Victor mounted his horse and looked at Lewis. "We need to find out why the Azure Fire Dragon appeared. There’s no time to lose, my lord. Let’s go."

...

Following the fluctuations of Spiritual Power, they first arrived at the location of Baron and Gawain’s battle. Lewis and Victor recognized Gawain’s combat trail at a glance, but they couldn’t immediately identify who he had been fighting.

Not until Master Michael, who had been specially invited, noticed the traces of Alchemy Bullets nearby and pointed out it was L.

’Did Gawain go after L for revenge?’

The men exchanged glances; this fit the Sun Knight’s personality perfectly.

Thunderbolt said sarcastically, "Looks like our dear Mr. Demon Hunter failed, didn’t he."

"No, L won," Victor said, touching the trunk of a tree in the battle’s impact zone. "Gawain carves a mark where he’s been defeated, so he can return after he becomes victorious."

Thunderbolt’s expression darkened as he looked over. It was true.

"Gawain is an Azure Fire Dragon Knight. Don’t tell me he flew into a rage after losing and accidentally summoned the Azure Fire Dragon?"

Someone in the group of Knights spoke up. Lewis recognized her as the young woman named Galahad.

After hearing Galahad’s words, the Knights, including City Lord Lewis, fell silent for a moment before thinking... it was entirely possible!

At the location where Baron had previously fallen, City Lord Lewis’s team and the Glorious Knight Order, led by Victor, arrived one after another, having detected more Spiritual Power.

Searching the area, they discovered six dead horses.

"Palmer Witch Riders," Lewis said. "It seems they were in a battle as well. Judging from the scene, it’s highly likely an explosion occurred here too."

At this, Lewis’s heart sank.

There were no bodies at the scene, so the outcome of the fight was unclear. But for an opponent to kill the black horses of Silver Mages, their strength had to be at least Silver Tier, conservatively speaking.

The black Master Michael’s nostrils flared. "I can feel the heat of Dragon Flame."

Having worked with fire for many years, he could identify any type of flame by feel alone.

"The Azure Fire Dragon? Did it run into the Palmer Witch Riders?" Lewis asked, his recently calmed heart tensing up again.

If those two sides clashed, it would be a disaster. An Azure Fire Dragon was roughly equivalent to the Silver Tier, and the Palmer Mages were also Silver Tier. Neither side would gain the upper hand quickly.

This conflict had erupted just outside Fude City, and Dragons were known to be extremely vindictive creatures.

"We’ll have to investigate to find out," Master Michael said, his eyes scanning the scene as if searching for something.

Finally, he found a branch that was still a glowing red ember. He picked it up and took an invention called an "Igniter" from his pocket. The device’s principle of operation was to imprison a "Phonograph Monster"—a creature that could only repeat specific syllables—inside it. With each electric shock, the Phonograph Monster would blow out a gust of wind from its specific syllable.

If the shocks were strong and fast enough, the wind would be powerful enough.

Thus, among the Alchemists of the Mechanical School, this "Igniter" had another name: hairdryer.

He then placed a type of liquid metal on the rekindled flame. This was "Memory Metal," which could use its memory to trace a flame back to its most primitive state.

A new invention from the Mechanical School.

The story was that after a series of explosions in the Dongcheng District, the Guard Team would arrive only to find the Alchemists blaming each other, with the true culprit never found. To maintain peace and social stability, City Lord Lewis had threatened the Alchemists with budget cuts until they developed this metal.

Now, as it was heated by the flame, the Memory Metal began to change.

First, a ferocious head appeared...

Everyone’s gaze intensified. It seemed this flame was indeed the work of the Azure Fire Dragon.

Next came wide wings, sprouting from a back covered in hard Dragon Scales. Below the body were four limbs...

Galahad noticed something was wrong. "The Azure Fire Dragon isn’t a Pure-blood Dragon Race. Logically, it shouldn’t have arms; its wings should be in that position..."

Her reminder made everyone else realize it too. After another comparison, they were stunned. Th-th-this... what kind of Dragon was this?

"And the Dragon Claws... You don’t usually count the claws on a Dragon Descendant because they’re hybrid mutations, but according to the scriptures, Dragon subspecies have three claws, and the Pure-blood Dragon Race has four..."

"Logically, the Azure Fire Dragon should have three claws."

Galahad stared at the small dragon formed by the liquid metal, her delicate face filled with gravity. "But this one has five claws."

Five claws... All the knowledge about the Dragon Race they had accumulated in their lifetimes surfaced in their minds.

That could only mean...

"A Dragon King."

Master Michael’s breathing grew ragged.

To put it simply, the Dragon Race was once the ruler of the Prole Continent, and the Dragon King was the ruler of rulers.

The Emperor’s Race—that was what the Elves, Dwarves, and even Giants called the Dragon Race in the history books.

After the Dragon God’s death, the Emperor’s Law should have been divided among the Dragon Kings. Instead, it had somehow fallen into the hands of humans.

This allowed humans to become the Emperor’s Race.

Feinan Country had once nearly unified the Prole Continent precisely because it had received help from the most mysterious Red Dragon—a being not a Dragon King, but of an equal Tier.

Now the Dragon God was dead, a Dragon King had returned, and with the Emperor’s Law in human hands, what the Dragon King would do was self-evident.

Victor said, "We have to report this—"

SHIIING! A blade shot out from a metal prosthesis and pressed against Victor’s heart.

Lewis said, "No, we can’t report it. Until we’ve confirmed the authenticity of this information, no one is to leak a word of this!"

"If it’s a Dragon King, it’ll be too late!" Thunderbolt said. "They’re Golden Tier, possibly even beyond Gold. And how many Golden Tiers are there on the entire Prole Continent..."

Lewis said coldly, "Fude City can be destroyed by a Dragon King, but it will not happen on my watch."

Victor looked at the blade at his heart and said, "Lord City Master, you should know I have a Secret Silver Heart. You can’t kill me."

"But it’s enough to delay you."

Lewis ordered the military officers he had brought to take the Memory Metal and the small, burning branch back.

"Are you afraid of dragging Fude City into this, or are you afraid of losing your current position?" Victor sighed. "Why do you do so much for Fude City, Commander? You’re a Knight of Amel."

"A great fire once destroyed Gawain’s hometown," Lewis said coldly. "That was my failure."

...

’Damn that Witch. Good thing I held back and knew not to get too involved with her. If it weren’t for Ludwig’s badge, it would’ve been game over for me.’

’Next time I see her, don’t blame me for leading the Imperial Army right to her!’

Baron thought viciously. He opened his eyes and saw a black sheep.

His Racial Knight Gene almost acted up, but thankfully, the black sheep just gave him a glance before slowly wandering off to continue grazing.

"Would you care for some flower tea, Lord Constantine?"

The Shepherdess’s words were like an Angel’s chorus heard upon first entering Heaven, instantly putting Baron’s tense heart at ease.

He pushed himself up from the ground and looked at the sky, which was filled with brilliant stars that looked like an oil painting.

The relief of having escaped death filled his chest.

After a moment of silence, Baron said, "I’d like a Coke. Coca-Cola. You got that here?"

The Shepherdess thought for a moment, then shook her head. "The dream cannot create food whose taste I do not know."

"What about a taste that I know?" Baron said. "Since this is a dream, can I create things in here like you do?"

The Shepherdess said, "You could, but given that my lord did not bring back the Dream Master’s viscera this time, and instead brought back a curse of misfortune, I’m afraid I must say no."

’So pragmatic.’

Baron complained inwardly, then, as if remembering something, he asked the Shepherdess, "Since you know I’m carrying a curse of misfortune, can you help me get rid of it?"

’Logically speaking,’ he thought, ’the dream is the Dream Master’s turf. Me bringing the aura of another Law in here is basically like crashing the party... Hmm, though I don’t know if misfortune counts as a Law.’

’As the Dream Master’s servant, she should help me—his subordinate—get some payback to protect her boss’s dignity.’

The Shepherdess shook her head. "I wanted to help you, but the stars of the dream rejected me. They don’t think it’s worth it."

’Hmm... This goes beyond just being pragmatic. This is pure exploitation!’