How nice to bask in greater treasures!
Winkle did far more than he set out to do. His treasure had not doubled, but it had at least quadrupled. While he once struggled to bathe himself in coins, the dragon can now wallow happily in gold and jewels.
This was all accomplished in less than a month. At this rate, his cave will not be able to contain all his treasures.
"Guys, go away!" the servant Victor shouted outside, but Fankel ignored him. "Don't you see the sign? If you come any closer you will be killed!"
"Is that a dragon's lair?" answered a shrill voice, and Winkle tried to block it.
"Yes, but you really, really have no chance-" A lightning-like sound echoed in the distance. "Okay, that's it! Kill 'em, minions!"
Wacker's pleasant bath was interrupted by explosions and tremors. The dragon turned toward the entrance of the cave, where his minions had set up a barricade. "Manlin Victor, what happened?"
"D
ago
slaye
s, again! shouted his chief of staff, and with another jolt, an icicle fell at the mouth of the cave, nearly impaling a kobold. "Lan Yi, snipe that wizard!"
"I'm working hard, Chief!" The undead servant shot an arrow from an ox bone bow. "I got him!"
Winkle was very proud of Victor's choice to learn witchcraft. Undead minions not only add Vai
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reputation, and he can now eat minions, spit out the bones, and still use them.
"Hit him right between the legs!" Rhett gloated after shooting his arrow, and then roared. "They have therapists!"
Winkle muttered, rising from his hoard and joining the siege.
As they reached a certain level in Outlaws - much to the amusement of Vankle, who thought the law was an absurdity - Victor gave each kobold ranger a bow and arrow, and taught How they are used. Good idea, since this is the seventh expedition they've sniped this week.
It was fun and profitable at first, but Winkel grew tired of the constant interruptions.
The dragon's head emerged from the hole, casting his minions into his shadow, scanning their targets down. A band of foolish Menlin, dwarves, and elves, mostly armed with sticks that Menlin Victor calls matchlocks or wands. Winkle counted fifteen in all.
This time they brought back more people, as if that would help. cute.
Unfortunately, they didn't bring the Pegasus riders, unlike the previous group, so no horse food tonight. Winkle loved nothing more than poking them, but his fingers were sore from overuse.
"They're very persistent." When a magical projectile bounces off his head, Long considers learning magic himself. Wink was always fascinated by the way some wizards would often throw lightning bolts at him. It didn't work, but he found it interesting. "I thought they would give up after the first three tries."
Victor replied: "The bounty on your Majesty's head is very high." "The location of your lair is now well known."
Yes, yes, that’s the downside of fame and celebrity.
The dragon let out a powerful roar, causing an avalanche; the snow rolled down the mountain, drowning the screaming Manlin, while leaving the cave unscathed. He knew choosing this place would be helpful.
Congratulations! By protecting your territory and followers with the power of your Noble Roar alone, you have moved up one level in the [Noble] level!
+30hp, +1i
t, +1 cha, +1 lack!
Finally! Winkel began to doubt whether he could gain experience from it, and he was one step away from that generous stipend. "Okay, the problem is solved." Long said. "Get their treasure back and I'll take a bath."
"Your Majesty, we can't go on like this." Victor said, with dark circles under his eyes. "They keep coming, even at night. They ignore all warnings."
"We can't repeat our new motto," Red complained. "As soon as we had time, yellow ruined it!"
"I'm just saying, we should add the word 'doom' somewhere," the yellow skull replied, before switching into that deep voice he had come to love so much. "Doooooom."
The echo caused a smaller avalanche, killing several people who managed to crawl out of the snow. Fankel ignored them and hid in his cave. "Minions, I'm as annoyed as you are, but what can I do? I can't ban Manlin from assisting suicide."
"Yes, as part of natural selection, I'm used to killing the idiots who attack us first, but we should relocate." Manling Victor shuddered, even wearing a goatskin coat, she was too cold trembling. "To a warm mountain where adventurers won't always find us"
Abandoning his cave? A dragon didn't run away! "Aren't you happy to have a roof over your head?" Fankle frightened his minions. "You have plenty of food and the most beautiful scenery in the continent..."
"We don't have room and I'm tired of eating goat all the time," complained Manlin Victor, who became bolder and angrier from lack of sleep. "Besides, one cave will soon not be large enough to contain your treasure, Your Majesty."
Winkle considered this suggestion, his eyes fixed on his treasure. In fact, his cave will soon become too small and a thief might be lucky enough to steal his gold while he's out hunting. Although he trusted his followers, they could not handle so many bandits at once.
And they haven't had any requests since they made the calamari. Maybe they should use this time to find a new place to live.
"I still don't understand why every time we go to your guild hall, it's always empty."
"Your Majesty," his chief of staff coughed. "The problem with eating quest givers is that no one will give you quests again because they're afraid you'll eat them too."
"But she refused to pay me first!" Vai
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protested. "Previous witness!"
"Yes, she is still a noble with a high status and a wide network of connections. I did complain to the Adventurers Association. I heard that the Duchess's sister was privately happy that we accelerated her inheritance, but we can't find it for the time being. to work.”
"I can't believe that in this situation, is this what your puny race would do? Complain and be lazy?"
"Your Majesty, your portrayal of our species is very flattering," Victor said flatteringly as usual. "Usually we just clear the dungeon, kill the monsters, and take their treasure."
At the mention of treasure, Fankel's head shot up and hit the ceiling. "Baby?" he repeated, the kobold hiding behind him to avoid falling icicles. "Minion, tell me everything." "
The chief of staff scratched the back of his head, probably not sure where to start. "Dungeons are dangerous places, full of monsters and treasure," he explained to his master. "Adventurers who clear the place can take everything they get and even capture the dungeon if they kill all the monsters inside. However, dungeons usually have a super powerful creature, a boss, to control them. "
"A monster lord." Vacker guessed.
"Do you have a special explanation?"
"The monster lord is the top of the food chain," Pi
K chirped. "They are the strongest among the strong, and minions should obey them!"
"The dragon is always high," Vai
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explained. "Where can we find a dungeon like this?"
"Much of Gadmani has been looted by older adventurers, but I've heard that some places are too dangerous for most people, especially along the border with Ishfania. I guess Your Majesty will definitely be able to deal with them."
"Are these dungeons big enough to accommodate my growing treasures?" The slave nodded. Well, this could also be an opportunity to rebuild his base of subordinates, since Manlin Victor is apparently unable to breed for the rest of his life. "What kind of dungeon have you heard of?"
"That's the Undersea City of Meropis——"
"Next!" interrupted Winkle immediately, having had enough adventures on the water. "A warm place on land. No rain."
"No swamp?" I have a pretty good one in the swamp. "
"No swamps, no swamps, no forests, no lakes, no mud, no dirty, shit-smelling Manling City."
His chief of staff kept nodding. "For our sakes, no frost. So, how about going to a beautiful, dry desert?"
"Oh, oh, I've heard of one!" Huang interjected into the conversation. "I heard there's an ant nest in the southern desert over the mountains! It's deep and warm!"
Black shudder. "The cactus shoots you with needles in there. I still feel a pain in my butt."
"Ah, yeah, I remember that time we tried to practice on the beach," Lan said. “Now is the happy moment when I no longer feel pain.”
"Antlions carry no treasure other than the remains of their victims," Manlin Victor noted. He said, "The most we can get is a few trinkets, plus what you get from killing beasts. But this place is big enough for treasure."
Vai
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I would rather eat two cows in one bite. "Next".
"Great, great, how about building the castle in the middle of the volcano?" Victor suggested. "Since His Majesty likes lava baths as much as gold baths..."
He did. "I'm listening," Winkle said. "How much lava are we talking about?"
"I don't know, I've never been there. But this place, Mu
mu
i
The castle has a creepy reputation. As far as I know, this was once an officer training base for the continent's elite and the headquarters of the Ishfanian Inquisition. At the beginning of the Century War, Brandon Moore sent his general the Lich Freebon to capture the castle and turn it into a haven for demons, awakening the volcano upon which they built their fortress. The Ishfanian Inquisition did their best to fight off the demon, but—"
"Twenty words," Wacker interrupted his servant.
Victor paused for a moment. "Excuse me, Your Majesty?"
Vai
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Said: "Hear 20 boring words and I start to zone out." I know you Manlins love to talk nonsense, but Long has more important things to do than listen. Twenty words, twenty-five words at a click, gold, treasure and money are not counted. "
Manlin Victor made a strange sound. "The lich has taken over the castle, broken. Kill it, good. Great reward."
Winkel suddenly realized that Manling might be using big words to cover up his true low IQ. That poor man. The dragon probably saved his life when he took him under his wings. "What reward?"
"I heard that the Ishfanian Inquisition stored much of their possessions in huge crypts beneath the castle, including some unique artifacts. In fact, Moore ordered the attack so they wouldn't be used against them Him. Moreover, Gadmani promised that whoever cleans the castle would get the surrounding lands as his own, but that didn’t mean much because they had long been abandoned.”
"Not really, boss," Red retorted. "I think I know that place. Many kobolds make their home there."
"Abandoned by civilized races." Minion Victor corrected himself, then frowned. "Wait, you live there?"
"Our original Warren is still there." Rhett nodded. "When resources became too scarce to feed us all, the five of us left to find our own monster lords. The Minion job market there was crowded."
The blue one nodded. "The mountain is full of demons, undead, and bad guys, except for that one human village."
"And there's a village out there?" Victor asked, concerned only for his little people, while Winkle imagined hordes of kobolds soon granting his every wish. "How did it survive?"
"I don't know, boss," Red replied. "The elders said there was a 'bad moon devil' in the village, and everyone shunned it. We ate every other adventurer for miles."
This means no more attempted robberies. "Great, you sold me," Wacker said. "Pack your things, servants, the castle is the new cave."
"I must warn your majesty, Lich Fu
ibo
Still occupying the castle, he destroyed all adventuring parties who tried to expel him. Even gold level adventurers. "
Lich... "Slave Victor, a lich is an undead creature, right?"
"Yes,"
"I knew it!"
"They are the strongest of all the undead, casters who turn to dark magic to extend their lives. A hundred years ago, Freeburn was a fifty-level magician when he conquered the castle. He may be even stronger now, He had a large retinue and was himself Brandon Moore’s general.”
"Brandon who?" The name sounded familiar.
"The demon king who usurped control of Ishfania a hundred years ago. At the same time, he was also Sco
Che
s's employer; now that we have them disbanded, Gadmani will be able to retake Rochefrond Fortress from his army, so he is probably very angry with us. "
"I don't see why I should care," Winkle replied, not afraid of anyone. "I'm going to stab him like he's your little baby."
"I'm just saying that a demon king and a lich who have killed nearly every hero sent to find them for a hundred years is probably more difficult than a group of bandits."
Great, that means he has more treasures to add to his treasure chest, and thus more levels. "I, Winkle, like a challenge." The dragon replied unmoved. "Pack your stuff and mine."
His chief of staff took one look at Winkle's treasure and marveled at its size. "Your Majesty," he said. "How do we transport this gold?"
Long narrowed his eyes and realized the problem.
Indeed,. Winkle's treasures grew more and more, and the dragon could no longer carry them, and the wit of his minions more than made up for their lack of physical strength. They couldn't carry away all the treasure at once.
"We can put this behind us," suggested Manlin Victor. "Open the entrance. Even if the adventurers tried to dig it out, it would take days."
Winkel was horrified by the idea that his treasure would be left unattended for days while the robbers continued to make their way to the top of the mountain. What if he comes back and finds the gold missing? After all his hard work growing his treasure! "The Minions' Victors."
"What is it, Your Majesty?"
"Get a bag. A big bag."
"A big bag? For the whole treasure?"
"A very big bag," Winkel clarified as his chief of staff looked at him with his big ugly eyes. "Get smaller bags for the other minions."
"Your Majesty, there is no bag big enough to contain your treasure."
Winkel took that as flattery. "Then do you have a better idea, slave?" Gold can't fly. "
The old man opened his mouth to say something stupid, then closed his mouth again, then looked into his coat and took out a strange white metal plate. The rest of the entourage whistled in awe, much to Winkle's confusion.
"Actually," Manling Victor said. "I think it can..."
