Chapter 399: Immigration

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The air, which was infused with fragrant plant aromas, made one feel spirited. However, this was shadowed by beasts howling not far away, which made people instinctively uncomfortable. The dirt here was tan and blood-red, a rather scary mix of colors. Nevertheless, the druids with us announced that this soil was abnormally fertile, to the point where an abundant harvest could be received simply by planting some seeds and not doing any other work.

In just a few days, this place had completely changed.

Thanks to the wood spirits’ assistance, it was simple to construct a campground in this type of terrain. In less than twenty-four hours, a wall of thorns marked our living area and blocked us off from the wild beasts. Simple treehouses would at least protect us from inclement weather.

The Borealis’s searchlights continuously illuminated our campground from the sky, while the Mizar was resting and replenishing itself and the Alkaid and its guard ships were undertaking the task of exploration. Meanwhile, engineers were constructing defensive fortifications as countless goblin cannons and iron tanks alighted from the airships.

The most attention-attracting structure was the huge tower being constructed in the middle of the campground.

This tower’s foundation was of metal, buts many of its smaller parts were constructed out of adamantine and mithril, making its value so exorbitant to the point where even dragons would drool.

The tower was covered in dense magical runes along with a thick layer of magical thorns. It seemed quite classical and natural. Four smaller towers surrounded the main tower, and all five towers glimmered with magical runes. A mystical connection had already been established. Moreover, Timlad and Olivia were the two leaders who personally took charge of its construction. Just this alone was the best evidence of how important this tower was.

“…What’s this? A new type of mage tower? Is it drawing energy from underground? Are you here to help or are you planning on moving here?”

“Hehehe! Take a guess… fine, fine. If we construct a home base here, wouldn’t that put us in the same boat as you? At least, we have no reason to allow the Titan Giants to revive and destroy all our work here.

Indeed, judging by how the White Dragon had been hunted down, it was highly unlikely that any powerful dragons lived nearby. After I confirmed that this area was far away from the dragons’ main territory, I decided to construct a large-scale permanent settlement here.

“…No matter how you look at it, this doesn’t look like a temporary frontline base. The forever-stingy you actually invested so much in this location—do you intend to invade the Dragon World? Let me tell you right now that more than ten thousand dragons live here, and each dragon has their own territory and countless followers. There are also several Great Immemorial and Ultra Immemorial Dragons here. Are you sure you can win?”

I felt that Copper Dragon Evelyn’s attitude was strange. The impression I got from her wasn’t that she was worried about the dragons, but that she was instead worrying about me meeting with difficulties if I angered the dragons. Simply speaking, I was confused about her standpoint and which side she was on.

I had such a feeling the first time I met her. She was somewhat interested in the Bardi humans, but only at the level of mild interest. She was also dispassionate about the dragons. The Evelyns lived alone by themselves underground in a human kingdom; it seemed as if they belonged to neither the humans nor the dragons and were purely on their own.

“…What, are you worried about me?”

“Indeed I am, since you are still our creator and technically our friend… although you don’t even remember it. Just looking at your blank expression makes me want to beat you up.”

Copper Dragon Evelyn was quite direct in admitting it was because of our past relationship. But this made me feel rather conflicted inside. From what I knew along with how my memory library had zero records, our past relationship must have been extremely complex. I would pretend to not have heard anything about former girlfriends or whatever, but our past relationship must have been excellent at one point in time.

However, trust would need time to accumulate. For a friendship where both sides were relaxed enough to tell each other everything, an even longer time was needed. This current relationship, where Evelyn was an old friend who knew everything about our past while I knew nothing, made me feel helpless.

“Then, can I trust you? If we have conflicts with the dragons—not the life and death type of conflict, but the type of conflict about benefits that won’t tread on the dragons’ taboos.”

Hearing this, Evelyn actually chuckled.

“Perhaps you really do need to study more about dragons. Most dragons don’t even care about their species. The number of dragons that Dragon City can control is directly related to how powerful the current Dragon Emperor is. And the dragons there are mostly the weaker ones. Every dragon is individualistic.”

I nodded upon hearing this. I knew all of this already. After all, dragons’ internal conflicts were usually battles to the death. The powerful dragons had a very different societal structure compared to weak humans. They considered it normal to kill each other. They also had great individual power and very few natural enemies, which meant that they didn’t need a group-based society to protect themselves. Of course they wouldn’t care about the benefit of the entire species. Most dragons couldn’t care less.

“You’re saying…”

“Basically, as long as the offer is tempting enough, dragons don’t really have a side. The oldest of us Evelyns is only a little over two hundred years old. For most dragons, that length of time is nothing but a long nap. I barely have any connections among the other dragons at all. We managed to become an elder here simply because of our power. You’re asking if you can trust us? Perhaps you should ask yourself if you can offer us something that’s worth it to us.”

“Ha! I really do have many good objects in my possession. But that also depends on if you can work at an appropriate level. Since things are too important, if you want to back out after I tell you…”

“You’ll kill us to protect your secret?”

“No, I’m a person of culture, a true gentleman. How could I possibly do such a thing? I would ask you to sign a contract beforehand forbidding you to reveal what I tell you.”

“…This type of contract always has loopholes. You’re not someone soft and generous.”

“Heh heh! If you break the contract, someone will naturally come looking for you. Well, it’s a long story that starts one hundred or so years ago. I met Ayer at the River Styx…

“And then, we continued with our plan, where the God of Law obtaining Godhood was the most important part. Now, we’re at the third step of our plan…

“Alright, this is what we want you to do. If you break this contract, Ayer will be personally hunting you down…”

More than three hours passed before I finished explaining the complete plan to them. The two Evelyns would ask me questions as well. Apparently, they were communicating with the other Evelyns, as they would start with “Second Sister wants me to ask you…”, “Eighth Sister asks…” and so on. It would seem that the Evelyns had the ability of direct communication. Was it that their identical souls formed a synchronized soul net for instant communication?

“…This is our plan. You can see for yourselves. If this plan succeeds, you’ll naturally obtain an abundant harvest. So what do you all think?”

What I saw was a pair of complex expressions.

“…I never thought you’d actually do it. You are too daring. You’re basically about to become enemies with all the other Gods out there.”

“You’re even crazier than back in the day. The success rate of your plan is far too low.”

I thought they were about to refuse when I heard a third Evelyn speak up.

“We can understand why you’re doing this. We also express sympathy for your hard work. But we won’t help you with your plan…”

The Silver Dragon, Evelyn the Second, suddenly appeared before me. Copper Dragon Evelyn was currently maintaining her projection.

“…However, we will help you deal with small difficulties as well as mislead the other dragons. Only if you prove that your plan can possibly succeed will we fully and openly assist you.”

This was another projection. Sapphire Dragon Evelyn the First had mysterious emotions within her eyes. She was the first Evelyn created. As the big sister, her words represented the final decision of the Evelyns.

“So at least we now count as allies… or is the more accurate word here co-conspirators?”

I heaved a sigh of relief when the Evelyns agreed in unison to support me in this method, although they were glancing at me with complex expressions. My plan was rather large-scale this time, so it would have been rather troublesome if they adamantly insisted against it.

But I didn’t regret telling them about my plan in the least. With their help and cover for me, the success rate of my plan would increase by at least another twenty percent. And my “instincts” and “feelings” kept telling me that these “old friends” of mine were trustworthy.

Although I had a backup plan, this type of result was the best. Giving grand speeches and instantly convincing others was a phenomenon that only existed in fiction. Without first confirming the safety of a ship, who would dare to board it?

After they confirmed that we were indeed permanently settling here, I arranged residences for the two Evelyns as well. Numerous smaller plans of mine would now be enacted in full.

“Did those Tigermen give us information about the nearby environment?”

“No, as only their leader knows how to speak the dragon language. And when he saw that we were establishing a settlement here, he closed his eyes and refused to speak. He would only glare at our questioner with hostility in his eyes. Apparently, he views us as invaders.”

“…How troublesome. Right, they’re half beastmen, so can the druids and beast tamers communicate with them?”

“We already tried. The druids refuse to have any deep communication with the Tigermen as they said that the Tigermen think about nothing but violence. As for beast tamers, didn’t you already send out the strongest beast tamer under your command? Even your strongest druid isn’t here.”

“Eh, he hasn’t returned yet?”

“Not yet. It would seem that he’s met with trouble.”

The strongest beast tamer? Yep, that referred to the existence who shall not be named. But some things had to be done by him. If he were here right now, these Tigermen would probably immediately tell us everything they knew. Perhaps they would even no longer have any hostility towards us after a single “talk,” and even establish a deep friendship with a certain individual.

However, my strongest druid and beast tamer weren’t here. Several days ago, I sent out Eaglestorm, Beifeng, Ainslo and Diana to the Earth Elemental Plane together with Camdian to retrieve the God Equipment of Wind. Yet they hadn’t returned as scheduled. They must have met with some trouble.

What? Why didn’t I go myself? I was too busy. This type of Quest, which was only Legend rank, probably wouldn’t have any fights, so I figured I could leave it to my subordinates. The team I sent would have an over ninety percent chance at succeeding. Perhaps they would even bring me back some treasure chest of Myth-ranked equipment.

However, probabilities were forever uncertain. With my luck, something with a ninety-nine percent probability was still likely to fail. If I didn’t go, perhaps they would have a higher chance of succeeding. If I went, I would probably bring about various “miracle coincidences.”

“Main character plot armor?”

“Having an aura of calamity around me counts as main character plot armor? That can only mean that I’m the main character of a comedy.”

Cough—cough—I accidentally exposed something. I was no walking calamity, nor was I someone who tried to get a treasure chest with a ninety-five percent chance of succeeding but still failed epically! Whoops, I should stop going off topic.

“Their team has a healer, a tank and fighters for DPS. It shouldn’t be that difficult. Could it be that they had an internal conflict? Both Camdian and Great Stone Sculptor Ainslo are untrustworthy. Perhaps, when opening the treasure box, one of them wanted to ambush the others. It would be fine if they simply wanted to kick the others out of the team, but it’s more likely that someone wanted to kill everyone else to obtain the treasure…”

“Can you stop trying to jinx your subordinates to their deaths? You’re the worst jinxer around.”

But soon the patrolling aerial knights and Alkaid brought me a surprising gift.

“That White Dragon didn’t die? What a surprise.”

“Hmph! The only advantage of being a White Dragon is their tough skin. Otherwise, they would have went extinct long ago.”

Apparently, Blue Dragon Evelyn didn’t care about the White Dragon’s death or survival. She was truly disinterested. It was just that ever since I’d told her my complete plan, she would always be hanging around me.

I asked Copper Dragon Evelyn for confirmation and learned that Blue Dragon Evelyn had been assigned to be my contact with the other Evelyns. But to be honest, rather than a combat maniac Blue Dragon, I would have preferred the easier-to-talk-to Copper Dragon.

Right now, she was exchanging glares with the seriously injured White Dragon.

If it was just the half-dead White Dragon, it wouldn’t have been much of a gift. The reason I termed it as a nice gift was because this White Dragon was a pregnant female dragon about to give birth.

“It would seem that the Eternal Thunder tribe was aiming for the dragon eggs from the very start. If they obtained those baby White Dragons, their tribe’s overall strength would be multiplied by more than ten times.”

With such a big fight, the White Dragon naturally gave a premature birth. The Eternal Thunder tribe had been stalking this White Dragon for quite a while and had excellent timing. It was almost the end of her pregnancy period. Although the White Dragon had a premature birth, her dragon eggs were in good condition.

“Seven dragon eggs. At least five of them are still alive and can be hatched.”

“…There were originally nine eggs. Our people discovered two shattered eggs there.”

“What did that to the eggs? Who got there so quickly?”

“It was this White Dragon right here. She directly devoured them to help her injuries recover.”

Alright then. Apparently it really wasn’t a myth about how White Dragons ate their own children. No wonder White Dragons were discriminated against so much by the other dragons. Were they any different from wild beasts? No, they were worse, as even most wild beasts wouldn’t commit such an atrocious act.

However, I was rather happy to see these White Dragon eggs. Recently birthed dragon eggs were rare items highly popular on the black market but almost never in stock. The main risk was that the dragon mother would chase down whoever stole her eggs.

“They’re just a bunch of useless White Dragon eggs. Why are you so happy? Do you plan to train some White Dragons for Dragon Knights in the future? It’ll take a minimum of eighty years before these White Dragons mature enough to be useful. Even the young White Dragons are nothing more than wild beasts that are more skilled in other beasts at melee combat.”

“…Useless? That might not be the case. Evelyn, why do you think that White Dragons are no better than beasts?”

“Why? They’re born like that.”

I shook my head at this. Although this was the common method of thinking in this world, it wasn’t “magical” in any way. Often times, this so-called “common sense” would have mystical secrets behind it if one looked for the foundational reasons.

“Actually, humans are the same. Sometimes, human babies are lost in a forest and then raised by wild animals. Such humans will grow up to become so-called wild children. They won’t even know how to talk, and they’ll eat raw meat just like wild beasts do.”

“So, you’re saying?” Evelyn nodded as she pondered this. She had heard such stories about humans as well.

“Dragons are born powerful, with the ability to inherit the previous generation’s wisdom and basic knowledge even as a Dragon Egg. In fact, dragons don’t require teachers to help them advance like all other species do. But, evidently, White Dragons are different.”

I paused as I recalled a rumor I heard before. Perhaps this rumor would be the best evidence regarding my viewpoint.

“I’ve heard before that some Silver Dragons and Crystal Dragons steal White Dragon eggs and then raise the White Dragon as their own child. In the end, they succeeded in raising an evil Color Dragon with the kind personality of a Metal Dragon?”

Evelyn nodded. This was no secret. Most of the famous and powerful White Dragons in Dragon City actually had such an upbringing.

“In that case, if we can give them the inheritance and teachings that they lack, doesn’t that mean we can make them into a species not inferior to other dragon species? And I’m quite an expert regarding memories and the soul. If you solely look at physical abilities, White Dragons are actually pretty strong. Their element is also ice, my favorite. I think it’s worth trying.”

“…Do you really have the time? Their growth rate is astonishingly slow.”

“Hehehe, I have a trick up my sleeve. Right, if my experiment succeeds, can you help me obtain some more White Dragon eggs?”

“If it’s just to sell or raise them for your knights, then no. If you can really prove that you can make the White Dragons more like dragons, I should be able to negotiate this with the other dragon elders.”

“That’s good enough for me. I’ll try it out.”

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