Just like King Kant, hanged up and judged by the people.
But having learned so much political strategy from Rossweise, Leon understood that the Dragon King was different from Kant.
Firstly, the internal situation of the dragons was different from the empire.
Each dragon reigned as their own king. Even though this group of winged big lizards revered the doctrine of survival of the fittest, there truly wasn't a clear superior-subordinate relationship between Dragon Kings.
In other words, there was no such thing as "dismissing" a Dragon King.
As for imposing harsh punishment, or handing them over to the masses for judgment, that was even more impossible.
Even Dragon Kings couldn't punish one another, so how could ordinary dragons have that kind of authority?
It was precisely because of this that the Master of the Twilight Tower convened this secret dragon meeting.
Not necessarily to reach a verdict, but to give a... response.
Leon pondered for a moment and replied, "I've thought about many things, but it all boils down to one sentence."
Odin raised his gray eyebrows with interest, "Oh? What is it?"
"Compared to 'unity', 'stability' is more important."
"Stability?"
"Yes."
Leon nodded and explained slowly, "Now that the dark side of the human-dragon war has been exposed, and many Dragon Kings were involved, this kind of thing can't be hidden and will soon spread among the dragons."
"At that time, the already precarious internal relations of the dragon race will become even more turbulent."
"Mutual suspicion, mutual denial, mutual hostility, what is certain is that the smallest of past conflicts will be infinitely amplified after this incident, ultimately leading to more intense conflicts and civil war."
"To be honest, I never expected the major dragon clans to unite, but even without cohesion, they must not become a pile of loose sand."
"When a race views one another as enemies, then no matter how powerful they are, they will ultimately head towards destruction."
As he spoke, Leon raised his left hand, "Those Dragon Kings who colluded with the empire, they had selfish motives and tried to profit from the war."
Then he raised his right hand, "And the 'judges' who want to impose harsh punishment are trying to profit from that punishment."
"Senior Odin, you know what I mean, right?"
Hearing Leon's analysis to this point, Odin narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded approvingly.
"Alres."
"Yes, Alres. The guy who once tried to use the Dragon King meeting to seize Constantine's primordial power."
At the last Dragon King meeting against Constantine, Alres was the first to propose dividing old Constantine's primordial power.
In the end, it was Leon who rejected this proposal, and with Odin's support, old Constantine was able to keep his foundation.
And the reason Leon did that at the time was simply because he felt Constantine was more trustworthy than the sly old fox Alres.
Facts later proved, though old Constantine was a bit crazy, when Leon needed his help, he never hesitated.
So with that past experience, Leon was completely convinced that at this Dragon King meeting, Alres would still stir up trouble.
"If Alres again tries to profit from the punishment of the colluding Dragon Kings, then that will undoubtedly stir up rebellious sentiment among them."
"They can be punished, but the one punishing them absolutely cannot be Alres."
"Because everyone is well aware of Alres' true nature."
"If we really let Alres act recklessly, then as I just said, the already fragile and disunited dragon race will become even more hostile to each other."
"That kind of 'stability' will also be broken."
"At that time, the dragons will face an even more difficult problem than 'how to deal with Dragon Kings who colluded with the enemy'."
Leon slowly exhaled and moved his arms, "That's all I wanted to say."
After listening to Leon's account, Odin seemed to be deep in thought.
After a moment, he replied in a low voice, "Your thinking is very good, Leon. You considered the mentality of the colluding Dragon Kings and accurately analyzed Alres's selfish desires."
"And I especially agree with one of your sentences."
"They can be punished, but the one punishing them must absolutely not be Alres."
"To be able to say something like that proves you are neither a bystander distancing himself from the situation, nor a soft-hearted person who tries to downplay serious matters."
Pausing for a moment, Odin summarized his evaluation of Leon, "You are bound to have a very brilliant life, Leon."
"Thank you for the praise, senior."
Leon asked, "Then... what about you, senior? What's your opinion?"
"Actually... I don't really care about whether someone colluded with the enemy or not, or about the conspiracies of war."
Odin slowly said, "My Thunder Dragon clan never actively participates in foreign wars. The empire and those traitor Dragon Kings don't dare to mess with me, so punishing those Dragon Kings brings me neither benefit nor harm."
"In fact, if I hadn't known that the Tower Master also invited you, I wouldn't have come to this meeting."
"I came here just to see what kind of decision a promising young one like you would make."
What Leon didn't know about Odin was that, just like Rossweise's grandmother Veronica, he placed great importance on the younger generation, or rather, the younger era.
Veronica had also told Principal Oullette of Saint Heath Academy that she liked the way humans advanced, leaving their achievements to be inherited by the next generation, they grew slowly and clumsily like that.
And Odin, too, was showing for the second time that "If Leon doesn't come, I won't bother either."
It was clear that he truly thought highly of this young man Leon, not just because Leon saved his daughter, just don't know how the old Thunder Dragon King will feel once he learns that General Leon is actually a human.
"Senior, I... don't quite understand. Why do you care so much about me? If it's because I once saved your daughter, that was just a small gesture. Anyone else would've done the same," Leon said.
"Ah, of course it's not just because of Yuna. There's another reason... your innate magic, like mine, is of the thunder element."
Odin said, "Among the dragons, only a very few individuals are born with the thunder element. Someone as powerful as you is even rarer than rare."
'Emmmm, senior, is it possible that I'm not actually a dragon...'
"I hope that if there's an opportunity, I can spar with a talented young man like you."
'Whoa, you dragons really love this whole 'sparring' thing, huh.'
Rossweise sparred with him. Noah, too, had said she'd waited long for the day she'd snatch that bell. And old Constantine had made a pact to duel him; Now this big-shot old man also says he wants to fight him.
'Dragons. Combat. Awesome!'
"All right, the meeting is about to begin, Leon. When the time comes, I will support your decision. And I believe most of the Dragon Kings will support you too."
"Mm, thank you, senior."
Maintaining internal stability of the dragon race wasn't because General Leon was being kindhearted.
From beginning to end, he had only one goal: Never let dragon civil war affect his family.
So having Odin's support was very important.
———
The two returned to the conference hall. Alres and the others were already seated in their respective positions.
The meeting was about to begin.
"What, with such a big matter this time, the Tower Master still doesn't plan to show up?", Alres asked indifferently.
Servant Kaid slightly bowed, "Apologies, the master is occupied with important affairs and can't attend in person. So this meeting will still be conducted by the Dragon Kings themselves. I will truthfully report the results back to the master."
"Hmph, that Dimothy fellow, always busy with who-knows-what."
Alres waved his hand, then looked to the few Dragon Kings seated on one side of the conference table.
They were the main subjects of this Dragon King meeting.
"Everyone, let's get straight to the point. In the past human-dragon war, you expanded your territories and resources through secret cooperation with the empire, didn't you?"
As expected, during the meeting, Alres repeatedly tried to extract benefits from the traitorous Dragon Kings.
Under the guise of "You should compensate the entire dragon race";
But in truth, anyone with sense could tell that Alres was entirely acting out of self-interest.
And just as Leon predicted, the traitor Dragon Kings, provoked by Alres's aggressive words and naked selfishness, became rebellious and highly resistant to his proposals.
From Leon's perspective, neither side was worth a damn.
Which only further confirmed his belief that unity was total nonsense for dragons. If they could just maintain stability, that would already be a blessing.
The meeting continued.
After several hours of debate, Alres threw out one final statement, "You must cede all the land and resources you gained in this war!"
"Bullshit! Many of those lands were conquered fairly by us, they had nothing to do with the empire!"
"And after so much time has passed, how can you even determine which territories were gained in collaboration with the empire and which were originally ours?"
"Isn't it all up to your say-so?"
"Silence! Don't forget your current identities, you are sinners of the dragon race!"
"To fight for the benefit of our clans and people, calling that sin is going too far!"
"..."
Each side held their stance and continued to argue heatedly.
In the end, Odin lightly cleared his throat, finally halting the escalating debate.
Everyone fell silent tacitly, including Alres.
All eyes turned to Odin seated in the center of the opposite side of the conference table, waiting for him to speak.
The Golden Sand Dragon King, Morgan, leaned close to the old man's ear under everyone's watch and whispered, "This is exactly why I didn't want to sit next to you. You have to be ready to be stared at by everyone all the time."
The old Dragon King glared at him with annoyance.
Morgan shrugged and obediently sat upright again.
"All the Dragon Kings have voiced their opinions, but a few are still left."
As he spoke, Odin looked to Leon, who had remained silent the whole meeting, and the few seated beside him.
"Silver Dragon King, Silver Dragon Prince, Red Dragon King, and the Sea Dragon Princess, what do you think?"
After talking with Odin earlier, Leon had also shared his thoughts with Rossweise and the others.
Naturally, everyone unanimously agreed with Leon's decision.
So after Odin inquired, each of them spoke according to Leon's ideas, expressing it from their own perspectives.
It was clear that Leon's views clashed entirely with Alres's.
However, before Alres could refute, Odin spoke, "There must be punishment, Alres, don't be so hasty."
"You!"
"But just as that Dragon King said earlier, so much time has passed that it's very hard to determine which lands and resources were originally theirs and which were seized in cooperation with the empire."
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