Chapter 54: Dragon Pressure!
The light of dawn was spreading.
Another calm day began in Modo City, as busy people started preparing for work, and the faint sounds of children playing could be heard in the background.
Rainbird adjusted his clothes, reached for a curved blade forged with a touch of mithril, and turned to walk toward his post. He was a Half-Drow who had been in Modo City for some time, and as a Drow Ranger, he was one of the first to follow the Warrior Captain here. Occasionally, people greeted him along the way, and Rainbird would nod and smile gently. He always hoped to change people’s perception of Drow; while other places still viewed them with hostility, Modo City had already accepted them.
There were not many Female Drow in Modo City.
These stubborn Female Drow still gathered around the Priestess, and the long-standing beliefs of male inferiority and female superiority made it hard for them to acknowledge the status of other Male Drow.
Centuries of tradition are difficult to change quickly.
Thus, those damned Female Drow rejected Modo City and repelled the increasingly elevated Male Drow.
Rainbird knew all of this.
He understood why the High Priestess was reluctant to fully align with Modo City, because when the Underd fell, although it was by her mother’s hand, there still lingered something left behind.
Recently, the Female Drow had contacted the Underdark, and it seemed they had gained some form of assistance.
At least the last time he returned, he saw some local specialties from the Underdark.
Rainbird was a Half-Drow.
In fact, almost all those who remained in Modo City and had a strong sense of belonging were Half-Drow. Those who stayed with their original kin were mostly pure-blooded Drow and the kin they could influence.
Rainbird liked it here.
Modo City had provided him with a way to earn status through strength. Unlike in the past, where no matter how much effort he put in, his status would forever be lower than those Female Priestesses.
There were many curious glances on the road!
Modo City had only a couple of hundred Drow, all elite warriors, and whenever outsiders saw them, they would be surprised.
Rainbird had grown accustomed to this.
People continuously greeted him along the way, and some even invited him to drink at night, but Rainbird refused.
He abstained from alcohol.
As a warrior with strict self-regulation, Rainbird had very high standards for himself; he hoped one day to enter the Legendary Domain as a newly advanced High-level Professionist. This possibility was still great.
“Lord Rainbird!…”
Just around the corner of the street, a somewhat shy voice rang in Rainbird’s ear, and this gentle voice made him stop in his tracks. When he turned around, a hint of a smile appeared on his cold face. He softly said, “Lucina, good morning.”
A young, innocent little girl.
Her ears were a bit pointed, indicating that she was a Half-Elf.
“You haven’t had breakfast yet, right?”
A slight blush appeared on the girl’s fair face as she shyly handed him a food box and bashfully said, “This is for you.”
“I won’t disturb you any longer. I’ll head back now.”
Other Half-Elves nearby witnessed this scene, some giggling kindly, which made the little girl even more flustered.
Even Rainbird felt a bit embarrassed, but he was quite dark-skinned, so it was hardly noticeable. He had always had a poor image in people’s eyes, and after coming to live in Modo City, the Drow Warrior Captain had always set strict requirements for them. If anything out of line occurred, the Captain would personally administer lashes to the offender. Therefore, the impression that Drow Warriors gave people in Modo City was one of seriousness, strictness, rigidity, and coldness.
That had been how Rainbird was perceived.
For a long time, although welcomed by Modo City, the Drow Warriors had not truly integrated into the community.
Others feared them and carefully kept their distance.
This situation continued until something happened.
The Demon Invasion!
The Fear Worshippers summoned demons in Modo City, causing significant destruction and killing many innocent people.
On that day, Rainbird also joined the fight.
As a High-level Drow Warrior, he was the first to discover the demons, protecting civilians near his residence, and he single-handedly fought and killed a Frenzied Combat Demon, saving a Half-Elf little girl.
That was the girl he had just encountered.
For that, he lost an arm, and it was only through the Priestesses in the temple that he received ‘Regeneration’ to recover.
Everything changed.
Rainbird suddenly found that people around him began treating him more kindly, even the neighborly woman occasionally helped him tidy the courtyard.
Every morning, people began greeting him.
Although many times Rainbird only nodded in response, people seemed to have grown accustomed to and accepted his serious demeanor.
All along.
Drow had lacked an opportunity to prove themselves, and the Demon Invasion led many to recognize them.
“It seems that little girl is interested in you!”
A teasing voice from a companion reached his ears.
Faced with his companion’s playful tease, Rainbird seriously pondered and replied solemnly, “If possible, I would like to marry her.”
A moment of surprise fell over the crowd.
Then came the raucous laughter of other guards, many of whom were pirates and did not possess the calmness of Drow Warriors.
Rainbird liked that little girl.
As a Drow Warrior with a strong sense of pride, he despised the Female Drow within his kin.
Domineering, bossy, rude, arrogant…
Rainbird could use many words to describe his views on Female Drow, for these had left a significant shadow over him since his childhood.
The ideal partner in his heart should be someone like Lucina.
If he liked her, he would marry her.
As a serious and earnest Drow Warrior, that was what Rainbird believed.
………………
The handover was quickly completed.
Rainbird stood guard with a team outside a building, which was the core restricted area of Modo City, and even he had not entered it.
Every day, three Drow Warriors led the day and night guards, and no one other than Lord Soren, the two Witch Ladies, and Miss Vivian was allowed to enter. They were the external guards, and inside there were many magical traps. Over the years, many enemies had tried to spy on the secrets within, but those who did ended up having a miserable fate.
Everything seemed to appear unchanged.
However, while patrolling outside a building today, Rainbird suddenly felt his heartbeat accelerate and his hair stand on end, his entire being tensed up into a combat state, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his blade.
An invisible aura.
Something was locked inside this building!
When Rainbird turned to look at the others beside him, he immediately found their expressions were quite similar.
“Dragon Pressure!?”
A man who claimed to have had eight ribs broken by a White Dragon suddenly jumped up, his voice a mix of excitement and tremor, exclaiming, “I can’t be mistaken! This must be the feeling of Dragon Pressure!”
This man was called Bodoro.
A rare name, he was once part of an elite pirate unit and was now assigned to guard the restricted area in Modo City.
He was a bit of a chatterbox.
However, he had a good relationship with others, loved drinking, and enjoyed boasting. His favorite thing to do was to drunkenly take off his shirt in the tavern, exposing his huge scar on his chest, recounting how he once followed Lord Soren to slay a dragon, and then how he was struck by the tail of an adult White Dragon, breaking eight ribs but still living on tenaciously.
He was an old pirate.
The true elite of Modo City, the crème de la crème, and even Rainbird could not be completely certain he could win against him.
He was one of the few survivors from the battle against the White Dragon!
………………
Day and night alternated.
Every day in Modo City, myriad lives unfolded; the tavern was always the liveliest place where you could hear an old one-armed man telling how they fought the Swamp King against all odds, or you might meet someone boasting about how an adult giant dragon had broken eight of his ribs.
Such stories emerged every day.
From the naval battles of the Son of Dagon, the fall of the Swamp King, the decisive battle on Fury Sand Island, the dragon-slaying battle, encounters with Indigenous People, bravely facing the fleets of Southern Islands, clashing with the brutal and fierce Víkings, and eventually the expedition to Leaffall City against Half-Orcs, and so forth!
The stories here are never-ending.
They are all warriors, and they are also survivors. Perhaps they may d*e in some place in the future, but they will leave their mark in these stories.
Modo City.
This city rising among the Overseas Islands shone like the stars; its glory belonged to Soren, but also to these unassuming people.
This is the soul of Modo City!
………………
(P.S.: As I was writing, I suddenly felt inspired, so I added a small section.) (To Be Continued…)
