Sementara ordo-ordo keagamaan dan Kerajaan Arkrest sengit berdebat soal cara menangani Menara Caravis, Desa Bern sudah lebih dulu mengembangkan area di sekitarnya dengan asumsi menara itu akan dimanfaatkan.
Tanah di antara dua lapis tembok pertahanan yang mengelilingi Menara Caravis diratakan untuk membangun pangkalan bagi para petualang menyelidiki bagian dalam menara. Pondasi penginapan, restoran, dan kuil pun sudah mulai dibangun—semua itu kelak dibutuhkan di masa depan.
Bangsawan dan pedagang beserta anak buahnya yang selama ini datang ke Desa Bern dengan nama dan identitas palsu, serta para petualang yang bermimpi cepat kaya di desa itu, mulai bersemangat ketika penguasa Desa Bern mulai bergerak. Itu meyakinkan mereka bahwa naluri mereka untuk datang ke sini memang benar.
Mereka belum mendapat informasi pasti apa pun, namun rombongan aneh yang dipimpin inspektur dari Galois itu sedang menuju tanah kegelapan.
Orang-orang yang berbau tajam diperintahkan Christina agar tidak membiarkan mereka memasuki tanah kegelapan—tetapi karena dia tidak pandai memberi perintah, ia nyaris memohon ketimbang memerintah—sehingga prajurit-prajurit yang dikerahkan Baran menuruti perintahnya dan mengembalikan mereka ke desa.
Sebagian mampu lolos dari pandangan para prajurit dan melanjutkan perjalanan, tetapi mereka yang cukup jago untuk melakukan itu ditangkap oleh golem milik Dran, lalu segera ditahan dan dikembalikan kepada para prajurit.
Perluasan tembok pertahanan yang melindungi Desa Bern, perawatan jalan menuju Desa Clauze, negosiasi harian dengan kantor gubernur jenderal Galois untuk memperluas wilayah hingga ke Galois, penanganan petualang yang ditangkap elf karena masuk Hutan Ente tanpa izin, serta serangan sesekali dari Merle yang selalu ikut mengawal Amria, Yachiyo, dan Fuuko dengan alasan menjadi penjaga mereka—semua itu harus diurus…
Di samping itu, Christina dan Dran serta yang lainnya sibuk siang malam mengurus pemanfaatan rawa di barat laut Desa Bern, berunding dengan suku Bangsa Kadal yang tinggal di sana, juga berunding dengan Kaisar Naga Air Wedro, pemimpin para Naiad Danau di Pegunungan Mores, dan dengan Oxis, Kaisar Naga Angin yang menangani para wyvern.
Jumlah orang yang mengurus wilayah Baroni Bern memang sedikit, tetapi karena diisi kelompok orang-orang berbakat dan kuat yang mampu begadang beberapa malam berturut-turut tanpa masalah, mereka sanggup menjalankan tugasnya tanpa satu pun lingkaran hitam muncul di bawah mata mereka.
Wilayah lain yang mencoba hal serupa dengan jumlah orang yang sama pasti sudah tumbang satu demi satu akibat kelelahan kerja.
Di tengah semua pekerjaan yang menimpa mereka seperti longsor salju, negosiasi dengan para naga di Pegunungan Mores tertunda karena keadaan dari pihak naga.
Seperti yang sudah berkali-kali dikatakan Dran, Bangsa Naga yang kini hidup di planet ini berada di tekanan luar biasa besar, dan tidak punya waktu maupun mental untuk ikut campur dengan spesies lain.
Ya, ini semua karena kedatangan Naga Surgawi Kuno: Tujuh Naga Asal dan para Naga Ilahi, termasuk Dran.
Di zaman purba, ketika Dran masih berada di bumi sebagai Naga Surgawi Kuno, Bangsa Naga yang setara kekuatannya dengan para Dewa telah pindah ke Alam Naga. Sejak itu, pertemuan dengan saudara-saudara mereka yang tersisa di bumi menjadi sangat jarang, sehingga kejutan bagi Bangsa Naga yang tertinggal di bumi sungguh besar ketika mereka diberitahu hal ini.
Tiga Kaisar Naga Langit, Tiga Kaisar Naga Kekaisaran, beserta keturunan langsung mereka—para anaknya—sudah pernah bertemu dan berbincang dengan Dran, baik dalam wujud Naga maupun wujudnya yang sekarang, sehingga mereka berhasil kebal terhadap guncangan itu. Namun hal yang sama tidak berlaku bagi Bangsa Naga lainnya.
Akibatnya, spesies terkuat di bumi—baik Langit maupun Kekaisaran, api, air, angin, atau petir—semuanya melakukan migrasi massal tanpa preseden. Manusia dan makhluk lain yang tinggal di sepanjang jalur migrasi itu panik, mengira itu pertanda bencana alam.
Sementara sebagian dunia dilanda kehebohan dan kegaduhan, di enam pangkalan Tiga Kaisar Naga Langit dan Tiga Kaisar Naga Kekaisaran, Bangsa Naga tak terhitung jumlahnya berkumpul—mungkin untuk pertama kalinya sejak perang besar melawan Bangsa Langit.
Sebagai contoh, Bangsa Naga tak terhitung berkumpul di bawah Kaisar Naga Api Kourin, di kawasan gunung berapi besar di timur laut Todorokuni, dan sebagian besar dari mereka menebak-nebak makhluk agung yang akan mereka temui, sambil berbincang satu sama lain betapa terkejutnya mereka melihat begitu banyak saudara sebangsa berkumpul.
Istana Kourin dibangun di dalam perut gunung berapi, tetapi mengingat jumlah Bangsa Naga yang berkumpul di sini sangat besar, tentu banyak yang harus menunggu di luar gunung.
Kelompok berisi sekitar sepuluh ribu Bangsa Naga ini adalah kekuatan tempur yang luar biasa. Dengan yakin dapat dinyatakan bahwa tidak ada kekuatan mana pun di bumi ini yang tidak bisa mereka hancurkan.
Dalam kerumunan Bangsa Naga ini, semua makhluk lain yang hidup di sekitar gunung berapi bersembunyi jauh di dalam sarangnya, dan berdoa agar taring dan api para Naga di atas kepala mereka tidak menemukan mereka.
Mereka agak kasihan, tetapi Bangsa Naga terlalu gugup dan larut dalam pikiran serta tubuh mereka sendiri hingga tidak menyadari makhluk-makhluk kecil di kaki mereka.
Tidak ada asap, dan bau belerang begitu pekat, namun di antara Bangsa Naga yang berkumpul di bawah langit biru itu, ada seekor Naga Merah beserta keluarganya.
Keluarga itu berdiri di sebuah sudit gunung yang permukaannya diselimuti karpet bunga rododendron gunung berapi berwarna merah—bunga yang tumbuh dengan menyerap energi sihir dari panas dan api gunung berapi yang masih aktif.
Di samping bunga rododendron itu ada pemandian air panas tak terhitung yang bergelembung dan berbusa mengepulkan uap—lingkungan yang nyaman bagi naga api—namun sama seperti semua jenis naga lain di sini, tidak ada satu pun anggota keluarga ini yang tampak punya waktu untuk menikmati kenyamanan itu.
While the religious Orders and Arkrest Kingdom were having a heated debate over how to deal with the Caravis Tower, Bern Village was already proceeding to develop the area around it, on the premise that the tower would be used.
The ground around the two layers of defensive walls that surround Caravis Tower was leveled off in order to build a base for the adventurers to investigate the interior of the tower. The foundations for lodging accommodations, restaurants, and temples have already begun, which will be needed in the far future.
The nobles and merchants and their subordinates who had all come to Bern Village under fake names and identities, as well as the adventurers who dreamed of making a quick fortune at the village, all began to get excited when the rulers of Bern Village started to make their moves, convincing them that their instincts to come here had been correct.
They haven’t heard any exact information yet, but including the inspector from Galois, this strange group of people were heading into the dark wilderness.
Those with a good sense of smell were ordered by Christina not to let them enter the dark wilderness– but since she wasn’t good at giving orders, she almost pleaded with them rather than ordered them– and so the soldiers who were deployed by Baran followed her orders and sent them back to the village.
Some of them were able to escape the glances of the soldiers and proceed onward, but those who were good enough to do that were caught by Dran’s golems, and they were immediately detained and handed back over to the soldiers.
The expansion of the defensive walls that protect Bern Village, the maintenance of the roads to Clauze Village, the daily negotiations with the Galois governor-general’s office to extend toward Galois, the treatment of the adventurers who were arrested by the elves for entering Ente Forest without permission, and the occasional attacks by Merle who would accompany Amria, Yachiyo and Fuuko under the pretense of being their guard; all of that had to be dealt with…
In addition, Christina and Dran and the others were busy every day and night with having to deal with the use of the swamp to the northwest of Bern Village, negotiating with the Lizard tribe that lived there, and also negotiating with the Water Dragon Wedro, who is the leader of the Lake Mermaids in the Mores Mountains, and with Oxis, the Wind Dragon in charge of the wyverns.
The number of people involved in managing the Barony of Bern’s territory is small, but because it is filled with a group of talented and strong people who can stay up all night for several days without a problem, they were able to fulfil their duties without any dark circles appearing under their eyes.
If territories from other regions were to try the same thing with the same number of people, they would have collapsed one after another due to overwork.
Amidst all this work that fell on them like an avalanche, negotiations with the dragons in the Mores Mountains have been put on hold due to circumstances with the dragons’ sides.
As Dran has said many times before, the Dragonkin who are currently living on this planet were currently under tremendous pressure, and had neither the time or mentality to get involved with other species.
Yes, this was because of the visit of the Ancient Celestial Dragons: the Seven Original Dragons and the Divine Dragons, including Dran.
In ancient times, when Dran was still on this earth as an Ancient Celestial Dragon, the Dragonkin who were on the same level of power as the gods had moved to the Dragon World. Ever since then, encounters with their brethren who had remained on earth were extremely rare, so the shock of the Dragonkin left on earth was tremendous when they were told about this.
The Three Celestial Dragon Emperors, the Three Imperial Dragon Emperors, and their direct descendants, their children, have all met and talked with Dran both in his Dragon form and his current form before, so they’ve successfully gained immunity to it. But that wasn’t the case for the rest of the Dragonkin species.
As a result of the strongest species on earth, regardless of whether they were Celestial or Imperial, fire or water or wind or lightning, all going on an unprecedented mass migration, the humans and other creatures living along that migration route broke into a panic, thinking that it was a sign of a natural disaster.
While parts of the world were caught up in the uproar and commotion, at the six bases of the Three Celestial Dragon Emperors and the Three Imperial Dragon Emperors, countless Dragonkin were gathering, possibly for the first time ever since the great war with the Celestial Beings.
For example, countless Dragonkin had gathered under the Fire Dragon Emperor Kourin, at the large volcano area to the northeast of Todorokuni, and most of them were guessing about the supreme being that they were about to see, and talking amongst themselves about how surprised they were to see so many of their brethren gathering.
Kourin’s castle was built into the interior of the volcano, but based on the huge number of Dragonkin that had gathered here, there would be many that would be waiting outside the volcano.
This group of approximately ten thousand Dragonkin is a group of unbelievable combat power, it can be declared with confidence that there is no force that exists on this earth that they can’t destroy.
At this gathering of the Dragonkin, all the other creatures who live in the area around the volcano hid deep in their nests, and prayed that the fangs and flames of the Dragonkin overhead would not find them.
They were slightly pitiful, but the Dragonkin were so nervous and caught up in their own thoughts and bodies, they didn’t even notice the small creatures at their feet.
There was no smoke, and the smell of sulfur was thick, but among the Dragonkin gathered under the blue sky, there was a certain Crimson Dragon and her family.
The family stood in a corner of the mountain where its surface was covered in a red carpet of volcanic rhododendron flowers, which grow by absorbing the magical power from the heat and fire of the active volcano.
Beside the rhododendron flowers, there were countless hot springs that bubbled and foamed with steam, which was a comfortable environment for fire dragons, but just like all the other types of dragons here, no one in this family seemed to have time to feel comfortable.
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