Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon's Might-Chapter 456 - 448: Settling by Proclamation

As King of the Zhen Dan Kingdom, Leon always oversees the overall direction, only providing suggestions without being responsible for specific implementations... Of course, he firmly controls personnel and finances, with appointments of senior officials and large financial appropriations requiring his approval and signature.

As for military power, which other monarchs deem most critical, to him, it is the least of his worries. He alone is an army; he alone can match thousands of troops; everyone in the Zhen Dan Kingdom combined isn’t enough for him to deal with single-handedly.

In these circumstances, Leon, who generally doesn’t bother with day-to-day matters unless something specific arises, completely forgets that there’s an Elf City within the Zhen Dan Kingdom that isn’t under his control.

Leon’s attention is mainly on the multiverse. For instance, the Githyanki have a civil war; Comet Prince and the Githzerai have united against Vilakis, with their war lasting many years without end in sight. However, someone always remembers the Elvish matters.

Cecilia, the Green Dragon, is deeply concerned about the affairs of the elves because Leon promised her that he would hand over that Elf City to her eventually.

"If you didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t have remembered it,"

Cecilia burst into the study, mentioning their peace treaty with the elves was about to expire while Leon was drawing with his daughter, who was sketching a wavy three-headed, six-armed Red Dragon.

"How about leaving this matter to me?" Cecilia was eager to intervene.

"No." Leon did not even glance up as he noticed Sharon had drawn him with six legs.

"Why?" Cecilia asked.

She didn’t believe Leon was about to renege despite being a Red Dragon, known for keeping his promises unlike other Red Dragons who couldn’t lose gracefully and often refused to acknowledge defeat. If she hadn’t had her means of being favored, powerful, and able to fight, she wouldn’t have held onto her possessions.

"Because this is a diplomatic matter and falls under our diplomat Isily’s responsibility... What if you casually took over her work and she made a fuss?" Leon said indifferently, "She does nothing all day like a street wanderer and should be given something to do."

"That is indeed the diplomat’s work, but I am also the Prime Minister, and I have the right to observe." Cecilia did not leave; she was intensely interested in dealing with the elves and that Elf City.

"Suit yourself," Leon said carelessly.

Leon didn’t know many functional spells, but his daughter knew plenty.

Leon glanced at his daughter, and young Sharon caught the hint, nodding; her slender fingers drew an elegant arc in the air, instantly casting the Short Message Technique, notifying Isily to report to the study.

"What does His Majesty require of me?" Isily quickly appeared in haste, maintaining her silver-haired, youthful appearance despite already being in her youth for several years, appearing immature and unreliable, not at all like a diplomat.

"There’s something you need to handle." Leon disclosed that their peace treaty with the elves was ending.

Isily, skilled in her duties, asked, "How would you like me to negotiate?"

"Submit or die," Cecilia interrupted.

Leon looked at Isily, pondered for a moment, and said, "Fight if need be, accompany them all the way. If negotiations are possible, my doors are open."

"In battle, there’s nothing much to discuss; everyone reveals their skills on the battlefield." Leon tapped on the table, "In negotiations... a nation within a nation is certainly impossible; what nation would allow such a thing? This is the bottom line; no matter how much tribute they are willing to provide, this point is non-negotiable."

"An autonomous region." Leon thought for a bit, crossed his arms behind his head, resting against the chair back, "I’m very lenient, and I accept the presence of autonomous regions."

Different peoples have different lifestyles, not to mention different species. Because of this, there are several autonomous regions within the Zhen Dan Kingdom—only those of high value of united front, like the Kobolds and Goblins, are set aside—not much for an additional Elf.

"Even if we agree to give them an autonomous region..." Isily furrowed her brow slightly, "The elves have always been proud and probably won’t accept it."

Leon smiled; he already knew those proud elves were unwilling to submit to him, even though he showed himself to be orderly, saying, "They are free to leave if they wish. I allow them to leave safely, even allowing them to take some belongings, but immovable assets must be left behind, and Danalan must remain untouched."

Leon thought, he could destroy Danalan just by flapping his wings, but doing so would only result in ruins, reminding, "And the Maze Lock, I want the Maze Lock."

Isily knew elves well; she thought it would be a tough negotiation, but not without hope.

"Thinking they can take everything without giving anything, do they really think I’m easy to bully?" Leon softly stroked Sharon’s hair, "Don’t force me to take action."

"I’ll try to talk to them," Isily bit her lips lightly, "hoping they will make the right decision."

After Isily left, Cecilia immediately huddled next to Leon, saying, "Do you think those who consider themselves lofty and proud elves will yield?"

"I don’t know." Leon indifferently said; he simply didn’t care about an Elf City, no matter how it turned out.

"If those elves insist on war, how about leaving it to me?" Cecilia straightened her chest.

Leon lifted his head and said, "It’s not that I underestimate you... Danalan not only has the Maze Lock, but those elves are also formidable; even with your current strength, you’re no match for them."

"I’m not like you, preferring to fight alone," Cecilia huffed, "I will definitely call on allies, Terar and Laisone... Anglistra and Salovis would certainly be happy to join the war too."

Cecilia hoped for the elves to resist; it didn’t matter if Danalan was ruined. She currently lived on the Volcanic Island and couldn’t abandon it to move elsewhere; even if she conquered Danalan, it would just be a country villa.

"We’ll see." Leon did not give an immediate answer.

Leon is now so strong that defeating him is almost impossible, yet he still left a way out. As long as those elves are still somewhat sensible, they should know how to choose.

Submitting to a Red Dragon is hard for the proud elves to accept. Most elves are unwilling to submit to Leon and can only choose to leave... There are also some who choose to stay, as Cecilia’s infiltration over the years was not without success.

Things progressed even smoother than anticipated; an Elf City was seized without any effort, leaving Leon somewhat covetous of the Talia Alliance. However, he couldn’t unreasonably attack the Talia Alliance, with whom there had been years of cooperation, because the Zhen Dan Kingdom had many benevolent Metal Dragons.

Would it be worth the risk of alienating so many Metal Dragons under his rule to forcibly declare war on the Talia Alliance?

Because of the presence of these Metal Dragons, does he have to honestly maintain peace in the Zhen Dan Kingdom and do nothing?

If he cannot unjustifiably wage war against the Talia Alliance, then it’s just a matter of finding a justification.

Leon suddenly thought of several excuses for declaring war, such as maintaining peace, anti-invasion, civilian protection, anti-terrorism, possessing weapons of mass destruction... Besides the Golden Dragons, Metal Dragons are not so old-fashioned; as long as there’s no mass slaughter after conquering the Talia Alliance.

Despite contemplating this, Leon didn’t take any action; he was still hesitating—

Colonialism can generally be divided into three phases: the early phase of aggression and conquest, the middle phase of plunder and control, and the post-World War II phase of covert manipulation.

Now he was uncertain whether directly conquering the Talia Alliance would be better, or emulating a certain nation, employing new colonialism, which could extract wealth without assuming various responsibilities, neither having to manage the country nor being accountable to its citizens... The point was whether this could be done successfully.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢