Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 601 Political Maneuvering and Business Negotiation

Although the heavy clouds in the sky had long since dispersed, thin layers of clouds still shrouded the sky above the northern wilderness.

Just as geese leave their mark in flight, powerful and legendary beings also leave an indelible mark on the world every time they unleash extraordinary power.

The clouds above the northern wasteland are also a remnant of the dragon nest field effect passively formed by the brief descent of that dragon emperor.

Therefore, no matter how powerful a legend is, or even a being destined for greatness, they would not squander their power carelessly, lest it cause serious consequences.

After all, no one knows which world, on which seemingly desolate star, exists a terrifying and inexplicably powerful being.

Only beings with absolute confidence in their own strength, or those with a perfect and pure mastery of the power of laws, would dare to act in a way like the Dragon Emperor.

Following the gaze of the Iron Dragon Morton, the old mage Constantine and the young Isol occasionally saw illusory cloud dragon shadows appearing and disappearing in the sky, wandering among the high-altitude clouds.

According to the knowledge passed down by these orthodox academic monks, for a similar dragon's nest effect to occur, at least an adult dragon would need to manage its own nest and leave a sufficient impact.

And this timeframe is at least fifty years.

But the Dragon Emperor of that distant empire left his mark on this world forever with just one accidental arrival.

This mark, which cannot be erased by the natural instincts of the world, also became a Damocles' sword hanging over the heads of the old sorcerers Constantine and Isol, in danger of falling at any moment.

Even the Kingdom of Dean, behind the old mage Constant, a powerful magical civilization with twenty-eight strong arcane fortresses, capable of waging a large-scale war in any material world, dared not provoke the dragon emperor at this moment.

Of course, there are now twenty-seven arcane fortresses.

The ruler of the Kingdom of Dean, the head of the Magic Council, has even personally contacted Constant through magic, instructing the old mage to ensure that he does not offend the emperor of the Golden Empire.

Because if the Kingdom of Dean were to go to war due to foreign enemies, the most dangerous opponent might not be the legions of distant empires or the Dragon King, but rather other civilized nations in this world.

The Kingdom of Dean even faces the risk of being overtaken and divided up by numerous civilized nations.

This stems from the influence of different ways of thinking and different eras, much like the fundamental difference between the Golden Empire and other civilizations.

Whether it's Morton and other Gogmora dragons representing the Empire, the officials of the Golden Empire, or the citizens of the Empire, they all view the Golden Empire as a single entity.

However, other civilizations often prioritize individual interests when making many decisions.

Only when the individual interests of the decision-maker are satisfied can the national interests behind that individual become a secondary factor in the choice.

This is also the fundamental difference between a nation with a highly cohesive national culture and those civilizations that exist simply as national civilizations.

The reason for this theory is that many scholars in the Golden Empire, when faced with the foreign policies of other civilizations in the world of Ekania, discovered that the foreign policies of many civilizations often conflicted with each other, and many decisions were like those of a child, without any rules or reason.

Therefore, scholars within the empire explored this phenomenon and arrived at this conclusion.

Iron Dragon Morton also knew that the relationships between nations and civilizations in the world were often not as rational as the Golden Empire's approach to other civilizations.

The rule that individual interests must far outweigh collective interests is the operating principle of the vast majority of other civilized countries.

Therefore, Morton the Iron Dragon was pondering how to make this wasteland another vanguard base for the Empire, a springboard to other material planes.

The most important thing is that the world's power structure is stable and that the Golden Empire's rule over this wasteland is acknowledged.

"There is a crucial premise to our cooperation: the Empire is not interested in the territories ruled by humanoid civilizations,"

Iron Dragon withdrew its gaze from the sky, and faint images of the world beyond remained in its vertical pupils.

Because what Morton was looking at was not the mark left by the Dragon Emperor's descent, but rather he was peering into the starry sky.

In the mortal world, every bright spot that living beings see with their naked eyes may be a complete world or a giant star.

Iron Dragon Morton didn't know if he would be able to complete that great journey for the Golden Empire in his lifetime, even though Morton was confident that he could rely on his own abilities to get through the twilight years of the dragons and step into the threshold of the ancient dragons.

But Morton knew that he was now walking steadily toward a future even greater than ascending to become an ancient dragon.

Like the dragon kings and great dragons in the Golden Empire, he followed the dragon emperor who had traveled far across the stars, spreading the civilization and order of the empire throughout the cosmos.

"But this matter doesn't actually depend solely on the will of the Kingdom of Dean and the Golden Empire, unless the Golden Empire is willing to launch a massive expedition for it,"

Constantine tapped his staff lightly, and powerful magic temporarily shaped and activated the matter in a small space in this valley, creating a small courtyard that seemed to appear out of thin air on the mountain peaks on both sides of the valley.

The gateposts rose, the pavilions stood tall, the artificial hills jutted out, and the stream meandered through the courtyard, all revealing in the blink of an eye the old mage's precise control over the power of magic.

The existence of this small courtyard is entirely controlled by the legendary will, isolating the exchange of elemental magic between the inside and outside, shielding it from the prying eyes of prophetic spells and the distant gazes of other civilizations in this world.

"The Kingdom of Dean and other civilizations have been vying for the right to develop and rule this wasteland for decades,"

Constantine sat cross-legged on a magically shaped cushion, his staff held horizontally between his legs, his hands completely off the staff, to show his attitude toward the iron dragon before him.

At such a short distance, if Iron Dragon Morton were determined to hunt down this legendary mage, his success rate would likely be extremely high.

"Many lords in the wasteland are nominally leaders of various monster races, but in reality, most of them have secret ties with other kingdoms and civilizations, just like the Kingdom of Dean and the Iron Dragon Grus before them,"

Constantine looked at Morton's vertical pupils, which had become calm as he pondered, and said softly, "Even if you want to occupy the territory that Grus originally ruled and cooperate with the Kingdom of Dean, it will invite covert obstruction and sabotage from other kingdoms and civilizations." "They will even go to great lengths to incite discord and conflict between us. At that time, not only will the dragons under your rule be in danger, but you will also have to worry about numerous dangers. This is not an attempt to scare you, Lord Morton."

"Although the Dragon Emperor is powerful, no one will bow down when it comes to the power, status, and interests of those people. The might of the distant empire cannot frighten these greedy fellows,"

"Unless you eradicate them all, destroying them both physically and mentally!"

Iron Dragon Morton couldn't help but raise the fine scales between his eyebrows and grinned, saying, "I haven't seen the other kingdoms stirring up trouble yet, but at least I've seen you stirring up conflict between the Empire and the other kingdoms."

The young mage Isol's brow twitched. Because his individual strength surpassed that of the iron dragon before him, even with the Dragon Emperor's intimidation, Isol was not subservient to this dragon king.

Therefore, Isol spoke directly: "Lord Morton, everyone knows that your empire's goal is to rule the entire Wasteland Continent and extend your imperial claws deep into our world, so this kind of resistance is inevitable."

"Unless you can fight against the whole world with the power of your country, but I'm afraid you can't do that. Even though your emperor is so powerful, he is not an absolutely invincible force."

"This involves the interests of the vast majority of civilized nations in the world, and you cannot achieve your goals by relying solely on deterrence."

"Even if we don't want to confront the Dragon Emperor from afar head-on, all we need to do is drive you out of our world. Would the Dragon Emperor really go on a personal expedition for something like that?"

"Even the Dragon God would be exhausted to death by endless troubles!"

"If one or two of your dragons were to die, would the Dragon Emperor risk the entire world's hostility to launch a massive war? Forgive my bluntness, but the legendary, destined powerhouses in our world, if they unite, would not necessarily fear the Dragon Emperor's power!"

Iron Dragon Morton grinned slightly, but didn't say anything.

Morton knew that every true dragon that truly integrated into the Gorgmora dragonflight would be favored and watched over by the Dragon Emperor.

Although not every moment, if a true dragon were to fall in this world, Emperor Goggmora might be capable of annihilating one or two nations as a warning to others.

When it comes to protecting one's own, even the Platinum Dragon God Bahamut would be at a disadvantage compared to Emperor Goggmora.

This is also the fundamental reason why the true dragons in the empire can regard this country as a unified entity; their existence is the foundation for becoming a unified entity.

However, although Iron Dragon Morton knew that cultural and economic colonization was ultimately achieved through force, he believed that a purely aggressive approach would only bring trouble upon himself and the empire.

That's not impressive; it's asking for trouble and is an extremely foolish thing to do.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, but as long as there is a start, Iron Dragon Morton can gradually rectify and turn the situation around. This confidence comes from the Iron Dragon King and the confidence that the empire behind him relies on.

He was able to gain the Dragon Emperor's approval and take charge of things independently because of his extremely flexible work style.

Then Morton laughed and said, "So, I want to discuss cooperation with you."

“I intend to use the example of your cooperation with the territory of Grus as a demonstration to the rest of the civilizations in this world,”

"Let them see that cooperating with the Golden Empire can bring them far more benefits and wealth than before, even more than they could have gained by ruling and developing this land themselves,"

Morton's fierce face revealed a savage dragon smile, exuding a natural and composed aura that made the two mages prick up their ears to listen.

"After that, I will negotiate with representatives of other civilizations to create a massive Tosla Commercial Group, based on the development and rule of this wasteland continent,"

Iron Dragon Morton looked up at the distant world of Ekania, pondered for a moment, and said, "Hmm, this world is in Ekania, east of the Empire's mainland. Therefore, I will name this giant Tosla Group the Eastern Gold Commercial Group."

"Within this group, all the civilized nations in the world that can occupy a certain weight will hold corresponding shares according to a certain proportion,"

Morton continued speaking, recalling the examples of influence brought about by the business groups and the steel dragon Midil in the Empire's homeland.

"At that time, you will participate in all the civilized nations of this group, and all you need to do is sit back and count the money, while we will be responsible for the development and operation of this land,"

"Of course, if you are still concerned, you can even send a legion of a corresponding size to be stationed on this continent to oversee our development and operations,"

"If we can make money together and share the spoils, why resort to war to resolve such a win-win situation?"

Iron Dragon Morton raised his claws, his dragon eyes gleaming, and grinned.

"Most importantly, the empire does not exist in this land as a sovereign nation, and you do not need to worry about the Golden Empire's aggression and offensiveness!"

Isol was slightly taken aback. The old mage Constantine squinted at the dragon before him for a long time before slowly sighing, "Indeed, a dragon valued by such a great king is no ordinary dragon."

"Your Majesty Morton, you are also a king capable of standing alone. I admire the Golden Empire's education of dragons, which has transformed the once savage dragons into what they are today!"

The old mage changed the subject and said, "This model is indeed feasible, but what benefits will the Kingdom of Dean gain by cooperating with you?"

"As for benefits, it depends on your needs,"

Iron Dragon Morton's narrowed vertical pupils had turned into round ones, and he said with a smile, "But whether it's war, resource development, or civilian industries, the Empire has corresponding preferential policies for its sincere allies."

"Advanced war and resource development products produced by the Empire will be supplied to the Kingdom of Dean with priority. You will have the right to choose and purchase Empire products first, as well as the right to set your own prices!"

Isol and his teacher exchanged a silent glance and said in unison, "Then we'll see what exactly the Golden Empire has that gives it an edge over our nation!"

(End of this chapter)