Chapter 350

Green dragons were typically Lawful Evil creatures, the same alignment as Bane.

Both were tyrants of order. Both despised chaos and sought dominance through rule-bound authority.

The Green Dragon Queen was somewhat negligent in governing, and her administration of the Emerald Kingdom was rather chaotic. She had virtually no need for faith, while Bane's Chosen needed a stable kingdom as a foothold from which to spread Bane's influence. Their interests did complement each other to a certain extent.

The two sides might develop some conflicts in the future, but for now, there truly was nothing irreconcilable between them.

'Now that's a choice I never expected.' Anser was genuinely surprised.

His thoughts suddenly turned to neighboring Amn. Amn had fought several brutal battles against the Emerald Kingdom before, and now Bane's Chosen had turned around and gone to assist the Green Dragon Queen. Did the Amnians know about this?

If they didn't, it was practically a stab in the back.

"What's wrong?" Gwyneth asked softly when she noticed the change in Anser's expression.

"It's nothing. Just stay in Waterdeep and don't worry. A commercial alliance isn't something you can build in a day," Anser reassured her.

Too much had happened lately, and Anser himself had changed considerably. Inevitably, a certain distance had grown between them.

Gwyneth suddenly gave a soft laugh, her smile cool and alluring, much like when they had first met. "The winery is your private property. You won't blame me if I run it into the ground, will you?"

"Then you'd better be careful. I'm a pretty petty person," Anser said with a perfectly serious expression.

"Of course you are. Who else would see a friend off in the middle of the night? Or board someone's ship for a visit in the middle of the night?" Gwyneth deliberately stressed every word.

Back at Silver Scale Bay, Anser had gone out to kill someone in the middle of the night and returned reeking of blood. When she caught him, he had even lied that he had been "seeing off a friend."

The slave traders had offended him that very day, and by midnight he had already come knocking, leaving their deck drenched in blood.

How generous could someone be when he wouldn't even let a grudge survive the night?

"Hey, I was just tying up loose ends."

Anser gave a dry laugh. He hadn't realized that was how she had seen him back then.

After chatting for a while, most of the awkward distance between them faded away.

Gwyneth also stopped speaking in half-finished hints as she had before, and their conversation became unexpectedly easy.

Anser didn't stay long. He still had to prepare his plan to purge the Mind Flayers and gather the necessary manpower.

He cast Teleport and traveled to Dawn Town. Since he had remained within the Spirit Net's coverage the entire time, the Magic Power consumed by his first teleportation spell had already almost completely recovered.

For all its shortcomings, the Spirit Net was undeniably excellent when it came to restoring Magic Power.

Anser strolled along the streets. He hadn't been here for some time, and Dawn Town was both livelier and more orderly than before. Few refugees were still sleeping on the streets, and sorrow and despair no longer seemed permanently etched across everyone's faces.

Part of the credit belonged to the two Paladins, but the other churches, the major guilds, and Anser himself had also contributed.

The batch of grain Anser had provided had solved the most urgent problem. Zahir and Rand had been the ones actually doing the good deeds, but neither had claimed any credit, so all the prestige ended up going to Anser.

As a result, his status and reputation continued to rise, and quite a few refugees chose to follow the old trade road south to Durlag, which was under his rule.

They had heard that Anser was also from Baldur's Gate, so they naturally felt a certain sense of kinship with him.

By comparison, Elturgard, which Dawn Town belonged to, had ignored the situation from beginning to end, adopting a policy of hunkering down in the face of the rampaging Underdark creatures.

Who could have expected Dawn Town to hold out through sheer determination, preventing the Underdark creatures from expanding any farther east?

That left Elturgard in an awkward position. It wanted to step in, only to discover that the town had long since come under the influence of the refugees from Baldur's Gate, while even the few locals refused to side with them. With no way to get a foothold, Elturgard simply played dead.

Anser arrived at the temple of Tyr. The moment he stepped through the doors, he spotted the dwarf Soradin lounging in a reclining chair and basking in the sun.

His right sleeve hung empty, while his left hand held a jug of cheap ale that he occasionally raised for a sip. He looked thoroughly at ease.

Rand worked fast. He had already brought Soradin back.

Thud!

An oak barrel half as tall as a man appeared out of thin air and landed on the floor. The dull impact startled Soradin into sitting bolt upright.

He looked at Anser, then at the barrel by his feet, and immediately broke into a huge grin, revealing a mouthful of slightly yellowed teeth.

"Hahaha! You're the most generous draconic sorcerer I've ever met, bar none!" His expression was so exaggerated that his bushy red beard practically bristled.

Rand hurried out from inside and nodded in agreement. "That's certainly true."

Dragons were greedy by nature, and most creatures with draconic blood weren't particularly generous either.

"Someone gave me a winery. From now on, there'll be plenty of wine to go around." Anser had deliberately brought several barrels with him, all of decent quality.

Soradin caught sight of the words "Waterdeep Rose Orchard" on the barrel and immediately lost his composure. "Gods, did you get yourself a sugar mommy or something? How come nobody ever gives me a winery?"

Rand glanced at Soradin's disheveled appearance, the corner of his mouth twitching. "You... stop talking nonsense and just take the wine inside."

"Right! Can't let those other drunkards see it." Soradin suddenly realized the danger. With one hand, he grabbed the brass ring on the side of the barrel and carried it inside.

"Wait." Anser quickly caught up and slipped the Ring of Regeneration into his pocket. "Give it back when you're done with it. It's expensive."

The Ring of Regeneration could restore a severed limb within two to seven days. No one was using it at the moment, so he might as well lend it to Soradin.

Soradin seemed to realize what it was and bumped Anser with his shoulder. "From now on, you're my own brother."

"Then you might drink my winery into bankruptcy." Anser teased him and watched as he disappeared up the stairs.

"I saw Waterdeep's announcement. You've really got guts," Rand remarked.

"I just happened to run into it." Anser shrugged. "Any sign of Talona's Chosen?"

"No, but I think she's definitely still somewhere near Baldur's Gate." Rand's expression darkened at the mention of her.

That Chosen was clever. Her movements were unpredictable, and she never remained in one place for long.

"It's fine. We'll find her sooner or later. Where's Zahir?"

"Out settling a dispute. Need him for something?"

"There are quite a few Mind Flayers hiding in Bral. I'm planning to gather enough people to wipe them all out in one sweep..." Anser gave him a general outline of his plan.

No one knew how many Mind Flayers were hiding in Bral, whether there were any Mind Flayer arcanists among them, or even Legendary Mind Flayers.

And a Mind Flayer's base Challenge Rating was already 7. An ordinary Elite Professional probably wouldn't be a match for one.

So he couldn't just charge in blindly. He needed to assemble a sufficiently powerful team, both to prevent the Mind Flayers from escaping and to keep casualties to an absolute minimum.

Paladins were particularly effective against Mind Flayers, so Rand and Zahir were among the teammates Anser wanted.

"The Mind Flayers have actually grown this brazen? Don't worry. We'll give you our full support." Rand agreed without a moment's hesitation.

There were far more than just two Paladins in Dawn Town now. Large numbers of Tyr's faithful had come after hearing the news, and there were quite a few formidable individuals among them.

If they were willing to participate, Anser certainly wouldn't begrudge the expense.

The two briefly discussed some of the details. Then Rand seemed to remember something and pulled Anser inside.

"Do you know about the Spirit Net?"

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