Book 2: Chapter 172

“My Lord, it’s possible that you will be pressured by the City Lords that arrive.”

“Pressured?”

“Yes. Especially from Sshiris, the City Lord of Hirup. There are many bad rumors about him… It’s possible that… he will try to take your property through unfair methods.”

Lukas slowly closed his eyes at those words.

He wasn’t really worried about getting pressured or forced by anyone, but he also couldn’t just let Bargan’s advice go to waste.

After all, Bargan wasn’t the type to needlessly worry or interfere.

Since he came to Lukas with such a serious expression, there was probably a certain amount of danger to take note of.

“Please leave it to me.”

Bargan suddenly spoke out in a clear voice.

“I will turn this situation around.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, but… I have a slightly rude request.”

His tone was cautious, but Lukas nodded without drawing any attention to it.

Bargan then turned to look at the corpse of the young Dragonling.

“Please give me a few of its scales.”

When he heard that, Lukas waved his hand, causing the Dragonlings scales to fly off and float towards them. Then, he handed the scales over to Bargan and said.

“You can have all of them if you need them. Is that enough?”

Bargan nodded.

“It’s enough.”

* * *

Bargan didn’t do anything special.

He simply gave a few letters to one of the subjugation squad members heading to Herui and asked them to deliver it to the major cities.

In fact, finding someone to deliver the letters was the hardest part. After all, the Squad Leaders had ordered their members to keep the details about the Ancient Dragon a secret.

Fortunately, Bargan was well acquainted with one of the members set to return to the city.

No, they weren’t just well acquainted. Bargan had saved his life about three years ago.

For Dragonmen, not to mention three years, they wouldn’t forget the favor of someone saving their life even after three hundred years.

Therefore, by making use of the communication channels in Herui, the squad member was able to send the details about the Ancient Dragon to the Eight Major Cities.

Of course, even if they were to suddenly receive such a report, he would only be treated like a crazy person, which is why he also attached the scales to the letters. This was the so-called ‘concept of proof’.

Transmission techniques had many restrictions that the senders had to abide by.

For one, the item being transferred couldn’t be much larger than a fist, and it could not be too heavy. Additionally, no living creature could be transferred, not even a small bug the size of a fingernail.

Fortunately, the young Dragonling’s scales were small enough to meet the demanding requirements of the transmission technique.

Therefore, the subjugation squad member was able to send 8 scales with a single message attached to each of them.

“This isn’t from a real Ancient Dragon. This is simply the scale of one its offspring.”

Any discerning eye would be able to recognise the value of those scales. And Bargan was certain that there would be at least one person talented enough to see it in each major city.

Nevertheless, it was half a gamble.

Bargan was the one who made this plan, and he thought that it could be considered a success if even two Major City Lords were to come.

What he wasn’t aware of, was the overflowing competitive atmosphere that had overtaken the entirety of Combat Island.

The Championship.

The most honorable competition on Combat Island to determine the one and only Grand Champion.

Like uncut gemstones, Fighters who had been training in secret would begin to appear one after the other.

And in order to protect the honor of their arenas, each city needed to get their hands upon these Fighters before the other cities.

If the overall quality of their Fighters improved, so would the chances that an outstanding Champion would appear in their cities, and naturally, the chances of them producing the Grand Champion would also increase.

Then, what was the most important thing to attract these independent Fighters to their arenas?

Honor? This would naturally be obtained the more they won. Dragonmen Fighters risked their lives for their pride, so they would not covet honor that someone had artificially created for them.

Wealth? While it was nice to have, few Fighters attached great value to money.

No.

The thing that Fighters raved about the most was a ‘good weapon’.

Whenever a weapon that could be called a ‘treasured weapon’ appeared as a prize, hundreds of Dragonman Fighters would risk their lives in fierce, bloody battles to obtain it.

And if it was the corpse of an Ancient Dragon, then hundreds of such weapons could be made.

That was the reason that five of the Eight Major City Lords went to the Samis Great Forest.

It was to the point that they even brought out the Sun Carriages that they were most proud of.

* * *

The Sun Carriages didn’t land on the ground. If the five carriages were to all land in the forest, the ground of the great forest would be completely ruined and the damage would be irreparable.

Clank-

Instead, doors at the side of the huge carriages opened, and five smaller carriages flew out.

These carriages were all normal-sized, but they were all more luxurious than even the best carriages that Sshiris had brought, and the flying dragons that pulled them wore shining iron armor.

However, instead of the luxurious carriages or the majestic flying dragons that pulled them, what Bargan paid attention to were the flags on each carriage. Then, he approached Lukas and spoke in a soft voice that only he could hear.

“They are the Major City Lords of Uruk, Akad, Bakdad(*), Tikrit, and Babylon.”(* – Would you guys prefer I used ‘Baghdad”)

Those were the names of the major cities. Perhaps it was because each city had different cultures, but the styles and decorations of the various carriages were quite distinctive.

But before they could properly appreciate these differences, the carriages landed on the ground.

“Hup.”

Sshiris took a few steps back.

Until just a moment ago, his face had been filled with confidence, but now, he was so anxious that he looked like a different person.

He couldn’t help it.

Just because they were all City Lords didn’t mean they were on the same level.

Just like he could ignore Herui, which was a small city, because he was the lord of a mid-sized city, the lords of the major cities could ignore him.

No. In fact, the difference between them was even wider.

Of the hundreds of cities on Combat Island, there were only eight major cities.

Therefore, even if there wasn’t any sort of thing as a Small City Lord or Medium City Lord, there were Major City Lords.

Finally, the doors to the carriages opened, and the Major City Lords made their appearance.

‘…these are the Major City Lords.’

Bargan looked at them with a slightly nervous expression.

This was his first time seeing so many Major City Lords in one place. When these five people who all had overwhelming presences made their appearance, Sshiris, the fat, greedy Dragonman, was nowhere to be seen.

This couldn’t be helped.

The requirement to become a City Lord was to hold the Champion position for a year in five different cities. But in the case of Major City Lords, there was an added requirement.

That was to reach ‘at least the semi-finals’ in a Championship.

This meant that at one point in time, the Major City Lords had to have been within the top five among all the Dragonmen on Combat Island.

The Major City Lords weren’t the only ones who got off the carriages. Next to them were around four Fighters who had come to accompany them.

Bargan felt that every one of these Fighters was stronger than most of the Champions from other cities.

“…”

Suddenly, Lukas’ eyebrow twitched slightly.

This wasn’t because he admired their strength like Bargan.

The Major City Lord of Babylon.

The face of a Fighter standing beside her, who was the only female among the Major City Lord’s present, looked very familiar.

Even though it had changed a bit, it wasn’t so different that he couldn’t recognise them.

The change wasn’t as dramatic as Min Ha-rin’s, but it was clear that he hadn’t come to the Heavenly Realm recently, like Lukas. This was because the similarities between him and the surrounding Dragonmen weren’t things that could appear in a short time.

“…!”

Then their eyes met.

His eyes widened slightly as he spotted Lukas, but he soon calmed down and regained his composure.

Lukas looked at him for a moment and had a thought.

Was it possible for him to view his status window?

As it turned out, he could.

(TL: Hey guys, as you may or may not know. I wasn’t feeling well these past few days so I was forced to take a short break. I’m back now though, and I intend to make up for the lost days. So barring any more unforeseen situations, I will boost the release rate up a bit.)