I'm really not a dragon.

In the past, Su En really couldn't have been saved, but now Su En has a system with him, so things are different now.

"You've come to the right person!"

Su En shook his head, picked up the badly injured rat, walked to the window, and called out, "Hey, Enforcer! Yes, you, come here for a second!"

The law enforcement officers in the patrol team glanced around, and after confirming that they were being called, they approached the window with curiosity in their eyes.

Approaching was a bronze dragonborn. Compared to a real dragon, his snout appeared short, and his brow bone and jaw were covered with horny protrusions. Three pairs of horns, like crowns, were neatly arranged on the sides of his head.

Since the end of the magical plague, a significant number of dragonborn have settled in Baldur's Gate, and it is not uncommon for a dragonborn to become a law enforcer.

"What is it, prisoner!"

He tried to make his voice sound authoritative and deep, but anyone could tell he was too young.

"I have an animal friend who is badly injured!"

Suen picked up the injured mouse. "Do you have any healing potions or scrolls? Please help it! It's dying!"

The dragonborn scrutinized Suen, the scales on his face gradually tightening. He said rather hesitantly:

"A healing potion costs at least 30 dragon coins, which is equivalent to three days' wages for me."

"Money is not a problem."

Su En has no shortage of money now. Becoming a millionaire for the first time, he waved his hand and declared with great pride, "I'll give you ten times the reward!"

The Bronze Dragonborn looked at him strangely, his silver-gray pupils narrowing into slits. "The reward you're talking about, it's not some rare ore, is it?"

You guessed perfectly.

Su En nodded approvingly and said confidently, "That's right! I guarantee they're incredibly valuable! Enough for you to buy ten bottles of healing potions!"

The Bronze Dragonborn glanced at his waiting colleagues and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid those metal ores aren't actually metals."

"?"

What does it mean?

"Have you ever heard of the nesting effect?" The Bronze Dragonborn had clearly encountered this situation before.

He shrugged and began to explain:

"The plants near the Bronze Dragon's lair are brightly colored and are always accompanied by a faint melody. The Silver Dragon's lair is shrouded in mist, and even a hill less than a hundred meters high will feel as cold as if you were on a mountaintop thousands of meters high."

"A powerful magical creature will always have an impact on its surrounding environment."

Suen slowly turned her head, gazing thoughtfully at the wall behind her, made of a mixture of smelted metals: "You mean..."

The scraping sounds from the cells next door and across the street gradually subsided.

The surroundings were so quiet that the increasingly rapid breathing of the barbarians and dwarves could be heard.

"Those are not truly precious metals; they will one day revert to their original state," the bronze dragon said compassionately.

"Someday, but when is that?" Suen asked.

"When I left prison."

After the words were spoken, the prison fell into a deathly silence.

Suen was quite disappointed; anyone would feel disheartened upon learning that their wealth had shrunk.

However, the dwarves and barbarians are probably in a much worse situation than him, as they are willing to exchange gold for their freedom.

The quiet prison was broken by the dwarf's angry questioning voice.

"How could these be fake? The color and feel are exactly the same as real gold! You must be lying to me!"

"Exactly, we're not stupid!"

The Bronze Dragonborn offered no explanation, but looked at the group with pity and presented the data.

"Turning stone into gold requires extremely high magical skill, at least a sixth-circle spell or higher. In other words, it requires the help of an archmage. The heavy punishment zone is such a large area that it would require more than one archmage, not to mention the magical materials needed, the subsequent maintenance... In total, it would require at least 50 million dragon gold coins, and there would be continuous investment in maintenance afterward. This amount of money would probably take me three thousand years of hard work."

Creating a region that continuously produces gold requires an investment far exceeding the potential returns.

The dwarves and barbarians were speechless. Even with their not-so-stellar intelligence, they could tell that what the Bronze Dragonborn said was very likely true.

"Then what was the point of my hard work all day?!" The barbarian was puzzled.

"I've worked hard for ten days!" The dwarf's voice sounded tired and pained, as if he had suddenly aged ten years.

"At least you're all exhausted!"

Suen silently delivered the final blow.

"Sword Bay people, shut up!"

"Nothing else, I'll be leaving now!" the Bronze Dragonborn said calmly.

Suen picked up the injured mouse and tentatively said, "Sir, I don't have much to give you. Could you help it, even just give it a simple bandage?"

The Bronze Dragonborn glanced at the rat, shook his head, and righteously refused: "This is a Skull Rat. Skull Rats are inherently evil, and I will not help any evil creature. You'd better leave it alone."

"Uh! Okay!"

The Bronze Dragonborn nodded, raised his torch, and walked toward the patrol.

Unexpectedly, law enforcement officers harbor evil racial discrimination. This is troublesome, Rat.

Big Tooth looked at Su En, tears welling up in his rat-like eyes.

Even if you look at me like that, there's nothing I can do to save your rat life!

No, wait, it seems there is a way. I've heard that dragon blood contains strange magic.

Suen can now be considered half a humanoid dragon. I wonder if feeding his blood to the rats will have a miraculous effect.

Suen gently bit her finger, and blood dripped into the mouse's mouth.

He looked at the mouse expectantly.

Time passed second by second, and the mouse grew weaker and weaker, slowly closing its eyes.

Why isn't it working? That shouldn't be the case.

He started breathing fire after drinking just one vial of medicine.

Was a step missing?

Suen thought for a moment, then tentatively whispered, "Gugarohag!"

This ancient and revered language flowed from his throat, vibrating the air and drawing upon a mysterious power.

The mouse trembled all over and screamed desperately. The blood vessels under its skin bulged and throbbed, like countless tiny insects crawling under its skin.

Dozens of bloody wounds appeared on its skin, making the whole rat look like it was about to split open.

Beneath those wounds, tiny scales emerged one after another, creating a mixed appearance of hair and scales.

"Squeak!" The mouse opened its eyes again.

[Achievement Notification!]

[With your unparalleled charm, you have gained the loyalty of your first dragon vassal, the Ratman Stalker, Greatfang. Having secured your own vassal even in your fledgling days, you are already ahead of 99% of the dragons!]

[You have achieved this, and I am now destined to become the Dragon Lord!]

[Bonus Achievement Rewards: Choose one from Trick, Wizard's Hand, Electric Claw, and First Strike!]

[Opening the first stage of the Overlord series of quests ahead of schedule: The Path of the Dragon Lord]

Every dragon is a king. From this moment forward, let us march towards the goal of building a dragon kingdom!

[Mission Objective: Gain the allegiance of one hundred lower-class races.]

[Reward: One-level spell of your choice]