The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases-Chapter 365 - 234: Despicable Outlander Dragon

Four days later, the determined siblings, David and Tania, slipped out while their dragon father, Attilicia, was approving the fortress plans. They flew straight to the Olivalyres Blue Dragon Clan Nest, located nearly two hundred kilometers off the West Coast of Skanis.

Since they were flying directly from the coast, they encountered a Blue Dragon territorial guard on the second day of their journey.

Then, under David’s blatant use of Jealousy, he and Tania became bona fide "Blue Dragon brothers." He also generously used Lust to tweak their somewhat average looks into their own distinct style before they openly descended from the clouds.

David could sense the Blue Dragon guard’s initial reaction. The guard, who also moonlighted as a pirate during his patrols, was full of alertness when he first saw them. This alertness quickly turned into curiosity and excitement. However, after formally confirming their intentions and apparent male gender, the guard showed a hint of disdain. He didn’t say much more, simply turning around, flicking his tail, and signaling them to follow.

"Come with me," he said. "I will lead you to our clan leader."

David and Tania exchanged a glance, their eyes betraying the unconcealable thrill of ’plan succeeded’ and the excitement of attempting something like this for the first time.

Especially Tania, who even suspected she might be the first Silver Dragon in history to infiltrate a Blue Dragon Nest.

Although it was their first time, things were proceeding as smoothly as David had anticipated.

Judging by the guard’s attitude, David was almost certain: This Blue Dragon Nest must have more males than females.

Because Blue Dragons have a characteristic that distinguishes them from both Metal Dragons and Chromatic Dragons:

Metal Dragons, especially gold and silver ones, generally maintain monogamous relationships. Chromatic Dragons, however, emphasize the right of the strongest, with priority given to the more powerful individual in choosing a mate, regardless of sex.

Blue Dragons, however, are unique: they practice monogamy during their breeding season...

This means that when the breeding season arrives, they choose a desired partner during stormy weather to produce Dragon Eggs. All the Dragon Eggs are then placed together in the lower nest area to be raised collectively. All Blue Dragons cooperate, contributing to the entire Dragon Nest in a standard communal upbringing, and they maintain their spousal relationship throughout this period.

But once the next breeding season comes...

...it’s not guaranteed they will choose the same partner as before.

When David first heard about this custom, he was utterly shocked. Isn’t this just some kind of group... partner-swapping thingy?

Yet, no matter how partners changed, the pairings were always one-to-one. This inevitably meant that the more numerous sex would always have some individuals left out.

Precisely because of this, and somewhat similar to lion prides, some adult Blue Dragons—or those consistently overlooked during mate selection—would, driven by ambition or reproductive needs, leave their own clan to seek and join another Dragon Nest.

However, dragons are different from lion prides. In a lion pride, the male leader instinctively maintains his status and breeding rights, which indirectly helps ensure genetic diversity. But with dragons, the power discrepancies between individuals at different stages of life and with varying experiences are often vastly greater than those between a human and a cat. The clan leaders, whom Blue Dragons revere as ’sovereigns,’ are typically exceptionally powerful and only grow stronger with time. Consequently, even when challengers emerge, they mostly end in failure.

Due to this remarkable and consistent stability, Blue Dragons generally maintain a welcoming attitude towards Blue Dragons from other clans, rarely turning any away.

To Blue Dragons, newcomers might mean more competition for breeding rights, but they also represent an increase in the workforce. Existing members can delegate tasks to these new ’juniors’ until the newcomers prove their strength through challenges and rise in status.

This male Blue Dragon had clearly noticed from the scale patterns of David and his ’brother’ that they had only recently matured into young adult dragons. He was evidently looking to lighten his own workload.

After a journey of two more days, David and Tania finally reached the Blue Dragon Nest. The Blue Dragon guard who had found them invited them into a central courtyard to rest.

"Wait here for a moment," the guard said. "I will go inform the clan leader. Once the leader summons all the Blue Dragons of our clan, and your identities are accepted and acknowledged in front of everyone, we will officially be one ’Dragon Family’."

Seemingly worried that David and Tania were ’fresh out of the nest’ and inexperienced, the guard added a word of caution before leaving, "Just stay put in this courtyard. Whatever you do, don’t go to the lower chambers. The caretaker down there isn’t as ’hospitable’ as I am."

David swished his tail. Of course, they knew this piece of common knowledge:

The lower chambers of a Blue Dragon Nest were akin to the nursery of their society. If an unfamiliar dragon were allowed in and suddenly went berserk or succumbed to an attack of Endless Gluttony, devouring all the Hatchlings, it would be disastrous. Such an event might even incur the great wrath of Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon Queen.

David and Tania thus spent a full week in a ’guest cave’ within the Blue Dragon Nest’s central courtyard before they finally received a summons from the upper chambers:

ROAR!!!

This ancient, powerful dragon roar reverberated through the entire Dragon Nest, making it tremble. The central courtyard, moments before quite empty, instantly buzzed with activity.

One by one, Blue Dragons returned, each casting curious and scrutinizing glances at David and his ’brother’ before heading to the upper chambers, some conversing with an air of pride, others laughing.

A few audacious female Blue Dragons even flicked their tails teasingly at David and Tania, then sashayed away, swaying their hips and leaving an enticing view behind them. The guard who had brought them watched this, a mixture of emotions welling up inside him. Great, I’ve brought back two competitors for myself! he thought, already regretting his decision.