Chapter 148 The Reign of the DragonThe people of Northwind Keep will never forget that morning. The "Scourge of Hell" Cassius stood on the city wall that had gone through a hundred years of vicissitudes, and his huge wings blocked out the sunlight. The red dragon looked down at the 30,000 citizens gathered here, announcing to them the establishment of the Burning Kingdom, and also announcing the demise of the country where their ancestors had lived for generations. "Who is in favor? Who is against?" There was a cold light flashing on the spears of the hobgoblins. There is no room for negotiation, it's just a cold notice. Thus, the era of dragon rule began. At first, people were terrified and kept their doors closed, fearing that these monsters would do something outrageous, just like what was said in "Song of the Burning Embers", insulting and then devouring your wife and daughters and burning down your house. But things did not develop as many people feared or as the nobles outside Northwind Keep expected. The crimes of Duke Brad Rackman were made public, and the evidence in the bunker was conclusive. During his two hundred years of rule, thousands of people were tortured to death, and countless disappearances were caused by him.
"This is a complete slander!" "They want to destroy our history!" The residents were in an uproar, and their subconscious reaction was to suspect that this was a slander by the Burning Kingdom. But as more and more evidence surfaced, the piles of bones and bloody corpses beneath the Rackman Castle emerged. Even the most stubborn people in the city who hated the red dragon had to admit that the Duke they once loved was indeed an evil and tyrannical person. Only the northern nobles were still stubborn, believing that this was evidence deliberately fabricated by the Burning Embers, and even that the red dragon had brutally murdered these people - even though the Burning Embers had only been in control of Northwind Castle for a few days. What followed was panic and fear. After the Burning Cinders took over, the law-abiding Tieflings had become the main force of the North Wind Castle defense army, and many of the residents in the city had the blood of Tieflings on their hands. The trial did come, and the tieflings arrested all the nobles who knew the truth and still assisted in the crime, and tried them in the council square, beheading dozens of fresh heads. That day, the square was dyed red with blood. But for the ordinary residents who were unaware of the situation, although some of them still harbored hatred and were waiting for an opportunity to take revenge, no tiefling took the next step. Different from the image he always presents to the outside world, Medoras is not an extreme avenger. He is just a pragmatist who wants his race to continue and will do whatever it takes to achieve it. Therefore, during the war years when he was exiled to Storm Peak, he promoted many hawks who supported revenge to maintain the tribe's military strength and ensure its ability to resist external forces. But after truly recovering North Wind Fort, he chose to win over the doves in the tribe who were originally unpopular and advocated peaceful coexistence with humans, in order to check and balance those hawks. Medrolash stood on the city wall, overlooking the now operational North Wind Keep. The streets were bustling with humans, tieflings, and even hobgoblins. Although it was impossible for humans and tieflings to get along harmoniously, at least they would not become mortal enemies or even engage in racial genocide. "Leresa, you should have understood this a long time ago." "war." "Only war can bring peace." Medoraash watched all this and muttered to himself. Those beautiful blue, lake-like eyes seemed to appear before him again, full of innocence and kindness. He often felt sorry for this and felt his conscience was condemning him, but he did not regret it because it was a rational choice at the time.
Only rationality can save the race. Medoraash never let irrelevant emotions control him. He also knew that if he really carried out cruel massacres and revenge on humans as those hawks expected, the tiefling tribe would have no place to stay in the Burning Kingdom. The autocratic red dragon does not allow any group to disrupt his order - not even the tieflings who have gradually grown into an important pillar of the kingdom. …… “Fresh raw meat!” "Oversized leather pants, specially provided by the hobgoblins!" "For sale is the former Rackman Principality's standard silver sword!" The streets, which had been silent for a long time due to the war, finally regained some liveliness, although it was far from what it was before. For tens of thousands of residents of North Wind Castle, no matter who the ruler is, whether it is a vampire or a red dragon, people always have to look forward and their lives must go on. They were surprised to find that these dragon vein monsters were not as brutal and terrifying as they had imagined - at least that was the case after they divided up the large amounts of wine, meat and treasures hidden by the nobles and satisfied their greed. But what the future holds is hard to say. "No stealing allowed in the city." "Private fighting is prohibited in the city." "Anyone who kills someone in the city shall be sentenced to death." Cassius temporarily stayed in the council hall, issuing one short "dictatorial rule" after another. Although he couldn't do the same "disobey the rules, die" to ordinary indigenous people as he did to the players, he could only influence them subconsciously and make them follow the rules, but this was enough. Under Cassius's dictatorial rule, the dragon monsters in the city temporarily suppressed the cruelty and violence buried deep in their blood, and did not make too many extraordinary moves, but instead caused a lot of farces: For example, an ogre named "Big Head" ate up all the stock in the tavern, ran away because he had no money to pay the bill, and was eventually caught by the security team and sentenced to work in the store for free for three years without food and lodging. People were even more surprised to find that due to the strict searches by the "Burning Claw" security team and the "Nocturne" troops, the evil forces that existed in the power vacuum and colluded with the nobles disappeared, secret groups such as the "Nine Finger Guild" and the "Devil's Gang" were eliminated, and the public security in North Wind Castle has improved a lot. The nobles who were once arrogant and high-handed have now fallen into the mortal realm under the new system of the Burning Ashes Kingdom, no longer having the opportunity to oppress ordinary people, and may even face trial. The oppressed slaves have regained their freedom, and even a little boy has been rescued from the basement. Players also rushed into the city to seize the opportunity. Players of the [Mechanicus] guild built a magical steam engine and began to build a large mechanized factory. The [Magic Coin] guild used spells to provide services to residents and earn gold coins, allowing the once unattainable and rare spellcasters to enter the lives of residents. The [Royalty] guild even bought a hall arrogantly and declared that it would accept all hired tasks. Some people think that these are all disguises made by the Burning Kingdom to win people's hearts. They are secretly planning and hope to contact the outside world to resist the tyranny of the empire. But some people gradually get used to this kind of life and abandon the past traditions... (End of this chapter)