Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 276: Mountains Are Higher Than Mountains
The Golden Empire has a vast territory, which is three to five times larger than before. From the Golden Seaport on the coast of the East China Sea to the farthest city in the west, it is a full twelve thousand miles.

The Winter Shelter is a city on the western border of the Golden Empire. As it is gradually approaching the West Hammer coast of the continent, it is affected by the unpredictable sea breeze above the Endless Sea and no longer has the climate of spring all year round like the central hinterland of the dragon territory.

There are three months every year when the climate is relatively cold. Due to the rainy climate, the temperature is often cold, so it is named the winter resort city.

The city was still under construction. It was late autumn now, and most of the people coming and going were frost giant slaves, as well as more than 300 giants captured by the Empire's "Red Mercy" Legion from the God-Forsaken Mountains.

The majority of these giants were hill giants, who built the city walls under the supervision of kobold overseers. Even in the cold and bleak late autumn, the mist formed by the evaporation of sweat shrouded the heads of these giants.

The huge stones were carried by these giants onto the steam elevator and then sent to the 30-meter-high city wall.

In the dragon's territory, a thirty-meter-high city wall can only be considered a low wall.

This frontier defensive city is also the first fortress connecting the western continent and conducting trade with the jungle kingdom of the vampires. Its initial goal when it was built was to become the current Golden City. A city wall at least 120 meters high is required to complete the corresponding layout.

The giants waiting on the city wall stacked up the huge stone slabs tightly together. If they made the slightest mistake, they would be whipped by the kobold overseers who were only as tall as the giants' knees.

The giants, who have always been lazy, are now working hard and dare not resist at all, not even to glare at them.

Because the guards on the city wall were all wearing light iron armor, holding elite weapons, with armor-piercing crossbows hanging from their waists, and they were looking at him coldly with their hands tucked into the sleeves of their outer robes.

The troll guards bared their fangs, chewing on the dried meat, a specialty of the dragon territory, which could take them half the morning to chew on one piece, while looking at the giants.

Although these guard corps cannot hunt giants like the 'Red Mercy' regiment guarding Gulfstream City, they cannot capture giants as military merits and gain wealth and profits.

However, if they can suppress the resistance and riots of the giant slaves in time, these guards will also receive commendations issued by the Governor's Office.

Soldiers who are commended will receive generous benefits at the end of the year based on their accumulated merits and commendations.

Perhaps it was a few sheep, cattle, horses, and beasts, or a tamed dragon that could be driven, or perhaps it was the fine wine that the dragon lords drank. These soldiers could not help but be tempted.

In addition, on the more than 30-meter-high city wall, there are low-level spellcasters who are selecting fixed and suitable magic rune stones and installing them in the city wall.

Some of these magic rune stones are connected to the magic defense nodes of the entire city, some are magic runes for no-fly zones in the city, and some are runes that prohibit the use of teleportation magic and other means of teleportation within the city.

These magic runes must be accurate to every point in order to connect the entire city's defense system. However, with the professional knowledge of the "civil engineering" spellcasters trained by the Dragon Academy, this work is also a piece of cake.

When the young red dragon Caedilos brought two adult gray dragons, Nakanalo, and a group of dragonlets to the outside of the city, what they saw was a busy scene like a construction site.

"Lord Cadillos!"

"Master Patrol Guard Commander!"

The guards saluted quickly to the young red dragon. Although the young red dragon's reputation was well-known and even every civilian in the empire knew about it, as a high-ranking ruler of the empire, this was the respect that the red dragon should receive.

"Well, there's nothing going on today, right? Are there any giant dragons in the wild that dare to cause trouble?"

The young red dragon, with a string of giant dragons, folded his wings, looked down at the guards and asked.

Considering the size of the young red dragon, these guards are like tiny creatures, and their strength is like that of toys in front of the young red dragon.

But Caedilos did not look down on these people.

Under the influence of the dragon herd, even Caedilos knew that the reason why the dragon herd became more and more powerful was not only due to the power and authority held by the giant dragons in the herd, but also due to the dedication of the people under his command.

The support gained simply by strength can never compare to the stability and reliability of the current empire.

"No wild dragon dares to cause trouble. After Lord Gib's barbarian corps arrived, they have been doing their best to eliminate hidden dangers in the surrounding area every day. No wild dragon dares to cause trouble here anymore."

A troll guard quickly replied.

"That's good,"

The young red dragon nodded, and walked into the city gate with curiosity in his two vertical pupils, along with the gray dragon who was looking around with his head swaying and a group of babbling cubs.

Caedilos' job is to patrol the border, and he doesn't need to be involved in the affairs of Winter City.

But this city is currently under the charge of the Steel Dragon Midir.

The giant dragons in the dragon group explored and summarized a secret method named Dragon's Proof, which was named to revive and grow the dragon bloodline through practice and magic potions. Their strength is increasing day by day.

However, the steel dragon Midir is not good at fighting, which makes the young red dragon worried about this fragile steel dragon.

Although in Caedilos's heart, this skinny steel dragon Midir, who turns into a lively and cute girl when she transforms into a human form, is the real bad, festering dragon in the Golden Empire.

Not to mention what this steel dragon has done in the empire, since the Steel Dragon Midir took office, he began to use the empire's system to carry out economic and trade attacks on many nobles in the north.

The empire's sophisticated and high-yield processed products squeezed out the market for the products of those aristocratic lords, and there was also the opportunity to use the Golden Empire to increase armaments, vigorously build and develop cotton textile products that required huge quantities.

The Golden Empire completely abandoned the practice of producing its own cotton textile raw materials, and purchased large quantities of cotton and other products from other noble lords, gradually increasing the purchase price and lowering tariffs on cotton and other products.

This led many noble territories in the north to abandon food and plant large quantities of crops such as cotton.

In the past few years, in many noble territories, except for the land that supplied grain to the lord, all the rest of the land was planted with crops such as cotton.

The price of grain exported in large quantities by the Golden Empire naturally rose as well, but the nobles had their own grain producing areas and did not care. Only complaints from the people were rising.

The Golden Empire then began to stop the grain export trade and import cotton crops from these noble lords.

Originally, in the plan of the Steel Dragon Midir, relying on a series of means of these trade wars, the Earldom of Batholi would be able to defeat these lords without any effort.

Then the territories of these nobles were incorporated into the enclaves of the Golden Empire outside the mainland, but the war launched by Charal Caesar, now the emperor of the Hobis Empire, which swept across many nobles in the north destroyed the plan of the Steel Dragon Midir.

Although the defeat of many nobles in the North was certainly due to their inability to match the strength of Charal Caesar I, the role played by the steel dragon Midir was also an important reason.

If you have soldiers but no food, even a military god cannot cook without rice.

So those nobles who had fled to the Golden Empire cried day and night in front of the Steel Dragon Midir's mansion, which made the Steel Dragon Midir angry and annoyed.

She took the initiative to go to the western border of the empire to oversee the construction of the Winter City, and happened to establish trade relations with the Dense Forest Kingdom of the vampires.

In the eyes of the Steel Dragon Midir, she had not had time to try many methods, and instead of gaining any benefits, she put the blame on Charal Caesar I.

She had to think of a way to legitimately squeeze the money out of the old nobles during these days.

The young red dragon Caedilos sometimes began to worry about the blood-sucking species in the jungle country. The steel dragon Midir was not well-known outside the empire, but he was the most vicious dragon among the dragons.

The city was built with dragon aesthetics in mind, so even the city gates could accommodate several adult dragons walking side by side.

Caedilos walked into the city gate with a group of giant dragons. The neat and wide streets were sparsely populated. Occasionally, a group of blood-sucking creatures dressed gorgeously like nobles passed by with slaves, and they all greeted and saluted the group of giant dragons.

These are the business delegations sent by the Kingdom of the Jungle and the tourists who came to appreciate the customs of the Empire. These proud blood-sucking creatures also need to bow their heads to the dragons in the Kingdom of Dragons.

The sparse golden people mostly wore dragon-horned hats, and their clothes were mostly painted with dragon and curling grass patterns. They were simple, noble and dignified, very different from the complicated and noble vampires.

Caedilos nodded repeatedly as a return gesture, and then led the team directly to the destination in the city.

Along the way, you may occasionally encounter one or two five-colored dragons with different scale colors, with blue dragons and green dragons being the most common. They may be wandering around the city or waiting in front of the pass agency for a pass to be issued.

With the stamped pass, those dragons from the wild who were unwilling to join the Golden Empire could enter the inner hinterland of the Golden Empire to parade and tour.

The dragon's rash entry into the Golden Empire without a pass was seen as a provocation.

The two wild dragons that were shot down before are still paying for their reckless behavior. They are supervised by the white dragon Sloka and the white dragon Roni, who are responsible for the empire's stationed front in the north to defend against possible invasions by the frost giants from the south.

In an open-air square in the center of the city, there are roofless towers and dragon statue fountains everywhere. The columns of honor are engraved with the names of warriors who gave their lives for the establishment of the Golden Empire.

But in the corners of this open-air square, elite heavily-armored guards are stationed.

Twenty heavily armored warriors, all holding horse-slashing blades, were covered in heavy armor forged from mountain steel and magic alloys. Even in the cold weather of late autumn, they still stood straight like green pines, meticulously, and only nodded and saluted when facing the red dragon Caedilos. Because these warriors guarded the only transmission channel in each city, only dragons or those carrying the provisions of the dragon lord could pass through, and the rest of the people who dared to teleport in the city casually would be regarded as outlaws.

The vertical pupils of the young red dragon Caedilos met the eyes of the giant dragon statue standing in the teleportation field. The identities of the dragon group members were instantly recognized, and then the outlined location of the young red dragon was quickly displayed.

The eyes of the giant dragon statues carved with magic gems that surrounded the teleportation field lit up at the same time, with red, blue, green, black and white and other colors, each one lighting up like a star.

"Hold still, we are about to arrive at the King's City," the young red dragon, who had no interest in explaining to the two gray dragons, spoke for the first time.

Buzz buzz,
Magic gems lit up one by one, and a huge teleportation magic circle appeared under the claws of these giant dragons. The excited babbling cries of the dragon cubs and the heavy breathing of the two adult gray dragons disappeared in an instant.

It's like suddenly pushing open the window in a quiet house that blocks out all the noise and faces the busy street, or like taking off the soundproof earmuffs after blocking your ears.

This was the first reaction of the two adult gray dragons, Naka and Nalo.

On the edge of the vast square, there are huge dragon statues with scales of different colors, heads held high and wings spread, their eyes looking at the ancestral red dragon standing in the center of the square, the dragon statue of the emperor of the empire, with huge wings spread out, looking down at all living things.

Countless noisy voices were heard, as if the bustling people in the city were performing their own life experiences at the feet of the giant dragon.

Many old people strolled around the square with their children, telling them stories about dragons and the legend of the founding of the Golden Kingdom.

Ten years is the time it takes for an average person to grow from childhood, mature from youth, grow old from maturity, and enter into peace from old age. It is also the time it takes for short-lived people to separate a generation.

Many children were playing and fighting under the dragon statue.

A young girl claimed to be the messenger of the forest dragon Antajna. She wore a crown hat that looked like a green dragon and drove the other children around in a baby voice.

A sturdy child claimed to be the Black Dragon Lord, the Black King's war general, and demanded that other children obey his orders. If they disobeyed, he would beat them.

A handsome young man claimed to be the emperor of the empire, the son of a red dragon. He was then attacked by other young men and beaten black and blue.

"You can't do that either, Laka. You either have to defeat us all or be smarter than us to claim the title of Son of the Red Dragon!"

The sound of children fighting and making noise could be heard all the time.

In addition to the noise in the square, there is also the hustle and bustle of the extremely wide avenue.

Trolls, ogres, kobolds, and gnolls roam here, as do humans, elves, goblins, and halflings. Orcs, troglodytes, and other races are also common.

The main road of the wide street, which is paved with stone slabs several meters thick, is divided into carriageways for carriages and other vehicles, dragon avenues for huge dragons to pass by, and sidewalks for other races to pass by.

However, this is not to reflect class differences; others can also embark on the Dragon Avenue.

Of course, if you stand in front of the dragon, don’t blame the dragon for accidentally stepping on you. Instead, you will have to compensate the dragon for the loss because this is the traffic rule.

In this city, giant dragons are not uncommon. Occasionally, a giant dragon will pass by, including many bronze dragons and red copper dragons.

Under the influence of Bronze Dragon Lord Alina and Copper Dragon Lord Alfred, the two metal dragons also began to become curious about the Golden Empire.

Naka and Nalo, two adult gray dragons, even saw traces of merchants from the astral realm in this city. Some arcane merchants also appeared in this city.

The notorious astral pirates, the Githyanki, also appear in this city. Occasionally, you can hear people selling materials produced from the astral beasts. These are the Githyanki selling the stolen goods here.

The sounds of bells, drums, conch shells, horns, and bagpipes interweave together. Different from the delicate instruments like harps and piccolo played in other countries on the continent, these music are simple and elegant, with a unique charm. They belong to the Land of the Dragon.

These intermittent melodies sound vast and boundless, reminding people of the ancient times when giant dragons soared in the sky and looked down at the desolate and wild earth.

There were tall, giant buildings without spires everywhere in the city, which made the two adult gray dragons want to fly up and climb up to overlook the scenery of the city.

The majestic city wall that is over a hundred meters high, and taller than the city wall is the Tree of Life that exudes tremendous vitality and nourishes the entire city. And behind the Tree of Life is the ten-thousand-meter-high Fire Peak Mountain Range that stands above the sky and is hidden among the clouds.

"I think we should first take a good look around this great city," the gray dragon Naka gurgled, swallowed his saliva, turned around and said to his brother Nalo.

"Good idea, a reliable good idea," the gray dragon Nalo said happily, and then threw the silver dragon tied to his tail in front of the young red dragon Caedilos.

"Kedilos, take this loot with you first. We will come find you after we have finished touring the city."

The young red dragon had no time to stop them, and the two gray dragons had already run far away.

"How can you be reliable?" The red dragon, who was leading a group of young boys, couldn't help but feel full of resentment.

"Forget it," Caedilos turned around and looked down at the young dragons who were so excited that they couldn't restrain themselves from spreading their wings and jumping around in the arena.

"You will have two hours of free time later, but if anyone fails to report to Silver Dragon Chris before the stipulated time in the afternoon, he will be in trouble tomorrow."

The young red dragon Caedilos blew out two beams of sparks from his nostrils and threatened the young cubs with a fierce smile, "Whoever is late will have to face an adult griffin alone tomorrow. Don't blame me for not reminding you."

The way the empire currently educates these newborn dragon cubs is to teach by words to the metal dragons and by example to the colored dragons, and they will also be supplemented by outstanding teachers from humans and other races.

These young ones are far from being as carefree and happy as the dragons were when they were young.

"But why should we, the five-colored dragons, learn from the metal dragons? We are the enemy. Even if they are members of the empire now, they are just our subordinates."

A black dragon cub raised its head and raised its own question.

The other dragon cubs also nodded and looked over.

"call,"

Two beams of sparks flew, and the young red dragon Caedilos raised his claws and shouted, "Let your dragon fart go!"

"Your viewpoint is inherited from your bloodline and is too narrow-minded,"

"Do you know Ka...? The emperor of the empire once said that every dragon stands on the shoulders of giants like the previous dragons, but the legacy of the previous bloodline should be the ladder for us to climb, rather than the shackles that bind our minds."

"If you can't do this, you don't deserve to be the future of the empire. The future of the empire should keep pace with the times and stand on the trend of the times."

"Those dragons that are trapped by the bloodlines of previous generations are not worthy of being called true dragons of the empire." Brilliant flames bloomed from the pupils of the young red dragon, giving this rogue red dragon the same majesty as a teacher.

"Remember, you are the dragons of the empire, supported by the entire nation. You have the greatest and highest power, but you also bear the deepest and heaviest responsibility. If you cannot do these two things, you are not worthy of being called a true dragon of the empire."

"Go away, go back and think about it carefully, you idiots!" The young red dragon waved his claws, signaling the group of young ones to get out.

"Alas,"

"Great,"

A group of young cubs who were frightened by the fire in the young red dragon's pupils instantly changed from pretending to be in deep thought to cheering and dispersed into the noisy crowd on the avenue.

Occasionally, you can hear the cries of these chicks.
"I'm going to the Julong Wanshi card room. I still have two silver coins! Who wants to go with me and give me some advice? I can let you play a round, too!"

"Didn't you say you had no money?"

"Well, but I got an excellent grade in my magic general studies course, and the teacher gave me a reward, so I have money again!"

"Let's go, let's go together!"

The young red dragon Caedilos looked at the notes engraved on the dragon scales on his claws and couldn't help scratching his head. He whispered to himself, "Did I say less? Never mind. I'll take a look. If I said less, it doesn't matter if I say it next time. At least I can say something so reasonable, which should make those little guys think I'm very wise."

So the young red dragon used his thick and long tail to pick up the silver dragon, who was still pretending to be unconscious and forced to transform into a humanoid form, and strode towards the Governor's Palace located at the foot of the mountains in the King's Capital.

Although he was very afraid of the nagging of the bronze dragon Alina, the young red dragon felt that he had at least done a good job this time.

　Cuarón wrote along with the growth and changes of the empire, hoping it wouldn’t feel cluttered.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)