"Casius"
In front of the tall and heavy iron gate, Olivia looked at the magnificent palace where she had lived for a long time and called out in a low voice.
The guards guarding the door recognized Olivia, who had lived in the palace, so they did not stop her, but as they had not received orders, they did not open the door.
"You should be able to hear it."
Olivia whispered.
She had seen the "power" of the red dragon in the empire that shocked her, and knew that the other party must have learned of her arrival.
Sure enough, a familiar voice appeared and echoed outside the palace.
"Let her in."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
With a dull sound, the heavy door slowly opened, and Olivia was able to see the scene inside the palace.
"The Royal Palace."
"I haven't been back for a long time."
Looking at the familiar gardens and palaces, Olivia's blue-gray eyes flickered.
For nearly a year, she moved to Istalia, disguised as a human, and became a member of the kingdom through her own efforts.
But this is the "cage" where she is imprisoned.
Although she only stayed for a few months, which was only a brief moment compared to her nearly 100 years of life, the experience was truly unforgettable for her.
But she didn't feel sad to look back. Instead, she felt a little inexplicably kind, even nostalgic.
Does she still harbor resentment and hatred in her heart?
Maybe.
Even Olivia herself had a hard time explaining what kind of complicated emotions this was, not to mention that she would have to make a request to the red dragon later.
Thinking of this, Olivia couldn't help but hug the document in her hand tightly, and her steps became a little hurried.
Walking along the road to the main palace, the palace door engraved with dragon heads also opened.
What catches the eye is the red dragon lying on the somewhat narrow throne. It has large swept horns, broad wings, and pale golden vertical pupils. The huge dragon body almost fills up half of the palace, which is very visual. Impact.
Strong, majestic, noble, and - perfect.
These words entered Olivia's mind almost subconsciously, giving her the trance-like feeling of seeing the platinum statue of Bahamut in the clan's dragon lair.
What's even more frightening is that the opponent's body length has reached forty meters. Even the elders of the Myhrvold clan are far from that big.
"He became stronger."
Olivia thought so.
This also meant that the gap between herself and the other party was getting wider and wider. Although she didn't know why, she felt inexplicably lost.
After a long time, Olivia came back to her senses, her blue-gray vertical pupils flashing with complicated emotions.
She just opened her mouth and whispered: "Long time no see, Cassius."
"Long time no see, Congressman Olivia, you have made a lot of noise in the imperial political arena recently."
Gray-white smoke filled Cassius's mouth. The corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and the dragon's face showed a half-smile.
Olivia was slightly surprised: "Do you know what I did?"
Cassius replied: "Of course, as an ordinary member of the House of Commons, refuting the proposal supported by Duke Doro in person also triggered a conflict between the military and the government."
"Tsk, tsk, you are really capable. Do you know what the people of the empire call you? The flower of justice."
He actually knew?
She thought that because the other party was the emperor of the empire, he would not care about such trivial matters, let alone an ordinary proposal, but Cassius said that matter accurately.
You know, in some rumors in the empire, His Majesty Cassius has been sleeping.
Could it be that he has been secretly paying attention to himself?
For some reason, Olivia felt a little excited, and a touch of imperceptible satisfaction appeared on her pretty face, which turned red.
Cassius tilted his head and asked, "So this is what you came to the palace for?"
"Yeah."
Olivia nodded slightly, but she hesitated for a moment and continued: "But it's not just about this."
"Oh? Let's talk about the proposal first."
Cassius gently waved his claws, and the documents in Olivia's arms floated, and flames projected the words.
Lines of beautiful small characters are suspended in mid-air, quite neatly.
"This is."
Olivia's eyes suddenly widened, and a flash of surprise flashed in her pupils.
As a mage, she has never seen such detailed and easy control over the fire element.
Even Trafallano, the legendary mage of the Arcane Monastery, does not have such a powerful ability to control elements.
In just a moment, Cassius finished browsing the proposal.
He smiled and shook his head and said: "It's a good proposal, but it's a bit too idealistic and difficult to implement."
"Why?"
Olivia was a little unconvinced.
"You must have read those scholars' "On Social Security," right?"
Cassius has also read this book. It is a work by Gugus Golov, a well-known scholar in the empire. It incorporates many modern social science theories brought by players.
Olivia replied: "Well, that is a good book and has great reference value."
Cassius said: "What he said does make some sense, but have you ever thought that this kind of high welfare will also send a bad signal to people: is it the same whether they work hard or not?"
"Excessive use will produce obvious disadvantages: first, it will easily lead to power rent-seeking; second, it will distort market signals"
"The empire is a country that is developing rapidly. For it, the enthusiasm for production is very important. Plans like yours that are divorced from reality will only dampen people's enthusiasm."
Cassius spoke in detail.
In his eyes, compared to the hopeless white dragon, the silver dragon from Myhrvold seems to be more suitable to become a ruler.
In Cassius's plan, with the expansion of territory and the increase of races under his command, the Ember Empire should not become an evil camp force, but become an eclectic and diverse empire.
Pure good and evil are not enough to describe this complex country.
The silver dragon is undoubtedly a good flag representing the "orderly and good" camp, and can bring considerable help to improving the image of the empire.
At that time, maybe there will be some kind of two-party system, with one playing the bad side and the other playing the bad side, whitewashing this empire that started with killing and plundering into a glorious and majestic "Utopia".
Now it seems that this silver dragon is quite easy to deceive, at least she cannot see the true nature of the empire. For example, Guges, who wrote "Social Security", seems to have seen something.
Olivia also listened very seriously. She nodded repeatedly and used spells to record it from time to time.
For some reason, she seemed to have returned to that night when she discussed and communicated with "Angel".
The figure of the learned young golden dragon and the seemingly unrelated huge red dragon in front of her gradually overlapped in her heart
It was obviously just a false disguise, but it made her feel deeply impressed.
"Okay, that's about it."
Cassius yawned, gently fluttered his huge wings, and blew out a puff of sulfur-smelling white smoke,
"Well, I understand. I will revise it when I get back and bring it to you another day."
Olivia nodded, put away the documents that fell on the ground, and said seriously.
Cassius looked down at the silver-haired girl: "Olivia, do you have anything else to say?"
Suddenly, her eyes trembled.
"."
Olivia hugged the document in her hand tightly and tied her silver hair behind her ears.
She lowered her head and was silent for a long time, then slowly raised her head and looked directly into the red dragon's pale golden, oppressive pupils.
"Cassius, I don't think your empire should be developed in this way." Cassius was stunned for a moment, and then asked with great interest: "What do you mean by 'this way'?"< br>
"I have always believed that you are not the kind of evil dragon who would exchange other people's lives for money."
Olivia and Cassius looked at each other from a distance, she bit her lip lightly, her tone was a little heavy.
"But my people in the south tell me that the Ember Empire is dumping terrible weapons that can be used by ordinary people on a large scale to the disintegrating Fadland Empire."
"The mortals of Cassander, Thrace, and the Seleucid Kingdom used weapons sold by the Ember Empire to kill each other, causing terrible casualties. It is said that the entire central plain was dyed red with blood, and the holy city was turned into a Ruins.”
"I'm glad to see the Empire flourish, but-"
Olivia bit her silver teeth lightly and paused for a moment.
"I don't want to see this kind of development nourished and watered by the blood of the people of Fadland."
"So please stop, Cassius, let the empire stop selling those extremely cruel and sinful weapons. This is what I want to say most."
Cassius immediately shook his head and laughed.
This is really a standard "silver dragon speech".
After Olivia spoke, Cassius could guess what she was going to say next - just like the last time she begged him to stop conquering the North.
Despite her experience, this silver dragon is childish and full of fantasy, like most of her kind.
She always thought that words could change others, but she never realized that she was the one who was changed more deeply.
Cassius did not give a direct answer, but stretched out a claw finger under Olivia's gaze.
"Shua——"
The invisible force field energy controlled the knife on the weapon rack to fly from a distance and hover in front of the red dragon, the blade flashing with cold light.
Cassius smiled and asked: "Do you think this knife is sinful?"
Olivia frowned slightly and shook her head slightly.
She noticed a familiar smell, and the red dragon seemed to be trying to convince herself with sweet words again.
"What if I tell you that this knife belongs to a brutal robber, and he used this knife to kill more than a hundred innocent civilians?"
Olivia thought for a moment and replied with some uncertainty: "Then it is sinful?"
But Cassius shook his tail and shook his head in denial: "No, the knife itself is not wrong. The fault is always the person wielding the knife."
"."
Olivia was silent again.
What the other party said seemed to make sense.
Cassius's words continued: "Just like this war in the Fadland Empire - you made a mistake. It was not our selling of weapons that led to the outbreak of the war, but the outbreak of the war that led to our selling of weapons."
"Even if I don't intervene, the three princes will still fight for the position of Emperor of Fadland, causing countless casualties of innocent people."
Having said this, Red Dragon sighed "sincerely".
"I deeply regret this, but since we have to fight anyway, why don't I use this opportunity to earn some gold coins and improve the lives of the people of the empire?"
"You have also seen that over the years, the vigorous development of the military industry has brought a large number of jobs to the empire and considerable income. I don't know how many people in the empire have been saved from hunger because of the development of the military industry."
"As the emperor of the Ember Empire, I can do nothing to quell the war in Fadland, but I have the ability to provide food and clothing for the people of the empire."
Finally, Cassius spoke calmly and concluded logically:
"So - weapons are not guilty, but the person who pulls the trigger is guilty. War is evil, but selling weapons is a first-class good deed!"
After saying these words, Cassius looked calm and at ease, and quietly looked at the words [Smooth Talker +1] on the panel.
His face was already red, and no matter how much he lied, it couldn't get any redder.
What's more, to a certain extent, he wasn't lying.
Although the act of selling arms to both parties and making a lot of war profits was bluntly described by him as a good deed done out of necessity for the people of the empire.
However, if one could see beyond the phenomenon to its essence, one would discover the empire’s “sinful” capital accumulation.
Olivia fell silent again. She was thinking about how to find the loopholes in the other party's words, but she couldn't come up with a solution for a long time.
After holding it in for a long time, she said with a red face: "You are sophistry."
But she seemed to have no reason.
This red dragon is always like this, easily handling her doubts every time and even convincing her.
And she herself seems to be gradually being changed by the other party
Cassius spread his claws and said rather "helplessly": "When the researchers of the empire first created these weapons, they were only to prevent foreign enemies and protect national security."
"How can there be any evil in this?"
"But."
Olivia was a little speechless. She looked into Cassius's half-smiling eyes and said secretly: "I will convince you."
Cassius slowly stood up from the throne and looked down at Olivia.
"The war between humans is very complicated. It cannot be summed up by pure good or evil, and it is not something that you silver dragons can mix in."
"I believe your elders have also warned you not to participate in internal disputes among humans."
"Hmm"
Olivia lowered her eyes and responded softly.
Cassius's expression suddenly became serious: "There is really something that I need your help with."
"What happened?"
Olivia was a little curious.
This red dragon has always been omnipotent. He dares to refuse even the invitations from the gods, but he actually needs her help?
Cassius spoke in a heavy tone: "One year later, the Abyss Demons will invade the Anzeta Wilderness and launch a full-scale attack on the empire. We hope to get the help of the Myhrvold clan."
In fact, the empire has the ability to deal with the demonic invasion independently, but for Cassius, this is a good opportunity to connect with the good camp and improve the image of the empire.
And Olivia, who became an Imperial Councilor, might be able to become that bridge of communication.
"Abyssal Invasion?"
Olivia's expression suddenly became extremely solemn.
You must know that the last abyssal invasion occurred four hundred years ago. The "Undead Lord" Orcus led his army of undead and demons to the main material plane, setting off a natural disaster that swept the world and devastated all life on the Fianso continent. .
The Amaunata Church, the Church of the Moon, the Kingdom of Fadland, the Silver Dragon Clan, the Harper Alliance and other forces from multiple good camps joined forces and sacrificed the lives of countless benevolent people to end this disaster.
Cassius suddenly paused: "You just don't know your grandfather?"
Olivia knew that Cassius was talking about Oszedro's defeat and serious injury, which was a shame for the entire Myhrvold.
In the eyes of the majority of silver dragons, the reputation of Cassius, the alien dragon, is definitely not good.
"Although my grandfather is a little stubborn, he will never make mistakes when it comes to matters related to world order."
Olivia barely hesitated before speaking seriously.
"If the situation is true, I will return to the Myhrvold clan and ask them to contact various forces to provide the best support they can to fight against the devil."
Cassius nodded slightly: "Okay, then I will wait for the good news."
For him, the good camp is the best for this.
When facing truly evil enemies, you can use them as free agents without even having to pay much.
Therefore, pure good and evil are extremely uneconomical.
The empire can only gain the greatest benefit by repeatedly jumping and fighting back and forth on the blurred dividing line between good and evil.
Cassius knew this well.
——Asking for monthly tickets——(End of chapter)