Chapter 309: Action

"Your Excellency, Owl, is right. The existence of the Church and the Temple hinders the development of the Empire's sorcerers." Esmerel stood solemnly, looking like a statue cast from molten steel. "The Old Gods are dead. They no longer belong to humanity. If the rotten earth is not thoroughly excavated, the silver iris will not bloom on this lifeless earth. My land, my people, everything I own will inevitably decline, hopelessly becoming food for the enemy and turning into the dust of history."

The queen's golden eyes reflected the god hidden beneath the cloak before her, creating a distorted image. It wasn't the comfort and relief of redemption, but rather the greed and ecstasy of a dying beast finding fresh blood: "—But now, a new god has arrived."

The god of resistance and change watched her in silence.

The wind blew, and the delicate branches of flowers at the feet of the three of them were blown to and fro, and the carefully tended soft long grass rose and fell like waves, one higher than the other.

"You should understand that gods require faith," Esmerel said bluntly. "And I own a vast empire, with a population of over 2.7 million. As long as you are willing, they will all become your believers—and all you need to do is accept the faith of the Silver Iris people and become the new god of Silver Iris and the entire world."

She had chosen to indulge this young man, blessed by the new gods, and had not taken action when he was still weak. She carefully controlled the balance, using him to deal with the old gods, suppress the Church, cleanse the royal court, and eradicate the maggots and traitors in the empire - until Esmerel began to feel that the situation was getting increasingly out of control, until she vaguely realized that this extremely arrogant chess piece had abandoned the simplest and most useful strategy, completely overturned her chessboard, and chose to embark on an extremely absurd and difficult path.

He wants mankind to rely entirely on themselves. He wants them to overthrow the old world with their own hands and create a beautiful future where everyone is equal.

——How ridiculous.

...how great.

So now she had to listen to the thoughts of this new god. Esmeralda was angry and frustrated to find that she had to put all her hopes on God again - God was indeed a human being, but Esmeralda had never believed in so-called human nature in her life, so she would not believe in God.

Then the queen heard the god laugh softly. He lifted his hood, revealing a face that was breathtaking in the moonlight.

...Even if this person just showed his face and stood in Kite Heart Square, Esmerel couldn't help but think that first of all, most of the noble ladies and noblewomen in the royal city would faint immediately, and then half of the royal city would willingly worship him as the new god.

"I refuse. You are inviting me into a ridiculous cycle." Azuka said calmly: "When gods are born, sorcerers prosper; when gods die, sorcerers decline."

"What then are humans? Disloyal dogs kept by the gods?" the God of Struggle and Change demanded bluntly. "With their old masters' bodies barely cold, they're already wailing and searching for new masters, wagging their tails for mercy?"

"When my country is torn apart by foreign enemies, when the bones of my people cover this land, no one will care whether they are human or dog." The queen did not seem angered by his words. She said coldly and tiredly, "Dignity is something only the survivors are qualified to explore."

"Is it the dignity of the royal family, or the dignity of the 'citizens,' as you call them?" the professor beside him asked sharply. "Strictly speaking, the nation is merely a historical category, the product of irreconcilable class contradictions. The strong do sometimes play a decisive role, and the royal family may be the product best adapted to the social contradictions of the time. But the vast majority of people in the world are still ordinary people. They are not sorcerers or warriors, yet they have successfully survived to this day, grown and prospered, and created a glorious human civilization. With the development of productivity, gods will no longer be a necessity for the vast majority of humanity."

Esmerel narrowed her eyes slightly. These words were truly shocking. Apart from the person before her, anyone else who dared to say such words in front of her would lose their head.

"You seem to have forgotten, the high and mighty ghost," she said slowly. "These... the vast number of ordinary people you speak of, those ordinary people whom you deeply respect and trust, are foolish, insensitive, cowardly, selfish, and cruel. Even a war, a plague, or a famine can harvest their lives like wheat, reaping them in droves. They may even turn on each other. Without the protection of the powerful and the empire, ordinary people wouldn't even have the chance to reproduce."

"You are correct, Your Majesty." Those smoky gray eyes seemed to see through everything, meeting her gaze with a cold yet compassionate gaze. "But have you ever considered who created ignorance, who provoked war, who allowed plague to spread, who ignored famine? These are problems that should be solved by developing productivity, but you have chosen to reverse history, choosing to create a new cage for humanity in order to prolong the royal family's rule. I don't know whether to call you foolish or cowardly."

"...It seems that we can't reach some consensus?" Esmerel was silent for a moment and said softly.

"It can't be helped. You and I are on different sides." The negotiations should have broken down and the atmosphere should have been tense, but the black-haired young man simply stared at her quietly. "If you could break free from the constraints of your current class and talk to me again, I would be happy to chat with you, such as how you destroyed a piece of Analene's soul."

"...You're interested in this?" Esmerel was slightly taken aback. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, a small, smug smile playing on her lips. "If I'm not mistaken, your record is even more glorious than mine."

"She's really stupid, after all." The professor sneered. "Or perhaps these old gods who chose to split their souls aren't very smart. Perhaps while splitting their souls, they also divided their brains equally."

The queen immediately burst into laughter at his harsh words, and a wanton smile appeared on her cold and hard face, as if she had not laughed so heartily for a long time.

"Oh, to be honest, I really like you." She slowly wiped away the tears of laughter: "It would be great if you were my minister. I'm really fed up with those incompetent idiots."

The professor glanced at her and said slowly, "Then I should always be thinking about how to seize power and usurp the throne, and how to chop off your head."

After all, he succeeded in his previous life.

"That's worth it. You're welcome to chop me down. The greatest kings always manage their subjects' ambitions with ease." The queen didn't look angry. She shook her head helplessly, her tone as if teasing an old friend: "And you're really a harsh talker. I'm afraid you get beaten up a lot every day."

"Don't worry about that," Azuka said indifferently, "I won't allow it."

The moonlight was beautiful, and the breeze carried the fragrance of flowers. Esmerel looked up and silently gazed for a moment at the large, bright, cold, and clear moon hanging high in the sky.

"The dance shouldn't be over yet." Bathed in the moonlight, she said quietly, "If you two are interested, you should still be able to catch the last song."

"Thank you for your kindness, but I'm not full and don't feel like dancing." The professor rejected her expressionlessly: "If possible, we would like to leave first and find some midnight snacks."

The queen looked a little surprised. "Oh? Was it the servants' poor hospitality, or was it the food not to your liking?"

"It has nothing to do with the dinner itself. Your arrangements are already perfect," the black-haired young man said quietly. "It's just that as a scholar, after seeing that precious Eternal Giant Mastiff Shrimp on the table, I was truly heartbroken and couldn't eat."

Having finally figured out the reason, Esmerel couldn't help but laugh again. She finally managed to stop laughing and tolerantly promised, "If I remember correctly, there should be a spare in the kitchen, and it's alive. I'll have the servants bring it to you."

"Really? Thank you for your generosity." The other party thanked him immediately, as if he was waiting for this.

The garden gradually fell silent again. The smile on Esmerel's face completely disappeared. She stared silently at the place where the two disappeared, wondering what she was thinking.

After an unknown amount of time, a young silver-helmeted knight silently appeared behind the queen and knelt on one knee. "Your Majesty, after they left Kite Heart Palace, that gentleman and the ghost immediately disappeared. I am incompetent and dare not follow too closely..."

"I understand." Esmerel said lightly.

The Silver Helmet Knight hesitated for a long time, but could not help but ask unwillingly, "Your Majesty, are we going to let them go just like that?"

The Ghost was as elusive as his name, invisible and yet seemingly omnipresent, like a dark cloud hanging over the entire empire. Now that he had finally seen the real person, he was forced to let him swagger away from Yuanxin Palace—no matter how he thought about it, it was a shame.

"What can you do in front of a god to protect someone he has decided to protect?" Esmerel glanced at him coldly. "Don't let me hear a second word of this kind of nonsense, which is meaningless except for angering the other party."

After meeting those golden eyes, the Knight in Silver Helmet lowered his head in fear. "Are you crazy?" He cursed himself inwardly, wondering how he could have the nerve to question the Queen's decision. Perhaps it was because the Queen seemed unexpectedly in a good mood tonight that he relaxed a little.

"Spread the rumor that the Ghost and the Queen are having a pleasant conversation, then attack the Ironthorn Territory." Esmerel rubbed his brow wearily and ordered calmly, "Don't hold back. That's Ghost's territory, and everyone there is either a traitor or a future traitor, including Percy Brody and the Brody family."

The young silver-helmeted knight trembled at the bloody command. He lowered his head even deeper and replied in a deep voice, "Yes!"