Under the Red Dragon

Sunlight streamed down from the crystal dome of the castle, inlaid with various gems, illuminating the entire hall of Dragon Keep. The red dragon sprawled lazily, limbs outstretched, like a cat cooling off in summer, lying on the smooth floor.

His broad wings spread out like curtains, dominating the entire view of the hall. The black stone throne, towering at the back of the hall, seemed less astonishing in comparison.

Occasionally, the flame patterns on the red dragon's wings would flicker with sparks, reflecting his massive, robust form on the dark, shiny floor.

The Dragon King's Keep, built over years, was finally completed. During the day, Kalon would spend most of his time in this keep, just as mortal emperors would stay in their palaces.

Kalon's fearsome and majestic head rested on the ground, enjoying a rare moment of coolness and leisure.

To his left, a beautiful and voluptuous elven maid, wearing a hip-length floral dress, sat with her fleshy, long legs folded, holding a huge silver platter carved with exquisite patterns.

The silver platter held various fruits: chilled slices of watermelon, cultivated specialty lychees, plump crystal grapes, fragrant oranges, and more.

These fruits were being fed to the red dragon, who was enjoying his lordly life, by the slender and delicate fingers of the elven maid.

Kalon didn't like fruits that needed peeling, but if he didn't have to do it himself, he liked all fruits.

Several other equally beautiful but slender or uniquely charming elven maids were barefoot and kneeling on the red dragon's body, wiping his scales with fine silk cloths, and then using brushes specially made for dragons to scrub the skin between his scales.

This sensation was like a massage for the dragon, making Kalon squint his eyes comfortably.

Several equally beautiful human maids were constantly adding desserts to the dragon's fruit platter, or taking care of the rooms in the huge castle, including the bedrooms and studies, performing daily cleaning, wiping, and maintenance.

These human maids, like the elven maids, were all beautiful and had their own unique characteristics.

Some were known for their pair of clean, slender, and beautiful hands, some for their jade-like skin, and some for their delicate, pink, and beautiful feet.

Some were known for the charm that swayed unintentionally as they walked, and some for their naturally alluring eyes, not the kind who deliberately posed and flirted.

From this, it was clear that Kalon understood the aesthetics of dragons. The difference was that Kalon, compared to other dragons, paid more attention to discovering the beauty of different characteristics.

Kalon never concealed himself; he faced his nature frankly. Besides the red dragon's love for beauty, he also had a certain collector's habit.

This could be seen from some of his behaviors; he always liked to collect different types of things he took a fancy to in order to satisfy himself.

However, despite having added a batch of maids, it was difficult to complete the huge task of managing the dragon keep with only twenty maids, as the castle was built too vast, with the goal of providing a place for the dragon to live and rest.

Therefore, the maintenance of most parts of the castle still relied on a large number of kobolds; the daily maintenance of this castle alone required two hundred kobolds to complete.

These maids were mainly equivalent to the red dragon's personal maids, providing the red dragon with the luxurious life of a lord and taking care of the red dragon's daily life.

This included ordering the halflings in the kitchen to make huge dinners according to the dragon's set recipes, and delivering snacks, fruits, hot tea, and desserts at regular times.

They were also responsible for delivering messages, conveying the dragon's will and instructions to the dragon's family and various departments and institutions in the territory, and summoning the targets the dragon wanted to summon.

Currently, the human maid Charlize was in charge of managing these maids and was appointed as the maid officer by Kalon.

Charlize was the daughter of an earl. Due to defeat in the war, the remaining women and children of the entire family were captured and sold as slaves to the dragon territory.

As they were nobles with knowledge and etiquette, these slaves were quite expensive.

Coincidentally, the governor of the Golden City, the ogre giant Fafna, knew that the dragon needed attendants, so she spent a high price to buy these slaves and sent them to the royal castle for Kalon to choose.

In fact, it was a common practice for many noble lords to have noble girls who were familiar with etiquette serve as maid officers.

Moreover, now that the Northland was experiencing the disintegration of the Catai Empire, those nobles who were originally in cooperative relations had begun to fight each other for their own interests and expansion desires.

Especially since the High Mage Association, whose status was quite detached, had gradually shifted its focus to the dragon territory and started full cooperation with the dragon, the conflicts between the various noble lords in the North Continent had intensified. Three earls and several barons' territories had been successively annexed, and their families had also declined as a result.

Therefore, there were also many people who migrated to the dragon territory to escape the war, and the number of these people once exceeded the number of slave trades in the dragon territory, resulting in those human residents in the dragon territory also becoming one of the main races, second only to the most numerous elves.

The female officer Charlize was training other maids in the back garden of the royal castle on etiquette and dress requirements, while the ogre giant Fafna was temporarily replacing the female officer who was temporarily unfamiliar with the territory's situation, kneeling on the other side of the red dragon, sitting opposite the elven maid who was feeding the red dragon.

Although the ogre giant Fafna was still wearing the same bold and cool gauze in front of the red dragon as in the past, showing off her figure advantages, she seemed a little conservative compared to the maid uniforms that the red dragon specially customized for her maids.

At this time, Fafna was holding note paper and books, and gently telling some things that Kalon wanted to know and needed to know.

"The dragon business group hosted by the goblin Bling has reported the revenue of various industries last year. According to its statistics, the cultural industry roughly maintained a balance of payments last year,"

Fafna twirled the note paper in her left hand and spoke in her soft voice. Her plump legs supported the red dragon's left claw, and her right hand gently tapped the red dragon's strong muscles, relaxing her master.

"But in other industries, the income is very rich. Among them, the salt and iron ore have the most profit, accounting for about half of the total profit, which is higher than the profit brought by the gold, gems, and various rare minerals produced in the dragon territory."

Kalon nodded with his eyes slightly narrowed. In the early stage of the territory's creation, a salt and iron monopoly system was adopted. He could foresee that these two important basic resources would bring huge benefits to the territory after the development rights were taken back by the territory.

Fafna told the income of other various industries one by one, and finally added,

"The goblin Bling heard that a major festival is coming to the territory. He has led the hired fleet with the income and is preparing to set off from Barbey Port in the central continent to congratulate you. He also applied to the territory for some powerful guards to protect your property to arrive in the territory smoothly."

"Yes," Kalon finally spoke. The dragon's unique voice echoed in the wide hall, "A team of flying dragon knights and elite battle groups can be sent to protect them. You can arrange a suitable position for it at the celebration then!"

Fafna nodded lightly, picked up the quill pen in her left hand, and quickly recorded the master's request.

"Also, although the goblin Bling is loyal enough, the dragon territory cannot completely rely on one business group. It needs some motivation and a sense of crisis,"

Kalon's half-closed eyes flashed with a wisdom called political creature, "You have to pick out a few capable guys, preferably humans, and let them reorganize the business group,"

"There will be more and more industries in the territory, let them be responsible for other industries, and also allow them to participate in the industries originally operated by the goblin Bling."

"Yes, master," the giant ogre Fafna gently moved her long legs that were a little sore. Even if it was just one of the red dragon's arms, it felt a little heavy to the giant ogre after being placed for a long time.

"How is the financial revenue and expenditure in the territory," Kalon did not take back his claws, he was too lazy to move and enjoyed the touch.

"Because some taxes in the early stage were not well formulated, resulting in the territory losing a part of the income, but the territory's output income and taxes are enough to support the territory's development and construction, and there is no need to withdraw wealth from the dragon treasury to support it,"

Fafna introduced extremely seriously, "Now the various noble lords in the North Continent that were split from the Catai Empire are actively preparing for war, and some areas are fighting inextricably, so the territory's weapon business is particularly hot,"

"Also, thanks to the cultivation of those elven druids, the horses produced are very popular in the northern countries, and the income of the beast garden has exceeded the expenditure by nearly fifteen times,"

"If it weren't for some newly launched basic industries, such as shipyards and metallurgical plants, which must be developed, and the Ministry of Finance has allocated 100,000 gold coins, the territory would have been considered a great harvest this year."

"According to regulations, after deducting the welfare benefits distributed to officials at all levels in the territory at the end of the year, there is still a considerable part of the income left. I have submitted the relevant documents to Lord Gemot for review,"

Fafna did not withdraw her long legs like water-润 jade, but instead lifted the red dragon's claws to her thighs.

"Well, just keep half of this part of the income and inject it into the financial department's capital reserve. Extract the other half of the income, I have a use for it."

Kalon opened his mouth, swallowed a piece of honey fruit handed over by the elven maid next to him, chewed his mouth, and said vaguely.

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I don't know if it's because females are always more careful than careless males, Kalon found that Fafna is extremely good at financial management and overall planning.

Since Fafna's soul has long been controlled by the red dragon, the red dragon also appointed Fafna as the private financial officer in charge of the specific income and expenditure of the dragon treasury, not the official financial officer in the territory.

And the responsibility of managing the Golden Land has also been gradually transferred by Fafna to the hardworking model blue dragon Akz, this teenage dragon has been stationed in the sea area all year round, and is a blue dragon who is relatively good at managing the territory, it is time to add a burden to him.

Fafna also reported the handling of the dragonborn werewolf Saha to Kalon.

Although Kalon had already received Saha's report, now that the territory has embarked on the right track, the handling of some things has become slightly more procedural and cumbersome.

"How about this, let these werewolves stay in my laboratory for a few days first, and they will be very honest when they come out,"

"In the future, let Saha manage them. Although Saha will still retain the title of commander of the Imperial Guard, this werewolf's love of war is not suitable for staying in the Imperial Guard,"

Kalon pondered slightly, he said: "In the future, not only will the territory have comprehensive military power on land, sea, and air, but it will also have some battle groups that can fight in special environments. Let Saha apply to the military department and let him create a night walker battle group."

"Let him lead this battle group. Those werewolves are stronger warriors at night than gnolls. They are the darlings of the night and the moon, and they will also become my dependents!"

Fafna was obviously more active than before, and joy appeared on her soft face. Being able to participate in the announcement and implementation of such territorial decisions meant that her efforts had been recognized by the red dragon, and she had begun to be given real trust by Kalon.

Fafna's fist falling on the red dragon's arm muscles was much faster, she wrote down Kalon's request, and then reported the follow-up processing of the lich.

Compared to the female officer Charlize, who was not familiar enough with the territory's affairs and completed the relevant affairs handover, the giant ogre at this time was more like the red dragon's personal maid.

"The lich has signed a contract, and he will be assigned to various places in the dragon territory, leading the patched-up skeleton army to develop rivers, build canals, and build ditches and water conservancy according to the planning and requirements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,"

"However, he requested to expand the skeleton army to about a thousand. He said that the 300 skeleton undead stipulated by the territory are too few to bear such a heavy task."

Fafna smiled, "And he also protested, saying that as a lich who exists as a great miracle, he should not be chained to the Hall of Valor as a gravekeeper during the day like a dog, and he has to continue to come out to work at night,"

"He also said that the dragon even wants to squeeze a few taels of oil from the bones, but is unwilling to give him good treatment, anyway, this lich is always complaining."

"There is no need to report such small things to me in the future, let Gemot and the others handle it," Kalon chewed the whole peeled watermelon handed over by the elven maid, the bursting juice filled the entire oral cavity like thick blood, he said indifferently.

As long as he can get actual benefits, it doesn't matter if others complain a few words. As for improving treatment, Kalon would be good enough not to burn the lich into ashes with a dragon fire. The lich can survive thanks to Kalon's black heart that should be hung on a street lamp.

"By the way, master, there is another more important message, maybe you will be interested," Fafna opened the note paper, this is a message from the intelligence personnel sent out by the dragon business group following the goblin Bling, and was specially marked with thick red ink.

"Say," Kalon enjoyed the service of the elven maid gently wiping the watermelon juice splashed on the corner of his mouth with a silk scarf, and said.

"The crimson mother, Dixilis, entrenched in the barren volcanic zone of the southern continent, this middle-aged red dragon who likes to pick up the dragon eggs left by other dragons, raise them into cubs, and then resell them to other races,"

"Because she stole a silver dragon's egg, she was beaten up by the silver dragon. The crimson mother Dixilis injured the silver dragon, but was besieged by a dragon-slaying team and metal dragons gathered by the adult silver dragon, and fell in the depths of the barren volcanic zone, in front of her nest."

Karon couldn't help but retract his claws from Fafna's soft thigh, covering his forehead with his hand.

Even knowing the nature of Red Dragons, Karon couldn't help but feel helpless and shocked by the bizarre actions of his kin.

The Chromatic Dragons were already in a weak position in the world of Ikania, yet this adult female Red Dragon dared to provoke the Silver Dragons who grouped together; this was a behavior that Karon, with his rationality, could never understand.

But if it weren't for the chaotic and unpredictable behavior of these Chromatic Dragons, the Chromatic Dragons in the Southern and Central continents wouldn't have almost disappeared.

The Red Dragons, being at the top of the Chromatic Dragon hierarchy, were almost extinct in these civilized worlds.

Only the Green Dragons and Black Dragons, who were good at hiding, could still survive and reign in the wilderness, while the Blue Dragons, who valued order, had a relatively prosperous family.

Oh, and I forgot about the White Dragons.

This unlucky dragon species, no matter where they hide, will always have dragon slayers coming to their door, but because they are far enough away from the civilized world, they have survived in greater numbers.

"Forget it, the only thing I'm interested in this news is the treasure that the adult Red Dragon, Dicris, left in her lair, what a pity!"

Karon turned to look out of the window in the main hall on the first floor, layers of clouds floated with the wind.

Being in the Dragon Fort at the top of the high mountain, Karon suddenly felt a sense of loneliness at the top.