The First Legendary Beast Master

Overhead, the main battle was coming to a crescendo of violence, and the buildings of the Redwood sprawl and the Fool's Walk district by the river, which were closest to the combatants, were beginning to crumble under the backlash of the massive attacks that were lighting up the sky halfway to the horizon.

As the sprawl collapsed, the residents ran for the few open areas in the district, which was so heavily overbuilt that the market and a few collapsed buildings were the only places that were large enough not to have rubble land on them.

Fortunately, that put many people in the range of Lotus' healing effects, which she was working to extend over the whole market, at the expense of peak healing power.

There were only a few higher ranking guards here anyhow, and most of them were still fighting the Undead, which left a lot of wounded Ascended Rank workers, who didn't need Royal Rank healing to deal with their injuries.

Commander Rank, cast over twice as much area, would work just fine.

With one final surge of power, many buildings in the Sprawl collapsed, and the Undead Lord vanished, along with the remnants of his fleet.

Rae was greatly disappointed, as she had just gotten into a rhythm, hunting them through buildings and alleys.

But battles ended when they ended, and now it was time to check in and see how Thor had done at his end of the battlefield.

That new area damage skill of his made him one of their better combatants. At least against the Undead, who were extra vulnerable to Holy Magic.

{Is everyone alright?} Karl asked as a system message, as he couldn't see most of the team.

The messages all came back in the affirmative, but both Remi and Dana detailed heavy damage to the Redwood Sprawl region, so Lotus would be staying in tree form for a while, treating noncombatants who were injured when their homes collapsed.

The Lord, looking battered and weary, returned to the Castle without a word, while from the ocean, the City Governor returned after his battle, also looking battle-scarred, but with a victorious smile.

He landed near the barbecue pit, where Thor was returning with Karl and Tessa, and where the leaders of the dock district had gathered.

"Thank you all for the excellent work defending the city from invasion. As you may have already noticed, this time we did take some significant damage, but the emergency fund is substantial after years of successful defences of the city, and we will be announcing projects to rebuild and repair the damaged buildings within the week.

The worst of the damage is in the Redwood Sprawl, which was closest to the battle overhead, and as such, many buildings there will need to be completely renovated.

During that time, there will be a housing shortage, and we ask that everyone has patience with their temporarily unhomed neighbours and employees.

If you can provide them with a place to stay until their home is repaired, we ask that you do.

I will have additional information for you later, but I would like to assure you that the authorized agents of the city have made preparations for the Militia reimbursement."

The Governor's speech earned a round of cheers and applause from the nearest of the combatants, and then the Dock Master cast a spell over the dock area which recorded names in a notebook in his hand.

Presumably someone would be doing that at the other sections of the docks, and it now made much more sense why nobody immediately went home to rest and recover from the battle.

They were all waiting for the spell to be cast to record their participation.

Now that the important part was done, the people began to disperse. Those who had gathered at this part of the city either worked and lived close to here, or had been otherwise unable to make it to the region closest to their homes.

Such as the ones who had only come after the calls that there was a second fleet incoming. Many of them had been at work, not intending to join the militia and stand around the docks all day if it wasn't actually necessary.

So, when the call came, they just went to wherever was closest to work.

With the battle over in the city, and the offshore fleet now in full retreat, Hawk also returned to the city. Fighting opponents that kept running away and dragging things out as a delaying tactic was just annoying, even if they were evil water magic people.

The army fleet was on its way back, needing nearly two hours to make it to the city, while Hawk would be back in minutes. Once they were back, the real work of rebuilding the city could begin.

Among the soldiers were many of the more powerful Earth Magic users, and they were all employed by the city, so there was no need to do a major recruitment project for the rebuilding. The displaced residents of the Sprawl just had to wait for the soldiers to get around to their building. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

Karl knew that was unlikely to be the most efficient way, but when the alternative was paying other local craftsmen, it was best to wait and see if they could get to your home anytime soon.

After you had recovered what salvageable valuables you could, of course.

Already, the Earth Element residents were hard at work all over the city, patching up the portions that they could, and ensuring that no more buildings fell in the next few days.

The rubble after the battle would be taken care of by the city, but trying to explain to a tired soldier that your building fell three days later due to structural damage would sound a lot like a scam to get a new house to them.

Especially given how old most of the buildings in the Redwood Sprawl were.

That moment of calm is when Karl finally took stock of their gains.

Or, more specifically, Cara's gains.

[What in the world did you do while we were fighting? Loot the national treasury?]

[Boat presents.] Cara replied simply, as if that should explain everything.