Garrett had no idea what Evelyn was really thinking.
He simply assumed he had finally gotten through to the young female dragon, and some of the tension left his shoulders.
“It’s like this, Miss Black Dragon. As you can see, this entire area has already been sealed by our magic scroll.”
“There’s no way the two of you can escape now. So instead of making things difficult, why not cooperate and come back with us?”
“I can promise you that neither of you will be harmed.”
“You’re full of crap!” Darrien snarled. “If we go with you, you’ll skin us alive and tear out our tendons!”
“So what if we do? What are you going to do about it?!”
Bruno raised his holy flail and roared as he tried to charge forward.
Garrett immediately grabbed him and dragged him back.
After shooting his companion a furious glare, Garrett turned toward the dragons again and put on an ingratiating smile.
“To tell you the truth, there are others of your kind living within the human kingdoms.”
“They enjoy comforts far beyond anything you could imagine.”
“They’re served only the finest cuts of meat. They even have attendants who regularly massage them and clean their scales.”
“If the two of you cooperate, I can guarantee you’ll receive the same luxurious treatment.”
“Wouldn’t that be better than struggling to hunt for every meal out here?”
Evelyn narrowed her eyes.
She didn’t answer immediately.
Garrett’s expression looked natural enough. He didn’t seem to be lying.
If what he said was true, Evelyn certainly wouldn’t mind becoming the sort of dragon that ate until full and then spent the rest of the day lounging around.
But adventurers had a saying.
Nobody offered that much kindness for free.
Especially not people who had just lost a teammate to you and were somehow still smiling.
The whole situation reminded Evelyn far too much of a crooked slaver sweet-talking someone into signing away their freedom.
“And what’s the price?”
Evelyn lowered her voice.
She didn’t believe in gifts falling from the sky.
If human kingdoms truly treated dragons that well, then those dragons were definitely paying for it somehow.
“The price?”
Garrett’s heart leaped.
She was interested.
If he could avoid a fight, that would obviously be ideal.
It would greatly reduce the danger.
More importantly, a living dragon was worth far more than a dead one.
A dragon could mean a Dragon Rider.
A noble house that could endure for a thousand years.
Those who rode dragons didn’t only ride their dragon partners during the day.
Apparently, some of them rode their dragon partners at night as well.
That had produced countless powerful Dragonblood descendants and continuously strengthened the families involved.
Every noble house with a dragon was a major force within the empire.
And if someone wanted a dragon companion, the best time to form a contract was while it was still a hatchling or young dragon.
At that age, dragons were still weak enough to be forced into submission.
Once they reached adolescence or young adulthood and gained real power, taming them became far more difficult.
If Garrett could bring these two young dragons back alive and offer them to the nobility or royal family, the three surviving adventurers would never have to worry about money again.
The thought made the corner of Garrett’s mouth curl upward.
His smile became increasingly unpleasant.
He looked like an older man trying to lure a little girl somewhere she definitely shouldn’t go.
Evelyn felt every scale on her body crawl.
For one brief moment, she had a very strong urge to kick the creep to death.
When Garrett noticed the young dragon’s patience beginning to run thin, he snapped out of his fantasy.
He wiped the rain from his face.
Then, choosing his words carefully, he began explaining the price of that comfortable life in the most elegant terms he could manage.
After listening to him ramble for a while, Evelyn reduced the entire explanation to something much simpler.
Become a mount for a human noble.
Perhaps to show his sincerity, Garrett didn’t even hide the less pleasant details.
If necessary, the contracted dragon would be expected to fight for the empire.
And there might also be... additional duties at night.
He even offered to swear before a True God if they didn’t believe him.
On this subject, Garrett wasn’t lying at all.
These arrangements were widely known throughout the human kingdoms.
The dragons in question lived so extravagantly that even Silver Rank adventurers envied them.
Sometimes Garrett and the others almost wished they could take the dragons’ place.
So he spoke with absolute confidence.
Evelyn’s expression, meanwhile, grew darker and darker.
Fortunately, her face was covered in black scales, so no one could actually see the change.
If anyone’s doing the riding, shouldn’t I be the one riding somebody else? How did this turn into someone riding me?!
That thought made her deeply uncomfortable.
Then she noticed something even worse.
Darrien’s eyes were getting brighter.
This idiot isn’t actually interested, is he?
According to the Draconic Inheritance, there had indeed been dragons willing to submit to humans and serve as mounts.
The most infamous example was a white dragon known as the White Wyrm.
She had been remarkably good at finding wealthy, elderly mages.
She would deceive them.
Seduce them.
Then willingly become their mount.
Little by little, she extracted their magical knowledge.
Eventually, the old mages died while she remained alive thanks to a dragon’s immense lifespan.
Naturally, she inherited their property.
Using this deeply undignified method, the White Wyrm had outlived three Legendary mages.
The inheritances left behind by those three masters had made her extraordinarily wealthy.
Her combat ability had also grown exponentially after she absorbed vast amounts of magical knowledge.
Despite being a white dragon, she eventually became a notable power even among dragonkind.
But that was the sort of thing a white dragon did.
White dragons were already considered an embarrassment to the rest of dragonkind.
Nothing they did was truly surprising.
So why did Darrien, a black dragon, look like he was seriously considering it?!
To keep her stupid brother from wandering down a very questionable path and developing even stranger tastes, Evelyn slammed a fist into the top of his head.
The blow nearly knocked Darrien flat.
It also physically brought him back to his senses.
A valuable lesson was hammered directly into his skull.
Black dragons did not submit.
Garrett and the others immediately raised their weapons.
They assumed the negotiation had just collapsed.
But the next moment, under their confused stares, Evelyn suddenly began acting again.
One claw clamped Darrien’s jaws shut.
Her tail struck the ground with a heavy thump.
Then she swallowed dramatically, putting on the expression of someone deeply tempted by Garrett’s offer.
Careful not to let any Acid Breath leak between her teeth, she mumbled,
“Fine... We’ll go with you.”
Garrett visibly relaxed.
“Good. It seems we’ve cleared up this unfortunate misunderstanding.”
Behind him, Talia also let out a breath.
The magical energy gathered around her staff dispersed.
Bruno alone still looked furious.
It was obvious he had plenty he wanted to say.
Garrett either didn’t notice or simply didn’t care.
He reached into his Storage Ring and removed a sheet of parchment pulsing with magical energy.
Then he slowly walked toward the two dragons.
“In that case, we should sign a contract first.”
“Under the eyes of the gods, I’m sure this will be the beginning of a wonderful journey.”
Once a contract was sworn before the gods, breaking it would invoke divine punishment unless the violator possessed power on the level of a deity.
Garrett clearly wasn’t stupid.
He was worried the two young dragons might change their minds at the last moment.
Unfortunately for him...
Evelyn had never planned to go anywhere with them.
When Garrett came within five paces, parchment in hand, Evelyn suddenly attacked.
Her jaws opened.
A fully prepared blast of Acid Breath erupted toward him.
“Damn it!”
Garrett reacted quickly.
He threw himself sideways.
His natural caution saved his life, allowing him to narrowly escape the attack.
But the moment he dodged...
Talia, who had been standing directly behind him, was exposed.
Unlike Garrett, the mage wasn’t nearly as agile.
Her pupils widened.
The incoming stream of acid filled her vision.
“AAAAAH!”
Her scream tore through the rainy night.
Talia didn’t even have enough time to cast a magical shield before the Acid Breath engulfed her.
The high-quality mage robes she wore dissolved almost instantly, riddled with holes.
Pale skin vanished beneath the acid, exposing flesh and bone.
Her screams stopped almost as quickly as they began.
Thud.
Her acid-covered corpse collapsed into the rainwater.
In the span of only a few seconds, the adventuring party lost another member.
Evelyn felt no particular guilt about killing a beautiful woman.
Mostly, she just noticed that her throat hurt.
Using Dragon Breath twice in such a short period left it feeling almost raw.