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

Chapter 90 Practice is the only true test (3k)

Poseidon, Cedric, and the knights and mages behind them stepped into the heart of Starfall City.

The howls of wild beasts were blocked by the city walls, and the streets of the city were silent except for the sound of the wind.

The two walked through several narrow streets and alleys, finally stopping in front of a building hastily constructed from logs and stones.

This is the royal court of the Levi people.

This is hardly a royal court.

It was clearly just a somewhat well-organized shelter.

Inside the hall, the light was dim, with only a few tallow candles flickering on the stone table, casting long, thin shadows of everyone.

The ground was compacted soil, without even a layer of stone slabs laid down. In the corner were several bags of grain and bundled herbs.

Compared to the ornately decorated royal court of Elijah's time, adorned with luxurious carpets, this place is so simple it's almost shabby.

There were no tall pillars, no dazzling crystal chandeliers, not even a complete wooden door. Instead, there was a rough, thick wooden plank, barely secured to the door frame by two ropes.

The gates of the royal court were not closed, and a dim candlelight shone through, appearing particularly faint under the silvery-red moonlight.

Cedric stepped in first, followed closely by Pousser, who had shrunk in size.

The scene inside the hall was even more rudimentary than that outside.

In the very center stood a long table made of several planks of wood, with a dozen or so equally rough wooden stools scattered around it, some even missing a leg and barely leveled by a few stones.

At the end of the long table was a slightly taller wooden chair, which was Karen's "throne," the current leader of the Levi people.

Puse's eyes swept over the slightly taller wooden chair, and without the slightest hesitation, he gently lifted his dragon claw and snatched the simple "throne".

It was moved to the very center of the long table.

He shrunk his size and sat down directly on the wooden chair. The chair, which was not very stable to begin with, creaked under his weight, but miraculously did not fall apart.

Cedric ignored this and slowly walked to the right side of the long table, choosing a relatively intact wooden stool to sit down.

The left side of the long table remains empty.

That was a spot reserved for Karen, the king of the Levi.

The Levi servants, who had been quietly busy in the hall, were shocked by the presence of Puse and tried to stop him.

But since Cedric hadn't said anything, she stopped thinking about it.

Not long after, a series of hurried footsteps came from the back room.

Karen appeared behind the curtain leading to the inner room, still wearing the silver armor, her hair somewhat disheveled.

When his gaze fell on the dark blue figure in the main seat, he subconsciously stopped, a look of surprise flashing across his face, before naturally sitting down to Puse's left.

After Karen was seated, Cedric began to calmly recount Puse's core vision for building a unified dragon royal court.

For example, it requires both the Levi and the Long-eared Clan to send royal representatives to the Dragon Court to participate in the overall decision-making of the Guanping Starshine Kingdom.

The Dragon King's Court will oversee core affairs for all races, including conscription, taxation, land reclamation, and defense.

The original royal courts of each race no longer possess independent authority. The royal family's identity and the inheritance of their race can be retained, but they must swear allegiance to the Star Kingdom and the Dragon Royal Court.

This is undoubtedly a direct blow to Karen's existing power.

After a moment of silence, he looked up at Puse, who was in the main seat, and then glanced at Cedric, who was standing calmly to the side. His voice was filled with deliberately suppressed caution as he asked a series of key questions.

The first thing he confirmed was the autonomous boundaries of the Levi ethnic group.

If the Dragon King's Court oversees core affairs, can the Levi people still make their own decisions regarding the formulation of tribal rules and the daily management of their subjects?

He then pressed on the authority of the royal representatives, asking whether the Levi royal family members, who entered the Dragon King's Court, had equal voting rights in key decisions such as conscription and taxation, or were merely symbolic attendees.

Finally, and this is the point he cares about most.

Although their allegiance is to the Star Kingdom and the Dragon Court, how can they reconcile the conflict between the Dragon Court's orders and the Levi tribe's survival interests?

Puser thought about it carefully, but didn't give a very accurate answer right away: "This is not an answer that can be given in a short time."

"Today's Starshine, today's Starshine Royal Court, and even the Starshine composed of all its races, is nothing but a makeshift troupe!"

Puse also lacked practical knowledge of managing humans: "The autonomous boundaries of the Levi, the authority of royal representatives, and the conflict between commands and tribal interests."

"There are no ready-made answers to these things, nor are there any age-old rules to follow."

"What I want is not an empty promise, but real order! Therefore, nothing is necessarily a certain way."

"Just start doing it, just start experimenting!"

"The Starry Royal Court has been established. Your representatives should step forward, address problems as they arise, and if you hit a wall, tear it down!"

Puse said confidently, "If the experiment goes well, we'll establish the rules; if it doesn't, we'll start over!"

"In this makeshift world, only by trying can we know what's right and what will allow Starshine to survive!"

"I can only offer a basic framework for this —"

Pousser explained the concept of centralized power to Karen and Cedric, clarifying what legislative, executive, and judicial powers are.

The redistribution of power inevitably leads to the emergence of conflicts.

The conflict lies between the ruling power of the Starry Royal Court and the autonomy of various ethnic groups, between the authority of royal representatives and the dominance of core decision-making, and between the survival of the collective and the interests of individual ethnic groups.

Everywhere there was a fuse waiting to explode.

But Puse clearly doesn't care about these conflicts that haven't yet surfaced.

His eyes burned with an obsession with establishing order, regarding contradictions only as inevitable thorns on the road to unification.

Whether you pull it out or split it open, as long as it paves the way for the rebirth of the Star Kingdom.

Karen was acutely aware that this was an unknown path.

This so-called "unified royal court" is essentially a high-stakes gamble using the existing power of the Levi people as the stakes.

At the end of this road may lie an abyss, the complete annihilation of the Levi people's authority, and the disintegration of the race amidst chaotic experiments.

But he recalled the past, the defeat of Elijah, and the escape of the Levi.

Maintaining the old, corrupt system had already failed time and again under the iron heel of the Blood Empire.

It has divided ethnic groups, turned power into a tool for infighting, turned land into scorched earth of war, and transformed former glory into the shabby and impoverished refuges of today.

That old order couldn't even give the Levi people the right to live.

The unknown path described by Puse, though full of thorns and uncertainties, and fraught with the madness of a high-stakes gamble, at least gave the Levi people a chance.

An opportunity to no longer be plagued by division, no longer burdened by internal strife, and no longer easily crushed by external enemies.

A new opportunity.

Karen no longer hesitated.

He decided to draft a formal invitation, in the dual capacity of being an ally of the dragons and the royal family of the Levi, and send it to the Long-eared tribe's camp.

The invitation has two core elements:

Firstly, it was in response to Puse's idea to jointly discuss the initial framework of the Starry Royal Court and the laws.

This is the first step towards unifying the order and a prerequisite for representatives of various royal families to enter the royal court.

Secondly, it clearly addresses the matter of how to deal with Duke Balerliu and the Long-eared Knights.

The former, as remnants of the old Elia nobility, attacked the Long-eared tribe.

In retaliation, the latter also attacked the Levi people of Starfall City.

This invitation was both Karen's formal surrender to the Dragon Court and his first attempt to gain a voice for the Levi people.

Karen lowered her eyes and blew on the still-wet ink on the paper. This was a newly drafted invitation document, stamped with the seal of the Levi royal family. "The message will be sent to the Long-Eared Tribe tomorrow morning, in less than an hour. I just don't know when they will reply."

"We might get a reply in the afternoon, or it could be a few days later, or even half a month later."

As night faded, the brilliance of the silver and red moons was replaced by the faint light of dawn, and the streets of Starfall City were finally no longer filled only with the howling of wind and snow.

The sound of rapid hoofbeats, accompanied by the clanging of knights' armor, broke the silence of the early morning from the city gate.

Six days have passed.

A small squad of knights also appeared at the city gate.

Captain Oliver is back.

He once obeyed the orders of Puse and Karen, leading a force of twenty Red Fang Knights to take on the mission of eliminating goblins.

Returning now, his armor was covered in mud and dark brown bloodstains, and had several cuts, clearly indicating that he had been in a fierce battle.

Oliver wiped his face and, under the curious gaze of the Levi people, strode towards the Levi royal court.

During this time, many familiar faces stopped Captain Oliver, curiously observing his changes.

Many people think his current appearance is strange and very ugly, while others think the change is extremely beautiful.

Strength is beauty!!

The thick wooden door to the royal court remained ajar.

The candlelight that belonged to the night had long been extinguished, and in its place was the cool morning light that seeped in through the cracks in the doors and windows.

Pusser, still over two meters long, was dozing off on a wooden chair in the center of the long table.

With his eyes half-open, Cedric sat to the side, flipping through some old scrolls in the morning light, while Karen sorted through the tribe's remaining food supplies.

Upon hearing footsteps outside the door, three pairs of eyes looked up almost simultaneously.

Karen put down the wooden book she was using to count the provisions and her gaze fell first on Oliver.

"Captain Oliver, how did the mission go? Was it going smoothly?"

Oliver strode into the hall, first bowing slightly to Karen, then nodding to Karen and Cedric, before saying in a deep voice, "Your Highness Karen, the extermination mission has been successfully completed; not a single goblin in the lair has escaped."

He paused slightly, then changed the subject, his tone becoming more turbulent.

"The process was a bit complicated. When we were clearing out the last lair, we unfortunately ran into one of Malcolm's men."

"A ruthless gnoll squad!"

"Now that I've encountered it, there's no reason for me to let it go."

Oliver's eyes suddenly sharpened, filled with deep hatred. Elijah's demise was also orchestrated by this black dragon.

"I led the Red Fang Knights squad in a fierce battle against them and ultimately won, but—a few gnolls still escaped."