Hearing Ed address him, Nuowa could hardly believe his ears. He looked up in astonishment and met a pair of—no, a pair of sincere eyes.
" My Son of God, please stop testing me..."
Nuowa sounded somewhat frustrated:
"This isn't a strategic retreat; I genuinely don't want to continue... Working for you is actually quite nice."
As he spoke, he once again took out the very old book from his spatial pocket:
"If you don't trust me, you can take a look at this. Even the legendary Stral couldn't have foreseen this..."
Ed shook his head:
"On the contrary, I truly believe in you, and I genuinely want you to be the next emperor of the empire."
"But why?"
Nuowa asked instinctively, confident that the person in front of him would understand even if he didn't finish his sentence.
Why, why not simply incorporate the empire into the territory of the Second Holy See?
Why would I want to be the emperor of this empire?
Isn't this unnecessary?
"About this..."
Ed looked at Nuowa and asked a question instead of answering:
"Then tell me, why don't I just annex the Graycast Corridor?"
Nuowa hesitated for a moment before saying:
"Because the Grand Foundry Master is already your creation."
Ed shook his head:
"That's not the case. In fact, I only filled in the missing parts of its body and provided the conditions for its awakening."
"Therefore, the current Grand Foundry Master is far from being my creation—its thoughts and actions belong to itself."
"But the existence of the Grand Foundry Master can ensure one thing: the Graycast Corridor and the Second Holy See will maintain their alliance and remain friendly for a long time."
Ed looked at Nuowa seriously and said:
" The Soul Returner also need novelty. The Second Holy See has become deeply integrated with plants in terms of both its fighting style and the land it occupies."
"Therefore, Soul Returner want to make achievements in the mechanical field will naturally gravitate towards the Graycast Corridor."
"By the same token, if you become the emperor of the empire, those Soul Returner who wish to follow the path of animals will also spontaneously head to the empire."
"By then they can hone their skills in the Empire, and you can hire them to do many things."
"Besides, neither the Empire nor the Graycast Corridor has done anything wrong. My Soul Returner are a righteous army, so why would they take advantage of others' misfortune?"
Ed looked at Nuowa, who still looked puzzled, and said:
"Therefore, I don't need to annex the Graycast Corridor and the Starlight Empire. All I need are allies, and the Soul Returner also need friendly forces that specialize in a particular area."
"If the Second Holy See were to indiscriminately intervene and incorporate any power into its territory in times of crisis, then the Second Holy See would cease to be a force of order."
Nuowa had roughly figured out what Ed meant by this point, but he was still somewhat reluctant to accept it, as if the imperial crown were a hot potato.
"But according to you, anyone can sit in that seat, so why me?"
Ed shook his head:
"In your eyes, the title of Elf King is that of a laborer, and the title of Imperial Emperor is more like that of a puppet, right?"
"Based on what you said before, I think that's probably true."
Nuowa nodded.
"But that's not actually the case; I'm not particularly interested in interfering in the empire's internal affairs."
"As I said before, what I need is an ally, an ally who stands on the side of order and stands with the Second Holy See against the rest of the enemies."
"As long as you can do that, whether you want to relinquish power and be a hands-off manager, or work hard to revive the empire, I don't care at all."
"As for your statement that 'anyone can do it,' I don't think so."
Ed looked at the exiled prince in front of him:
"In any case, you have the blood of the first emperor of the Starlight Empire flowing in your veins. If you were to become the new emperor, the internal strife caused by the change of the throne could be quelled as quickly as possible. The world has come to this point, and it would be better for humanity to stop fighting amongst itself."
"And the other reason is simply—you're a High Tier."
Ed shrugged:
"A reliable High Tier expert can always keep things under control and ensure that a large area does not descend into chaos."
"While I do have High Tier, they all have their own tasks to perform—you say you know Duma, but you wouldn't want a four-armed demon sitting on the throne of the Empire, would you..."
"So it is precisely because you meet these two requirements that I hope you can become the next emperor of the empire, just like the current Grand Foundry Master."
"With the Grand Foundry Master present, the Twin Kings cannot fully commit to attacking the Second Holy See, Second Holy See and the Graycast Corridor can also support each other."
"What the Empire needs to do is actually the same as Graycast Corridor: keep a close eye on the actions of the Skeleton Alliance and coordinate with the Second Holy See."
Ed rattled off a long speech, then suddenly realized it might not be the right time, and added with a smile:
"Of course, that will have to wait until I've completely dealt with those guys in the Holy City, otherwise the Second Holy See and the Empire aren't even on the same border yet."
Ed's analysis finally convinced Nuowa completely. He sat in his chair, head bowed in thought, for a long time before finally speaking seriously:
"I agree to your request, and I hope we can have a pleasant collaboration in the days to come."
Nuowa extended his hand, and after a brief handshake, the exiled prince asked:
So what should we do now?
Now?
Ed suddenly laughed:
"As I said before, you've come at the perfect time."
"Since it's such a coincidence, why don't we go to the Holy City together?"
"Once you've resolved the matter in the Holy City, you can lead the interested Soul Returner south to join the battle."
Ed stared intently at the prince, who had become a mere tool and partner:
"By the way, how many people can your teleportation spell teleport at once? And what's the furthest distance it can travel?"
Nuowa tilted his head and pondered, saying:
"With the blessing of the Elf's Dream, my power is greater than that of a typical High Tier Psionic Energy mage."
"Give me enough time to chant, teleporting tens of thousands of people at once isn't impossible. As for the distance... if I've been there before, it's probably enough to traverse the entire Wilderness of Chaos."
"Okay, I understand."
Ed stroked his chin and said:
"So, we can actually start publicizing your 'cleansing of the court of corrupt officials' now."
"Publicity?"
Nuowa paused for a moment and asked in return:
"Won't such a high-profile move alert the Southern Empire?"
Ed shook his head:
"No, I plan to only publicize your deeds among the Soul Returner, at least to let them know who you are and what you have done."
"And I won't let them leak this information. If you're worried, you can activate the Elf's Dream again to prevent anyone from revealing this information..."