Chapter 1201: 188. Reward

“That’s wonderful. Not a single person died.”

Muen smiled at Hamreign.

The smoke and dust over the square and streets gradually dispersed, revealing the devastated ground riddled with crater after crater. The people of New Tars, who had been stunned by Hamreign’s current appearance, also came back to their senses one after another and began treating their injured companions.

At first glance, this could indeed be considered the site of a relatively fierce battle. But if placed within a story called “The Evil Dragon Invades, and the Entire City Rises to Resist,” those traces could only be described as “a slightly dirtied corner of one’s clothes.”

“She shouldn’t blame me for doing something stupid again this time, right?”

Although Muen felt a little pleased with himself over this result, as Hamreign gradually approached, a tiny trace of panic inevitably arose in his heart.

After all, he had completely tossed aside her previous instruction to “stay put” and had once again taken it upon himself to do quite a few things.

Given Miss Dragon’s terrible temper, it was entirely possible that she would......

“You did well.”

“I only wanted to minimize the losses and had absolutely no intention of causing you trouble, so please be merciful and go easy on me...... Huh?”

Muen, who had subconsciously rattled off a lengthy disclaimer, froze for quite a while. Only then did he process what she had just said. Blinking, he looked at Hamreign in surprise.

“Unless I misunderstood...... Miss Dragon, were you praising me?”

“If you think you are incapable of understanding that sentence, I can help you understand it through somewhat physical means,” Hamreign said coldly.

“Although I have absolutely no idea what kind of physical method could improve comprehension, I believe I have no need for it whatsoever.”

Muen hurriedly straightened his body, his expression solemn.

However, he only managed to remain serious for a few seconds before immediately breaking character.

“You really were praising me?”

Tilting his head, Muen carefully examined Hamreign from below.

Hmm. Although her face remained indistinct and her expression could not be seen clearly, he could indeed sense that there was no clear trace of anger around Hamreign at this moment.

On the contrary, she even seemed slightly...... happy?

Was it his imagination?

“There is nothing to deny. You truly did very well this time and made this matter much easier to complete than I expected.”

Whether she was happy remained uncertain, but Hamreign’s tone had indeed softened considerably at this moment.

“Well, we are companions who can slaughter our way through any enemy once we join forces, aren’t we? When you said you were going to use a slightly rougher method, I more or less guessed what you intended to do. This is the bond and tacit understanding between companions.”

Muen chuckled.

Actually, it had not been difficult to guess.

Miss Dragon’s objective was to find ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) those surviving people of Tars. Since it had already been confirmed that they were somewhere inside this city, the most direct method was naturally to seize complete control of the city first.

To be honest, regardless of whether it was rough or not, this truly was the best method. If they relied on infiltration and searched slowly, there were so many people here that they might not find anything even after an eternity. The prolonged delay might instead give rise to unforeseen complications.

But when it came to how they should control this city, that became another extremely troublesome problem.

Any violent action would inevitably provoke resistance. More importantly, under the deliberate guidance of those survivors, this city had long since come to regard Miss Dragon as an incomparably evil archvillain.

Therefore, the slightly “rougher” method Miss Dragon had spoken of was probably to first display overwhelming strength and make the people of New Tars fear her, then kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys, eliminate the forces capable of resisting, and force the remaining majority of ordinary people to submit.

That was precisely why she had circled over the city for so long without launching a genuine attack.

Only by allowing the people here to remain terrified for longer would it become easier for them to choose the path that could be considered correct for them.

“Compared to simply oppressing them through violence and frightening them from the outside by making an example of someone, wouldn’t it be gentler and more effective to work from both inside and outside, attacking from two directions? After all, no matter how sturdy a fortress may be, it is always easier to break from within.”

Muen shrugged.

As he spoke, he also felt somewhat fortunate that those survivors had hidden themselves away.

Otherwise, given the prestige they possessed here, all they would have needed to do was stir people up with a few words. Even if Muen talked until his lips wore away, nothing he said would have helped. A brutal and bloody conflict would inevitably have been unavoidable.

“No matter how you look at it, my solution was the optimal one. Even Miss Dragon, who understands humans so well, did not think of this method.”

For the first time, Muen felt as though he had “defeated Miss Dragon.”

He inevitably became a little carried away. Especially after seeing that Miss Dragon approved of what he had done, he not only stopped feeling afraid, but even took the initiative to move closer to Hamreign and looked at her with great anticipation.

“Don’t I get some kind of reward?”

“A reward?”

“This time, I was seriously misunderstood as your ‘running dog.’ Even if you do not call it a reward, surely I deserve some compensation for my hard work......”

Muen could not help rubbing his hands together like a fly.

He had been extremely covetous of...... extremely envious of the treasury Miss Dragon had shown him before.

“You are becoming bolder and bolder.” Hamreign’s slender brows lifted slightly.

For some reason, she suddenly had a strange illusion.

Ever since the first time she had beaten him, it was as though she had struck a mangy snake with a club.

The thick-skinned mangy snake had not been beaten to death. Instead, it had slowly slithered upward along the club. In the brief moment when she had not been paying attention, it was about to......

“Hmph.”

Thinking of this, Hamreign gave a cold snort, and that fair, jade-like hand suddenly reached toward Muen.

“Wait!”

Muen immediately shuddered at the sight.

After all, whether it was being beaten before, dancing afterward, or even flying midway through, Miss Dragon’s jade-like hand had always given him some extremely unpleasant experiences.

Therefore, he almost instinctively shouted:

“Even if you are not giving me a reward first, you still should not...... Huh?”

A burst of coldness came from his hand.

Muen, who had not been subjected to any terrifying treatment by that jade-like hand, blinked and looked down at his palm in confusion.

He discovered that an ink-black jade bead was lying there quietly.

That jade-like hand seemed to have reached over only to deliver this bead to him.

“This is......”

“Consider it an upgraded version of the bead from before. It is yours.”

“It can rapidly restore mental power, the kind that restores a large amount?”

Muen hurriedly examined it carefully.

Then he was shocked to discover that when his mental power merely came into slight contact with it, it did not simply recover. It even became considerably stronger.

“It can not only restore, but also amplify?”

Muen was overjoyed.

With such a powerful effect, this was truly a divine artifact capable of saving his life at a critical moment!

Its importance was comparable to the supreme restorative soup he would need to drink before being trapped inside a room by Senior An, Liya, Celicia, and Ariel at the same time!

“Making such a fuss over nothing.”

Hamreign appeared somewhat disdainful of Muen’s excitement.

“As expected of a human who has never seen the world.”

“......”

Muen was speechless.

As the son of a duke, being looked down upon for having never seen the world was probably a first.

“Thank you, Miss Dragon. Being this generous really makes people want to become your dog......”

“You may.”

“Cough, cough.”

Muen gave two dry coughs.

“However, I am still a man with some backbone. Clinging to your thigh is acceptable, but becoming a dog is unnecessary. Therefore, I can only repay you through some other method.”

“Repay me?”

“Please look at this.”

Muen did not explain further. He simply took out a blueprint and slowly spread it open in front of Hamreign.

“This is......”

“A construction blueprint.”

Muen said:

“The blueprint used as the basis for the construction of this city. As the foundational design plan for everything built here, it includes the city planning in detail, hidden spaces, open and undeveloped areas, and even every sewer in this place.”

“......”

Hamreign’s gaze sharpened. She quickly leaned closer to the blueprint and carefully examined the complicated lines and densely packed numbers.

Clearly, she had also realized the importance of this blueprint.

At the very least, with the blueprint, she no longer needed to plow through this city inch by inch.

“There is also this.”

Muen then took out stack after stack of old booklets, piling them up until the thick stack was almost as tall as a person.

“What is this now?”

“The population records of this city, also known as...... household registration.”

Muen patted the booklets and smiled wickedly.

“They are divided according to eight districts and fifty-three main streets. All population information is recorded here. Of course, considering how naively sweet and ‘wonderful’ the residents here are, I do not think there should be any hidden household registrations or unregistered residents. Our Lord Proxy already guaranteed that to me just now.”

“In other words......”

“To find the rats hidden among the crowd, all we need to do is follow the records and call the names one by one.”