The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases
Chapter 58 - 57: Dragon Nest

Chapter 58: Chapter 57: Dragon Nest

In the time it took David to go out for a stroll, a group of High Elf prisoners of war, who had just returned to camp and had yet to get a good rest, swiftly prepared the materials needed for a second dragon-hunting trip under the lash of three Drow whips.

In truth, there wasn’t much to prepare; most of it was supplies to ensure they wouldn’t starve or freeze to death on the way.

As for the equipment needed to capture dragons?

Resources were scarce on the Old Continent. Although the Drow had taken those dead Dragon Eggs on a trading trip, David hadn’t yet sprung that audacious idea that would shatter the Chromatic Dragons’ worldview. So, they hadn’t used their precious transportation capacity to purchase iron chains.

But that didn’t stump the Drow, who always fretted for their master and rushed to address his concerns.

Hiatt had the Elf prisoners carry the fragmented iron chains previously used in the capture of the Red Dragon Lizrite and approached Lizrite herself, who was now facing a potential financial crisis and the risk of her psychological defenses crumbling.

With a piece of gleaming gold jewelry she had secretly kept from the Elf captives, Hiatt traded for Lizrite’s assistance: one blast of her Dragon Breath for smelting.

Under the mother Red Dragon’s searing Dragon Breath, the batch of dragon-trapping chains—originally used by the High Elves to guard against David—slowly melted and was poured into molds made from fired clay.

After cooling, breaking the molds, and smoothing the edges, a dragon-trapping chain with a diameter fully five times that of the original appeared, leaving Lizrite, who was an accomplice, in a stunned daze.

This thing wasn’t just for locking her up; if used to bind her mother, it could probably withstand her mother’s Dragon Breath for a few seconds.

But her mother had gone mad, and she herself had already joined their ranks, so why should she care who the next victim would be? As a Red Dragon, she never possessed the strange and convoluted moral compass so typical of humans.

Moreover, with her unstable draconic worldview, swayed by David’s rhetoric, she actually started to think that bringing those stray or soon-to-be-stray Hatchlings back to the camp to be managed might not be such a bad thing for either party.

After all, for young Chromatic Dragons, surviving was the paramount and most arduous challenge at the beginning of their draconic lives. As long as they were assured of reaching adulthood, most Chromatic Hatchlings considered many things tradable—such as the fragile and laughable freedom of their youth.

In Lizrite’s eyes, as long as David could guarantee the current living conditions of the camp, if word got out, those wild Hatchlings roaming outside, never able to truly fill their bellies and not particularly ’clever’—if they believed that Red Dragon’s tale—perhaps they wouldn’t even need capturing. Plenty of Hatchlings might just package themselves up with their own rations and plumply deliver themselves to their doorstep.

Just as Mofei had thought, as long as one could eat their fill and had a good chance of surviving to adolescence, what more could they ask for! Even unpaid work was a massive gain!

Of course, once they were well-fed and content, it was likely they’d start feeling ’friskier.’ That’s human nature, and even more so, dragon nature.

Not long after, David returned from a glide above the cloud layer, which was obscured by volcanic ash. Upon landing, he was astonished to see such a massive, culprit-subduing contraption. With a cluck of admiration, he picked it up with his claws, tugged at it, and found no signs of fracturing.

"Not bad!"

Although this hastily smelted, crudely made item had certainly lost its original strength, it compensated with sheer bulk. David reckoned its sheer weight alone could make a young female dragon buckle at the waist; even if she struggled to escape, whatever was meant to happen would have already concluded.

The only ones truly burdened were the Elf prisoners responsible for transporting it and the White Dragon brought by Kraidian, the Dragon Master.

Mofei, who had just eaten his fill, was moved to tears at the first sight of this thing: not a single bite of his Dragon Food had come for free!

And this just highlighted the advantage of having a manager who was both hot-tempered and incredibly capable. Even when faced with such preposterous missions—tasks that could incite mutiny whether in an elven military camp on the New Continent or a human stronghold—not a single sign of complaint arose.

One by one, the High Elves, who normally led lives more privileged than heaven’s chosen, seemed to transform into the diligent, obedient peasants from some other realm, not daring to even squeak in the presence of David, the ferocious Red Dragon.

Under such circumstances, the group of Elves set out, dragging this ’old iron’ with them.

The only slight relief for them might have been that this time, the Drow leading the way followed a direct path; the destination seemed exceedingly clear.

They immediately surmised: The Red Dragon probably stumbled upon the target during his previous stroll.

After all, young female dragons, unlike Hatchlings, didn’t have to hide from predators and other dragons like moles. As long as no adult dragon had claimed the territory, they already possessed some ability to rule their own roost.

So, their master had the Drow dispatch them, the ’logistics personnel,’ in advance. By the time this group of long-eared bipeds and the White Dragon Mofei neared the destination, their master would depart with the other dragons after they had eaten and drunk their fill.

After nearly a month of marching, they finally arrived—along with the White Dragon Mofei, who was utterly exhausted—at a lush and densely vegetated hollow a few kilometers outside Pafila’s territory.

Seeing such an unusual scene, all the Elves, including the Drow, became involuntarily tense:

This was the territory of a young Green Dragon!

Then, a second thought unanimously popped into their minds: It’s over! Could that horned Evil Dragon be planning to use us as bait?!!

After all, if the Green Dragon dared to claim second among the Elves’ most feared predators, perhaps no other dragon would dare claim first. Green Dragons especially savored Elves, particularly elven maidens.

Although among their two hundred and forty-three veterans—aside from Yevgeny, who had yet to fulfill his marriage vows—they probably couldn’t scrape together a single maiden, the sheer quantity was more than enough for a feast! Just ask which Green Dragon could resist such temptation!

An even more deadly problem was that Green Dragons, unlike other Chromatic Dragons, were cunning by nature and masters of deception when it came to defending their Dragon Nests. Green Dragons might also be the most inclined of all Chromatic Dragons—no, all dragons—to use servant armies. Almost every adult Green Dragon was an army unto itself.

This practically meant that the moment they stepped into what they realized was a Green Dragon’s Dragon Nest territory, the nest’s owner had most likely spotted them as well!

Such an immense survival crisis suddenly weighed down on all the Elves. Their faces paled, and sweat poured like rain, yet not one dared to make a sound. Even the usually carefree White Dragon Mofei immediately dropped to the ground and instinctively began digging into the earth like a husky.

This fear was arguably more terrifying than having the Red Dragon David by their side. After all, angering their Red Dragon master would most likely result in a peaceful demise.

But inadvertently provoking a Green Dragon... that would mark the beginning of endless terror for the remainder of their elven lives.