At this moment, Raphael gripped the top of the Dragon Academy watchtower on Pillar Mountain tightly with his four claws. His dark golden vertical pupils were narrowed as he stared into the distance at dragon domain, where humans were waging an intense battle. Ash and black smoke billowed upwards, and it didn't look like they planned to leave anytime soon.

Suddenly, a black raven flew in from the gloomy northern skies and gently landed on Raphael's protruding dragon horn, screeching shrilly with its beak open.

"You mean to say the humans are continuously shipping in more troops to my old lair?"

After understanding, Raphael's fangs were instantly bared as the sinister hatred in his heart deepened.

It was now the gloomy morning of September 6th.

After yesterday's battle ended, the crisis in southern Erl was declared over.

And because things happened so quickly, Cornet's command center was accidentally bombed and destroyed right away, causing the imperial allied forces to lose their core and meekly surrender one by one. Ryton hadn't even had a chance to fully attack and capture Pillar Mountain before Raphael rushed back to defend it, so the fall of Pillar Mountain that Alvis had predicted didn't actually occur.

"But I currently have no way to organize a force to strike back, Fokine had just said the humans were continually reinforcing their troops" .

It wasn't that he was afraid of sacrifices, but rather the fact that the food supplies in Pillar Mountain were running out.

The war had accelerated food consumption, especially the hammer drakes with their huge appetites. Normally they could get by eating just a small amount of meat, but to maintain their combat strength required huge quantities of raw flesh.

A blood wyvern suddenly flew up. "Master, the human nobles and Lord Alvis have preliminarily formulated several plans for the next steps. They hope you will make the final decision."

It quickly added, "In the courtyard of the dwarf king's palace castle."

Raphael snorted without turning his head, "I know."

The raven Fokine then scornfully squawked something about how in the past when it went there looking for tree seeds to eat, those damn human gardeners always chased it away and even set traps trying to catch it. But now they'd all been driven out.

After the blood wyvern flew away, the crimson dragon carefully lifted Fokine down with his claw and softly gave it a few instructions.

The raven then screeched and flew off towards the heart of the Dragon Domain.

Raphael took one last longing look at his old lair before taking flight, nosediving down into the city.

The former King Morey's palace complexes had already been occupied by the dwarves and dragon kins, with the double hammer banners and crimson dragon totems flying everywhere. Having gone uncleaned for a long time, a thin layer of green moss now covered the once pristine royal palace.

The elite rulers of Erl were scattered across the entrance courtyard, with servants busily moving chairs, tables and documents around. The other four dragons were also resting calmly in this area.

Raphael circled overhead a few times. The loss of his old lair his mood foul.

"Hopefully they bring me some good news."

He dove down at high speed as usual, the gale force winds kicking up and making a mess of everything on the ground. The people then saw the red dragon slowly crawl out from the billowing dust cloud.

Alvis stood at the very front, his confident gaze directed at Raphael as he straightened his right arm.

The rest of the people present then did the same, extending their arms towards the crimson dragon with looks of trepidation, reverence and admiration.

"What's the meaning of this?" Raphael furrowed his brow questioningly.

"This is the ancient Midegarth military salute," Alvis replied with a smile. "It was invented by the republican consul Caesar at the time, due to his outstanding military talents. All his soldiers expressed their respect for him this way, meaning 'above all else.'"

However, flattery was useless to Raphael. He bluntly asked, "Enough with the nonsense! How can I take back my lair now? Those humans are still deploying more troops - do you have any brilliant strategies to wipe them out?"

Faced with the crimson dragon's ferocious manner, everyone looked at each other, until finally Baron Moran stepped forward and calmly responded:

"We did not discuss regaining your domain as the main topic."

"What!"

Raphael nearly spat out fire. These people actually had no ideas for regaining what he had lost - did they expect him to go it alone?

The pressure and might pressing down from in front suddenly tightened, prompting Baron Moran to hurriedly blurt out the rest:

"In fact, this is a trivial matter that will be resolved along with a certain other issue."

Raphael finally caught his breath a little at this. "Elaborate."

Baron Moran continued, "Right now, we need to first understand the predicament we face."

"First off, the military pressure has essentially dropped to zero. The southern imperial allied forces have been routed and disbanded. Ryton's army corps is incapable of any further advances - this is Governor Deluca's conclusion. This crisis will inevitably reoccur in the future, but we need to find a way to prolong that timeline."

"Next is the food issue. Your steward Milmos says the food reserves can only last less than a year. We need to obtain large amounts of farmland or engage in trade."

"Finally, there is the economic issue. Erl currently has a distorted distribution system that severely impairs the inherent creative potential of the people and extinguishes their drive and ambition. To reverse this phenomenon and normalize Erl's economy so you have money to do more, we must address this."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Raphael sneered, "Money? I have plenty of money! Why would I need to earn more?"

Baron Moran twitched his eyes. "Then would you be willing to hand it over for us to manage and invest?"

"No one is laying a claw on my gold, not even a single golden sand," Raphael coldly rebuffed.

"So it's merely your collection then. It is indeed a vast fortune, but without liquidity it's just a pile of metal, not money. Money is a tool to facilitate the flow of resources. Once the economy is normalized, we'll need money to mobilize social resources for what we want to do."

Hearing this, Raphael lowered his head and stared coldly at the sixty-year-old human. "I have already conquered everything here with godlike power! All the land, resources, rivers, fish, mountains, minerals and even the very air belongs to me! Who dares say I cannot mobilize it all?"

The crimson dragon's roar carried long suppressed, smoldering resentment. Everyone immediately turned pale, but Moran showed no fear:

"Correct, it all belongs to you. But can you alone develop and utilize all those resources? Threatening people's lives to force them to work may work, but the efficiency would be extremely low - no one wants to be enslaved to toil, except your kin. Only with a normalized economy, where people can use money to purchase goods to satisfy themselves, will they willingly drive themselves to get things done and rack their brains to voluntarily sell their labor for money."

"This saves you an immense amount of management capital. And the wealth buried under Erl's soil will continually produce output. You only need to wield the power of taxation to skim off a huge pile into your own coffers without lifting a claw. At the same time, the right to enact laws is in your hands - any infringement on your interests will be illegal and immediately terminated."

"You're simply changing the way you enslave humans, but the efficiency increase will be over a hundredfold. With this we can strengthen our military forces to better protect Erl, including your vault of gold. Right?"

The more Raphael listened, the more the corners of his mouth curled up. "Sounds not bad, but can you ensure the humans will give you time to develop this?"

"So we need diplomatic means." Moran looked towards Alvis, who then gave a signal to the demi-human soldiers beside him.

Soon a Ground III arrived carrying a down-and-out human dressed in a gold-trimmed military officer's uniform. Raphael noticed this human had the same golden hair and grey irises as Alvis, with an equally imposing stature.

"Allow me to introduce the Imperial Command's General, the overall commander who led the allied southern invasion force against us - Cornet.D. Deluca." Alvis stepped forward, his face completely calm.

"Alvis?!"

Cornet looked up in great shock, never expecting to see him standing before him.

Raphael slowly leaned in. "Your brother?"

Alvis shook his head. "No, just from the main family line."

"It was you! So it was you! Only you could have designed such a daring strategy - flanking around to my rear! Putting special emphasis on protecting intelligence assets - I never knew the numbers of those special forces until the very end!"

Recalling past events, Cornet gritted his teeth. "So you betrayed us to the dragon long ago! Are Emily and Khuma dead? Don't tell me you sold them out to the evil dragon to save your own skin!"

BANG!

A massive claw suddenly slammed down, the ensuing quake directly knocking Cornet flat on his back.

"So you're also a relative of those arrogant humans," Raphael mocked, recalling past events. "What 'great lady', 'great mage' - a single breath turned them all to ash like that stinking rats, no different at all!"

Not a shred of guilt appeared on Alvis's face as he only flashed a brief look of remorse at Cornet's predicament.

"Cornet, I was forced into this path against my will. The complexities involved are beyond what you can imagine. Though I am the one who captured you, the crimson dragon Raphael is the one calling the shot here. If you still want to live, tell me the sigil code for contacting Imperial Command. It's not a state secret - you don't need to die for this."

"You…"

Cornet could hardly believe that the person whom he had once selflessly helped and shared innermost thoughts could become like this. But that dragon was keenly watching from the side, flames of his breath occasionally flickering from its nostrils and mouth.

…

The Imperial Command Headquarters.

This gray building with no outward decorations was the controlling institution for the entire military might of the Empire.

However, there was no busyness inside. The commanders were passing time in their respective offices playing with toy soldiers, studying maps, going over sand table exercises, or napping under newspapers. It was very relaxed here when there were no major wars.

Until an urgent blaring alarm dragged everyone's heads out from their diversions - something big had happened.

"What's going on, General Cale?"

The commanders crowded into the conference room, asking the marshal on the dais, but received only a cold, hard expression in return.

Once everyone was seated, Cale took out a communication orb. A mage behind him proceeded to cast a spell, and a pre-recorded voice issued forth:

---

"Cornet? Why did you not send a battle report last night?"

"Greetings, human. I am the dragon you've been dreaming about."

"..."

"Not talking? Well, I can now guarantee there are no longer any military forces on Morey Plain capable of opposing me. If I wished, I could march directly and destroy Morey's remaining strongholds at any time, fly across the Modun River and burn Potain City to the ground - isn't that where you're shipping supplies to the front lines?"

"…Greetings, red dragon. I am Imperial Marshal Cale. It seems you have won a victory in this war, though the speed exceeds my expectations…how can you prove your words?"

"Just send something to take a look. I guarantee you will no longer find any formed human military units in the field, because they are all inside my city, probably around a hundred thousand men. This communication orb was voluntarily handed over by that human called Cornet to delay his execution time. Perhaps we could discuss the issue of these prisoners."

"I'm sorry, this is too sudden. We need some time."

"No problem, but I don't wish to wait too long. For I have also captured four purple dragons that fell into my claws, as well as large numbers of griffons locked in mountain prisons. My kin are eager to devour their flesh and blood, but I think perhaps you may offer a price to ransom them back that satisfies me, so they still live for now."

"Farewell."

---

The conference room fell into a long silence, as everyone was stunned senseless by this shocking news, feeling like they were in a dream.

"Not a defeat, not an annihilation, but one hundred thousand captured!"

"How could Cornet have been in command? No matter what, it's impossible they could have been encircled and taken prisoner en masse!"

Cale spoke up loudly, "Quiet! Marshal Lukas has already gone to the imperial district to notify His Majesty! There is still a chance to turn this around at this stage, the key is intelligence! We need the full picture of how the war unfolded. The materials on your desks were compiled by the operations staff - tell me your conclusions."

The commanders then noticed the stack of papers on their desks and began flipping through and analyzing them.

"The Karuk forces never reached the battlefield? Oakland fell in the early morning of September 5th?"

"Ryton actually occupied the dragon's lair! That's dragon territory! Weren't they afraid to die?"

A hubbub broke out below, gradually arriving at a despairing conclusion: the combat capabilities demonstrated by the dragon's forces must represent an elite military corps. Karuk could not be relied upon, and Ryton was blocked by Pillar Mountain, unable to break through in the short term. If the allied forces really were captured, then as the dragon said, it had no remaining opponents on Morey Plain, and the western Empire was within its threat range.

"Especially since we can no longer redeploy and concentrate troops anymore. The evil dragon's strategic thinking seems very advanced - it will surely launch deep attacks on key points to prevent us from mobilizing greater forces. Having lost nine battle dragons and two thousand griffons, we have nothing in the air capable of opposing it. The impacts of war breaking out within our borders would be too great."

Cale's expression grew even more grim. "So you're saying it's giving us an opportunity for peace talks instead?"

"From a purely military perspective, that is indeed the case. It likely has deeper considerations. But in the short term, unless we pay an immense price, we cannot exterminate it."

Suddenly, a woman official wearing a red court dress arrived.

She said calmly, "General Cale, Majesty has convened an emergency imperial council and needs you, as a military professional, to explain our current predicament to the councilors."

"Very well, I'll go over immediately."

Cale nodded and left with the female official, leaving the rest of the commanders to continue digesting this unacceptable reality.