428 Three Stooges Reunite

How dare those vile bastards tarnish his reputation? It seems like his kindness towards them these past few months had given them wings. Well, it was time to rip them off! 

He calmed down and lazily continued with his bath. The maid in charge of washing his body was too engrossed in what she considered a super fun task to be bothered about external stimuli. 

After 20 minutes, he left the bath and went down to the dining room for a meal. Chatting with Ophie, lightly bullying the repressed Natasha, and scheming with Hoover took him another 40 minutes or so. 

By the time he exited the front door of the manor, Qiong Qi and Clarent were both visibly shaking with rage that he'd dare to leave them hanging for so long, while Chrona and Sheera were trying their hardest to keep their laughter in. 

Upon seeing the notorious fuckboy leave his sanctuary, Qiong Qi and Clarent shared a look and displayed triumphant expressions. Qiong Qi stepped forth and snorted. 

"Why are you walking, human pet? Did we not tell you to roll out here?!" 

Draco didn't even spare them a glance but picked his nose boredly. "Why should I listen to the meowing of a mere pussycat?" 

Qiong Qi face alternated between blue, black, and purple as he seethed. Clarent acknowledged that Draco was a tough foe to beat, so he tagged in for his brother-in-arms. 

"Hmph, you have truly become arrogant. Have you forgotten who allowed your current achievements to exist? Without me, would you even be this far ahead in your Tradeskills?" 

Draco's face became ashen as Clarent had hit a weak spot. It was true that with Clarent infusing the Dragorugio set and the Dragon's Blessing potion with his Source Origin, more than half of Draco's current achievements would not exist. Especially since the latter had been essential in him receiving his current Unique Quest. 

Clarent, seeing that he had uncovered his reverse scale smirked and blew out a puff of flames. "Hurry up and kowtow to your benefactor! Or do they no longer teach decency among humankind?!" 

Draco's body trembled, and he gritted his teeth. He never thought Clarent would stoop so low as to attack him in this manner, but he found himself checkmated. 

Then, he calmed down as a light of cruelty flashed in his eyes. Since Clarent would stoop so low as to bend the bottom line, he, Draco, would break it! 

Draco folded his arms. "Merely helping me with Tradeskills is nothing compared to what I've done for you. Freeing you from that Treasure Chest, granting you a body to inhabit and even spending my resources to strengthen you!" 

Draco raised a hand. "I wasn't done." 

He smirked and pointed at Clarent. "Without me, your sister would still be living in a prison your father made for her, alone and unloved for eternity until she passed away. I brought her out, showed her love, and infused energy into her life! I allowed the two of you to reunite!" 

"YET YOU DARE ASK ME TO KOWTOW?!" 

Once Draco dropped this bombshell, Clarent was blasted away as he spat blood. His body crashed into a nearby tree, and he could barely muster the energy to stand amidst all the liters of blood he was spewing out. 

Qiong Qi's enraged expression turned to shock, then endless fear when he saw what had happened to Clarent. He was in disbelief that Draco would be so cruel and damage the fellow with words alone. 

When he turned to gaze at Draco once again, he saw that the fellow was gazing at him with menacing eyes and a cruel smirk. Qiong Qi's face became green with regret for daring to provoke the fellow. 

"My darling Qiong Qi, did you forget that I-" 

"BROTHER DRACO, HAVE MERCY ON THIS POOR CAT!" Qiong Qi roared as he slid down before Draco's feet and kowtowed many times. 

Draco, who had indeed been about to unleash a devastating verbal barrage, was rendered speechless by Qiong Qi once again, something he had vowed to never allow the Lion to do. 

Under normal circumstances, he might not have been moved by this shameless display, however he stopped himself. Draco could see some cubs suckling on Sheera, meaning that those had to be his kids. In front of his own kids, the fellow had thrown away his dignity and kowtowed to another. 

Once again, Draco began to understand that maybe… just maybe… he was inferior in terms of thick skin compared to Qiong Qi. Seeing as the cubs were looking over, Draco could not muster the will to push him even further into the deep end. 

He pulled the lion up and hastily said. "I'm just playing, just playing. No need to go so far, Brother Qiong." 

Qiong Qi looked shocked that Draco would give him such a huge ladder to step down from, and he smiled pleasantly. "Thank you, Brother Draco." 

Nemea and Sphea, who had been watching their pap grovel like a rat with curiosity, suddenly displayed surprise when their pap and the human man hugged like best friends. 

Pushing her mother's belly with her little paws in excitement, Nemea asked: "Ma! Ma! Who is that man?" 

Sheera gave her daughter a good lick on the face in order to quieten down her noise, and replied in a wry tone. "He is your father's best friend and my master." 

Sphea sidled up to her mother and sat down. She was the more mature child of the duo, evidence by her next question. "Mother, what is a best friend? And what is a master?" 

Sheera nuzzled her other daughter and explained. "A master is a person who can command the actions of a subordinate. In other words, I have to listen to what that man says." 

"As for a best friend, it is the closest person to an individual, who they fully trust, love, and play with." Sheera finished her explanation. 

Sphea nodded with understanding, while Nemea only seemed to half understand but still jumped with excitement anyway. As for Chrona, she could only watch on in silence since the gestation period between a Dragon and a Wyrm was quite chaotic. 

Her egg hadn't even been laid yet, much less waiting for it to hatch. Chrona wished she could raise her racial State of Being as soon as possible, but that was not something that could be done in a matter of weeks. 

As for Clarent, he only managed to regain his wits after suffering for a minute or two, in which he saw Qiong Qi and Draco make up. Feeling betrayed and hurt, he moved to attack the duo viciously, but saw Draco turn to him after sorting out the oversized cat. 

Immediately, his will to attack fled, and was left with terror. He couldn't survive another blow on the level of the one Draco cast before, so it was natural that he was feeling trepidation. 

"B-B-Brother… D-D-Draco…" The overgrown lizard spoke through chattering teeth. His legs wobbled like they were boneless, and his eyes were bulging. In his eyes, Draco had gone from a fuckboy in fancy armor to a giant Devil that loved inflicting pain and torture. 

"As for you… you were saying something about me needing to kowtow?" Draco asked slowly. 

Understanding the cue, Clarent struggled for a bit. As a Dragon, it was tough to be shameless, especially with his upgraded State of Being. His personality and mannerisms were influenced by his bloodline, refusing to allow him to bow his head at all. 

Sensing the conflict in Clarent with his bloodline, Draco harrumphed and decided to drop the matter. Pushing it too far would lead to irreparable damage in their relationships, so he just snorted and turned to enter the manor coolly. 

"Come inside and let's chat." 

Hearing this, Clarent and Qiong Qi shared a look then sighed with relief. As they followed Draco into the manor, both had complex gazes and wore repentant expressions. In their minds though, they were planning how to capture the fellow and torture him for 10,000 years as revenge. 

Eventually, they were surprised to find that there were so many women here now. Not only that, all of them were to Draco's spec with butts big enough that even Sheera blinked in surprise. 

Clarent was especially angry. Before they left, Draco made it clear that none of them were to frolick around till after the quest was over, and THIS was what he did the moment they left?! 

Had he no dignity?! No integrity?! 

… 

Once Clarent asked himself that, he facepalmed. This was on him, he was an idiot for allowing himself to be deceived so easily when he should have known better. 

Only Clarent and Qiong Qi enter Draco's personal room with him. Sheera, Chrona, and the cubs were relocated to a more comfortable place for them in the back of the manor. 

Once the three stooges were alone, there was a period of silence before… 

"Ke…" 

"Heh…" 

"Zhi…" 

"Keke…" 

"Heh heh…" 

"Zhi Zhi…" 

"…" 

"Kekekekekekekeke!" 

"Hehhehhehhehhehheh!" 

"Zhizhizhizhizhizhizhi!" 

Like hooligans, the three began laughing in strange ways, their faces contorting into hideous visages, as if eldritch monsters were residing in their skins and wanted to break free. 

If anybody had been here to see this eerie sight, they would have paled and run away. This was exactly why the three fellows waiting until they were alone before displaying their true nature. 

When their reverie calmed down, Draco spoke first. "Report, how was it?" 

Qiong Qi replied with a smile. "Simple as hell, they had no idea what went on." 

Clarent snickered. "GG EZ PZ. Everything has been put in place." 

Draco smiled widely. "Good! Good! Gooooood! You have done well, my young apprentices~" 

Just like that, they continued to laugh well into the night, their weird echoes keeping many of the maids up as they trembled in their beds from fear. Even Hoover was shaken deeply and had to block his ears before he could fall asleep. 

The next day, Draco entered his workroom without Qiong Qi and Clarent. His work required focus and dedication, which those two would definitely not provide. They had their own matters to attend to now that they were back, so they also left Draco alone. 

Upon reaching Expert Rank in Magical Engineering, Draco had recorded a few new techniques with Scrivener. He had created a set of Uncommon bow techniques consisting of skills like Fire Arrow, Water Arrow, Frost Arrow, Wind Arrow, and Earth Arrow. He also added Slow Arrow, Confusion Arrow, and Stun Arrow. 

These were all based on offensive Subjective Magic mixed with Control and his bow techniques. The Sphere was really easy to attach to arrows, while the Box was extremely difficult. 

(Author's Note: Remember, the Sphere covers offensive spells and debuffs while the Box covers defensive and support spells.) 

The new set had been moved for conversion and Draco even paid to have them instantly converted. While it cost a lot to the old him, the current him couldn't be bothered. 

Over the past 2 months he had locked himself in and rushed through the Elite Rank, he had gained 5,760 top-grade Aether Crystals. He had no excuse to overreact when the game demanded that he cough some of them up, especially since it didn't even amount to one top-grade crystal overall. 

Draco was also considering an expansion to his existing Sword Skills, but hesitated and decided to wait until the quest was over. Swordsmanship was the basis of his career and his life, so he took it more personally than Archery. 

As such, he technically had nothing new to convert, so he once again opened the Vault of Techniques and met with Satine. This time, he planned to create spellbooks en masse, since they were far more valuable than skillbooks of the same Rank and rarer. 

"Satine, begin recording. This is a magic technique called Fire Arts: Small Fireball." 

"Acknowledged. Please display the technique fully." Satine replied with a monotonous voice.