The journey to the meeting hall was not long, but almost everyone showed a look of horror after seeing Emilia.

This is not surprising. After all, the story of the Witch of Jealousy is widely circulated in this country. Even in such a remote place as Emilia, people know what the Witch of Jealousy looks like. Naturally, people here cannot be unaware of her.

In the past, these gazes might have made Emilia feel uncomfortable, but now, although her expression was still a little stiff, she was able to move forward freely.

The reason why everyone looked at Emilia like this was not only because of her, but also because of Fang Zheng behind her. Fang Zheng was not wearing a noble dress as usual, but was wearing the armor of the Undead Squad, with a black sword on his back, a silver dagger hanging from his waist, a triangular hat, and a bright red scarf covering half of his face. This unusual outfit naturally attracted the attention of others.

Then the door opened.

As the door opened, the civil and military officials in the meeting room turned around one after another. After seeing Emilia and Fang Zheng, they all showed uncontrollable surprise.

"This is……"

"Why is the half-demon here?"

"Reinhard, what kind of joke is this!"

"This is not a joke, guys."

Facing the angry questioning from the civil servants, Reinhard appeared to be very calm.

"This is what I call the last candidate for the king's election."

"Stop talking nonsense, half-demon, how can a half-demon be a candidate for the king's election?"

"This is a blasphemy against Lugnica! It is a blasphemy against our ancestors!"

“Not only did you bring the little devils from the slums here, but now you’re bringing in half-demons? Reinhardt, have you lost your mind!?”

The civil servants accused Reinhard one after another, while Fang Zheng just laughed and nodded his chin.

"Did you see that? Emilia, this is the howl of a defeated dog. Do you know why these people are howling so loudly? Because they know that they can't do anything and can't change anything. They can only bark like wild dogs."

"What did you say?!"

To others, Fang Zheng's words were like adding fuel to the fire, instantly setting the entire conference room ablaze.

"This is the sacred King's Election Meeting. How dare you speak rudely here!?"

"Holy, such a childish trick?"

Fang Zheng spread his hands and curled his lips.

"Like I said, you can't do anything. You're not even a participant. At most, you're just a spectator who came to bear witness. What can you do?"

"Why do you say that? How can a half-demon be qualified to participate in the royal election...!?"

"Emilia."

Fang Zheng was too lazy to waste time talking to these wild dogs. He just snorted lightly. Then Emilia raised her right hand. Then he saw that the badge in the center of her palm emitted a soft light.

At this moment, the noise in the hall disappeared almost instantly, as if the throats of those people were choked. Everyone stared with wide eyes in surprise, staring at the badge in Emilia's hand in amazement.

"You can roll around here, act like a spoiled child, yell, cry, whatever you want to do. But you can't change the fact that Emilia is the chosen witch. Not convinced? If you are not convinced, go find Bolkenny and ask it why it chose Emilia as the dragon witch. If you have the guts, go complain to Bolkenny, complain that the dragon is old and dim-sighted and actually chose a half-elf as the king candidate. This is a blasphemy to Lugnica. Go ask Bolkenny to change people, protest against it, and insult it?"

Fang Zheng's contemptuous mocking voice echoed in the meeting room, but these civil servants were so angry that their faces turned pale and they couldn't say a word.

Fang Zheng shrugged and looked at Emilia.

"Look, you are a bunch of cowards who can only vent their violence on those who won't resist. Reinhard, you are too nice. If anyone dares to talk to me like that, I will just go up and chop him up without a second thought. You are the first knight of the kingdom, so please behave like a first knight, okay?"

"That's what I mean. You didn't even say anything back when someone pointed at you and scolded you. I felt so ashamed when I saw you doing that!"

At this moment, Firut also complained. Before Emilia came in, she was the target of the ministers' attacks. At that time, Firut was so angry that she wanted to roll up her sleeves and deal with these bastards. However, Reinhard stood by and refused to let her do anything...

As expected, I should have let the young man be my knight.

"Shut up!"

At this moment, a civil servant suddenly rushed out, pointing at Fang Zheng with a red face.

"This is Lugnica's palace. You have no right to speak here. Don't think you—"

No one knew what he wanted to say, because the next moment, everyone saw the civil servant's head fly high up and then fall to the ground. His headless body shook left and right twice, and then fell to the ground with a "bang", blood splattered, even staining the clothes of other ministers beside him.

"Who gave you permission to point at me?"

Fang Zheng snorted and narrowed his eyes.

"Sure enough, wild dogs need to be taught a lesson before they learn what politeness is."

“…”

At this moment, the look in everyone's eyes when they looked at Fang Zheng changed.

They really didn't expect that the other party would actually dare to kill people in public, in the palace of Lugnica, in this meeting room!

"It seems like you didn't take what I said before to heart."

Fang Zheng patted the dust off his body.

"Now I think you guys should remember? Now, let me see who else is there?"

“…”

This time, facing Fang Zheng's question, everyone turned their heads, and at this moment, a voice rang out.

"Mr. Fang Zheng, don't you think you've gone too far?"

The one who spoke this time was none other than Crusch. At the moment, she was holding the hilt of the sword with one hand and looking at Fang Zheng with a frown.

"I don't think so. I warned them once before, and I even took a piece of your territory as a warning at that time. But now it seems that they may not care about my warning at all, and my patience is also limited."

Having said that, Fang Zheng stared at Crusch.

"I've given them one chance. Since they don't believe I would dare to kill them, I'll have to let them experience it for themselves - they made their choice and they have to bear the consequences."

“…”

Hearing Fang Zheng's words, everyone's expressions were a little distorted. Indeed, although Fang Zheng had threatened them before, at that time they just thought that he was just saying harsh words. Although Fang Zheng did defeat Reinhard in the end, and they also ceded a piece of territory. But at that time, for everyone, it was more like a consideration of not wanting to be an enemy of the strong. In their opinion, no matter how powerful a person is, it is impossible for him to be an enemy of a country.

But now, the twitching body lying on the ground has proved that they were wrong.

"Okay, that's enough."

At this moment, a steady and old voice sounded, breaking the silence in the conference room.

"Now that everyone is here, let's start the formal agenda."

The representative of the Council of Sages, Miklotov, seemed to completely ignore the unfortunate man who died below, and continued to preside over the meeting as if nothing had happened. The others also turned their heads as if nothing had happened. At the same time, the guards came up silently and carried the body away. Soon, everything returned to normal.

"Today's agenda originally had two topics, but now we can confirm through the Dragon Ball that the five present are all qualified candidates, so the first topic is over, and the next topic is the second topic - who will become the king. After all, although the Dragon Calendar Stone states that five candidates will be gathered, it does not specify the selection method, so in order to decide this issue, let's first ask the candidates about their awareness."

Hearing this, Emilia blinked curiously.

"It's just like what Milu said..."

"As for the policy agenda, this is necessary."

"Well first... Lord Crusch, and her knight Felix Argyle."

Hearing the call, Crusch came out with the cat-eared transvestite beside him - as expected, no matter how many times Fang Zheng saw it, this combination made him feel awkward.

"The candidate for the throne, the head of Duke Karsten, Crusch Karsten. This is my knight, Felix Argyle."

"Then, Master Crusch, please explain your thoughts."

"OK."

Crusch nodded in response to Mikulotov's words, and then looked around.

"I know exactly what you all expect of me, who has the opportunity to take the throne. The Karlsten family has a deep relationship with the royal family and has always had an influence on national politics. If I can succeed, national politics and national destiny will be able to continue peacefully... Is that right?"

“…”

After hearing what Crusch said, many people present nodded in agreement. Fang Zheng also thought this was normal. The important thing in politics is not change, but stability. For the ruling class, the best result of this throne rotation is a smooth transition, and the worst result is a complete overthrow. At present, Crusch is obviously the most favored one among all.

Not to mention that she also has the merit of destroying the white whale.

"But I'm sorry to tell you that I can't do it."

However, the next moment, Crusch's speech immediately changed the atmosphere of the entire meeting room, and it became even more solemn than when Fang Zheng killed the official just now. Many people were stunned and looked at Crusch in surprise, completely unaware of why she said that.

Facing the gazes of others, Crusch remained unmoved and continued speaking.

"The dragon-friendly kingdom of Lugnica - protected by the alliance with dragons in the past, it has built a prosperous country. All crises can be avoided under the protection of dragons. In war, it can burn the enemy country with just its breath, cure plague, and grant a good harvest when famine occurs... I ask, don't you think it's shameful?"

“…”

As Crusch spoke, the atmosphere in the meeting room became increasingly unstable.

"Especially after I saw what Mr. Fang Zheng did just now, I became more convinced of this."

Having said this, Crusch looked at Fang Zheng again.

"Mr. Fang Zheng."

"Um?"

"Why did you kill that man just now? After all, he is also a noble, isn't he? But to you, he seems to be worthless."

"nonsense."

Fang Zheng snorted softly.

"Everyone present here is a dog of Polkenny, aren't they? If Polkenny wants to have an equal dialogue with me, Polkenny himself is almost the best. But his dog dares to bark at me. Isn't this courting death?"

“Bold!”

"You are actually disrespectful to the dragon..."

This time, although Fang Zheng's words caused another wave of dissatisfied complaints, perhaps because of the lessons learned from the past, no one dared to stand up and die.

"That's it."

Crusch shook his head.

"No one looks down on us. Although Lugnica is a big country, we have never been able to get the respect and status we want. Why is this? Why don't you think about it? And as Mr. Fang Zheng said, he has the ability to kill anyone present. So, does this indicate a crisis for the kingdom? Will the dragon help us?"

"Now that the contract has been signed, the dragon will definitely not turn a blind eye to us!"

"This is what I'm worried about. If we attach too much importance to the Dragon Calendar Stone, we will be helpless when we encounter something that neither the dragon nor the prophecy board can handle..."

At this point, Crusch couldn't help but think of what Fang Zheng said when he was conquering the White Whale. If he really killed Bolkonni, would the people of this country avenge the dragon, or would they kneel down and beg him to protect this country?

Fang Zheng was very sure it was the latter.

In fact, Crusch also believed that it would be the latter.

"If a kingdom will be destroyed without the protection of a dragon, then it is better to destroy it. Excessive favor will lead to stagnation, stagnation will lead to degeneration, and degeneration will sound the death knell. That's what I think."

The ministers turned pale at Crusch’s unexpected words.

"You, you mean to destroy the country?"

"Of course not. If we lose dragons, we will perish. So, we just need to become dragons. Everything that the kingdom has relied on from dragons should be borne by the king and all the citizens. Therefore, when I become king, I will ask the dragons to forget the covenant that has lasted until now, because the pro-dragon kingdom of Lugnica does not belong to the dragons, but to us."

“…”

This time, no one spoke, and some even looked thoughtful. Indeed, at first glance, what Crusch said was a subversion of tradition, but if you think about it carefully, she was right. Just as Fang Zheng had shown before, no one could do anything to him, and they could only place their hopes on the dragon, but what if the dragon couldn't do anything to him either?

Moreover, why did the other party look down on them? The reason was simple. Although they were unwilling to admit Fang Zheng's statement, they still had to admit that this was actually the truth.

If Lugnica were to perish without the dragon's protection, it would be like a pet that loses its master and no longer knows how to hunt. It is only natural that it would be looked down upon.

For a moment, the hall was silent.

After a while, Miklotov's voice sounded again.

"Well, go on."