Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 270 - 266: The Cricket Behind

Chapter 270: Chapter 266: The Cricket Behind

Unexpected?

Only the weak worry about the unexpected. Leon didn’t care at all—he thought about it for a moment and then dismissed it.

The resources of the desert were far too scarce, especially that tomb of the Ancient Fallen Empire, always shrouded in sandstorms. An evil curse ravaged the land; finding something to eat was nearly impossible. Not to mention camels—finding a cactus was already a struggle.

Finally making it back to the Volcanic Island, the first thing Leon did was instruct his maid to prepare food. While the maid busily prepared food, Leon decided to soak in the Lava Bath. The problem was Salovis insisting on squeezing into the Molten Lava Pool and stubbornly wanting to bathe with him.

"Master, the food is ready."

Leon didn’t know how long he had been soaking. Groggily, he heard the maid call him, and he immediately climbed out.

Leon devoured an entire cow in just a few bites—it wasn’t nearly enough. Shark meat had a strong ammonia odor, but he quite enjoyed whale meat. The texture of different parts varied greatly: the red parts resembled beef but carried a hint of fishy taste, while the fatty portions were reminiscent of pork. He ate one-third of his body weight before finally stopping.

Leaving behind a mess of leftovers, Leon, now full and content, went off to sleep. He slept for two days and two nights, waking up feeling completely refreshed.

Leon was, in fact, quite content with life, at least after his transmigration.

The main reason for his conflict with the Elves was money troubles—he needed to make some fast. If those pirates hadn’t provoked him in the Flash Sea, he wouldn’t have rampaged through Moon Bay. Heading to the tombs of the Ancient Fallen Empire was simply to test the effectiveness of the Three Heads and Six Arms. Otherwise, he much preferred lazing around.

It was a pity that Su Ausis wasn’t killed—the Three Heads and Six Arms proved very useful. As for money, Leon now had so much he didn’t even know how to spend it. For a while, he lacked any motivation and only wanted to eat well, drink well, and lounge around.

Tassera was busy every day researching the Focusing Eye. The Focusing Eye was installed on Su Ausis’ pyramid and Mage Tower as a weapon—it was definitely no simple device. With Tassera’s level of expertise, thoroughly researching the Focusing Eye would take years—perhaps even longer.

"I’m going to dig a hole here for my lair."

"I’m going to dig an enormous hole since my treasures are too many to fit into a small one."

Ever since returning from the desert to the Volcanic Island and taking her share of money, Salovis had started building her nest instead of loafing around Leon’s mountaintop castle every day.

That’s right—now that she had money, who wouldn’t want to buy their own property, decorate it however they wanted, and live as they pleased?

Cecilia, as Leon’s maid—or rather, Chief Maid now—may not have been busy every single day, but she certainly never had a day where she could slack off.

Fiora, on the other hand, was the Inspector of Watchtower Port, and for fun, she would spend her days fighting off evil sea creatures.

Watching everyone occupied with their tasks, Leon felt somewhat guilty, spending entire days idling by playing card games, chess, and fishing. He finally decided to do something meaningful.

The Undead Black Scripture, as a legendary artifact similar to the Impermanence Card, wasn’t suited to being stored in the small space of the Sleeve of the Universe. Leon had no choice but to place it in the Treasure Vault instead.

Even though many people lived on the Volcanic Island now, Leon’s Treasure Vault had not only the Magic Traps arranged by Tassera but also Salamander guards. Still, Leon wasn’t entirely at ease... He was pondering doing something to further safeguard the vault but couldn’t decide on what for the time being.

Having no other tasks at hand, Leon sketched a bunch of blueprints and handed them to the Salamanders, who then crafted a pile of kitchen utensils. His plan was to teach those Tiefling maids what authentic Chinese cuisine was all about; the Halfling cuisine paled in comparison.

"This is called a wok, used for stir-frying."

"This is called a cleaver, used for chopping ingredients."

"Now I’ll teach you how to make tomato and egg stir-fry... First, add oil, then crack the eggs, and finally add the tomatoes."

In half a day, Leon spent less time teaching than he had spent drawing blueprints. He didn’t really have much to teach those Tiefling maids.

Chinese cuisine was so vast and profound, but Leon only knew two dishes: tomato and egg stir-fry and egg fried rice. For egg fried rice, he lacked rice—there wasn’t any rice to be found in Watchtower Port, as bread and chickpeas reigned supreme there.

Salovis was astonishingly swift. In less than a month, she had dug out a massive hole and invited everyone to visit, with one condition: bring gifts. Without a gift, you weren’t allowed entry.

Other than Leon, who was willing to give away a single gold coin, no one wanted to visit Salovis’ nest.

"Did you carve these statues?" Leon noticed two statues of young maidens standing at the entrance of Salovis’ lair. "You know how to sculpt?"

"I know far more than you can imagine." Salovis let out an impressive snort.

"I swear, these statues give me a familiar feeling..." Leon spent a moment examining them. "They’re clearly Brass Dragon statues."

"They were gifts from the Brass Dragon," Salovis said without changing her expression.

"You obviously stole them," Leon bluntly exposed her lie.

"You can say I took them, you can say I found them, or you can say I borrowed them, but you absolutely cannot say I stole them," Salovis insisted. "In a Red Dragon’s dictionary, there’s no word for theft."

Leon opened his mouth but didn’t even know where to begin his rebuttal.

"I didn’t realize you were quite wealthy," Leon remarked, noticing a small heap of gold deep within the lair.

Salovis followed Leon’s gaze and laughed. "Of course... No dragon at my age is wealthier than me."

"Yes, you’re definitely the richest," Leon said. "Since you’re so wealthy, and this Volcanic Island is my territory, can you pay me rent for living here?"

Upon hearing that, Salovis immediately replied, "That’s fake—completely fake. It’s just a thin layer of gold coins on the outside; inside, it’s volcanic ash."

"Such deceit," Leon commented, thinking his own gold coins couldn’t pile into even half a small gold mountain.

"I can’t compare to my brother when it comes to wealth," Salovis said. "My brother must have at least 500,000 gold coins by now."

"500,000 gold coins? That’s nothing," Leon said, unafraid to flaunt his riches. With his current strength, he was the one plundering others, not the other way around. "1,000,000 gold coins—all liquid cash—not even counting gemstones or any of that miscellaneous stuff."

Salovis burst into laughter all of a sudden.

"What are you laughing at?" Leon asked.

"I recall you owe Mom 1,000,000 gold coins," Salovis said. "You can afford to pay her back now."

"Have her come ask me for it," Leon said with amusement. "No idea where she’s at now."

"No idea," Salovis said, wrinkling her nose. "With her fiery temper, she might’ve gotten herself killed in a rage already."

"That’s your mother—you shouldn’t say things like that," Leon couldn’t help but admonish.

Salovis widened her eyes and said, "Don’t you hate her yourself?"

"I don’t like her, but I wouldn’t curse her," Leon replied.

"I wasn’t cursing—just stating facts—" Salovis paused mid-sentence and said, "Never mind, I suddenly feel a sense of unease, like someone’s watching me. I shouldn’t speak poorly of others behind their backs."