Changes

Three weeks later.

Arnold and Old Flame were idling around bored at the Dragon Academy on Pillar Mountain.

They had made this place their dwelling, as only dragons and birds could fly up to such heights without relying on scaffolding.

"Little Arnold, what do you think of my nephew's troop's strength?"

Old Flame lay draped over a still-standing large building, his head naturally hanging down as he askew glanced at the golden dragon.

Arnold, currently acting as a coach, casually replied: "Not bad, but I don't know the number of humans coming to attack. These days when I go out to scout, I've noticed human traces in every direction."

Old Flame let out another yawn, shifting the topic to the golden dragoness Nicole that Arnold was training:

"Humans really have ingenious ideas, actually being able to control a creature's future form and physiological cycles. I wonder if they'll use this technology on themselves."

Arnold fell silent for a moment, then said: "I don't think there's much harm in that. On the contrary, those poor things are the real victims."

Across from them, Nicole's heart was pounding with anxiety.

After being captured by Raphael and brought back here, she had been thrown into this place, with two familiar dragon corpses exposed and starting to rot and stink, making Nicole even more afraid.

But then Raphael stopped paying attention to her, only having the blood wyverns deliver three hammer drakes here to guard her. Having never participated in fights, Nicole was naturally fearful of the lower-ranked dragon kin.

Then Arnold and Old Flame moved in.

They began teaching Nicole some combat skills and draconic magic spells, seemingly intending to have her join battles in the future.

"I don't want to go fight! Those energy balls and lightning cannons flying everywhere are too scary!"

Nicole cried in her heart, but the shadow Raphael had left on her was even greater, causing her not to dare disobey.

"Now I'm going to release arcane arrows to attack you, remember to use the fireballs I just taught you to deflect them."

Arnold spoke, and twenty blue-white arrows appeared in front of him, shooting straight at Nicole in an instant.

Nicole fumbled around haphazardly conjuring a few fireballs to fire back, but only managed to block a few of the arrows.

Seeing the remaining glowing icy-blue arcane attacks coming, her mind went blank. She instinctively hugged her head with her paws and crouched down, tightly wrapping her body with all four wings.

In the end, the arrows struck her body, and feeling the external impact, Nicole immediately wailed: "It hurts! I got hit again!"

Arnold and Old Flame stared dumbfounded, never expecting that after nineteen combat drills, not a single one had succeeded.

"Those arcane arrows are a special version that only carry corresponding magic power. Upon contact with matter they'll automatically dissipate without causing any harm," Arnold could only try to reassure her.

"Really?" Nicole slowly poked her head out from between her wings and paws, trembling.

"This is unwatchable, it's like a comedy of nausea."

Old Flame couldn't take it anymore, flapping his wings to take flight. "Little Arnold, you can slowly have one-on-one practice with this 'lady' yourself. I'm going out for a spin."

The golden dragon watched helplessly as the old red dragon flew away, wishing the other could offer some suggestions.

"Keep going, the most important thing is to overcome your inner doubts. The heart is key to becoming a qualified warrior, physique and strength come second."

Nicole shook her head frantically: "But I don't want to become a warrior! I just want to eat, drink and sleep simply through life!"

Arnold conjured another twenty arcane arrows: "But you must have strength and foundation to eat, drink and sleep every day. In the past, humans protected you, but now Raphael has no intention of keeping idle dragons. If you don't want to be killed or taken to do hard labor, just train properly! Be a useful dragon!"

Saying that, the arrows shot out like the wind.

After flying out from Pillar Mountain, Old Flame headed straight for Erl City District.

In the northern suburbs, he landed beside Raphael, who was observing the training.

"Hey nephew, that female dragon you captured seems too pathetic. I couldn't even watch her practice," the old dragon joked shamelessly.

Raphael's face darkened: "Is that so? That really is troubling for Arnold."

The red dragon's mind was wandering, as he had spent three straight weeks outdoors in the wind and sun.

After Alvis took over as governor, the first thing he did was summon Raphael, as only he could intimidate the mercenaries into allowing war training.

This was the bustling scene before them.

"They're all wearing the same clothes? Where did those come from?" Old Flame asked.

"From the warehouses on Pillar Mountain, old human military uniforms that I had slightly modified to become my troop's."

"But I feel your troop seems a bit uncoordinated."

The mercenary band was primarily composed of demi-humans, and the mercenaries Raphael brought back were all demi-human races as well.

This led to vast differences in physique and temperament among the foxkin, lizardkin, wolfkin, tigerkin, dark elves, catkin and even dragonkin all mixed together.

But Alvis had already solved the discipline issue - the answer lay in the wooden plaque beside him: fifty-seven military regulations.

Anyone violating the regulations would be strictly punished accordingly.

The wooden posts around the training grounds were hung with the heads of those who didn't obey or believe, and the underground confinement cells also held quite a few demi-humans on the verge of madness.

All this made the surviving demi-humans understand the consequences, and they began rigidly accepting orders.

They then found that by giving up thinking and naturally following that human's instructions on the stage, the arduous training became much easier.

Unified clothing, unified actions, unified status, coupled with the increasingly heavy training load and dragons' surveillance.

Gradually, each demi-human's individual personality began to blur and dissipate, becoming one thing - soldiers.

After watching for a while, Alvis had Hil and Anubis take over the training, approaching Raphael.

"How's it? Raphael, I didn't let you down, did I?"

"Mmm," the red dragon grunted, "I'm just too bored."

The first few days of watching the training were still interesting, but then Raphael sank into a sense of being imprisoned by the environment, counting the hours until he could get off every day.

Alvis nodded and prepared to head into the city interior, not forgetting to add as he left: "Remember to come back to Pillar Mountain after eating dinner to return for evening training."

He was met with a reluctant puff of small flames in response.

Old Flame smiled wryly: "Little Raphael, it seems you're getting along well with these outsiders."

Raphael had already completely sprawled out, his gaze dazed as he drifted into dreams.

Under the escort of rat dragons, Alvis entered the central agencies, with humans, dragon kin and dwarves all bowing respectfully along the way.

In the late scorching August heat, he still insisted on wearing a rubber trench coat scavenged from Pillar Mountain's warehouses, with a military officer's cap and leather gloves. However, Morey's insignia had been removed, replaced with a phoenix emblem on the shoulders.

All this was to make himself appear more stern and authoritative to command respect.

"Lord Komo, how did yesterday's propaganda efforts go?"

Alvis pushed open the door and inquired, his tone as heavy as an iron anchor.

Lord Komo respectfully stood up and bowed to show respect, because the man before him had allowed him and Iris to separate from the noble group and openly be together.

At the same time, this man was also his important backer now.

"According to your request, we have been continuously deifying Lord Raphael, removing all words like 'red dragon' and 'demon dragon' and replacing them with 'crimson dragon.'"

This was the suggestion Alvis got from the artists and linguists he extracted from the populace.

If he wanted to make Raphael appear special and shrouded in an aura of mystique, then common folk appellations like "red dragon" and "giant dragon" had to be eliminated; evil titles like "evil dragon" or "demon dragon" would only make outsiders inwardly fearful, which was disadvantageous for promotion.

The neutral and obscure term "crimson dragon" was perfect.

Alvis nodded: "Good, we must raise Raphael up onto a divine pedestal. It is the core of our regime's existence, and will also be the foundation of our judicial legitimacy. We must make outsiders unquestioningly convinced of its glory, brilliance and greatness!"

"The expanded patrol squads should increase their workload. Anyone who dares to defame him in private or public settings should be arrested and thrown into the confinement cells for reflection!"

"Also, we need more public notice boards for people to report on each other. Those who dare to make reports should be rewarded and protected as exemplars. Widely propagandize them through your printing workshops."

Lord Komo jotted down each point in his notebook, then raised a question:

"But by doing this, aren't we effectively using pliers to forcibly twist the people's thoughts? They won't so easily believe it, and the undercurrent of gossip won't diminish."

Alvis walked over to the filing cabinet, picked up some documents and flipped through them as he replied:

"A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. As long as we can keep the spring compressed, it will naturally lose its elasticity."

After inspecting the documents, he prepared to leave: "In any case, I didn't have high hopes for these adults."

Lord Komo saw him off, then rang the bell to summon his subordinates for a meeting to designate a new round of more aggressive propaganda policies.

Alvis next went to Amelia's administrative office.

This baroness was hunched over her desk working. Hearing the noise, she looked up, and seeing the visitor, couldn't help but smile.

"Hello, Lord Governor."

Amelia was truly grateful to Alvis for indirectly helping her escape her plight, and was satisfied to have secured a position in the new order.

But facing the still-elegant baroness, Alvis did not soften, still using that cold, iron-like indifferent tone to get straight to the point: "How is the internal separation of the populace going? How is the distribution of land and housing?"

Amelia remained smiling: "The separation has been completed. We've more or less figured out everyone's previous skills and job roles. Following your instructions, we've hired a group of helpful people into the lower levels of the central agencies."

"As for the land…"

Amelia's expression and tone became difficult.

"What's wrong? Speak!" Alvis frowned sternly.

"Yes! Previously when we nobles were in power, we found the owners of high-quality arable land and forcibly purchased it at extremely low prices. If it was unowned, we seized it in the name of the Kingdom of Erl, then falsely put it up for public auction while embezzling the proceeds. Now the land in the southern and northern suburbs, as well as inside the city, all belongs to them. Komo and I also have a share."

Alvis gave a slight nod to indicate he understood: "What about the alchemy plants, fishing, and light industries closely tied to the masses?"

"Same thing." Amelia lowered her head somewhat embarrassedly. The noble group's blatant plundering of public property looked quite unsightly, and she naturally could not resist the temptation to profit as well.

"Komo and I can relinquish our portions, but I don't know about the other nobles."

"That's not necessary," Alvis considered and rejected the idea. "Continue with the work of dissolving these collective units. We no longer need this transitional system."

He then left and entered the city district.

The rebuilding of Erl City was basically complete at this point. The planning of streets and alleys was finished, and public facilities could begin operating.

He passed along the central avenue, with vast numbers of laborers hard at work along the way. Wooden plaques nailed into the ground read:

"The crimson dragon's dominion over the land is the decree of fate, obey and prosper, defy and perish!"

"The great crimson dragon will surely bring happiness and fulfillment to all!"

"Boldly make reports! The crimson dragon is your strong backer!"

"What you are building is your own future home and retirement residence."

"Those with no criminal records will receive a free private residence and stable job in the future!" and so on.

Alvis' iron-fisted methods and bold style made all of Erl seem to accelerate like gears, drastically improving infrastructure, morale and military preparedness.

"In the future, we'll have to restore a normal economic system here, but food and industry must be guaranteed."

He pondered this while being escorted by dragon kin guards to the northwestern corner of Erl City.

This was the newly built school.

Alvis entered the campus grounds, which were guarded by patrol squads. The dragon kin's manpower issue was beginning to show strain in the increasingly specialized institutions, so most areas no longer had them deployed.

The school only had a technical college and a military academy - one to train workers and alchemists, the other to train soldiers and officers, both of which Erl currently lacked.

The teachers were former Morey educators separated from the populace.

All children aged six to twelve were required to enroll.

Alvis passed by the dormitories and cafeteria, happening to meet the principal - a member of the Komo family, formerly a professor at a magic academy in Morey.

"Hello! Lord Governor! May I ask what brings you guidance to our school?"

He smiled and bowed, his sparse white hair visible to Alvis.

"Have there been any student disruptions? Disobedience to discipline?"

The principal immediately puffed out his chest proudly: "Guaranteed none! When we first opened, because of our full closed-off management and militarization, some students cried wanting to go home and see their families. But our teachers, under my careful guidance, quickly used various means to subdue them. Order is completely normal now."

"Mm."

Alvis gave no praise or criticism, walking ahead on his own.

The principal wanted to move closer to speak more, but was warned off by the rat dragons' glares.

"In fact, I believe I may be capable of handling a position requiring more ability," the principal said with an awkward smile.

"Very well, you can be the future Minister of Education. And possibly even join the cabinet," Alvis casually replied, leaving the reassured principal inwardly delighted.

Next they came to the exterior of a classroom at the military academy, with students preparing for class.

"We are the great crimson dragon Lord Raphael's warriors! In the future we will inherit this honor and responsibility! Dedicate everything to Him, as the heroes of the Hall of Legends!"

Deafening voices echoed through the hallways, with each classroom emitting similar chants.