Louie walked back to the noble district with Sisna and approached the cathedral-palace.
Dragon City’s location meant that its residents lived in concentric circles down the slopes. The closer one was to the top, the greater their status. While Louie would not implement any policy as radical as equality for all, he wanted the citizens to feel that they could decide their own living standards with their own hands to an extent.
As to whether this development would create a strict class hierarchy and bring corruption and decay, Louie did not need to consider it at the moment.
“This is truly a magnificent city, milord.”
Sisna stood close to the fence atop the peak that overlooked the entire Dragon City.
At the foot were layers of densely packed houses. Further away were endless open fields. Behind everything was San Soliel Mountain Range, blowing refreshing air towards the city. The scene brought a sense of pride inside of Sisna.
“I could feel the city thriving and full of enthusiasm and energy. I can see that even if the inhabitants were thinly dressed, they are smiling and hopeful for the future.”
“I have been to some human countries, and I’ve also been to the capital of the Subila Empire, but even the capital of the empire is only as vibrant as its developed markets. In many dark corners of the city, people live in dark corners without any expectations of the future.”
“You are perhaps creating one of the most enchanting cities in the main continent. It is unprecedented for the ruler to think of the happiness of the people.”
Sisna gazed at the busy city beneath her feet and admired it from the bottom of her heart.
Dragon City had been opened to the public after the construction of the basic infrastructures in Louie’s plan. Moreover, it was open to all races, making it common to see the occasional caravans of humans, beastmen, and even halflings in the city.
But a city ruled by a dragon still made people hesitate. Not all caravans dared to approach the city. The first merchants who approached were those who were bold and daring. Once they return to their countries and spread the word to other merchants, they would all begin flocking to the city.
Dragon City was rich in products, but there were no specialty items. Because of frequent wars and problems with the land, it was not suitable for agriculture. It was more suitable for animal husbandry, but that would not be enough to meet the daily diet of the population. Otherwise, nomads would not have to go plunder and steal.
However, the location of Dragon City also gave it great advantages. It was almost at the center of the continent and had access to all other kingdoms in every direction. As a result, Louie had planned for it to be a transit city. He would rely on taxation and trading as a way to develop the economy.
Louie knew that he was only relying on Earth’s food resources to fulfill the needs of the citizens. He also understood that it was impossible for the city to be self-sufficient, but Louie already had plans to deal with this.
“I’m just building the city the way I want it. I don’t expect everyone to be like a dragon. That is simply a pipe dream. All I ask is for the people to be able to live a full and warm life.”
Louie said so as he looked at the distant city gate where some merchants were reluctant to leave.
Anyone who came into Dragon City had the same benefits as its residents. They could obtain daily food stamps to exchange for a certain amount of refined wheat. If they wanted to buy it, they would have to pay more than the citizens. Even so, other cities lacked the supply causing the prices to go a few times the price in Dragon City. To be able to use a certain amount of money in Dragon City to live like the nobility was already seen as a luxury by these merchants.
However, the caravans coming to Dragon City could not stay for long. They had to go to other countries to sell goods in order to leave, so they could only go in regret.
Some people had even asked how they could become citizens, but as Louie had just finished the basic planning and construction of the city, he began to strictly control the population. This world was closer to the medieval era, making it impossible to have a city that reached 10 million people. As a result, Louie wanted more high-quality residents. The original residents who survived his ramage could be considered lucky to become Dragon City’s first residents.
“But this is enough, milord! For the normal people, their greatest happiness in life, which is to be fed and clothed, has already been achieved.”
“We elves also like this passionate way of life, but unfortunately, many have already lost this obsession.”
Sisna sighed. She became gloomy thinking about the situation of the Silver Moon Kingdom.
“That’s because elves live too long. Sisna, having a long lifespan makes the elves less creative and lazy. Your concept of time is different from the people in the main continent, thus there is never a sense of urgency. If only you elves existed on this continent, then the elven civilization would last for an eternity.”
“But the world isn’t that kind. In this world, there are humans, beastmen, and other races that are competing for survival. A human’s lifespan is at most a hundred years and for the majority only sixty years. It is because of this that they desperately want to leave traces of themselves in this world.”
“It is this urgency that provokes them to develop quickly and even cause a large increase in population. The elves can not compare at all.”
Louie looked at the elven girl beside him as she contemplated with her head down.
Louie began to admire her beauty. The elf’s side profile was beautiful. It looked like a perfect sculpture cast by the greatest sculptor. Her skin was incredibly smooth and delicate. Her smooth emerald hair complements her delicate features, creating a nature-like beauty.
Elves were truly worthy of their name. Their beauty wasn’t something that humans could match.
“You are saying that because of our long life spans, we elves were once the strongest race but came to have narrow views, as a result, we could only barely survive, right?”
“I can only say that longevity is one of the reasons, but it also has its benefits. Just look at your Silver Moon Kingdom. It has stood for more than 10,000 years without collapsing. Now, look at the human civilizations, do you think their empires could last even a thousand years? Who knows how many human kingdoms and civilizations were born and destroyed. Even the original civilization had already been lost.”
Louie paused for a moment and stopped talking about this topic. He instructed, “This isn’t something for you to think about yet. Your Silver Moon Goddess should be the one to think about these. So Sisna, you don’t have to dwell on it. What you should do now is hurry back to the Silver Moon Kingdom and tell the good news to the queen.”
Sisna came back to her senses and bowed in embarrassment, “It’s me who has overstepped, milord!”
Louie did not mind it and said, “Since you know what you should do, hurry up and get ready… I’m also going to meet that person from the adventurer’s guild. Dragon City is placed in an extremely strategic location. There are mountains to the north, a jungle to the south, and a swamp to the west, there are many monsters and beasts that could serve as good resources. It would be a pity to not make use of them.”
“In the past, the Theocracy did not allow outsiders to enter this city because it’s a religious country, but I will open it up. Hopefully, the adventurers of the entire continent would come here and bring more wealth to Dragon City, to become the capital of adventurers.”