Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 151 Bone Oil Pressing
The sun shone through the crystal dome inlaid with various gemstones, illuminating the entire hall of Dragon Castle. The red dragon lazily spread out his limbs, lying on the smooth ground like a cat enjoying the cool in the summer.

His broad wings also spread out lazily like a curtain, occupying the entire view of the hall. The Black Stone Throne standing high in the back of the hall did not seem so surprising in this contrast.

Occasionally, the flame patterns on the red dragon's wings would flicker with a few flames, illuminating his huge and sturdy body on the black and smooth ground.

The Dragon King's Castle, which had been built over a period of years, was finally completed. Charon would stay in the castle most of the day, just like the emperors of the mortal world would stay in their palaces.

Caron's ferocious and majestic head was also placed on the ground, enjoying the rare refreshing and leisure time.

On the left, a beautiful and plump elf maid is wearing a hip-length floral skirt, with her fleshy long legs crossed and holding a huge silver plate carved with exquisite patterns.

A variety of fruits were placed on the silver plate, including chilled slices of watermelon, specially cultivated lychees, plump crystal grapes, fragrant oranges, etc.

At this moment, these fruits were being fed between the slender and tender fingers of the elf maid to the red dragon who was enjoying the life of a lord.

Karon doesn't like fruit that needs to be peeled, but he likes all fruit if he doesn't have to do it himself.

Several other elf maids, who were equally beautiful but had slender or unique figures, were kneeling barefoot on the red dragon's body, wiping its scales with fine silk scarves, and then scrubbing the skin between the scales with a brush specially made for dragons.

This feeling was like a massage for the dragon, making Karon squint his eyes comfortably.

There are also several equally beautiful human maids who are constantly adding desserts to the dragon's fruit plate, or taking care of the rooms in this huge castle, including the bedrooms and study lights, doing daily cleaning, wiping and maintenance.

These human maids, like the elven maids, all have their own unique characteristics based on their beauty.

Some are because of a pair of white and slender hands, some are because of the jade-like skin, and some are because of the delicate and pink feet.

Some are because of the gracefulness that sways unintentionally while walking, and some are because of their naturally charming eyes, rather than the kind of people who deliberately pose in a coquettish manner all the time.

From this point of view, there is no doubt that Kalon has appreciated the aesthetic taste of dragons. The difference is that compared with other dragons, Kalon pays more attention to discovering the beauty of different characteristics.

Kalon never hides himself, he faces his nature frankly. In addition to the red dragon's love of beauty, he actually has a certain collecting habit.

From some of his behaviors, we can see that as long as it is something he likes, he always likes to collect different types with different characteristics to satisfy himself.

However, even though a group of maids had been added, the dragon castle was built too large. As the castle was intended to provide a place for dragons to live and rest, it was difficult to complete such a huge task with only twenty maids.

Therefore, the maintenance of most parts of the castle still needs to be completed by a large number of kobolds. Just the daily maintenance of this castle requires two hundred kobolds.

These maids are mainly equivalent to the red dragon's personal maids, providing the red dragon with a comfortable life as a lord and taking care of the red dragon's daily life.

This included instructing the halflings in the kitchen to prepare a huge amount of dinner according to the recipe set by the dragon, and delivering snacks, fruits, hot tea, desserts, etc. to the dragon at the specified time.

There are also those responsible for delivering messages, conveying the dragon's will and instructions to the dragon's followers and various departments and organizations in the territory, and summoning targets that the dragon wants to summon.

The one who is currently in charge of these maids and has been appointed as the maid officer by Caron is a human maid, Charlize.

Charlize is the daughter of an earl. Due to her defeat in the war, the remaining women and children in her family were captured and sold as slaves to the dragon territory.

Since they were nobles who mastered knowledge and etiquette, these slaves were quite expensive.

It just so happened that the Archon of the Golden City, the ogre giant Fafna, knew that the dragon needed servants, so she bought these slaves at a huge price and sent them to the Royal Castle for Charon to choose.

In fact, it was a common practice for many noble lords to have noble girls who were familiar with etiquette serve as ladies-in-waiting.

Moreover, due to the disintegration of the Carthaginian Empire in the Northland, those nobles who were originally in a cooperative relationship have begun to fight for their own interests and desires for expansion.

Especially when the High Mage Association, which had a very transcendent status, had gradually shifted its focus to the dragon territories and started comprehensive cooperation with the dragons, the conflicts among the noble lords in the Northern Continent had become increasingly intensified, and the territories of three earls and several barons had been annexed one after another, causing the family to be defeated.

Therefore, many people migrated to the dragon territory to escape the war. At one point, the number of people increased even more than the slave trade in the dragon territory. As a result, the human residents in the dragon territory have now become one of the main races, only less than the elves, who have the largest number.

The head maid Chariz was training other maids on details such as etiquette and dress requirements at the maid's office in the back garden of the royal castle, while the ogre giant demon Fafnir temporarily replaced the head maid who was not familiar with the territory. She knelt on the other side of the red dragon, sitting opposite the elf maid who was feeding the red dragon.

Although the ogre giant Fafner was still wearing bold and cool gauze in front of the red dragon as usual, showing off her figure, it was a bit conservative compared to the maid's uniform that the red dragon specially customized for his maid.

At this time, Fafnir was holding notepads and books, and whispering to Caron some things he wanted to understand and needed to know.

"The Dragon Merchants' Association, led by the goblin Shining, has reported the revenue of various industries last year. According to the statistics provided, the cultural industry roughly maintained a balance between income and expenditure last year."

Fafna twisted the letter in her left hand and spoke in her soft voice. She propped up the red dragon's left claw with her plump legs and tapped the red dragon's sturdy muscles with her right hand to relax the muscles of her master.

"But the other industries are very profitable. Among them, the profits from salt and iron mines are the highest, accounting for about half of the total profits, which is higher than the profits from gold, gemstones and other rare minerals produced in the Dragon Territory."

Karon narrowed his eyes and nodded. In the early days of the establishment of the territory, the salt and iron monopoly system was adopted. He could foresee that these two important basic resources would bring huge profits to the territory after the development rights were taken back to the territory.

Valrhona then described the other various industry benefits one by one, and finally added,
"The goblin Shining has heard that a major festival is coming up in the territory, so he has led a hired fleet carrying the proceeds and is preparing to depart from the Port of Babi in the central continent to congratulate you. He has also requested some powerful guards from the territory to protect your property and ensure it arrives safely in the territory."

"Well," Caron finally spoke, his dragon-like voice echoing in the spacious hall, "You can send a team of dragon knights and elite warriors to escort it. You can arrange a suitable location for it during the celebration!"

Fafnir nodded slightly, picked up the quill in her left hand, and quickly wrote down her master's request.

"Also, although the goblin Shining is loyal enough, the Dragon Territory cannot rely entirely on it alone. It needs some motivation and a sense of crisis."

Caron's half-closed eyes sparkled with the wisdom of a political creature. "You need to pick out a few capable guys, preferably humans, and have them re-establish a merchant group." "There will be more and more industries in the territory. Let them be responsible for other industries, and also allow them to participate in the industries originally operated by the goblin Shining."

"Yes, master," the giant demon Fafna gently moved her long legs which felt a little numb. Even though it was just an arm of a red dragon, it still felt a little heavy for the giant demon after being left there for so long.

"How is the financial revenue and expenditure in the territory?" Caron did not retract his claws. He was too lazy to move and enjoyed the touch.

"Because some taxes were not fully formulated in the early stage, the territory lost some of its income. However, the territory's production income and taxes are enough to support the development and construction of the territory. There is no need to withdraw money from the wealth of the Dragon Group Treasury to support it."

Fafna introduced very seriously, "Now the various noble lords who split from the Carthage Empire in the northern continent are actively preparing for war. In some areas, the fighting is even more difficult to determine, so the weapons business in the territory is particularly hot."

"The horses bred by the elven druids are very popular in the northern countries. The income of the animal farm has exceeded the expenditure by nearly 15 times."

"If it weren't for some newly-launched basic industries, such as shipyards and metallurgical plants, which must be developed, the Ministry of Finance has allocated 100,000 gold coins, and the territory would have reaped a rich harvest this year."

"According to regulations, after deducting the benefits distributed to officials at all levels in the territory at the end of the year, there is still a considerable amount of income left. I have submitted the relevant documents to Mr. Gemot for review."

Fafna did not pull back her long legs that were as smooth as jade, but instead lifted the red dragon's claws a little higher up her thigh.

"Well, I will keep half of this profit and inject it into the Treasury's fund reserve, and I will withdraw the other half of the profit for my use."

Karon opened his mouth and swallowed a piece of honey fruit handed to him by the elf maid next to him. He chewed it and spoke vaguely.

Maybe it was because females were always more careful than careless males, but Caron discovered that Valrhona was extremely good at financial management and coordination.

Since Fafnir's soul had long been controlled by the Red Dragon, the Red Dragon appointed Fafnir as the personal treasurer in charge of the specific income and expenditure of the dragon treasury, not the official treasurer in the territory.

The management responsibility of the Golden Land was gradually transferred by Fafner to the hardworking blue dragon Akzi. This young dragon has been stationed in the sea all year round and is relatively good at governing the territory. It is time to add more responsibilities to him.

Fafnir then reported to Karon the handling of the incident involving the dragon-born werewolf Saha.

Although Kalon had received Saha's report a long time ago, the territory was now on the right track, and the handling of some things had become a little more procedural and cumbersome.

"How about this, these werewolves will stay in my laboratory for a few days. They will behave themselves when they come out."

"Let Saha lead them from now on. Although Saha will retain the title of commander of the Imperial Guard, this werewolf's warlike heart is not suitable for staying in the Imperial Guard."

Kalon pondered for a moment, and then said, "In the future, not only will the territory have comprehensive military forces on land, sea, and air, but it will also have some regiments that can fight in special circumstances. Let Saha apply to the Ministry of Military Affairs to create a Night Walker regiment."

"Let him lead this regiment. Those werewolves are stronger warriors than jackals at night. They are the darlings of the night and the moon, and they will also become my followers!"

Fafnir was obviously more active than before, and joy appeared on her charming face. Being able to participate in the implementation of such territorial decision-making meant that her efforts were recognized by the red dragon, and she was also given real trust by Kalon.

Fafnir's fists landed much faster on the red dragon's arm muscles. She noted down Caron's request and reported on the follow-up of the treatment of the lich.

Compared to the female officer Charizard, who was not familiar enough with the territory affairs and had just completed the handover of related affairs, the giant monster at this time was more like the red dragon's personal maid.

"The lich has signed a contract. He will be assigned to various places in the dragon territory to lead the patched-up skeleton army to open up rivers, build canals, and construct ditches and water conservancy projects in accordance with the plans and requirements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"But he requested that the Skeleton Corps be expanded to about a thousand. He said that the three hundred Skeleton Undead stipulated by the territory were too few and not enough to undertake such a heavy task."

Fafna smiled. "He also protested, saying that as a great miraculous lich, he shouldn't be like a dog, tied to the graveyard during the day and have to work at night."

"He also said that the dragon wanted to squeeze a few ounces of oil out of even its bones, but refused to give him good treatment. Anyway, this lich always complains."

"You don't need to report such trivial matters to me in the future. Let Gmot and the others handle it," Karon said nonchalantly while chewing a whole peeled watermelon handed to him by the elf maid. The bursting juice filled his mouth like thick blood.

As long as they can get actual benefits, it doesn't matter if others complain. As for improving the treatment, it's good enough that Caron didn't burn the lich into ashes with dragon fire. The lich can survive thanks to Caron's black heart that should be hanging on the street lamp.

"By the way, Master, there is another important message that may interest you," Fafnir flipped open the letter. This was a message from the intelligence personnel who followed the Goblin Shining Dragon Merchants, and it was specially bolded with thick red ink.

"Speak," said Karon as he enjoyed the service of the elf maid gently wiping the watermelon juice that splashed on the corners of his mouth with a silk scarf.

"The Crimson Mistress, Dikris, who lives in the barren volcanic belt of the southern continent, is a mature red dragon who likes to pick up the dragon eggs left behind by other dragons, breed them into cubs, and then resell them to other races."

"Because he stole a silver dragon's egg, the silver dragon came to attack him. Crimson Matron Decris injured the silver dragon, but was besieged by a dragon-slaying team of adult silver dragons and metal dragons, and died in front of his own nest deep in the desolate volcanic belt."

Karon couldn't help but pull back his claws from Fafna's soft thigh and covered his forehead.

Even though he knew the nature of the red dragon, Kalon couldn't help but feel helpless and shocked by the outrageous actions of his own kind. The five-colored dragons were already in a weak position in the world of Ekania, and this middle-aged female red dragon dared to take the initiative to provoke the group of silver dragons. This was an act that the rational Kalon could never understand.

However, if it were not for the chaotic and unpredictable behavior of these five-colored dragon species, the five-colored dragons in the south and central continents would not have almost disappeared.

The red dragon, which is the superior among the five colored dragon species, is almost extinct in these civilized worlds. Only the green dragons and black dragons, who are good at hiding, can still survive as kings in the wilderness. The blue dragons, who live in groups, have a more prosperous family because they value law and order.

Oh, I forgot about the white dragon. This unlucky dragon species will always be found by dragon slayers no matter where it hides. Because it is far away from the civilized world, there are many of them left.

"Forget it. The only thing that interests me about this news is the mature red dragon and the treasure that Dikris left in the lair. What a pity!"

Karon turned his head and looked out of the window of the first-floor hall. Layers of floating clouds were moving in the wind. Being in the Dragon Castle on the top of the mountain, Karon suddenly felt that it was very cold up there.

(End of this chapter)