The Villain Princess survived the Imperial Riot

"So, you wandered around Fran because Fran was the most turbulent region," the high priest sighed. "Now, with change and progress, all of Fran is heading towards your ascension ceremony. I'm curious, does the freedom you seek truly exist?"

"Migratory birds fly from the mountains to the warm sea, and from the warm sea back to the mountains. The established is inherently uncertain, and extinction is also freedom. The cage is measured by your heart, Father... I see the coast."

"The Old World."

The priest looked at the endless coastline with longing. Invisibly, he could see the towering tower in the sky. Just by looking at it, his eyes were bleeding from the pressure.

He took a step back, moving away from the ship.

"Then I wish you the freedom you desire. Goodbye, my friend."

Volume 122: Bird in a Cage: . Your Highness, who would you like to rule the world with?

The northern coast of the Rasfen Sea, the Aesir Alliance, Still Bay.

The southern part of the Old World is mostly plains, while the northern part is mountainous.

The Sound of Steele is icy all year round and is located in the north. It is separated from the Empire by a long border of forests and mountains on land, and is protected by the Rasfen Sea on the sea. Fortunately, it has escaped the conquest of the God-Emperor.

But for thousands of years, the Aesir Alliance has been an important participant in the game in the northwest corner of the Old World, and once established its rule on the southern coast of the Rasfin Sea and the land of Avalon.

However, with the conquest of the Old World by the God-Emperor and the entry of the Manufacturers into the Kingdom of Tyran, the Aesir Alliance has lost the power to play the game between the two. It has been reduced from the invincible overlord of the Lasfen Sea hundreds of years ago to a commercial alliance trying to survive in the cracks.

Under the harbor where the ice floes drift, the unknown dragon's tomb has been pried open.

Clara lit the torch, and the flames of sublimated power illuminated the magnificent and empty hall, as well as the dozen or so corpses of the Tyran elves behind her, dragging out kerosene and blood.

The towering pillars, adorned with glittering gold and jewels, were like coiled dragons and snakes. Every footprint left by the iron boots was a blazing gold coin larger than the palm of a hand.

Stairs paved with gold, platinum, fiery gold, purple gold, and black gold lead up to the nest at the very top, where lies a double-winged dragon skeleton over a hundred meters long.

The age of dragons is even more distant and ancient than that of the elves. Legend has it that the dwarven alchemy did not originate from the Furnace Punishment, but rather from the secrets left behind by the dragons. Their civilization has long since vanished into the depths of history, and the dragon ruins discovered by humans are merely the dark echoes of their lost past.

However, the legends and nursery rhymes of dragons still appear in the records of many races like indelible strange stories, and those myths that are difficult to distinguish between true and false will never stop being passed down through the singing of bards.

Clara didn't understand the dragon's civilization, but she couldn't say she knew nothing about it.

The God-Emperor who built the Imperial Tower was known as the Dragonborn. These Dragons were a race of ancient dragons long lost in history. In the distant past, they left the devastated Azure Land and found a new paradise beyond the sky. That paradise was the Violet Moon, illuminating the Azure Land through a thousand years of turmoil.

Clara climbed onto the dragon's lair, and a scepter that looked like a silver needle relative to the dragon's bones stood between her eyebrows.

"The Scepter of Judgment."

The Knight Commander stepped forward tremblingly.

With every step she took, the dazzling light pressed down on her shoulders, as if invisible hammers and chisels were prying at her head, trying to peel off her soul and flesh.

"Unbelievable..." Clara murmured.

After she was healed by the rare item from the Lorraine Treasury, she was very close to the door of perfection. The blessing of the Emperor of God made her as tall as a tower. Every wisp of wind and every leaf around her seemed to be in another dimension isolated from the world. No external force could interfere with her inherent state and operating rules.

If an iron shield were to stop the flowing breeze, it would be torn into pieces. If a sharp blade were to cut through the flowing clothes, the sword would fall apart.

Wherever she stood and whatever she touched was perfect and unique, eternal and unchanging. Even the passage of life seemed to stagnate in this power.

But now, just by being close to the scepter, Clara felt that her "structure" was unstable.

However, when the pressure of the scepter tore through her "barrier" and touched the blessing of the God-Emperor, the strong feeling of rejection suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a serious but gentle closeness.

Clara climbed onto the dragon's head and held the scepter in her hand. Suddenly, a long-forgotten memory suddenly popped into her mind.

"On more than one occasion, the dragon has shaped the flesh and skin of history in both Chaos and the present world, keeping the end of destruction out of official history... Dragon bones are spiritual, nurturing 'authority', bestowed upon those who come after them, to put an end to the chaos."

The solemn and dignified warning contained the spiritual thoughts of the Knight of Judgment, like a beam of light frozen in time and space, which remained unchanged even after a hundred years.

Clara said nothing as she held the Scepter of Judgment tightly in her hand. Her flesh and blood began to collapse, and the next moment it dissolved like foam. The repeated dispersion and aggregation made her unable to tell whether she was in reality or a dream. The pain that tore her soul apart made her howl instinctively and uncontrollably.

Finally, countless rays of light burst out from her torn skin, and finally dimmed, leaving behind spider-web-like dark golden lines.

【Judgment Scepter】.

The moment it was recognized, Clara understood its power.

As the natal ritual vessel left behind by the Knight of Judgment when he ascended to heaven and a holy embryo containing the complete path, the Scepter of Judgment points directly to the beacon of the Knight of Judgment, symbolizing complete authority, rather than being like an ordinary secret weapon that only contains the secret arts of power related to the path.

The Judgment Knight's domain is the Tower and the Spirit, symbolizing thunder, awakening, and death. Therefore, the Staff of Judgment can amplify all influences, whether it's the weather and nature, human desires, or even the power inherent in authority. However, this isn't a blessing, but a pure curse—it polarizes all connotations, leading to destruction through unstoppable unfolding. Furthermore, the Staff of Judgment can completely isolate "influences," sealing laws and matter into a state that cannot be dispelled, sensed, or escaped.

Clara held up the Notes of Time in her left hand and raised the scepter with her right hand. In an instant, the giant dragon bones were rapidly becoming fragile. The skeleton that had remained indestructible after countless thousands of years seemed to be "aging" for a moment. The Knight Commander stretched out his hand and touched it, and the bones as smooth as white jade immediately turned into powder.

A spiritual energy floated out and was absorbed by the Notes of Time.

"Strange History..."

Feeling the added power of the ritual vessel, Clara closed the time notebook and turned to leave towards the secret passage at the exit of the underground palace.

She suddenly turned around and looked at the underground palace filled with treasures.

The countless gold and jewels could probably be the empire's fiscal revenue for several years, not to mention that these gems and precious metals themselves are important materials for performing secret arts and arcane spells, and have extremely high strategic value.

Unfortunately, the Imperial Navy fell behind the Kingdom of Tailan decades ago, and now it can't even muster a decent fleet. The wealth far away in the Still Bay is destined to be out of reach of the Empire.

Clara closed her eyes. Inspired by the tower, she seemed to rule the entire underground palace, becoming one with the structure. The vibrations of the earth, the rush of the ocean currents, were all clearly imprinted in her mind.

Then, she raised her scepter once more, and her spiritual perception echoed with the dream-like voice in the sky: "The ice sea is boiling, the earth is shaking and thunder is roaring. Please use the angel of judgment to command this tomb to collapse and destroy."

In an instant, with the underground palace as the core, the entire Steele Bay shook violently, bricks and tiles loosened, ships tilted, huge waves rolled onto the shore, and floating ice that had frozen the day before hit the streets like hail. People rushed to the streets, watching this scene trembling. Fortunately, the shaking stopped after a moment.

Half a day later, a tall, brown-haired woman climbed onto the harbor beach. She glanced at the pier sign and walked into the tavern, wet and with pale lips.

In the warm tavern, mercenaries and adventurers drank heartily, while the bard played the wooden lute and sang about the past of the ruins in the north.

Seeing the majestic woman sit down, the drinkers looked at her with a little surprise. Then, a dozen elves with different mechanized bodies pushed the door open and walked in.

The leading elf first looked at the cracked golden threads all over the magnificent woman's body, and then looked at the golden scepter in her hand that looked like a spear and was decorated with a double-headed eagle.

"High Knight?" asked the leading elf.

Clara looked up at him, then at the oak barrels filled with beer on the bar.

"This is not the place for you to come to the dragon ruins..."

"Shh!"

The spear split the head, and the tavern suddenly became noisy, with people and horses falling to the ground.

……

At Yunting Villa, the princess has been busy again recently.

Some time ago, with the cooperation of the Austrian-French Alliance, the Yunling Private Armed Company successfully destroyed three overseas franc counterfeit money factories. Although it was inevitable that some counterfeit banknotes flowed into the country, that amount of money was less than one-fifth of the amount printed by the princess every month. The rebels printed it anyway. Anyway, francs could not be exchanged for gold shields, so they just regarded it as adding a little liquidity to the currency.

The second more important point is -

A major labor uprising in the Kingdom of Tailan.

Like the Empire, the Kingdom of Tyran was not born of its parents. Not only did it suffer from Grey Elves' separatism, but it also experienced occasional riots by Blood Gold, Half-Elves, and Inferior Elves.

Bloodgold was once an inorganic creature created by the elves of Tyran. The Steam Mold Division imbued it with a naive wisdom and life, hoping to replace the kingdom's indolent subjects. However, the bloodgolds ultimately succumbed to the instigation of the people and forged a pact with the half-elves, forming a society that has plagued the Tyran Kingdom for decades.

Originally, this incident had nothing to do with the princess; at most, the Tailan chaebol had hired Yunling's privately-armed "mercenaries" to exchange pleasantries. But as if by design, the unruly citizens threw the entire West Coast into chaos. The textile workers in southern Yunding City even dared to rise in armed rebellion, not only occupying the entirety of Oak Court City but also driving the military and police out. They even secretly formed a parliament and dared to write to the princess and the Governor-General's Office, requesting the purchase of the city and establishing self-government.

"So, you're saying this matter has something to do with me." Hestia glanced at the little goblin crawling on the ground in front of the desk.

"Your Highness, that's not what I meant..." Liliana explained cautiously, "It's just that your recent rapprochement with some of the Thai tycoons has led to a large influx of their silk fabrics into the empire. To restore Yunling's glory, Yunling factory owners have had to bear the risk and pressure of bankruptcy, slightly reducing labor costs and increasing working hours... They're supposed to share weal and woe, but those workers don't understand the gentlemen's painstaking efforts and can't bear the slightest pressure..."

Hestia stared at Liliana, the pen in her hand clicking.

"I remember that the Governor's Office will provide recruitment subsidies to the factories on the Yunling Coast, right?"

"Alas, it's mainly because the rebels are restless and making business so difficult. At a time like this, we must save the business first. If the factory collapses first, how will the workers survive? They are such an unreasonable bunch..."

"bass!"

The pen flew past Liliana's long, furry ears and disappeared into the wooden floor behind her short, curled-up tail.

The goblin suddenly felt uneasy and sweat started to form on his tongue.

Hestia covered her forehead, feeling really troubled.

There must be a traitor behind this, but even if there is no traitor, an anthropomorphic person like Liliana will force out the traitor.

The printing press is not omnipotent. If it cannot increase Fran's overall output, it will be useless no matter how much money the princess prints.

Moreover, Yunling's armed uprising was beyond her expectations.

As the currency circulated in Fran, the princess started printing money at full capacity, harvesting cheap goods and raw materials from various provinces in Fran to stabilize prices in Yunling. In theory, she was using the blood and sweat of the peasants from all over Fran to exchange for stability in Yunling.

But Hestia could not have imagined that these goblins would really drink every last drop of blood——

Seeing that the lives of the Yunling peasants were slightly better, and facing competitive pressure from Thai products, the factory owners naturally felt that the workers still had room to further challenge themselves, and made adjustments based on the circumstances.

"You're ruining my plan." Hestia's eyes were blazing with anger.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. Your Highness, please spare my life. Your Highness, no one expected that those untouchables would follow the Thai people to make trouble, Your Highness. This is all a conspiracy of the rebels!" Liliana kowtowed.

The princess stared at her without saying a word.

Chop off Liliana's head?

These damn goblins are not the masterminds, at most they are stakeholders with some shares, and stakeholders like her are all over the upper class of Yunling, even including the Governor and those Iron Army soldiers who have just made a fortune!

She couldn't really kill all these people, otherwise Yunling, which had just started to improve, would immediately fall back to the starting point.

"Your Highness?" Liliana raised her head cautiously.

"Tell Will to come in." Hestia looked at Aphra, who was standing aside with a raised corner of her mouth.

Soon, a tall and handsome knight strode in.

"Your Highness." Will knelt on one knee.

"Within three days, quell all riots along the Cloud Ridge Coast." Hestia's eyes were stern. "First, intimidate them and point out that this is a rebellious conspiracy. Then, eliminate the ringleaders and stubborn elements. The rest of those who surrender must serve three years of hard labor and rest in the military mines to avoid punishment. Also, contact General Novend. I will provide him with military funds and ask him to quell the Fran rebellion as soon as possible."

Fran is divided into two major military regions, north and south, one is Yunling and the other is Leon. Novend is the general of the Leon military region.

Strictly speaking, Yunling is not actually part of Fran, but was conquered by the Sun Dynasty five hundred years ago.

The main reason why Hestia was angry was that the stability of Yunling was closely related to the sale of territory.

According to her plan, once the rebels in the Yunling Mountains had gained a foothold, the Iron Army would march in and annihilate them in one fell swoop. But now, the problem in the mountains hadn't been solved, and the back garden had started a fire instead.

If the empire showed any sign of weakness, it would deal a severe blow to the business of selling territories.

At that time, people would think about whether it was more cost-effective to buy the world or easier to conquer the world.

The Fran riot was not urgent for her, but since she had encountered it, she had to resolve it as soon as possible, otherwise Yunling would lose too much blood.