"F-fifty three million lir?!" Remian gaped.

"Is that a lot?" Xiao Yan asked dubiously. "If you're low on cash, I still have a few herbs we might be able to sell…"

"It's a lot! It's a huge lot more than I expected!" Remian cut in hastily. "I knew I was getting income from the Industrial Zone and Mindy's s.h.i.+pyards and everything but it's way more than I thought…"

How long had he been gone? About a month? Something like that?

That was actually Tim's fault more than Mindy's, but let's not tell Remian his rise in income was primarily the responsibility of Fal'Herim's Underground King.

Especially do not tell him that Tim's factories had all but stolen Arnold's Light Frame designs and were ma.s.s-producing them using them, and selling them to select customers in Fal'Herim at exaggerated prices.

Actually, never mind, he'd find out soon enough anyway.

Even though he'd been through ten years in Virtual Acceleration, Remian was acutely aware that only a few weeks had pa.s.sed since he accidentally warped himself through the Spatial Rift. Coming back to such a huge bank account was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

"So… we can buy stuff?" Xiao Yan asked, hesitantly.

"Oh yes. What do you want to buy?"

Naturally, the first thing she point at was the roadside cart selling steamed buns (pau). Then the one next to it selling soybean pudding (tau foo fah). These were foods familiar to her and similar to those from her world, except that the soybean pudding here employed black syrup instead of white soy milk like that did where she came from. The buns, likewise, had more varieties of sweet paste fillings rather than meats compared to her world's.

But otherwise, they were pretty much the same. The buildings, the clothes, the people, their names… all of it would have fit her world quite naturally.

Remian saw it and began to suspect that her world, too, was somewhere within the territory of the Draconians.

Come to think of it, the term 'Draconians'… before, he thought of them as 'Servants of the Dragons', but since his jaunt to the Quarin world, he found out that the galaxy at large thought of Draconians as 'Dragons and their kin', which of course included all their staff and servants, but more importantly included semi-dragons and various serpentine creatures and clans.

In that understanding, the entire Dragon Empire could be considered Draconians, not just the select few clans who had a bond with one or the other Great Dragon. In fact, most people on this world seemed to think that 'Draconians' were a sub-race of humans who enjoyed special powers due to their bonds with Great Dragons. Actually, since they were within their territory, the whole star system could be considered Draconian.

Speaking of which, their star system was actually named after a plant that grew everywhere on this world early on when the Quarin first found it. Believe it or not, their planet and following that, their whole star system was called Sorrel (a common salad vegetable or kitchen herb).

Standing here in Bee Hoon town, Remian could actually believe it (Bee Hoon being a thin sort of noodles). The Dragon Empire (and the Quarin) apparently had a strong appreciation for food.

To be fair, the people here did seem especially skilled in making bee hoon. There also seemed to be a disproportionate amount of restaurants selling Bee Hoon in various, often hitherto unknown styles and flavors. Remian settled for a relatively common Bee Hoon soup with fishb.a.l.l.s and vegetables for lunch. Xiao Yan tried something adventurous and ordered spicy prawn noodles.

Actually, Remian wasn't a fan of thin noodles like bee hoon. He'd rather preferred the thicker sort called kuey teow.

Thinking of how the town was named, Remian had an odd inkling of how it would feel to have a star system named after thick noodles. Imagine walking up to the Conglomerate and saying 'Oh, I'm from Star System Kuey Teow!'

That idea alone made Remian choke. He nearly spluttered bee hoon all over the road of Bee Hoon town.

Having bee hoon splattered over their streets was NOT why they named the town such!

Anyway, the important thing was, he was back, and returning home required but a bit of time and some airs.h.i.+ps. Having access to his bank account, hiring an airs.h.i.+p or outright buying one was no problem at all.

***

While Remian was thinking about bee hoon and kuey teow, George and the others were wiping the floor with the Spectre Remnants.

"There goes Three Arms!" Mindy exulted fiercely as a concerted volley of airs.h.i.+p fire and Darian's Starlight Drill tore the Tier 8 Spectre to pieces.

Three Arms was the last surviving Tier 8 Spectre that came through the Rift. With it gone, the champions of the Spectres were done for.

George finally relaxed, thinking he could take a break and leave the rest to the Church. "Someone call Father Kairos and the Iron Legion back before they get themselves killed for nothing."

"I've already got them to stop, but I think it might be a while before they come back." Tim said, with a wince.

"Why?" George asked.

He soon saw why. The entire Iron Legion were scrabbling through the wilderness looking for the sheathes they had so valiantly thrown away.

"Is this my sheathe?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure this one is my sheathe."

Thing was, the Iron Legion was formed shortly after ma.s.s-production became a thing, and their adoption of it was one of their strong points early on.

In other words, for the most part, all their equipment looked exactly the same. Except for a few Legionnaires who had marked their gear somehow, the hundreds of sheathes on the field looked pretty much identical.

Sorting out that problem was going to give the Iron Legion a headache all day…

But at least they were alive. At least they survived. And they won!

"I'm amazed the Church came to save us." George said, his mouth twisting. There were words he didn't' say, with the Church fleet practically overhead.

Words like 'where were you last week?!' and 'what do you really want?'

Words like 'they must have been waiting for us all to die, so they could sweep in and take everything for themselves!'

But despite his bitterness on the matter, the truth was, they hadn't waited. They had come in, at the last minute perhaps, but still in time to save them. KarGoth's owner was still alive. Three Pines' populace still lived. The Church could not very well come in to loot their place claiming their original owners had already died. So, if it was easy loot they wanted, saving the locals was the wrong thing to do.

In other words, they weren't after the loot. So, what were they after, then? After all these weeks of battling and trying to pry a bit more aid from callous 'allies', George was suspicious.

Dark suspicions aside, the current situation was only good for everyone here, so there was no cause for strife, and badmouthing them would simply be uncalled for.

As George was thinking, an elegant shuttle swooped down from the Basilica, picked up Father Kairos, and swooped back to the flags.h.i.+p of the Church of Light.

There goes the best person George could have asked on the matter…

Meanwhile, except for the Iron Legion who were still searching for their sheathes, everyone else was celebrating.

"We won! I can't believe it, but we won!"

"Thank G.o.d! No, wait! Thank the Church!"

"As the Church would say, praise G.o.d, not men! Go ahead and thank G.o.d!"

"Yeah!"

This… it couldn't be some publicity stunt, could it? That they would send this whole fleet here just to pick up some easy goodwill and reputation?

Actually, if that was all they wanted, George was inclined to give it to them with both hands. After all, it wasn't like it would cost them anything. No, the biggest fear he had now was that the Church might make some unreasonable demands backed up by their overwhelming firepower.

They would just have to wait and see.

So George waited, but surprisingly, what he saw was the Basilica and the bulk of the bigger airs.h.i.+ps turn around and leave the Wildlands.

That… that's it? They came, they shot down the Spectres, saved us, and then just left? Just like that?

No, not exactly. One of the Cruiser-cla.s.s airs.h.i.+ps still stayed behind, as did a few Galleons and half a hundred Frigates. George would have to ask Kairos as to what it all meant, but it seemed the Church felt their main fleet's job was done and only a small crew was necessary for the mop-up.

It was then that George heard someone scream from the other side of the command post.

The scream came from Lisa Vin, Remian's mother. She was holding a communications crystal in her hand. "Remian! REMIAN! Where are you?!"

There was a brief paused while everyone and everything around them seemed stunned.

"The Dragon Empire?! Ao Yun Province?! Bee Hoon Town!" she gasped.

"We'll come right over!"