"A person who is truly insane will never be aware of their insanity. They will not believe that they are the ones abnormal; instead, they prefer to believe that the entire world is crazy while they’re the only ones sane and normal."—Roland Mist.

The formal discussion with the envoys from Xiluo was ongoing in the royal palace. Yet important affairs would always be discussed in private. The various complex details and hidden trades would have to be made under the cover of night.

The Xiluo Empire was the only undead country in this world; I had long expected them to join the Mist Alliance. And this was critically important; just joining in name only would be meaningless. The alliance would have to deepen the relations.h.i.+p between both sides. Yet exactly how, by how much, and in what aspects this relations.h.i.+p must be deepened were all various complex details that the core personnel of both countries had to meet personally to discuss.

Business, trade, diplomacy, military alliances, and thirty-ish other various such contracts were signed. But this was only the beginning.

Without making everything uniform between us for convenience, and without the will to truly do everything together, how could it possibly be called an alliance?

The future Mist Alliance would be quite large, but that didn’t mean that all the allied countries would truly think the same way. After all, each individual country would have their own needs, and in the end, the right to make decisions would still be in the hands of a few major countries of the alliance.

I figured that it would just be like my previous world. Even if the former Soviet Union or the European Union had rules on the surface that stated how every country would be equal regardless of size or anything else, the true right to make decisions would always be held by just one or two countries.

In my mind, the Mist Alliance needed to ally with countries to begin with, and the Xiluo Empire was probably the most trustworthy country alongside the Sleuweir Kingdom and the Eastern Mist Communal Country.

That’s right. I had very little trust in the Northlands’ human kingdoms. Some reasons included the fact that humans were short-lived and rulers would change quickly, but the worst of all was still the obvious fact that human rulers would easily backstab their allies; the majority of n.o.bles and royals lacked morals.

This time, I represented not only East Mist, but also Sleuweir and even the entire People of the Mist. My goal in these detailed alliance discussions with Xiluo was to come to an accord with the mega-country in all aspects. I also wanted to form a small private circle of my own within the Mist Alliance that possessed the true ability to call the shots.

"Then, after I return, the entire Xiluo Empire shall announce that Wumianzhe’s Church of Law is its national church… For undead to wors.h.i.+p a G.o.d and even receive divine powers, does this mean that it’s even possible for undead Holy Knights to exist in the future? This truly feels strange."

*Cough.* I coughed lightly in displeasure. What was wrong with undead Holy Knights? Was this an accidental jab at me?

"My apologies, Your Majesty. It wasn’t that I have any objections against you."

Lionheart shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. The main negotiator for the Xiluo Empire was him, since Omar… played around for a while, got bored listening to our discussion, and decided on his own to go to sleep. He was currently hugging his little teddy bear in a deep asleep.

"…Omar had lots of fun these past few days. By the way, Your Majesty, don’t you intend to return? If you retake your position as emperor, even Omar would listen to you."

"I’m not interested, as I’m now a living person. How could I possibly rule an undead kingdom? Besides, with you guys around, there’s no need to go through that much trouble. …Yep, I’m definitely alive. Even though there’s a memorial tablet with my name on it, I’m definitely still alive! That’s right!"

"In that case, let’s discuss the next topic, slavery…"

Due to our special relations.h.i.+p, East Mist, Sleuweir, and the Xiluo Empire were all actually one big family. In addition, the Xiluo Empire had the special political structure of a one hundred percent dictators.h.i.+p; as long as we made our agreements in private right here, things would be settled. The discussions were so smooth that it seemed like a casual conversation over dinner.

But even if we agreed on everything, truly putting it into action would be quite troublesome.

For example, the severe inequality in society. As we were all going to be believers of the G.o.d of Law, then, at the very least, we had to make everyone truly be considered equal in the eyes of the law. Although I had avoided adding combative words like "all individuals are considered equal" or "defeat the rotten n.o.bility" into our church’s teachings to prevent being instantly ganged up on by all of n.o.bility, all non-criminals were supposed to have equal rights and status according to Wumianzhe’s teachings. That meant that something akin to slavery shouldn’t exist in my planned society.

Get rid of slavery? That was something I definitely intended to accomplish, but the problem was with the upper level of Xiluo Empire’s society, the high-level undead. The living were actually their slaves and main armies, and most high-level undead treated the living as toys or experimental subjects. Getting rid of slavery would mean a ma.s.sive upheaval in their society. A huge number of those considered low-cla.s.s would s.h.i.+ft to the middle cla.s.s, which we had to be cautious about.

Most high-level undead definitely wouldn’t be like my knights or my Four Heavenly Kings. From a certain standpoint, the Holy Church wasn’t wrong about the undead since creating death and pain for the living was one of their few joys. Getting joy from others’ misery was part of the nature of the undead, and the oldest, high-level undead even treated the torturing of the living’s physical bodies as a form of art; they truly enjoyed the process. Attempting to change their way of thinking would be no different from killing them.

However, precisely the fact that the Xiluo Empire was a pure dictators.h.i.+p would actually make some things much easier.

"…Then let’s begin the process. There’s plenty of time anyways, and you can take it slow. Of course, if they still can’t accept getting rid of slavery in the end, then just make them cannon fodder. With Omar around, I refuse to believe that any of them can do anything about it."

With Omar’s soul net connections, any undead units under him would be unable to resist his commands. Back in the day, I had to consider that the Undead Emperors would be incredibly difficult to deal with. My new empire had to be a complete dictators.h.i.+p so that my successor would have the ability to be a perfect dictator.

I made that my design goal when I created Omar, but that relied too much on his natural ability, and the situation and my way of thinking changed later into believing that a pure dictators.h.i.+p wouldn’t be the most appropriate path. Instead, I left Omar aside. As a newly-born who was still sensitive, he had probably noticed his "father’s" dislike and abandonment, which was why he had rioted.

The ironic part was that after everything was over, it all went back to the starting point. This young ruler became the emperor in the end, and I still needed to rely on his power to realize my goals. When I thought of this, I looked at the "big boy" who was drooling while he slept on the table with his teddy bear. I felt I should treat him better in the future.

"Ah, father, why are you so weak and thin? Did you not eat your meals properly? Come and exercise together with Omar. Come here, you little apple!"

Alright, his sleep talking made me instantly retract my rare good intention towards him. I really wanted to wake him up with a brick. I had enough of public dances and singing, after all.

Well, there would be no end to this if I kept complaining, so I did my best to concentrate on the serious matters at hand.

"Now, the next topic is regarding the transportation between our two countries."

Of course, problems would easily appear on matters that not only pertained to social issues. There was a huge geographic barrier between us even if we were to become true allies. The long distance between the two countries rendered transportation between them inconvenient. However, I had already prepared a plan to deal with this.

"How’s the progress on Alkaid?"

Lionheart became quite excited when I mentioned the airs.h.i.+p Alkaid. After seeing that huge aerial combat behemoth that was evidence of a new generation, he had become more and more impressed but didn’t show it. In this area, Roland was truly far ahead of the current generation.

"I just received a message from Xiluo. With Mizar’s technology, in addition to a plentiful supply of materials in Xiluo, Alkaid [NG1] should have its mainframe completed within three months as long as we successfully deal with all technical difficulties. Its main weapons and outer sh.e.l.l should be completed in six months, and it should be ready for its first flight within one year."

Perhaps I was overly influenced by my knowledge of the impact of aerial combat strength in large-scale battles from Earth. In this world, airs.h.i.+ps were primarily used to transport soldiers, but my special love for aerial squadrons remained. In my mind, it wasn’t very meaningful to have just a single floating battles.h.i.+p. Without enough functional aerial battles.h.i.+ps to form an aerial fleet, Borealis wouldn’t be able to display the true power of Envy. It would be unable to function at its fullest.

The North Star aerial battles.h.i.+p brigade was my first planned aerial squadron for the future East Mist, as well as the Mist Alliance. Its flags.h.i.+p would be the Borealis, and the squadron beneath it would consist of seven large-scale aerial battles.h.i.+ps named after the stars of the Big Dipper—Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Dubhe, and Merak.[NG2] They would be of different sizes and have different functions. The Alkaid, which was number one in the order, had its construction handed over to the Xiluo Empire. However, progress in its construction could only be somewhat counted as successful. It took much longer than the number two aerial battles.h.i.+p, Mizar, which had its construction rushed in order to be ready for the military parade.

Of course, the current condition of the Mizar was just a scary-looking empty sh.e.l.l. Its side weapons, personnel, equipment and so on would require at least another half a year to reach top condition.

Actually, this could be considered quite quick already. After all, large-scale combat weapons weren’t like lettuce, easily made in a short time. In order to obtain an elite knight order, it would take most countries half a century.

What? You want to know why the Borealis was capable of being sent out in combat immediately? The Auland Empire was truly a mega-empire, and several generations had worked tirelessly on the only mega combat airs.h.i.+p that remained. All of its weapons, equipment, personnel system, command system, and parts were just about ready, not to mention Envy helped to transform it with undead power, which improved the overall capabilities of the airs.h.i.+p and gave it the ability to be used.

By the time I obtained it, it was already over ninety percent complete. All that remained was to give it personnel so that these novices could become more and more experienced under the command of the Borealis. Yep, although it sounded rather strange, the Borealis’ own understanding of its body far surpa.s.sed that of any engineer. Anything that it needed would be supplied to it, any resources at all. Of course it would quickly be able to be used in actual combat.

Despite the fact that we were now on the second and third airs.h.i.+ps, they were still far from being mature although we had the technology. We could only continue progressing as we figured things out on our own.

"It’ll be ready for its first flight within one year? That’s already quicker than I expected. Hmm, in that case, we’ll start the construction on Alioth and Megrez, while you can begin it on Phecda and Dubhe. We’ll leave the last one, Merak, for later. The goal is to finish this entire North Star aerial fleet within three years."

"Yep, as long as nothing big occurs, this should be achievable. I should say that as long as no new battles occur, it might even be finished before then."

Lionheart thought about the situation in Xiluo and made that promise to me.

"In that case, let’s temporarily use the Mizar for transportation between Diffindor and Xiluo, while the Borealis will be used for other transportation-related needs. It’s fine to use Undead Battles.h.i.+ps as large merchant airs.h.i.+ps for carrying goods, but transporting the living might be problematic. How about we try having the gnomes sell insurance to the pa.s.sengers? We might even make a huge profit."

"Right, where’s Ah Dang? I need to go on a faraway trip soon, and I want to take him with me. You all want to go as well? You can’t; I’m going to a human mega empire, and they’re very sensitive about undead there. I think that only Ah Dang can perfectly manage to pa.s.s as a living being…"

"The second—the former Second Senator Feyman is back? That’s to be expected. If he joined an Undead Emperor in the Undead Plane, who else would be better than him to lead the way for an invasion? If I was an Undead Emperor, I would definitely send him to be cannon fodder—I mean the vanguard, to test everyone’s reactions."

"The first Senator Gricasio? It’s perfectly normal to not have any news about it. Its’ power is unfathomably vast, and I only had a cooperative relations.h.i.+p with it. Don’t look at how lazy it was. It actually has a fierce personality and has a high opinion of itself, so I doubt it will obediently listen to any Undead Emperor."

"The Undead Plane is becoming more and more active? That’s also within expectations. But, be careful not to have too much contact. The Undead Emperors are incredibly difficult to deal with, and even you guys shouldn’t directly fight with them right now."

After taking care of all the details at once, it was almost midnight when I was finally finished.

What, there’s a silver-haired female elf right behind me who’s inviting me to a singing performance? The weather was quite nice today, and I couldn’t see or hear anything at all.

As I gazed at the weather outside, I stretched lazily. If I returned at this time, I figured I would likely have to listen to a certain person’s continuous complaints. As I was hesitating whether or not to find some place to pull an all-nighter or go find Adam for drinks again, a tall and strong figure appeared before me.

"Estrada?"

"You’re in big trouble."

When Estrada greeted me with this sentence, I wasn’t surprised in the least. After all, I knew that I probably made the Holy Church really angry.

"I’m not here to fight you. It’s just for a discussion."

Yet since he told me from the very start that he was here to talk and not fight, I relaxed. At the very least, I stopped using the powers of my Frigidwinter Earth, and its abnormal ice disappeared without a single trace, just like how it arrived, without a single sign.

"The new pope was so angered by you that he fainted on the spot, and he almost returned to the G.o.d of Holy Light’s embrace…"

"There’s no need to waste words. Estrada, someone like you probably doesn’t have that much free time."

"…Since the path of Holy Light is unable to save the world, how do you intend to do it?"

I hesitated somewhat as I looked at the man before me who had aged in appearance by several decades. For him, his belief in the Holy Light was akin to instinct, and I was unsure why he was here.

Finally, I ended up nodding.

"In that case, I’ll recommend a school to you, called the Nanxiang… what? Relax, it’s not a bulldozing school… I don’t need a bulldozer to steal elites from other companies."

I never thought that I would be giving this old and stubborn teacher of mine a recommendation letter to one of my schools.

"You were already prepared? You knew that I would come looking for you?"

"Of course… not. It’s just that recently, there has been many Holy Knights secretly coming to me, so I wrote extra recommendation letters and have been keeping them on me. Right, Aivla is there as well, and you can have a talk with her. But when you go there, it’s best if you disguise yourself. Otherwise, if your pope hears about it and really has a heart attack and dies, it’ll become an even bigger trouble for me. Oh, and your Cardinal Soros is a bit too old, so let’s not tell him either. I’d feel bad if something happens to him. What? He’s already been demoted from cardinal and has returned home to become a farmer? Ah, how pitiful (I’m so happy!)