A Future Growing Ever More Certain

Seleucia Governorate, Sunset City.

Gongs thundered, drums roared, and horns blared. Loud broadcasts rang out from atop the city gates, where banners had also been hung.

"Warmly welcome the triumphant return of the Imperial army!"

"Seleucia's hero Adrian has rendered another great service, wiping out the rebel group that intended to defect to the Kassand Kingdom!"

Riding a Dragon Blood Warhorse, Adrian led a fully armed army along the broad asphalt road that had just been laid, preparing to return to the Duke's Mansion.

He gazed at the towering cranes and skeletal framework buildings in the distance, at the massive airships floating above the city and the Wyverns beating their wings. His feelings grew increasingly complicated, and he sighed softly from horseback.

"It happened so fast."

Far too fast.

In barely a month, the city had undergone earth-shaking changes, gradually becoming something he could no longer recognize.

But whether those changes were good or bad—

At least for now, Adrian had no way of knowing. He could only watch the bustling crowds and the strange buildings rising from the ground.

"Yes, this is the speed of our Empire—unmatched in the world!"

At his side was a Half-Dragon from Anzeta.

The city he knew so well was becoming unfamiliar at a visible pace. Everywhere was filled with the noise of construction and the roar of machinery, and the plan that had changed everything—the Sunset Metropolis Grand Development—had been signed by his own hand.

As the procession approached the city gates, the knights gathered there could not help puffing out their chests, their voices brimming with pride. Adrian merely nodded thoughtfully. The citizens had already spotted them and began cheering enthusiastically, while ceremonial cannon fire and fireworks appeared in the sky.

"Duke Adrian!"

"Hero! Hero!"

"I heard he wiped out every last