles' monopoly on resource production and knowledge,”

“Even if it can resist the Golden Empire and the Northern Kings, the empire does not have the ability to compete with the Northern Kings for influence and economic plunder in the Northern Continent.”

Although the Luman Empire and the Fawn Empire in the Central Continent both have the strength and behavior to open up other planes, opening up different planes and managing the local base camp are completely different things.

Those great nobles would never give up their monopoly on knowledge and resource production in order to allow the Fawn Empire to have the strength to compete with the Golden Empire and the Northern Kings.

A simple conversation, somewhat broke up unhappily.

After the Empire's Auxiliary Prime Minister Lido left, the Empire's Grand Marshal Karien sighed deeply.

“Lido is starting to be like those great nobles,” Karien said, “I still remember what we three looked like when we were kids. Back then, Lido was a genius who came out of the slums.”

“But I didn't expect that the two of us, who were born nobles, were not transformed, but he was changed by wealth and power.”

“People are always changing,” the Empire's Regent Joshua said, “Can I trust you, Karien? Will you always stand by my side?”

Karien grinned and finally smiled. His burly body bowed slightly and saluted, “Of course, my king, we are all for the empire to become better!”

The tender child sat on the broad shoulders of the Empire's Regent, watching the receding figure of Grand Vizier Leto, and quietly pouted, "Joshua, you said Grand Vizier Leto has started to become as corrupt as those great nobles. Why don't you dismiss him, just like you got rid of those great nobles?"

The Regent shook his head, revealing a smile, and looked at the future Emperor of the Empire on his shoulders, "Leto hasn't been completely corrupted yet. He's still useful. After all, his talent is recognized throughout the Empire. Without his help, I'd have a lot more headaches."

"Besides, the way to govern a country shouldn't be rushed. Those great nobles who have already become corrupt were once powerful roots of the Empire's rule. Our rule is built upon the past support of these nobles."

"Each generation has its own mission and responsibility, Cain. In my generation, I can only try my best to prune the rotten wood from the Empire's roots—those great nobles who can no longer provide nourishment to the Empire but instead suck its blood."

"I will try my best to ensure the Empire gains enough vitality. As for your mission and responsibility in the next generation, that will depend on your wisdom and ability!"

The small child touched his tiny crown and smiled, "I know, Joshua. I will be more outstanding than the next generation of all other countries!"

"Even the next generation of the Golden Empire and the Northern Kings will be surpassed by me!"