I am a wicked dragon, and you want me to fall into goodness?

Chapter 121 I Will Restrain All Power of the Levi (3k)

Karen stood there, listening to Puse's intricately planned scheme, and felt the gloom that had been weighing on her heart for days completely dissipate.

The previous anxiety and worries vanished, and a burning light gradually ignited in his eyes, becoming increasingly bright.

His chest heaved, clearly deeply moved by this ever-growing picture of a virtuous cycle.

Young people are easily fooled.

The Levi people wander here, hoping for a stable life to reproduce and make a living.

Puse's decrees precisely struck at the heart of all his subjects' wishes and paved a smooth path for Xinghui's future.

He suppressed his overwhelming joy and looked intently at Puse: "Your Highness Puse, according to you, our most important task right now is to immediately issue a decree throughout the entire territory to promulgate the policies on land reclamation and grain tax."

"Shouldn't we quickly establish a dedicated department for grain control to coordinate grain procurement, storage, pricing, and distribution?"

He couldn't wait to implement these policies immediately, to see the people of Xinghui rush to the west to reclaim wasteland, and to witness the magnificent scene of wheat fields covering the land and a thriving population.

Pu Se glanced at him, her silver-blue vertical pupils showing little emotion, and simply uttered a single word: "Yes."

Karen could no longer contain herself.

He bowed slightly to Pu Se, not having time to say a word, and strode out.

His steps were so light they seemed to fly, and he disappeared into the courtyard in an instant, presumably to gather people and push forward the implementation of the government's orders, not wanting to delay for even a moment.

The wind in the courtyard gradually grew cool.

After Karen's light footsteps completely disappeared into the distance, the vibrant atmosphere from before also faded considerably.

Cedric stared at the empty courtyard gate, his aged brows furrowing once more.

"Your Highness, Princess Karen is young and passionate, full of hope for the future, but Cedric dares not fail to prepare for the worst."

"A system of pioneering, reproduction, and increased production seems wonderful, but what if it doesn't meet expectations—"

"The newly reclaimed land is not productive enough, and the grain produced is simply not enough to support consumption. It cannot feed the growing population, nor can it fill the stored granaries."

"The situation will be even more difficult then than it is now. How will we handle that then?"

He has lived for nearly a century and has seen too many seemingly perfect plans ruined by the gaps in reality.

Food is the most fundamental of all.

If production cannot keep up with demand, all previous decrees will become meaningless, and the Starshine Kingdom will be doomed.

"Tsk, old folks are hard to fool!"

After talking for so long, Puse changed his posture and lay down on the ground.

"Cedric, I refuse to believe you haven't secretly spied on the fairies' life magic!"

Cedric stiffened slightly upon hearing this.

He had indeed privately studied the essence of fairy life magic, trying to understand its magic that could bring crops to life.

"But, Your Highness, the Levi are not fairies, nor are they the darlings of nature. There is a price to pay for studying life magic."

"I only dare to stay at the level of spying."

He looked up at Puse, his tone somewhat grave: "The existence of life itself is a miracle; life magic is no ordinary magic."

"Forced research will inevitably come at a great cost. At the very least, the forces of nature will backfire, causing one to be afflicted with a withering curse, the surrounding vegetation to wither, and one to be attacked by the animals around them."

"It's even more serious; it could attract those nature-worshipping druids, who see those who violate the laws of nature as mortal enemies."

Upon hearing this, Puse raised his eyelids slightly and rubbed his dragon head against his claws: "Tch, it's just increasing production a little, how is that going against the laws of nature?"

"We're not like those demons who can ripen a batch of wheat in two or three days."

"It's just a slight increase in yield per acre, to help the wheat grow fuller and ripen more steadily. What's the big deal?"

He paused, raised his front paws, and his tone indicated that he didn't care about the small price.

"At most, it'll just be being rejected by nature, suffering some backlash and curses. Can't you even handle that little bit of trouble?"

"If plants wither, they wither; if wild animals attack, they're slaughtered and cooked. What's there to be afraid of?"

He was completely unconcerned about the so-called natural backlash.

In his eyes, the price of ensuring food production could keep up with the snowball of population growth was negligible, just a small trouble for Cedric, and not worth mentioning at all.

As long as it's not Puse who has to pay the price, then there's no problem.

If the consequences fall on his shoulders, then—that's another story.

This is naturally rejected; you can tell it's not a good thing just by hearing its name.

The evening breeze ruffled the old sage's gray hair, and Cedric fell into a long silence.

He gazed towards the distant wheat field, his Adam's apple bobbing twice as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, it turned into a silent sigh.

Pu Se lay on the ground with his vertical pupils half-closed, taking in all of his struggles. He breathed out softly, his breath carrying a faint mist.

The courtyard was so quiet that only the sound of the wind could be heard. Pu Se was extremely patient and showed no signs of the impatience she had shown earlier. After a long while, she slowly spoke.

"Cedric, I'm telling you, you don't need to put yourself in such a difficult position. You're studying life magic just to prepare for the worst."

Cedric was thinking about the scenario after the positive cycle broke down.

If everything goes smoothly, then he won't need to study this forbidden area at all.

The more important they were to Cedric, the more Cedric couldn't help but feel anxious and insecure.

The sun rose to its zenith.

The warm sunshine bathed the Red Fruit Garden, where the branches were laden with heavy, red fruits.

Karen's figure strode quickly through the corridor, heading towards the lighthearted departure of hope.

The accompanying attendants carried the drafts of government decrees and followed closely behind, not daring to linger even slightly.

Hongguoting was a place established by the Levi people after their westward migration to facilitate the gathering of their tribe's power and the exchange of benefits, specifically for handling various affairs of the Levi people.

Its power is rather limited, as it has been stripped of most of its functions by the Dragon King's Court and can only play a mediating role in many matters.

The Levi people were able to accept its existence entirely because of the deeply ingrained ruling ideology of the nobility.

Rather than taking the matter to the Dragon King's court, the Levi people preferred to come here and let the nobles judge the case in the presence of the nobles.

The summoning servants in the courtyard were changed three times. Karen had been sitting quietly in the main seat of the main hall for nearly two hours, and the time gradually came to afternoon.

Karen: "————"

Because Karen had just fought quite a fight with the Earl of Austin, the timid nobles had all chosen to hide.

Karen sat upright in the main seat, the urgency of the morning gone. In order to find the nobles who had gone into hiding, he sent his men to the outskirts of the city and the private residences of the nobles.

They either revealed their identities and forcefully summoned him, or explained the consequences to persuade him to appear, which took up a lot of time.

It wasn't until the afternoon that all the nobles of the Levi people finally gathered in the government hall of the Red Fruit Court to handle government affairs.

Although their expressions varied—some were alarmed and uneasy, others were indifferent—they had all gathered together and formed a proper meeting place.

The people took their seats in order of their clan status and seniority. The richly dressed nobles whispered among themselves in twos and threes, wondering about Karen's urgent meeting.

Once the hall was completely quiet, Karen signaled to her attendants to distribute the documents concerning land reclamation and grain tax policies.

He then got straight to the point, revealing the core of the policies established by Puse.

From reclamation and land reclamation in the west, which were then granted to individuals and exempted from taxes for the first three years, to exemption from corresponding land taxes for families with more children, and then to the establishment of the Grain Storage Bureau to control grain purchase, storage and circulation, and to fixing the price of black bread.

Each item is clearly organized, ensuring stable livelihoods and promoting reproduction.

Karen did this in the hope of first consolidating the factions within the Levi people, then using the influence of the nobles to encourage the Levi people to respond, thus laying a solid foundation for the subsequent implementation of her policies throughout the territory.

But as soon as he voiced his idea, the hall fell into silence, and then a undercurrent of opposition began to rise.

The old aristocracy, led by Karen's uncle Moses, expressed their firm opposition and clearly stood on the opposite side of Karen.

As a senior noble leader of the Levi tribe, Moses enjoyed extremely high prestige among the nobility.

He took the lead in making his position clear, and a group of nobles who were dependent on him echoed his sentiments, forming a powerful opposition camp.

They cling to the long-standing hierarchical concepts of the Levi people, insisting that land belongs to the upper class and that land is a symbol of nobility.

Only nobles and knights who fight for their people are entitled to own land.

Commoners are meant to depend on nobles and knights for survival, relying on the land granted by nobles to cultivate for a living and on the protection of knights to survive.

In their view, the westward expansion should have been led by nobles and knights, and the lands developed should rightfully belong to the nobles.

Commoners were merely appendages to the labor of the nobility, let alone enjoying tax-free benefits.

Karen's proposal to return land to the people completely touched upon the core interests of the nobles, while grain storage and control cut off their avenues for hoarding and profiteering, and controlling the survival of commoners.

The nobles echoed Uncle Karen's views, believing that commoners were not worthy of owning land.

All the spoils from land reclamation should be collected by the nobles and then distributed to the commoners for cultivation. This would be more conducive to the management of Starshine.

Inside the Red Fruit Hall's government affairs room, the nobles were spouting rhetoric about upholding their class privileges.

Karen's initial goal of gaining the support of the Levi faction, which she had hoped to achieve by securing the support of the Long-Eared Tribe, has completely failed.

Karen felt betrayed.

Parliament broke up in discord.

The nobles escorted Moses out in single file. Some whispered among themselves, still criticizing the decrees, while others glanced toward the throne as they passed the temple gates, their eyes filled with arrogance and disdain.

Moses walked at the very end, paused to glance back at the empty main temple, but ultimately said nothing more, and steadily walked away, leaning on his staff.

The noise gradually faded away outside the Red Fruit Courtyard.

The tense atmosphere in the government office fell into complete silence, with only scattered government documents on the desks being gently turned by the draft wind.

Karen remained seated in the main seat, her back ramrod straight, as if she were still maintaining the posture of a superior during meetings.

The nobles' arguments still seemed to echo in my ears: my uncle's resolute stance, the crowd's agreement, their contempt for commoners, and their steadfast adherence to privileges.

Each and every one of these incidents was like a sharp blade, piercing through his expectations of the Levi nobles.

The chill of betrayal spread from the depths of my heart, enveloping my entire body.

He sat there quietly, without saying a word or moving. The sun outside the window gradually sank in the west, and the warm golden afterglow slowly faded away. Only the evening breeze blew through the branches, bringing with it the fragrance of fruit.

The servants waited at a distance under the eaves, not daring to approach and disturb him, only watching the solitary figure on the main seat, blending into the twilight as the light of day shifted.

The light gradually dimmed.

The cool evening breeze blew into the empty government office, ruffling the stray hairs on his forehead and chilling the tea on the table, which had long since gone cold.

No one knows what he's thinking. Perhaps he's regretting his naiveté, or perhaps he's pondering how to break the deadlock.

As dusk settled and the first rays of dawn broke, Karen slowly moved her stiff neck.

He went to the window, his eyes fixed on the rising sun, the burning passion in his eyes mirroring his increasingly resolute heart.

"Since you are unwilling to support me."

Karen gripped the hilt of her sword. This once kind and upright young man had ultimately been corrupted by the blue dragon, becoming insane and brutal.

"Then I will forge a court that supports me with my sword, and I will restrain—all the power of the Levi."