Dictator From Outer Space

Chapter 274:

Chapter 274:

The journey back to Bagran was not supposed to be long.

It was because Arma had agreed to open a warp gate for them as a trial once they left the territory of Elvrande.

Originally, it was only possible to send something as small as Leobold, but with the Aether Origin reaching the completion stage, it could send a spaceship as big as Hyperion.

If the Aether Origin was completed, it would be able to create a huge warp gate like the one they passed through in Nox.

However, transcending time and space was still impossible.

Anyway, during the few days they left Elvrandes territory, Leobold and Margareta spent time doing various things.

They were almost trapped in a narrow space and had experienced many events, so they became very close.

However, there was no such thing as Camilla or Arma had worried about, such as sharing a bed, because they had a light argument over one topic.

It was Leobolds plan to burn down Yggdrasil.

H-how can you try to burn down Yggdrasil? He is a god.

He is not a god. He is just a big tree with some special powers. I am confident that I can replace him.

She realized that he was sincere when she saw his unwavering eyes.

This man was trying to kill the god of the elves.

Is it a righteous act to burn him down just because you can replace him?

I am not burning him down for no reason. Do you want to hear why?

She nodded her head after hesitating for a while and sat down on the chair as he suggested.

Hyperion was several times bigger than other spaceships, but it was shaken by the turbulence just the same.

The lighting device made of luminous stones on the table cast shadows on their faces.

You must have seen the elves in Medea a few days ago. They were calm when we arrived, but they suddenly became ferocious after Drizden said something.

But thats because they were following Drizdens orders

Not all the elves on the street were Drizdens subordinates. In other words, they hated us voluntarily.

They did not attack, but the atmosphere was so hostile that the knights were ready for battle.

He could only think that Drizden had incited them when he wondered why they became like that.

He had no intention of sending Leobold back peacefully.

When you are surrounded by an excited crowd, various things can happen. Sometimes someone can get hurt Drizden seemed to want that kind of scene.

Thats not the whole opinion of the elves.

It was not one or two people who did it in Medea, the capital of the elves. Even if its not all of them, it can be representative enough.

Margareta looked at him with sad eyes and asked.

What does that have to do with your plan to burn down Yggdrasil?

Being vulnerable to incitement is inevitable. It is easy to have a confirmation bias when you only hear one-sided claims in a situation where information is scarce. I would not be able to act so confidently if I did not have Arma. But

Leobold poured tea into the cup in front of her and continued.

I saw their confidence in executing justice in their words and actions. They thought it was the right thing to do. I wondered what made them think that way. And I realized it when I came to Medea.

Yggdrasil our god made them think that way?

Since they were born under Yggdrasils protection, grew up seeing Yggdrasil, and never left his branches, they could call him an absolute being. The elves ranked Yggdrasil above all other gods in the pantheon.

Margareta nodded her head.

Yes he is a definite god, so we dont even discuss his rank. The other gods in the elven pantheon also gave their decrees that Yggdrasil was different from them.

I want to break their faith by burning down Yggdrasil.

You want to achieve that by killing the god of the elves?

Yggdrasil is not a god. The only true god is Prophet Rasa.

She looked into his eyes that were burning with pure madness.

What kind of being was Prophet Rasa that made this cold and calculating human king worship him absolutely?

Of course, Rasa was known as the creator god of Astera and had his name in many myths, but he was almost an invisible god

He spoke again when she looked away.

I want to make them realize instead of changing their actions. Yggdrasil is not a god and he is just a tree.

They might understand if you persuade them well.

Peoples personalities are mostly fixed when they grow up and do not change until they die. Elves live for almost 300 years, right? Anyway, they are very stubborn after living for a long time.

If you burn down Yggdrasil, you will become the enemy of the elves, no, the whole of Astera.

It was the same for humans, Ains, and beastmen who did not worship Yggdrasil as much as the elves.

I was prepared to be the enemy of the entire continent when I came here. I have to endure that much if I want to change the world.

Margareta realized the depth of his faith when she saw Leobolds eyes that did not budge at all.

Whats the difference between the elves who worship Yggdrasil and you who worship Prophet Rasa?

I do not think I am justice. And I think it would be a little better for me to rule this world than the elves.

It was not a little, but much better, as Margareta could tell.

But the problem was that the method he used to achieve that was too extreme.

Is there no way to avoid burning down Yggdrasil?

You also seem to have a strong dependence on Yggdrasil. Thats why Yggdrasil has to disappear. Well, not completely.

What do you mean?

A being that can replace Yggdrasil is being created. When it is completed, this world will be able to use Aetheran energy much easier and more comfortably.

Is it your plan to create an artificial god?

Aether Origin is not a god, but you can call it that if you want.

Leobolds philosophy was that the only true god was Prophet Rasa, and the rest were just tools.

Even Astera Pantheon and Yggdrasil could not escape that category.

It might seem like a hasty conjecture, but it was not so unreasonable when he saw Armas recent analysis results.

Prophet Rasa created this world and deployed various algorithms to manage it. They are the ones with powers, the Astera Pantheon.

Yggdrasil is a storage of souls and a device that splits Aether into six types.

Aether Origin can replace both of them. It will make Aether much more efficient and convenient to use. When it is completed, there will be an Aether revolution.

Leobolds plan was to replace Astera Pantheon and Yggdrasil with Aether Origin.

Therefore, the big tree that gave the elves unnecessary arrogance had no reason to exist anymore.

Leobold spoke firmly to her, who still showed the will to persuade him.

Yggdrasil is nothing but a big tree with some special functions. You must not forget that.

The support was nothing but giving them wastelands that elves did not want to migrate to and providing enough food to avoid starvation, but the autonomy regions had no power to oppose it.

So the personal guard started to pick out those who had any Aether sensitivity.

In the process, it was common to part with family and friends, and some families were destroyed for hiding them.

Drizden wrapped up such actions as being for Asteras peace.

He also did not stop there and sent secret agents to Zium and Holy Kingdom.

He thought he needed cooperation from humans as well to deal with Leobold and Bagran.

Why should we be the only ones to bleed?

Zaium had started to antagonize him because of Pangrals air strike, and Holy Kingdom had the same goal as him.

They also needed divinities anyway.

But it was uncertain whether those divinities would side with Holy Kingdom.

So he gathered with the three countries for the first time in a long time and agreed on the threat of Bagran.

It was not a full-fledged alliance, and there were many obstacles to take actual actions, but it was fortunate that they took the first step anyway.

Drizden wanted Delphina, who had fled to Holy Kingdom, but she had already noticed it and ran away.

What a rat Cant she just tell me what she saw?

It was almost impossible to capture her by normal means because of her Nocturne power.

He searched Holy Kingdom for a long time, but instead of finding her whereabouts, he only found a few pieces of paintings.

Drizden frowned as soon as he received those paintings.

What do you think these paintings are? Ekidna.

They look like something she drew randomly in confusion.

The paintings depicted the battle scene between Legion Strike Fleet and Plague Queen, but it was impossible to guess that without prior knowledge.

It looks like they are fighting monsters with Aether cannons Anyway, its impossible to bring Delphina here, right?

Yes. She has no place in Holy Kingdom either, so she must have returned to her original place.

She wont go to sea. Theres no way out there.

What about Leobold?

He and Shadow Elves were almost enemies, but in this situation where he had enemies everywhere, there was not no chance of joining hands with him.

He had managed to settle down humans who were wandering around committing crimes as slaves after all.

Keep an eye on Bagran. You never know when Delphina will pop up. And contact me when you find her.

Drizden looked at the map.

Elvrande, Zqium, and Holy Kingdom together were almost equivalent to the whole world.

Leobold had turned the world into his enemy.

No matter how strong he was, it would be difficult for him to cope with this situation.

He would be pressured in all aspects, not only military, but also economic and cultural.

But Drizden did not know that he had experienced this situation many times.

Compared to the harsh and complex environment of Earth in the 21st century, Astera was like a peaceful temple.

And Leobold was ready to crush the heads of those who made noise in that temple.

***

Leobold, who returned to Bagran, received reports on Elvrandes movements, national development plan, and integration work.

The elves actions were as Arma expected, and the national development plan was going well with a lot of funds invested.

At this very moment, there was a large-scale construction going on somewhere in Bagran.

But integration was not easy even with Armas power.

For complete integration, land was important in the end, but the owners did not want to give it up.

Even if Pangrals air strike was the case, Galisto was the same as the old Bagran.

Most of the land was occupied by nobles, and the royal direct territory was only a part.

Leobold wanted Arma to manage all the land.

We will have a lot of headaches with land issues when the Aether revolution begins. We need to solve the ownership problem now for that time.

Land was important regardless of the era, and it would be more important later than now.

It was easier to manage if all the land belonged to Leobold, that is, the emperor.

But there were no easy obstacles for that.

It would be too bloody to push them away

Galisto had more than twice the population of Bagran, and there were many nobles.

Moreover, Leobolds territorial integration work had not been done at all.

There were hundreds of nobles who had settled down, so it was expected that a lot of blood would flow if he mobilized his troops to push them away.

Arma suggested the following method:

It would be better to start with an accurate census and land survey. Then, we need to abolish the gold standard and introduce new taxes through currency reform.

Make them pay taxes with our currency only?

Yes. With paper money.

Paper money was not even attempted in Astera due to credit issues.

At best, it was only used for bills when circulating large amounts of money in places like Denova.

In fact, paper money was not necessary because the economy was small and a small amount of gold and silver was enough.

But according to Armas analysis, the population would explode and the economy would expand greatly from the point when the Aether revolution began.

It was not bad to do some groundwork before that.

Leobold nodded as he looked at the roadmap she presented.

We have enough cotton to produce high-quality paper money. The problem is the deadline

We can exchange gold and silver at a 1:1 ratio without limit for a year while establishing a bank. After that, we need to add surcharges.

That will solve both the wealth assessment of nobles and land issues.

It was nothing but a robbery without a knife, but it was efficient in that it did not spill much blood.

Leobold liked it.

There was a drawback of lack of credit, but it seemed possible somehow if he guaranteed payment with equal value and showed off Bagrans huge gold and technology.

Good. Execute it right away.

This would probably make him hated by many nobles.

But Leobold was used to it.