Although the legends speak of them in a mystical way, under the words of this shop owner, dragons seem less mysterious. Dragons have emotions just like anyone else; they can be happy, angry, or even throw a tantrum. They would take on side jobs just to earn a few more silver coins.
This greedy trait is vividly embodied by these dragons.
The distribution of the Golden Trade Alliance is quite extensive, though other regions might not use the same name. Their network doesn’t consist solely of dragons; there are also ordinary humans who are unaware of the truth, and this shop owner is merely responsible for the operations in the Northern Border region.
It seems that Lind has brought her significant profit; initially responsible only for the trade with Champagne Nobility, this shop owner is now gradually taking over all businesses in the Northern Border.
Therefore, this female dragon is very friendly towards Lind and explicitly reminded him not to take the dragons’ favors too seriously, nor to imagine that he could leverage their power for anything; the most the dragons could provide him would be some commercial perks.
As for the contracts, they are entirely legal, and do not involve the use of dragon powers for shortcuts—though that is hard to believe, considering these dragons have been operating in human society for a long time, making it less surprising.
And the reason these dragons request Lind to help build the railway is simply to facilitate their transport of goods, enabling them to earn more money.
In fact, while delivering goods in dragon form is quite extravagant, if there were no restrictions, these dragons would indeed do so. According to Margaret, many contracts were signed by the Tower, forcing the dragons to operate within human society as humans.
Even the number of partners who can recognize the dragons’ identities is limited, making the selection of collaborators a very cautious affair for these dragons.
It is precisely because of these contracts from the Tower that dragons can only accumulate wealth through commercial means.
The merchants in the Northern Border probably never dreamed that their biggest competitors are actually a group of dragons.
Generally speaking, even if an epic hero were to gain the friendship of a dragon, the reward would merely be the ring in Lind’s hand. This ring is currently just a deposit from the dragons for Lind, showing how much importance they place on this magic-powered train. Lind even suspects that these dragons have been keeping an eye on him for quite some time.
To be honest, helping the dragons build the railway sounds fantastical, and Lind himself has no sense of reality about it.
In the end, Lind returned to a normal business discussion with Margaret.
“This delivery has so many goods.”
After reviewing the list, Margaret looked up at Lind and asked, “You’re not trying to take advantage just because you’ve just started collaborating with us, right? I just reminded you that dragon favors are not that easy to acquire.”
“No.”
Lind interrupted, “I won’t skimp on the payment; this is indeed the amount of goods to be delivered.”
“Our saint in Fang Ge territory, Isha, is encountering some difficulties, so we are counting on you this time.”
Upon hearing Lind’s explanation, and knowing that the payment wouldn’t be reduced, Margaret tucked the list into her bosom, nodding, “That’s good; at least now our collaboration can be put on the table. Consider it a small privilege for you.”
“By the way.”
Just as Lind was about to end the conversation, he suddenly asked, “What do you know about that demon god from the Demon Clan?”
“Demon god?”
Margaret’s expression was filled with confusion.
“No, I’m not clear. We don’t know much about the Demon Clan, and I have never heard of any demon god associated with them; maybe it’s just some small cult’s false god.”
Taking a deep breath, Margaret continued, “We are not on the same side as the Demon Clan. Their wealth-accumulating tactics are absolutely bottomless; real trade should involve exchanges of goods and services, while the practices of the Demon Clan are strictly prohibited here.”
“What we enjoy is the process of making money, not the money itself. If it were otherwise, why should we stick to the contracts with the Tower? We could just transform into dragons and loot freely.”
Although Margaret’s words were not very convincing based on her previous behavior of making extra profit through the Golden Trade Alliance, it could still be seen that these dragons have some principles compared to the Demon Clan.
Margaret speculated that the Demon Clan might have grafted some false god from a cult, but Lind still felt uneasy and relayed Isha’s findings about that demon god to Margaret.
“We understand the situation and will keep an eye on it for you.”
While Margaret usually spoke respectfully and politely, deep down, she retained the pride of a dragon and did not seem to take this matter to heart.
Lind also realized that these dragons were likely only focused on making money, showing little concern for the Demon Clan. The only reason they disliked the Demon Clan was that the latter was overly unscrupulous about earning money.
“That’s right.”
Lind sighed and shook his head in disappointment, giving up and sending Margaret off.
After Margaret left, Lind sat alone in the reception area and pondered, “What exactly is the Tower, that even dragons are under their control?”
Lucanus appeared beside Lind at the right moment and said, “The Tower already existed when the Old Empire was being established. The Tower set many rules, but this is the first time I’ve heard about a contract with the dragon clan.”
Lind looked out the window, organizing his thoughts. Based on Lucanus’s description, the Tower seems to be a regulatory organization, and while it may not have a record of direct intervention, it does impose restrictions on high-level profession categories that could influence the continent’s situation.
Including dragons.
Yet according to Margaret, there seems to be some kind of cooperative relationship between the dragons and the Tower. Although the Tower maintains a dominant position, the dragons do not seem overly intimidated by it.
In the end, Lind shook his head; these were not the things he should be pondering at this stage. The Tower was too distant, and it only appeared to oversee high-level profession categories. Whether from the compilation faction or recording faction, during the collapse of the Old Empire, the Tower made no move whatsoever.
This suggests that the Tower is indifferent to secular nations, even those as powerful as the Old Empire.
Now the primary issue is still the intelligence Isha relayed, along with some information Lucanus had gathered; the Demon Clan seems to be trending toward continuing cooperation with Doug.
Combining the situation on the front lines with Doug’s recent troop movements, it seems they are planning for a major decisive battle. The only thing Lind couldn’t figure out was why Doug would want to choose the Golden Ear Plains outside of the River Valley for the battle.
It truly is a great place for deployment, suitable for large forces like Doug’s, but holding a decisive battle here would merely serve to showcase Lind’s cannons and magical artillery, wouldn’t it?
After such an extended time of fighting, Doug cannot be unaware of how formidable Lind’s artillery is; the city walls were already blown apart. Moreover, this is not a game; given Doug’s troop quality, they would likely begin to collapse after suffering ten percent casualties, and by thirty percent, they would be unable to fight.
Or does Doug have confidence that he can leverage his numerical advantage to overwhelm Lind on the vast plains?
Lind laughed self-deprecatingly at his thoughts, questioning why he was concerned about such matters; fundamentally, he is still just a logistics person. These problems should be left to the generals on the front lines.
Subsequently, Lind picked up the letter Isha wrote to him. She always had a sense of foreboding regarding that demon god, and the protagonists’ intuitions are usually quite accurate. Lind glanced at his upcoming arrangements and said to Lucanus, “Let’s move up the appointment for Lantern Dream.”
