The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 193 The Dragon

Dragons are exceptionally powerful beings in all fantasy works.

Even though some works particularly like to use dragons as stepping stones for the protagonist, the strength of the dragon race itself cannot be denied.

Linde certainly knew that dragons existed in this world; it was mentioned in the game's background story. However, they were more of an embellishment to add to the fantasy style of this world. Such powerful creatures could not possibly appear in the main storyline.

In this world's setting, dragons should just be simple fashion accessories, but now this fashion accessory has appeared before Lind as a merchant.

Although he knew that greed was a basic trait of dragons in modern fantasy, and that the dragons in this world were also depicted as greedy, Linde never dreamed that this powerful magical creature would personally get involved in business.

Shouldn't it be something like wielding wings and spewing fire to destroy a village or castle, then capturing the lord's daughter and making the lord pay with treasure?

Seemingly noticing the suspicion in Lin De's eyes, the landlady's pupils had somehow turned into golden vertical pupils. Just then, a whooshing sound came from outside the window.

"Fuck, dragon!"

"The dragon has descended! Protect the Governor!"

The sounds outside suddenly became chaotic. Lin De sighed and glanced at the proprietress in front of him. The proprietress seemed to have not expected the guards outside to be so dutiful, their first reaction being to protect Lin De, causing chaos in the city center. She could only give an awkward smile.

Hearing that the commotion outside was not going to stop anytime soon, Linde simply left his seat temporarily and went out to quell the disturbance himself.

"Brother, it really is a dragon! I saw a giant blue dragon fly over us!"

Lena was gesturing wildly at Lind, too excited to contain herself. This was a legendary creature. Although the adventurers in the tavern liked to boast about seeing dragons, and Laurie even claimed to have ridden one, such boasting was different from a large-scale sighting like this.

Sean, barely containing his excitement, said, "Dragons symbolize boundless power, and the blue dragon is the embodiment of magic. Coincidentally, the Magic Train just officially opened yesterday, and perhaps that's what attracted the blue dragon, demonstrating the unlimited potential and broad prospects of our Magic Train project."

Although he knew Sean was making it up, he didn't expect him to guess right by accident. Linde waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, maybe he was just passing by. Sean, go and appease the guards."

Seeing that Lind was not surprised at all by the appearance of the dragon, and was even quite calm, Sean immediately reflected on himself and realized that he was not calm enough compared to his brother-in-law.

The surroundings quickly calmed down, and Linde returned to his room.

After an awkward silence, Lind said, "To be honest, when you showed me that map, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me what was behind you. Don't do this again."

"Alright, I just wanted to prove our identity. I didn't expect you humans to still be the same as before, getting excited so easily when you see us."

The proprietress shrugged helplessly, while taking a deep breath, but she seemed quite pleased with herself.

Linde glanced at the map still on the table and remembered the setting Bernice had mentioned to him in the dream of the lantern: the closer one gets to the sky, the closer one gets to knowledge and mystery, and dragons are currently the highest-flying creatures known.

Linde even suspected that this claim was derived from the dragon.

"So, did you really take this picture from the sky?"

Linde asked with some curiosity.

"You could say that, but even if we fly high, there's a limit. We put a lot of effort into this map, and it's forbidden to circulate it, otherwise those old guys in the tower will start nagging again."

After saying that, the proprietress reached into her chest and pulled out a rather intricate map of the North: "Two hundred gold coins, want it?"

"No, that's not necessary."

Linde glanced at it and saw that although the colors were richer, the level of detail was not much different from the map passed down by the Lars family. Unless this map was made in real time in the last two days, it was not very meaningful.

"That's such a shame."

The proprietress stuffed the map back into her chest.

"So, are you dragons what we imagine you to be?"

Faced with this powerful magical creature that was said to be able to destroy a city or a region, Lind couldn't help but be very curious.

As if she had anticipated Linde's curious question, the proprietress proudly said, "That's right, we can turn into dragons, we can fly, and we can breathe fire—or maybe it's something else entirely. In short, your human legends about us dragons are basically the same."

The proprietress then added, "Oh, except that we won't kidnap your princess, we have no interest in your human princesses."

"Moreover, our treasures are all earned through our hard work. The tower is our witness. We have never used our dragon form to rob you humans."

To be honest, Linde still found it hard to believe that the merchant organization he had previously cooperated with was actually a group of dragons who loved treasure.

The dragons, who basically only exist in the bragging rights of adventurers, actually disguise themselves as humans and travel the human world to earn treasures and gold coins, although they seem to enjoy seeing the panicked look on humans' faces when they see them.

Linde wanted to ask something more, but the proprietress took the initiative to say, "We only sign contracts with individuals, and our protection is only for those who have signed contracts."

The proprietress exhaled a puff of smoke and continued, "The difference between an individual and an entire force should be clear to the Governor, shouldn't it? There have been humans who overestimated themselves and tried to use our power, using our name to defeat their opponents, but unfortunately, in the end, they couldn't even save their own lives."

This is a warning to Lind not to think that just because he has become a collaborator with the dragon, he can use the dragon's name to bully others.

Throughout history, many families have aspired to use dragons as their emblems, but these families either ended up as insignificant minor clans or disappeared into the annals of history. It's hard not to think that this is a warning from these dragons.

"Can I just dispose of this ring however I want?"

Lind stroked the silver ring in his hand. This must be the dragon's token. To be honest, Lind really wanted to see what the ring was made of, whether there was something like a transmitter inside, and whether he could use it as a reference.

The proprietress paused for a moment, then quickly understood what Linde wanted to do. She burst into laughter and said, "You're the first person to want to disassemble this ring for research. Even the most insane alchemists in history didn't have this idea."

"But with your current strength, you shouldn't be able to break it apart."

"Can it be transferred?"

"no!"

The proprietress saw through Lin De's thoughts at a glance and advised, "Don't worry, with your wife's abilities, she'll probably still be alive and kicking when you use this ring."

Lin De was somewhat disappointed that the goods couldn't be transferred, and then continued to ask, "So, is the reason why the Shining Gold Merchant Alliance's transportation is so efficient because you secretly transformed into giant dragons to transport goods?"

"If that's the case, then why did we ask you to build the railway?"

The proprietress paused for a moment, seemingly imagining herself as a giant dragon, with cargo boxes hanging from her feet and goods on her back.

"Besides, that would be too undignified."

Linde also imagined what that would be like and nodded, saying, "That makes sense."

After a moment of silence, the proprietress said, "Let me reintroduce myself. My real name is Margaret Lanlin. I am in charge of the Shining Gold Merchant Alliance's trade in the Northern Territory and am also your contact person. If you need anything, just contact the Shining Gold Merchant Alliance as before."

Margaret then continued to discuss the specifics of the collaboration with Lind.