r18novel Page 47
Page 47
Kenneth slipped three times and launched four attacks, but still failed to touch the bronze dragon. Instead, he seemed to be fleeing in a sorry state. He then breathed a bio-field of energy into the hall passageway, including the balcony, briefly blocking the passageway for the Casaloz dragon servants to provide support.
Two wind elementals and one earth elemental were summoned, surrounding Casalos from three directions, before being easily shattered by the sweeping of dragon wings and the tearing of dragon claws.
In that brief moment of distraction, the lute's notes transformed into melodious harmonies, intertwining with the bronze dragon's faint murmur.
Kenneth opened his raptor-like beak, and a dazzling bolt of lightning illuminated the area, instantly piercing through the short distance of about ten meters and striking Casalos.
As the light faded, arcs of electricity the thickness of a bowl crackled and danced on Casaroz's body, his breath reeking of ozone. Having taken the full force of this breath, Casaroz wasn't seriously injured, but a strange effect swept through his body, rendering him temporarily immobile.
"What kind of monster are you?"
The bronze dragon showed no intention of pressing its advantage. Constantly using its suspended lute for magical probing, it could clearly perceive Casalos's true state—the melodious harmonies used to maintain focus while playing the lute, temporarily enhanced by a ring-up spell that amplified its dragon breath, had only caused minor damage to the young red dragon. The intimidation effect of the fifth-circle spell wouldn't last more than a few seconds, while the previously cast breath suppression spell was still active, but unfortunately, it wouldn't last much longer either.
Magic could give it a brief advantage in the battle, but it couldn't achieve any decisive results. This young dragon was too strong, and its resistances in all aspects were ridiculously high. It was simply not a match for it at the moment.
While keeping Casalos unable to move, Kenneth regained his focus and began playing melodious harmonies, greatly enhancing his arcane spellcasting ability as a bronze dragon. He cast several restrictive spells in succession, then turned and crouched low as he darted into the passage where the three women were, as agile and swift as a large cat.
Casalos shook his head and cursed under his breath, no longer hiding his true identity. He shed his red dragon skin, revealing his steel scales that shimmered like water and were mysteriously carved.
"boom!"
Just as Kenneth was about to emerge from the hall, he crashed headfirst into an invisible barrier, screaming as he slid to the ground, quickly rolled over, and retreated back into the hall, his neck hunched and his right wing, with its three toes pointing upwards, covering his nose.
"Red dragon cub, what do you think you're doing..." The bronze dragon cursed, then looked back at Casaloz. Suddenly, it froze, stammering, "Iron... Iron dragon? The Iron Dragon of the Carved Skin Dragon?"
"Hehe, you had a good time casting spells, didn't you? Now it's my turn!"
Casalos, with its high resistance and immense strength, forcefully broke free from the restraining spells, flapping its wings to aid its leap, and pounced back towards Kenneth, who seemed to have become somewhat dazed. As it crashed into the force field wall, the dragon vein sorcerers, who had blocked the passage with its bio-force field breath, cast a full set of suppression and magical contact spells on it, washing away the numerous status spells it had cast on itself.
Without the blessing of magic, and having regained its inherent "agility" and mobility, it could no longer dodge Casaloz's attack. It could only watch helplessly as the iron dragon, smaller but much stronger than itself, crashed into its arms, using all four limbs, wings, and tail to grab it and forcefully twist and throw it to the ground.
Then, headbutts, wing strikes, and slaps rained down on its head, the deafening clangs and sparks filling its ears. In a dizzying frenzy, the bronze dragon Kenneth's vision went black, and he lost consciousness...
He's just unconscious.
Casalos had no intention of killing the bronze dragon; otherwise, it wouldn't have been just a headbutt, a wing swipe, and a slap. With its innate magical weapons, enhanced by immense strength, a single strike would have been enough to crack open the skull of an adult bronze dragon. But doing so was entirely against Casalos's interests.
Kenneth was a valuable asset as a bard, but he turned out to be a bronze dragon... isn't that better?
The author says:
Author's note: I feel many people lose their sense of scale when it comes to larger sizes. Casalos is currently 12 meters long; it's actually quite a large lump.
41. Allies
Kenneth slowly woke up, opened his eyes, and looked blankly at the rock dome scorched by the dragon's breath, muttering, "Ugh, my head hurts. Did I drink too much last night?"
“I’ve never heard of a dragon getting blackout drunk,” Casalos, sitting to the side, clicked his iron beak and scoffed.
"Uh, a dragon?!"
The creature's head was still a little dazed from the repeated blows, and it couldn't immediately remember what had happened or where it was. Hearing Casalos's words, it mumbled something in a daze before suddenly realizing something, rolling over and craning its long neck to look at itself: "Damn it, how did I end up in a dragon... hiss..."
It finally remembered what had happened: "You... didn't kill me?"
"I'm not a red dragon, why would I kill you? If you knew that the one occupying the snow mountain is an iron dragon, would you have attacked?"
Dragons are not all the same; different dragons have different behavioral patterns, and this difference in nature is even more pronounced than that between other species.
“Indeed…” The bronze dragon lay back down on the ground, dejected, and said weakly with its head tilted to the side, “Then I admit that it was my fault for slandering you and having it heard by you, and for invading your territory.”
"You've already given me a good beating, you should have vented your anger by now, what do you want me to do with you?"
“It’s simple, I need allies, and the Bronze Dragons are a good choice.” Casalos wasn’t going to treat Kenneth the same way he treated the Chromatic Dragons.
Due to historical reasons, the Iron Dragons do not have a very good impression of metal dragons—specifically, the precious metal dragons, namely the gold dragons, silver dragons, and three types of bronze dragons widely known to the Faerûn. Over the long course of time, this dislike has gradually turned into the Iron Dragons' arrogance and prejudice, regarding these benevolent dragons as having only nominally possessing the name of metal.
However, Casalos, with his semi-God-like perspective, knew very well that this was not the case. The Iron Dragons' prejudice against the Metal Dragons originated from ancient resentment: when Tiamat, a colorless dragon who had not yet ascended to godhood, organized a group of ancient red dragons to besiege the supreme dragon Garugsingo, Tiamat's mortal enemy, Bahamut, who had also not yet ascended to godhood, led his followers, the Metal Dragons, to choose to stand by and watch.
Casalos knew that it made no sense to carry this hatred onto the metal dragons now, since they were now also Bahamut's discarded pawns.
Conversely, metallic dragons, especially the three subspecies of gold, silver, and bronze, are committed to their promises and adhere to principles; they are subferrous.
Chapter 125
The dragons fight against the chromatic dragons, and are the perfect allies to resist the predetermined "fate" of the Faerûn dragons by the two "Dragon Gods".
Unfortunately, the gold and silver dragons are not easy for the Iron Dragons to get along with. After the end of the Dragon Age, the gold and silver dragons gradually intermingled with humanoid races, forming an inseparable bond. This caused their definition of order and goodness to shift to a philosophy contrary to the development of the true dragon race. The Iron Dragons' efforts to restore the glory of the dragons were seen by them as somewhat evil acts intended to disrupt the existing civilized order of the continent.
While good and evil are primarily judged through actions in individual interactions, and the gold and silver dragons do not necessarily consider iron dragons evil, Casalos's consideration of metal dragon allies is certainly not in the individual sense. When it comes to racial issues, whether gold and silver dragons can still be considered allies becomes debatable.
Compared to the gold and silver dragons, the bronze dragons have a much purer definition of good and evil. More importantly, these inherently socially awkward creatures are essentially a group of warmongers. Although their innate sense of order and goodness restrains them from waging war indiscriminately, disguising themselves as humanoid mercenaries or adventurers, or even personally engaging in wars related to fighting evil and the cause of justice, does not violate their philosophy of order and goodness.
As a result, the Bronze Dragons have developed a new species philosophy in recent millennia: they are the best mercenaries that any good faction on the continent of Faerûn can hire when waging war against the evil faction. When you begin your campaign against evil, even if you have not hired Bronze Dragons, they will disguise themselves as various volunteers and righteous men to join your ranks.
Casalos doesn't need a bronze dragon "slave," but he desperately needs a bronze dragon ally.
As for the previous battle, the Bronze Dragons will definitely hold a grudge, but their dragon philosophy will lead them to seek revenge in direct combat rather than resorting to underhanded tactics to cause trouble for Casalos.
"..."
Casalos revealed his identity, and Kenneth understood his thoughts: "If I weren't a Bronze Dragon, my fate might be different, right?"
“I actually needed a bard servant who was good at ‘journalism,’ which is why I led you up the mountain, but I didn’t expect…”
“Alright, I didn’t expect that either.” The bronze dragon got up from the ground, sat down opposite Casalos, and adopted a negotiating stance: “Since you have no intention of killing me or enslaving me, let’s have a proper talk… Before that, let me introduce myself. My name is Kenneth Zmno, an adult male bronze dragon, a bard. Those who know my true identity call me ‘The Tidecaller,’ the Tidecaller of Deepflow Lake.”
"My name is Casaloz..."
"So it was you, Casalos."
"Hmm, you know me?" Casalos slightly closed his outer eyelids. It seemed that his name was quite famous among the true dragon race. Hevilan had recognized him directly before, and now he even knew a bronze dragon from the Vihon Sea that he had just encountered.
It was just a young dragon; what merit did it possess to make dragons so well-known?
"Ha, of course I know you. From Sword Bay to Fallen Star Sea, which metallic dragon doesn't know your name? The survivors of your sub-iron dragon deaths are frantically searching for your whereabouts. They'll drag any dragon they can find and ask them."
Casaloz narrowed its eyelids even more. Fionamiron was looking for it because of the unique "kinship" of the Atheros. Why would other Atheros want it?
It was separated from the dragons that had been taken away by the Ancient Dragon Lord in the Sacred Land of Athelon. Even if you want to find it, shouldn't you go back to the vicinity of the Sacred Land to search for it? Why is it being so loudly proclaimed in the central and western parts of Faerûn, as if it's afraid that other dragons won't know?
“Alright, you seem confused. Although I don’t know why either, based on my considerable strategic experience, their actions are probably to release disruptive messages, interfering with some kind of prophecy or search for you. They don’t want to find you, much less show your face; they just want you to hide. And you’ve done that very well.” The bronze dragon tilted its head and flapped its wings, somewhat answering Casalos’s questions, and continued, “Forget those unimportant things. Since you want me to be your ally, what exactly do you need me to do, and what will you offer as payment for hiring me?”
I think these are the issues that deserve the most discussion right now.
42. The Dragon's Negotiation
"I thought you would have shown concern for your three female companions first."
“Since you’re not the infamous red dragon and are willing to form an alliance with me, you’ll definitely treat them well, won’t you?” Kenneth spread his wings slightly and said with some helplessness, “They don’t know my true identity. It would be better if I approached them in my halfling form after we’ve reached an agreement.”
“Alright, that makes sense.” Casalos clicked his iron beak, then got to the point: “Let me first talk about the compensation I can offer…”
Dragons have their own way of negotiating.
Casalos lured Kenneth into his lair without realizing he was also a dragon, a common practice among iron dragons when dealing with humanoids. However, once he discovered Kenneth was a bronze dragon, his negotiation strategy changed.
But no matter what kind of dragon it is, even a bronze dragon or a metal dragon that can be considered a moral exemplar, the negotiation always revolves around words like treasures and valuables.
Becoming an ally of a bronze dragon by defeating it is virtually impossible. If you are engaged in what they consider evil, they would rather die than serve you.
Besides having a reasonable and legitimate reason that aligns with the Bronze Dragonflight's ideals of justice, offering sufficiently valuable treasure as a reward is also essential—unless the Bronze Dragonflight voluntarily helps you without revealing its identity.
Every dragon will rack its brains in every action to expand its treasure trove, while ensuring that not a single penny of the treasure trove will be lost. Therefore, peaceful transactions between dragons will always turn into a bargaining scene like that of aunties at the market.
Kenneth prepared himself physically and mentally for a protracted price war with Casalos. He set a target price: although the Iron Dragon had taken over the grasslands, it had only recently replaced the Red Dragon and probably hadn't yet opened the Red Dragon's treasure vault. It also wouldn't be as aggressive in plundering its territory as the Red Dragon, and likely hadn't accumulated much treasure yet. Charging 200 Belbors (the highest-value currency in the Vihon Sea, with the current exchange rate of 1 Belbor ≈ 20 gold "Dragon Beasts") for a single quest shouldn't be unreasonable, right?
Hmm, the young dragon probably won't have anything of value to offer right now, and lacking negotiation experience, it'll likely offer a very low price. How can I raise the price...?
“I can provide you with 200kg each of rubies and sapphires as initial capital,” Casalos said.
"Ha, I don't really like gems, and I only have 200..."
Kenneth, following his pre-planned strategy, attempted to gain the upper hand with a contemptuous tone. He tilted his head, squinted, and raised his chin, wrapping his tail around his body. But when repeating the number, he finally realized something was wrong. He slowly lowered his head, widened his eyes, opened his mouth, and revealed the two crests above and below his ear canals. He stared straight at Casalos and asked again, "Wait, how many did you say?"
"200kg each."
Zila Zila...
The bronze dragon's emerald green eyes glowed red, and it spewed out large gulps of foul air from the nostrils of its parrot-like beak. Its sharp claws dug into the rocks, and its tail stood high, swaying from side to side. Arcs of electricity danced between its scales, and the air was filled with the stench of ionization.
It said dryly, "Do you know what you're saying?"
"You heard me right, and I didn't misspoke. It's 200kg each, and that's just the initial funding."
To be honest, when I first saw the large gems grown in the electric arc furnace, it wasn't much better than Kenneth. But with these gems...
Chapter 126
When tons of these materials are piled up and cut up for use in different industrial sectors, they gradually become ineffective.
What are rubies and sapphires? Aren't they just bauxite, which can be found everywhere, plus a tiny bit of chromium or iron? Since iron-chromium ore has been discovered in the Green Dragon Territory, there's plenty of it in any dragon territory with an electric arc furnace. What's so special about that?
Once we develop high-temperature, high-pressure furnaces and vapor deposition chambers, there won't be any gemstones that Dragon Territory can't cultivate, as long as there's raw ore.
The bronze dragon's chest was pressed against the ground, its neck stretched straight forward, its head almost touching Casalos's face: "You opened Julius's vault?"
Casalos tilted his head without answering, watching with great interest the bronze dragon that was about to burst with excitement and elation. He decided to give it another push: "If you do a good job, you'll get plenty of other gems in the future too."
"I did it!"
Kenneth yanked his dragon head back, slammed his tail to the ground, and his claws, embedded in the rock, dug aimlessly into the dirt, raising dust throughout the hall.
"Aren't you going to ask me what I'm planning to do? What if I'm going to be involved in some evil 'business'?"
"Pah! What evil things could a mere iron dragon that hasn't shifted allegiance do? Although I don't know exactly what the chromatic dragons have done to you, your few remaining sub-iron dragons are now preparing to launch a full-scale war against the chromatic dragons. That's all you want to do. I'm not one of those saintly silver dragons. We bronze dragons will definitely participate actively in the fight against the chromatic dragons."
"But I haven't seen you guys actively participate in the war against the Color Dragons. In the future Dragonfall War, which will be restarted, the Gold Dragons and Silver Dragons will still be leading the charge." Casalos thought to himself, but it was just a thought.
History has buried too many truths.
Since Bahamut's imprisonment and Tiamat's oblivion in ancient times, the hostile relationship between metallic dragons and chromatic dragons has essentially ceased to exist. These two sub-races coexisted peacefully for millennia, creating the Age of Dragons alongside the Gem Dragons. Back then, there was no concept of an evil alignment; the chromatic dragons' fall into evil was an event that occurred after the dragon civilization's failed struggle against dragon madness.
Now, under the guise of the Enser pantheon, Bahamut and Tiamat of Faerûn have rekindled their faith and attempted to spread their beliefs among the true dragons in order to recall their cannon fodder from the Dragonfall War, but so far few dragons have paid them any attention.
The conflict between metallic dragons and chromatic dragons is more of a clash of territories, philosophical ideas, and interests, and has not yet escalated to the level of war.
It would be problematic if they actively participated in the war against the chromatic dragons. It would be perfectly normal for someone like Kenneth, disguised as a humanoid, to lead a group of adventurers to pick on an easy target. The evil dragons coveted all the treasures, and the righteous dragons would naturally want to punish them and, incidentally, bring the treasures they plundered through their evil deeds under their own control for safekeeping.
“What you say is true. What I want you to do is nothing more than deal with the chromatic dragon.” Casalos clicked his iron beak again, tilting his head as he began to explain his commission to Kenneth: “However, I don’t need you to fight a chromatic dragon to the death. What I value more is your bard’s abilities and the dragon vein relationships you’ve cultivated on the continent of Faerûn…”
43. Rumors
A new benevolent organization was quietly established: a small group consisting of a halfling bard, a human ranger, a half-elf priest, and a Tiflin druid. Its predecessor was said to be an adventure team. Regardless of good or evil, a dozen or twenty such small organizations appear on the continent every day, and about the same number disappear every day. Some are destroyed, most collapse due to poor management, and very few survive and grow.
Aside from themselves, nobody really cares about them.
However, this organization seems a little different, because they killed an adult red dragon that was entrenched on the Chultan Peninsula!
The distant Churt Peninsula, the mysterious Churt Peninsula, the primitive and backward Churt Peninsula. No one knows if it really happened, but they brought back the head of that unfortunate red dragon and swaggered into the glorious city, so everyone had to believe it.
The key point is that they are really rich. They spent a lot of money, even more than many chambers of commerce could afford, to hire the most famous bards on the mainland to spread their achievements everywhere.
Perhaps they really did get their hands on the Red Dragon's treasure vault, who knows?
Regardless, this small organization has generated the hottest news headlines on the mainland right now, even overshadowing the civil war in Tesser and the Lich King's conquest of Damara. As for the rumor that the Lich King's conquest was actually Samaster, the founder of the Cult of Dragons a century ago, almost no one cares.
Faerûn is never short of chaos; the real news would be if there were no wars or evil forces stirring up trouble. What's the point of caring about wars in the remote south and far north? You'd be better off spending your time in a tavern listening to the barefoot bards tell fabricated stories, gossiping about Lord Kelben Blackstalker of the Glorious City or Lady Elasdra of Silvermoon City. At least the latter could add a splash of color to your dull, hopeless days.
Besides these trending news items, rumors related to dragons also spread almost simultaneously throughout Faerûn. One rumor claimed that the god-slayers, dormant for centuries, had secretly summoned an idol called the "Dark Lady" in the Enther region. However, this Dark Lady was not the true goddess Enther, but rather the incarnation of Tiamat, the former dragon goddess tens of thousands of years ago. The rumor also stated that the return of the Mother of Dragons signified the renewed war between the two true dragon races, metal dragons and chromatic dragons. It further claimed that her chosen ones, the commander of the mortal armies, the ancient red dragon Chassar, had already returned to Faerûn to prepare for the grand war.
The destructive power of dragon warfare is another matter entirely, especially holy wars involving gods. If the rumors are true, humans, elves, dwarves, and other races will undoubtedly suffer severe impacts from dragon wars, and all factions should make plans as soon as possible.
Another rumor involves Samaster, whom nobody seems to care about, but the target isn't Samaster himself. It sounds more like a question about Samaster's old rivals, namely the chosen ones of the goddess of magic and the harpists, about why they are ignoring Samaster's reappearance.
Most of the recent hot news is the work of Kenneth, orchestrated by Casalos, and represents the initial agreement between Casalos and the Bronze Dragonflight. Casalos instructed Kenneth to spread rumors throughout Faerûn about the Cult of Dragons and the Five-Colored Dragon Queen in exchange for financial support.
Such rumors may not have much effect at first, but if they are persisted in, the information will leave an impression on various forces. As they are confirmed as events unfold, the rumors will become "prophecies".
Only then will Casalos's other messages receive more attention. Its purpose isn't to warn the mainstream humanoid population of Faerûn about anything; it's merely an attempt to alter some predetermined future events.
Regardless of what the Dragon Queen's conspiracy was ultimately aimed at the dragons, Samaster played a crucial role. However, Samaster shouldn't have been the dragon's problem; he was a chosen one of the Goddess of Magic, and the root cause of his downfall was the Goddess of Magic's promiscuity. Ultimately, it was Bane, the Goddess of Magic's enemy and god of tyranny, who lured him down the path of corruption.
In the Year of the Plague Star (DR875), Elasdra, along with Elminster and Larriel, defeated Samaster. The mage god Arzuth personally retrieved Samaster's Silver Flame, but they did not kill this madman with a talent in the arcane realm that amazed even the goddess of magic. This gave Tiamat the opportunity to secretly approach him and guide him to establish the Dragon Cult, which brought disaster to the entire continent.
Chapter 127
Both logically and emotionally, he should be the problem that the chosen ones of the Goddess of Magic should solve.
In the Ceylonian Year of DR916, after the scourge of the Dragon Cult swept across the continent, the chosen ones of these goddesses seemed to realize their mistakes and spurred the harpists and priests of the Dawn God to organize an ambush against Samaster. With the sacrifice of hundreds of devout priests, they summoned the incarnation of the Dawn God and crushed Samaster.
Even the God of Dawn couldn't completely kill Samass, or perhaps it was all part of Samass's plan—having lost the Goddess's gift of Silverfire, Samass had lost his immortal body. He merely faked his death to transform into a lich with an immortal lifespan, breaking free from Bane's control in order to secretly take control of everything.