The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases
Chapter 48 - 47: Rescue

Chapter 48: Chapter 47: Rescue

Facing the population dilemma David had raised, the group of Elves, including the Drow, had previously thought of countless possibilities. For instance, they considered attacking the disorganized Highland Barbarians to capture them and expand their labor force. Or they contemplated using the abundant Northland resources—such as high-quality furs, bones, herbs, and ores—to trade for a high price in the New Continent, purchasing various racial slaves on the return trip. Even the more imaginative Drow Mage prepared to propose going directly to the ruins of the Kutaro Desert civilization at the southern end of the Continent and using Undead spells to summon batches of Undead to work. They wouldn’t even need to worry about food or sleep.

Before they even had a chance to start their brainstorm, David’s words struck them like a hammer studded with wolf-fang barbs, hitting them hard on the back of their heads and making them all see stars.

Capture wild Hatchlings directly? Could this really be something a great Dragon would say?

Brilliant idea! Why hadn’t I thought of that before? The Drow, who had been smuggling Dragon Eggs as a black market career for most of her life, felt her eyes light up. But as she came to her senses, she realized that even if she had thought of it, it would be useless. Stealing Dragon Eggs and capturing live Hatchlings were tasks of entirely different difficulty levels, and how to transport them back to camp was also a major issue. Back then, a single oversight concerning this Red Hatchling, her master, had cost her everything. She had only escaped disaster by demeaning herself into slavery.

On the other hand, the Elves who were fed up with enslavement by the Red Dragon were also rubbing their hands together in secret, naively thinking: if they had more obedient Hatchlings like Mofei to work, could they then be liberated from the most back-breaking toil and promoted to Hatchling caregivers? And if they caught enough Dragons, couldn’t they all potentially become Dragon Knights?!

This can’t be a Devil in dragon’s hide, can it? The White Hatchling Dragon Mofei, crouched beneath the Drow’s legs, didn’t dare to glance at the Red Dragon, whose body seemed to burn with the fires of hell.

It was only the Silver Dragon, his Metal Dragon sister Tania, who was moved by compassion, trying to persuade him in a gentle voice, "Brother, but doing this... isn’t it rather cruel for those Hatchlings who are kidnapped... no, *invited* here? They are still just little dragon babies, unable to survive independently without their Dragon Mothers."

David was about to explain to his Dragon sister when someone in the crowd let out a fart.

"Who was it? Drag them out and throw them into the sea!" Wrathful David glared at the High Elf prisoners, who were shuddering like little chicks.

"S-sorry... I couldn’t hold it in..."

It turned out that Mofei, Kraidian’s White Hatchling Dragon, before his caretaker could betray him, covered his mouth and sheepishly lifted his tail, admitting his mistake. He had almost laughed out loud listening to the Silver Dragon’s words. Although he covered his mouth immediately, perhaps because he had eaten too well in the past six months, the air he had held in still jetted out from below...

"Hmph."

David immediately seemed to forget his previous harsh words, and his gaze, now benevolent, returned to his Dragon sister. "Come, Tania. We have a White Dragon here. Given our upcoming Hatchling rescue plan, let’s call him Dragon Number One."

Arrogance.

When his gaze returned to Mofei, all that remained was the chilling cold of the Arctic Ocean floor. "Number One, search your draconic heritage memories. Tell us, if you hadn’t been ’rescued’ by us, what kind of life would you be leading now?"

Mofei shuddered. He really wanted to meekly say he had a name, but, smart as he was, he knew exactly what the devilish Red Dragon wanted him to say. He immediately pieced together the most tragic situations all his ancestors had encountered in their draconic heritage. His eyes reddened, and he squeezed out two ice shard-like tears that hung on his eyelids.

"Thanks to my Master’s rescue, if Mofei hadn’t been brought back to this Dragon Nest camp, given our White Dragon’s nature of Sloth, Mother would likely not have cared whether we lived or died. I would probably be lying by the sea now, drinking ice and licking snow, with only an occasional fish to eat—full one meal, starving for dozens. If fate were worse, I might have encountered the ferocious Frost Giants, or even been trapped and become a Frost Giant’s winter hound..."

Mofei, as if possessed by a master actor, wanted to further embellish his tale with flowery language, to spin a tear-jerking epic titled ’The White Dragon Acts: Freedom Fighter Mofei Furiously Thrashes Frost Giants.’ However, David, whose mind automatically rendered the ancient draconic tongue into a classical Chinese literary style, impatiently cut him off with a sweep of his tail. "Tania, listen to this. Is this how a Dragon lives?"

Feeling he’d narrowly saved his own skin, Mofei quickly retracted his head and covered his rear with his tail, thinking to himself that if this devilish Red Dragon weren’t so terrifying, his life among the White Dragons would actually be quite comfortable.

"This..." Tania, who had never heard a White Dragon complain in such close proximity, was simply stunned, as if her entire worldview was collapsing.

Seizing the moment as emotions ran high, David said with a pained expression, "But that’s reality. That’s the cruel truth most common Chromatic Dragons face during their young years—

"Unlike you Metal Dragons, most Chromatic Dragon Mothers are simply not qualified mothers.

"To escape the responsibility of raising Hatchlings, they’ll do anything. Young Dragon Mothers who lay Dragon Eggs only to abandon them to fate, or even stage dramas where they devour their own eggs, are plentiful.

"It’s precisely because such terrifying memories are pervasive throughout the entire draconic heritage that I risked being sold to the New Continent by the Drow to escape our mother’s clutches back then.

"It’s also why I’m so afraid to see our mother."

As he spoke, David gently clasped Tania’s sturdy, cold shoulders, his expression as sorrowful and compassionate as if he were the ’Glorious Dragon’ itself, a convert to the Heaven of Seven Hills, serving beneath the angels. "Tania, we are fortunate. We have a mother who... well, isn’t *that* unreliable.

"But not every Five-Colored Dragonling is as lucky as we are.

"Perhaps at this very moment, there’s a clutch of Hatchlings that just broke free from their shells but can’t find their mother, only to end up in despair as food for other Predators.

"Perhaps there’s one who barely survived the Hatchling stage and was eagerly swept out of the nest by an impatient Dragon Mother, now wandering alone in the bone-chilling wind, too young to find food and having no choice but to nibble on dirt to survive.

"There are far too many such sad possibilities.

"If we were still weak, we couldn’t do anything about these issues.

"But now..."

David lifted his claw and surveyed the Elves around him, who were unconsciously standing tall with chests puffed out, like saviors awaiting the arrival of their Dragon Knights. "We now have the means, and so many hands available to help them.

"Tania, rescuing the Five-Colored Dragonlings is imperative, and we are morally obliged to do so.

"I can promise you, every Hatchling we rescue will receive enough food to fill their bellies, a simple Dragon Nest to shelter them from the cold wind, a haven to spend their youth safely, and even an education completely different from the utterly laissez-faire upbringing of the past. They will learn to utilize the knowledge within their draconic heritage to arm themselves to the fullest, enabling them to secure a place for themselves in the coming tumultuous world.

"I want to completely change the absurd child-rearing rules of the Chromatic Dragons.

"And rewrite the future history of our Dragon kind."

Arrogance.

"Tania, what do you think of this vision?"

After David’s righteous speech—which twisted black and white yet was somehow deafeningly thought-provoking—the Dragon Nest camp fell once again into dead silence. All the Elves, being of the Long-lived Race, were shocked by the potentially profound impact of this plan. If this audacious plan could truly succeed, grow, and become powerful...

Tania looked at David. He usually had a foul temper with everyone, but now he was willing to weave such an elaborate, beautiful dreamscape just to keep her from feeling troubled and unhappy. Even though she knew her Red Dragon brother was unlikely to possess such purely selfless intentions, the thought that the ’rescued’ Hatchlings might indeed survive and enjoy a relatively warm and stable youth because of this still made her smile faintly. "Mm, Tania will listen to her brother. I’ll go with you to catch—no, to rescue the ’wild’ Hatchlings."

Truly shameless! I, Mofei, have never encountered such a brazen and shameless Dragon! The inexperienced White Hatchling Dragon was left clicking his tongue in astonishment as he listened, watching the affectionate Dragon siblings and internally screaming his complaints.

Seeing that he had finally persuaded his Silver Dragon sister, David immediately showed a ’plan successful’ smile, but his gaze turned icy cold when it fell upon Mofei. "Drag this troublemaker who disrupted the camp’s order away."

"Make a public example of him in the sea for half a day."

"Yes!" The Drow immediately obeyed the command.

"Eh?" Mofei was completely bewildered. Hasn’t this whole thing blown over already?!!

But upon remembering the terrifying, vindictive nature of the Red Dragon, he immediately began to wail like a piglet being dragged off for slaughter by a pack of Elves, as ferocious as Inferior Demons.

"Master! Please don’t! Mofei will never fart again!

"Never again!"

"Really!"

"WAAH!"