Receiving no less than nine urgent pet.i.tions from as many different nations, the Dragon Emperor smiled as he stood upon the observation deck of the most powerful airs.h.i.+p in the world .

"It's about time . "

Around him, six hundred battle cruisers of the Dragon Empire loaded troops on their decks . Dragon-forged steel rang in the hands of draconian warriors .

But rather than inspect his forces, he turned to his aides . "Any movement from Ecclesia?"

"They haven't picked a side, my liege . Our people say they are worried about spending mana . "

"What of Libertaria?"

"They seem to favor Ashdale . "

"Hmm . " The Dragon Emperor tapped his fingers together thoughtfully . The tapping sounded like metal on metal . "Does Libertaria even have enough mana to join the war? I thought they barely had a few million green . "

"Most of their vehicles use steam power, my liege . "

"Steam power!" the Dragon Emperor snorted . "What good is hot water against magic? They are only good for those trains of theirs and they only go where there are rails . "

"Err… word is, they have s.h.i.+ps that use steam too . "

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"s.h.i.+ps!" the Dragon Emperor snorted . "One gulp from Ti'ela or Sel'ea and that would be the end of them . "

The aide went pale and began to tremble . "T-the Sea Dragons are going to take action?!"

The Dragon Emperor paused, stared at him blankly, then barked a laugh . "Right, right . I suppose not . This is a battle of humans, after all . Why would they?"

Besides, Sel'ea was in the South Dragon Sea, directly south of his Empire . She would have no cause to leave that big ocean to fight in some human war around the piddling Midlands Sea on the other side of his continent . Ti'ela was even farther away, in an even larger ocean, far on the other side of Libertaria, beyond the lands where Nil'rak and Ra'oul slept .

No, this war was entirely in his domain and at his whim . Zor'Khan smiled to himself again . Humans were so easy to egg on into war . How easily their greed was stirred… and how even more easily were their spending habits ignited!

He'd been preparing this for years . To the humans, that was a long time .

But what was years to the Dragon Emperor?

"Put up a hundred thousand red mana crystals for sale . The price for one red mana crystal is now set to a million Dragon Coins . The exchange rate is now set to a thousand lir for one Dragon Coin . "

Was the price too high? Today, perhaps . Tomorrow, though, was a different story . After all… where else could you get mana any more? In a war like this… their very survival would now depend on it . What was a thirty-three fold increase in price compared to annihilation?

With this, the Dragon Empire would rise to such glory, Ecclesia and Libertaria and all the lesser countries would look like jokes in comparison .

Let the humans fight their wars . There was no need for the Dragon Empire to shed blood . Without risking the life of a single one of its people, the Dragon Empire was going to own the world .

***

Sir Stout's gauntleted hand slammed on his desk .

"One billion lir for a red mana crystal?!" he roared .

Mandy trembled, half-covering her ears . Even though she wasn't the one giving the report, even though she was just a bystander, as it were, in this scenario…

In the Logistics Division, she knew better than most just how badly Ashdale's military needed mana . She also knew just how much one billion lir was worth .

One billion lir was the enough to upgrade all of Ashdale's First Army's 20,000 soldiers to Tier 5 weaponry . One billion lir was enough to buy 5000 Type-A Wasps .

But instead of 5000 air fighters or 20,000 Tier 5 armaments, all they were going to get was… one red crystal? It packed the mana of 100 blue crystals, or 10,000 yellow crystals into a single hand-held piece, but even so…!

"How much as they selling blue crystals for?" Sir Stout asked . In terms of ma.s.s and cost balance, blue was Ashdale military's preferred Tier .

"They… they're not selling any other kind . " The aide said, her voice shaking . "They're only selling red crystals, and they're only selling one hundred thousand . "

Mandy gulped . Does that mean that once this lot was sold out… that was the end? No more mana?

Just an hour ago, when word came that the Dragon Empire was willing to sell mana crystals, Sir Stout and the entire logistics division breathed a sigh of relief . Ashdale was really running low, and every other available source had either closed their doors or run dry as well . Dealers who had thought to have years worth of mana remaining suddenly announced that they were completely sold out . Mines expected to have tons of remaining crystals began to confess that they were down to their last dregs or actually already exhausted some time ago . Stores who had earlier reported at least half capacity sheepishly admitted that they had a hundred warehouses, and only one was at half capacity . It was like all the bad mana news in ten years had suddenly broke upon Ashdale in the same day . The Dragon Empire's offer to sell them mana had been a huge boon .

But now they were selling at sky high prices, and there was only a limited amount remaining?!

Across the office, one of Mandy's colleagues directly burst into tears .

Sir Stout sank into his chair, his face dark, not even looking at the crying girl . He looked like he might join her at any time .

"Is there… any other source?" Mandy hesitantly asked . "Anyone else selling mana?"

"You'll have to cross the Atlantis Ocean for it, and even then there's hardly any in Libertaria or Torres . Everyone else is buying . "

Cross the Atlantis Ocean to buy mana from Libertaria?! The very idea almost made Mandy laugh . The Atlantis Ocean was so big, it would take a week to cross on Ashdale's cruisers, they'd have to brave really bad weather capable of ripping anything short of military-grade s.h.i.+ps apart, and on top of that, mana crystals in Libertaria were few and expensive .

"What about… the far north?" someone dared suggest . "An expedition equipped for extreme cold…"

"Do you know where, exactly? Has anyone even got a reliable map of the far north? It's all ice and snow to me, and I can't tell where the mana is at . Can you?"

The guy grimaced and shook his head . While everyone was sure there should be some mana somewhere in the desolate frozen north, n.o.body knew exactly where and n.o.body stayed around long enough to find out .

Then, a thought popped up in Mandy's head . "Then… what about the Wildlands?"

"The Wildlands? Are you trying to get us eaten?! As if there weren't enough Wilds around today!" Sir Stout shook his head . "We already tried an expedition to the Wildlands for resources . The entire colony has been wiped out, and now the Wilds who did it are here looking for more humans to eat!"

"But there is still a colony that survived . It's the same one that has survived all these years, long before the war began . "

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"Does such a colony even exist?" one colleague snorted .

"It's the one I came from . " Mandy's answer shut him up entirely . "Sir, I know for a fact that Remian found mana in the Wildlands and sold it to Charlie . "

BAM! Sir Stout's fist hammered on his desk again, frightening everyone . Abruptly, he jumped to his feet . "Everyone, get busy . We're going to the Wildlands! Full scale expedition, bring as many s.h.i.+ps and people as we can! Call up the College of Magi! We're going to find our own mana!"

"Yes, sir!" sudden excitement spread through the office .

"Are… are you sure…?" Mandy asked, suddenly feeling hesitant .

"By George, I'm sure!" Sir Stout swore . "If your ex-husband can do it, you bet your hat that I can do it too!"

"My… my hat…?" Mandy stammered, face turning red .

"And call up your ex-husband! Tell him we're coming to his town!" Sir Stout added . "And if he doesn't like it, he can kiss his sixty million deal goodbye!"

"But… but that's my sister's deal!" Mandy protested .

Sir Stout didn't reply, roaring his orders as his stomped his way out .