"Anything else I should know?"

The spy was kneeling in front of the invincible lord, bringing his monthly rapport.

"Due to the mechanic's defenses, the council has been able to start massive expansion projects of the town. Since the mechanic has thought some of the builders in the town how to build his ballista designs, they have despite a lack of natural protection of forest or mountainside been able to defend themselves against dragon attacks at a scaringly efficient rate. The place is slowly turning from a town into a small city."

The spy paused for a second to regain his breath.

"Additionally he built some kind of mountain-sized machine a few miles outside of the town, but so far I have been unable to figure out what it's meant for. Even the council seems to be unaware as the mechanic has shared the information with only his innermost circle."

The Lord nodded, thinking. "It might be better to stop observing and kidnap him then… Even if we could get a lot of intel by watching him, he's getting too much of a threat to stay free."

"Sorry Mylord, but that's no longer possible. The council is keeping a close eye on his safety and the mechanic has started his own guard known as the Enforcers. I'm not sure how dangerous they will be, but if they're the same as everything else The Mechanic has cooked up they will likely be a considerable threat."

The invincible lord frowned. "If that's the case we need to take a different approach… You say that the city is heavily defended against dragon attacks. Is that the same case against human ones?"

"What are you planning Mylord?"

"We need to stop him while we still can before he gets too powerful. I'm considering to gather my army."

—000—

"That was the last rapport, your majesty."

Queen Ruby nodded politely towards her advisers. "Alright then. As long as I didn't forget anything, we should be done for today."

Most of them nodded, turning to leave when suddenly one of them spoke up.

"There's one more thing…" one of the advisers suddenly said. Her name was Tarn if she remembered correctly and she was known for her more gentle side when it came to approaching things. "That dragonet with the strange spear who claimed to have been attacked by scavengers wielding futuristic weapons."

A few of the advisers groaned, silently muttering something about children with way too much fantasy, while others chose to remain silent.

"True… I almost forgot about it because it's such a…" she paused, unsure what to say. Weird? Unlikely? Plain stupid? "Strange situation."

"I suggest you simply forget about it." one of her advisers told her. "We got bigger problems to think about than some random dragonet's fantasy."

"Well I believe her." Tarn replied. "It didn't sound made up, and she was genuinely afraid of what she saw. Also, she brought her proof." she added nodding towards the spear the dragonet had brought with her and was now leaning against the wall.

"Alright, so some scavenger dens have spear throwers, that's nothing new. We all know about that one in the mountains that does the same."

"I have to disagree there." one of the guards suddenly interrupted. "I've seen spear throwers before, and this projectile doesn't match any of the weapons I have seen any scavenger or even dragon use before. It's far too advanced…"

"Alright, so far we're only arguing and theorizing… Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should do?"

"Well, I suggest we simply send someone to check it out. Scavengers have proven that they can be dangerous before. After all, they killed Queen Oasis back then. It can't hurt to check."

"Don't be stupid. Our soldiers have better things to do than to chase after fairytales!" Multiple advisers agreed with that.

"We live in times of peace. We can afford to send out soldiers on smaller expeditions like these."

Rubi watched the discussion go on for a while before deciding that enough was enough.

"Alright, this is getting nowhere. We're at a clear draw in terms of votes." she sighed. "Guess I have to decide this myself after all."

[Later]

Queen Rubi wandered through the hallways, thinking.

Despite multiple hours already having passed since the meeting, she still couldn't think of a solution for her problem. She knew that the story was rather unlikely, but she had also promised that dragonet that she would find a solution to her problem. She couldn't just send her away again.

The problem was how should she deal with this. Sending someone would indeed not hurt, but might make her look weak in front of her advisers as it suggested that she was afraid of a bunch of scavengers. Sadly enough there were still a lot of dragons out there that were against her rule, believing that she had used magic to cheat in the battle for the throne. If only she had a good excuse to send someone.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone heading towards her at a quick pace.

"Y-your majesty." he said with a quick bow in front of her. It was one of her guards, and it seemed like he didn't have the best time. His stance was wobbly, and she noticed an injury on his head as if he had received a blow to his head.

"The prisoner… Radiance… has managed to escape during her transfer to the SandWing prison." he replied in an exhausted tone. "I already informed the captain of the guard who sent a search party after her and immediately came here for rapport."

Rubi was taken aback by this. Radiance was a SandWing thief who was notorious for her infiltration and stealth. She was bold enough to steal from nobles and other powerful individuals. On rare occasions, she even stole from royalty, which had finally caused her to land on a wanted list across multiple kingdoms.

It had been a difficult task, but thanks to a tip from a witness her soldiers had finally been able to corner and arrest her.

"How did this happen?"

"She managed to knock me out during guard shift using some kind of blunt object. I wasn't paying attention to her back then and she instantly noticed it." he replied hanging his head in shame. "I take full responsibility for what happened, and accept any punishment you may seem fitting…"

"At ease soldier, I'm not angry at you." she replied. "You should get that injury of yours checked, however."

"But I failed you." the guard insisted. "I let a dangerous prisoner escape. At last, give me a chance to redeem myself…"

"I don't have anything you could…" she suddenly paused. Maybe she could solve two problems at once. If she send someone to check out a potential threat that was composed of a few scavengers she risked giving the opposition an excuse to make her look weak. Allowing a guard to redeem himself on a mission to help a traumatized dragonet on the other talon…

"Although, if you insist, I might have something small you could do for me… This morning there was a dragonet who had a traumatic experience with a few scavengers. Maybe you could help with that after your medical checkup…"

—000—

The empress finished reading the letter she had received from Blue Wave Harbor. It included the newest development of what was going on there and was a lot longer than usual. Mainly because the mechanic took up two-thirds of it. She put it to the side, separating it from the pile that held the letters of the rest of the settlement that belonged to her empire.

She sighed. "I don't like that development…"

"What do you mean your majesty?" one of the councilors asked.

"This is from Blue Wave Harbor. The mechanic has been busy again"

"That's nothing new. Since that guy showed up he has managed to make the news at last twice every month…"

"That's not what I mean. It's the newest projects he has been working on. He seems to gain more and more power over the last few weeks. While I never saw a problem in that, these newest plans of his are worrying, to say the least."

"You think he will become a potential threat?"

She nodded. "Knowledge is power they say. I never realized how literal that could be until The Mechanic came into the mix. This man could potentially be the most powerful person on this continent."

"You're overreacting your majesty. He can't afford to have you as his enemy. If he tries to do anything you can always banish him from the empire. Even with all his intelligence, he won't survive against the dragons. If he's as smart as you say he is he will realize the power we have over him."

"We have power over him you say? Do you really think that? Well, let's start with the fact that he delivers 95% of all of our advanced anti-dragon weapons and ammunition. He has a full monopoly over that sector, already because it was him, who invented all of those weapons and nobody else knows how to make them. Hell, the word „advanced technology" had to be redefined because of him." she took multiple deep breaths to calm down.

"And he's likely to know that himself. Simply banishing him won't be an option. He has way too many supporters in his hometown and even the council stands behind him. They won't even banish him if we threaten them with an attack, already because The Mechanic has become essential for their survival."

The council members were quiet for a moment, considering her arguments.

"What exactly are those projects you consider such a threat?" one of them finally asked.

"Well, first of all, he built some kind of giant machine that's supposedly able to dig multiple tons of minerals out of a mountainside, and ground. So far the mechanic has been dependent on us when it came to getting supplied with raw resources. Now that he has that machine, however, he's not only completely independent but also able to bombard everyone else out of the market, should he decide to sell his supply. That machine of his could in theory haul in more resources in a day than our mines could produce in an entire week."

Her council immediately erupted into wild discussion upon hearing that.

"We would lose an important source of income — Should we order to halt that machine? — Is something like that even possible? — What about dragons? — The price of ground resources would lose three-quarters of their value if it can really produce that much. —"

It took her a bit to get her council to settle down again.

"Are you absolutely certain that machine exists?" one of them finally asked.

She nodded. "Sadly I do. Multiple scouts of mine have confirmed the existence, and even the council of Blue Wave Harbor told me about it in their letters. It might have not been completed jet, but it soon will be."

"What should we do?"

"There's not much we can do. Everything he does is legal and the machine offers a lot of jobs to locals, so I doubt that I could forbid anything without heavy public response. All we can do is ask them to not take out everyone else on the market by flooding it with their resources."

The council members slowly but surely nodded.

"What's the second project?"

"A task force with the job to take down dragons."

"That doesn't sound that bad…"

"On first glance, yes, but I asked one of my spies to look into it. Every single member is equipped with the best The Mechanic has to offer. It's not only weapons to fight dragons, but also a good amount to fight human soldiers. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm suspecting that he might try to create his own personal army, and it will be the most technologically advanced one to date, surpassing ours by centuries. If he does that and decides to target us, I'm afraid of the outcome…"

"I don't think that will be a problem." one of the guards replied in a confident tone. "He might have some impressive crafting skills, but I'm pretty sure our army could beat his little strike team in a fight."

"I expected you to know better by now and not underestimate him because of his lack of strength or numbers." the empress replied. "It's intelligence that's his deadliest weapon…"

An extra long chapter featuring all of our favorite monarchs. Also, economics. Never thought I would ever touch that subject in a story like this one. XD

If you have any questions, ideas, criticism or other feedback, I'm happy to hear them out. :D