Chapter 266: Chapter 247 Laine’s Mysterious Past Chapter 266: Chapter 247 Laine’s Mysterious Past Arthur Laine, the Founding Emperor, lived for over a hundred years, but his reign was actually not very long.

By the time the Laine Empire was officially established, he was already in his forties, and several years had passed since he had slain the Magic Dragon.

According to historical records, during these years Arthur Laine mainly dealt with the remaining Dragon Race and the issues of the Dragon Worship Sect.

After suppressing two major counterattacks by the Dragon Race, the Dragon Race finally compromised and left the continent en masse, heading to distant overseas territories.

The Dragon Worship Sect also collapsed completely, most of the scriptures were lost, and the number of followers quickly diminished.

By the time the Laine Empire was established, there were no more dragons on the continent, nor were there any Dragon Worship Sects.

Later, the Dwarves’ Golden Kingdom, the Orcs’ Mountain Kingdom, the Druids’ Emerald Dream Forest… these countries were established one after another, and it was with Laine’s assistance that they were founded.

During Arthur Laine’s reign, he was very kind to all races and was willing to fund these races to establish their own countries.

In this period, the relations among the intelligent races on the continent were very good, truly worthy of being called a brotherhood of nations.

In the records of Hake Stone, Amberser also found that during a drought in Laine, the Druids rushed to help with rainfall overnight, the Dwarf Kingdom sent gold, and the Orcs brought food. The disaster hadn’t caused much damage before it was resolved.

However, this honeymoon period didn’t last long because Arthur Laine was Emperor for less than thirty years.

Arthur Laine chose to abdicate when he was nearly eighty years old.

The exact timing is hard to pinpoint because the Emperor disappeared suddenly, leaving behind a letter. This led Laine to conceal the truth for a while, making historical records from other countries somewhat inaccurate.

In the history of the Laine Empire, Arthur Laine didn’t disappear but directly passed the throne to his son and retired behind the scenes.

Hake Stone confirmed the chaos that occurred in the Laine Empire at that time after consulting numerous ancient texts, comparing military records, and considering other kingdoms’ investigations, concluding that Arthur Laine had disappeared.

Why the Founding Holy King left remains unclear to Hake Stone, who had scoured the continent’s history books without finding any clues.

And it was during this time that the Laine Empire began to change.

Hake Stone said to Amberser, “Actually, I don’t know if we should blame the second Emperor. The disappearance of Arthur Laine had such a huge impact that every kingdom was deeply concerned about the safety of the Holy King. The Laine People tried to conceal it, but it was impossible to hide, and it only led others to think the worst.”

Amberser nodded and said, “They would think that someone had killed Arthur Laine. Conspiracy theories are also a part of human nature.”

Hake Stone agreed with Amberser’s view and continued to introduce the history of that time.

“While researching, I discovered that during that time, the number of envoys sent to Laine by various countries was huge and the frequency was extremely high. They were probably all investigating the disappearance of Arthur Laine. Such a situation could make Laine feel like these kingdoms were interfering in its internal affairs. It was also during this period that the Laine Empire enacted many new policies and began to restrict the entry of foreigners into Laine.”

“From envoys to merchants, from officials to civilians, all were scrutinized as if they were spies. Although no serious conflict was recorded, Laine did experience an economic downturn at the time, as most foreign merchants left Laine for various reasons.”

Amberser hadn’t expected that the sudden disappearance of an Emperor could have such an impact. Digging into the seemingly illogical, it was possible to find an explanation that was outlandish yet made perfect sense.

“What happened afterward?”

Hake Stone revealed a slightly mocking smile and continued, “Later on, Arthur Laine returned. After nearly twenty years, he reappeared and then soon passed from this world. Other kingdoms sent high-ranking officials to attend his funeral. It could have been a great opportunity to restore the former closeness between nations.”

“After all, they were just concerned about Arthur Laine’s safety. Now that it was confirmed that no one had harmed the hero, speaking openly about it and wanting to go back to the former relations shouldn’t have been difficult. But, unfortunately, a problem occurred during the funeral.”

Amberser, dissatisfied, said, “Don’t keep me in suspense, or I’ll dock the time you have to ask questions of Arthur Laine.”

Hake Stone, annoyed, replied, “You’re a terrible audience, not cooperative at all. Fine, I’ll put it simply. Something unexpected happened during Arthur Laine’s funeral. Not only did it fail to ease the tension between the countries, but it also intensified it.”

“There are no specific records of what happened, only a fable from the Elf Tribe that mentions something similar. It says that after a king died, Demons gathered around his body, wishing to tear off a piece to devour. The king’s wife sacrificed herself and drove away all the Demons.”

Unable to help himself, Amberser said, “That’s a creepy story. The Empress couldn’t have died at the funeral, could she? What does the struggle of Demons over the body of a king mean? Did they want to dismember Arthur Laine and take his parts back to their countries to roast and eat?”

But Hake Stone shook his head and said, “That didn’t happen. According to the records, the Empress died a bit earlier than Arthur Laine, not living to see a hundred. So it’s impossible for her to have been present at Arthur Laine’s funeral.”

“As for the body of this monarch, I haven’t found any related information. Perhaps we can get some answers from the elves. Aren’t you quite familiar with them? They should have more detailed records,” said Amberser.

Indeed, Amberser had invited the former Elven King to come over, but that was to discuss business. Now his curiosity had also been piqued by Hake Stone, and when the time came, he really intended to inquire thoroughly, hoping that the Elven King wouldn’t speak in riddles.

“Continue, what happened next?” Amberser asked.

“After the funeral, relations between Laine and the other countries worsened significantly. For a long while, the atmosphere was tense to the point of near conflict. From that time on, Laine’s attitude toward foreign races became more hostile. As Laine continued to grow stronger, decree after decree was issued, and the foreign races went from being discriminated against to being viewed as enemies, and then to being enslaved. Over these thousand years, Laine’s policies have become more and more extreme.”

“By the time of Laine’s eleventh Emperor, he established a rule potent enough to plunge the continent into chaos. He declared that all humans were Laine’s kin, and any harm done to humans was intolerable by Laine. Even if the harm to humans occurred in other kingdoms, Laine would pursue it relentlessly,” Amberser said coldly, “I know this one; it’s where Laine became completely unreasonable.”

Even now, there are humans who do not wish to join Laine, for not every human can agree with Laine’s extreme religious and racial policies. For those not raised in the Laine education system, how many would be willing to sacrifice for the Empire?

But Laine was so domineering; they turned all humans into an excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.

Hake Stone said, “I cannot understand how the Lord of the Dawn could bless such people.”

But Amberser shook his head, “No, you’re mistaken. The Lord of the Dawn never blessed any Emperor of Laine, except for Arthur Laine. There are no Godfavored within the Imperial Family since then.”

This was a casual conversation he once had with Withered Rose, who mentioned that throughout Laine’s history, no emperor had ever received the Deity’s blessing, and they had never even heard a divine oracle.

Of course, this fact was well-concealed by the Imperial Family, and outsiders didn’t know the details nor had any way to investigate.

After all, things like divine oracles and blessings are not something you can guess about if the others don’t talk about their existence.

However, Hake Stone countered, “Likewise, with so many Paladins in Laine, who would believe they haven’t received the Lord of the Dawn’s favor?”

Amberser didn’t argue with him on this topic, for this had been a long-standing debate across the continent.

When the Deity blesses someone, does it signify that he blesses the nation that person belongs to?

Countless have argued over this debate for a thousand years, with no conclusion in sight.

Some think that because the Laine people are blessed, the Lord of the Dawn loves the nation of Laine, as the majority of those blessed become high-ranking national officials. The Deity must be aware of what this implies and the consequences of blessing them.

But others argue that if a Laine person is blessed, it’s because that individual is beloved by the Lord of the Dawn, who might not care at all about the nation, and any symbolic meaning and consequences are merely human contrivances.

Since no one can directly ask the Deity for an answer, the matter invariably ends in dispute, and everyone retains their own opinion.

Amberser does not take sides in either argument. He dislikes baseless speculation, especially about the Deities. With so many different Deities, each with a distinct personality, some favor individual followers, others the collective—this much is certain.

What’s there to argue about? There’s no universal standard, after all.

But if he had to focus on the Lord of the Dawn, Amberser would lean toward the latter interpretation. The Lord of the Dawn only cherishes those who truly practice his doctrines, not the Laine Empire. It’s just that after so many years of promoting truth, goodness, and beauty, too many young people have embraced those beliefs.

Take Allen, for example. Amberser didn’t find any moral flaws in him. Aside from being a bit lacking in strength and not very clever, he was quite perfect in other aspects.

The upper echelons might use this to deceive people, but the youth genuinely believe it and act accordingly. In such cases, the Lord of the Dawn wouldn’t skimp on his blessings even if they were misled.

This was Amberser’s own conjecture, which, for the time being, was consistent with all the evidence at hand. So far, he had not encountered any contradictory indications.

If this could be proven, then the Laine Empire wouldn’t be so formidable.

No matter how powerful an empire, if it begins to crumble from within, no one can save it.

If all these conjectures are true, then the internal issues within the Laine Empire must already be quite severe, and surely many have noticed.

“Who within all of Laine would be the first to discover this problem?” Amberser pondered, and an image of a stern, serious-faced elder surfaced in his mind.