Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 352 - 352 351 Marcus Seeks a Cigarette (Part 1)

Chapter 352: Chapter 351 Marcus Seeks a Cigarette (Part 1) Chapter 352: Chapter 351 Marcus Seeks a Cigarette (Part 1) After a conversation with Count Merlin, Russell went back to his room to rest with the burden of the Snow Demon invasion on his mind.

He passed by the elf room in the castle.

The two maids guarding the door quickly curtsied and greeted him, “Mr. Russell.”

The elf room was noisy at the moment, with countless little sprites causing a ruckus inside. Without a doubt, during grand noble gatherings, they often bring little sprites and spirit insects to simultaneously have a sprite party.

Russell’s three little sprites and eight spirit insects were also mingling in the elf room.

Russell could even hear the voice of Tobacco Sprite Niko. Among his three little sprites, Niko was the most daring and had the loudest voice. The Fluorescent Mushroom Bird Rosy and Wheat Elf Hewitt both seemed timid and shy.

Seemingly sensing Russell’s presence, Niko, Rosy, and Hewitt flew out together from the opening above the door of the elf room.

“Gooey!” Niko promptly perched on top of Russell’s head, undeniably taking the lead. As a Tobacco Sprite, it made Russell a fortune every day.

Rosy settled on Russell’s left shoulder, while Hewitt landed on his right shoulder.

The three little sprites chattered away for a while, but nobody knew exactly what they were saying. Even with a mind contract, Russell could hardly grasp their thoughts and had to guess and communicate haphazardly.

After playing with them for a while.

Russell waved his hand, “Alright, back to the elf room, continue with the music and dancing.”

“Gooey, goo goo!” Niko took the role of the big brother, called out, and led Rosy and Hewitt back into the elf room to join the noisy sprite party, loudly chirping away.

“What a pity,” Russell said as he glanced into the room from a window, “I can’t see any big sprites.”

There were indeed a lot of little sprites, dozens clustered together, and countless spirit insects, but not a single big sprite was to be seen.

The reason was simple.

Big sprites were at the end of elf evolution, and sprite parties were almost pointless for them. Mushroom birds were the same; nobles never took them out—only Russell liked to bring Rosy with him to broaden its horizons.

Shaking his head, amidst the adoring stares of the two maids, Russell quietly left.

“Mr. Russell really is growing more and more dignified,” one maid marveled, “It’s a shame Mr. Russell hardly stays overnight at Fluorescent Castle anymore. If Mr. Russell also lived in the castle, I could see him every day.”

“Don’t daydream. Mr. Russell didn’t care about maids before, and now that he’s become a Flying Dragon Knight, he cares even less about maids,” the other maid said.

“I’m not expecting Mr. Russell to notice me, after all, I’m just an ordinary maid… But don’t you think Mr. Russell has become gentler and more refined than before?”

“That he has.”

“Before, Mr. Russell always had a gloomy face. He was handsome, but very cold. Now, Mr. Russell is truly warm.”

“Of course, a Flying Dragon Knight is warm. The Lord is also very warm,” another maid said, her eyes filled with longing, “Every time the Lord passes by, standing next to him, I can’t help feeling a warmth welling up inside me…”

“Ah!” the maid exclaimed softly, “You don’t have certain thoughts about the Lord, do you?”

Flustered, the other maid retorted, “How is that a problem? You’re allowed to fawn over Mr. Russell, but I’m not allowed to have a crush on the Lord?”

“Haha…” the maid laughed, covering her mouth, “To each their own, as they say with radishes and greens. I understand.”

“It’s just a thought anyway.”

“Yes, after all, it’s just a thought.”

The two maids looked at each other and saw deep insecurity in the other’s eyes. The gap between their status and that of the nobility was too vast.

So vast that even fantasy felt weak and insubstantial.

…

In the small castle of Great Wind Manor, Marcus was playing cards with several Lords of the Duchy, including his in-law, Lord Minor.

“Marcus, what is your relationship with Lord Russell like?” one of the Duchy’s Lords asked.

Marcus narrowed his eyes and replied indifferently, “I’ve watched Lord Russell grow up since he was a child. What do you think my relationship with him is like?”

The Duchy’s Lord immediately smiled and said, “That’s wonderful!”

“Hmm?” Marcus wondered.

Several lords from the Duchy immediately gave Lord Minor a knowing look, and Lord Minor had no choice but to cough lightly and say, “Marcus… since you have such a good relationship with Lord Russell, do you think you could help us order a batch of cigars to take with us?”

“Order cigars?”

“Yes, you might not know, but now cigars from Furious Wind City are hard to come by, and we all love to smoke. Once you’ve had the Rain Dragon cigars, smoking a pipe just doesn’t compare. So since we’re here at the source, we thought we’d take some back with us.”

“I see…” Marcus was a bit troubled.

His little feud with Russell had dissipated the moment Russell took to the skies on his dragon, but to say they were on good terms, well, that wasn’t quite true.

Especially since Marcus always supported Roland, the elder son, he didn’t really care for Russell, the younger.

This caused his relationship with Russell to be quite superficial, and with the incident involving Malena, it had grown even colder.

“Marcus, do it for your brothers,” the lords from the Duchy pleaded. “Life truly lacks flavor without cigars. With your good relationship with Lord Russell, you should be able to get the cigars ahead of others.”

Feeling his pride at stake, Marcus didn’t know how to refuse.

Upon second thought, it was just a few boxes of cigars, a minor issue that could be resolved without Russell’s intervention.

So he nodded and agreed, “Alright, you can count on me. I’ll drop a hint to Lord Russell.”

The others hastily offered a barrage of flattery, praising Marcus for his friendship with the Flying Dragon Knight, inspiring deep envy.

Marcus was an upright and honest man, but that didn’t prevent him from having a bit of vanity.

Now that Russell was riding a dragon, it was a matter of vicarious honor for every knight in the Glowing Valley.

But Marcus quickly asked another question, “How many boxes of cigars do you need?”

Minor quickly specified their requirement: “We’ve hired a Thunder Beast to pull a cart, and we plan to fill a cart with cigars.”

“Pfft!” Marcus couldn’t help but spit out his tea, “How many?”

Seeing this, Minor hesitantly said, “Is that too much? How about half a Thunder Beast cartload then?”

Marcus looked gravely aggrieved.

If a Thunder Beast cart was filled, it could carry a few thousand boxes of Rain Dragon cigars, and even half would still be over a thousand boxes.

Asking him to pull some strings and jump the queue for a few boxes was perhaps doable, but he didn’t have the kind of influence to get hold of so many at once.

Minor saw Marcus’s difficulty, so he reduced the demand again: “What about a quarter of a Thunder Beast cartload, or, to round it up, five hundred boxes of Rain Dragon cigars? That’s a hundred boxes for each of the five lords from the Duchy, right?”

“Yeah, a hundred boxes per person. With your relationship with Lord Russell, Marcus, that shouldn’t be too hard to arrange, should it?”

“If it’s not possible, then forget it. Let’s not trouble Marcus.”

“Right, back to the card game.”

The lords from the Duchy had only tried their luck with Marcus and didn’t really want to pressure him. But their casual attitude made Marcus feel worse—he longed to show off in front of his colleagues.

After all, they were all lords.

But those who pledged loyalty to Red Castle, even if only just a little, ranked somewhat higher than those serving the grand nobles.

Marcus didn’t want to lose face and dignity in front of the other lords of the Duchy.

So after taking a deep breath, he calmly said, “Getting too many would indeed be difficult, but gathering five hundred boxes, a hundred for each person, isn’t such a big deal. Rest assured, I’ll speak with Lord Russell about it tomorrow.”

No sooner had he spoken than the atmosphere once again warmed up.

The lords from the Duchy began to lament Marcus’s luck, following the right lord, and expressed that in the future development of Blackflame Plains, Marcus would surely get a share of the benefits, and his son would surely earn a title of nobility, thus continuing the family lineage.

This was music to Marcus’s ears.

Especially since Lord Minor, his in-law, joined in praising him and commended Malena’s sensibility. Now, Minor was very pleased with the marriage alliance with Marcus and thought that Malena would be more comfortable in her marital home in the future.

Therefore, Marcus was in a very good mood, at least while they were playing cards.

But as the night progressed and the card game ended, Marcus was left with a troubled expression, “Where am I going to find five hundred boxes of cigars?”