The land of shadows, the ruins of a temple.

Lying on the ground, Todd lazily basked in the sun, his eyes half-closed, looking incredibly content.

"The major cities of the Kingdom of Ulster have now stabilized, and the shamans and the warband commanders are dealing with those hidden rebels... I'm talking, did you hear me?" Ivy closed the paper in her hand, leaned close to Todd's ear, and said loudly.

Like an old dog, Todd twitched his dragon ears and snorted through his nose, indicating that he understood.

An annoyed Ivy punched Todd on the head and said irritably, "Rebuilding the city, eliminating the remaining enemies, transporting food... everyone in Froststone City is busy as bees, only you, the son of the gods, are idle all day long."

Todd opened one of his dragon eyes and glanced at Evie: "I'm currently recovering from an injury, and there's nothing I can do but lie in bed. By the way, besides Ulster, how's Connaught doing?"

"It's terrible... Cú Chulainn's army swept through Connaught and its vassal states like a hurricane, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people and burning hundreds of cities to the ground. The chapter soldiers are patrolling the entire Kingdom of Connaught, hoping to find some survivors among the piles of corpses."

Evie brushed a strand of silver hair behind her ear and said to Todd, "However, the Shamanic Assembly still hopes to focus its attention on the Kingdom of Ulster. After all, the Kingdom of Ulster suffered less damage, its infrastructure is more intact, it is closer to Froststone City, and the reconstruction work is simpler."

“This is the right thing to do,” Todd said slowly. “This war, initiated by Cú Chulainn, has affected nearly a million people across the entire Northern Continent. The loss of population and the destruction of civilization mean that it will take at least ten years for this land to recover to its original state.”

"It will probably take more than ten years."

Meredith's voice rang out not far away, causing Todd and Evie to turn their heads to look.

The woman, dressed in black raven feathers, had a beautiful face, but her voice was like the cold wind of early spring: "The damage that Cú Chulainn has caused to this land of the North is not only physical, but even more so spiritual. He has dragged those who have just adapted to civilization back to a barbaric age of bloodlust and slaughter."

Meredith sat down on a large rock next to Todd, preening his feathers as he smiled and said, "Healing wounds is easy, but soothing the soul is extremely difficult."

After glancing at the Raven Woman, Ivy's face darkened as she carefully put away the battle report. She stood up and said, "I'm going back to Froststone City. I'll come back in a couple of days."

Watching the Valkyrie ride the griffin into the sky, Meredith said to Todd, "It seems she still dislikes me."

Todd raised his head and looked at Meredith with a hint of mockery, saying, "Evie has already told me... When you were trying to bring me back to the Shadow Kingdom from the battlefield, you didn't even bother to negotiate with her and the warriors of the Froststone Legion. You just resorted to violence."

Meredith completely ignored Todd's accusations: "You were on your deathbed back then. Did you really think I would spend time trying to persuade those irrational Valkyries and warriors?"

Todd shook the dragon's head with amusement: "What you said is indeed correct."

The two remained silent for a while.

Meredith looked at Todd and asked in a low voice, "You've already witnessed Cú Chulainn's tyranny. Do you now realize the terrifying power?"

Todd turned to Meredith: "You still want to persuade me to give up the power of the tyrant and focus on being a human?"

"Although you are no longer human, I still want to remind you of the dangers that power can bring."

Meredith's image was reflected in the golden dragon's eyes. Todd slowly shook his head and said, "Power itself is not wrong; the one who uses it is wrong."

Meredith followed up with, "Don't you think that any monarch who gains power and authority, no matter how wise he may be, will eventually become a tyrant and destroy everything?"

Todd stared at the woman and asked, "What are you trying to say...?"

“Throughout history, most monarchs and leaders who possess power and influence have chosen to distance themselves from humanity, instead governing their countries with a bestial mindset. For example, they use slaughter to suppress all dissenting voices and enslavement to stifle people's calls for freedom.” A ripple slowly spread across Meredith's sky-blue eyes, which resembled a tranquil lake. “Todd, aren't you worried that you'll become a second Cú Chulainn?”

“I understand what you mean. You’re worried that a monarch will govern his country in the way beasts rule their herds, forgetting the preciousness of humanity and freedom.” Todd paused for a moment, then said to Meredith, “But if a country falls into chaos and turmoil, is all the blame limited to the monarch’s power and authority?”

Todd's words made Meredith frown.

Todd continued, "To give you a simple example, Cú Chulainn's Dead Silence Spear was the direct cause of the Six Circles Massacre. Let me make a hypothetical scenario: what if everyone in the North, except for Cú Chulainn, possessed such a weapon? While the monarch would no longer have the upper hand, and the power would be balanced, would the entire land truly achieve peace and tranquility?"

Meredith shook his head and said, "If everyone possessed deathly silence, the whole world would fall into endless chaos, and there would be no order left..."

"That's right. Those ancient people who possessed the Spear of Deathly Silence ultimately turned into dust in history because of their infighting and internal wars. Not only them, but also the Chaos Era, the Age of Gods, the Era of Epochs, the Age of Two Worlds, and so on, which Scáthach once spoke of, all ultimately led to their self-destruction due to internal strife. Therefore, the root of the problem does not lie in the monarch himself, but in human greed and the progress of science..."

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