The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases

Seeing Rosinde bewilderedly taking the Drow Mage away in a rush, Lizrite and Mofei exchanged puzzled looks.

Isn't it just sleeping? Why does the Mage look like he's fleeing for his life?

"Leave this place at once! Retreat two kilometers, fast!"

Although Nifadora was also unsure about the specifics, she chose to follow David's command and her intuition. That intuition toward some latent danger made her scales bristle.

Almost as soon as they had grabbed the recently snatched White Dragons and started flying out, a rumbling snore like distant thunder erupted from the Dragon Nest.

"RUMBLE~"

All the dragons and their kin, including Nifadora, felt as if a chord in their heads trembled along. And then... they just collapsed.

Everything before their eyes went dark. Just do whatever you're supposed to do, why bother running?

[Authority—Sloth]

"Don't sleep! Keep flying! Retreat three kilometers!"

In a daze, all they heard was Nifadora's urgent urging, and a vague stinging sensation on their rear ends as if being lightly whipped.

Although they clearly felt the pain, like overworked donkeys, they became too lazy to move even under the lashes.

All they wanted was to find a place to lie down and rest. At worst, they could starve; death would allow them to sleep eternally along the Styx River.

Luckily, they had flown high initially. It wasn't until they had glided two to three kilometers away with the White Hatchling Dragons, who were sleeping like logs due to inertia, that they could no longer hear the snoring. Only then did the feeling of drowsiness begin to fade from the dragons and their kin.

When they instinctively looked back, they saw livestock sprawled all over the pen at the edge of the camp. Even the wild geese flying overhead were too lazy to flap their wings, plummeting straight to the ground.

Even the evening breeze blowing through the Dragon Nest camp and over the tree branches seemed to become gentle and languid, until all was silent.

Witnessing this eerie scene, several dragons' scales bristled with fear.

If everything before their eyes was indeed connected to their Dragon Lord David Uthos's sleep, and if they had fallen asleep earlier along with him... the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"What on earth is happening?" Lizrite murmured in terror.

A Curse of the Gods would probably not be much different.

"I don't know, but if we listen to the Dragon Lord, maintaining distance should keep us out of trouble until he wakes up. Let's not go back to the camp. Instead, let's find a place to set up a temporary base," Nifadora said, her gaze just as serious as she looked toward the quiet camp.

But her heart was torn between excitement and worry.

The Dragon Lord she followed was far more powerful than she had imagined! With her hitched to his success, how could her future not be bright?

Initially, she had been somewhat concerned about how many years it would take for the Red Dragon to mature. But now, it seemed she should worry whether her Dragon Lord was growing up a bit too fast.

Especially given David's temper and knack for stirring up trouble.

In his youth, he dared to provoke her, then a Young Dragon.

Last time on the New Continent, he even managed to provoke two gods...

If he continues to grow at this rate...

Nifadora finally understood why the Drow Mage had fled so swiftly.

This meant it wasn't the first time.

She had experienced this before.

This kind of... terror, where all things came to a halt.

David Uthos, and the secrets carried by the Crimson Calamity from which he derived his bloodline, seemed far more terrifying than she had previously imagined.

For a moment, Nifadora didn't know whether this was a blessing or a curse.

Just as the Green Dragon, renowned for her wisdom, was momentarily bewildered, the beacons off the coast were suddenly lit by the Jackalope People.

Thus, the two trails of beacon fires, spreading along the mountain range, appeared like the traces of a Red Dragon's breath.

Gazing toward the coastline while flying mid-air, Nifadora's previously fear-bristled scales finally settled. She regained her usual calm and pleasure, saying to the other dragons, "Those Barbarians have returned as well. I wonder how their plunder went."

"Let's go, it's time to collect the tribute!"

「Meanwhile」

In a dark and cold ice cave on the edge of the Crimson Calamity's territory, bathed in shadow, the White Dragon Nurnisha Zulgifili returned to her Dragon Nest. She had departed for the Old Continent two days ahead of David, and now her body was weary and heavily wounded.

According to her original plan, she had meant to claim her share of the loot from those damned Barbarians on her way back.

But after being struck by David's comet-like blow, the injury in Nurnisha's chest was more severe than she had anticipated. The stone was even stuck between her broken ribs. If it had shifted a few centimeters closer to her heart, it was questionable whether she could have made it back at all.

With such an injury, she dared not demand payment from the Barbarians, who had also suffered considerable losses. If they took advantage of the 'weakness' in her chest to double-cross her, she really couldn't bear it.

The New Continent really is a breeding ground for dragons of caliber. Next time...

In a moment of carelessness, a small, young silver dragon had nearly cost her life.

She had thought she would never venture to the New Continent again.

But the mere thought of the treasure those Barbarians looted from the Temple—likely worth half a lifetime of her own hoard—rekindled her avaricious heart.

Next time, I must demand a bigger share!

As Nurnisha thought this, she returned to her empty Dragon Nest and retched several times.

"BLECH~" She vomited out most of the sea fish she had consumed on her journey.

Having been away from the nest for half a month, her hatchlings were probably hungry. They were always eating dirt and not growing any taller.

She had been counting on raising this brood to their juvenile phase, after which she, Nurnisha, could retire and live off her children's support.

"Nathaniel! Call your brothers out."

"Come out and eat, my children."

But after Nurnisha called out several times with no response, her heart sank.

Upon sniffing more closely, her pupils slowly contracted into dangerous slits. She growled angrily and hollered, "It's you damned thieves again!

"First you stole my Dragon Egg, and now you're starting to steal Hatchlings too!?

"This is an outrage against dragons!

"ROAR!!!"

Nurnisha roared toward the sky and charged straight for David's coastal Dragon Nest encampment, following the lingering Drow scent.

But as she flew, her anger dissipated.

After all, it was just one clutch of hatchlings. She could always regenerate another clutch.

So, on her way back to the nest, Nurnisha randomly grabbed a passing young White Dragon to vent her lingering anger. Then, she returned to her still-empty nest and fell asleep.

「Three months later」

Nurnisha belatedly woke from her deep slumber.

Feeling the strange life force in her belly, the mother White Dragon was shocked.

How am I pregnant again?

Forget it. I'll try raising another clutch.

This time, I must be more vigilant.

(End of Volume Two. Volume Three: The Dragon Mercenaries)