Chapter 511 - 509: Hilia Stirring Up Trouble

Dragon Island.

All official mages are mobilizing, dealing with the significant event of Dragon Island sinking.

Erina’s ice wall cannot hold forever.

Whenever there’s an unavoidable situation requiring his presence, he finds himself in a dilemma.

For example, if the Holy Court suddenly pushes a massive army.

Would you sit at the border to defend it, or maintain the ice wall on Dragon Island to stop the sea?

Once you leave, the ice wall crumbles, and Dragon Island would be swallowed by the sea, turning into an underwater relic.

Not only Erina, but the leader of the Blue Dragon Empire, the Dragon Throne, also summoned all the cabinet officials for intense discussions on how to solve this major issue.

Someone suggested that Erina should intervene and stack ice blocks under Dragon Island to lift it back up.

Others suggested Erina should intervene directly and raise Dragon Island to the shore.

These ideas were quickly dismissed.

Tier Seven mages are not capable of such feats because Dragon Island is large and the environment is unique.

A Tier Seven mage can easily destroy Dragon Island, but raising it is quite far-fetched.

It’s like 100 kilograms of cotton; an ordinary person can easily ignite or tear it apart, but to lift it all at once is virtually impossible.

"Why not devise a magical array to turn Dragon Island into an undersea city?"

"An underwater city won’t work; there’s no sunlight."

"Then construct a magical array to replace the ice wall, blocking the sea?"

"This method seems feasible, but the strength of the array must be high."

"..."

"We need to resolve this issue quickly; if we drag on, even if the Holy Court doesn’t act, the Lion Heart Kingdom won’t just stand by without doing anything."

"I’ve always said this method won’t work. Lord Erina is unique; it’s not easy to replicate him. It’s better not to interfere with the Fire Spirit and let it become Dragon Island’s mascot."

"All responsibility lies with the Tower of Descent; it’s the Tower of Descent that did this. What does it have to do with us? How come we’re shifting the blame onto ourselves?"

"We should have killed the remaining witches from the Tower of Descent then."

"Do you think we didn’t want to kill them?"

"..."

The Dragon Throne and Erina both watched without speaking.

The cabinet officials continued their heated arguments, and after a long time, the Dragon Throne casually spoke: "That’s enough, stop arguing."

Under the dignified gaze, everyone stopped quarreling and looked at the Dragon Throne and Erina.

The Dragon Throne’s gaze finally fell on Erina.

Erina said lightly, "I think the original plan should remain unchanged. The Tower of Descent suffered such a huge loss, and we still have the justification for elimination; we can seize the victory and imitate the Holy Court to completely eradicate this heretical sect.

As for Dragon Island, if no immediate solution is possible, without me stationed, the armies of the Ista Empire and Lion Heart Kingdom will definitely approach the border. During this time, immediately find ways to repair the magical array on Dragon Island, adding barriers within the array capable of resisting water pressure, keeping seawater blocked outside of Dragon Island, and then gradually finding ways to resolve the sinking issue."

He paused while speaking, "Alternatively, it can be left unresolved, treating it as a unique landscape of Dragon Island; however, it carries the risk of flooding, and the resources consumed are quite substantial."

Virtually all city arrays are equipped with trigger mechanisms, which won’t be activated unless certain conditions are met.

In other words, the array remains in standby mode, maintaining only basic operations, thereby extending the life of the Magic Crystal.

If Dragon Island were to root in the seabed, the array would need to run constantly. This requires frequent maintenance and inspection to avoid barrier fractures, and the consumption of Magic Power from the Magic Crystal would sharply increase, making the upkeep quite costly.

Everyone understands this point, which is why the debate persists.

But now, there’s no choice but to proceed like this.

First, temporarily use the array to erect a barrier, freeing Erina to handle potential military actions from the Holy Court and Lion Heart Kingdom.

Erina is the commander-in-chief of the Dragon Rider Corps, also the guardian of the Blue Dragon Empire.

Lacking him, and missing the most threatening Guy, other empires wouldn’t remain idle.

Dark clouds loom over everyone’s hearts.

Each person displays varied expressions, unsure of what to think.

"Now, onto the next agenda..."

Besides the crisis, they have many troublesome matters, such as public sentiment, thousands entering the volcanic region, shaken by the Fire Spirit’s absorption, it surpasses the shock of Tier Six being absorbed by the Fire Spirit.

Ordinary citizens don’t grasp the concept between mages, only witnessing the shocking spectacle before them.

Fortunately, they exploited the Tower of Descent, and this affair was indeed stirred by the Tower of Descent, allowing them to pass the blame entirely.

The only precaution is against other empires seizing this as a justification, officially attempting to smear them.

Task after task awaits management, leaving everyone in a frenzy.

Just then, a commander from the Dragon Rider Corps enters, handing a report to everyone.

"Two days of border lockdown, 33 incidents of conflict at the border?"

Erina frowned.

"Did the Holy Court and Lion Heart Kingdom intervene?"

The commander shakes his head, "It’s domestic mercenaries and mages causing the clashes; they are dissatisfied with the border lockdown and assaulted the border guards, which led to conflicts. With so many incidents, we had no choice but to report separately."

"What happened?"

"Preliminary investigation suggests they are dissatisfied with border searches; it’s unclear if they were instructed by other empires." The commander paused, then added, "But possibly due to... the dirty hands of border guards."

...

Hilia found that her decision not to leave immediately was right.

Just staying for two days, three conflicts occurred here.

The opposing parties were naturally mercenaries or other mages, dissatisfied with border guards claiming everything was from Dragon Island Volcano.

The conflict concluded with the arrest of mercenaries and mages.

But Hilia could see that with their arrest, public mages and mercenaries grow increasingly dissatisfied with the border guards.

And the border guards, instead of reining in, became more arrogant, taking advantage of the catastrophic event to make a fortune.

As for the complaints of public mages?

They don’t care. Unless an official directive lifts checks on passing mages, this situation will surely continue.

With the emperor far away, this isn’t a border city, just a remote town, nobody can control it.

Fanar City might be able to manage, but they choose to turn a blind eye.

Because some of the gains of the border guards fall into their pockets.

With the fourth conflict occurring and the public mages arrested, Hilia’s mind began to stir.

She suddenly remembered her identity with the Holy Court.

This means she has a certain level of antagonistic relations with the Blue Dragon Empire.

With such an excellent opportunity to make trouble, doing nothing would be akin to being a dead fish.

In the tavern, listening to numerous mercenary mages express dissatisfaction with the border guards, Hilia made a decision.

Go for it!