Chapter 2178: Ally Cultivation Plan

Xia Duo had just proposed the vision of a "sea of stars," which was why he had refused so decisively, but his blunt refusal left Badijiaer's face ashen:

"Lord Xia Duo, do you think I am fighting for that region for the sake of the Seven Towers? In reality, whether the Seven Towers takes that region or not does not affect its ruling status in Netheril.

"The vision of a 'sea of stars' is certainly romantic, but even the Seven Towers cannot claim to be certain of discovering how many habitable planes there might be, so what of others?

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"If we do not take that ownerless land now, we might be dragged out and cursed for it even after we are dead in the future.

"If Lord Xia Duo feels this goes against your philosophy, then you may do nothing at all; I will bear the infamy alone, but I want to say that history will provide a fair judgment!"

Having even brought up history, Xia Duo could not help but smile bitterly; if the historical trajectory of the Main Plane continued to circle in the Classical Era as it had in the past, perhaps what the other party said would hold true.

But now, the era was no longer circling; perhaps it was due to Xia Duo's appearance, or perhaps some other reason, but the current era had begun to show brand-new changes.

For instance, the establishment of the Northland Alliance had completely diverged from the history of the Northland in the Earth game Xia Duo remembered; the game, in order to increase playability without placing too much burden on the system, had kept the historical trajectory firmly in the Classical Era.

But reality was not a game; real individuals would always, intentionally or unintentionally, push history forward in the direction of development, until it finally approached the more enlightened modern society in Xia Duo's memories.

Of course, the "development of the era" that Xia Duo recognized was measured by the degree of liberation of the individual; modern society had already developed an extremely fine social division of labor, with everything being people-oriented—at least, that was the philosophy.

Living in such an era, even the most destitute person had far more choices than the rulers of the Classical Era, which was why Xia Duo considered that era more advanced than the one the Northland was currently in.

In terms of actual power, a nuclear weapon might not necessarily surpass an Advanced Rank Mage, and in the Northland, Advanced Rank Mages were also known as Elite Mages (on the Elf side), which were effectively the backbone of the spellcasters.

One could imagine that such power, even if not ubiquitous, was at least not too difficult to obtain, whereas nuclear weapons could never be ubiquitous.

Therefore, "modernization" was by no means just an advancement in power, technology, or Magic, but should be an advancement in the degree of human liberation.

The current Northland already had such a trend; although slow, "checks and balances" were playing an important role, not just the checks and balances between countries within the Alliance, but the internal affairs of countries were also subject to the checks and balances of the Alliance order.

From "checks and balances" came "compromise," from "compromise" came "cooperation," and from "cooperation" came "development"—in Xia Duo's view, this was an incredibly clear thread.

The wise men of the current Classical Era could also perceive the changes in the era; of course, Badijiaer might not, otherwise he wouldn't have said things like "history will give him a fair evaluation."

After all, according to Xia Duo's vision, the Northland would gradually achieve a "people-oriented" approach in the future, at which point "historical bad debts" would inevitably face "liquidation." By then, let alone becoming a pioneering vanguard whose name would shine in history, Badijiaer would be lucky just to get an average evaluation.

"Lord Badijiaer, there is still a vast amount of undeveloped land within Netheril's undisputed territory. We must trust in the power of development; perhaps before we need more land, habitable planes will emerge one after another!"

"Since neither of us can convince the other, let time do the talking!"

As the current person in charge of the Seven Towers, Badijiaer was clearly not going to be persuaded by Xia Duo's few words, but based on his understanding of Xia Duo, he felt there might be other hidden motives regarding the region, so he asked again:

"According to Lord Xia Duo, how should that region be handled?"

"Directly claiming sovereignty would inevitably cause controversy within the Northland Alliance; at the very least, Yierlan would absolutely not allow Netheril to easily obtain that land, which is ownerless at the Northland Alliance level. Therefore, I am more inclined to let the intelligent beings in that region decide for themselves."

"Let the intelligent beings there decide for themselves? Those Langasi?" Badijiaer asked back.

Perhaps because Xia Duo's previous words had stung him, this time he did not call the Langasi barbarians, but the contempt in his words had not diminished much.

Regarding Badijiaer's questioning, Xia Duo did not answer directly, but instead asked the other party a question: "Does Lord Badijiaer feel that the number of member states in the Northland Alliance is a bit small?"

"Small? I don't think so, and what does this have to do with the ownership of the Langas Plain?"

"It's very simple. Once the agreement or treaty restricting War Spells is signed, the future Northland will see an unprecedented period of long-term peace."

The reason Xia Duo said this was that once the agreement was signed, the attacking side could not use War Spells, while the defending side could use them at will; coupled with other restrictions of the alliance, this would greatly increase the cost of direct war between countries.

"However, peace does not mean there will be no conflict at all; it just means the form of conflict will change, shifting from the previous violent and direct armed conflict toward implicit encroachment, like the past Netheril and Yierlan, or the Danzuo Mithral Agreement.

"In this process, the role of the Northland Alliance as a coordination mechanism will become increasingly prominent. Then, as the only major human power in the Alliance, Netheril will face more external pressure from the Elves.

"At this time, if we could have more human nations as wings or as buffers against the various Elf nations, wouldn't that be good?"

After listening to Xia Duo's explanation, Badijiaer was silent for a moment, then frowned and asked: "You mean to organize the Langasi to join the Northland Alliance and then become our vassals?"

"No, we don't need to be too deliberate; we only need to provide the tribes on the Langas Plain with some Guidance regarding civilization, and they will naturally change."

"What if those Langasi are truly beyond saving?"

"We don't actually need to worry about this problem. If they can complete the construction of a national consciousness, then we will welcome them to join the Northland Alliance and become our natural allies. If they cannot, then it is no great loss; the population there is not small, and they can be fully accepted into Netheril."

This was actually giving the natives on the Langas Plain a chance; if they could seize it, their future would be bright, and if they couldn't, integrating into Netheril would also be a decent outcome.

But Badijiaer was exceptionally surprised by what Xia Duo called "acceptance," and the term "barbarians" blurted out: "You want Netheril to accept those barbarians? How is that possible?!"

"Why not? I don't know if Lord Badijiaer has heard that I rescued a tribe from the Langas Plain and had that tribe join my Territory as a whole. I did not see anything in them that was essentially different from the Netherese."

"But Netheril is a nation of spellcasters; those savages only know how to engage in some superstitious Primitive Sorcery. Letting them mix in would be a desecration of the sanctity of Magic!"

Badijiaer's expression at this moment was not at all like that of a Great Arcanist with a profound understanding of Magic; he looked exactly like a devout priest spreading the holy glory of the Lady of Mysteries.