novelraw Chapter 227: Dragon Territory Recruitment
Chapter 227: Dragon Territory Recruitment
The morning dew between dragon scales refracted the dawn light as Garoth folded his wing membranes, allowing the rising sun to gild his black-red scales with golden edges.
He watched the silver dragon's subtly twitching tail tip, realizing that the "using humble words to dissolve hostility" chapter from the Dragon Taming Technique was completely ineffective at this moment.
The glimmer in Edri's eyes was clearly the sour, bitter anger unique to protective fathers.
This kind of emotion was sometimes harder to reconcile than simple faction opposition.
Since things had reached this point, Garoth stopped overthinking it.
He was certain the silver dragon would ultimately adhere to the iron law of lawful good.
Even though obvious annoyance churned in the silver dragon's eyes at this moment, those elegant silver wings had never truly revealed killing intent.
After all, this entire "exchange" had to maintain the pretense of instructional combat.
This metal dragon overlord still had to maintain surface decorum.
With Deborah's relationship involved, no matter how sour or displeased the silver dragon felt inside, he could do nothing about it.Now he just needed to prevent the silver dragon from "finding fault" and avoid giving him any reason.
Later, when his strength surpassed the silver dragon's, if the silver dragon still caused trouble without changing, then Garoth wouldn't blame his own "straightforward" nature for showing no mercy with fists and claws - ultimately, dragons still needed to speak through power.
Principles that couldn't be reasoned through could be settled with fists.
Garoth secretly grinned within his draconic maw, thinking this.
"However, for now I should obediently behave myself."
"This exchange has already given me advantages, but I probably won't have opportunities like this for a long time."
The red iron dragon focused on the present, stopping his fantasy of brutally beating the mature silver dragon.
True oak trees bend in storms but don't break; true swords sheathed don't lose their edge... Garoth believed that knowing when to yield and when to stand firm was a virtue dragons very much needed to learn.
After the combat exchange ended, regardless of the actual circumstances, at least superficially the red iron dragon and silver dragon were getting along harmoniously.
The silver dragon Edri folded his wings and asked: "You said you would bring order to the convergence lands. How's the progress?"
Garoth's scales shimmered with black-red radiance under the morning light as he answered steadily: "The goblins of the Gold Fang Tribe have voluntarily submitted, contributing to the order. As for the three major tribes of Poison Tail, Dawn, and Ironblood..."
He paused slightly before saying: "They won't cause much delay either."
Voluntarily?
The silver dragon stared at Garoth, seeing no emotional fluctuation on the thick, scale-covered draconic face - calm and composed, speaking as if stating the most ordinary fact.
The silver dragon had been staying in Red Maple Valley without going out recently, so his information about the convergence lands was somewhat outdated.
But even without verification, he could be certain the goblins probably hadn't submitted voluntarily.
He knew the nature of those green-skinned goblins quite well.
These cunning creatures would never voluntarily do anything against their own interests unless claws were pressed against their throats.
Meanwhile, sunlight completely above the horizon pierced through the morning fog as the red iron dragon said shamelessly: "Lord Edri, those bugs could never properly govern the convergence lands. The order here is best under draconic rule."
"But I'm too young and lack sufficient strength."
"It would be wonderful if you joined me. Metal dragons have always been guardians of order. We could govern the convergence lands together, ending the bloodshed and chaos here."
Hearing Garoth's words, the silver dragon snorted coldly.
Damnable red iron dragon whelp - using order as pretext to make me help deal with the other tribes?
Wishful thinking!
He refused without hesitation, using an educational tone: "Young dragons should face difficulties head-on when encountering trouble, not always seek help from others."
"More tempering will make your claws and fangs sharper, your scales harder."
Garoth pondered thoughtfully for several seconds, then shook his head, pretending regret: "Is that so? What a pity. I was originally thinking of giving you a monthly share of gold coins or gems that would satisfy you, as dividends for our alliance."
The silver dragon's expression froze.
That being said—
Just then, he saw Deborah using her wingtip to brush ice crystals from the red iron dragon's shoulder armor, a gesture that made the silver dragon's pupils contract into nearly thin lines.
—That being said no more.
All hesitation solidified.
The silver dragon's expression turned cold and hard, emitting a grunt from his throat as he stubbornly resisted the wealth temptation.
He changed the subject, looking toward the brass-silver dragon Deborah: "Deborah, the family is summoning all metal dragons above adult age. We need to return to the Boiling Sea Dragon Domain."
On planet Bernardo, metal dragons maintained firm alliance relationships.
However, they were divided into different dragon domains based on region, family, bloodline, and similar factors, not all gathered in one place.
Each dragon domain would have a metal dragon king, and the dragon kings frequently communicated with each other, quite skilled at seeking help from one another when encountering trouble.
The relationship between different dragon domains was both dispersed and united.
The Boiling Sea Dragon Domain—that vast oceanic region facing the western coast of the Atlantis Continent—was precisely the foundation of the silver dragon family, reachable by traveling west from the Ser Wilderness.
Frostmark Edri was a mature dragon, already an overlord in backward regions like the convergence lands.
But above him were old dragons, very old dragons, ancient dragons, elder dragons, ancient dragons... Within the dragon domain, Edri was still among the younger generation.
Returning to the main topic.
After hearing her silver dragon father's words, Deborah blinked her eyes, somewhat missing the elders, relatives, and friends in the dragon domain.
"I want to go too."
She said.
After glancing at Garoth, she added quietly: "Um... can we bring Garoth along? He's a naturally evil hybrid dragon, but he yearns for order. The dragon domain would welcome him."
This wasn't untrue.
The place was called dragon domain, not metal dragon domain, and it didn't contain only metal dragons.
Within the Boiling Sea Dragon Domain, there were some five-colored dragons who had been adopted by metal dragons since childhood, then through later nurturing and teaching, had their alignments shift.
Metal dragons were quite pleased to see evil dragons turning toward goodness.
Correspondingly, evil dragons also enjoyed leading metal dragons toward corruption.
The silver dragon and brass dragon exchanged glances first, then said: "It's better for him to remain in the convergence lands."
Deborah felt somewhat displeased, stubbornly saying: "You're still prejudiced against Garoth. If you won't take him, I won't go either."
The silver dragon nodded: "Just as well, we weren't planning to bring you back to the dragon domain this time anyway."
Huh?
This script isn't following what I imagined.
Deborah widened her eyes, not expecting her silver dragon father to respond this way.
"Little Deborah, the dragon domain is summoning dragons above adult age. You should obediently stay in the convergence lands."
The brass dragon Serena said laughingly, though deep in her eyes there was a trace of worry.
The silver dragon suddenly locating Deborah's position wasn't a whim, but to notify her before departure.
The dragon domain's summoning order was quite urgent, calling for dragons above adult age to proceed quickly, suggesting something important was happening. Under such circumstances, with the red iron dragon present now, Deborah staying in the convergence lands might be better.
Although the silver dragon disliked the red iron dragon, he still acknowledged his cleverness and responsiveness.
A young adult dragon who had struggled for survival through the wilderness, overcoming numerous obstacles to grow with difficulty—his sensitivity to crisis might not be lower than theirs.
"Fine then, I'll visit the dragon domain when things are calmer later."
Deborah said: "And I'll bring Garoth along too."
The silver dragon maintained a cold expression, but ultimately reluctantly nodded slightly.
"The younger generation in the dragon domain will definitely welcome you quite warmly."
He forced a smile onto his face, no longer appearing cold and hard, turning to tell the red iron dragon.
That smile made the muscles under Garoth's scales unconsciously tighten—probably the mature silver dragon was up to no good again. The dragon domain likely wouldn't welcome him very warmly.
But he felt no yearning for the dragon domain anyway.
Did the dragon domain have black oil fields?
Did it have minions to command freely, with power over life and death?
It probably only contained metal dragons growing increasingly powerful, going there would mean following their various rules—not as carefree as being a local emperor in the convergence lands.
Garoth was no longer a helpless wyrmling.
He had like-minded draconic companions, possessed resilient mental willpower, and below him was the thriving Molten Iron Tribe. He didn't need to rely on other dragons—having backing behind him would be better, but lacking it didn't matter either, it wouldn't discourage him.