novelraw Chapter 268: That's Right—the Convergence Lands King Is a Gold Dragon!
Chapter 268: That's Right—the Convergence Lands King Is a Gold Dragon!
On the gently rocking deck, the captain cleared his throat and said, "Things have changed a lot... it's as if it all happened overnight! Those notorious monsters and alien races in the convergence lands— their behavior has become... hmm, how to put it—they've turned polite."
"Different races have started cooperating in an unprecedented way."
"They've come to trade with merchant convoys along the Estonian Great River, offering local ores and furs in exchange for food and daily supplies."
"Many people don't understand and just assume those monsters suddenly woke up, or that the sun started rising from the west."
The captain glanced around cautiously to make sure no other crew members were too close, then lowered his voice slightly, adding a hint of mystery: "But I happened to hear some inside information from a few old mates who've been all over the place..."
He leaned in a bit, his voice dropping even lower: "They say this chaotic strip of land at the edge of the Ser Wilderness where it meets the Permafrost Tundra—after who knows how many years of bloody conflict—finally gave birth to a... unique, genuine 'Convergence Lands King.'"
"This mysterious king brought unprecedented order to that lawless place! He set rules and used an iron fist to restrain those unruly monster claws and fangs."
"Very few people have seen his true face, but his reputation and influence are everywhere. You can even see that the most cunning and greedy goblins, those used to extorting merchants, now don't dare demand an extra copper coin from passing traders."
"You could say that now, all the intelligent beings in the convergence lands, strong or weak, live under the shadow of this 'king' and follow the rules he set."
"Oh? That powerful?"Alberto lifted an eyebrow, a playful expression on his face, and scoffed with amusement: "So this 'Convergence Lands King' you speak of—what is he exactly? A prodigious goblin tyrant? A powerful human? Or... did the Ironhoof of the centaur tribes trample the convergence lands flat?"
The captain shook his head vigorously, his expression growing unusually grave and earnest.
"None of those. The true identity of that 'king' is disputed and shrouded in fog, but the most widespread and accepted story is..."
He took a deep breath and spoke each word slowly: "The one who rules that perilous land is not a mundane race but a noble, benevolent, unimaginably powerful... Metal Dragon. And among the Metal Dragons, he is the foremost, the noblest and mightiest... a Gold Dragon."
There was a beat of silence.
"Pfft... hahahaha! Gol... Gold Dragon?!!"
At that answer, Alberto seemed to have heard the world's most ridiculous joke and could no longer hold it in; he burst into a bright, hearty laugh.
As he laughed aloud, the captain beside him suddenly stiffened, a chill crawling through him from his soul—an indescribable cold tremor that struck without warning.
But the feeling came fast and left faster; in a mere instant the suffocating fear receded like a tide.
As if everything just now had been nothing more than his over-wrought imagination.
(That was close... almost lost my cool, the maintenance of the disguise momentarily flickered...)
Alberto restrained his laughter. His handsome features settled back into a sunny calm, though in the depths of his eyes a fleeting flash crossed—an almost imperceptible mix of absurdity and icy derision.
"So the Convergence Lands King is a Gold Dragon... Where exactly did you hear this story?"
Alberto narrowed his eyes without revealing anything, keeping a polite smile, and asked the captain in an even tone.
"Ah, just things I hear when chatting with other captains and mates during trips."
The captain replied as if it were the most natural thing, sounding matter-of-fact.
"Many people talk about it in private. Think about it—something that can restrain those lawless, vicious monster claws and fangs, and make different species cooperate orderly for trade and business—those two facts alone say a lot."
He waved his rough finger through the air as he spoke: "First of all, this Convergence Lands King surely isn't an evil dragon, right? Evil dragons don't have the patience or goodwill to maintain order."
"Secondly..."
The captain lowered his voice, as if sharing a secret: "I've heard another theory."
"Most Metal Dragons tend to prefer maintaining the existing order rather than bothering to 'create' an entirely new system. Only the noblest, most responsible Gold Dragons would tirelessly and painstakingly build an ordered structure from scratch."
Alberto's smile remained brilliant, but a subtle anomaly flashed in his eyes and he fell briefly silent.
"Not an evil dragon? Then why do I smell such a strong aura of evil coming from the convergence lands before I've even set foot there?"
"Besides... only Gold Dragons would put in the effort to create order?"
"What a... naive notion."
"Have you been a Gold Dragon? Do you know what Gold Dragons truly think? Except for me... I've never heard of any Gold Dragon sibling who would take pleasure in creating order and all that tedious work."
A faint golden light quietly flowed in the adventurer's pupils.
On the surface, Alberto's heart-lake was calm and untroubled, but beneath it churned a cold, razor-sharp storm of thought.
There was no doubt that the "adventurer" persona was a carefully constructed disguise—his true identity was glaringly that of a Great Dragon! Moreover, he was exactly the noble being the captain had described—the foremost among Metal Dragons, a Gold Dragon!
Indeed, the Gold Dragon race values order and justice by nature.
However, most adult Gold Dragons have long-established behavior patterns and modes of thought.
They generally believe:
righteous actions must be carefully considered, weighing all potential consequences to ensure that the "cure" will not do more harm than the "disease."
There are countless injustices in the world; no being can personally correct every wrong.
Rather than micromanaging and taking over everything, it's better to encourage intelligent beings to solve what they can on their own.
Only those trials that are truly vast, complex, and solvable only by a Gold Dragon's power and wisdom are worth their full attention.
But compared to his kin,
Alberto Aurelius was an anomaly.
From the moment he hatched, his parents regarded him as a stubborn, incorrigible "breed."
He possessed a far stronger sense of autonomy than peers and a near-obsessive worldview.
Justice and order, to him, were not gifts that would fall from the sky if one waited—they had to be "created" and "shaped" by absolute power and supreme wisdom; that was his ultimate goal.
Other species and most dragons lacked the noble bloodline and insight he believed necessary.
Rather than allowing them to err in ignorance, he preferred placing them within a carefully designed, perfect order framework to "control" them and prevent irreversible mistakes.
From these beliefs sprang a grand and radical dream.
Through ruthless conquest and absolute rule, he would unify the fractured nations, races, and powers of the continent—and even multiverses—into a supreme centralized authority! In doing so, he would eradicate the soil in which "evil" breeds and establish an eternal, perfect, golden order.
Now, fortune, geography, and the political climate seemed to line up in his favor.
Most adult Metal Dragons were urgently summoned back to their domains, busy dealing with some higher-level crisis and unable to pay attention to this "rogue" young dragon. The Lothrian Federation of southern human nations had already been seeded with internal turmoil; the storm was coming.
The perfect opportunity to punish wickedness and begin his great conquest lay before him.
After thorough intelligence gathering and strategic planning, the young Gold Dragon Alberto had chosen his first target—the convergence lands between the Ser Wilderness and the Permafrost Tundra, which control the throat of the Estonian Great River.
The terrain here was complex, linking wilderness and civilization, and it could serve as an excellent lever and forward base to influence the whole continent.
Yet... plans can never outrun change.
He had not expected that this virgin ground he had carefully selected had already been seized by a mysterious "king"! Even more absurdly, rumor had it that this "king" was... a Gold Dragon of the same origin as him?
"Interesting..."
I want to see with my own eyes what kind of kin could have beaten me to ruling this chaotic convergence lands—and by what means.
Alberto's mind churned with curiosity and rivalry, but on the surface he maintained the harmless, friendly demeanor of an adventurer, calmly continuing idle chatter with the captain about local scenery and trade goods.
Time passed like the flow of the Estonian Great River beneath their keel—steady and unhurried.
The merchant ship sailed smoothly, the terrain on both banks subtly shifting, with more signs of human excavation appearing. The air carried a mingled scent of sulfur, metal, and a strong, palpable dragon might that grew clearer and clearer.
The convergence lands were now close at hand.