Chapter 503: The Crypt Became a Great Rift Valley

“We crossed through the scorching volcanoes of Burning City—you can’t imagine the terrifying heat. The place breeds horrifying flame monsters, like spiders whose webs carry intense heat. One was as huge as a house, five feet tall. Its legs looked like bare tree trunks in winter, with sparse hairs as stiff as steel needles. After the two of us mustered our courage and drove the giant monster back, we entered the dense forests of the Koso Mountain Range and stepped into that…”

The short adventurer was like a drunken Minstrel, recounting their legendary journey to Leech in a singsong voice. But when his gaze met the Lord’s calm, dark eyes and fell upon the black dragon—or was it a lizard?—head in his hands, he couldn’t help but shiver.

He swallowed hard, and his voice trailed off.

“Please continue,” Leech said, offering no comment on his story. He simply withdrew his gaze and examined the black dragon head in his hands.

This was the first time Leech had truly seen a legendary dragon, even if it was just a “fragment.”

The black dragon’s scales were hard and thick, like the gleaming lamellar armor his Soldiers wore, though they were a bit thinner. This was probably because the black dragon was too weak. After all, it was only the size of a dog; how much protection could you expect its scales to offer?

He used his fingers to pry open the eyelids on the hatchling’s head. Lifeless dragon pupils stared back from their sockets.

The entire black dragon head reeked of strong acid and rot, but though Leech searched for a long time, he couldn’t find any signs of decay.

‘An infant black dragon’s strength wouldn’t be too great, but it certainly wouldn’t be as weak as that fellow claimed. At the very least, a non-Transcendent shouldn’t be able to chop its head off so easily.’

Encouraged by Leech’s “tacit permission,” the short man grew more animated, his story growing more and more absurd. “…It was a deep cavern. We broke in and saw a black dragon, the mother of this little one. She was about fifty feet long, and her wings blotted out the sun when she spread them. The two of us, fearing no hardship, brandished our Longswords and wounded her. But we didn’t expect a little one to suddenly dart out! You know, Sword Masters have a natural combat instinct. I was already gravely injured at the time, but I swung my sword on reflex and still managed to lop off this poor little fellow’s head…”

He paused, noticing that the Lord’s expression had soured.

‘He had to admit he’d added and embellished some parts of the story, but not all of it. At least the place names were real.’

“My apologies,” Leech said. “I wasn’t listening closely just now. Could you summarize your experience in the simplest terms possible? Leave out the story parts.”

‘Now he knew what shamelessness looked like. The man knew he wasn’t pleased, yet he dared to keep boasting endlessly.’

“Yes,” the short man said. He looked at the Lord, who was holding the maybe-a-dragon’s-head in one hand, cleared his throat nervously, and said, “We heard that a lot of treasure had appeared near the Koso Mountain Range at the Giant’s Foot. We went over there hoping to get rich, but we didn’t expect there to be so many monsters. Aside from looking intimidating, we’re completely useless in a fight.”

With the “story” parts stripped away, it was like a completely different tale.

“What did you two do before this?” Leech asked.

‘He’d forgotten to ask the most crucial question. Still, from the first moment he saw them, he could tell from their posture and bearing that they were definitely not good people.’

“Farce,” the short man said, lowering his head in embarrassment and frustration. “I used to perform with a troupe of dwarves. I played the role of a comical giant.”

“And him?” Leech asked, looking at the silent tall man.

“His mind isn’t all there,” the short man said. “I think a nerve under his tongue is shot. Every time he opens his mouth to speak, he just drools. The truth is… he can’t talk at all. He just goes ‘abba abba’.”

“Keep talking.” Leech was genuinely surprised by their acting skills. ‘If I couldn’t sense they weren’t Transcendents, I might have actually been fooled. They’re like seasoned Mercenaries. All they’d need to do is raise a wine cup, tell a few jokes from the Eastern Gorge, and they’d instantly become the most experienced, powerful veterans in the tavern. A crowd of greenhorns would be in awe, eager to buy them drinks.’

“Then, the two of us ran into an unlucky fellow. He asked for our help, wanting us to deliver a letter for him. Then he died. This head was clamped onto his arm. We couldn’t find a single copper star on his body, so we took the head, hoping to spin a better story and sell it for some cash. We also heard that Iron Valley is a safe and good place, so we came here.”

“A very interesting experience, worth the price of 3 Jinri,” Leech said.

The two of them sighed in relief, especially the short one. ‘He didn’t think this story was any better than the one he’d made up earlier. Maybe the Lord just preferred him telling the truth?’

The letter was also handed to Leech, who opened it without the slightest hesitation.

But before he read it, a question couldn’t help but form in his mind.

‘Who on earth writes a letter right before they die?’

‘Doesn’t seem like a respectable person.’

“Ed, I’ve succeeded. But I never imagined that recklessly shattering the world’s barrier would cause such immense trouble. It’s growing larger and larger! And I ran into a strange, winged creature. As it bit me, though, I managed to chop off its head! Dammit… the bastard spits acid, and its fangs are venomous. But it’s fine; I’ve got plenty of Magic Potions on me. It’s even bigger inside than I thought. I know you’ll be happy to hear this, but our chances of defeating that woman are still slim.”

‘The strange, winged thing was definitely the dragon hatchling. In this age of declining Magic, people don’t have a clear idea of what dragons are like. No one would ever imagine that a little thing the size of a dog could be a baby dragon. And that its head could be chopped off so easily.’

“Where were you supposed to deliver this letter?” Leech asked.

“The Eastern Gorge. To a place called Three-fork River Castle, I think.”

“What a coincidence. I have a very good relationship with Sir Hawke Wood,” Leech said. “Congratulations, you’ve fulfilled your promise to the dead.”

He recalled the “captives” from Giant’s Foot that the Agnes couple from Three-fork River Castle had caught. He hadn’t paid much attention at the time. Of course, he didn’t care much now, either.

“Hehe, yes, yes,” the two of them nodded repeatedly. ‘They wouldn’t dare get involved in the affairs of nobles. Getting paid and keeping their lives was already more than they had hoped for.’

‘As for a promise, what was that? Was it as sweet as 3 Jinri? Sweeter than keeping their own heads on their shoulders? They had no desire to be decapitated, held in Leech’s hand while their necks dripped with blood.’

After asking a few more details, Leech dismissed the two men.

With a huge sum of 3 Jinri, the two of them could live a comfortable life. If they converted all the Jinri to Silver Moon at the official exchange rate, they could party hard for half a year even in a high-consumption place like Iron Stone City, provided their bodies could handle it.

Next, Leech sent men out to scout the situation at Giant’s Foot. Before, because of Prince Hoffman’s presence and the threat of her thunderous, skull-crushing hand, he hadn’t dared to be too proactive in his investigations, much less get too close, for fear of angering her and having his own head torn open.

But when it came to a real dragon, and possibly dragon Magic, he found the temptation hard to resist.

It only took two or three days for scouting reports to be sent back to Leech’s hands via raven.

He scanned the contents of the letter.

“South of Burning City, within the Koso Mountain Range, there is a huge Rift Valley. From time to time, terrifying monsters that don’t belong to this world emerge from it. It is also said to hide a great many treasures.”

‘Leech’s first thought was of a crypt. It was a new crypt!’

‘But by some means, the crypt had become a great Rift Valley. This was bad news, and the culprit was the author of that letter.’

‘His second thought was: ‘So, when Prince Hoffman was trading with me before, was she also just getting something for nothing?”

‘I thought it was really wealth accumulated at Giant’s Foot, but it turns out it was all just plundered from a crypt.’

‘Now I understand why Prince Hoffman was so skilled when she took me to kill the four-headed serpent. Turns out her territory is full of crypts.’

‘His third thought was: ‘I should go there. Not just for the black dragon fragment, but for the new crypt.”

‘Crypts were like Leech’s private treasure vaults. He wasn’t sure if there was anyone else in the world like him, but for now, his domain urgently needed crypts.’

‘Whether in Iron Valley or the desert, a crypt would save a lot of trouble. He wouldn’t have to worry about the Corpse Ghosts being exposed, and at critical moments, he could complete transfers more easily and secretively.’