Tabareo had better be telling the truth.
Baseless slander did not carry the same weight as a well-founded accusation.
The Auxiliary Legion took everyone back to Free City, looting the town's valuables on the way. Even counting the hidden antiques, oil paintings, and jewelry, the haul came to only a few hundred gold coins—not a small sum, but it depended on whom you asked.
Annan spent the night in the emptied town, then set out again the next morning and reached Starer City without incident.
When Illymoyas's enormous dragon silhouette appeared above Starer City, the residents who had yet to move to Free City poured into the streets and cheered, "Long live Olmedo Just Right! Long live Olmedo Just Right! Long live Olmedo Just Right!"
Annan landed on the terrace of the City Lord's Mansion and looked down at the streets in confusion.
"What are they calling you?"
"It's just a joke. Hello, Miss Blue Dragon, you..." Francois suddenly spotted Maria and looked puzzled. "Countess...?"
The Faceless Baron still remembered the Countess of Breeze City.
"She's on our side now."
"Hello, my lady," Francois greeted her, then turned back to Annan. "Would you like to inspect what we've accomplished in Starer City?"
"No... I'm just passing through. I still have to go to Ize Bay." Wary of getting bogged down in more work, Annan denied it at once. He was quite pleased with Starer City's current state. Thanks to the migration, Free City's population had already reached a hundred thousand—
Even at its most prosperous, Breeze City had only had a population of five hundred thousand.
Of course, that was nothing compared to the royal cities and imperial capitals of Middle Earth, whose populations routinely ran into the millions.
To stop Francois from pressing him, Annan told him what Tabareo