"There are so many people here..."
Beludona drank in everything around her. This was the Main Plane, beyond the Abyss... a place many devils never set foot in their entire lives.
Apart from her curved horns and deep-set, horizontal pupils, Beludona looked like a human woman. She had long dark hair and a figure that could only be called perfect.
Her noble attire was made of sumptuous silk, its close fit revealing a waist any lady would envy. It even gave Annan the idea of a corset, which he planned to take to the Textile Factory as a new invention.
"Because of my war with the Mad Dog Duke, these innocent civilians were driven here from the south of the Duchy. But the war is over now. They can go home."
"Are their homes still there? In Hell, the weak have no right to survive."
As Annan and Beludona passed, the people still awake along the road fell silent.
“I don't know...” Annan broke the silence. “But that's all right. Free City will always welcome them.”
Gratitude showed on the faces around them. As they walked on, those still awake along the road waved to Annan, holding back their excitement and keeping their voices down.
"They adore you."
"Because I protected them, I suppose."
"What's that?" Beludona looked up.
Ahead stood a shadow like a low mountain, but as they drew closer, its surface refracted the streetlights into brilliant bands of color.
"You saw it the day we signed the Contract. It's the Blue Dragon's Lair."
Beludona, who had only just graduated from Apprentice, could accept a crystal that large. Then she saw the "building materials" standing at the Mage Tower construction site.
"Is that... Mountain Copper?"
"Yes. I'm planning to build a Mage Tower. Otherwise, even a Floating City