Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

He should have had company if Grok and the dragon he named "Big Tooth" had been able to bring back the remaining three.

The red dragon couldn't help but look to the side again. In a certain place, there was a blank space that seemed very out of place. There should have been one of its spoils there—a cat statue.

Those damned thieves!

The young dragon gritted its teeth, but it had no other choice. It calmed itself down and began to call out to the mirror in dragon language.

“I call upon my servant, my right index finger, I call upon—”

It repeated the incantation three times, but the mirror remained unresponsive. The unease and shame in its heart made the young dragon increasingly agitated. Finally, accompanied by two puffs of black smoke from its nostrils, it growled and began a new round of invocations.

"Ah! I am the humble servant of the dragon! I call upon! The noble claw of the dragon! The dragon's—"

This time, the mirror finally reacted. A blurry figure appeared on the mirror, and after shaking slightly, it emitted an echoing sound:

"This is Fidel, noble dragon, I am happy to serve you."

The young dragon wasn't stupid; it could tell how unwilling it was in the voice.

"Why must I recite this stuff!" it roared, "I am a dragon myself, not some servant! You cunning sorcerer, I command you to change it!"

The voice from the mirror paused slightly, then slowly resumed after a brief clearing of its throat: "I apologize. In our last conversation, I told you just how far East Inath is from West Inath. For the sake of the great cause of the dragons regaining their dominance, please forgive me for not being able to come in person to repair this black mirror for you."

"As for your dissatisfaction, I completely understand it. But for that reason, I hope you can also understand that neither this mirror nor that statue was originally intended for you. After all, I knew nothing about your existence before you last contacted me."

This was a complete fluke. Far away, in the Dragonborn's camp, Fiddler, the Dragonfinger, was also quite helpless about this situation. Not long ago, his plans in Eastern Inathas were almost ruined by demons who had infiltrated Ironforge at some unknown time. A young officer with a bright future died inexplicably in the turmoil, which almost destroyed his and "Littlefinger's" original plan to build an army completely under their control from Eastern Inathas, forcing them to start all over again.

The other party himself seemed to be somewhat disheartened by the turmoil. Left with no other choice, he had to follow "Middle Finger's" advice and bring in a batch of goods from Corazonde to support Little Finger. The most important items were the black mirror that would make communication easier and another thing that could perfectly avoid the notice of most people.

He smashed and restored an antique that originally belonged to the middle finger, hiding the object inside the statue. He even went through a roundabout way, gaining the trust of an "antique hunter" who ran errands for antique collectors. His plan was to first deliver the statue and the black mirror to the collector, and then the little finger would buy them from him, to ensure that there would be no "leak" in the process.

But he never expected that the problem would occur during the transportation process, and that the creature that stole the items was not an ordinary person, or even an ordinary creature.

A genuine dragon, whose bloodline is far superior to his!

Chapter 473 Leaving Home

"But I think you must have something important to say to me since you contacted me so suddenly today?"

Fidel had no objection to a real dragon, after all, the other party was obviously still young. Although he didn't know why it was slightly more mature than he had imagined, a young dragon is still a young dragon, and it wouldn't be too difficult to control it.

“Yes,” the red dragon snorted, “I ‘lost’ your statue.”

Lost it?!

Fidel suddenly stood up and stared intently at the mirror in front of him. This sudden action startled the dragonborn patriarch Mascara who was standing next to him.

“I should have told you, that’s a crucial part of the whole plan!” Fidel cursed inwardly. If he had known he would be taking over a dragon, he wouldn’t have sent it to Eastern Inasas!

Those few drops of blood were no small matter. An ordinary person's body would not be able to accept them if it were to accept them hastily. That's why he risked giving them to his little finger so that it could adapt in advance. As for the red dragon opposite him, since Fidel was not sure if it was a true ally, he cautiously only told it about its importance and did not let it absorb and contain it directly.

I should have just let it eat it!

Unfortunately, there aren't that many "if onlys" in the world. Even though Fidel was filled with regret, he didn't have the energy to solve this problem in the east at that moment.

The aftershocks of the collapse of the City of the Broken Jar were more intense than he had anticipated. Intense exchanges erupted between kingdoms and city-states, each attempting to rebuild order—an order centered on itself. Fidel and his dragonborn subordinates had to maintain the chaos without allowing it to spiral out of control or truly return to peace. Furthermore, they had to consider the turbulent Empire and the neighboring regions of Korathon and Central Inassassins. They simply didn't have the energy to focus on other plans.

"Where did you lose it? Perhaps it can still be found..."

“I tried, but failed,” the young dragon’s lips twitched human-like, but the dragon finger opposite the black mirror couldn’t see it. “A group of adventurers broke into my house. Although I sent people to look for it immediately after I found out it was missing, the people are now dead and the item is not back.”

So that's what "lost" meant. Fidel was exasperated by this inexplicable attempt to protect his pride, and what frustrated him even more was that despite his repeated emphasis on the statue's importance, the other side still only sent its subordinates to retrieve it—a young dragon's subordinate, how much stronger could it be even if it were forcibly killed!

"Thank you for telling me this," Long Zhi sighed after a long pause. "If that's the case, I'm afraid you'll have to prepare for the worst."

The red dragon cub was slightly taken aback: "You mean... not only did they steal my things, but they also planned to cut off my head?"

At least in terms of its own value, it is quite aware of it.

"The point isn't your head, but the message," the blurry figure in the black mirror snorted. "The age of dragons is too far removed from the present. The majesty of your people has been forgotten, but the fear has not dissipated. If it is exposed in advance, it will inevitably bring disaster. We cannot take that risk."

"Of course, considering your 'dignity' as a dragon, I have no objection if you insist on living and dying with your homeland. The only thing I need you to do is to completely destroy this mirror—for Tiamat's sake, this is the last thing I'm asking of you."

"But if—" The young dragon was still somewhat unwilling.

“If you manage to defeat the invaders, I can contact you in other ways,” Fidel interrupted, his tone becoming somewhat impolite. “I’m ending this communication now. Good luck, ha.”

The red dragon struggled internally. To be honest, it didn't want to give up anything it had already obtained, but the situation was better than that of the young dragon. If it didn't learn to be pragmatic, it wouldn't have survived to this day, and it probably wouldn't have survived to adulthood.

“Alright! I’ll leave immediately, this is just a temporary place for me anyway,” it made up its mind. “But where should I go next? Even without the treasure, I can’t fly too high or too far, and besides, I need to take my fire serpents with me.”

Neither fire serpents nor fire lizards possess the ability to fly, and even young dragons that can fly can only soar less than twenty meters high. While this is very effective at dodging ordinary attacks, it is not enough for long-distance migrations.

Moreover, according to the information it learned from Fidel, most of the region in this world called Inasas is at war, and the probability of it dying on the road is probably higher than the probability of it dying here.

Waiting to die, being in a dead nest is better than dying on a dead road.

“You don’t need to worry about that, I can arrange it,” Fidel thought for a moment and replied. “If you’re really determined to leave, take the mirror with you, and I’ll arrange for people to make sure you arrive safely—by the way, you said you have a group of fire serpents under your command, what’s their size, and how long will it take for them to reach adulthood?”

Fidel's offer of help was certainly not out of kindness. As elemental creatures, juvenile fire serpents are insignificant, but adult fire lizards are a formidable fighting force, enough to make up for the losses he suffered due to his miscalculation in Eastern Inas, and even several times over.

After all, even if the Ironforge could really muster a force, it's hard to say how effective a hastily assembled "regular army" would be, whereas a mature elemental biome is a different story.

“A little over a hundred, I suppose. How could I possibly count such things?” the young dragon said impatiently. “The older ones are probably still a month or so old, and the younger ones were just born not long ago. But I must say, this isn’t the best environment for them to grow, so it’s probably not going to be that fast for them to grow up.”

“Of course, don’t worry about that, I can provide the environment,” Fidel had already anticipated this, so he wasn’t surprised. “Now I’ll tell you how to contact the contact person, you can call him Little Finger…”

"Then, you can prepare to run away."

After noting down the contact information, the young dragon severed its connection with the dragon's finger. It looked around its treasure room with some reluctance. It had put in a lot of effort to dig out this place, but now it had to give it all up.

But this is just a space, and it can find more anywhere. The important thing is, how can it take away all the gold and silver treasures scattered on the ground, as well as this black mirror?

Its treasure mainly consists of various coins, mixed with a small amount of gems and works of art, as well as some worthless items such as stones and tree roots that are simply shaped or colored according to its liking. Perhaps as it grows older, it will gradually discard these things, but for now, the young dragon has no intention of giving up a single pebble.

It pondered for a moment, and suddenly, a flash of inspiration rushed into its brain—the wisdom passed down from generation to generation of dragons.

The red dragon opened its mouth and began to swallow everything around it—even the black mirror, which was wider than its mouth.

Chapter 474 Bella's New Form

"Oh no, we're too late."

When Raslaufer and his companions arrived at the red dragon's lair, all they found was devastation. For whatever reason, the young dragon was nowhere to be seen.

Whether its disappearance and that of its kin was a spur-of-the-moment decision or premeditated is impossible to determine. No signs of a violent battle were found in the surrounding area, only charred fire marks that may suggest that many elemental creatures once inhabited this place.

When the group entered the cave to search, apart from more traces of fire snakes crawling inside, almost nothing was left.

"It even emptied its treasure vault." The three adventurers hurriedly led everyone to the young dragon's treasure room, but it was now completely empty, and not even a trace of the fire outside could be seen. As for any traces left by the removal of the treasure, there was none at all.

In any case, at least it had considerable leeway when it left.

“It took about three to five days,” Ed, a hunter by training, examined the baby dragon’s claw marks on the ground. “That means it was gone not long after we set off.”

“That’s a bit too early,” Leslaufer frowned, turning to look at the dragon behind him. “Bella, ask this guy if it was a message it sent to its master?”

Judging from the tone of Bella's conversation with the dragon, her attitude was clearly not good, and the dragon's hunched-over posture, like a dog, also confirmed this.

“This guy shouldn’t be lying, it wasn’t it,” the druid’s question ended with a cold snort as he turned to his companions. “However, there is a possibility that although the dragon was young, it knew some way to mark its followers, and thus knew about the death of that Goliath, what was his name?”

"In the realm of resistance, I found some knowledge about dragons. For example, although dragons are exceptionally powerful after adulthood and mostly live alone in old age, young dragons and even juvenile dragons tend to choose to rely on families or form small groups of three to five. However, although territory can be shared, treasures and other valuables are often kept separate, so it is not surprising that they have the ability to mark their own possessions."

Although it is generally believed that dragons' treasures consist mainly of inanimate objects, slaves and the like are also considered part of their property.

“It seems quite alert,” Angelita said, casually drawing lines on the ground with the tip of her sword. “Uncle Leslaufer, should we pursue it?”

Although Angelita seemed enthusiastic, Leslaufer knew that the girl was only on a whim. If she continued to hunt prey like this, she would probably give up in a few days. It would be better to stop from the beginning.

“Forget it, it’s only a few days. Dragons can fly, and no matter how hard we chase them on the ground, it’s probably a waste of time,” Dubul paused, then changed the subject slightly. “However, there is one that can’t fly, which might be able to provide us with some clues.”

"That collector?" Ed secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The hunter was genuinely unsure about hunting down a dragon. After all, skilled hunters often disguise themselves as prey; what if that young dragon was actually a fully grown red dragon?

If we really fall into that trap, then trying to reconcile would be a joke.

In contrast, a wealthy collector who is old, weak, or disabled would obviously be a better source of clues.

Although he had already made up his mind, just to be on the safe side, Reslaufer still had several spellcasters in the team re-examine the nest, its interior and the surrounding area to make sure the young dragon wasn't trying to be clever by pretending to leave and actually hiding nearby waiting for them to give up.

Unfortunately, apart from an area that appeared to be where the young dragon had taken off, no other discoveries were made. It seemed that the young dragon had hidden itself and its kin very well, making it difficult for anyone to track it down, even if they really wanted to.

However, at least one thing is certain: the red dragon is unlikely to return anytime soon, which puts the villagers around Zebreh at ease.

Bella did not forget her promise after returning to the village. Only after setting up a ceremony around the bodies of the bandits to let them rest in peace did she set off again with the others to head to Ironforge.

"I only knew that something big had happened at Ironforge, but I never imagined it was you who did it!"

Upon realizing that everyone else in the group except himself needed to add "again" before "heading to Ironforge," the druid became extremely annoyed: "You didn't even call me for something this important!"

“Aren’t you a follower of Adas?” Daisy spread her hands. “We all thought that once you entered the Holy Land, you’d probably become a nun, detached from worldly affairs and free from all desires…”

“Nonsense again,” Bella snatched an Essen silver coin from Raslaufer’s hand, which he was casually playing with, and flicked it at Daisy’s knee. The poet jumped up from her carriage seat in pain. “Druids aren’t monks in a monastery. How can we turn a blind eye to something as obviously disruptive to the harmony of nature as a demon invasion?”

Although Edas's doctrine teaches believers to avoid conflict, they can at least deliver warnings and gather allies. And sisters like Bella, who are skilled in martial arts, are not afraid to defend peace with their own hands when facing evil.

“By the way, speaking of which, let me show you a trick I just learned!” The silver coin that had hit Daisy’s knee was skillfully manipulated, flipping several times in mid-air before returning to Bella’s hand. She stood up excitedly and jumped off the carriage. “Spells are boring. Watch closely, the other druids don’t know this!”

Before she finished speaking, her originally graceful neck and limbs became even longer and more slender. A verdant glow enveloped Bella as she ran alongside the car. In the hazy light, one could only hear the sound of branches and leaves sprouting and see a large number of feathers that seemed to have replaced her original long red hair, growing all over her body.

What astonished everyone, even Black Claw, was that on the druid's feet after the transformation, two curved claws like iron hooks were raised, a feature they were all too familiar with!

"Blackclaw, now you have company!" Daisy exclaimed excitedly, looking at the "Deinonychus" with red feathers scattered on its body. "Hey Bella! Can you do some stick fighting with your mouth like Blackclaw?"

The druid, whose appearance was almost identical to that of a Deinonychus but whose eyes still retained their emerald green hue, tilted her head slightly upwards, seemingly expressing her disdain. However, her movements did not falter at all. She held one end of the wooden stick placed on the carriage, and with a flourish of the stick, she suddenly accelerated, and the other end of the stick pointed directly at Raslaufer's shoulder!

Chapter 475 The Creditor Comes Knocking

Bella's attack was sudden, but Raslaufer's reaction was still extremely fast. In an instant, Doppler's shoulder tilted slightly to the side, and his raised palm was already against the other end of the stick.

This was extremely dangerous; an ordinary person could easily end up with broken bones and tendons. Bella, who had transformed into her wilderness form, was taken aback, but it was too late to stop herself.

With a muffled thud, Bella felt a sharp pain in her teeth. Between her jaws and Leslaufer's hand, the wooden stick had actually bent into a slight arc. Judging from Leslaufer's expression, it seemed to be nothing to him at all!

As Bella was the first to relent, the druid quickly reverted to her original form, covering her mouth with her hand, only a muffled voice escaping: "...Now I understand why Black Claw almost never uses this move! My teeth..."

"You seem to have gotten stronger again! By Adas, how did you do that?"

“Maybe it’s about keeping up with your workout,” Raslaw shrugged, dropping the stick from his hand. “Who knows? Or maybe you just can’t use your teeth properly.”

After a moment's thought, Bella chose to believe the latter explanation—after all, the pain in her mouth was so intense that she was almost starting to question her existence.

"What are you laughing at!" Bella turned her head and saw the black claw with its mouth turned up. She immediately slapped it after being humiliated. The Deinonychus nimbly dodged, but made a series of short and sharp sounds from its throat, which really did sound like a mocking laugh.

This guy seems to have gotten a little smarter...?

Bella quickly dismissed the thought and focused on chasing down the culprit who had caused her toothache.

When old friends reunite, time always flies. It seems as if Ironforge is only a short distance from Zebrech. This fortress, which has survived a demonic invasion, reappears before Raslaufer.

Dobler's eyes darted around, and he quickly spotted two elusive figures. Upon seeing them, he swiftly withdrew his head from under the city wall—those were likely the rats under Kalista's command. All those entering and leaving Ironforge were probably under their control.

“If we could make use of this resource, the lord of Ironforge could probably become the most powerful monarch in all of Inasas,” Angelita noticed the two rats and couldn’t help but sigh softly, “What a pity.”

“The gentlemen have always disdained associating with rats,” Doble chuckled. “Remember what I told you about? That noble officer, that kid even planned to turn the militia into an army like mercenaries, completely under the control of the nobles.”

“Then he died,” Angelita shook her head. “Actually, Uncle Leslaufer, I don’t think it was a mistake. At most, it just cost you your job. If it were me, I might have done the same.”

The previous emperors of the empire reformed spellcasters and the resources they controlled, but they rushed into monetary reforms, which have left them still mired in problems. However, if this issue is resolved, the transformation of conscripts and mercenary groups into a standing army will undoubtedly be inevitable.

Although the knights and their retinues were well-equipped and systematically trained, their numbers were ultimately insufficient; the loyalty of the mercenaries could not be trusted; and the conscripted peasants were of little use except to make up the numbers for the historians. Angelita witnessed and heard all of this on her way to Zebrech, and she was deeply moved by it all.

That officer actually had such ideas without even leaving his house... The only problem is that, precisely because of this, such a change that could cause countless people to lose their livelihoods should not, and could not, be implemented by him.

So when he died, Raslaufer wasn't even interested in knowing his name.

“If you were to implement the reforms, I would like to try to find a job under Her Highness the Princess,” Raslaw chuckled and said casually, “but it won’t work if I don’t get paid, and it won’t work if I’m not on the front lines.”

"Ha, how about I pay you eight times your salary to be an instructor?" "No way, I won't." "Does it have to be the battlefield? How old are you this year!"

“I don’t know,” Raslaufer said, his smile fading as he tapped the greatsword beside him with his knuckles. “Anyway, he’s at an age where he can still wield one of these.”

Angelita was visibly unhappy, but she also understood that this was Raslaufer's own will; he had to make a living from it, just as fish cannot live without water and people cannot live without air.

In Heinrich's laboratory, that devil named Zhengling had already made it very clear.

She shook her head, trying to shake off these discouraging thoughts, and turned to the three adventurers beside her, including Ironjaw: "Where does that collector you mentioned live? Now it's your turn to lead the way."

“That’s easy,” Siti nodded quickly. “I know the way. There’s a really beautiful garden there, with lots of laughing flowers planted along the wall. Now that it’s spring, you can smell the fragrance from several streets away.”

Siti was right. Shortly after the carriage passed through a third-level alley that they hadn't entered before, and turned two corners, the cloyingly sweet aroma rushed straight into their lungs, making them almost dizzy and disoriented, not even knowing when to let out a sneeze. The adventurers didn't even need any directions anymore; they could easily find the two-story building with the garden.

However, the situation here seems to be a little... different from what I expected?