18 Three Conditions

Dandell quickly gathered his wits.

The reason why the Internet Deity suddenly cared for the peasants was because he was certain that the Queville Empire wouldn't refuse to collaborate with him.

Hence, the Queville Empire was going to become his parish.

Then, him caring about the peasants' food problems was as natural as the shepherd caring about the sheep's fodder.

Dandell felt a sense of discouragement the very moment he sorted that out.

Because he indeed didn't have the courage and power to refuse.

Both sides would lose out if they rejected it.

No, the Queville Empire would definitely go into a decline if they rejected it. It was even possible that it would finally become a mere city state.

To the Deity of the Internet, the biggest opportunity cost was simply the spread of the divine skill at a slower rate, the parish descending into war and the decrease of the population!

Because nobody could resist the benefits the Internet would bring, especially the peasants.

Dandell changed the topic, "I think we should talk about the collaboration first."

"No problem. List your conditions." Yu Sheng'an showed his palms, relaxed his body and reclined in his chair.

But Dandell instinctively sat up straight as abstruse magical engravings began to appear at the bottom of his feet, completely engulfing that traditional Queville style deli.

At the same time, all the Towers of Magic in Willis City began to emit waves of magical ripples that covered the entire city.

Yu Sheng'an suddenly realized he couldn't use his Deity Perspective to peek at any user in Willis City anymore, apart from his own projection which was an extension of his body after all.

Dandell said in a low voice, "The Empire only has three requests.

"First. You can never build churches in the Queville Empire."

Yu Sheng'an gave a slight nod. It was easy to understand why the Queville Empire would bring up that request first.

The church was the deity's incarnation, the parish's fortress, the divinity's eye, and a warning to the other deities!

One could say that the deity depended on the church as the centerpoint to complete its rule over the entire parish.

Once the other deities' activities in the parish exceeded a warning line, it would attract the focus of the deity. It could even send a projection to attack them!

Maybe the deity would quietly patrol the parish every now and then!

Thus, the meaning of the church to a deity was no less than a tower of magic to a mage.

Dandell said out the rest of the conditions in one go, "Second. Never interfere with the political affairs of the Queville Empire.

"Third. Never peek into any messages between any mages and the Internet's social media!

"We have to sign a contract regarding the above three points."

"Contract document?" Yu Sheng'an said in a weird tone.

"I believe Your Excellency would find it difficult to trust our sincerity without the constraints set by the power of a contract." Dandell deliberately said it the other way round as a way to be mindful of Yu Sheng'an's pride.

The actual meaning of those words should be: without the constraints set by a contract, they would find it difficult to trust the Internet Deity.

The problem is… Am I not the Deity of Contract?

A weird emotion began to emerge in Yu Sheng'an's heart.

Contracts did indeed have a very strong constraining power.

But there was always an exception to the rules. As long as he would be willing to pay enough elementium, tweaking the contract was a simple and normal operation!

At the same time, Dandell's reminder had also made Yu Sheng'an scold himself in secret for having such a rigid way of thinking.

He suddenly remembered how he had a hard time promoting the Internet Divine Skill in the beginning.

The reason was because the Internet Divine Skill only had the social interacting feature back then.

The majority of the mages were naturally unwilling to use it after picking up the mithril rings due to the ever-present warning, "those who use the divine skills would be watched by the deities."

They would only be watched for a few minutes at most when they used the other divine skills.

What about the Internet's social media? It would be quite common to log in eight or ten times a day to use it.

The situation drove him to entice the users with benefits and to kickstart the forum to create a bandwagon effect.

In fact, he could have come up with a "Letter of Authorization" at some point to promise that the Deity of the Internet would never violate the users' privacy and the problem would have been solved, right?

With that contract as a guarantee, it would have been more than enough to dispel the worries of most users.

He had nothing to lose if he did this; in fact, he could even earn a ton in usage fees for the "contract documents" easily.

After all, the Internet Deity promising not to peek didn't mean that the Deity of Contract wasn't going to, right?

"I can agree to your three conditions. But, I also have three conditions of my own."

Dandell, the magical deities and the few grand mage instructors who were listening in started to tense up.

"First. Spread the Internet Divine Skill all over the Empire. I want it spread everywhere; all the way to the basic administrative unit of the Empire—the village—within one month.

"Second. The Queville Empire has to fully implement free and compulsory basic literacy education from today onwards. Every administrative region, including villages that only have one inhabitant, have to set up free schools with a minimum of one teacher to teach literary skills. You have to complete setting up the schools within one year.

"Third. Within the Queville Empire's territory, apart from the Deity of the Internet and the deities recognized by Him, all other deities will be regarded as heresy!"

Dandell descended into silence as soon as the three conditions were mentioned.

In fact, he was already discussing those matters with the other magical deities behind the scene, all with the help of special magic.

Yu Sheng'an's first condition was totally within their expectations.

The second condition was a little unexpected.

But, on further thought, they could understand the logic behind it.

That condition needed a certain contribution of money and manpower and it was ultimately beneficial to the Empire, so they could agree to it, too.

But the third condition was tough.

Was this going to tie the Queville Empire together with him, the Internet Deity?

Even though the Queville Empire repelled all other deities, they still recognized the legitimacy of the Five Main Righteous Deities. It was at a diplomatic level, to prevent a combined attack from their part.

On top of that, their territory wasn't big and the population was rather low.

It would take the deities too much effort to conquer it, so they simply let them be.

The Deity of the Internet wanted them to look to him as the lead in their attitude toward the deities. How would the Five Main Righteous Deities react if they decided to declare them as heresy?

"Your Excellency, the third condition is too harsh." Dandell was trying to sound him out.

"Then, your first and third conditions are also harsh. I can only accept one. You guys have to pick one out of the two," Yu Sheng'an said.

Dandell stopped talking. After a long period of silence, he clenched his teeth and said, "All right."

Yu Sheng'an smiled. He had conquered an empire within a snap of his fingers. The future was going to be bright!

Then, the two parties discussed the specific terms and conditions and signed a bilateral strategic cooperation agreement in a cordial and friendly atmosphere!

At the moment when the agreement was signed, the magical ripples that engulfed Willis City slowly dissipated like the fog at noon.

Dandell's tensed up body also began to relax. His mental state had also changed from "confrontation" to "cooperation."

He asked curiously, "May I ask Your Excellency, how does the official website that you mentioned before look like?"