I Raised A Black Dragon

There was a sound of scraping scrap metal. What came out of the subspace and into the center of the courtroom was a raw magic device that only one person here had seen it before. Eleonora spewed out vomit.

“You! That’s…!”

“’Quiet.’ Oh… so. This is one of Eleonora Asil’s last inventions. A present from stage one of the replica project.”

What had been pulled out of the subspace was a machine that elaborately embodied the joints of fingers and toes and a replica of the stage before human skin was put on. When Noah slid her hand over the surface of the cyborg, which was taller than she was, the observers’ expressions turned bizarre.

“The termination of Eleonora Asil and Adrian Rossinell’s replica project has been finalized, but it's a waste to dispose of all the replicas. I terminated the second and third stages but left the first stage.”

The emperor asked, stuttering, “If it’s the first-stage project…”

“Stage one is the design and assembly of an automatic puppet called Automata. Automata still don’t have human skin; it simply moves by a built-in manual in the mechanical device. I hope Automata is distributed in the necessary places.”

“Distributed where?”

"Even in Novischosha where mines are in the worst conditions and all regions considered difficult for humans to access due to pollution of Tauren's industrial wastewater treatment plants and water pollution. And, well, if there's any place you need more, the slums that need reconstruction most urgently?” Noah asked before continuing.

“I went up to the capital and saw a map of the administrative district, and there are nine poor districts in Laurent. Tezeba's 11th District Hijem, Edman's 9th District Lesita, Taurent's 13th District Harrell, and so on…. Our priority is Harrell. Do you know that wastewater in Tauren’s Industrial Zone flows to Harrel through Lake Ricamenta? The people there are slowly becoming addicted to heavy metals and processed magic. They say that there have never been such reports in the Imperial Protection Bureau or the Administrative Bureau. What on earth is the reason for that?”

A few aristocrats were seen cringing in their seats. Perhaps they were businessmen who had several factories in Tauren Industrial Zone and secretly spilled wastewater or those who assisted in it. Noah turned towards them and smiled sluggishly.

“Purifying wastewater has a high cost, so if you ignore it once or twice, the cost will become three times, and three times will be four times, and so on… It's all like that, right?”

“That…”

"And one more thing. Pouring that much wastewater means that the amount of industrial products printed by the factory is astronomical… I am not sure if you reported the production status correctly and paid the tax correctly.”

Noah only brought up taxes one time, but the people seemed tired of it. Several people in business in the back row grabbed one another's hands.

She added with sorrow in her heart, “Please don’t worry. When the investigators enter, it will be revealed as clearly as day. So what if you get caught? You’ll have to throw up twice as much as what you've made. You’re capable of posting bail.

“What a very soft consolation,” mumbled Kyle from her side. She looked at him and said she was full of drive right now and then returned to the original topic.

“Anyways, about Automata again. The manual that will be installed in the Automata must be checked one at a time. They will only be dispatched to authorized places in a fixed quantity, as they should not deprive good citizens of their jobs. Of course, Muell and I will conduct the final inspection before being dispatched to the designated areas.”

A man seated at the far left raised his hand. When Noah raised her eyebrows, he hesitated and opened his mouth.

“With the dragon’s magic, you’ll be able to summon five miracles at the same time…”

‘R-Right! Can’t everything be resolved with one twirl of the dragon master’s finger?”

“If you have that much power, it's natural you can contribute to Laurent's development, ah!”

The words exchanged between them made Noah frown. She spewed out to the man who had spoken first.

“So, are you telling me to go around Laurent and use magic for the rest of my life? Why me? The imperial family was indifferent towards me, neglected me, and aided and abetted me.”

They were intending on making a fool of Muell. Why did she have to clean up other people’s mess in the first place?

Noah’s wish was to return to Sorrent and eat, sleep, and play happily for the rest of her life. Patriotic spirit about Laurent? Sorry, but I don’t have that, she thought.

“I will not use Muell’s magic if it isn’t for my happiness or to preserve the safety of my body. Also, intervening in the continental power struggle is a no. I received an ID card in Laurent but never once said I live for Laurent. My nationality was not specified anywhere in the first place. But…”

When the silence between the words became stretched long, the heads of those who had been bent down gradually rose again.

“The investigator whom I like a lot is so professional and cares a lot about the happiness and welfare of Laurent’s people…”

“So…?”

“I don’t think I want to act like I don’t have any affection forever…”

A light of hope appeared in the emperor’s eyes in the front row. He hurriedly grabbed the wooden railing and shouted, “What do you want? A title? Loyalty? The best groom? I’ll come off the throne and give it all to you!”

The best groom? What is that? Noah replied, looking like she’d eaten shit,

“No. Give me money; you don’t need to speak.”

“Oh…?”

“Then I'd like you to give me cash that’s not tied up in land documents or magic stones. I already have enough to fill a mine.”

She pulled out a paper stuck between the files and shook it. It was a certificate of purchase of Maobiana, a mine of astronomical value in Noviscosha that had been bought from Donalian Culton at a bargain price.

With Eleonora’s thumbprint on the transfer document stamped on it just yesterday.