"Um… the last one was auctioned off went for 540,000,000 lir." Mindy reported with a gulp. "That was three days ago. Now…"

"We might have to set aside 600 million lir to get Tim back." Remian shut his eyes tight.

The Dragon Empire auctioned off ten crystals a week, all of them red. Each red was worth 100,000 mana, which meant that at the last exchange rate, each point of mana was currently worth 5,400 lir.

That was insane! At this exchange rate, an average Quarin salaryman with a single month's pay would be a multi-millionaire here! Exchanging his mana crystals for lir, any Quarin n.o.ble would easily match the entire world's wealth all by himself!

What did Zor'khan-dras need so much money for? Was h.o.a.rding wealth really so important to the Great Dragon of Lightning?

Not to mention that he was selling mana for lir. In other words, if there was indeed something he wanted to buy, it was something local, not galactic, because while the galactic market could accept mana as a currency, they would not accept lir. If he was saving up for a life beyond this world, he would be buying mana instead of selling it.

After all, this world only had about two hundred years before the Mitigok arrives. While Remian was unlikely to live long enough to see it happen, Zor'khan-dras probably would. As far as the Conglomerate could tell, Tier-8 Great Dragons were just juveniles in dragon-terms, not even old or strong enough to fly in s.p.a.ce yet. They were like young teenagers, old enough to sp.a.w.n broods of weak dragon-kin, but nowhere near full maturity. They would need at least a thousand years or so before ascending.

All of that led Remian to believe that the Dras Clan would sooner or later evacuate Sorrel II. They'd swoop in, pick up the dragons, and leave the humans to fend for themselves against the Mitigok. Remian was most curious as to how they were supposed to manage that, but it really wasn't any of his business.

No, his business was to get Tim back and to try and give the future generations a chance to escape.

But… but…! What if, by figuring out Zor'khan's objective, Remian might be able to get Tim back at a lower price? Maybe he could help the dragon out and get Tim back for free!

Still. Trying to meet the dragon won't be easy. In fact, the easiest way to meet Zor'khan was likely to bring him the money he wanted.

"Can we even manage that much? We've been spending heavily." Mindy pointed out. "I don't have that kind of cash. I don't even have five million left! Most of my savings have gone into renovating my s.h.i.+pyards and such."

"I don't have that kind of cash either." Remian admitted. "Unless…?"

"Unless what?"

"Unless Zor'khan-dras is willing to accept galactic currency!" Remian mused. "Like Black-grade Spirit Crystals or even… Clira!"

"Clira!? You mean, like the kind you're getting the knights to make?"

"Exactly. It's one of the three currencies the galactic markets recognize! If we place it on a level with mana, then 100,000 mana should be worth roughly 180,000 clira!"

"But you're paying 10 lir for every clira! How does 1.8 million lir worth of clira buy 540 million lir worth of mana?!"

"Shh! Don't tell them that!"

"Even if we don't, I don't think it's going to work! Zor'khan wants lir!"

That, indeed, would be the bottom line.

Mindy bit her lip. "What if… we rescued him?"

"From the Dragon Empire?!" Remian was incredulous.

"We can't afford a red mana crystal! Especially not at today's prices!"

There was a short pause. "So… we're agreed then? We're going to rescue Tim ourselves."

"Yeah." Mindy nodded. [Darian?]

[I'm in.] Darian agreed.

"Then let's go to the Dragon Empire and rescue Tim! For our Spymaster!"

[For an old friend!] Darian added.

"For six hundred million lir!!" Mindy concluded.

They made their preparations.

***

"So… in conclusion… these are our new teachers?" Alani squinted.

Alani and her friends found themselves facing Lady Fel, Jim the electrician, and Phoebe.

"Fel will handle most of your combat training. Phoebe will take care of the medical studies, and Jim's here to teach engineering and electronics." Remian a.s.sured them.

Meanwhile, Mindy was on the comms with her s.h.i.+pyard crews. "Just keep building fuel cells and motors. I'll be back in a month."

A month? Alani shot Remian a suspicious glance. "You said you'll be back in two weeks!"

"I will. Mindy has her own plans." Remian a.s.sured her.

***

So he said, but they left together, boarded the same Deutero airs.h.i.+p, and landed at the same airport.

There, they furtively met with a squad of lynxmice at an old corner grocery store and followed them to Tim's secret lair, a.k.a. the Abundant Cheese warehouse.

After a long discussion with the lynxmice, Remian called together the crew for a briefing.

"Tim is being held inside the Red Mana Fortress." He drew up a map roughly sketched and scratched badly by lynxmice claws. "We believe he's being held in a cell either on the second or third bas.e.m.e.nt floor.

Attending his briefing were Mindy, Darian, Mikai, and roughly nine different lynxmice clan chiefs.

"Getting into the fortress itself will be tough. The fortress is surrounded on all sides by walls, a moat, and a plaza beyond that. 24 hour lookouts posted on no less than eight lookout posts cover every approach and there is little or no cover in a hundred meter radius of the fortress."

Mindy raised her hand. "How did Tim get in?"

Remian nodded. "Tim had the lynxmice tunnel through directly to the third bas.e.m.e.nt level. The tunnel, however, has been compromised and collapsed. Having already suffered a breach once that way, the fortress guards would probably be on the alert for any similar attempts in the future."

Darian asked. "How then do we enter?"

Remian paused. "There are three ways I can think of. Through the front door, through the side door, or from above."

"Huh…?" Mindy blinked. "We can just walk in the front door?"

"You and I can't. But I think Darian can." Remian said. "All he needs is a suitable uniform."

"Why can he do it when we can't?" Mindy protested.

"Because he's pretty much draconian himself." Remian pointed out. "He has a bond with Kor'ag-dras, remember? In fact, Darian's bond with Kor'ag is of a higher cla.s.s than most of the First Draconian Royal Legion. If I had to guess, I'd say his bond is on a level with the captains of the Legion."

"So all I need to do is steal a uniform and march right in the front gate. That sounds simple." Darian mused. "But how do I get Tim out?"

"The easy way to do it is to sneak him out during a time when n.o.body would be asking too many questions. Simply put him in a uniform like yours and walk out together with him."

"And what time would that be?"

"About the time the lynxmice run a distraction and raise the mother of all ruckuses nearby."

"And if that distraction doesn't work?"

"Then Mindy can start bombing the fortress from above."

"Hey!" Mindy protested. "Doesn't the Dragon Empire have the only fully functional magic airs.h.i.+p fleet in the world?! Even if I could somehow fly over the fortress and drop bombs on them, they'll shoot me down in no time flat!"

"Only if they know where the bombs are coming from." Remian pointed out. "If it's dark enough, and you get the right birds for the job, you could drop explosives on their roof from far above without anyone even knowing what was happening. In fact, you yourself do not need to throw anything. Just get Chirpy to order the local feathery folk around."

"I still need to cobble together some explosives, though." Mindy grumbled.

"Basic incendiaries will do. Just stick some cloth in a bottle of alcohol and light it. You're not actually trying to cause damage to the fortress. Just draw their attention with a rooftop fire. Besides that's just Plan B. If Plan A works well enough, you won't have to do anything but open the door for Darian and Tim when they arrive."

"Is there a Plan C?"

"Plan C… is I sneak Tim out along with the garbage." Remian said.

"And how would you be able to do that?" Darian had to ask.

"I get a job." Remian shrugged.