Dragon Monarch System

Chapter 975: Chapter 975:- Difficult Option

Aditya and Rowan stared at each other. Although Rowan appeared calm on the surface, deep down, he was really panicking. This man could end his life before he could birth his next thought.

’He terrifies me!’ He was beginning to have deep regret for what he had done. All the benefits that he received from the organisation for giving Intel were not worth this situation.

Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world.

The current Aditya alone could bring destruction to his entire empire and bring it to its knees. He could conquer this entire empire in less than six hours.

”You have become even more powerful now.” As someone who has lived a long life of thousands of years, he could sense a glance that the current Aditya was way stronger than before.

Even before, this young man was already a terrifying figure.

Back then, Aditya and his women had attended an auction. Rowan was one of the Emperors who also joined the auction, and he had the opportunity to see Aditya’s face when he entered the auction house.

Even back then, Aditya was strong enough to defeat him in a battle. But the current Aditya was so powerful that if they were to fight, it wouldn’t even be called a battle.

The power gap between them was so huge that it was like a teenager trying to fight and win against a trained adult.

And Aditya still hadn’t reached his limit yet. He had only reached beginner Fifth Order cultivation.

’This man defies logic.’ According to normal logic, it should be impossible for a lower-order cultivator to kill a peak fifth-order cultivator. But this man was tearing fifth-order cultivated left and right every single day, even before he ascended to beginner fifth order.

Aditya did not respond to his comment on being stronger. It was already obvious, and there was no need to answer something so obvious. He was not here to make friends. He was just here to get some answers. There was no need for him to pretend to be friendly or act nice.

”Emperor of Radiant Empire, I came here to talk.”

”I am a man of my word, so you can rest assured I won’t kill you now. You still have 18 hours left to give me a good explanation and compensation for everything that you did.” Hearing this, Rowan felt relieved.

At least, he won’t die here.

Aditya began walking on the neatly trimmed green grass. He also signalled Rowan to walk beside him.

Rowan started walking beside him.

He did not speak. He waited for the Dragon Monarch to speak. A part of him was still nervous. These powerhouses are just too unpredictable. What if Aditya went back on his word and killed him on the spot?

”I am also someone who will not tolerate any act of transgression against my own empire.”

Rowan nodded his head.

Every big player on the six continents knew this fact. They could not comment on what kind of man the Dragon Emperor was. But they could always bet on the fact that as long as they did not show any hostility or commit any act of transgression against the dragon monarch or its Empire, then they had no reason to worry about a sudden invasion from the Istarin Empire.

Rowan nodded his head with a heavy expression.

”I cannot say anything about the organisation because I was just a scout for the organisation. Whatever I knew about them was very limited.”

He looked at Aditya and continued.

”And I strongly suspect that you know more about the organisation than I.” Aditya did not comment. Rowan took his silence as Yes.

”My motivation for doing this is not because I hate the Istarin Empire. It’s because of the benefits that I received every time that I gave valuable Intel to the organisation members.” Aditya nodded. The Organization was too rich. Otherwise, the Organisation wouldn’t be so influential.

”I know I have made a mistake. I hope you can let go of this matter and give this old man a second chance.” Rowan had lived for over 1000 years. He was a clever man and knew when to seize opportunities.

This is why, under his rule, the empire grew so strong.

He felt this was the best chance to plead to the Monarch and get a second chance.

The Monarch looked at Rowan’s face before looking ahead. ”So many of my precious soldiers died because of you. My Dragonians were captured and humiliated in public.”

The temperature around Aditya began to rise. The grass beneath his feet began to burn. Rowan immediately noticed this and became tense. ”They were brutally tortured, and then healed, and then tortured again. Who knows how many times this continued before I arrived?”

”It was your intel that caused all of this. Who knows what else the organisation knows about my empire?” If the organisation wanted, they could have done something way worse in his absence with this valuable Intel that came from all over the empire.

Fortunately, nothing like this happened.

Aditya understood this, and it only fueled his anger.

”Alright, what do you want as compensation?” Rowan gritted his teeth and asked. This was a very humiliating situation for him, but for survival, this was the only option.

”I will give you two options to choose from.”

”One, I will claim half of your territory, and from this day onward, it will no longer belong to you. It will be absorbed into the Istarin Empire, becoming part of my dominion.”

”Second, for the next fifty years, your Empire will bow its head and pay tribute to mine. Not a mere portion, not a symbolic offering, but ninety-five per cent of everything your Empire earns—your gold, your taxes, your wealth—will flow into my coffers.”

Hearing this, Rowan almost coughed blood in anger. Both demands were outrageous.

The first demand was to give up half of his territory forever. This meant that in a single day, the Radiant Empire would lose half its power and would fall from a 5-tier powerhouse to a Kingdom.

There was even a chance that with the loss of half of its territory, the other nearby Empires might jump to take whatever would be left of the Radiant Empire and devour it.

Some of the neighbouring Empires were on friendly terms with them. But people’s intentions can change. Greed can drive humans to do anything. Who wouldn’t want a good piece of the pie and make their territories even bigger?

The second demand was even more outrageous than the first. Giving away ninety-five percent of the Empire’s entire revenue for fifty years was no different than slowly strangling the Empire with its own hands. Money was the lifeblood of the Empire. Without it, nothing could function properly.

The military would be the first to suffer. Soldiers would not receive their proper salaries, their equipment would stop being maintained, and new weapons would never be produced. Over time, the army would grow weaker, its morale would fall, and its ability to defend the Empire would slowly disappear. Enemies, both outside and inside, would notice this weakness.

But it would not stop there.

Cities would begin to decay. Roads would no longer be repaired, fortresses would crumble, and important infrastructure would fall apart. Trade would suffer, and merchants would lose confidence in the Empire’s stability. Without proper funding, even basic governance would become difficult.

At first, the damage might not be obvious. The Empire had reserves, and those reserves could support it for a few years. But reserves were not infinite. Once they ran dry, the Empire would be forced to make painful choices. They would have to cut military spending, reduce protection, and abandon many responsibilities just to survive.

In the end, agreeing to this demand would not only weaken the Empire, but it would also slowly turn it into an empty shell, an Empire in name only, with no real power left to protect itself or its people.

’Agreeing to either of the two options will mean the end of this Empire.’ Rowan couldn’t describe his emotions. Watching the Empire that he built with 1000 years of hard work fall into a situation like this made it even worse.

Rowan and Aditya stopped walking.

Both of them remained silent for a long time.

To Aditya, letting Rowan live and be the Emperor was already an act of mercy. He just hoped that Rowan wasn’t like those foolish Emperors who were too prideful to surrender. But if he did choose to resist, then he was more than happy to create chaos.

The Istarin Empire will be more than happy to be the Graveyard of the Radiant Empire and its Emperor.

”Let me think about it.” After a long silence, this was the only answer that Rowan could give to Aditya.

”You still have many hours left. But if you don’t answer within the remaining allotted time, then be prepared for war.”

Aditya was about to leave, but Rowan’s words stopped him.

”If I choose the first option, then surely my neighbours will attack whatever will be left of the Radiant Empire. At that time, my Empire will be too weak to defend itself. To avoid such a situation, I was wondering if you would announce to the World that whatever is left of the Radiant Empire will be under the Istarin Empire’s protection.” This would deter other powerhouses from attacking and give the Empire a strong voice in geopolitics.

Aditya paused for a moment and then replied without looking back.

”I will make this annoucement but in exchange, I will cripple your cultivation.” Hearing this, Rowan felt a chill run down his spine. Destroying his cultivation would be the same as ending his life.

The Monarch did not wait for his answer. ”Take your time. I will see you when time is up.” With that, the Emperor disappeared from the garden.

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