"Wait! Don't hurt me!" cried the dragon in pain, lying flat and nonresisting. "My name is Opalis! I'm not a warrior! I'm a Tantric Economist! My Servant isn't even here yet!"
"A [i]what[/i]?" said Diaofei, stepping up behind. 
"A - a Tantric Economist!" said Opalis, smiling frantically. "I'd offer you my card but - look, so, society is peaceful because people have got a handle on greed and ambition, right? But that's a delicate order maintained by cultural values and spiritual development. Outliers and remnants of the old world exist that are still dominated by material desires, so our order's duty is to hoard technomantic wealth and power so we can find people who might otherwise be tempted by greed and offer them its absolute fruits until they burn out on it and realize that it's meaningless."
Diaofei nodded. "So in other words, it's a group of dragons collectivizing their hoarding instinct and concealing it behind a flimsy spiritual justification."
"That's -" Opalis looked like she was about to argue, then her eyes glanced back at Saber's knee on her neck. "- yeah sure. Point is I can [i]help [/i]you - I am authorized to economize against my order's holdings and -"
Diaofei ignored her. She had produced a compasslike magical instrument of platinum and gold, layers of rings wrapping each other. She walked around, twisting the rings into new configurations, taking in the ley of energy. "A half truth," she said. "Her Servant isn't [i]here [/i]- but she's watching. I cannot tell from where. Why? Waiting for the right moment? Or maybe a dragon is even worse a Master than I? All that mana and it's bound up in her physical body..."
"She sends me letters," Opalis said, making a face. "Said there was a font of mana here. Look, just tell me what you want - I promise we can make a deal."