Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 283 - 283 282 Rolands Growth (Extra seeking monthly

Chapter 283: Chapter 282: Roland’s Growth (Extra, seeking monthly tickets) Chapter 283: Chapter 282: Roland’s Growth (Extra, seeking monthly tickets) From this day on, the Shadowflame Grand Duchy celebrates the birth of its eleventh Flying Dragon Knight, the very Baron Roman Youguangxun.

Wild geese vanishing into the horizon, the sky vast with billowing clouds.

Gazing at Ros the Clay Dragon carrying Baron Roman into the sky until they disappeared from view, Roland was utterly stunned, “Father…”

Watching his older brother’s dumbfounded expression, Russell shook his head with a wry smile.

At this moment, he felt happy for Baron Roman; as a Dragon Knight, the Baron’s status in the Shadowflame Grand Duchy would rise to new heights. But he also felt helpless for his big brother, Roland, whose chance at riding a dragon had clearly vanished.

The family had only one Bipedal Flying Dragon; once ridden by Baron Roman, it was obvious he wouldn’t give it up, leaving Roland with nothing but to wait.

So all he said was, “Big brother, father rides ahead on the dragon, let’s follow as well.”

“Russell, I…” Mounted on his Nightmare Specter Horse, Roland’s face was so bitter it was as if his tears would fall any moment. The blow was too severe, and worse, he couldn’t express his frustration freely.

“I understand, big brother.”

“No, you don’t understand!” In that moment, Roland couldn’t hold back anymore and erupted, tears streaming down his face. His ordinary features were marred with grievance and decline, “You’re about to become a Flying Dragon Knight, you’ll never understand me!”

Russell was at a loss for words, “Uhh…”

Roland continued sobbing and lamenting, “I always thought I would be the one to earn Mr. Ross’s approval. Really, I’ve been working towards that goal my whole life! Father always encouraged me, told me to curry favor with Mr. Ross, so much so that I didn’t even dare to contract with a Phantom Beast!”

He looked up at the sky, trying to stop his tears, but they flowed ever more freely.

“I really… really thank you, now there’s no need for me to win over Mr. Ross, since Father can contract with Mr. Ross himself!” Roland wept, “But why did it turn out this way? I was about to go home and alleviate Mr. Ross’s anxiety, how could it resolve itself!”

“Sigh.” Seeing Roland cry so miserably, Russell didn’t know how to comfort him.

In fact, he understood Roland’s feelings very well, as he had gone through them in his past life, just not as suddenly or intensely.

In youth, one often deems themselves exceptional, but it’s only after repeated setbacks that one comes to realize their own mediocrity. Russell, once a corporate drone trapped in the 996 work culture, knew this all too well. Now it was Roland’s turn to experience these lessons.

After crying for a while and pouring out many inner thoughts,

Roland, at twenty-three, finally managed to vent the frustration that had been building up for some time.

First, the untimely death of Grand Duke Kunstan, with whom he shared grand ambitions, had left those dreams unfulfilled. Then he learned that his seemingly insignificant younger brother would soon ride a dragon, leaving him without any sense of superiority. Now his father had claimed his beloved Clay Dragon…

And him, having been elevated to a Great Knight before adulthood, remained there, his progress stalled to this day.

Wiping away his tears and rubbing his eyes, Roland took a deep breath, burying all the negativity deep within, and turned back to Russell with a gentle smile, “Let’s go, the sooner we set off, the sooner we’ll be home.”

“Are you sure you’re alright, big brother?” Russell asked.

“I cried it out, vented, and feel much better now,” Roland laughed heartily, though the transition was somewhat abrupt, “Father riding the dragon is good news, Russell, you’re about to ride one too. The rise of the Fluorescent Fungi Family is imminent!”

Then clenching his fists, Roland spoke with renewed vigor, “I too must push myself from now on. First, I will contract with a Fantasy Beast and devote a few years to solid training, then seek out an opportunity for a Bipedal Flying Dragon. I can’t fall too far behind you guys!”

“That you can think this way, big brother, is the best I could hope for,” Russell was unsure whether Roland was merely putting up a brave front or truly felt motivated.

But at least this setback could bring considerable growth, tempering his lofty dreams.

Harboring fantasies of being a “virgin” dragon rider.

Just as the brothers were about to depart, someone galloped up from behind, calling out loudly, “Lord Russell, please wait a moment!”

Russell and Roland halted, and the approaching knight paid them the customary salute and then said, “I am the Chief Knight of the Grand Scholar Roundtable’s guard, my name is Buskuk. Greetings to you both.”

“Hello, Mr. Buskuk,” Russell responded from horseback with a salute, “Do you need me for something?”

“It’s like this,” Buskuk said, “Grand Scholars Alexis and Robert would like to join you and head to your territory to conduct field research and an inspection of the retting fertilization skill, aiming to initiate a pilot project in the vicinity of Furious Wind City.”

Russell was familiar with Grand Scholar Alexis; he had been received by Alexis when he went to deliver the materials on retting fertilization skill.

“The two Grand Scholars want to conduct a field inspection in my territory?” Russell expressed his surprise, “It’s not that I don’t want them to go, but with the ice period, travel across the snowfield is difficult. I am not clear about Mr. Robert, but Mr. Alexis seems to be an ordinary person, right?”

During the ice period, it was very hard for ordinary people to travel on the trade routes.

One reason was the extremely low temperature, and another was the difficult road conditions, not to mention that Snow Ghosts were rampant all over the snowfields.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Buskuk assured, “The Grand Scholars often venture deep into the snowfields during the ice period for research, escorted by our knight squad, which is enough to ensure their safety.”

“Well then,” Russell saw no reason to refuse.

“Please wait a moment, the escort knight squad will soon be here to guard the two Grand Scholars,” Buskuk said.

The wait lasted a full half-hour.

Finally, a team of knights arrived, eleven knights guarding two Grand Scholars, none other than Alexis and Robert. Each of these knights was a Great Knight, and among them were two Phantom Beast Knights, including Knight Buskuk and Knight Deputy Gatsby.

“Lord Russell, sorry to have kept you waiting,” Grand Scholar Alexis said with a smile, “Let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Robert, a Grand Scholar in the field of agriculture and meteorology, and he is very interested in the retting fertilization skill.”

“Lord Russell, I finally meet you, and indeed as Alexis has said, young and handsome!” Robert laughed.

“You flatter me,” Russell nodded, “Traversing the snowfield during the ice period is dangerous and arduous, the two of you actually didn’t need to personally go to my territory, it would suffice to send several young scholars.”

“Lord Russell, the retting fertilization skill you invented is of great prospect, more important than imagined,” Robert stated, “Once widely promoted, it will undoubtedly provide a significant boost to the national power of the Shadowflame Grand Duchy, which is also very important to His Highness Shadowflame.”

The power radiated by the Shadowflame Dragon gave birth to all things in the warm lands, and the prosperity of these lands, in turn, nourished the Shadowflame Dragon.

The Grand Scholars could naturally see the significance of the retting fertilization skill.

Upon hearing this, Russell said no more: “Then let us get on our way together.”

“I hope to have more exchanges with you, Lord Russell, along the way,” Robert was very forthright and talkative, “Alexis had mentioned your proposed classification of plants by door, class, order, family, genus, and species, truly bringing a fresh perspective to plant research, and I hope you can provide me with some new insights too, haha.”

Russell smiled: “Isn’t the retting fertilization skill a new perspective in the field of agriculture?”

“Ah,” Robert was taken aback, then burst into laughter again, “Indeed, it is, it certainly is a new perspective!”

Seeing Russell and the two Grand Scholars chatting amiably all the way, Roland couldn’t help asking curiously during their next rest stop: “What’s this retting fertilization skill you’ve been discussing, is there a use for manure, and are you actually researching manure?”

“Big brother, is dragon manure useful?”

“Of course, dragon manure is imbued with magic power, which is a sought-after top-tier material, even some magic elixirs have dragon manure added to them!”

Upon hearing Roland’s words, Russell suddenly felt a bit nauseous—after all, he hadn’t refrained from taking magic elixirs.

However, he held back the feeling, since most magic elixirs were too expensive to include dragon manure as an ingredient.

For example, the excrement of Ros the Clay Dragon was collected by Fluorescent Castle and added to the production of high-quality ceramics to enhance the effect of metal ceramics—Russell’s Green Ceramic Sword included dragon manure in its composition.

Moreover, it was said that dragon manure could increase the success rate of spirit insect breeding.

But dragon manure was so versatile and scarce that even Red Castle couldn’t afford to use it to breed spirit insects.

Putting his scattered thoughts aside, Russell responded to Roland’s question: “If dragon manure is useful, then so is human and beast manure, it’s all about how you use it.”