Chapter 1 How to Maintain a Stable Empire

Hao Ren found it difficult to understand how a vast nation like the Dragon Empire could maintain efficient and stable operation. The direct rule of long-lived beings over short-lived ones inevitably implied many hidden dangers and troubles. If that Emperor was truly immortal as the legends said, due to inheriting the Dragon Soul, then his way of thinking would inevitably change towards that of a long-lived race. Although he would accumulate immense wisdom and experience unimaginable to ordinary people in this process, it was precisely because they were unimaginable to ordinary people that an insurmountable gap would arise between him and his short-lived subjects.

To put it simply—when an immortal ruler decides to formulate a thousand-year plan to benefit all the people, and his people can only live to a hundred years old at most, can this plan, which may not see hope even with the efforts of ten generations, really gain the understanding and support of the people?

Hao Ren himself had not seen similar things, but the inspectors’ database was not lacking in practical cases in this regard.

But the Dragon Empire before him… seemed to be operating very well.

The Dragon Soul Emperor had incredible prestige in this country. Magnificent sculptures of His Majesty wearing black armor could be seen everywhere in the city. The people of the empire regarded their emperor as an eternal protector, and they regarded obeying the emperor's orders as a matter of course—a "natural logic." It seemed that no one ever questioned any orders from the imperial capital. In the long history of thousands of years, the turmoil that had occurred within this empire was rare, and each time it could be quickly quelled.

At least, on the surface, this country looked as stable as could be.

This was the conclusion Hao Ren had drawn from the sights he saw in the carriage and the information he heard from Ivena. Of course, given that he had just arrived in this country, it would probably take a little time to understand the true situation of this country.

The "caravan" quickly found a place to stay in the town: a semi-official, semi-private "post house" was specially prepared for caravans traveling within the empire, right in the center of the town. Although Ivena and Charlemagne couldn't often walk among the people due to their status, they had obviously received a very complete common sense education. In addition, there were special personnel among the accompanying guards who were quite knowledgeable about the affairs of the Dragon Empire. Everyone settled down in the post house without much effort.

After settling down in his room, Hao Ren came to the window and casually pushed open the window sash, which was inlaid with countless diamond-shaped glasses and engraved with rose patterns. Because the floor was high here and the civilian buildings were usually low, the town scenery could be seen at a glance at this moment.

The imperial buildings were mainly dark in color, and the undulating roofs extended continuously in the field of vision. Those Gothic spires, eaves, and turrets gave the whole town a strange and mysterious atmosphere. Although the town was not large and could not be considered a rich place, the town itself still seemed clean and prosperous, and well-organized. On both sides of the wide road that ran through the town, countless neatly arranged shops and workshops could be seen. In addition, there were various inns of all sizes: selling various alchemical props, making magic-conducting devices, and inn accommodation were the main sources of income for this town, and the customers were the merchants and travelers who passed through here. There was a small airship docking point near the town. The docking point was not large, but it also brought a lot of traffic here.

At this moment, the sun was setting in the west, and碎金 (suì jīn, broken gold) -like sunlight was shining on this Gothic town, making the roofs and spires shine brightly. The sound of machinery running from the magic workshop was not noisy at all, but instead filled the place with a wonderful and warm atmosphere.

A burst of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from the blue stone阔道 (kuò dào, wide road) where the flow of people was gradually thinning. Hao Ren's eyes were attracted by this sound. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw several knights wearing black armor and black swords on their waists galloping past the avenue below. The leading knight also held a blue banner with two swords fluttering in the wind.

The pedestrians on both sides of the street gave way to the knights one after another, appearing quite in awe.

Hao Ren frowned: Those are the knights of the legendary Black Sword Knights?

After a while, a burst of footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by a few regular knocks on the door—this definitely couldn't be Lily. If it were Lily, she would have carried the door in to greet him at this time.

Sure enough, it was Ivena's voice from outside the door: "Mr. Hao Ren, may I come in?"

Hao Ren responded, "The door isn't locked."

The door opened, and the Isu princess with beautiful light gray eyes stood outside the door, with Charlemagne standing beside her.

Hao Ren let the two into the room and looked at them curiously: "Is there a problem?"

"I just came to see if you've settled in," Ivena said generously, showing no pretense or arrogance of a royal family member, "I can see that this kind of inn is far worse than your ship. I hope you can adapt."

"Stop using honorifics, I'm not used to hearing them," Hao Ren waved his hand. "These conditions are already quite good. It's much better than drilling into caves and sleeping in underground palaces. I've suffered some hardships in the open air. As a successful figure in the religious world, I can't be more vulnerable than you royal family members, right?"

Charlemagne had a slightly stiff smile on his face: "Your way of speaking is indeed quite peculiar. I can understand the words, but it's always difficult to understand the sentences."

Hao Ren smiled, suddenly remembering the black-armored knights he had just seen at the window. An idea struck him: "You must have something else to ask me—speaking of which, I just saw a few knights in black running past below. Are those the legendary Black Sword Knights?"

Charlemagne and Ivena exchanged glances. The prince nodded slightly: "That's right. The Black Sword Knights all dress like that. Their mechanical swords are unique in Laherien and are easy to recognize."

"So that thing is a mechanical sword..." Hao Ren muttered. "Ah, I don't know much about the Black Sword Knights. Can you introduce them to me?"

"The Black Sword Knights are the military symbol of the Dragon Empire and the most powerful regular army in the world," Ivena always took on the task of introducing local customs, and this time was no exception. "They directly obey the Emperor of the Dragon Empire and have an extremely strict organizational system. Every Black Sword Knight is an elite chosen from thousands of excellent soldiers. Not only must they be proficient in martial arts, but they must also receive magical training. At the same time, they must master all kinds of knowledge, including culture, history, and pharmacy, and learn the 'Dragon Mark' ability unique to the Black Sword Knights. These knights are usually distributed throughout the empire, responsible for maintaining the order of the country and conveying the will of the Emperor. But if there is a war, they can quickly integrate and form a legion, and the speed of their integration and the degree of coordination of the legion are simply unbelievable."

Charlemagne added a few sentences: "They are scattered all over the country all year round. Many Black Sword Knights don't even see each other for more than ten years after leaving the barracks. But as long as there is an order, they can quickly reorganize into an army according to the organization in the barracks, and they don't need any process of re-familiarization and adjustment. No country in the world can understand how they do it—and those imperial people directly call it 'His Majesty's Miracle' and don't think about it."

"Indeed very powerful," Hao Ren's compliment came from the bottom of his heart. The selection criteria and training process of those Black Sword Knights were already amazing enough, and their special organizational method was even more eye-opening. If he hadn't already seen the legions of guardian giants and had an even more disciplined drone army under his command, Hao Ren's degree of amazement would have had to rise a level at this time. "But you just said that they are the most powerful 'regular army.' Does that mean that there are people in the irregular army who are more powerful than those Black Sword Knights?"

"Of course there are," Ivena said lightly. "Although the Black Sword Knights are strong, they are still soldiers trained in batches, but there are still many warriors in the world who cannot be measured by common sense, such as the Rune Warriors of the ancient kingdom of Isu, the Tidecallers from the Gray Mist Strait, and the Lynspeakers of the White Elves. In one-on-one situations, they are all stronger than the Black Sword Knights—but those are special arms so rare that they can be regarded as national treasures, and they cannot be compared with the Black Sword Knights, who often form legions with tens of thousands as the standard."

"Does the Dragon Empire also have such 'irregular army elites'?" Hao Ren asked curiously. Every country has its own super trump cards, serving as the ultimate military threat like nuclear bombs. There is no reason why the Dragon Empire, which was founded on martial arts, would not have reserves in this regard.

"Of course," Ivena nodded. "The princess, known as the 'Dark Dragon Girl,' personally leads a Broken Sword Knight Order. The number is only one percent of the Black Sword Knights, but the combat power of those Broken Sword Knights is so strong that it is unbelievable, almost not like mortals. They also never carry out any missions—or rather, the missions they carry out will never have a knowledgeable person in the end. That is the Dragon Empire's 'Shadow Trump Card'..."

"Wait, wait," Hao Ren quickly stopped her. "How did another princess pop up? Does the Emperor of the Dragon Empire have a daughter?"

What he actually wanted to ask was how many children that immortal Emperor had, and whether those children still intended to inherit the throne—having an Emperor father who never aged or died, being a crown prince would be such a troublesome profession!

However, considering that this question seemed a little improper, he finally held back from asking...

But although he didn't ask such a frustrating question, Ivena still looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression: "It seems that the World Tree Temple is indeed... very isolated from the world."

Hao Ren's face remained unchanged: "That's right. We're busy maintaining world peace in places you can't see every day."

His greatest advantage was telling the truth.

Ivena sighed: "Of course the Dragon Empire has a princess, Constance Dragon, everyone knows her. But her father, the 'Eternal Emperor' Berrentin Dragon, has never actually married..."

Hao Ren's eyes immediately changed—there seemed to be a story here?

"I know what you're thinking, but it's best not to say it," Ivena shook her head. "No one knows the true origin of that Princess Constance. People only know that two hundred and twenty years ago, an 'aberration' occurred near the imperial capital of the Dragon Empire. It is said that a mountain disappeared without a trace overnight, leaving only a large pit filled with scorching lava. His Majesty Berrentin personally went to investigate, and then brought back a baby girl and recognized her as his adopted daughter. That is Princess Constance. People have of course speculated whether that was His Majesty Berrentin's illegitimate daughter. After all, two hundred and twenty years have passed, and that princess is still in her prime. She obviously also has non-human blood, but such questioning voices never last... Over time, people no longer mention this topic."