Chapter 753: Act 108 – Eternity IX
Shi Ta licked every pudgy finger before looking up at Haruz with an unsatisfied expression, causing the young prince to quickly clutch the honey jar at his waist—this was something Brendel had bought from a hunter before entering the Frost Weald, though a significant amount had already been used by the fairies.
“Do you want more?” Brendel asked the creature in order to redirect its attention. Shi Ta turned around and nodded vigorously, “Mm mm!” Alorze watched this scene and couldn’t help but huff in dissatisfaction; this creature was embarrassing the dragon race. She couldn’t believe that a proud dragon could be swayed by half a jar of honey—perhaps half a jar of gems would be more believable, she thought furiously. Turning on her heel, she left, unwilling to stay for even a minute longer, wishing she could pretend not to know this creature.
Shi Ta, completely oblivious, was simply staring longingly at Brendel, a facade he was keenly aware of, but it still made Brendel chuckle a bit. “No need to look at me like that, you know what we want to know.”
“… Well, those guys ran away through another exit, I can point you towards it,” Shi Ta pretended to think before finally responding slowly, seemingly regained by half a jar of honey.
Brendel glanced in the direction he pointed without showing any emotion and asked again, “You must be very familiar with down here, considering you’ve lived here since the Year of Spider Venom. Over a hundred years should be enough for you to figure out every passage under this glacier.”
“How do you know that?” the little dragon said in astonishment, mouth agape.
“Because of literature, you fool!” Alorze had just reached the cave entrance when she turned back and admonished, “Humans love to record all sorts of peculiar things on easily decayed paper, big or small. You don’t think they’ll be indifferent if you take their food, do you?”
Brendel nodded slowly, responding, “Before coming here, I borrowed the historical records of the Manowell region from the archives in Cru. You first appeared in the Year of Spider Venom when you robbed a convoy transporting flour.”
“Wait, why would you rob a flour convoy?” the young female dragon asked, her golden eyes wide with confusion, “Were you planning to bake bread yourself? I’ve never heard you mention that.”
Shi Ta lowered his head, his face turning red, “… I thought it was white sugar.”
“Enough!” Alorze shouted, “Get lost, don’t talk to me anymore. I want the clan leader; I’ll make sure to get you expelled!” Angry, she stormed out, and seeing her furious expression, Brendel was worried that if that little dragon lingered a moment longer, she might end up taking out her anger on Shi Ta.
Seeing Alorze leave, he let out a sigh of relief and turned back to Shi Ta, “So am I right?”
“Pretty much,” Shi Ta replied weakly.
“What’s wrong?” Brendel asked with curiosity, “Is the dragon race not restraining you much?”
“It’s alright,” Shi Ta suddenly looked a bit wary, using his bright blue eyes—small but bright compared to his pudgy face—to gaze at Brendel, “Hmph, cunning human. You think you can pry useful information from me with nonsense? What exactly do you want to know?”
“Not as cunning as you,” Brendel thought to himself. This creature’s honest appearance was a great disguise, but only those who had dealt with him knew the convoluted things in his head. He replied, “Since you know every passage beneath this glacier, you must know if there’s a shortcut for us to catch up with Anlek, right?”
“Why would I tell you?” Shi Ta asked, rolling his eyes.
Brendel had expected this reaction and wasn’t surprised, he turned to the young prince, “Haruz, hand it over.” He extended his hand—Haruz looked at him reluctantly; life in this forest was far from the comforts of the palace, and that honey was his favorite treat, he’d been saving it for just a little bit each day. If he gave it up, it would surely be gone forever.
The young prince wasn’t foolish; he looked past Brendel, giving Shi Ta an annoyed glare.
“Give it to me,” Brendel winked at him, insisting. “Teacher…” The young prince dared not disobey, so he sluggishly approached, unfastened the jar tied at his waist, and pouted as he handed it over to Brendel.
Brendel patted his shoulder and placed a piece of candy—which was a new product from Duke Toniger—into his hand. In this food-scarce world, candy was a luxury only the nobility could afford, but it was quite popular among the Erluin aristocrats. Miss Romaine had her eye on this business early on, and Brendel had given her plenty of ideas; after all, compared to Vaunte, the material life of modern society was far richer.
Haruz held the round piece of candy, unable to hide his excitement. He had tasted this candy back at Duke Toniger’s, though he usually only received rewards on days he trained exceptionally well—yet that flavor was something he would never forget.
Carefully placing the candy in his pouch, he sat back down, satisfied, clutching his lion’s tooth.
Shi Ta had clearly seen this scene. He glanced at the honey jar in Brendel’s hand, then at the young prince’s actions, a strong curiosity flashing in his eyes, though he held back from speaking.
Seeing the childish act, Brendel couldn’t help but chuckle, “So, a piece of information for half a jar of honey—doesn’t sound like a bad deal for you, right?” He suddenly halted, feeling like his words resembled those of a creepy uncle luring a little girl with a lollipop—though he neither had a lollipop nor was the chubby little fellow close to any girl.
Shi Ta was a dragon, and a rather ill-tempered one at that, even within his own dragon clan.
“There is indeed a passage…” As soon as Shi Ta heard Brendel’s offer, he couldn’t help but drool, truly drooling, with silver strands dribbling from the corners of his mouth and pooling on the ground.
This scene certainly made one question how developed this creature’s salivary glands were.
“Can you show me?”
Shi Ta nodded vigorously at the temptingly rising honey jar in Brendel’s hand. Smiling faintly, Brendel handed the honey jar over, “A promise is a promise; this is yours—”
“Hmph.” Shi Ta quickly hugged the jar triumphantly, “You’re not too bad, much better than that blue guy. But I’ve heard that humans are deceitful, so why are you so foolish?”
Brendel nearly choked, coughing a couple of times. He silently chanted in his heart, “Child’s innocent words, child’s innocent words.” Even so, he almost felt the compelling urge to unleash his rage and give that damned little fat dragon a solid beating.
“That’s not your business; besides, it’s not foolishness, it’s honesty. I have no need to deceive someone like you, you little brat,” he gritted his teeth and replied. “Shi Ta, can you lead us?”
“No!” Shi Ta flatly rejected him, as if the words didn’t require thought. Brendel looked at him, as if wanting to hear the reason, “Are you sure?”
“Of course! It’s too much trouble; that passage is long and requires a long distance to walk. Think about it, walking that far and then having to return—no matter how many jars of honey you offer, I won’t agree. Not to mention—” Shi Ta added matter-of-factly, “It’s so cold outside.”
So cold outside!
Are you not a Frost Dragon? Brendel had never heard of a cold element dragon being afraid of the cold; Frost Dragons even possessed the ability to control glaciers. They were born within the glaciers, legends said that the cold was their breath, and every frozen mist above the ice plains was their warm and comfortable home.
And here was a dragon indicating that it was too cold outside!
Brendel barely managed to suppress the urge to explode, calming himself before responding, “It is indeed cold outside, but it’s not exactly pleasant in here either, is it?”
“No, I have food here,” Shi Ta replied proudly.
“Let your food go to hell!” Brendel screamed internally but remained calm on the outside, “How much food do you have? You raid those humans every so often, but they’re getting smarter. What can you snatch? Jerky? Pickled fish? Or hard old black bread? Shi Ta, the things you collect aren’t considered food; to them, it’s just trash—”
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask them?” Brendel pointed at the nearby Cruz nobles. Shi Ta curiously turned back; those nobles had already received Veronika’s signal to keep silent. And besides, even Brendel wasn’t someone they would dare offend. What Brendel said wasn’t entirely untrue—jerky, pickled fish, and hard black bread were things only the poor chased after; nobles—even the smallest of them—would never touch such items.
So they collectively nodded.
Shi Ta’s eyes widened, the glint in his azure eyes sparkling, “Really? Is there something better to eat than that… hoo hoo.”
As he spoke, drool streamed out uncontrollably. Brendel could hardly describe this dragon, as the creature’s saliva dripped onto his black noble coat, and he resisted the urge to draw his sword to flatten this damned dragon, nodding, “Of course, you can’t keep raiding houses forever, can you? The dragon race won’t recognize your values because they don’t understand the essence of deliciousness. If I get a chance, I’ll take you to Jiufeng; it’s said to have the finest food in the world.”
Shi Ta’s eyes sparkled, as if lost in a moment that would come. But he quickly wiped his mouth and snapped back to reality. Seeing the clarity return to Shi Ta’s gaze, Brendel couldn’t help but praise the wisdom of dragons; they calmed down so quickly.
However, to his surprise, Shi Ta rubbed his nose and asked, “Great! When can we go?”
This question finally made Veronika cough as she struggled to contain her laughter.
Brendel took a deep breath; opening his mouth, he swallowed back the urge to scold and then spoke as if it had been premeditated, “Anytime—but have you considered leaving here with me? I promise to provide plenty of exquisite food. Guaranteed, things you have never even heard of before.”
“Wait, hmph, you really are scheming, human!” the chubby dragon suddenly raised its head, looking at Brendel warily, “—But I eat a ton of candy every day?”
“Are you a pig or what!” Brendel nearly shouted but managed to bite his tongue, “No problem, you know, I have a vast territory; I own many sugar workshops, and I guarantee I can meet your demands—”
“Really?” Shi Ta said, looking skeptical but his pudgy face was filled with longing.
“Pfft.” Shi Do finally laughed out loud; to her, the esteemed Duke Toniger appeared transformed into a sugar factory manager in the eyes of this dragon, which was utterly nonsensical. Until that moment, Miss Scholar had deeply recognized the truth that if you don’t step outside, you’ll never truly understand this world—
At least until now, the dignity of the dragon race had shattered in Shi Do’s eyes.
“Of course it’s true,” Brendel replied irritably, “But did you understand my requests? You took my benefits, but you need to help me in return. You don’t want me to feed you for nothing, do you?”
He had to remind him of this; after all, trusting an unreliable character like Shi Ta wasn’t wise. However, if he could form an alliance with a dragon—even a young one—it would have a profound impact on the situation in Erluin. Brendel glanced at the Cruz nobles in the distance; those fellows appeared dumbfounded and didn’t know what to say. Only Veronika exchanged a glance with him.
The lady commander smiled faintly.
But Shi Ta frowned impatiently, replying, “So you really are foolish; I understand well enough. It’s just signing a contract, hmph, I just signed a contract with that damned guy, but since he can’t fulfill his side of the contract, I’ve already decided to terminate the agreement unilaterally.”
He raised his eyelids to glance at Brendel, “So? Is your contract ready yet?”
Brendel stared blankly at this creature, suddenly realizing that this fat dragon had been feigning innocence, now speaking with such seriousness about contracts and agreements—it seemed that except for Romaine, even he was unclear about these matters.
“Right now… not yet.”
“Oh, that’s fine; we can start with a verbal agreement.” As soon as the topics of food and contracts came up, Shi Ta appeared sharp, responding, “I swear in the name of the Dragon God; you can swear in the name of Martha—”
But Brendel was completely lost, staring at the suddenly serious little fat dragon, wondering if there was some kind of conspiracy or how the game was set up. He thought about whether those players had ever attempted to lure this dragon back then, and amidst these chaotic thoughts, he blurted out something he would regret for life:
“A verbal contract? Should we seal it with a pinky swear?”
Shi Ta looked at Brendel as if he were an idiot, blinking his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t expect the big sister to be infatuated with a child with learning difficulties.”
“Pfffhahaha!”
At that moment, Charles’s boisterous laughter could no longer be contained.
……
(PS: I was exhausted writing yesterday, just one update today. A little energy boost in the comments would be appreciated.) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider giving it a recommendation or a monthly vote on Qidian (qidian.com); your support is my greatest motivation.)
