"Most of the injured have already been treated. Nara, go and bring the map of Brilliant City."
Luo Li ignored her and gave Nara an order.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Soon, several people brought the map over. Luo Li stood up with Lina's support and took a pen to mark the map.
There were many spare maps of Brilliant City available.
Thanks to mana stones, while communication was far from convenient, at least some of the more unusual technological standards were quite good.
Actually, it was more accurate to call it the level of magical engineering.
Maps like this were replicated using water-attribute mana stones, which felt much like using a printer.
With a few strokes, she marked all the people trapped under the stone rubble.
There weren't many, only seventy-three.
Some of them weren't buried deep and could be rescued with a bit of digging.
"Nara, take this map to Cain and have him notify all departments to search for survivors at the marked locations."
"Yes!"
Nara knew that time was of the essence. Without a word of nonsense, she immediately handed the map to a nearby knight.
Nara herself could not leave. After all, as a personal nun, she performed the duties of both a personal maid and a chief steward. It wouldn't be right for a personal nun to leave her Saintess, would it?
Only then did Lina piece together what had happened from the snippets of conversation around her.
She couldn't help but turn to Luo Li and ask in surprise: "Did you two actually use a coordinated skill?"
Momoka shook her head.
"It wasn't a coordinated skill. It's an authority of the Saintess of the Moon. Her class skill allows other Saintesses to provide support. Lina, don't tell me you didn't even know that?"
Lina looked at Momoka blankly and shook her head honestly.
"I didn't."
"...Forget it."
Looking at the Saintess of the Moon and the Saintess of War beside her, Momoka suddenly felt that the hope for the Kingdom of the Moon's rise was slim.
Thinking of this, she suddenly looked at Luo Li.
"Luo Li, I've just realized that being a Saintess like you is really not easy."
The silver-haired girl was currently worried about the disaster victims. Hearing Momoka say this, she glanced back at her.
"If it were easy, I wouldn't be this exhausted."
Luo Li basically didn't need to interfere with the remaining matters.
The Six Ministries had already been assigned their respective tasks.
This post-disaster reconstruction could be considered a rehearsal.
After all, the reconstruction projects for Final City and Seaview City would be the truly massive ones.
"Alright, let's go back. Leave the rest to Lola; she can handle it."
This was out of trust, but also a step-by-step training for Lola.
It was best if such things didn't happen, but she couldn't be there every single time they did.
So, it was better to let Lola gradually become familiar with these situations.
"Wait, what is that?"
Luo Li was just about to return to the Temple when Lina suddenly pointed at the sky.
She seemed to have seen something shocking, her blue eyes filled with astonishment.
Luo Li instinctively looked in the direction she was pointing. With her eyesight, she could barely see anything.
She could only vaguely make out some tiny black dots moving among the clouds.
"That is..."
Luo Li furrowed her brows and squinted, trying to see more clearly.
But the distance was simply too far to make out anything.
However, while she couldn't see clearly, someone else could.
Momoka suddenly opened her eyes wide and looked above the clouds.
Her expression shifted from surprise to gravity!
"It's dragons!"
Dragons?
Could it be a dragon calamity?
So soon? Shouldn't it have been a few more days?
"Nara, immediately activate the city-wide alarm. Notify Sir Kevin and Sir Lancelot to prepare for the enemy."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Nara held the emergency communication mana stone. Almost all emergency communications were under her control.
"Wait! Those aren't monster dragons. They're true dragons."
Purebreds?
Luo Li was stunned for a moment and instinctively looked up at the clouds.
Among the clouds, dozens of creatures that could vaguely be seen in dragon form were flying in from the distance.
As the distance closed, Luo Li finally recognized the black dragon leading them.
Why was it him?
While she was still reeling from the surprise, the dozens of dragons had already arrived in the sky above Brilliant City.
After circling once, the leading black dragon began to glow with a dark light, gradually shrinking to the size of a human before dropping straight down from the sky.
However, before he touched the ground, he seemed to hit the warning magic barrier of Brilliant City.
A current of electricity crackled across his body, but it didn't seem to affect him at all.
With a soft thud, the one who appeared before them was indeed the black dragon, Black!
"Long time no see, Lady Luo Li."
With long black hair and a black tailcoat suit, he was the picture of gentlemanly elegance as he bowed slightly to greet Luo Li.
Beside her, Momoka was like a cat with its fur standing on end, staring warily at Black.
Very few people knew that Luo Li had been recognized by the black dragon Black during the expedition to the demon island.
After all, Black hadn't said it in front of everyone.
And Luo Li hadn't intended to spread the word either.
She was already attracting enough attention. Adding fuel to the fire would likely result in her getting burned.
Dragons were a proud race. To other races, they were indeed something to be feared.
Momoka didn't know about the relationship between Luo Li and Black. Coming uninvited like this and intruding directly into Brilliant City would normally be considered an act of war.
Among the three Saintesses standing there, Luo Li was the weakest, so Momoka felt she had to protect her.
Fortunately, Lina knew about the relationship between Luo Li and Black and quickly pulled at Momoka's sleeve.
"Momoka, don't be impulsive. It's fine. Black is one of us."
"One of us?"
Momoka looked at Lina in confusion, then back at Black and Luo Li.
For a moment, she couldn't understand what was going on.
At the same time, dozens more figures descended from the sky.
Among them were two familiar faces.
"Shalin, Aigie, you've come too?"
Shalin, the ice dragon younger sister, and Aigie, the red flame dragon older sister.
This pair of twins had actually come as well.
What was this for?
Could it be a mass dragon migration, and they intended to settle in her Brilliant City?
You have to be joking. Setting aside the food and drink for these dozens of dragons, even if she tore down all of Brilliant City, there wouldn't be enough room for them to live!
"Saintess, it has been a long time. We have missed you dearly. Please forgive our sisters for failing in our duty as your guards back then."
Shalin lowered her head. Compared to Aigie's strict and critical personality, Shalin's temperament was much better, and her voice was very gentle.
"You're too kind, Shalin. What happened back then had nothing to do with you two. It was purely an accident."
Luo Li quickly stepped forward to help the sisters up.
She then turned to look at the black dragon, Black.
"Black, did you come here for something? For such a large-scale movement of dragons... has there been some new development with the demon army?"
Black sighed deeply, reached into his coat to pull out a mana stone, and handed it to Luo Li.
At the same time, the Dragon King's arrogant laughter came from within.
"Hahahaha! Long time no see, Lady Luo Li. Are my one hundred million gold coins ready? I even dream about sleeping on those one hundred million gold coins!"
"One... cough, cough..."
Oh no!
What should I do?
The money has already been spent!
The railway budget alone has already cost forty million gold coins!
Brilliant City only had one hundred million gold coins in total, which was equivalent to a trillion dollars in value.
Forty million was used for the railway budget, and twenty million was set aside for the reconstruction of Brilliant City and Seaview City.
The remaining forty million was meant for other purposes.
How was she supposed to give it to him now?!
"Hmm? Lady Luo Li, your voice sounds like there's a little problem. Surely the Saintess of the human race, the Chosen One recognized by me, wouldn't try to welch on the debt?"
The Dragon King on the other end of the mana stone clearly heard the distress in Luo Li's voice and immediately began to press her.
For a creature like a dragon that loved shimmering gold, these one hundred million gold coins were incredibly important.
They had already mutually agreed on this transaction. If Luo Li went back on her word now, it would be difficult to deal with the Dragon King in the future.
And Luo Li finally understood why so many dragons had flown to Brilliant City.
This was a freaking gold coin escort!
Even for the expedition to the demon island, he had only brought about seventy dragons. Now, just to transport the gold, forty had come.
This was enough to prove how much the Dragon King valued this gold!
What now?
She didn't have that much money!
"Cough, cough. You must be joking, Your Majesty. I will naturally do what I promised."
"Good, then that's that... I'll stop here."
"Wait, wait a moment! I have another deal. I wonder if Your Majesty the Dragon King would be interested?"
"Oh?"
At that moment, far away on Dragon Island in the outer sea.
A golden dragon was sprawled across a pile of gold coins nearly the size of seven or eight football fields.
On the ground, scattered golden swords, golden armor, and golden ornaments could be seen everywhere.
If someone were standing where this golden dragon was and looked around, everything they saw would be gold.
Every object in sight was high-purity gold.
A massive golden dragon claw lightly tapped against a piece of golden armor.
It made a dull 'clink, clink' sound.
At this moment, our Dragon King had already seen right through Luo Li.
It seemed she really was out of money.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be so eager to make a deal with him.
But for the dragon race, the sanctity of contracts was very important.
If this human Saintess dared to renege now, he wouldn't hesitate for a second.
He would immediately recall all the skysoar dragons!
Trying to get a free ride from him?
You must be daydreaming!
"And what kind of deal do you intend to make, Lady Luo Li?"
However, she was the Chosen One after all, so he should at least give her a chance to speak.
As for whether he would agree, that was his own business.
"Your Majesty the Dragon King..."
The mana stone glowed faintly, fluctuating with the sound.
This caused the golden dragon's eyes to focus on the stone.
At this moment, he had already made up his mind that no matter what Luo Li said, he would refuse directly.
Then he would recall the skysoar dragons!
Trying to get a freebie from him? In your dreams!
"I saw that you were very interested in the original document tablet. I wonder if you are interested in purchasing another batch?"
"Not intere... What?! You have more document tablets?"
It wasn't that the Dragon King didn't know that original document tablets could be manually inscribed.
However, there was a key point.
If God did not recognize the rules on the document tablet, then the tablet's legitimacy would not be acknowledged.
Naturally, the document tablet would fail to function.
This was also why that human First Pope, the Chosen One from a thousand years ago, had not mass-produced the tablets.
To say he had the ability to manufacture the tablets was certain.
The materials for a document tablet were indeed precious, but for the long-lived dragon race, what they could spare from between their claws was enough.
However, setting aside the fact that no 'chosen dragon' had appeared among them, even if one did and created a document tablet, whether the tablet would be recognized by God remained a major problem.
But now, what did this Luo Li just say?
She had more document tablets?
Just as the Dragon King was thinking this, the girl's elegant voice came through the communication mana stone.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I wonder if you are interested in taking a look? This document tablet is about you, the Dragon King."
"Is there a communication room near you? I need to see the document tablet immediately."
After a moment of hesitation, Asfield added another condition.
"If it really is about the position of the Dragon King, I am willing to... pay fifty million gold coins to buy it."
Luo Li's mouth twitched when she heard this on the other end.
At this point, was he planning to kick her while she was down and scam her?
He really was a calculating Dragon King. He clearly knew she didn't have much money and was deliberately lowballing the price.
You should know that the previous document tablet had absolutely nothing to do with the Dragon King!
They were just for positions like dragon elders.
This one was something she had prepared long ago to trap the Dragon King.
She didn't expect this guy to take advantage of the situation like this.
"No. It's two hundred million gold coins or no deal. That is my final price."
Luo Li refused calmly. At a time like this, she couldn't show any weakness, or she wouldn't be able to get a good price!
"Two hundred million? You mean you want me to add another hundred million?"
"Exactly. Not a copper less!"
"You dare threaten me?!"
"Roar!"
A roar echoed from the mana stone. Even from thousands of miles away, Luo Li could imagine that golden dragon with its mouth wide open, spraying dragon saliva at her.
However, she wasn't afraid in the slightest.
"Nara, bring me that original document tablet I prepared for the Dragon King."
She then turned to look at Gerald.
"Gerald, is your sword sharp?"
Gerald's brow furrowed as he seemed to understand his mistress's meaning. He nodded.
"Please rest assured, Your Highness. While my sword might not necessarily pierce dragon scales, it can certainly split stone."
Hearing him say this, the silver-haired girl flashed a mischievous smile.
"Very good."
She turned back gracefully, looking at the mana stone in her hand, and asked in a soft, friendly voice:
"Your Majesty the Dragon King, if I may ask, do you intend to purchase it for two hundred million?"
The communication mana stone went silent for a moment, and then a sudden roar erupted!
"You! You dare threaten me?! Black, destroy Brilliant City for me! I want this woman who dares to threaten me to pay the price!!"
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