Make the dragon great again

Chapter 4
The Great Mullin Forest is bordered by the Roaring Mountains in the west, connected with the largest swamp on the mainland in the south, and connected with many Gaia kingdoms in the east and north.

Among the several kingdoms of the Gaia species that are connected to the Great Forest of Murion, the Kingdom of Behemoth, located in the northeast, and the Duchy of Griffin, located in the east, are the two countries with the strongest power and the largest territory. , and both are human kingdoms.

One is a kingdom and the other is a principality. It seems that the class of Behemoth is higher than that of Griffin, but in fact they have different origins, and there is no legal feudal relationship between them.

The Kingdom of Bechymos existed as early as the Second Era, and it is one of the few existing countries on this continent. It was the period when the Gaia species began to open up the country in the Second Era. The ancestors of Bechymos passed through blood The baptism of fire, one of the primitive kingdoms of the human race, has a very high gold content;

The Duchy of Griffin, on the other hand, was established after the third era, and it was developed from the fiefs of nobles entrusted by a certain kingdom. , but now extinct ancient human kingdom enfeoffment.

It can be said that whether it is due to the hatred between the former suzerain country and Bechymos, or the inevitable conflicts caused by the intersection of the two countries' borders, the relationship between Griffin and Bechymos is very good. Difficult to develop friendly diplomatic relations.

The two countries have managed to maintain peace for a hundred years. Last year, the first princess of Bechymos, Anastasia, returned from the mainland's easternmost Mage Dominion "High Tower Forest" and passed through Griffin. Gryffinto, the principality's capital, ended in conflict with the country's heir to the Grand Duke. (Note 1)

On the grounds that the Behemoth royal family insulted the crown prince of the country, the Grand Duke Griffin launched a "revenge" war without warning in the month of planting in 3362 of the third era, which is the beginning of this year. The war has lasted for three years. month time...

……

The town of Llandnor, located on the west side of the battle line, beside the Great Mullin Forest, was the only town where Behemoth could still maintain order on the front line.

Of course, it may be that Griffin thought that this town where only adventurers were active was worthless, so he ignored it...

On this day, a group of adventurers walked out of the Great Mullin Forest and returned to Rannord Town.

"... Harmful! It is said to be a war of revenge, but this is actually a war of aggression launched by Grand Duke Griffin with an excuse! Everyone knows that what the Grand Dukes of Griffin most wanted to do was to upgrade the Principality of Griffin to a kingdom. The war of foreign aggression must be for this!"

A middle-aged adventurer with a big beard was talking boastfully to a white-haired half-elf youth who looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old.

Behind the two, another adventurer in his thirties made fun of him:

"Haha, young man, just listen to what old Sam said. It's not very useful. It's better to be honest and complete a few more commissions."

Other adventurers around also joined in, and the team was filled with joy for a while.

Old Sam glared at them, and said:

"You idiots, you only know how to do tasks during the day and drink at night, what will you do in the future!"

"But old Sam, you care about these things every day, but now that you are getting old, you still have a black iron nameplate. That kid Karen only has monsters in his eyes. I heard that he has recently become a silver adventurer."

Old Sam was choked and speechless.

The white-haired half-elf young man was wearing a simple adventurer outfit that didn't fit well. Seeing this, he smiled and rescued the old adventurer who wanted to help him:
"I think that Old Sam is still full of enthusiasm for new things at this age. This is a very rare quality, and we should learn from him."

Old Sam laughed loudly, patted the young man on the shoulder, and said:
"Haha, Ed, you really are a good boy! Old Sam, I've lived for almost 50 years. I haven't seen many people who are as smart and humble as you at your age."

The white-haired half-elf youth Ed, is naturally the white dragon Adrian who has transformed into a half-elf form using the innate perfect shapeshifting technique.

Regarding Old Sam's praise, Adrian was humble again.

At this time, an adventurer who was in charge of exploring the road ahead suddenly stopped and said:

"Wait, something is wrong!"

"What's the matter, Jack?"

Old Sam wanted to brag about his youthful adventures with Ed, but after what happened, he still didn't forget that he was the captain of the team.

The adventurer named Jack said:
"We have already entered the outskirts of Rannord Town, and it's morning again. In the past, when we came here at this time, we could already see adventurers entering and leaving the forest nearby. Never met before!"

"It's really strange to say that..."

However, before Old Sam gave instructions, there was the sound of horses running ahead, and they approached quickly.

"Be alert! The other party has horses, and the vegetation around here is not dense, let's fence it up first!"

Without old Sam's instructions, the companions had already raised their weapons and shields, guarding against the unknown figure approaching quickly ahead.

"Ed, here is the short sword for you. If there is a battle, you should hide behind and protect yourself!"

Old Sam threw a pig iron dagger to Adrian, and then walked to the front of the team, confronting the dozen or so horsemen who had come ten meters away.

Adrian took the dagger, and through the instinctive perception of elemental magic power, after confirming that the people in front were very "weak", he silently made the decision "in case of an accident, help a group of old Sam and the others".

Soon, more than a dozen horsemen dressed as robbers surrounded the adventurer team with less than ten people. When they saw that the weapons in the hands of these people were standard long swords of uniform specifications, the surrounded adventurers Everyone became more and more nervous.

A young man who seemed to be the leader came to Old Sam on a coquettish white horse, and said in a very formal but unfriendly tone:

"Ahem, everyone, we are robbers on this road, that, as long as we check your identities, we promise not to hurt you."

Hearing the young man's words, Old Sam's expression changed slightly, but then he put on a flattering gesture and said with a smile:

"My noble young master, we are all just ordinary adventurers, if you have any request, just tell us, we will definitely help if we can!"

The young man turned pale with fright, and while checking the "robber" costume on his body, he said, "You, how do you know my identity?"

Old Sam continued with a smile and said: "Your weapons are fine iron long swords of the kingdom standard. Generally, adventurers and robbers will not use this kind of weapon at all. Besides, robbers will not speak so politely to their robbery targets, and..."

"And what?" The young man's face was a little ugly at this time.

"Besides, how can there be a robber who does not rob property but only checks identity?" It was not old Sam who answered, but a middle-aged knight behind the young man.

The young man was flushed. "Mr. Kane, I..."

The middle-aged knight named Kane shook his head and said, "Master, please remember this experience, and don't make such a mistake again in the future."

The young man nodded quickly, Kane turned to look at Old Sam and the others, and said:

"These people seem to have just come out of the forest, and I'm afraid they don't have the information we want, but they have already guessed about the identity of the young master. Hiding identity..."

When Kane said this, the other knights clenched their swords tightly, posing to attack at any time.

"Wait a minute! We will never say anything, and we will never ruin the noble lord's affairs..."

Old Sam explained anxiously, but obviously the other party didn't mean to let them go.

"Only the dead can keep secrets!"

The horses neighed, and a dozen knights approached the besieged adventurers in groups of two and two under Kane's order.

Old Sam regretted that he hadn't fled before the other party surrounded him, but when he saw the other party's dozens of healthy horses and a large area of ​​plains with sparse vegetation nearby, he felt that even if he tried to escape, he would probably be scattered by the other party.

Seeing that the other party didn't mean to be kind, Old Sam gritted his teeth and said:
"Guys, we're fighting them! Watch out for attacks and snatching horses!"

Kane looked at these adventurers with contempt, pulled out a short staff from his arms, and chanted a magic spell in Elvish.

"Tier [-] Earth Magic, Ring of Earth Elements!"

A circle of khaki halo quickly spread, and added a layer of faint elemental protection aura to all the knights and horses that came into contact with it.

"We can't win against a magician who can use Tier [-] magic..." The two professional adventurers in the team were somewhat desperate at this moment.

Old Sam's face was also very ugly. The other party specially cast magic to protect the horse, obviously aiming at the countermeasures he just publicly stated...

At this time, Adrian, who was standing in the center of the adventurer holding a dagger, let go of his magic perception and was silently feeling the intensity of this so-called second-level magic.

"This level of magic can't even compare to the turbulent flow of elements that I disturbed when I was a young dragon... Is this the so-called second-level magic?"

Adrian was a little disappointed, but he also felt that this situation was reasonable.

Through the information from the three adventurers who broke into the dungeon before, as well as the half-day communication with Old Sam and others, Adrian already had a vague impression of the strength division of the superhumans of the Gaia species.

From low to high, they are: Brass, Iron, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Hero.

Although he doesn't know what the specific criteria are, but he knows that the only criterion for the level of "hero" is: the ability to cast fourth-level magic or combat skills.

As for Adrian, who has just reached the young dragon rank, his current strength is roughly comparable to that of a "hero", that is to say, he is equivalent to a Gaia superhuman who can perform fourth-level magic or combat skills.

Therefore, a second-level magic is not as good as Adrian's innate instinct in his childhood, which is indeed reasonable...

At this time, the dozen or so aristocratic knights disguised as robbers had already launched a short-range charge against the adventurers relying on the protection provided by magic.

Although the adventurers were ready to fight to the death at this time, they couldn't hold back the opponent, who was far more numerous than them, and also had a magician who could cast second-level magic as support, so they collapsed at the touch of a button, and the simple formation It was quickly cut into several pieces.

Adrian, who was originally surrounded by adventurers, was also exposed to the blades of the cavalry.

"Ed, run!"

When the situation was critical, Old Sam did not forget to remind the half-elf youth "Ed" who was "scared by the noble knight".

Hearing Old Sam's words, Adrian finally recovered from his thoughts.

Seeing a disguised robber sprinting towards him with a sword in front of him, Adrian thought to himself:

"Old Sam is not bad. This time they seem to be implicated innocently. For the sake of providing information, help them if you can!"

Just as he was thinking, the noble cavalryman had rushed to his side, and the long sword swung over and slashed at his body.

Seeing this, Old Sam thought that the ending could not be changed, and he could only feel sorry for this humble and inquiring young man.

However, the scene of flying flesh and blood that everyone expected did not appear.

Ping!
There was a crisp sound of metal colliding, and then the blade of the half-truncated sword drew a silver-white arc in midair, and finally fell to the ground.

The horse under the knight's crotch ran forward for a certain distance according to the inertia, and then stopped under the rein of the master.

Looking at the long sword in his hand, and then at the motionless white-haired boy behind him, the disguised robber was a little dazed for a while.

Under the amazed eyes of all the people who saw this scene, Adrian reached out and touched the cut cut on the clothes, and after finding that there was not even a single scratch on the skin, he sighed with some disinterest, and said:
"Hey... I just came out to inquire about the news, and I didn't even think about causing trouble."

After all, Adrian's pair of golden pupils began to enlarge, and a dark vertical line was slightly opened in each of them, resembling his pair of vertical pupils in the form of a dragon.

Adrian added in his heart:
If the robbery hit the head of the giant dragon, it is also considered unlucky for you!

……

To be continued.

Note 1: [Titles of the heirs of princes and dukes]

For various kingdoms and duchies in Europe, we generally call their heirs "princes" and "princesses", but if we do some research, such general names are actually not accurate;
The first heir of the kingdom will automatically have the title of Grand Duke (Duke), whether it is a Prince (Prince) or a Princess (Princess), they are directly called a certain Grand Duke (not all dukes can be called a Grand Duke, only the Crown Prince and Principality monarch can), the title is Crown Prince (Crown Prince/Princess);
The children of the king who are not the first heir, in addition to the title of prince and princess, unless they are canonized by the king, they only have the title of Lord (Lord, the lowest level of title, also known as Baron);

The first successor of the Principality automatically has the title of Marquis/Marquess, while the non-first successor also only has the title of Lord (Lord), but does not have titles such as prince and princess.

As for why some European countries are principalities in reality, but the grand duke's children also have the title of prince and princess, it is because these principalities are often part of the royal family that was split from a certain kingdom, so they legally have the right to inherit that kingdom, so Obtained the title of Prince and Princess;

But in fact, these duchies have been independent for a long time, and they have no intention of forming a kingdom with each other at all. Therefore, although everyone can use the title of prince and princess, no one can become the crown prince...

By the way, in China, "Princess" and "Wang Nu (Wang Ji)" are actually not the same thing. "Wang Nu" refers to status, while "Princess" is a title. Unmarried or prematurely died Wang Daughter will not be regarded as Awarded the title of princess.

Of course, the actual situation will be more complicated, but I will not talk nonsense here. In this book, I will directly divide the titles of the heirs of the empire, kingdom, and duchy for easy understanding.

……

(Seek for collection, ask for recommendation tickets, ask for investment in new books!!)
(End of this chapter)