I'm a dragon, I only want to steal princesses

Chapter 331 Change of Throne

From the mouth of Bishop Marcel, Ganon learned about the current situation of part of the empire.

After all, Marcel is an archbishop with a high status in a diocese. At least within his jurisdiction, he knows much more than Anya's subordinates can find out.

In general, the empire's national power has actually improved dramatically under the rule of Queen Fred. The war and plunder of Mu Xia, the control of two cities in the Kingdom of Death, and the strengthening of its control over small countries such as the Principality of Xihe have all contributed to this. Let the empire benefit greatly from it.

But the benefits of the war basically went to the army, especially the new nobles who came from the army. The typical representative was Prince Lucio. After the war with Mu Xia, he received a fiefdom with a large population.

Less than a year has passed since the end of the war, and the empire has gradually entered a state of mobilization, continuing to expand its military strength. In order to expand military expenditures, taxes are also increasing.

The empire received a lot of benefits, but the benefits were used in its continued foreign expansion policy, which intensified the exploitation of local and lower-class people. Many local nobles who did not benefit from the war were naturally deeply dissatisfied with this, and the previous civil war was It was born because of this.

Queen Fred's religious reform also created many problems. From Bishop Marcel's perspective, the Holy Religion had been cultivating in the empire for many years and had a deep popular foundation. The drastic reforms led to the quiet growth of the Abyss Faith and the Death God Faith, which were originally regarded as heresies, triggering a series of fierce conflicts and damaging the relationship between the Empire and the Papal States.

At the end of the sentence, Bishop Marcel sighed: "Your Highness Fred, or rather Your Majesty, I grew up watching. In my opinion, she is indeed very talented, but she always has a... unrealistic quality. ambition."

"Is it unrealistic?" Ganon asked.

"She has always wanted to let the empire under her rule dominate the entire civilized world. Note that it is the empire under her rule. In short, His Majesty Fred wants to complete this matter in her lifetime." Bishop Marcel He spread his hands and said, "Do you think this is possible?"

"It's difficult." Ganon answered truthfully.

The empire is very powerful on the mainland, but it is not the only powerful country. With the power of the empire, it is very difficult to dominate the entire civilized world in a generation. The only country in this world that does this is Winter, founded by the elves. The final result of the empire is that the country is divided and the dynasty is destroyed.

How many heroes in history have wanted to achieve the great cause of hegemony, but this kind of thing often requires gathering the right people at the right time, right place, and the right people. One wrong step may lead to disaster.

In Ganon's view, it is not impossible for the empire to achieve this goal, but based on the current basis, it is unrealistic to complete it within Queen Fred's lifetime. If she works hard and works steadily, her children may be able to achieve this goal.

But now her methods are too radical, which has only aggravated domestic conflicts and hidden dangers.

More importantly, the existence of Dragon Ascension Nest, a common and huge foreign invasion in the civilized world, destined her expansion plan to be impossible to achieve smoothly.

"She cares more about her own achievements than the country. To her, this country is just her private property and a prop to complete her great achievements." Bishop Marcel was still talking.

"It seems that you have been holding back your opinion for a long time." Ganon teased with a smile.

"After all, if you say this in the country, if the military police find out, you will be arrested." Bishop Marcel also smiled bitterly, and then continued to murmur, "Your Majesty Fred is like this, and it is impossible for her to make changes. Yes, unless a monarch is replaced, this country will continue to be like this."

When Zhenna heard this, the tea cup she was holding suddenly stopped.

"Bishop Marcel, if you have any ideas, why don't you just say it directly." Ganouen had already noticed what the other party meant.

"Say it here?" Bishop Marcel looked at the other people present and hesitated.

"There's nothing inappropriate, just say it here." Ganon urged.

Bishop Marcel hesitated again and again, but finally plucked up the courage to speak: "Your Highness, Mr. Ganouen, I have been keeping your affairs secret and have not told anyone. But in this current situation, I feel that if some people can know the truth, Perhaps we can still gather some people in the country to support Her Highness Zhenna..."

Zhenna sighed softly when she heard this and put down her tea cup: "Teacher, is this the real purpose of finding this place?"

Bishop Marcel immediately shook his head: "No, no, it's just a casual mention. The key is your wishes..."

"Then I don't have any ideas. I live a good life here." Zhenna said in an extremely calm tone.

"This, that's it." Bishop Marcel, who hit a wall, stammered.

The atmosphere at the table became a little depressing. Ganouen turned his head and asked the butler Golem to pour wine for Bishop Marcel. Then he picked up the wine glass in the tone of the master and said to Bishop Marcel: "Come all the way. Thank you for your hard work, let’s have dinner first.”

"Okay, thank you." Bishop Marcel also quickly picked up the wine glass. He never mentioned this topic at the dinner table again.

After the meal, Ganouen invited Bishop Marcel to his drawing room for tea.

"Bishop Marcel, do you want Zhenna to ascend the throne?" After a few casual conversations, Ganouen brought up the topic.

"I'm just asking what His Highness means. After all, apart from His Majesty Fred, she is the only one who can guarantee the legitimacy of inheriting the throne." Bishop Marcel said with some regret.

Fred is determined to go his own way, and the only way to change the current policy of the empire is to let Fred step down. Once Fred steps down, without a suitable successor, the empire is likely to fall into turmoil around the throne, but if Zhenna After inheriting the throne, most problems can be solved.

Although Fred has done a lot of smearing against Ganouen and Zhenna in terms of public opinion, once she is driven out and the throne is in Zhenna's hands, her right to speak will naturally change. "Your Excellency, Bishop, do you trust me too much?" Ganon smiled, "If you let Zhenna sit on the throne, are you not afraid that I will rule your country behind Zhenna's back?"

Bishop Marcel sat up straight and said sternly: "You were able to stand up and confront Her Majesty Fred at that time when Her Majesty Zhenna had nothing. Of course I believe in you!"

"Even if you saw that scene today?" Ganon raised his eyebrows.

Bishop Marcel's expression became a little embarrassed: "Well, since His Highness has no objection, there are some things that are indeed not my business. After all, you are also a loyal believer of the Holy Light. Who Seraph, as the representative of Heavenly Mountain, why should I not trust you?"

Ganon knew that Bishop Marcel must have a huge misunderstanding about him and Salil, but he didn't bother to clarify.

"Of course I will respect Zhenna's personal wishes, but you also saw it today." Ganouen said.

"Yes, I know that Your Highness has no intention of competing for the throne from the beginning, and she is not very interested in politics. Instead, those who want to use her have been pushing her to get involved. After His Majesty's death, she should not be able to I feel nostalgic." Bishop Marcel lowered his eyes and said.

"Since you knew it, why did you mention it in front of her?" Ganon asked.

Bishop Marcel was silent for a long time, then lowered his voice and said: "Actually, some bishops and I jointly investigated some things. We suspect that His Majesty the late Emperor's 'death' may be related to Queen Fred. Someone in the palace revealed to us that the late Emperor His death seems to be accompanied by traces of a curse. Your Majesty, Fred, is probably contaminated by the Abyss Faith."

"Is that true?" Ganon said.

"There is no direct evidence, but there are many signs." Bishop Marcel whispered, "You don't seem surprised."

"Fred has a demon serving her, and she calls herself Isis. If Fred is not stupid enough to sign a demon contract casually, then she should be a warlock who has the ability to use demons." Ganon said.

Bishop Marcel's eyes widened.

"As for her killing the late emperor, this kind of thing is not surprising, is it? Zhenna should also have a guess. Do you think she will avenge her father after she is convinced of this matter?" Ganouen asked.

"It just adds to her psychological burden." Bishop Marcel sighed, "What did Mr. Ganou think?"

He felt that Ganouen had left him to talk about this matter, maybe he had other ideas.

"As I said before, I respect her wishes." Ganouen shook his head slightly.

"That's it." Bishop Marcel realized that the other party wanted to end the topic, so he stopped discussing it.

But then he remembered something, and cautiously cast a probing look at Ganon: "By the way, I heard that something big seems to have happened over there in the capital..."

"An ancient black dragon's attack? I've heard about it too," Ganon replied calmly.

"Do you know anything?" Bishop Marcel asked cautiously.

This is an organized attack by dragons against the empire. Anyone who knows the existence of Ganon will naturally consider whether this matter has something to do with the red dragon entrenched in the north of the empire.

"Don't worry, I'm not on the same side as them. I'm also investigating them." Ganouen dealt with it.

"I understand." Bishop Marcel said without getting to the bottom of things.

After chatting for a while, Ganon asked Baphomet to send a golem to prepare a room for Bishop Marcel.

Then Ganon sat alone in the living room, sorting out the information he had obtained, and thinking over and over again about a question.

The empire under the rule of Queen Fred currently has deep internal conflicts, and is about to face the huge crisis of Dragon Ascension Nest, which is the so-called internal and external troubles.

As for his side, caught between the two, it is basically impossible to form an alliance with either side. He can only make the two fight, but one day, he must decide to deal with one side first.

To deal with the Dragon Ascension Nest head-on would require at least the military strength of a big country.

Facing the empire, he seems to have a new path to take - to find a way to assassinate Fred and let Zhenna sit on the throne. In this way, he can not only solve the threat of the empire, but also obtain the "great power military power" needed to deal with Dragon Ascension's Lair.

Now, he finally understood the true meaning of Angst's possibility of going to war with the Empire first.

(End of this chapter)