The Middle East.
After the Great Honkai Eruption, the people here began to realize that only by banding together could they survive the harsh sandstorms and the persecution of monsters.
Thus, people began to gather in the large cities that had water sources.
So, in this vast desert, where were the largest water reserves?
The City of Sighs!
Currently the largest, and only, fully-established Grey City in the entire world!
No road led directly here, nor was its location marked on any official map. Any text or map showing the city's location was considered contraband worldwide.
To reach this place, one had to either receive an invitation or rely on those contraband items to find it themselves.
Here, hedonism reigned. It boasted the world's largest casino, the largest arms market, the largest gladiatorial arena, and many other "world's largests."
And besides gold, the other hard currency here was water.
There were no pipelines, no transportation systems. All the water here was delivered by air.
In reality, no air freight company would take on business here, nor would the city proactively import water from the outside. So where did the city's water come from?
Every person invited in was given one chance to bring either water or gold, which was called their "starting capital."
But there was still a problem. No matter how remote the city was, its daily water consumption couldn't possibly be sustained by the meager amounts brought in by the occasional newcomer, even with its terrifyingly large central aqueduct.
The city did indeed have its own unique method of water collection, the most famous of which was—
Bio-extraction.
Extracting water from the bodies of living beings. This was a grand technology, a masterpiece worthy of being recorded in the milestones of life.
And its creator's name was—Vakh Cioara.
The City of Sighs did not reject those who managed to reach it on their own. They had no invitations, so the only thing they could bring into the city was their own bodies. Even the clothes on their backs had to be removed.
These people were not few in number. Hundreds, even thousands, arrived here every day, entering the City of Sighs.
How these people acquired their starting capital was not important. What was important was—they would become the starting capital for others...
Of course, all of the above happened before the Great Honkai Eruption.
After the Eruption, following an initial period of chaos, the surviving upper echelons caught their breath and, without hesitation, "disinfected" the entire city. They then turned around and opened the City of Sighs, broadcasting its coordinates to the entire Middle East.
They accepted all survivors, but not out of the goodness of their hearts.
The City of Sighs had enough water and supplies for them to squander until they died of old age. The gold here could be used to commission hundred-meter-tall pure gold statues for each of them.
But to them, none of that mattered.
What they wanted was to control others.
Life and death, emotions, dignity, everything—and after the "disinfection," there was no one left for them to control.
So they let in those who should have died in the desert, and gave them "life."
Water began to circulate again as currency, and the wealthy class re-emerged. In just a few months, they quickly experienced the entire process of starting from scratch to dominating the region, and once again climbed to the pinnacle of the city.
Then Siegfried arrived...
That damned Kaslana had ignored all the rules and beaten each and every one of them up in their own offices!
If it weren't for the fact that, personal desires aside, they were actually doing a good job of saving people, these higher-ups had no doubt that this guy would have stripped them naked and hung them from the tallest tower in the City of Sighs!
What's that? He's just one Kaslana, you say? Just mobilize a city defense team and get rid of him?
You take a look at the ridiculously long-named pistol in his hand, and then the equally strangely named lance in his wife's hand, and then you can talk.
Killing two people was indeed simple, but this was two people. The fear wasn't that neither would die, but that you'd strike simultaneously and fail to kill both at the same time.
No matter who was left, that person would show them the true meaning of a living nightmare.
And even if they managed to perfectly execute a plan to kill both of them, what about the "Last Knight of the Kaslana Family" roaming the world, and this last knight's captain?
They knew all too well how these "good people" who were dedicated to protecting the world and civilization viewed others!
The scum of humanity are not human!
They couldn't get rid of him, they couldn't easily kill him, and the Fire MOTHs were suspected of collaborating with Future City, so technological means were out...
Fine, just feed him and treat him well. Kaslanas were easy to fool, anyway. It's not like they'd die if they didn't do bad things. Even if it was just to welcome the king's army... no, to welcome the Fire MOTHs into the city, they had to continue doing good deeds.
---||---
"Vrooom—!"
The dusty convoy stopped at the gates of the City of Sighs. Siegfried jumped off his sand bike, took off his helmet, and gave his hair a stylish shake, dislodging some of the sand.
On the back seat, Bianka held Stan, trying her best to keep her expression neutral.
She followed close behind Siegfried. Seeing him dismount a little too quickly, she scrambled off the bike in a bit of a panic, brushing against the Star of Judgment hanging at his hip.
As expected, the gun really did suppress the violent emotions within her. The fact that she hadn't felt a single flicker of emotion while surrounded by those sand bandits on the road was proof.
"I'm finally back! Hahaha!!" Standing before the ridiculously magnificent city walls, Siegfried spread his arms wide, ready to let out a triumphant cheer.
But he had forgotten about his injured arm. The moment he raised it, his face contorted in pain, and the second half of his cheer, "City of Sighs, welcome your king!" was swallowed back down his throat.
"Boss!"
"Siegfried-senpai!"
A series of alarmed cries came from behind him. Feeling he had lost face, Siegfried coughed awkwardly, then raised only his uninjured hand and pointed at the city wall.
"Enter the city!"
Thank goodness he had a Plan B!
His powerful voice naturally attracted the attention of the guards at the gate. There were many bold knights in the city, but this was the first time anyone had shouted like that at the gate... Oh my god! It's that guy from the Kaslana family!
The squad leader's soul nearly left his body. He practically flew over, instinctively wanting to bow and scrape. But remembering that the man was a Kaslana, the squad leader's back straightened up again.
"You've worked hard, Mr. Siegfried!" He snapped to attention and gave Siegfried an awkward, mismatched salute.
Acting so proper is really tough, huh~