Chapter 370: Flight of Monarchs

Chapter 370: Flight of Monarchs

Mid Evening - Early Fall : Near Emporio

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"So, this is really all that's left of the thunderbirds, huh..." Hera glanced behind us as she spoke. "Serves them right..."

She spoke with such a deep-seated distaste it made me want to chuckle. "I only brought half back here, and I also left a few hundred with Lief, but yeah.. these are essentially all the elites."

"It's a shame Acanthis and that secretary were so incompetent. They could have given us some good competition if they cultivated their race." She continued as I nodded in agreement. "In any case, why did you leave half in the mountain? They couldn't have been happy with you after everything you did. Why chance them leaving for the Holy Kingdom instead of just enslaving and using them here in Bahamut or Siratha?"

I turned my nose up into the wind and took a relaxed breath as we continued to glide over the puffy white clouds. "Well, just like with how you're using them to survey Bahamut, I want to use them to survey the Holy Kingdom, but I plan on starting slow and easing them into it. Thankfully, most of those I left alone didn't seem to mind my take over once they saw how Acanthis left them to rot, but I don't want to rush things." -Although, for convenience, I should probably go ahead and build the space rune there while I build this one for Hera...-

"So you plan on being their Monarch, like Siratha?" She looked at me curiously before turning forward again. "What do you think about sending a small population of dragons to help them get a foothold?"

I quickly tilted my head as if to shrug my wings. "I think it's a good idea, but rather than sending a group with the goal of helping them, I was thinking of simply giving lower-class dragons an opportunity as a whole."

Her curious gaze quickly turned to me. "Elaborate."

Slowly pulling my eyes off the ground, I glanced at the horizon before turning to her. "The lower cavern is unbelievably rich with minerals, so, just like when dragons were integrated into Siratha, I was thinking of giving them an opportunity to rise in class. The opportunity would make people flock to it, and not only that, since it's for their own benefit, they would work their asses off to grow the colony."

She gave me a slightly surprised look as my gaze turned back to the turbulent sea below us.

"In the long run, the colony should help both Siratha and Bahamut quite significantly. There are some other absolutely colossal mythril veins in other parts of the mountain that would give us access to more resources than we could use. The issue is turning everyone's focus from culture to industry."

"Hoho~, to be thinking so far ahead already... You might have more talent in this than I thought..." Hera quickly gave me a prideful, but greedy look as she paused. "I'll have to send some dragons over to survey the mountain in a few weeks."

"Yeah, it would at least be worth looking into." -It might also be worth talking to Lief about that... Although I'm not sure how the thunderbirds would feel, formally integrating both Siratha and Bahamut into that colony could be a play...- Idly looking down below us as I sank into thought, a small beach and endless forest finally peeked through the clouds.

It was the edge of Emporio, the huge island and global hub of draconic trade in the center of Bahamut.

However, while its city was considered one of the most densely populated areas in Bahamut, the east side of the island, where we were flying over with a few thousand thunderbirds in our wake, was completely empty. -Now that I think about it.. I haven't seen a single estate yet...-

Even after several minutes of flying into the island. It was simply an endless sea of forests and lakes as far as my aura could reach in every direction. It was the forest equivalent of a desert.

Eventually not being able to hold my curiosity back, I asked Hera about it, but as it turned out, it was because the entire island, except the city, had an owner. Before the war, she apparently had a massive estate here, but after digging through some old archives found that it was destroyed before the end of the war in a riot.

It seemed to upset her more than I would have expected, but rather than that being because the estate was destroyed, it was more so because Bahamut did nothing to stop it. -I really have to wonder if that wasn't because Bahamut was already dead though...-

By the time I was done though, I felt like I was about to collapse.

At that point, it had been about six weeks since Hera made her first appearance back in Bahamut, and while I certainly did nothing exhausting, because of the threat of Dagr breathing down my neck the whole time, my anxiety did nothing but compound until it began physically hindering me.

*Vwoop* Popping out of the void in the bright blue skies over the Tree of Prayer, my mind was dominated by things I still needed to do, whether it was going to the Laboratory, trying to learn more about that 'third eye' I opened momentarily in The Scar, or exploring Acardi City on the moon, but, -I just can't...-

I felt like my brain was about to begin breaking down. I needed a nap.

-I just wish the prayer was now... I could continue accumulating divinity even in my sleep if it was...- But unfortunately, while the cloud of souls was gently swirling thanks to the prayers of the devout priests and clerics, it wasn't nearly enough to engage the runes.

*woooOOOSH-Thump* *Pat* *Pat* *Pat* Quickly landing and walking into the Gods' Abode with Ilios, I watched as the faintest traces of mana running through the colossal rune in the ground caused the cloud to swirl, but could only snicker. -What a shame...- *Puff* Eventually making it to the center of the room, I finally laid down with a small stretch and got ready to go to sleep...

But the moment my mind turned silent, right before I could sink into a dream, my eyes shot open with vibrance. -Wait...- Although my drowsiness was still more than present, for a moment, my mind became sharp. "The tree just needs mana.. right?"

Looking down at the small rune beneath me, at the center of the countless colossal rings making up the floor of the room, the fog in my mind cleared.

-Why was I thinking it needed mana from people.. it runs on pure mana, not aura... So...- Thinking back to the lake of mana I made where Father was napping, my mind did nothing but continue to wander. -What if I just.. fueled the tree myself?-

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