The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

In the eighty-seventh year of the imperial calendar, the aging second emperor of the empire, Lindrick, had a dream.

He dreamed that he returned to his childhood, when his father and mother were still alive and provided for him.

Although everyone outside says that the Emperor is great and the Empress is kind and wise, Lindrick knows that his father would secretly read the novels and comics published by his Aunt Lilith in his spare time, and his mother would take his younger siblings to play in the palace, especially enjoying riding bicycles.

Occasionally, the parents would act like ordinary people in the countryside, setting up a campfire and roasting duck.

Lindrick dreamed that he was squatting in the palace with his parents, roasting wild duck with the most rudimentary equipment. But as a child, Lindrick did not like this family meal because he always felt that his mother put too much seasoning in it, and his hands were covered in oil after eating, which was troublesome to wash.

Moreover, he was the heir to the empire. Squatting on the ground eating roast duck was far too childish for someone of Lindrick's age at the time. You see, Lindrick's dream was to inherit his father's glory, complete the full development of the Pangaea continent, to conquer, to explore, and to embark on the journey to the stars.

How can someone with such a dream squat on the ground eating roast duck?

But in the dream, Lindrick ate with great relish. It was the first time he had ever thought that the roast duck his mother had made was so delicious that he started to cry as he ate. When he looked up again, his parents' faces were no longer clear.

"Is it tasty?"

The emperor's majestic yet peaceful voice rang in Lindrick's ears.

"Ah."

"Eat more if you like it. You used to always have such a serious face, just like your father when he went to work."

The Empress Dowager's voice was still as gentle, youthful, and full of vitality as before.

Am I serious when I'm working?

"You scared the fourth brother to tears at the roundtable meeting that day!"

The parents were still laughing and joking around, just like Lindrick had seen before, as if they would always be like this, and would continue to be like this forever.

Lindrick no longer maintained his composure as before, but started playing around with his parents. However, his parents' appearances became increasingly blurry, and their voices seemed to fade into the distance. It wasn't until Lindrick's eyes were blurred with tears that he realized the voices had disappeared and he had woken up.

The Empire's research on dreams is quite in-depth. Lindrick, who has studied this subject, knows that this is his own natural dream. Of course, no one would invade the dream of a retired imperial emperor; it would be pointless.

Lindrick greatly admired his father from a young age, and he demanded of himself everything he did, just like his father, and even only had one queen in his lifetime.

Of course, the most important thing is that the first emperor, who held the highest power in the empire, chose to retire at the peak of his life and smoothly transferred power to Lindrick. Lindrick, who admired his father since childhood, naturally wanted to follow his father's example and smoothly hand over power to his eldest son when he felt that he was getting old.

But when the transfer of power began, Lindrick realized how difficult it was to relinquish this power, and how much determination his father had made to completely hand over power to him.

Lindrick burst into tears. The elderly emperor could no longer clearly remember his parents' faces, but he still missed the days when he was still the crown prince, when he was both hardworking and carefree, and he missed his parents who were still young.

When his mother passed away, his father cried like that too. Lindrick was also very sad at the time, but only now did Lindrick understand why his father, who had been so vigorous before, suddenly became despondent after his mother's death.

My time is almost up.

Professionals will have longer lifespans, and with today's advanced medical technology, if they just want to live, they can live a long time, just like their father. Before their mother passed away, he was not only able to read books and newspapers and write articles, but he could even take her back to the North to visit and guide his eldest grandson, who was then ruling the North.

However, after his mother passed away, his father, who had always been full of energy, suddenly became an ordinary old man. Even though the empire's medical technology could allow this founding emperor, who had achieved both civil and military success, to live for several more decades, both the emperor at the time and himself knew that living any longer would be nothing more than being a walking corpse. Just as his mother refused to have her life forcibly extended, after giving his final instructions, the emperor went to the depths of his consciousness to accompany his mother.

Lindrick also felt that he was almost there.

The guards had already heard the noise and rushed into the room, but they only saw an old man looking at a family portrait and weeping. This old man, who had been calm and composed all his life and was regarded as the best heir to the empire, was crying loudly for the first time in his life.

The next day, the second emperor, who had inherited the glory of the empire, left the palace where he had lived for a long time with his guards and attendants, and went to the mausoleum where the late emperor and empress were buried together to pay their respects.

Two months later, after giving his final instructions to his children and grandchildren, the successor of the empire followed in his parents' footsteps and went to the depths of his consciousness.

Lindrick, the empire's second emperor, has long been considered one of the most underrated emperors.

During Lindrick's tenure, the Empire achieved a major breakthrough in communication technology, enabling information transmission across the Sea of ​​Impermanence, and formally bringing the continent of Solon under the Empire's direct control, rather than only being able to be remotely controlled.

Not only that, Lindrick also inherited his father's will and followed the dragons to complete the development of the Pangu Continent. During Lindrick's time, the Empire first developed spatial magic, laying the foundation for the Empire's subsequent journey into the stars.

Because Lindrick had a very good relationship with the dragons, just like his father had with the elves, in some unofficial histories of later generations, Lindrick's only queen was even portrayed as an incarnation of a dragon.

Aside from his relationship with the dragon, Lindrick has historically been believed to have benefited from his father's legacy. This is because during Lindrick's reign, there were few major events, only news of technological advancements, which were also common during the reign of the first emperor, so the people of the empire had become accustomed to them.

Most people's impression of Emperor Lindrick is probably that during this period, personal communication devices became widespread, and civilian personal terminals began to appear, with the prototype of the Great Dream Network beginning to be built.

Lindrick is most often labeled as a wise ruler and a successor, but a closer look at the records reveals that Emperor Lindrick was not as benevolent and peaceful as he appeared. It was Lindrick who completed the massive and meticulous plan to dismantle the Lars family, which was initiated by the previous emperor, and the seeds of this plan had already been sown when Lindrick was ruling the North.

The title of Knight of Lars no longer refers solely to knights of the Lars family, but has become an honorary knighthood of the Empire, with no substantial connection to the Lars family anymore.

Many remnants of the old era were also completely wiped out during Lindrick's time. Lindrick, who had been helping his father with political affairs since childhood and was later sent to govern the North, was more like a political animal than his father.

If the ruthless methods of the founding emperor Linde instilled fear in his subjects, then Lindelik was someone who, even if betrayed, would still be grateful to him. This is why historical records generally consider Lindelik a "good person," since his methods appear much milder compared to his father.

This emperor, who was regarded by later generations as a model emperor for his successors, seemed to be murmuring something in his final moments. It could be some remnants of the old era that he had not yet dealt with, or it could be some policies or conspiracies that he wanted to explain in detail. It seems that this is more like what an emperor would do in the eyes of everyone.

Only his eldest son heard the emperor's final murmur: "Father, Mother, I want to go home with you..."