"One whole room full of primordial scrolls is really a bit exaggerated, but I can get you one or two."
"This time you're not just drawing me a big pie, are you?"
"...I'll try my best. If I can't get them, I'll repay you some other way for helping me last time."
'Hope Claudia still has some stock left,' Leon thought secretly.
"Alright, then I'll wait for your good news, Casmodeous."
Leon blinked, then smoothly switched topics, "Speaking of good news, when I came here I saw that a lot of the dragon clans monitoring you have withdrawn. Do you know about that?"
Constantine nodded, "It was only after the human–dragon war was officially declared over that the stationed forces outside gradually withdrew. By now, there should only be one or two small squads left."
"Looks like that guy Alres is convinced he can't get the primordial power from you, so he doesn't want to waste manpower and resources anymore. That's why he pulled his troops back."
Leon said, "And the other dragon kings who wanted to get a share saw that Alres had already withdrawn, so they also felt there was no need to keep wasting effort."
"The relationship between dragon clans is as complicated as you want it to be, but as simple as you want it to be too. In the end, it all just comes down to self-interest."
Constantine slowly said, "Alres was eyeing my primordial power from the very beginning, but luckily you saw he was no good, so at the Dragon Kings' Council you suggested only monitoring my Crimson Flame territory."
"Now the human–dragon war is over, but the internal strife among the dragons hasn't completely stopped. I think that old Alres intends to put more energy into scheming against other clans."
"So he has no time to care about me. Anyway, I'm never handing over the primordial power."
Leon smiled, asking, "You really have confidence you can control such a massive primordial power?"
"When you and I cross hands someday, you'll know."
Constantine paused, then asked, "By the way, about our duel, when exactly will you have time?"
"No time recently. And there's someone before you who wants to spar with me."
"You sure are busy, human brat."
Old Con rolled his eyes, "Who is it?"
"Thunder Dragon King, Odin."
Leon shrugged, "Don't even know why that old man insists on sparring with me. I originally didn't want to agree. But he supported me a lot at the Dragon Kings' Council, helped me quite a bit, so I had no choice but to accept."
Constantine mused for a while, "That old man has always been eccentric. It's normal for him to do anything."
"Mm," Leon stuffed both hands in his pockets, "If there's nothing else, I'll be off."
"No need to say 'off'. You've almost treated my Crimson Flame Dragon Sanctuary as your own home," Old Con said sarcastically.
"Hey now, what're you saying, what're you saying, I'm very polite. Next time should I knock on the door?"
By knock, he meant smashing the gate open with the Crimson Dragon guards.
Constantine shut his eyes, not wanting to bother with this guy.
Leon, of course, didn't embarrass himself further, and turned to leave the sanctuary.
———
Passing through the woods, he returned to the Silver Dragon clan's stationed area.
"Shirley."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Arrange someone to take me to the Sea Dragon clan. Then send a message to Her Majesty the Queen, tell her I might return a day late."
———
If you asked which human had the best popularity among dragon clans, it would undoubtedly be General Leon.
The Silver Dragons didn't even count, his wife and child were there, that was his own home.
The Crimson Flame Dragons let him come and go freely, Old Con couldn't do anything to him.
And as for the Sea Dragons, because of his master and mistress, Claudia also gave him a green light.
Last time he visited the Sea Dragons, Claudia had said that from now on he could come see his master and mistress anytime, no need to overthink it like before.
Of course, that was what she said in private.
On the surface, it was the Sea Dragons and Silver Dragons formally establishing diplomatic ties.
Ambassador Leon Casmodeous once again advanced the great unity of humans and dragons.
Along the way, thinking about how to coax more primordial magic scrolls out of Claudia, Leon arrived at the Sea Dragons' waters a few hours later.
Still that small island suitable for landing. Leon waited a bit there, and soon a blue flood dragon broke the sea surface.
It was a "security guard" of the Sea Dragons.
"Prince of Silver Dragons, welcome to Atlantis as our guest."
The sea where the Sea Dragons lived was called 'Atlantis', one of the few dragon territories that had a proper name.
"Mm, I'm here to see Princess Claudia."
"Alright, Your Highness, please follow me."
To reach Atlantis's underwater sanctuary, one had to be guided by a Sea Dragon, otherwise no living being could withstand the ocean pressure. Instantly crushed into a puddle of blood.
"You wait here, won't take long," Leon instructed the Silver Dragon guard who had escorted him here.
The guard nodded, "Yes, Your Highness."
With that, Leon followed the Sea Dragon and dove into the sea.
This wasn't his first time traveling in the deep sea, so Leon was fairly used to that gradually suffocating feeling.
After adjusting a little, he quickly adapted.
About twenty minutes later, he arrived at the Sea Dragons' sanctuary entrance.
"I already notified the attendants inside via message-flood dragon. Someone will receive you shortly."
"Alright, thank you."
"No trouble, Your Highness, please feel free."
With those words, the Sea Dragon guard bowed and left the entrance.
On land, dragons used message-dragons as "communication tools". In the sea, they used creatures called 'message-flood dragons'.
'Seems like wherever you go, the delivery and courier business is thriving.'
Not long after, the sanctuary gates slowly opened, and a Sea Dragon maid walked out, leading Leon inside.
Entering the hall, Leon looked up. At the throne above, Claudia was working at her desk.
That serious, focused look was really quite like Rossweisse.
"Sorry to interrupt, Senior," Leon said.
Only then did Claudia set down the pile of work papers in her hands, exhaling in relief. She brushed the hair beside her ear, lifted her gaze to Leon, "Come to visit your master and mistress?"
Leon nodded, then paused, adding, "Actually, there's another matter I'd like to ask Senior for help with."
The beautiful woman raised a brow, chuckled, "I knew you brat wouldn't come to my hall for nothing."
Saying so, Claudia slowly rose, smoothed the wrinkles in her skirt, then stepped down the dais, standing before Leon, "Whatever it is, talk about it later. Let's go see those two first."
"Alright."
The two left the hall and went to the living quarters.
Arriving at his master and mistress's room, Leon pushed the door open.
As soon as he entered, Leon was about to greet them, mouth already open.
But what he saw stopped him mid-sentence.
Master was bare-chested, lying on the floor. His body was old, but the muscles were still clearly defined.
Meanwhile, Mistress was sitting carefully on his back, nervously watching her old man.
The geezer really wasn't old at heart. At his age, having just walked back from the gates of death, he was still doing push-ups with Mistress on his back.
And if Leon remembered right, dragon bones had far higher density than human bones.
Which meant, though Mistress looked under a hundred jin, in reality she weighed one-fifty or even more.
Drip! Drip!
Sweat fell from Master's chin, drop by drop onto the floor.
"Two hundred... thirty... one!"
"Two hundred... thirty-two!"
Just as he was about to hit two hundred thirty-three, a pair of shoes appeared in Master's view.
Leon crouched down, "Training, Master?"
"Leon, talk some sense into your Master, he insists on this recovery training, even making me cooperate with him," Mistress Charlotte, sitting on his back, said worriedly.
"Heh, Mistress, you've been married to this stubborn old man more than a day or two, don't you know him yet?"
Leon said, "If he sets himself a push-up count, he won't stop until he finishes. Two hundred thirty-two already, Master. Hw many did you set this time?"
"F-five hundred...", Mistress answered.
"Then you'd better get up, old man."
Five hundred weighted push-ups were indeed overload for Master right now.
Leon quickly helped him up, sitting him down on the bed.
Master was panting heavily, sweat pouring down.
Mistress handed him a towel, Master took it and wiped his forehead.
"So what brings you here all of a sudden, brat?"
"If I didn't come, your back would've snapped. Dragons only have Heart-Protecting Scales, not Back-Protecting Scales, right?"
The old man rolled his eyes at him, "Smart mouth. Out with it."
As master and disciple chatted, Charlotte had prepared two cups of tea and set them down.
Then she went aside with her sister Claudia, and the two started talking.
"It's like this, Master, the human–dragon war is fully over, but there's one dragon king who had colluded with the Empire, and I still haven't found his whereabouts...", Leon then explained his suspicions about Adam and Shadow.
Actually, coming to the Sea Dragons wasn't just to get primordial scrolls for Old Con. Another reason was that Leon wanted to ask Master's opinion about Shadow.
After all, Master and Rebecca had lived in the Empire for quite a while. Even though they exchanged information with Leon every three months, something must have slipped through.
That's why Leon came to try his luck, to see if he could make a breakthrough.
"Hmm... so, this 'Lord Shadow' is very likely the true mastermind behind the Empire?"
Master frowned in thought, "But when I investigated the Empire back then, I never heard of such a person."
Leon scratched his hair, troubled, "But since Queen Elizabeth turned to him when she had no way out, he must have some deep ties with the Empire. Yet why does it seem like he never existed at all..."
Master stroked his chin, continuing to think.
After a while, the old man slapped his thigh, "Right, brat, remember I told you before. After Kant took office, the Empire's ruling style wasn't much different from the previous king's era?"
Leon nodded, "Of course I remember."
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