Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 317: Heart of Nagamat
Every world is complex and mutually checked. Around every giant, there are things that constrain its power.

Because the world tends towards balance in order, the other side of the scale must have the same amount of chips as this side, and what the Golden Empire needs to do now is to let the east wind overwhelm the west wind and issue some serious warnings.

But the Empire is not the passive one, so...

"Open the door, Court of Inquisition!"

The Beauty and the Beast Tavern is the largest and most luxurious tavern and inn in the King's City.

There are spacious residences, clean and tidy beds, attentive services from wild elf maids and snake-man maids, and the best security environment in the entire empire.

In the King's City, no matter where you are, you will receive special attention from those idle Gnoll Security Guards.

Therefore, merchants who can open shops and taverns in the outer ring of the center of the royal capital are all "big shots" with certain economic strength and social status.

The laws of the Golden Empire clearly stipulate that private property legally acquired by the citizens of the empire is sacred and inviolable, and there are clear regulations to protect property rights.

This also means that even if it is a merchant’s shop or residential area, the wind can enter and the rain can enter, but no one can break in without the owner’s permission.

Even the Empire's security guards need to hold inspection orders from relevant Empire departments before they can enter the legal private areas of the Empire's citizens.

Under the laws of the empire, once property rights were clarified to individuals, the social influence of the empire began to take effect.

Under the influence of the law, everyone becomes a truly unique individual, and independent personality and free will are born under the protection of the rights and interests of every citizen.

Because an individual's independent personality is based on an important condition—the legal private property is sacred and inviolable.

Everyone also has a broken house deep in his heart, and that is his independent personality.

Once a person has an independent personality, free will will arise accordingly.

Free will also means taking charge of your own affairs and freely disposing of everything you own.

As a result, the power of those families could no longer form the original entanglement in the Golden Empire, because the will of the family could not be greater than the will of the law.

Therefore, the young people in the families no longer regard the will of the clan leaders and elders as the "king's law" that must be followed. They only need to carry out the will of the Dragon King's Court.

Below the Gogmora dragon group, the country began to be governed by law.

Under absolute and clear inequality, all living beings have obtained the greatest equality within a relative range. Although they need to align their will and thoughts with the will of the empire, this correct guidance and restraint is indispensable.

So, according to statistics from the previous year, there were 4.5 million people in the Golden Empire. In just three months, the population increased by 100,000, all of whom were immigrants from outside.

And those outsiders, including sailors, merchants, adventurers, and travelers, can speak freely in the empire's taverns and discuss their business and future plans without worrying about being targeted by people with bad intentions.

Even some small nobles seeking refuge would often stay in this tavern, and some high-level adventurer teams would even use this largest tavern as their permanent foothold.

However, the inviolability of personal legal private territory stipulated in the Imperial law is invalid before the Imperial Inquisition Knights!

Because the Imperial Inquisition Knights are directly under the rule of the dragon, the will they carry out is the clear will of the dragon, and they are therefore qualified to legally enforce the law.

The bartender Dake is a young man who always seems to have a smile on his face, and his smiling eyes always look at others kindly, but a huge scar running from the wing of his nose to behind his ear makes the young bartender look a little more hideous.

When the knight captain of the Inquisition opened the door of the tavern, he attracted the attention of some minor nobles and adventurers who were enjoying breakfast in the lobby on the first floor of the tavern.

However, these people were not afraid of these trial knights, because they were legitimate merchants and travelers. In everyone's eyes, these knights in black armor would only appear after a clear goal.

The Knights of the Inquisition are the nightmare of those with evil intentions and have nothing to do with normal people.

"In which room do the people in the portraits live?" A trial knight threw the scroll in his hand down, and a young man's head appeared in front of the bartender Dark.

Dak wiped the wine glass in his hand while looking at it. Then he quickly raised his head and nodded his chin a few times towards the left side of the third floor of the tavern. He said in a deep voice: "The guy standing in the corridor on the third floor pretending to look around in the luxurious bunk bed at the innermost side is the eyes of those 'guests'."

Before Dark finished his words, the eye who was pretending to be wandering in the corridor was pierced in the back by an arrow shot from the open skylight on the third floor of the tavern. The arrow with magical paralysis and concealment effects knocked down the thief stealth who wanted to retreat when he saw the bad situation.

A nimble black-armored cavalryman nimbly opened the skylight and jumped down from the roof.

The architectural style of the Golden Empire is extremely tall, broad and majestic. Even a knight in black armor can easily pass through the skylight.

When the black-armored knight jumped down and caught the thief stealth, the young thief had not yet fallen to the ground, which was enough to prove the strength of these black-armored knights.

Arrows blessed with magic paralysis potions and enchantments are similar to blowgun darts, but a little heavier.

It was silent when launched, but it could easily knock down the ferocious elephant king on the grassland. The young thief was easily knocked down by a few arrows before he could even use his superb strength.

The black-armored cavalry made a gesture, and several more light-armored knights jumped down from the skylight. On the roof of the stone building of the hotel, a dull sound of footsteps was also heard.

However, the knights who landed later were not ordinary knights, but golems of the same height as the knights—the Forbidden Magic Knights.

As the largest city in the empire, the King's City has a city defense barrier that prohibits magical abilities, but capturing a small team of the Harp Alliance does not require such a lot of effort.

There is no need to elaborate on what happened next. All these magic-suppressing knights had to do was open the door of the inn and shoot down all the harpists with their crossbows to complete this simple mission.

The biggest challenge of this mission is to keep some of the enemies alive so that these golems won't kill them all.

The force organized in the form of a team of adventurers seemed so weak against the might of an empire that they had no chance of resistance.

After these Inquisition knights left, peace returned to the inn.

But in a small room within the inn, sat a power that even the institutions of the Empire could not fathom.

In front of the veteran team, the Empire’s reconnaissance force is not omnipotent. It has professional disguised identities and camouflage techniques to allow these people to move around safely under the Empire’s nose.

Of course, the most important thing is that these professional teams did not take actions that aroused the Empire's vigilance like those of the Harper Alliance and other personnel.

Because they are a professional team.

This house is very hidden, located at the corner of the second floor of the hotel, but the view is very wide.

Several men and women dressed as adventurers gathered in a room. They were the dragon's enemies, destroyers and executors of conspiracies, and in the eyes of some people, they were also weapons that could be used.

"Another group of idiots was killed. Although these guys were just some targets to attract fire, they were too careless."

Thor had a gloomy face and seemed to be in a bad mood.

In fact, the stealth players in every adventurer team have some obvious commonalities in appearance. Because they are close to the shadows and use the power of the shadows, they will also be affected by the power of the shadows.

"We can't help it. The dragons of the Golden Empire are all very scary creatures. They are completely different from the dragons we killed before."

"They want to find the weaknesses of the Empire's true dragons. They can't rely on external observation and reasoning as usual. That information has no reference value for the Golden Empire's dragons." Kyle said.

Her plump figure seemed to have strong explosive power. Her entire tall body was hidden under the exquisite armor, and even her beautiful face was covered by the hood.

"Only prophecy can help to a certain extent, but since the power of magic exists, it will be observed. They just underestimate this country created by the dragon."

"The Golden Empire is different from other noble territories. The social structure and connections there are more rigorous than any kingdom I have ever visited."

This dragon-slaying team, ostensibly a mercenary team, was very distressed.

Even though this legendary dragon-slaying team had once participated in the punishment plan of the 'Crimson Madam' Dicklis, they had slain the mature red dragon in front of its own lair, deep in the desolate volcanic zone.

Even among this dragon-slaying team there are legendary warriors who have fought against dragons and cut off the heads of real dragons.

In this team, there are four people who have the title of "Dragon Slayer".

In other continents of the Ekania world, there were once many giant dragons active in the world's vision, including powerful red dragons, majestic golden dragons, and beautiful and noble silver dragons.

Many people in the Central Continent have dealt with dragons, of course, dead dragons.

In the two dominant empires of the Central Continent, fresh dragon blood and dragon meat were once circulated and sold on the market almost every month.

Many big merchants would even often openly auction high-quality materials such as dragon bones, dragon scales, and dragon horns in front of adventurers. Even in the southern continent, where metal dragons were active, dragon body materials were often sold, and dragon cubs were openly auctioned, although almost all of the materials came from five-color dragons.

The dead mature red dragon, 'Crimson Matron' Dicklis, was a big supplier herself. This red dragon used to search for eggs laid by wild dragons in the wild, bring them back to the nest to incubate them, and then sell the dragon cubs as slaves to humans.

If this courageous red dragon had not provoked the silver dragon, it would not have faced death.

Although this was a spontaneous action of the dragon, it was enough to prove the changes of the times. The world was no longer ruled by dragons. Dragons, Titans, orcs, elves, dwarves, who were once the protagonists and overlords of the era, have been overthrown and trampled underfoot by humans.

However, the once desolate north is different from other continents. The dragon kingdom born in the wilderness has become the dominant country in the remote north.

Thanks to its superior location, the Golden Empire did not attract attacks from other human civilizations in its early days. As it gradually grew to its current size, ordinary human kingdoms are no longer able to target the Golden Empire alone.

This dragon-slaying team came to the Golden Empire for this reason.

However, even though they had expected it, this professional dragon-slaying team was still surprised when they arrived at the Golden Empire.

The giant dragon with the support of the empire is a target that even this legendary dragon-slaying team cannot contend with head-on.

Even a powerful ancient dragon, surrounded by millions of people and unable to move, would fall under the siege of the mortal army, let alone these humans.

Although legendary warriors have the ability to walk on air, they cannot compare to the dragon's ability to fly in the sky.

Once surrounded by the Golden Empire's army, these people would not be able to survive even if they had three heads and six arms.

"Then how should we find the weaknesses of those dragon lords? The patterns of their appearances are also unknown. Their nests and possible landing sites are all guarded by loyal legion warriors."

"Not to mention luring out the red dragon. If we can't find their patterns and weaknesses, do we have to climb to the top of the mountains and face the Dragon Emperor?"

"Although the power of this treasure is very powerful in the mouths of those people, in my opinion, it may not be able to affect the ancestral red dragon."

Hart paused and looked at the archmage in the team, who was also one of the leaders of the team.

This is not surprising. Mages who are able to become legendary rarely join adventure teams like other wandering mages. Even for events like slaying a dragon, the benefits gained are not as great as those of a legendary wizard exploring alone.

After all, legendary mages have the ability to build a team that is loyal only to themselves, whether it is a war puppet or a golem warrior. The means of legendary mages are beyond the imagination of these warriors.

A wizard at the top of the sanctuary is considered the best in the adventurer team.

But even a wizard from the sanctuary can gain the greatest dominance over a legendary warrior.

Because a spellcaster is always stronger than a warrior, and this strength does not refer to intuitive combat ability.

The power of a spellcaster lies in the fact that the wisdom of the spell is almost omnipotent.

As long as one has infinite wisdom, there is almost no limit to what magic can do.

Just like the legendary strongest ninth-level spell - the wish, fundamentally speaking, as long as it does not violate the overall logic of the laws of the universe, the effect it produces is omnipotent.

It almost transcends all physical and natural laws, and can even transcend time and reverse aging.

But wishing spells is not the end of spells. A truly powerful wizard can even create and design spells based on the desired effects. The effects of spells are dependent on the wizard's imagination and knowledge, and there is almost no upper limit.

Just like the law of destiny in legends, those chosen ones artificially create their own unique destiny.

They are their own chosen ones, and their upper limit is limited only by their abilities, not by the rules of the universe.

Although the mages in this team cannot create powerful magic like the legendary mages, such as hiding their own treasure houses in other dimensions, or changing the climate and terrain of an area, or standardizing the basic theorems of an entire material plane or planet.

But this wizard also relied on his own abilities to develop a technique that was unique to him: spell stealing.

Or it would be more vivid to call it spell replication.

Mage Lor shook his head and looked at the table in the middle of the room. A huge wooden box was placed on the table. Countless densely packed magic runes were written on the thick seal. The magical aura on the surface of these runes even revealed a crystal luster.

"Although the advanced prophecy I stole can confuse the target's direction, I don't want to use it,"

"The ancestral red dragon was able to counter the prophecy spell. This has nothing to do with the ability of the prophecy spell user. Even divine magic cannot predict the future direction of the red dragon."

Luo Er said with a serious expression: "From what I know, those mages of the prophecy school have been troubled by the fantasy of spying on the ancestral red dragon and cannot extricate themselves."

"Illusion?" The knight wearing intricately carved white scale armor frowned and asked in confusion.

The legendary knight was tall and burly, with neat long black hair framing his handsome face, and he looked more like a nobleman with good temperament.

The magic heavy sword in the knight's hand came from the hands of a wizard in the team. It was made of fine materials and endowed with powerful magical properties.

In the world of magic, the spellcaster is the god that ordinary warriors need to rely on the most.

"Yes, a powerful illusion. Any spellcaster who tries to spy on the fate of the red dragon will be disturbed by a higher level. The illusion of the spiritual space is rooted in the senses of those mages."

"Their perspective and senses have been distorted and altered in another dimension, as if their innate cognitive instincts have been altered, and their perspectives have been changed as well,"

Luo Er said solemnly: "A wizard fell in love with a slime monster. A wizard thought he was a kobold and mastered the language of kobolds without any instruction, even though the wizard had never learned the language of kobolds."

"There was a wizard who had acquired a more ordinary aesthetic perspective and fell in love with a horse,"

"I don't want to become a freak!"

As the wizard finished speaking, everyone in the room shuddered.

The ranger Nayole, who had a particularly keen sense, felt his back soaked with sweat. From the wizard's description, he could already imagine the situation in which his cognitive origin had been changed.

“If those poor wizards hadn’t been caught, they should be able to use divine magic to remove such negative illusions. Otherwise, it would be too terrible,” Nayole said.

Mage Lore shook his head and said with regret: "Divine magic cannot solve such problems. For those mages, this is not a negative spell influence or a negative effect like a curse."

"It's more like a spontaneous shift in cognitive perspective, like everyone sees the world differently."

"In the minds of these mages, they have become another kind of creature. This is a permanent transformation in cognition, but it is formed by the reality of the world and cannot be resolved by the effects of divine magic."

"Unless there is a legendary Chosen One, a powerful person who has mastered the laws of his own destiny, who can rewrite the will and cognition of these mages with his own cognition, it is possible to solve this problem."

"But if that happens, these mages will never be able to achieve breakthroughs and success in their own paths."

Luo Er said with a sigh, "It's a pity that those mages may have been captured by the Golden Empire's Judgement Knights. Otherwise, I could study them and try to get a glimpse of the power essence of the red dragon."

"So, are we just going to do nothing and wait here?" Jesse asked. "We have been here for half a year and there is still no progress. I am almost able to buy a small villa in the Golden Empire with my own ability."

"Or maybe we should just give up this mission. I think it's easy to make money in the Golden Empire. If we give up this dangerous plan of 'luring the dragon out of the cave', maybe we can still live a good life here."

Listening to his companions' complaints, the white-armored knight Gower shook his head and said, "The main body of the world order was established by humans. No matter how powerful the Golden Empire is, it can never compare to the civilized countries of mankind."

"Only people without abilities would like this country ruled by a dragon. Jesse, stop complaining. We should patiently look for opportunities and find the right time."

"My only question is, is this thing really as powerful as those nobles say?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on the huge wooden box on the table. Inside the wooden box, which was sealed with layers of magic, was a treasure that was difficult to measure with ordinary grades. Under certain circumstances, this magical artifact had a power that was more powerful than a legendary treasure.

The Heart of Nagamat, a dragon's heart that has survived from ancient times.

In ancient times, the followers of the Platinum Dragon King Bahamut attacked and killed Nagamat, a follower of the Immortal Queen, thus triggering the Dragonfall Holy War between the ancient metal dragons and the color dragons that lasted for thousands of years.

Nagamat was the most important trigger. The heart of this ancient dragon that died had somehow ended up in the hands of these people.

"The power of this treasure has been enhanced by magic spells, and it will be unexpectedly powerful against dragons," said the wizard Lor in a deep voice. "I'm just worried about one thing. After we release this treasure, how can we safely escape from the Golden Empire and escape from the claws of that crazy red dragon?"

"After all, we are not facing an ordinary dragon. Even the once mature red dragon, the Crimson Mistress Decriss, cannot return to her origin in the mortal world and become the pinnacle of the material plane bloodline - the Ancestral Dragon."

(End of this chapter)