Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 276 - 276 275 Blackgarden Mountain

Chapter 276: Chapter 275 Blackgarden Mountain Chapter 276: Chapter 275 Blackgarden Mountain “Caw!”

They spent the night in the cavern, without even spreading out sleeping bags, as the wind blade brown bear Bill served as the most comfortable cotton blanket. Both Russell and Grove lay on top of Bill to sleep.

The unicorn Polly stood in the middle of the cavern, sleeping without her hooves touching the ground—Wind Walking Skill was already her instinct, requiring no active spellcasting.

Gloomy Dreamland descended, and the spirited Little Dream Dragon appeared and pulled Polly into it.

“Alright, no more nonsense, let’s eat!” Once everyone had assembled, Russell’s chubby little hand waved.

The Dream Family set off excitedly.

Above the snowy plains of the ice age, the Snow Ghosts were incredibly numerous, popping up from nowhere, like cutting grass; more appeared each time a batch was hunted down. Not many days had passed since the Second Meteorfall Battle, yet the Snow Ghosts had already recovered their numbers.

“Who cares where they come from, just eat them up!”

Along the way, the Little Dream Dragon ate with great enjoyment. Although the Ice Pellet Pearls were weak, the number of Snow Ghosts was sufficient to boost the nourishment needed for the Little Dream Dragon’s growth.

“The replenishment of the Snow Ghosts is fast, but that of the Snow Demons is a bit slow,” Russell mused, stroking his chin. “No wonder humans speculate that Snow Ghosts are undead corpses, offering an endless supply, while Snow Demons are visitors from another world, needing to cross the Portal to Another World to reach the Snowfield.”

But he soon shook his head, “Not necessarily, perhaps Snow Ghosts are just ordinary beings infected by the power of the Snow Demons, which is why they are endless like wild grass; whereas Snow Demons are formed from essence, so it takes time to sculpt them.”

Regardless.

The Little Dream Dragon did not manage to eat any Ice Soul Pearls from Snow Demons that night, but did consume several hundred Ice Pellet Pearls, leaving still unsatisfied in the end.

…

The area of Blackgarden Mountain was almost as large as Glowing Valley, though compared to the river-enriched Glowing Valley, Blackgarden Mountain was somewhat less favorable.

Dominated by mountain terrain, the highest among them was Blackgarden Mountain itself.

The Tian Zicao Family’s castle, Heiting Castle, was located on the mountainside of Blackgarden Mountain. It was a pitch-black castle, merging almost entirely with the black mountain behind it, hence the name Blackgarden, meaning ‘black big house.’

The Tian Zicao Family had been cultivating Blackgarden Mountain for over two hundred years.

After a message was passed on, Russell was soon warmly welcomed at Heiting Castle. Since Baron Curis Tian Zigao was still at Red Castle, his wife, Mrs. Quinty Sunflower, received Russell as the lady of the house.

“Mrs. Quinty, Russell greets you,” Russell said, bowing.

Mrs. Quinty Sunflower, the daughter of Baron Swan Quinbylf Flame-shadow, was ordinary-looking, but her demeanor was very graceful. “Hello Russell, such a young and handsome knight you are. By the way, didn’t your brother Roland come with you?”

“My elder brother is busy with official duties and couldn’t get away,” Russell replied.

Mrs. Quinty expressed her surprise, “Has he taken on some important position that keeps him so busy with official duties?”

Cooper Thistlegrass, standing behind Mrs. Quinty, softly called out, “Mother, Russell has come from afar, please let him into the castle first so he can visit Rolin.”

As he spoke, Cooper smiled and said, “Russell, your sister is quite heavy now, resting in bed. I didn’t have her get up to receive you.”

“Sister’s health is what matters,” Russell smiled.

He followed Mrs. Quinty and his brother-in-law Cooper into Heiting Castle, where a servant came forward to take the cloak and coat that Russell had removed.

Then, under Cooper’s guidance, he went up to the second floor bedroom and saw his sister Rolin lying in bed.

“Russell!” Upon seeing Russell, Rolin’s face lit up with a delighted smile. However, due to her pregnancy, she looked somewhat swollen and had gained a lot of weight, making her face appear very full.

“Sister,” Russell approached the bed and took his sister Rolin’s hand.

“Is it just you, what about Roland?” Rolin asked. She then ordered Cooper, “Go prepare a room for my brother… This time, he must stay several days at Blackgarden Castle, understand, Russell!”

“Sure,” Russell nodded.

Cooper laughed and said, “The room has been arranged since morning. Rolin, you have a good chat with Russell; I’ll go arrange lunch.”

Russell examined Rolin carefully and, seeing that she was just normally swollen from pregnancy, he felt relieved. Like most people, he too was worried that his sister might not be able to adapt to life at Blackgarden Mountain or that she might be mistreated by her in-laws.

But at least for now, it seemed that the relationship between Cooper and Rolin was still very good, and that was enough for him.

“Roland stayed at Red Castle to help our father deal with public affairs… Due to some matters, our father had to return to his domain. You know he’s the Finance Minister; he has too much public business and can only entrust Roland to manage it, otherwise, Roland would have come to visit you himself.”

“Is there anything urgent in the domain?” Rolin asked.

“It’s not urgent; our father will handle it,” Russell said, not wishing to dwell on the topic and changed the subject, “By the way, sister, when is your due date?”

“The family physician has examined me; it’s another week away,” Rolin said gently, caressing her bulging belly, “I hope it’s a boy who can inherit my excellent talents. If it’s a girl, I hope she’ll look like you.”

On hearing this, Russell purposefully huffed, “What’s that supposed to mean? My talents are excellent too, you know. A Phantom Beast Knight at sixteen is not any less of a genius.”

“Haha, as if you could fool me with your talents!” Rolin teased mercilessly, “It’s just that you got lucky, being eyed by a Shadowflame Dragon… By the way, did the Shadowflame Dragon really open its eyes to look at you on the battlefield? Cooper said he witnessed the Shadowflame Dragon gazing at you!”

“Indeed, it did,” Russell laughed.

“What a blind old dragon, why didn’t it look at me!” Rolin rolled her eyes, “It’s depressing not to have advanced to Great Knight before giving birth. I shouldn’t have gotten pregnant so early… Well, if it doesn’t look at me, so be it. I just hope the blind old dragon will gaze at my child in my belly.”

“It definitely will.”

Rolin was still as hot-tempered as before, speaking without any hint of tact: “How would you know it will? Just because the Shadowflame Dragon glanced at you, you could be all spirited, couldn’t you, Russell!”

“Indeed, it perked me up a bit.”

“It seems I didn’t hit you enough when we were younger.”

Once Cooper returned, Russell took out the gifts he, Roland, and Mel had brought: jewelry, a gem-encrusted longsword, and the egg of a pheasant fantasy beast. The only thing missing was Russell’s Bear Honeybee—it would have to wait for the warm season to be sent over.

“Giving me such precious items, you two brothers must have struck it rich, huh?” Rolin asked in surprise.

“I don’t know if Big brother has, but I definitely made a fortune,” Russell said with a laugh, “Grandfather personally helped me promote the Rain Dragon cigars and even managed to get them into the Scorching Torrent Kingdom with the help of Marquis Arno.”

“Cigars can make that much money?”

“All I can say is that I haven’t seen the profits yet, but there are already many prospective orders.” Russell then started talking to Cooper, “Brother-in-law, are you interested in managing the Rain Dragon cigars sales here at Blackgarden Mountain? You handle the selling, I’ll supply the goods.”

“Sure,” Cooper said with a smile, “I’m quite interested in Rain Dragon cigars as well; it’s a shame I’ve only ever smoked one, which was that time at Tributary River Mouth.”

“Once the ice season is over, I’ll send you a batch of Rain Dragon cigars. Then you can help me sell them. Also, Blackgarden Mountain can’t allow others to sell counterfeit cigars; this is my exclusive business, sister, brother-in-law.”

Rolin readily promised, “If anyone dares to sell counterfeit cigars, just have your brother-in-law take people out to kill him!”

“Don’t worry, Russell; Blackgarden Mountain will only sell your Rain Dragon cigars,” Cooper said warmly.

In this way, Glowing Valley, Tributary River Mouth, and Blackgarden Mountain would essentially only sell Rain Dragon cigars; if I could also get Aunt Roby on board, Golden Prairie would also likely only sell Rain Dragon cigars; once Roland marries into the Rootline Family, Populus Gobi would definitely also only sell Rain Dragon cigars.

If most of the nobility recognized only Rain Dragon cigars, then even if other places had counterfeit cigars, no knight would acknowledge them.

They would at best be sold as ordinary tobacco.

Only Rain Dragon cigars could represent a knight’s life; only by smoking Rain Dragon cigars would one attain the taste and prestige of a knight.

“My little brother is quite the businessman,” Rolin teased as she got up from the bed, her pregnant belly prominent, and patted Russell’s shoulder, “Come to our Blackgarden Mountain merchant team and be in charge. You’d be more than capable.”