Riyuro laughed loudly.
“What an interesting fellow you are!..The men I granted you were lost for nothing, so there must be a punishment for that. But I will not inflict wounds upon you, which might affect your future development. In truth, you learned about the Golems and returned here after realizing that it was important information. In addition, your anticipation of enemy pursuit and the allocation of part of your troops to the defense of the city shows your keenness of thought.”
“Thank you very much!”
Yozu bowed deeply.
“Now, I have a question for an excellent leader like you. How shall we gather more information about those Golems?”
“By attacking the shorties’ nation.”
“That is one way to go about it. If you do so, we might be able to learn if there are truly Golems in reserve.”
“Yes! If there aren’t any more, then we must conquer the city as soon as possible no matter the losses we suffer.”
“Umu”, Riyuro nodded.
If it was a matter of lives, then much time would be needed to bear and raise them. However, Golems only needed to be built. Time was not on their side, but on the enemy’s.
“What other methods are there?”
“Forgive me, but I cannot think of any at the moment.”
Riyuro thrust his hand into the lizard-filled cage and withdrew another lizard.
“…Would you like one?”
Do I look that hungry?
It was true that he had fled back here with all his strength, and he had not even eaten or rested properly so far. However, he was not thirsty or hungry enough to beg from the king’s table.
“No, thank you.”
“Really now,” Riyuro replied. Then, he chewed off the lizard’s head like he had the previous one. After devouring it like before, Yozu asked Riyuro a question.
“Then, my Lord. Have you thought of any other methods?”
“Ah, yes. We can ask that fellow. His wisdom is far beyond mine… Although, the troubling thing is that the payment he demands will be equally high.”
“By payment you mean… could it be!”
Yozu immediately guessed it from those words.
“Correct. We must give the Dragons—”
Just as Riyuro was about to speak, there was a disturbance from outside, and then the doors swung open with a great crash.
“Clan Lord!”
It was one of the guards.
“Looks urgent, what happened?”
“Yes! There seems to be someone headed toward this city!”
“Where are they coming from?”
According to the guard, they had come from the flank where Yozu had positioned his troops. In other words, they had come from the Dwarven nation.
“So they’ve sent out pursuit troops… I underestimated the stunties.”
With that, Riyuro rose to his feet.
Yozu’s eyes seemed to ask him where he was going. Riyuro sensed this, and replied:
“It seems we’ve been saved a lot of decision-making. I will go meet the Dragons now.”
“Are you going to ask about the Golems?”
“No. I’m going to convince them to deal with the approaching stunties. Since they’re stunties, they’ll have their Golems in tow. Then, we should have them fight the Dragons and weaken both sides…Hmph. Might as well let them earn their keep.”
The Clan Lord was deeply furious about how the Dragons had taken the best spot in the city — the Royal Palace — for their own. This was something which only his most trusted confidants knew, in addition to how the Clan Lord had cleverly hidden those feelings and bowed to the Dragons.
There was an overwhelming difference between the power of Dragons and the Quagoa.
Therefore, they had to feign an air of servitude until they could pare down the Dragons’ strength. However, there were very few beings who could fight on even terms with the Dragons in the mountain range. With one notable exception aside, those would probably be the Frost Giants.
And now the chance had come, Riyuro said.
“Yozu, it’s not too likely, but just in case, begin moving toward the ruins district. I don’t want you to get involved in the battles of Dragons.”
One district of the Dwarven Royal Capital had been completely destroyed before the Quagoa had taken it over. The Quagoa had not rebuilt this area, in order to use it as a staging ground to gather a vast army. It would seem that it would finally be put to use.
“Understood.”
“Then… can you help me prepare some offerings for the meeting with the Dragons? They like jewels, so prepare some of them. I trust you also know that they’re very greedy and won’t agree to the initial payment right away. They’ll surely raise their price. With that in mind, prepare some lower-valued items as well.”
After nodding to Riyuro to show he understood, Yozu immediately began the preparations.
The mightiest species in this world were the Dragons. There were races which could adapt to the harsh lands where humanity could not reach. The Azellisia Mountain Range was no exception, and the Dragons ruled the roost here.
These Dragons were known as Frost Dragons.
Usually, Dragons had slender bodies. Those did not resemble the crawling forms of lizards so much as they did those of cats. Among them, Frost Dragons were even slimmer, like snakes.
Their scales were bluish-white, but as they grew older, they turned the white of snowfall. Having adapted to their environment, they possessed cold immunity, but in contrast, they were vulnerable to fire.
In addition, there was the trump card of the Draconic races. They possessed the fearsome power of freezing Dragon’s breath.
The Lord of these Frost Dragons, Olasird’arc=Haylilyal, coiled around his throne, looking down on the Quagoa who craved an audience with him.
“So, you have come. What is the matter?”
“Yes, I am deeply honored to be granted an audience with the mighty White Dragon Lord, Olasird’arc=Haylilyal—”
“—Dispense with the formalities. Get to the point.”
That said, Olasird’arc’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Being a Dragon Lord had a special significance among Dragons. It was a title only given to those who had reached the highest age category (Ancient) among the Dragons, or powerful Dragons who possessed special powers, or those Dragons who could use exotic magic. These outstanding Dragons were awarded the title of Lord.
Being addressed by such a glorious title was quite pleasing.
“Yes! Firstly, I wish to thank you for granting an audience.”
The Quagoa waiting behind the Quagoa Lord produced a beat-up old sack.
They opened it, and as expected, the glitter of gold spilled forth.
It was not enough to satisfy him, but that amount should have been all the Quagoa could manage, so he had to bear with it.
“Alright then, what do you want.”
“Yes! In truth, there are some uninvited guests with designs upon our homes, so I was wondering if we could call upon your matchless might, White Dragon Lord-sama.”
“Hm…”
To Olasird’arc, Quagoa were an inferior species. They were beings who should revere the mighty Dragons, and they were comparable to his possessions. It was somewhat aggravating to allow them to be killed at will. However, it was equally infuriating for him to have to take action on the behalf of such inferior lifeforms.
Olasird’arc’s gaze fell upon his glittering throne — a small mountain of gold and precious stones.
One habit which united all Dragons was the love of precious metals, jewels, magic items and related wealth. Olasird’arc was no exception in this regard.
However, while he might be able to dig tunnels and excavate precious metals or raw gemstones, he could not process them. In addition, the mighty should not be doing such things. That was what slaves were for.
Thus, it did not matter if he roused himself to labor on the behalf of his slaves. His heart surged with such generous feelings.