Although Louie was a bit curious, he did not pursue the root of the matter. As long as it was not something that would harm him or anything related to him, he was not in a hurry. He especially had a hunch that the princess’ secret would eventually have something to do with him.
This was a god’s premonition.
Louie raised his head and looked around the sanctuary. As a new god, he had not yet stayed in this world long enough to inscribe his entire history on its walls. Therefore there was a relatively small amount of content carved into the walls of the palace, which didn’t help the sense of mystery.
Still, even this small amount made up a lot of content. The most important record was that of his establishment of Dragon City. It described how its people lived in hardship and suffering before the arrival of the dragon. It also showed their happy lives after his policies.
This was one of Louie’s great achievements.
Seeing that the Dragon God did not probe too much into her own secrets, Princess Andrea seemed to sigh and hold back her expression. With innate gifts and experiences, no one but a god would be able to deduce her attitudes and emotions from her behavior.
Princess Andrea’s light chiffon dress trailed on the ground. Her blue eyes lit up with wonder as she looked at the surrounding walls, “Lord Dragon God, what are these murals? Why have I not seen them before?”
As a knowledgeable princess, Andrea noticed that other than Louie’s most publicized achievements, there were other stories that she had never heard of.
“This is the life of the previous Dragon God.”
Louie smiled with a deep meaning.
The Five-Colored Dragon God had completely fallen. Its soul had dissipated from its flesh, and it was impossible for it to resurrect, hence he didn’t worry about telling this story
Compared to the Terran Civilization’s Intelligent Brain, Louie was much more grateful to the Dragon God. Most of Louie’s power was inherited from it and not the Terrans. It could even be said that he and that Dragon God were both victims of that highly advanced race.
The only difference was that the Dragon God fell after resisting, while Louie wasn’t even able to resist and was turned into a dragon.
‘Since I inherited your power, your divine name, your godhood, and will soon inherit the community of dragons that you created, I will avenge you.’
As Louie thought of this, he opened the envelope in his hands and took a brief glance.
There was a lot of flattery in the emperor’s letter, so Louie quickly filtered it out. He finally reached the main topic which was a proposal for a non-aggression pact between Dragon City and the Subila Empire. There was also hidden, between the lines, a proposal to work together against the Theocracy.
Unlike the modern concept of nation-states which existed on Earth, political organization in San Soliel was often centered around individuals like kings or lords. The only power large enough to be considered an empire was the Subila Empire.
‘Unfortunately, though it is powerful, it does not have the patronage of any God. Once the gods wake up, it is only a matter of time before the empire is divided.’
‘Gods will never allow a mortal to stand at their level.’
Louie flicked his finger and burned the letter in his hand. He looked at the princess thoughtfully and smiled, “It seems that the empire’s current situation isn’t too optimistic. There are many internal and external dangers.”
“Although the empire has some problems, it is currently flourishing. It’s too much to call its situation precarious,” Andrea replied.
Louie smiled indifferently. Even if other people could not see it, as someone who was close to being a god, how could he not see the reality of what was happening to the empire?
In the eyes of ordinary people, the empire might be an unbeatable beast that occupied most of the western continent. It had a well-developed economy and claimed to have millions of soldiers and many powerful people.
Although the Subila Empire fought with the Theocracy, the Theocracy could not do anything about the empire. It knew that the Empire still held the advantage and the current emperor was a talented person. Moreover, he had two gifted sons that could succeed the empire once he was gone. He was a king who knew how to look to and understand the future economy of the empire and manage national wealth.
But only people at Louie’s level knew that the Gods were waking up. The entire empire was already being infected with believers. This was not a place like Earth where Gods were fictitious beings.
The deities might still be very weak at the moment, but they were still able to give their believers power. And with time they would return to their thrones. As the country with the largest population, the empire had already become the main battleground for the Gods to spread their gospel.
The gods, whether good or evil, were there for the benefit. Thus, whatever the final results of this secret battle of the god were, it was impossible for mortals to remain supreme.
‘The church will also be split as the God of War and Goddess of Morning fights. The Empire will also fall apart as the gods secretly fight for believers. With this pattern, the Western Continent’s superpowers will collapse and shift in the coming years.
This was the result that Louie’s eyes saw.
“However, since the emperor is so reasonable, and Dragon City has just been built, I am willing to sign a peace treaty with the empire.”
Given the thread of the conversation so far, Andrea was shocked at his prompt agreement.
‘That Emperor seems like he won’t concede.’
Louie thought this way. The emperor of the Subila Empire seemed like he did not want his rule to be shattered. That’s why he wanted to fight to the death against the different religions. In order to utilize his entire force on internal problems, he would want Louie, an external power, to not take advantage of their internal problems to attack.
Little did he know that Louie had no intentions of joining the Gods’ competition in seeking believers from the empire. For a God, it wasn’t the case of having the more the better. The number of believers had to still be within a reasonable range. For example, a god with high-tier divine power would need 500,000 true believers. Even if that god had 5,000,000 believers, it did not mean that the god would become stronger. The number of believers determined the lower limit of the gods rather than the upper limit.
With the internal situation of the Empire becoming this complicated, Louie did not know if he could come out victorious in the chaos. Moreover, Dragon City was still quite a distance away from the Empire. Even if he gathered believers there, it would not help Dragon City that much.
Compared to the Empire that was being competed over by the gods, Louie was more interested in the Seven Kingdom Alliance towards the east as well as the southern seas. There were many indigenous people there. Although their civilization was not as rich as the core countries of the continent, gods did not care whether their believers were civilized as long as they had poured their faith into them.
The southern seas were at the corner between Dragon City and the Silver Moon Kingdom. Louie could easily deal with hostile powers in the area. This was much less difficult than joining the fray in the Empire. At this time, those religions were probably still fighting to the death. On the other hand, Louie’s believers were at peace and could already start farming.
Although Louie was not prepared to step into the muddy waters of the empire, since the Emperor took the initiative to make this request, Louie thought that this was the best time to extort the empire. If he didn’t then he was not a dragon anymore.
“But there is a condition to this treaty. If the emperor can agree to my request, I will not only sign a peace treaty, but I can even protect the path towards it. I can prevent the elves, the beastmen, and even the humans from the Seven Kingdom Alliance from crossing Dragon City to exert pressure on the Empire.”
Louie’s tone was awe-inspiring and carried an unmatched arrogance.
In truth, Louie was just trying to bluff his way. With his relationship between the elves and their racial characteristic, they would not go and invade the Empire. The Gods of the beastmen had also awakened, and now there was a lot of internal chaos there as well, so they did not have the wherewithal to cross the mountains and attack the Empire. As for the Seven Kingdom Alliance, there was a possibility that they might do so, but Louie was now preparing to deal with them. He planned to gather believers from there. Even if the other party did not provoke him, he would still go find them.
Louie was trying to gain advantages with nothing in exchange, but for Princess Andrea and Derek, his words were a blessing in the snow. Although the Princess refuted the Dragon God, that was only a negotiation tactic. In truth, they were the most knowledgeable about the internal and external crisis that the Empire was facing.
Princess Andrea’s tone became more and more respectful. She raised her skirt which revealed her high-heeled shoes inlaid with precious stones and her short stockings that did nothing to hide her snow-white thighs.
She sounded cheerful and quickly said, “Please tell us your requests, Lord Dragon God. Andrea will report it to father with the fastest speed.”
“First of all, for my first request.”
Louie stood under his statue and stretched out a finger to the princess in front of him and revealed a playful smile, “I want you, the jewel of the Subila Empire, Andrea Abel Subila.”