The Martial Unity

Chapter 3402: Favorable Unfolding

With the press documenting every word of the Empress’s address, the news of the Hlakaschken Trade Empire’s decision regarding the recent incident with the dragons of the Ryu Clan spread through the true world like fire within seconds. Most powers around the world reacted with a bit of surprise at the bold stance that the Empress had taken against the Ryu Clan, having expected something a little more subdued.

Instead, she unhesitatingly banned the dragons from entering the Hlakaschken Trade Empire and even tariffed an entire continent for the crimes of the Ryu Clan, putting immense pressure on the Ryu Clan to make ammends with the Hlakaschken Trade Empire in order to ensure that Kiriket Continent could continue making exports through the trade empire.

Tariffs instead of an outright trade embargo restricting all goods from entering at all made it painful for not just the therianthropes but also the citizens of the Hlakaschken Trade Empire, but she knew that she could get away with it, given how angry her people were against the Kiriket Continent.

The fact that her approval ratings seemed to go up despite the upward pressure on goods from Kiriket was proof enough that her calculations worked out to be accurate. People indeed were angry enough to bear the pain gladly if it meant punishing the people who inflicted the pain they did on their people.

Most nations were not pleased by either the attack conducted by the Ryu Clan on the territory of the Hlakaschken Trade Empire or the response by the Empress, however. The Hlakaschken Trade Empire was known for absolutely zero trade barriers despite its former lucrative position on the map. So much so that anybody could simply enter the country without needing to go through due process. This absolute freedom made it one of the most preferable places to purchase goods and services from any continent, allowing countries to acquire whatever they needed without needing to conduct negotiations with the parties that supplied the goods they needed.

It was ideal.

With the Hlakaschken Trade Empire taking such a tough stance, it made therianthrope goods more difficult for everybody to acquire.

Not everybody was displeased by this development, however.

”This is good for us.”

Emperor Rael’s voice was one of relief.

He skimmed through digital reports on his commpad, reading through all the information that the True World Intelligence Organization had been gathering for him on the matter. His table was scattered with all manner of documents pertaining to a wide variety of issues regarding not just the Kandrian Empire but the Panama Continent and all of human civilization.

His hair was disheveled, while his royal attire was crumpled. The dark bags under his eyes painted a picture of sleep deprivation with all the important and urgent work that was constantly heading his way.

Ever since Rui had told him about the fact that this Mother Maeria of the light elves had learned about Transcendence and knew about Martial Transcendents, he had trouble getting sleep. It made him truly wish that Rui had not simply divulged what was one of human civilization’s greatest secrets.

What made him even more sick was Rui’s report of Mother Maeria’s reaching momentary Transcendence.

It made him realize that the true world was even closer to Transcendence than he might have suspected.

The final nail in the coffin was when Rui told him that the top powerhouses of the world were made aware of Transcendence by Mother Maeria’s momentary Transcendence. It made his stomach churn that his son could be such an irrational person as to divulge Transcendence to the outside and accelerate the rate to the Transcendent Realm.

That was what kept him up at night these days.

Had anyone else divulged such a secret to outsiders, the Emperor of Harmony would not have been merciful.

Execution was the only option.

And yet, despite all the trouble that his son could create, the fact was that his miracles helped human civilization much more than his trouble hurt. His net balance sheets were overwhelmingly enriching to humanity, even if his occasional irrationality caused his father many headaches and sleepless nights.

The Race to Transcendence was a race that was just as important, if not even more important, than the Race to Space.

It was one that they could not afford to lose.

Whichever race reached Transcendence first would have the opportunity to exterminate all other races before they could reach Transcendence.

And the only race that he trusted not to annihilate human civilization was the dark elves.

He glanced at the reports of the dragons of the Ryu Clan going berserk with a knowing expression. ”...You did well this time.”

The Emperor of Harmony didn’t even need to look at the evidence. His sharp intuition sensed Rui’s fingerprint in the matter. He didn’t even know where Rui was at the moment, but he sensed that he was responsible for the dragons going berserk.

”This should buy us some time in the case of the War Coalition.” His tone was serious. ”But... I hope you have accounted for the reaction of the Dragon Emperor, my son.”

Despite lagging behind on the common wisdom of the true world, even nine and a half months after the Unfolding, even the Emperor of Harmony had heard cautionary tales of the Dragon Emperor’s legendary wrath and an ego that exceeded even his astronomical power.

Having completely shed the form of man, the Dragon Emperor was a true dragon in every form and shape, having completely transferred his consciousness to that of the dragon he bonded with while their bodies converged into a singular being. He inherited the qualities of both beast and man, and displayed an irrationality comparable to those of giants.

He was not a man who could be reasoned with very easily, if at all. It was one of the reasons that Emperor Rael regarded the therianthropes to be just as much of a threat to human civilization as the Evolutionary Army and the Imperial Tekvorian Federation.

”Be careful, my son.”