Ch. 36
Chapter 36: Dragon's Fang and Discarded Pieces
When Roland and Barrett walked into the lord's manor, the cheering outside had not yet subsided.
Barrett's face still bore the flushed remnants of excitement, while Roland remained as calm as still water, though his hawk-like eyes flickered with contemplative light.
“Sit.”
Caesar pointed to the two wooden chairs before him, getting straight to the point.
“Our city is growing larger, our population increasing, but our swords are not yet sharp enough, and our shields are too thin.”
His finger tapped on the crude map atop the table, marking the terrain within dozens of miles surrounding the City of Miracles.
“Roland, I have decided to expand the Black Dragon Guard.”
“My lord, please instruct!”
Roland stepped forward, his frame ramrod straight.
“I need you, within one month, to expand the Black Dragon Guard's scale from three hundred to eight hundred men!”
“Eight hundred men?”
Even with Roland's firm resolve, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
He furrowed his scarred face, speaking in a low voice.
“My lord, manpower is not the issue. After tonight, I fear every able-bodied man will be scrambling to join the Black Dragon Guard.”
“But our meat reserves cannot sustain the consumption of eight hundred full-time soldiers. At most, they will run dry within three months.”
This was the true reality. Soldiers' training required adequate meat compensation—this was the key to their being stronger than commoners.
However, these concerns were not much of a problem for Caesar. With his Hundredfold Amplification, it was merely a week's matter, but meat was not like Earth Potatoes that could be continuously cultivated. If hunting never occurred, producing it from thin air would be too far-fetched.
Still, this was precisely an opportunity. An opportunity for training.
Caesar's tone brooked no argument. He looked toward Barrett, his gaze sharpening.
“This is precisely the second matter I wish to discuss.”
“Barrett, your task is to select from those eight hundred the fifty most elite, most fearlessly death-defying soldiers, and form an entirely new squad.”
Barrett's head snapped up, his single eye filled with incredible, wild joy.
“This squad will be codenamed Dragon's Fang.”
“You will be Dragon's Fang's first captain.”
“Dragon's Fang has only one mission—venture deep into the wastes and hunt magical beasts!”
“I do not care what methods you use. Traps, mass attacks, whatever. What I want are results!”
“Starting tomorrow, I expect to see fresh magical beast carcasses in the slaughter yard every single day!”
He watched Barrett, whose breathing had grown heavy, and threw out bait impossible to refuse.
“All members of the Dragon's Fang squad will receive work point compensation three times that of ordinary Black Dragon Guards!”
“The magical beasts you hunt—you may prioritize selecting a portion of their flesh and blood for personal use.”
“But all Magic Cores must be surrendered to me.”
“This subordinate........ this subordinate will serve unto death!”
Barrett dropped to one knee with a thud, his voice hoarse with excitement.
With his remaining eye, he gazed fanatically at Caesar, as if looking upon a deity.
A bloody cycle—self-sustaining through war, stimulating elite troops to hunt madly with high rewards, using prey to feed back into the army and city while secretly raising a young dragon—was thus established.
“Go.”
Caesar waved his hand.
“Barrett, go select the men now. Before dawn, I want to see fifty Dragon's Fang soldiers standing here, fully armed.”
“Roland, you are responsible for supervising the distribution of weapons and supplies.”
The two departed, hearts filled with and excitement.
The entire City of Miracles, like a war machine that had been calibrated, began operating at an even more frenzied pace.
Night deepened. The carnival's clamor gradually subsided, leaving only the footsteps of patrol squads and the occasional distant wolf howl.
Anneliya, clutching an account ledger recorded in charcoal, ascended to the manor's second floor.
She had grown accustomed to calculating the heartbeat of the entire city with precision amid mountains of numbers each day.
Her handwriting was neat and clear. Every transfer of work points meant a wall brick laid or a portion of meat soup distributed.
Watching this city rise from nothing, becoming more vibrant day by day, a strange sense of belonging had sprouted in her heart.
Yet when night grew deep and quiet, that fear and confusion she had forcibly suppressed would always coil around her heart like a viper.
Nearly two months now.
Why had Grand Duke Sebastian's lion banner still not appeared on the horizon?
“My lord.”
She approached Caesar, who stood before the window, and spoke softly.
Caesar turned around, his deep purple eyes falling upon her, that gaze seeming capable of piercing through hearts.
“An irregularity in the accounts?”
“No, my lord, everything is normal.”
Anneliya lowered her head, presenting the ledger.
“It is just........ this subordinate has a personal question that has troubled me for some time.”
“Speak.”
Anneliya drew a deep breath, finally gathering the courage to raise her head and meet those profound eyes directly.
“My lord, you are a noble. You should understand better than I.”
“When a Grand Duke's only daughter disappears within his territory, what does that mean?”
“It means a Tempest sweeping across the entire Eastern Reaches.”
Caesar calmly continued for her.
“A Grand Duke's fury would send countless knight orders like mad dogs to plow through three feet of earth to find her.”
“Yet why has there been nothing?”
Anneliya's voice carried a tremor she could not suppress.
“This place is merely a few thousand miles from the Eastern Reaches' heartland.”
“Even if message transmission were extremely slow, there should have been some movement by now.”
“Why has it been so quiet?”
This deathly silence terrified her more than the battle cries of a million soldiers.
Caesar looked at those blue eyes filled with confusion and unease, and fell silent for a moment.
“The answer is simple, Anna.”
Caesar's voice carried not a trace of warmth.
“Either your Grand Duke father does not care for you as much as you imagine.”
Anneliya's face instantly paled.
“Do you remember our analysis in the cave?”
“That was a tribute meant for the King. Yet after all this time, the royal family has shown no reaction. Perhaps they tacitly permitted this action, or perhaps........”
Just as Caesar was about to continue speaking, a sudden rush of hurried footsteps and guards' shouts came from downstairs.
A Black Dragon Guard soldier tumbled and scrambled up to the second floor. He did not even have time to salute before gasping for breath, his face deathly pale as he shouted.
“My lord! Outside the city........ a group of people has arrived!”
Caesar's brow furrowed.
“Refugees? Or bandits?”
“No........ neither!”
The scout's voice carried terror and bewilderment.
“They........ they are wearing black monk's robes, carrying a banner........ a banner painted with a white skull!”
“The woman leading them........ that woman........ she says her name is Elizabeth, that she is a saint of the Church of White Bone, and has come by our lord's command to visit the lord of the City of Miracles, to bring to you and your subjects the deity's........ salvation.”