Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 325: Night Dew
Fourteen years into the Dragon Calendar, during the Spring Festival Gala.

It was the rainy season, and persistent rain and dark clouds covered most of the eastern part of the Golden Empire.

In the drizzle, many people of the Golden Empire became very leisurely.

The moons in the city were gradually lit up one by one, illuminating the dark empire in the soft moonlight.

The flow of people in the shops and trade areas along the main streets of the city became sparser. Only the kobold guards who remained eternally loyal to the dragon patrolled the streets, but other entertainment venues became crowded.

The Empire's opera house was not a noble place; ordinary people only needed to spend a dozen copper coins to buy a seat in the last row.

Moreover, in such bone-chilling weather, the dragons of the empire do not like to stay in their own nests, but prefer to come to such lively public places.

It’s like some special people who really like to stand in the crowd on rainy days and enjoy the self-solitude in the hustle and bustle.

Many tourists from other places and business nobles on vacation are also happy to go to such occasions. Not only can they admire some hard-to-reach dragons, but if they are lucky, some representatives of noble forces can also establish a thread of interest with the rulers of the empire.

The Imperial Baths, filled with rich hot air, is also one of the favorite places for outsiders to spend money.

Such basic public entertainment venues were rare in other noble territories. Some noble territories in the south of the Northern Continent imitated the Golden Empire and built bathhouses, which were only for people of a certain status.

And in many areas of the South, such bathing places have begun to become meeting places for interest groups.

According to the information obtained by the Empire's 'Eye of the Crow', small groups such as the 'Naked Society' have already appeared in the Hobis Empire. These members are proud of being honest with each other to prove their sincerity and trust.

The magic constant water source draws out underground heat, covering the entire spacious bathhouse in a misty high temperature, which is a real enjoyment in rainy weather.

Especially many people who come out of the steam room, breathing in the scent of spring rain, can feel a sense of comfort that refreshes both physically and mentally.

Occasionally, some dragons would set foot in this place, especially some dragons who were too embarrassed or afraid to step into the Dragon King's Court and went to the back garden of the ancestral red dragon to enjoy the hot springs.

The taverns and dragon card halls in the imperial city were bustling with activity.

Not only are there many races from the empire here, but races from other continents are also often seen here. Vampires and elves, who have always seemed very aloof and arrogant to outsiders, are not uncommon.

The dragons of the Empire often appear here, and the puzzle games are very popular with the dragons. The elf Riven is a frequent visitor to the card hall of the capital. After all, the elves can be regarded as one of the major shareholders of the card hall. Many of the servants who guide the novice tutorials and attract tourists are the same kind of people bewitched by Pixie Riven.

More than one dragon got addicted to opening packs in the Dragon Card Hall. Not only did he lose all his accumulated small treasury, he was also forced to sell the scales that the foreign dragons had occasionally shed when they were young at a low price in an attempt to make a comeback.

One of the rare gem dragons, the amethyst dragon Loya, is the most famous example.

Amethyst dragons are not only intelligent, but also have a natural tendency to be arbitrators.

Some older amethyst dragons will act as arbitrators and mediators when other dragons fight each other. Even when a large-scale war breaks out between humans, there will occasionally be an enthusiastic amethyst dragon who will mediate and arbitrate the war between the two sides.

However, the young Amethyst Dragon Loya apparently couldn't control himself in such a gambling activity. His former wit was gone, and he had no choice but to auction off his precious old scales at the dragon's auction house.

The scales of an amethyst dragon are like lavender natural amethyst, especially the scales shed when it is young, which are even brighter and are also of top quality among ornamental gems.

Moreover, the Amethyst Dragon is a type of dragon that haunts the Earth Elemental Plane all year round, absorbing abundant Earth Elemental energy. As a result, the scales on its body can also be used as materials for casting elemental spells. Among giant dragons, their scales are also of top quality.

Although it cannot be compared with the scales of the red dragon and the golden dragon, which are the most powerful among the ten true dragons in the material world, it is more popular among spellcasters than the scales of true dragons such as the white dragon and the copper dragon.

When the Amethyst Dragon Loya stepped into the Dragon Card Hall, the noisy Dragon Card Hall instantly became quiet.

Although the humanoid form of this giant dragon looks very ordinary, like a tall and thin young man, the purple crystal dragon Loya has spent less than one-tenth of the time he spent in the giant dragon card hall since he came to the Golden Empire to travel. He has already become a regular customer of the giant dragon card hall.

Almost all the card players looked at him and laughed. One ogre shouted, "Loya, you went to the dragon auction house to pawn your scales again!"

Luo Ya did not answer, but walked to the counter next to the fireplace and said to the charming snake maid: "Give me another ten packs of the collector's edition of Fu Sheng cards, and another hundred packs of the extended edition of Fu Sheng cards."

Then Loya placed dozens of gold coins on the counter and rubbed his hands.

Some card players deliberately shouted loudly: "Luoya, be careful that you won't get anything good this time. You won't be able to make back your money. You will even have to pawn your scales."

However, the card player who shouted out loud was a pretty and lively girl with gray and shining eyes, and looked quite lively.

The short hair is the same color as steel, just like some cosplayers, and the ornaments that look like steel jewelry are worn on the chest and waist, which further highlight this feature.

Although the quirky girl's tone was very cute, the sarcasm in it was self-evident.

Luo Ya couldn't hold it in any longer after hearing that. He opened his eyes wide and looked at the mocking poker players and said, "How can you slander my innocence like this? I am a noble dragon, and I have a lot of wealth..."

"What innocence? I saw you pawning your scales at the Dragon Pawn Shop with my own eyes, and you even quarreled with those greedy goblin merchants over the price."

The steel dragon Midir hid behind a troll, pretending that the other party couldn't see her, and continued to stab the amethyst dragon in the heart.

Amethyst Dragon Loya's face immediately turned red, and the veins on his forehead bulged. He argued, "That's because my other treasures are too expensive to sell. Besides, the old dragon scales are of no use to the dragon. I'm just reusing them."

Then came some weird mumblings, words like "lucky-changing spell" and "I'll definitely make my money back this time", which caused the card players in the hall to burst into laughter, and the whole hall was filled with a happy atmosphere.

Even a fellow as greedy for money as the dragon could not keep his treasure due to his gambling nature.

With the example of the Amethyst Dragon Loya, a large sign has been put up in front of every dragon card hall in the empire - Gambling is harmful to physical and mental health, so please open packs within your means!

Of course, this is not because the Empire is thinking about those dragons, but some of the dragons are wild and uncontrollable. Although they are afraid of the power of the Empire, they will inevitably cause trouble out of anger and shame after their wealth has been wasted.

At least a dozen such farces have been dealt with in the patrol corps of the royal capital.

The arena located on the outer ring of the central square of the royal capital is also a popular entertainment attraction.

Beasts and warriors, strong men and strong women, the venting of violence has always been the worship and yearning of all living things at the root of their existence.

The Glorious Arena in the King's City adopts a semi-dome design. On the huge white stone pillars, there are carvings of stories and legendary heroes that have been passed down from the ancient times to the mortal world.

From the ancient First Era to the end of the Sixth Era, memories that have long since disappeared in the long river of time are presented here.

The legendary Lord of the Earth, the Lord of War Quintetis who shook the gods with his mortal body in the Sixth Age, held the divine spear in his hand, with his upper body naked, his muscles bulging like sculptures, and let out his last roar to the majesty of the gods in the sky.

The pattern representing the Seventh Era is a mural of flying dragons carved on the dome.

In the mural of a group of dragons flying into the sky, a unique red dragon lowers its head, gazing at the various dragons surrounding it, and also at all the living beings standing under the dome.

The new era has come and now is a new day.

The entire huge arena looks like a giant eggshell with a hole in the middle. The space inside is huge enough to accommodate at least 200,000 spectators.

The main structure of marble and chrysoprase, coupled with the protection of magic runes, means that this once again expanded arena does not have to worry about being destroyed by the dangerous power of those powerful gladiators.

One after another, ancient-style chariots drove out from the Taiping Gate at the bottom of the Colosseum. These ancient chariots were driven around the huge Colosseum.

The gladiators on the chariots were shirtless, revealing their muscular bodies, and looked almost identical to the heroes carved on the pillars.

These strong gladiators waved their spears, drawing enthusiastic cheers from hundreds of thousands of spectators, which had a very good effect in warming up the audience.

Among the large number of spectators, there were many nobles from all over the country who had cast aside their usual elegance and nobility and were sitting in the VIP area, enthusiastically venting their emotions.

The ladies who used to be reserved were no longer restrained, and their screams were louder and sharper than when they were pinned down by their husbands.

Even members of the frost giant tribe on the northern grasslands can be found here, as well as the snowmen on the extremely frozen frost plains. You can even see naga and sea giants in the sea among the crowd.

The arena is divided into a general viewing area and a premium seating area. Tickets are free for the general viewing area, and everyone can stand in the crowd and watch the gladiatorial contests.

The exclusive seating area is provided for merchants, nobles, slave owners and others with purchasing power, who need to pay a not very expensive fee upon admission.

The VIP box area, which is more expensive than the exclusive seating area, is only available to those with strong financial resources or those who have close social relations with the Golden Empire.

Despite this, the VIP boxes and seating areas were already filled with spectators, and the standing audience was even more surging.

In the early days of the establishment of the Arena of Glory, in order to build momentum for various industries in the territory, more than one giant dragon from the Gogmora dragon group appeared in the arena.

Some members of the dragon group even fought with powerful warriors from other regions in order to experience the same feeling they once had. The white dragon Kamide also thought about earning extra money as a gladiator. Even this white dragon made a lot of wealth by selling the ice on his own mountain.

Even the empire's emperor, the Red Dragon, had once visited the empire's largest gladiatorial arena, so this activity was no longer a rarity in the empire.

However, the members of the dragon group still maintained their old habits. Every once in a while, different members would come to the arena to watch the gladiatorial performances, to support the industry and promote the martial spirit of the empire.

Today's gladiatorial contest is also the first one in which the goblin Shining negotiates with other forces to establish the dominance of the empire, so it is highly valued.

The goblin's voice announcing the opening of the show rang out after the gladiators on the opening tour left. "Please welcome the undefeated warrior from the North, the strong warrior who has won ten games in a row, the unstoppable Northland Eagle Vic,"

"Take away the glorious crown of war from the head of the Dawn Sword!"

A tall warrior wearing half-body armor, a fully enclosed deer helmet, holding a dagger and a shield, slowly stepped out of the passage, raised his dagger to signal to the audience, and finally bowed slightly to the several dragon lords sitting in the special VIP seats in the arena.

The whole audience cheered, but the goblin host's voice easily drowned it out.

"Then there is Kato, the challenger known as the Lion Hunter. This brave warrior is as brave and strong as a lion on the grassland, and regards all enemies as his prey!"

A burly warrior with a thick long braid, also wearing half-armor but without a helmet, slowly stepped out of the passage and paraded around the edge of the arena, holding a short-handled battle axe in both hands and enjoying the cheers of the audience.

"Come on, Kato!"

"Come on Vic!"

Amid the noisy shouts, golden goblins shuttled through the crowd, accepting bets from the enthusiastic audience and selling desserts, snacks and drinks produced by the Imperial Brewery.

The Green Dragon Lord Antajiana and the Bronze Dragon Lord Alina sat in the highest VIP seats in the arena, overlooking the scene below.

This area had already been cleared, and the dragon guards, armed with spears and halberds, surrounded the two dragon lords, performing their guard duties meticulously.

Bronze Dragon Lord Alina and Green Dragon Antajiana were appointed as governors of the planes to open up other planes of the empire, and the general governors oversaw all powers in the Ice, Fire and Dune planes.

Because the Dune plane is still in a state of war.

Paul Atreides, a divine warrior of the ancestral red dragon, with the help of millions of Fremen, defeated the captured emperor of the Golden Lion Empire through a strategy of the United Space Navigation Commission.

Paul Atreides' family, which was destroyed by the emperor, returned to the world stage. Under threats and exchanges, Paul Atreides married the princess of the Golden Lion Emperor, obtained the legal right of inheritance of the empire, and ascended the throne as the Golden Lion Emperor.

But after Paul Atreides ascended the throne of the Golden Lion, he made the lord of mankind and ancestor of the king of dragons, the red dragon Kalon Gogmora, as the God-Emperor of the Golden Lion Empire. He was not only the emperor who ruled the Golden Lion Empire, but also the god that the Golden Lion Empire should respect.

So Paul Atreides abdicated the throne and became the regent of the Golden Lion Empire, temporarily replacing the ancestor red dragon in charge of the Golden Lion Empire.

With the help of Gabriel, the descendant of the ancestral red dragon, and Fafner, the ogre giant, the regent of the Golden Lion Empire led millions of Fremen under his command to launch an interstellar expedition to the Dune universe. The holy war that spread across the Dune universe has already begun.

Tens of billions and hundreds of billions of humans in the Dune universe have been surrounded by the fire of holy war that is burning throughout the universe.

This time, Paul Atreides, with the help of the unified faith of the ancestral red dragon, firmly controls all the Fremen and aims to wipe out all the old aristocratic forces in the universe.

Destroy all the shackles and institutional fetters that hinder the progress of human civilization, establish a new imperial order with the Golden Empire as the goal.

It was because of this situation that the green dragon Antajiana communicated with the bronze dragon lord Alina.

The two dragons accepted Kalon's instructions to rely on the local civilization forces as soon as possible, integrate all resources, and deliver benefits to the Golden Empire headquarters.

The green dragon Antajiana was unwilling to go to the Governor's Palace where the bronze dragon Alina was temporarily staying, although there was no problem with the relationship between the dragons in the Gogmora dragon group.

But the pride that comes from the green dragon makes Antajiana not like to discuss things in Alina's home court.

Taking the opportunity to support the Imperial Arena, the two female dragons also communicated with each other here.

However, the specific matters had basically already been communicated to each other in the royal court, and the remaining ones were just methodologies on how to better deliver benefits to the empire.

"The empire has become a little chaotic recently. I heard that Rossani has caught those little mice, but you let them go again?" Bronze Dragon Alina stopped the previous topic and suddenly asked.

Antajiana was slightly stunned, and her long tail swept past lightly, revealing a smug smile, "Those little mice are of no use. The personnel of the Harper Alliance are generally one-way contacts, and it is impossible to dig out the black hand behind them through them."

"So I plan to release these rats back. Only a long line can pull out a big fish. Even if I can't pull out a big fish, I can use these rats as my spies in the bases of those Harpers."

Bronze dragon Alina nodded slightly. "Be careful. Don't do as those mortals say. You will end up losing the rice instead of the chicken. In my opinion, we should actually lock up these rats and hang them all at a suitable opportunity. The dark forces behind them are not important. Anyway, there will be plenty of opportunities to wipe them out in the future."

The green dragon narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded slowly.

She didn't agree with Alina's words, but she approved of Alina's style.

The colorful dragons sometimes seem a little conservative in front of this bronze dragon, so Alina becomes one of the members of the Gogmora dragon group who is never questioned.

……

The sound of dripping water and water splashing on the ground echoed with a sense of silence in this hollow, tall and criss-crossing underground passage.

The sound of footsteps came from the deep and complex underground pipes, and the sound of deerskin boots hitting the ground was particularly obvious.

As a stealth warrior who harnesses the power of shadows, Thor would not make any sound even when stepping on leaves. This action was only to remind his companions that he was coming.

The half-elf half-blood archer Kyle, who was a bystander in the team, showed his face around the corner, and when he saw that it was indeed his companion, he quickly shrank back.

Thor slowed down his pace, slipped into the corner quietly, and nodded slightly to his companions who were looking at him.

This is the sewer of the King's Capital, the royal city of the Golden Empire.

The spacious and tall sewer is built entirely with solid stone slabs. It is dozens of kilometers long and includes twenty giant vertical shafts that are 65 meters deep and 32 meters wide.

The vertical shafts are connected by pipes with a diameter of ten meters. The rainwater introduced into the first nineteen vertical shafts flows into the last vertical shaft through the city's sewers, and is concentrated in a huge reservoir supported by 108 large pillars that are thirty-six meters high and weigh thousands of tons.

The wastewater and sewage discharged from these cities are connected by ten-meter-wide pipes and finally discharged to the sewage treatment plant outside the Royal Capital.

Some people in the gray area of the capital traveled through this wide sewer and called the space supported by those huge pillars the "underground temple".

Because an ordinary creature standing in front of these huge pillars appears particularly small.

The same is true for these unexpected visitors.

In this corner space, all team members are already present.

The great wizard Lor in the team stood on a huge hexagram magic circle, quietly drawing the last magic rune node.

This huge hexagram formation has been mostly completed, with the great wizard Lor drawing out 1,250 magic rune veins.

At this moment, the magic rune veins under Lor's feet have begun to communicate and intersect vaguely, flowing with a little magical light, making the figure of the great wizard Lor appear particularly sacred.

The rest of the team members were waiting quietly. When the huge magic circle was fully lit up, it meant that they no longer had any choice.

Jesse stroked his weapon over and over again, as if this action could help him calm down and brush away his anxiety and uneasiness.

Thor looked at his companions' serious expressions and said, "Don't worry too much. According to the rules I have determined, the servants and followers of the dragons will only patrol this sewer every three days. We still have enough time."

Ranger Nayolai nodded, as if to comfort himself, and smiled: "It's not easy to find this opportunity. The terrifying red dragon is not in its lair for the time being."

"Perhaps he is still dealing with those monsters in the distant West Hammer. We are fully confident that we can escape from this complex city through the sewers after completing this ritual."

"As long as we can escape from this city, we will be like birds flying in the sky, without having to worry about being trapped by the dragon's army."

Jie Xi suddenly asked: "But do we really want to do this? The Golden Empire ruled by these colorful dragons is a rare civilized place in the northern continent. Even as a dragon slayer, I must admit that the dragon kingdom is not without merit."

"Besides, if those dragons go crazy, the people here will also be harmed. It is hard to say whether our actions are just."

The white-armored knight Gower interrupted his companion and said righteously, "You are wrong, Jesse. The dragon empire should not exist. Those dragons are just waiting for an opportunity. They will not give up their ambitions."

"Rather than waiting until those dragons, due to their undying ambitions and desires, start a war that spreads across the entire world of Ekania, it is better for us to put an end to their ambitions in advance."

Hart said slowly: "Justice always brings some short-term pain, Jesse, don't think too much. We are legendary dragon slayers and a righteous dragon slayer team. We are not only for money and profit, but also for eternal justice!"

　Thank you all for your votes!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)