Central District, first floor of Blue Dragon Bank, in Rahman's private banquet hall.

Charles focused on delicately slicing through the fragrant camel meat on his plate with knife and fork. Across the round table, the colossal blue dragon Rahman also ate at a measured pace. His manner was so refined he seemed less like a dreaded blue dragon and more like a true human gentleman.

"So, one million gold—will that really be enough?" Rahman spoke first, setting the tone. "I worry such a small sum won't see you through."

Charles gave a wry smile. "Truly, Prince Rahman, there's no need for more. The Voulets are already in the shipbuilding business—they've got skilled workers, a deep well of technical expertise—we aren't starting from scratch."

"On top of that, they'll be moving some of their existing equipment, raw materials, and entire production lines to the new factory. We're well stocked with resources, more than enough to cover all the costs."

Rahman had invited Charles this evening primarily to discuss the new shipyard. After hearing Charles's proposal, Rahman was optimistic about the venture and eager to inject more capital—tying Charles to him further in debt.

Charles, of course, understood that unless he owed Rahman a mountain of gold, the blue dragon wouldn't sleep easily. So he didn't stand on ceremony—he took the full million gold loan without hesitation.

After digesting all this, Rahman nodded slightly. "If that's the case, that puts my mind at ease."

He paused, then went on. "There's another thing—since you'll be building a shipyard, I'd suggest you put it in West Harbor District."

"The area's open and spacious, with few people living there. It doesn't see anywhere near the traffic of East Harbor, so using it for your new shipyard feels ideal. What do you think?"

Charles's eyes flickered as a stream of information about West Harbor ran through his mind.

Originally, Liberl Port didn't even have a western port, nor the 'West Harbor District' as an administrative region. It only had three major ports: North Port, connecting to the Empire of Sein; East Harbor, the largest deep-water port in the world handling global shipping; and South Harbor, once a navy dock and now relegated to fishing.

West Harbor? That was hammered into existence by the rich—almost spiteful—blue dragons.

The Empire of Sein's royal house had silver dragon blood and, naturally, was drawn to metallic dragons but shunned chromatic ones. Back in Sein's heyday, their officials made life hell for any blue dragon conglomerate; blue dragons waiting to unload at East Harbor would be forced to queue for ages.

Naturally, blue dragons couldn't stomach this kind of constant humiliation. So, in a fit of pride (and with equally bottomless pockets), they hired merfolk to dig out a whole new port on the city's western shore—a feat accomplished purely by force of money.

Though much smaller and less convenient than East Harbor, it was perfectly adequate for the blue dragons' exclusive use.

The eye-watering cost of this feat shocked the world—even Sein's royal house was left slack-jawed, equal parts stunned by blue dragon wealth and green with envy. That envy soon led to all sorts of greedy, unscrupulous characters eyeing the blue dragons for a piece of the action, which ironically forced Sein to ease up on them a little.

Later, as the Empire of Sein declined and cash flow dried up, the blue dragons' reputation as "filthy rich" meant more and more self-styled justice-seekers begrudgingly came to them for loans—that was when the blue dragons finally secured their footing in Liberl Port.

Thanks to their nearly exclusive use of West Harbor, some trading did begin, and that once barren stretch of rock slowly started to flourish.

Once Laeral Silverhand became Open Lord, she made West Harbor its own district and extended public transport there; it continued to prosper.

Even so, many old-school locals struggled with the idea of cozying up to chromatic blue dragons. So, despite the wealth, population stayed low and development slow compared to elsewhere.

Of course, even with that, it was far better than the crowded, impoverished South Harbor District.

After considering Rahman's advice, Charles nodded. "If there's a suitable site, I'm all for it!"

Rahman smiled. "Oh, I'm sure there will be. If not, we'll just dig another one."

Charles chuckled, about to echo Rahman's boast about blue dragon might, when suddenly the system blared a warning in his mind.

He frowned, excused himself to the restroom, and ducked into a side room. Pulling up the system interface, his eyebrows shot up and excitement fluttered in his chest.

At last!

He saw a densely clustered pack of a dozen little red dots flooding into the Amazons' residential block. And among them, a single enormous red dot was slowly moving!

Clearly, this was the mastermind behind the constant red dot harassment the monastery had faced lately.

He—or it—must have been keeping a close watch on Charles, never showing themselves while he baited near the monastery the past few days. But the minute Charles finally left, they'd sprung into action!

Now, finally, the culprit was showing themselves.

Charles bit his lip, tense yet relieved—as the saying goes, "There's no such thing as a thousand days guarding against a thief." Now that the enemy had appeared, no matter how tricky they were, it was better to settle things quickly than live in constant dread.

If his earlier suspicions were right, and this big red dot was actually one of Mephistopheles's agents, then its target tonight would be the girls who'd signed infernal pacts.

He couldn't let them succeed—the girls needed to be warned immediately!

He took out his Sending Stones, shot a message to the witches, and returned to the banquet hall, forcing an apologetic smile. "My apologies, Prince Rahman—an emergency has arisen at the monastery, and I must head back at once!"

"As for the shipyard site, I don't know enough about that—please coordinate with the Voulets as you see fit. The only thing I can confirm is that the location will definitely be in West Harbor District."

Across the table, Rahman's smile vanished. Taking in Charles's grave expression, the massive blue dragon gave a silent nod. "Understood. So go—now. Is the trouble serious? Want me to send a full team to back you up?"

Charles managed a thin smile. "Thank you for your concern, Prince Rahman, but it's an internal matter—not something violence can solve. There's no need for your help."

He was wary of Rahman—let blue dragon troops into the fray, and they just might try to take off with the girls, using them to bring down powerful nobles and install their own creatures in their place.

He couldn't risk that. Better to thicken his skin and ask Vajra for help if things really went south!

As Charles's mind swirled with contingency plans, Rahman appeared genuinely unbothered, nodding his massive head. "Very well. Don't let me keep you."

Charles bid him farewell, hurried out, signaled the driver, and mounted his carriage. Casting Longstrider on every horse, he sped out of Central District in a rush, heading back to South Harbor.

There may have been strength in numbers at home with Theresa standing guard, but the sooner he returned, the safer everyone would be.

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