The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases

Tania, standing nearby, also beamed with pride as she exclaimed excitedly, "Exactly, exactly, Brother David is so awesome! I saw him chase that dragon and beat it up right in front of the whole Royal Capital of Lurwarden."

It was only in the presence of their own father that the siblings would show such a ’childish’ side, reminiscent of a young kitten that brought back a mouse larger than itself as a present to its bipedal owner, all just for a little paw licking in return.

"...Zenathasania! (Fuck!)" Attilicia, having heard of this experience from the siblings, was at a loss for words and could only give the same earnest advice that most old fathers would:

"You can’t be so impulsive and take risks like that again. Legends should not be underestimated. Sometimes, the difference between legends can be even greater than that between a human and a dragon, especially those High Elves who have also lived for ages. Their power may not be much stronger than that of human legends, but with long lives comes great experience!"

David glanced at his father, thinking, Is this some wisdom you’ve picked up from Miss Mirillian?

Even without Attilicia saying so, he had already learned that lesson back in Skanis on the Old Continent. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be planning to lie low in Granyel on the Central Earth continent for another ten years. One can never be too careful when dealing with those High Elves. After all, according to history, these long-eared folks really do have too many examples of miraculous comebacks in dire situations. They’re commonly known as: the Dark Lords, crafty old bastards. They quietly hit you with a big one out of nowhere. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

After discussing with his father, David finally decided to build the ’Tokamak Fortress’ in the Kutaro Desert of Skanis on the Old Continent. The place was uninhabited and undisturbed. Next, the Kutaro Desert was full of Blue Dragons, convenient for sourcing ’materials’ on the spot. Lastly, once the Tokamak Fortress was completed, he would need to conduct extensive explosive testing. Daily explosions in Central Earth would be problematic. He reckoned that before he successfully ignited the ’Fusion Flame,’ the nations of Central Earth would rise up in protest, ready to drive him away again at any cost.

Just before he was about to leave, David remembered Klinsmann’s commission and had Nifadora gather the dragons, then straightforwardly announced the ’business trip’ agenda: "Whoever wants to go, sign up with Nifadora."

Yet, Attilicia noticed something curious: "What? Since when have you taken a human king as your vassal?"

Attilicia was baffled once again. Given that a vassal’s possessions ultimately belong to the Dragon Lord, that could mean, to some extent, his son now practically owned a kingdom, couldn’t it? Back at David’s age, I recall I was just being let out of Dragon Island to travel, disguised as a human, spending several years as a penniless mercenary...

"It was during this trip to the Royal Capital of Lurwarden, actually," David explained. "I went a bit too hard when beating up Brittany and seemed to have scared that king. He kind of indirectly pledged allegiance to me, and I figured, why not just take a vassal?"

"...Zenathasania! (Fuck!)"

I am really such an idiot! Attilicia thought, utterly dejected.

「The following day」

Just when David thought there wouldn’t be many dragons willing to join in such a thankless endeavor, he saw that—aside from Tania, who was waiting to go with him to the Kutaro Desert to choose a site, and Alfonse, who, ever lazy, was still with ’his mother’ Kraidian and hadn’t bothered to emerge to ’compete for favor’—the entire Dragon Nest in the Upper City... was deserted.

Upon inquiring, he found out they had heard about his feat of slaying a legend in the Royal Capital. Apparently, ’legends are nothing special after all’? A group of True Dragons were suddenly eager to try their hand. The dragon beasts, upon hearing that food and accommodation were covered and they wouldn’t have to catch fish to eat all the time, also swarmed to join.

One could only hope the citizens of Lurwarden... wouldn’t think that they... were going there to slaughter the city...