Chapter 62: Chapter 62: The Blue Sapphire Dragon That’s Weak, Cowardly, and Arrogant
[Location: Dragonbone Prairie]
"Neigh~"
A horse’s neigh startled Grace, who was driving her sheepdog nearby.
Louis, who happened to be passing by Grace’s house, stopped beside her and glanced at this half "enemy" from a past life.
"With this kneel, I consider past grievances resolved,"
Louis thought to himself.
He felt as if a burden had been lifted, and for a moment, his heart felt much lighter.
As for Grace, perhaps bewildered by Louis’s sudden intense look, she raised her head and stared at him, dumbfounded.
Louis, now without any mental burden, suddenly felt playful and dismounted, approaching her.
As he got closer, Grace instinctively moved back a few steps.
Especially seeing a group of fully armed Royal Guards with Louis, she felt even more uneasy.
She was a little scared.
"Mr. Caesar, I’m being harassed by a weird person!"
She was quite thin-skinned and knew she wasn’t good at refusing others.
So she used to avoid people, and was thus well-protected.
But now, she encountered a brazen and sneaky stranger.
As he approached her, she retreated a bit more.
Seeing Louis approaching again, she finally couldn’t help but reach out to stop him:
"Sir, please don’t do this."
A slightly sweaty goose-egg-shaped face, after moving straw, carried an inexplicable warmth in the morning sunlight.
Perhaps due to Louis’s rudeness, she felt a bit unhappy, but was too afraid to strongly reject him.
It was already a picturesque scene, and now that the grievances between the two had cooled down, Louis finally looked properly at this future saintess.
And indeed, her white hair and red eyes perfectly suited his kin’s appetite.
Seeing her clear eyes, but standing there somewhat aggrieved, he didn’t bully her further, only said:
"I am Louis Charles Julius, prince of the empire. Have the undead been harassing you recently?"
Only then did Grace learn of the man’s identity in front of her.
"No, not at all."
Her gaze drifted.
Yet, she felt a strange sense.
Although somewhat irate, she felt the person before her was familiar.
Her wandering gaze suddenly landed on the knights behind, and Grace’s eyes lit up.
"It’s Mr. William!"
Mr. William was also a good person.
Suddenly, she felt a bit confused, looking around at the Royal Guard.
She wanted to see that figure.
But unfortunately, she didn’t see Caesar.
"If nothing happened, all the better."
Louis mounted his horse again, with a group following him. William, riding his horse, quietly approached Louis:
"The Dark Crow confirmed it; Grace’s father indeed shows no anomalies."
Louis was surprised: "Not the undead?"
"No."
"Then it was simply disappearance?"
"... Hard to say, but it’s nearly certain her father has no issues."
Louis raised his head, revealing a meaningful smile.
"Finally caught your little tails, huh, the Book of the Dead?"
"Alright, knowing this is enough."
He had originally considered the worst.
For example, that Grace’s father had long been turned into a living corpse by the mastermind, but couldn’t kill her due to Grace’s grace.
But now he overturned that conclusion.
Wrong, the mastermind’s aim wasn’t to kill Grace’s family at all.
"Are they afraid of attracting attention, or... did they originally plan to make her parents die in front of her, forcing her to leave this land?"
Louis’s eyes grew stern.
The scene of the magic book "Book of the Dead" was years old.
Investigators previously suspected that some cult or mad king’s followers had made preparations here, waiting for the right time to unleash a crisis.
But the incident with Grace’s father informed Louis that this wasn’t the case.
The "Book of the Dead" has always been under surveillance.
Like shadows lurking, ready to strike at any moment.
"In other words... after Tino’s great explosion, Ense’s military weakened due to the magical disaster. This was inevitable, not coincidental?"
To connect these dots, he would need a future diary for reference.
Louis subconsciously touched his neck.
It appeared that safeguarding his head was still a long road ahead.
He didn’t notice that behind their group...
Grace looked at William closely following behind Louis, then at Louis.
She whispered softly:
"Mr. Caesar is really mean."
...
[Location: Burning Smoke Mountain Range]
Louis looked at Instructor Jino beside him.
Then turned to gaze at the two cloaked mysterious powerhouses.
In Beatrice’s words: "Your team, even against two sapphire dragons, would be overkill."
Yes, Louis was responsible for the "over" part.
Several royal mysterious powers were responsible for the "kill" part.
Before long, they heard a dragon’s roar from a distant cliff.
"Humans, halt! The dragon’s territory is not for... Hey, why are you hitting me?"
Louis watched as the male dragon, who had just taken to the air, got slapped, almost falling from the sky, his mouth twitching slightly.
He suddenly felt maybe all these preparations were a bit too cautious?
Just as he was about to speak, the male dragon cried:
"Oh no, it’s Iron Guard! Run!"
The once-fierce male dragon suddenly turned into a headless fly, nearly trying to flee.
Luckily, Louis stopped them in time, or else these two dragons might have fled instantly.
Louis wiped his sweat, looking at the two dragons sitting comfortably as if preparing for a cozy meal, and said seriously:
"Gentlemen, I come to negotiate."
With expressions of lingering fear, the two dragons gave each other uneasy glances.
The male dragon defiantly put his hands on his hips, saying aggressively:
"Hmph, mere humans dare to negotiate with me... Ah, why are you tugging my tail?"
The male dragon looked at the snarling female dragon, and his arrogant expression wilted.
Everyone’s mouth twitched.
Perhaps they thought these two legendary giant dragons were somewhat... well, wild and arrogant.
Louis had no stereotypes.
He just felt the cowardly yet cocky demeanor of this male dragon seemed familiar.
He hadn’t seen dragons, but he often saw the Imperial Dragon Spear.
Perhaps for both sides, there were concerns, without intentions to fight.
Negotiations soon began.
...Half an hour later...
Louis finally understood why these two dragons stayed in the Burning Smoke Mountain Range.
Simply put, years ago during a reshuffle of the Dragon Empire’s leadership, dragons supporting different factions turned it into a chaotic stew.
With dragons’ personalities, gathering to have a brawl is normal.
But the previous Sapphire Dragon King was a particularly ruthless figure.
Pulling a trick under the sea, he seized the Bronze Dragon King, who had no intent to attack.
If it were the tribes with fewer numbers, it’d be understandable.
What is a Bronze Dragon?
One of the five great metallic dragons.
The Bronze Dragon King being caught was especially surprising, as there was no desire for aggression.
You can imagine what chaos erupted within the Dragon Empire back then.
Even the other five metallic dragon factions were apprehensive.
What’s going on?
Would the Sapphire Dragons dare bully the Bronze Dragon King today and then ride over us tomorrow?
Thus a civil war was directly triggered.
Later, the heavily injured former Sapphire Dragon King, barely alive, traveled with their retinue through the Fallen Star Sea, arriving at an unrecognizable mountain range, planning to settle here.
To them, as dragons, they were powerful beings wherever they went.
Few forces could threaten them.
What’s wrong with occupying a mountain range?
However, in their panic, they didn’t notice... they had landed in one of the forces they couldn’t afford to provoke.
Who would understand, I was just making myself king of a plain?
Before catching a proper breath, a human came charging with a group of armored creatures, shouting about friendship, bonds, and the future, and took me down in a flash!