Only a few days remained before the year ended.
The residents were still caught up in the excitement of the approaching New Year when word suddenly came from the City Lord's Mansion: all permanent residents would be registered as citizens. Starting next year, new applicants would have to meet certain requirements, though the Oldfolk would be exempt.
The residents who could no longer imagine leaving Free City had no objections. A place this good ought to have some requirements.
Citizen registration began amid great excitement, with almost no conditions: as long as you were willing to stay in Free City and intended to protect it, you could become a citizen.
In less than three days, the City Lord's Mansion registered forty-six thousand citizens, not counting the miners at the nearby mines. Francois had already taken people to register them, so the final number would likely exceed fifty thousand.
That evening, Annan visited the Crystal Lair. Illymoyas was still in Slumber, so he took the liberty of writing her name on the parchment. The three Young Dragons readily agreed to become citizens of Free City. He even coaxed them into bringing their parents and elders over—each Blue Dragon they brought into Free City would earn them one hundred gold coins.
New citizens received only a piece of parchment bearing their name, sex, age, and registration number. Their lives seemed no different from before, but this marked Free City's final step toward becoming an official independent city-state.
The old embassy became a mansion, while a new embassy capable of accommodating more envoys from different countries and territories was being built opposite the City Lord's Mansion.
For now, though, Free City was still rather "small"—about a tenth the size of Breeze City. That was even with the wondrous Mage Tower taking up a