Dong... dong... dong... dong...
Loud bells rang out.
Everyone present froze.
Alicia snapped out of her fantasies and said to Koraman:
"Koraman, let's go attend the meeting.
The rest of you faithful, continue your joyous revelry! Tonight belongs to you!"
With that, Alicia vanished from the temple with Koraman.
Outside the temple, the two dragons revealed their true forms.
They became two faerie dragons, one over twenty-three meters long and the other over twenty-four, and flew off nearby.
Outside New Niro City.
A pitch-black dragon over 47.5 meters long carried iron blocks weighing at least tens of thousands, perhaps even over a hundred thousand tons. With all four limbs braced against the ground, he rose and fell repeatedly, doing sit-ups.
The earth beneath him kept cracking and sinking.
"1,856, 1,857, 1,858... I'm not proficient enough with magic power. I have to make my body stronger. Only then can I avoid being left completely behind... I absolutely can't give up... This is my only way to catch up to Gordon!"
The enormous pitch-black dragon gritted his teeth and persevered.
Drops of sweat seeped through the gaps between his scales.
Until the sound of dong... dong... dong... dong...
Rang out.
"The council bell... Has something big happened again? Never mind. I'll finish the remaining 141 push-ups when I get back."
With that, the pitch-black dragon shook his body violently, tossing off the iron blocks. They struck the ground with an enormous crash.
The ground shook for several kilometers around.
Then he slowly exhaled and flapped his wings, rising into the sky.
Elsewhere.
On a bench in a garden.
A handsome, silver-haired young man watched the people passing along the street.
He sighed inwardly again and again:
This business is completely hopeless now.
*New Niro City is nice enough, but those wealthy people's