"Get up."
Under the attention of everyone, the too young female noble slowly stood up, put away the dragon wings behind her, and came to her seat.
Misha and Trump, who was also standing at the top of the altar, looked at each other from afar. They smiled at each other and nodded in greeting.
"His Excellency Trump."
The imperial prime minister once brought her to meet His Majesty and taught her a lot of magic knowledge. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a blessing.
In Misha's mind, this hideous and ugly ogre was like a teacher.
The hobgoblin Duke Doro next to him seemed to realize something. His cloudy little eyes looked at Misha intentionally or unintentionally, and his expression became a little ugly.
"Damn."
The hobgoblin squeezed out a low, hoarse voice from between his teeth, but only he could hear this voice.
Another half-dragon reader stood up. He held a scroll in his hand, his waist straight, and his voice was extremely loud.
"Coordinate overall planning, coordinate all parties, and make outstanding contributions to the empire's logistics. Promote Marquis Delena to the title of Duke of the Empire."
"It's Lady Dalena!"
"Isn't this the 'Flower of North Wind Castle'?"
Amid people's exclamations and sighs, Dalena, who was wearing a long dress, was lifted to the high platform by invisible forces. She did not forget to wave to the people in the audience.
"Your Majesty."
Dalena knelt in front of Cassius with a smile on her face, seemingly relaxed, but her slightly trembling white legs still betrayed her.
Who can not be nervous?
Finally becoming a distinguished Duke, standing at the pinnacle of power in the empire, and achieving the goal of the year, even Delena felt like she was in a dream.
However, the half-dragon announcer's loud voice continued, echoing in the crowded venue.
"Brave and good at fighting, not afraid of powerful enemies, showing the majesty of the Dragonborn of the Empire. Promoting Marquis Smaug to the Duke of the Empire."
A hoarse howl sounded, and flickering sparks flew.
Surrounded by several bipedal flying dragons, the flying dragon leader, who was nearly twenty meters long and looked like a real red dragon, flapped his wings and soared into the sky.
Finally, Smaug landed on the altar. He bent his neck toward the red dragon, pressed his head tightly to the ground, folded the wings behind him, and let out a submissive growl.
After getting the emperor's permission, the bipedal flying dragon also came to his position, stood up with his tail as support and his hind legs on the ground.
Now, everyone's eyes were focused on the last marble seat.
Now there is only the last place left among the nine great dukes. Which lucky person will become the Duke of the Empire?
"Cassius on top"
"I think the Marquis of Burrow leads the infantry corps and has great merits in his hard work. He is qualified to become the Duke of the Empire."
"You fart! Do you know how many demons were destroyed by the artillery regiment commanded by Lord Big Head?"
"The Marquis of Gilmore has worked hard for many years to assist Duke Rumple in handling the complex imperial affairs. He is not a bad person"
The people in the audience, including humans, ogres, tieflings, lizardmen and many other races, are all looking forward to it.
Although they know that they are unlikely to be selected, they still hope that a representative of their own race can become a duke.
In the Burning Ember Empire, a multi-racial empire, although the government has always advocated ethnic equality and priority on ability, who doesn't want "one of our own" to exist at the top of the empire?
The Imperial Marquises were even more excited and looking forward to it.
The few counts who had high hopes from everyone held their breaths and stared at the scroll in the half-dragon's hand, with longing in their eyes.
However, the announcer said the name of the next candidate without stopping, which disappointed many marquis who were looking forward to it, but they did not dare to refute at all.
——Because the identity of this newly-born Duke is so special that they dare not question it.
"Turn thousands of demons into ice, face the Balor Fire Demon and make Tinia the Duke of the Empire."
Another direct title, and he was directly promoted from a commoner without a title to a duke. But the recipient of the title this time was the famous Emperor's relative, White Dragon, who was honored as the "Wings of the North Wind of the Empire".
"Ouch——"
The biting cold wind blew by, and a dragon roar resounded through the sky.
Surrounded by a chaotic group of dragons, a white dragon with a body length of more than 20 meters spread its wings, casting a shadow on the ground that enveloped the crowd.
Twenty-five meters, for a white dragon that has always been thin, this has reached the level of an ancient dragon, but Tinia is not yet a minor - which shows the strong bloodline of the ancestral dragon.
Tinia strode forward, raised her ferocious white head, flapped her broad wings with bone spurs on her back, stirred up gusts of cold wind, and flew to the top of the altar.
Bailong's expression was excited, and a faint light flashed in her light blue vertical pupils. She secretly thought in her heart:
The master finally remembered her!
In that war against the invasion of demons, I fought tooth and nail and tried my best to behave as expected!
"Boom"
With the ground shaking slightly, the white dragon descended on the top of the altar.
She bent her forelimbs and knees, folded her wings, and put her head almost close to the ground, making a "surrender" gesture in the direction of Cassius.
"Master.
I witnessed your battle with my own eyes and you were so big and so strong, you were just "
Tinia called softly, looking for suitable words in her lack of brain. Her face was full of enthusiasm, and her thick tail swayed unconsciously.
The huge white dragon body also moved towards the direction of the red dragon, its claws rubbed against the ground and moved quietly on the ground.
Well, the female dragon, who is about to become an adult, is at the peak of her estrus.
Under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of eyes, Tinia slowly wriggled on the ground without caring about her image, trying to get in front of the red dragon.
For the majesty of the Imperial Duke and the solemnity of the ceremony, Cassius finally couldn't look away.
With a cold face, he gently raised a finger with sharp dragon claws, and strong power suddenly emerged.
"Ouch——"
With a panicked roar, the more than 20-meter-long white dragon was wrapped in a strong wind, and no matter how hard she struggled, she could not break free.
Then, Bailong's huge body slammed hard in front of her position.
"Bang!"
Tinia lay on the ground, feeling the pain all over her body. The dragon's face couldn't help but show an intoxicated look, and drops of dragon saliva hung from the corners of its mouth and fell to the ground.
"Master.
Hehe, he’s still so powerful, there’s no way he can resist.”
Looking at Tinia's crazy face, Cassius's mouth twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but sigh: It seems that the white dragon's brain cannot control the power of the ancestor dragon.
Otherwise, how could a white dragon like Tinia be born, who is full of perverted habits?
After this small episode, the ceremony continued. Under the eager eyes of the people, one familiar name was read out by the announcer one after another.
"Promote Earl Big Head to Imperial Marquis."
"Promote Count Joan Wilkerson to Imperial Margrave."
"Promote Earl Serkan to——Margrave of the Empire."
"Who is this?" "How did he become a Marquis?"
Regarding this strange name that suddenly appeared, the onlookers talked a lot, but some well-informed imperial people still recognized him.
"I saw this Count Serkan in the colonial section of the Imperial Daily. He is the person in charge of the fire elemental plane."
"I met him when I was doing business in the Brass Fortress. He was a very ambitious man."
I saw a portal opening with a hot breath, and a half-red dragon man wearing light armor walked out of it - that was Count Serkan, the governor of the fire elemental plane.
Compared with the half-red dragon people who stayed in the empire, this earl's appearance was very distinctive. His eyes were dancing with fire, and there were tiny flames burning in his ears and nostrils.
Due to living in the elemental plane of fire all year round, Count Serkan's body already has many elemental characteristics.
Many flame dragons, salamanders, fire dwarves, and half-red dragonmen followed behind him, letting out cheers like bursts of flames.
"Promote Count Iron Frenzy to Marquis of the Empire."
Even though they have been together for a long time, the half-red dragon announcer is still not used to the strange pronunciation of these Starfallers' names, which sound like some kind of spell.
And a burst of warm cheers suddenly broke out among the Starfallers, and the noisy voices of the players came like a tide.
"What the hell? Brother Madness has become a Marquis!"
"The flesh and blood are weak, the machine soars!"
"Praise the God of All Machines! Hahaha! Our Mechanicus is full of cards!"
"Be careful, don't shout slogans at this time. People from the Imperial Religious Office came to talk to me before"
"Toll the bell three times and sing in unison, praising your Majesty Cassius!"
"No matter what, Brother Kuangchao is awesome!"
There are even players from the Mechanicum who actually took out a mini version of the mechanical clock and kept ringing it.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
Accompanied by the bells and the cheers of the crowd, surrounded by members of the Mechanicum, Steel Frenzy walked out in high spirits and waved to everyone.
"Hahahaha! What a good day! How did you know that I was made a marquis?"
Steel Frenzy pressed the button on his body, and two steel pipes stretched out from his modified back, and then, brilliant flames and thick white smoke spewed out from them.
"Whoosh——"
A mushroom cloud rose from the ground, and the steel frenzy climbed rapidly. In an instant, it reached the 100-meter-high altar and slowly descended.
New players who had just entered the game and struggled to even kill a chicken looked up at the tracks left by the steel frenzy in the sky, dumbfounded.
Some people couldn't help but mutter to themselves: "Are we playing a game?"
After Iron Frenzy saluted the emperor, he stood in the position of the Marquis with his hands on his hips, his expression arrogant, and he had satisfied his addiction to the limelight.
But he was crying in his heart. The individual aircraft, which was still in the experimental stage, had been completely scrapped. He didn’t know how much it would cost to build it in.
"Maycon Watts led the infantry regiment to guard important areas, made outstanding achievements, and was promoted to marquis."
"Guillermo researched weapons for the empire, played a major role on the battlefield, and was promoted to marquis."
"As the leader of the Dragonsworn Temple, Fried was promoted to Marquis."
"George led the legion to rush to the frontal battlefield, guard the high ground, resist the fierce attack of the demons, kill several Bazut demons on his own, and win precious fighter opportunities for the empire.
Should be promoted to earl. ”
"It's Baron George! The former Northland serf!"
"Cassius, here he is, he was promoted two levels in a row and was promoted to earl!"
"It's really enviable to be able to grow from a serf to an earl today"
"I used to work in the same factory as Mr. George, and we were as close as brothers at that time. Let me tell you, at that time I could tell that he had great ambitions, and he was definitely not."
Amid the murmurs of people's comments, and under the focus of envious or jealous eyes, George strode forward and stood at the foot of the Isdalia Altar.
George held his head high and took a deep breath. He could feel the heart flowing with dragon's blood beating in his chest.
"I finally became an earl.
So close, so close, to becoming a real big shot. ”
The invisible force lifted him up gradually. He saw himself getting further and further away from the ground, standing higher and higher, and the crowded crowd gradually became as small as ants.
He couldn't help but sigh: "I used to be one of these ordinary beings."
"But now, everything is different."
Thinking of this, George raised his head with firm eyes, walked up to the Isdalia Altar with his head held high.
Under the pressure of the majestic dragon's power, he forcibly suppressed the trembling of his body, but he could not suppress the violent beating of his heart and the boiling surge of his blood.
But he still managed to maintain his image and half-knelt in front of the red dragon.
"Your Majesty, thank you for your gift."
George gritted his teeth, sweat dripping from his forehead and dripping to the ground.
The red dragon slowly lowered his head, looked at it for a moment, and said softly: "George, you are very good, you can actively stimulate the blood seeds I left behind."
Your Majesty, He actually values me so much!
After receiving the emperor's personal appreciation, George suddenly felt great joy coming from all directions. The excitement almost went to his head and made him dizzy.
Fortunately, he managed to calm down, and after thanking His Majesty again, he returned to his seat, but Cassius's words just now were still repeated in his mind over and over again.
"George, you are very nice."
"I have gained the attention of His Majesty. Maybe I can reach the pinnacle of the empire's power."
George turned his head and looked at the seats of the marquis and duke who were standing higher than him, as if fire was igniting in his eyes.
"As a red-scale conqueror, he is brave and good at fighting, and has been in and out of the demon group many times. He named me the Viscount of the Empire."
"Sacrifice your own life, fight hand-to-hand with demons, engage in brutal fighting, and confer the title of Imperial Viscount to the natural war madman."
"Russell was made a baronet."
"Create Hulm a Baron."
Under people's disappointed and envious eyes, the half-red dragon man finished reading the last name, and they all closed the scrolls in their hands and retreated behind the scenes.
After this investiture ceremony, a total of nine dukes, 26 marquises, more than 50 earls, hundreds of viscounts and more than 400 barons appeared in the empire.
Finally, under the attention of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, the red dragon slowly stood up from the throne.
"What a complicated ceremony."
He blew out the white smoke filled with sulfurous smell, stretched out his extremely broad wings, and looked down at the expectant and excited Imperial people below with his pale golden pupils.
Cassius knew that the real gift was about to come. (End of chapter)