CH 32

The height of this group of people was like children, the tallest inside was probably only about 1.5 meters (3.5 feet), wearing dusty and muddy work shirts with the sleeves rolled up, helmet-style hats and cotton gloves. Although they were short, their bodies were very solid, faces rugged, holding a hammer and shovel and other tools.

“The Dragon God is here!”

“Lord Dragon God is here today to supervise the work?”

“Hurry up and tell someone to prepare food!”

They all dropped what they were doing and came forward to flock to the dragon, while chatting with each other.

Ning Chu was a bit shocked. These… were they dwarves? How did Second Cub become the “Lord Dragon God” they were talking about?

Ning Chu also saw many ordinary dragons inside the huge pit, which seemed to be a big natural mining cave. Ning Chu untied the neck hair tied around his legs and jumped down to the ground, and the group of dwarves realized that there was a human on the back of the dragon. They immediately became wary and took a few steps back to look at Ning Chu.

“The Dragon God has brought a human here today.”

“He’s so skinny… It’s not like he can mine.”

“You go over, go over and ask who he is.”

Ning Chu guarded Fourth Cub and Fifth Cub in his arms, keeping them out of sight for the moment, and gave a friendly smile to the crowd, “Hello.”

The group of dwarves relaxed and approached him, as he was soft and harmless looking, without any weapons or magic wands.

One of the dwarves closest to Ning Chu stretched out his dirty hand to touch the fabric of Ning Chu’s coat.

Before his hand could touch Ning Chu, Second Cub lowered his head and let out a dragon roar, “Roar!”

The dragon shielded the weak-looking human under his wings, his eyes were intent on protecting him.

A group of dwarves’ hats were almost lifted off, they hurriedly backed up, their faces piled up a smile.

“So you’re a friend of the Dragon God.”

“Serve tea! Quickly serve tea!”

They led Ning Chu inside, and at that moment Second Cub turned back to his young form and squatted on Ning Chu’s shoulder.

Ning Chu was surprised and lowered his voice, “Don’t you hide in front of them…”

Wouldn’t it be dangerous to reveal his ability to become smaller in front of other races?

Second Cub nuzzled Ning Chu soothingly, “Aoooo…” He told him not to worry, the group of dwarves had made a contract in front of him, and under the effect of the contract, they couldn’t reveal anything about him.

Ning Chu followed the dwarves to the resting area at the side of the mine, where the beds were built four stories high, with stairs on the side to climb up, and a temporary clearing in front of them, where a few dwarves hastily set up tables and chairs, and then spread a gray tablecloth.

“Please sit down.” A dwarf pulled out a chair for Ning Chu and poured a cup of tea for him.

“Thank you.”

He looked at Ning Chu’s smile for a moment and scratched his head coyly, “You’re welcome.”

There were two cups of tea, one for Second Cub, but he didn’t even look at it and flew into Ning Chu’s arms to lick his paws. The relationship between Second Cub and Ning Chu was obviously unusual, and the surrounding dwarves’ gazes became more heated.

One dwarf with a big beard came to Ning Chu, he seemed to be the oldest dwarf in the group, bent down and bowed briefly to Ning Chu, “Greetings, I am the chief of this clan, Ily.” 

Ning Chu hurriedly put down his cup and stood up, “Greetings, my name is Ning Chu.”

There was no one here who knew him, so Ning Chu used his original name.

Ily sat down across from Ning Chu, “May I ask why you and Lord Dragon God are here this time…”

Second Cub was a little tired after flying all the way and closed his eyes in Ning Chu’s arms. He used to communicate with the dwarves by guessing and understanding, but now it was easier for Ning Chu to communicate with the dwarves himself.

Ning Chu stroked Second Cub’s head, “He brought me here.”

He turned his head to look around, there were still many dwarves working in the mine, and they all had one or two common dragons around them. These common dragons varied in species, but were of a stronger type, some of them swinging their claws or tails to smash the rocks, others helping to pull the cart.

“This is…” Ning Chu looked at the image of the dragons and dwarves living together in harmony, as if he understood what Second Cub meant by making money… 

“It seems you don’t know yet?” Ily glanced at Second Cub, who seemed to be asleep, and his voice softened, “It was the Lord Dragon God who told them to come and help us.”

Ily told Ning Chu that they had stumbled upon Second Cub by chance last month. The dwarf clan was small in number and had many branches; all the dwarves in the mines were from the same clan. They were alchemy dwarves, and their best skills were mining and forging weapons, which they sold to other races in need.

When they met Second Cub, they were in another mine, but because they were tired and distracted by the continuous high intensity work, they accidentally dug the place they didn’t mean to dig, causing the mine to collapse and blocking the entrance above, causing several people to be injured. It so happened that Second Cub passed by and heard the desperate cries from the mine and stopped.

He heard the people inside calling themselves the dwarf clan and were asking their gods for help.

Dwarves? Was that a different race from humans? Second Cub was curious and got the cave’s collapsed stone out to see what a dwarf really was.

Suddenly they were able to see the light of day again, and a group of dwarves were so excited that they really thought the gods had appeared, when they saw a huge head sticking into the cave.

Not their god, but a giant dragon. The dwarves had heard of dragons, but had never seen one with their own eyes, so they hid in the shadows in fear that the dragon would eat them.

The dragon spewed its breath, but only looked at them, and didn’t move further, when someone shouted, “Lord Dragon God! It is the Dragon God who saved us!”

Second Cub, who was suddenly called “Lord Dragon God”, was baffled as a group of dwarves quickly climbed out of the cave and surrounded the dragon. The fear they had just had disappeared without a trace, and not only were they not afraid of Second Cub, they also offered him the dried meat they had brought with them.

Second Cub didn’t like this food and was about to fly away when he heard the group of dwarves yelling that they would go hunting for him. Second Cub hadn’t eaten for a few days and was really hungry, so he stayed behind to see what the dwarves wanted.

So Second Cub stayed for several days, during which the dwarves served him well, hunting in the surrounding forest every day, and some daring ones even tried to brush his neck hair and scales. Later, the dwarves continued to work in the mines, and Second Cub called in a few common dragons to help them work because of the food they prepared for him.

Of course, the dwarves were also responsible for the food and shelter of the common dragons. The dragons were very obedient and docile under Second Cub’s command, and now, it was the scene that Ning Chu saw.

Ning Chu’s eyes gradually glowed as he listened.

Second Cub inadvertently found a way to get rich… Ily said that with the help of the dragon swarm, the ore they usually took a week to mine now only took three days.

Ning Chu said politely, “So the dragons work here, and you provide food and shelter for them?”

He surveyed the surroundings, there were only dwarven beds inside the mine, the dragons probably went outside to find their own place when they rested.

Ily was also a wise man and immediately understood what Ning Chu meant, “Of course! We are grateful for your kindness, but unfortunately, we’re not able to provide more services to you, so all we can offer is a small amount of money… I wonder if Lord Dragon God needs it?”

Second Cub raised his head and yawned, “Aowu”, Ning Chu stroked his neck hair and smiled, “He says he needs it.” 

Ily led Ning Chu to the other side of the rest area and took out two storage rings, “Actually, we prepared these for the Dragon God long ago, but never had the chance…”

In their eyes, how could a dragon accept money? But they were a dwarf clan, the only skills they knew were mining and alchemy, and the only thing they could get their hands on was money.

Ning Chu took the two rings and looked inside, and huffed quietly.

In the Academy’s theory class, they talked about the other races. Dwarves were notoriously stingy, desperate to make money but unable to spend any of it.

Ning Chu tried to suppress the rising corners of his mouth and accepted the ring, “The Dragon God is very satisfied.”

Second Cub gave a dignified “aowu” and raised his head high. Ning Chu went around the mine again, as a supervisor, and bought some meat to feed the dragons in the mine.

At noon, Ily asked him to stay and have dinner with them.

“Thanks, but we have other things to do,” Ning Chu politely declined, “next time we’ll have the chance.”

Fourth Cub and Fifth Cub were still smothered in his clothes, and had just moved several times to get out, only to be held down by Ning Chu. He was quite fond of the dwarves too, but it was better to be more cautious.

Ily expressed his regret and sent Ning Chu to the entrance of the cave together with the other dwarves.

“Goodbye, Lord Dragon God!”

“When will Lord Dragon God come to see us next?”

“Good bye Ning Chu! Human!”

Second Cub returned to his adult form, and Ning Chu climbed up the back of his neck, and heard his name. He turned his head and waved, “Goodbye.”

The dragon turned around at the narrow cave entrance and flew towards the sky.

On the way back, Second Cub’s speed slowed down, and two little green and purple heads emerged from Ning Chu’s arms. Now that there was no one else, Ning Chu took out the storage ring again and did a rough count.

One ring contained at least two thousand purple gold coins, two was four thousand, equal to 40,000 credits. Although there was still a big gap to buy the dragon island, this made Ning Chu think of a new way to earn money.

The dragons were so powerful that it was easy to help the dwarves dig and pull carts in the mines, and they definitely followed the orders of the magic dragons, which was labor. Ning Chu became more and more excited as he thought about it, put away his ring and buried his face into Second Cub’s thick neck hair, “Er Er is great!”

Second Cub heard his praise and flew much faster.

Ning Chu and the three dragon cubs hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so he asked Second Cub to find a place to stop halfway. He bought meat and oat grass from the mall and fed Little Five while saying, “Er Er, let’s go back to the Academy later.”

With the help Second Cub gave him, he really didn’t have to stay at the Academy anymore. But Wuuth and Third Cub were still there, and they were waiting for him to return. Second Cub was a little reluctant, because he hadn’t seen Wuuth and Third Cub for a long time.

He looked up at Fifth Cub, who was eating oat grass in Ning Chu’s arms, and nodded his head.