Dragons are exceptionally powerful beings in all fantasy works.
Even if some works particularly like to use dragons as stepping stones for their plots, it cannot be denied that the dragon race is inherently formidable.
When Lind knew that this world had dragons, it was written in the background story of the game world. However, dragons are more often used as embellishments to enhance the fantastical style of this world, as such overwhelmingly powerful creatures would not appear in the main storyline.
In this world setting, dragons should simply be fashionable little items, yet now this fashionable little item appeared before Lind in the form of a merchant.
Even though Lind knew that greed is a common trait attributed to dragons in modern fantasy, and that there were descriptions of greedy dragons in this world’s setting, he never imagined that such powerful magical beings would personally engage in business.
Shouldn’t they just sweep their wings, breathe fire, destroy a village or castle, and then capture the governor’s daughter in exchange for treasures from the lord?
It seemed that the shop owner noticed the doubt in Lind’s eyes, as her pupils had unexpectedly turned into golden vertical slits. Just then, a sound of something piercing the air came from outside the window.
“Whoa, a dragon!”
“The giant dragon has descended, protect the governor!”
The voices outside suddenly became chaotic, and Lind helplessly placed his hand on his forehead, glancing at the shop owner, who also seemed surprised by how loyal the guards outside were. Her first reaction was to protect Lind, causing a chaos in the city center, and she awkwardly smiled in response.
Listening to the outside commotion that showed no signs of stopping, Lind decided to temporarily step away and personally go outside to calm the disturbance.
“Brother, it’s really a dragon! I saw a blue giant dragon fly over us!”
Lena was currently dancing around and gesturing towards Lind, unable to contain her excitement. This was a legendary creature. Even though the adventurers in the tavern liked to boast about having seen giant dragons, and Lauri even claimed to have ridden one, such boasting was completely different from the large-scale sighting happening now.
Sean, on the other hand, was trying to contain his excitement as he said, “Dragons symbolize infinite power, and blue dragons are embodiments of magic. Coincidentally, the magic powered train was just officially inaugurated yesterday; perhaps it attracted the blue dragon, indicating the endless potential and vast prospects of our magic powered train project.”
Even though Lind knew Sean was talking nonsense, he was surprised that he accidentally guessed correctly. Lind waved his hand, saying, “Okay, okay, maybe it just passed by. Sean, go calm down those guards.”
Seeing that Lind was not the least bit surprised by the appearance of the giant dragon and was quite composed, Sean immediately reflected on himself, realizing he was not as composed as his brother-in-law.
Before long, the surroundings became quiet again, and Lind continued to head back into the room.
After an awkward silence, Lind said, “Honestly, when you showed me that map, I wouldn’t have found it strange no matter what you said was behind you. Please avoid doing things like that next time.”
“Alright, I just wanted to prove our identity. I didn’t expect you humans to still be so easily excited upon seeing us, just like in the past.”
The shop owner shrugged helplessly, took a deep breath, but seemed rather pleased.
Lind glanced at the map still on the table, recalling the conversation he had with Bernice about the Lantern Dream’s setting, where the closer you get to the sky, the closer you are to knowledge and mystery, and dragons are currently known as the highest-flying creatures.
Lind even suspected this saying was derived from dragons.
“So this map was really taken by you all in the sky?” Lind asked curiously.
“You could say that, but no matter how high we fly, there is a limit. This map took us considerable effort to create, and its distribution is prohibited, lest those old geezers in the tower start nagging again.”
After saying this, the shop owner reached into her chest and finally pulled out a less detailed map of the Northern Border: “Two hundred gold shield coins, do you want it?”
“No, no need.”
Lind glanced at it; although it was more colorful, its level of detail was not much better than the Lars Family’s ancestral map, unless this map was crafted in real-time over the last few days, in which case it was not of much value.
“That’s quite a pity.”
The shop owner stuffed the map back into her chest.
“So are you dragons really as we imagine?”
Faced with this powerful magical being that could destroy a city or a region, Lind couldn’t help but be very curious.
Seemingly having anticipated Lind’s inquiry, the shop owner proudly said, “That’s right! We can turn into dragons, we can fly, and we can breathe fire—though it might not always be fire, it could be something else. In short, your human legends about us dragons are basically accurate.”
The shop owner then added, “Oh, except that we won’t abduct your princesses; we have no interest in your human princesses.”
“And our treasures are all earned through hard work. That’s the promise of the tower; we have never robbed you humans while in dragon form.”
To be honest, Lind still found it hard to imagine that the merchant organization he had worked with was actually a bunch of treasure-loving dragons.
Dragons, who basic existence seems to be only in adventure tales, would even obediently take human forms and engage in commerce in the human realm to earn treasure coins, although they seemed to enjoy seeing humans flustered when encountering them.
Lind wanted to ask something else, but the shop owner proactively stated, “We only sign contracts with individuals, and protection is merely for the individuals that signed the contracts.”
The shop owner exhaled a puff of smoke and continued, “There’s a difference between an individual and an entire faction; the Lord Governor should be well aware of that, right? There were humans in the past who overestimated themselves, wanting to use our power, claiming our name to defeat their opponents. Unfortunately, in the end, they couldn’t even save their own lives.”
This was a warning to Lind not to assume that just because he had become allies with a dragon, he could wield the dragon’s name to threaten others.
Historically, there have been many families that wished to use dragons as their emblem; however, those families either ended up as insignificant small families or vanished into the long river of history, which inevitably led Lind to think of it as a warning from these dragons.
“Then can I handle this ring as I please?”
Lind fiddled with the silver ring in his hand; this should be the token of the dragons. To be frank, Lind really wanted to see the structure of this ring and if there was anything resembling a signal device inside that he could reference.
The shop owner was taken aback for a moment, quickly realizing what Lind wanted to do, and burst into laughter, saying, “You are the first one wanting to take this ring apart for research; even the most insane alchemists in history have never thought of this.”
“But given your current strength, you should not be able to open it.”
“Then can it be gifted?”
“No way!”
The shop owner immediately saw through Lind’s intention and advised, “Rest assured, with your wife’s abilities, by the time you need to use this ring, she will probably still be alive and well.”
Lind felt a bit regretful about the inability to transfer it and continued to ask, “So is the efficiency of the Shining Trade Alliance’s transportation because you secretly turn into dragons to transport goods?”
“If that were the case, then why would we ask you to build the railway?”
The shop owner paused for a moment, seemingly imagining herself transformed into a dragon, hauling cargo boxes with goods on her feet and back.
“And it would be too undignified.”
Lind also envisioned that scenario and nodded, agreeing, “That’s a good point.”
After a moment of silence, the shop owner said, “Let me introduce myself. My true name is Marguerite Lanlin, responsible for the trade of the Shining Trade Alliance in the Northern Border, and I am the one in charge of liaising with you. For any matters, you can contact the Shining Trade Alliance just like before.”
Then Marguerite continued discussing the details of their cooperation with Lind.
