Beneath the Red Dragon

The solar disk ascended into the sky, illuminating the earth. Yet, even in the ever-evolving Golden Empire, most internal happenings were not really something new.

”There’s nothing new under the sun,”

Baal, a Central Councilor of the Imperial with graying temples, stood on the third-floor terrace of his home, taking a delicate sip of licorice iced tea. He looked down upon the farce occurring in the nearby wide-street-separated civilian district and spoke faintly.

The Imperial Central Council, as the highest level of power delegated by the Emperor, wielded authority unimaginable to ordinary people.

Although Bronze Dragon Alina was busy daily with state affairs, the matters dealt with by her claws were merely a fraction, perhaps one in thousands or even one in ten thousand, of what the Golden Empire needed to address.

Because the majority of affairs ultimately converged in the hands of the Imperial Central Council, where council members reviewed, processed, and then swiftly distributed them to the Governor’s Mansions in various provinces.

Only important state matters, such as directions and courses the Central Council finds difficult to decide, are submitted with opinions and proposals to Thunder Doss and Bronze Dragon Alina.

As one of the prominent scholars and high officials in the Golden Empire’s Central Council, Baal resided in the upscale residential area known as ”Dagonia Flower Bud,” owning a luxurious three-story villa.

Yet, a scholar of this caliber, whether in the Golden Empire or elsewhere, could afford much larger estates, ten or a hundred times larger than this, a grand manor towering many times higher than this three-story villa, based on his capability and talent.

This is not because Baal was trafficked by slave traders; in fact, Baal once served as a senior advisor in the Southern Noble Alliance of the Northern Continent.

Nor was it because Baal hoped to gain endless longevity from the rulers of the Golden Empire—the dragons—but because there always exist people who possess their own aspirations and ideals in the world.

Perhaps describing these people as idealists would be more appropriate.

Baal, in any other place, could not see his ideals blossom into vibrant flowers, which led him to resign from his senior advisory position under the contact of the Imperial Planning Department, traveling countless miles to the Dragon Country.

For in this nation built from the wilderness, Baal saw the soil where his ideal flower could blossom.

”Haha, just like the ’World Python’ steel train, before boarding, everyone outside hopes there are seats available, even standing spots would do.”

”But once those people get on the train, all they wish for is to close the doors quickly,”

Green, a fellow Central Councilor, raised his dragon-patterned insulated water cup, taking a sip of ’Green City Jade’ tea leaves soaked in diluted Water of Life, commented on the musings of his old friend.

’Green City Jade’ is cultivated by Pick Elves in the tea garden of Forest Dragon Antajena, known for improving circulation and nurturing the body’s vigor. It is also the favorite beverage of aging officials in the empire.

However, due to its limited stock, it is only gifted by the Dragon Lord Antajena based on merit and mood. Even Central Councilor Green relishes it, savoring each sip.

In this period, the Golden Empire welcomed a booming era of rapid development.

With the Ancestral Red Dragon and Gogomola Dragon Group’s native Giant Dragon Lords overseeing, following the Emperor’s orders, Bronze Dragon Alina and Blue Dragon Doss reinvested the accumulated distributable wealth of recent years entirely back into the empire’s comprehensive construction.

At the moment, the population of the Golden Empire was visibly increasing day by day, with the prosperity of various cities advancing dramatically.

Even the cities built post-Orc War, like Dagonia, unfolded vast and expansive roads. Not only are there stations for the ’World Python’ steel train.

There are also countless aerial vehicle stations, including Flying Dragons, Two-legged Demon Dragons, Steel Flapping-wing Aircraft, Goblin Airships, reaching the borders of the Extreme North Icefield, the site for the City of Mutual Trade gradually built by the Frost Giants on the grassland.

Westerly connecting the empire’s border, Winter Hideaway City has trade relations with the Vampire Country of the Western Continent.

Southward along the River of Gold, one can take riverboats to the southernmost city—Bay Stream City.

From Bay Stream City, many Giant Species slaves and the specialties brought out from the Divine Forsaken Mountain Range by the Giant Species can be purchased.

In Dagonia, aside from the sprawling and crowded commercial markets and residential areas, every city constructs a large square for public gatherings and celebrations, and the Saint Hall of the Dragon Group, enshrining statues of the Gogomola Dragon Group.

There is also the unique bathhouse of the Golden Empire, concentrating the healing and treatment parks of priests, medical mages, and healers across races, along with Alchemy workshops, Weapon Forging workshops, etc.

And the manifestation of the martial spirit in the Golden Empire, the massive domed Gladiatorial Arena.

It is worth noting that due to the increasing numbers of Vampire Species and Wolfman Species within the empire, the long-standing grudges and animosities between these two races have caused the brains of Vampire Species and Wolfman Species to splatter the gladiatorial arenas of almost every city in the empire.