Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire

"You've already understood Iliad's ideas, right?"

After the departure of his eldest son, Iliad, Noah immediately summoned his second son, Terramus. He wanted to hear the opinion of his second son, since his eldest son had already given such advice.

"Yes, I have understood."

"What do you think of it?"

"It is very much in line with his character."

Terramus commented. From his demeanor and tone, it seemed anything but a compliment.

"Oh? It appears you find your brother's suggestion problematic."

Noah couldn't help but laugh, a look of expectation appearing in his eyes.

"His direction isn't wrong. Once a war with the Evil God begins, the ultimate goal would be to completely eradicate the belief in the Evil God. However, his vision is too lofty and distant, always focusing on the Divine and nothing but the Divine, mentioning the Gods at every turn but never addressing the present."

Having a pure Golden Dragon bloodline, Iliad first acknowledged, then sharply criticized.

"Focusing on the present, what do you mean by that?"

"Father, you have already broken through the Flame Sun Sect Country, but do you think you have truly conquered this land?"

Like his brother, when questioned by Noah, Terramus responded with a question of his own.

"Where do you think I have yet to conquer? The nine Battle Groups are on standby at any moment; I can command them to attack anytime."

"Your banner is planted in every part of the Sect Country, but it has not entered the hearts of the remaining people."

Terramus stated bluntly,

"You have conquered this land, but you have not conquered the minds. You have destroyed the Sect Country, but you have not destroyed the belief in the Divine. Nominal believers are widespread, and numerous devout believers hide in the corners of Gods Cities.

Even if it's only a dilapidated narrow shrine, or just a name, they are willing to worship devoutly, offering their belief.

Therefore, in my opinion, you have not destroyed the belief in the Flame Sun Evil God on this land. You have only weakened it. If you leave it unchecked, I'm very certain that one day, these lingering flames of faith will reignite."

"You truly surprise me!"

Noah's eyes flashed with surprise, followed by sincere admiration,

"Since you have detected the problem, do you have a solution?"

Completely eradicating the Sect Country's belief undoubtedly requires slaughter, the simplest method. Yet, slaughter cannot solve all problems.

God-slaying events are not uncommon in history, but slaughtering a whole country of millions of people? Sorry, Noah hasn't heard of anyone being so brutal.

Clearing out devout believers is necessary. It is the devout believers by the millions that make the Divine immortal. However, there are more nominal believers than devout believers.

These are the most numerous believers in the Flame Sun Sect Country, and you cannot slaughter nominal believers indiscriminately. Not only are there many of them, but the Power of Faith such believers provide to the Divine is extremely limited, even impurities.

What is a nominal believer?

They are those who do not hold steadfast belief in the Divine and can change allegiance to another God anytime, just like that.

They believe when needed, otherwise, they go about their business. Every offering and worship to the Divine is with the expectation of gaining something.

To be blunt, as long as they know the Divine's name and chant it a few times, they can be classified as nominal believers. Because of this, such believers are pervasive, found everywhere.

If Noah swings the butcher's knife at such believers, there's no justification for any reason, and forget about retaining the name of the Holy Dragon; it simply can't be preserved, not even Hellish Demons would go to such an extent.

This is the problem Noah has already perceived. Although he has Black Gloves, even they dare not trigger a mass slaughter on a national level.

Moreover, he is unwilling himself. They are just ordinary humans living or surviving, and wielding the butcher's knife against them, merely to eliminate belief, contradicts his principles and values.

Of course, Noah also doesn't agree with such matters. He only wants to clear out the devout believers of the Flame Sun Sovereign. Believers at this level have fossilized thoughts and cannot be corrected or changed, so they must be killed, whereas nominal believers can be guided to change faith, and they cannot be dealt with uniformly.

But the devotion of faith, unless expressed by themselves, is hard to discern if deliberately concealed, blending into the ordinary populace with little exposure.

These are the seeds of faith as Terramus described, who mingle among nominal believers to spread belief. As long as conditions are right, they can develop more devout believers, secretly accumulating strength.

This threat cannot go unnoticed, and it also stands as the biggest obstacle and hidden danger to Noah's rule over this land.

"I have some solutions, but I'm not sure if they can fully resolve the issue."

Hearing his father's question, Terramus furrowed the scales between his brows. He truly wanted to propose a massacre, but he knew it was impractical.

"Let's hear it."

"Firstly, announce that the Church worshipping the Lord of Flame Sun is a cult, and completely deny this Deity.

Second, periodically execute devout believers of the Lord of Flame Sun in public places in the city, especially those who like to organize and carry out dark destructive activities. Use the most brutal torture to torment them, using their screams and wails to draw out more rats."

Finally, consider exploiting human greed by establishing a reward and punishment system against Evil God believers. Discover, report, capture, execute Flame Sun believers with different levels of rewards."