Under the Red Dragon

The sunset had already sunk into the far reaches of the sky, and the moon had just begun to rise, but the territory at the foot of the Dragon's Nest Mountains was never completely swallowed by darkness.

In the distant forest, birds that should have been resting flapped their wings and flew low, sweeping across every area of the sky.

Beasts that should have been returning to their lairs treaded softly through the forest, gazing at every inch of the land.

These creatures were the eyes and voices of the dragon clan, and there were always active members guarding the dragons' nests.

The camps of several monster clans beneath the Dragon's Nest Mountains were brightly lit, surrounded by giant trees.

These torches and lamps, made from special resins from the forest, could burn for the entire first half of the night, and then the sentry attendants would replace them with new lights, ensuring that the dragon's nest was always surrounded by light.

Even assassins skilled in shadow stealth would find it almost impossible to break through the heavy defenses of the Dragon's Nest and reach the dragon's peak.

Centaur camps held bonfires every night.

These warrior races, fond of indulgence and battle, seemed to possess inexhaustible energy, just like the dragons.

Even after a hard fight, these warriors still displayed their wild nature.

From every corner came the not-so-gentle but pleasing chants of the female centaurs, and the loud roars of the wild male centaur warriors.

Compared to their calm and composed demeanor on the battlefield, these centaurs seemed to be truly entering the fray at this moment.

As for the Kobolds, nighttime was their active time.

These monster servants, especially keen on causing trouble in dark caves, did not have the habit of holding banquets, but their traces were everywhere in the forest.

After receiving the protection of the dragons, the Kobold tribes developed rapidly.

Now, every resource and territory valued in the dragon's territory was covered with traps and warning devices set up by these Kobolds.

They were now the dragon's capable assistants, although not in terms of combat power.

Only the camps of the Ogre slaves and Green-skinned Goblins were relatively quiet.

Although both races were relatively chaotic creatures, they did not have enough freedom within the dragon's territory.

They needed to prove their value to the dragons in order to gain the dragons' attention and favor.

Karon led the dragons down from the high mountains, and the intense dragon might spread, causing the birds in the forest to land, the beasts to hide, and the servants to fall silent.

The dragon clan came to the camp temporarily set up by the Gnoll tribe, which was an open space under the control of the Centaur tribe.

Many Gnolls knelt down to salute the dragons under the leadership of their chief, Yugu, with trepidation.

"Honorable dragons, the supreme masters of the Gnoll tribe," Gnoll chief Yugu knelt down, burying his head deeply like the fiercest hyena on the grassland.

The Dragonborn Centaur Chiron also arrived upon hearing the news and saluted the dragons.

"Noble dragons, my lord Karon!"

But these dragons' gazes were not on the servants in front of them.

They looked at the treasures of the Gnolls piled on the open space, transported by Dire Boars and carts.

Every dragon's eyes shone with a glittering light, shining like bright beams even in the brightly lit camp.

The greed of the evil dragons made them eye the Gnolls guarding the treasure covetously, baring their sharp claws.

The female Red Dragon Kraina and the Green Dragon Antagina even stepped forward, sweeping away these obstructive Gnolls with their tails and dragon claws.

The other dragons also followed the Red Dragon, excitedly scanning the treasures plundered and accumulated by the Gnolls, looking eager to move.

Karon, however, was not as impatient as the other dragons.

He first signaled the Gnoll chief Yugu and the Centaur Chiron to stand up before turning his gaze to the wealth piled into a small mountain in the open space.

The dragons' innate talent for appraising treasures immediately reacted and evaluated.

Some statues of monsters and gods, roughly carved by Gnolls or dug from the ground, were simple but decent.

Karon even found subtle spiritual light on some of the statues, which could only be said to be barely acceptable and could be used as collectibles for those wandering, poor dragons.

Some magical protective gemstone ornaments made by Gnoll spellcasters based on their magical abilities were somewhat useful, but for dragons, the value of these magical ornaments lay more in the fact that the materials were made of gemstones.

There were also some chestnut seeds cultivated by the Gnolls using plants similar to foxtail grass from the grassland, which were quite mature grain crop seeds.

Although they were assessed as worthless by the dragons' treasure appraisal instinct, they were precious enough in Karon's eyes, so Karon changed the dragons' evaluation and set them as high-value items.

This not only showed that these Gnolls had the ability to cultivate grain seeds, which could provide quite useful value to the dragons.

Moreover, this grain crop similar to millet could also be planted in the dragon's territory.

As a native grain crop, it could be planted on land reclaimed in the forest with almost no need to adapt to changes in soil and water.

There were also some simple armors and weapons.

These Gnolls were not good at smelting and casting, so these weapons and armors were evaluated as chicken ribs.

The crude technology limited the effectiveness of these weapons and armors, but they were better than nothing.

There were also many coins that the Gnolls had plundered and dug up from who knows where.

They looked like treasures left over from ancient times, and these coins were different from the current styles.

But these gold, silver, and copper coins were things that dragons liked.

Even if some coins were covered with traces of rust, these things could quickly regain their brilliance in the dragons' nests, which was due to the influence from the dragons.

All treasures could have a long lifespan by the dragons' side, just like the dragons themselves.

Only by losing the nourishment of the dragon's power would these treasures and wealth be worn away by time, which was also one of the reasons why the dragons' treasure trove was coveted.

In Karon's inherited memory, in a distant era, there was a legendary mage who specialized in using treasures to lure dragons, and signed a contract with a Silver Dragon, letting the Silver Dragon guard his treasure trove for him, and the price the mage paid was all the treasures in the treasure trove.

Because this Silver Dragon coveted this legendary mage's treasure trove too much, he voluntarily became the legendary mage's partner.

Karon didn't know whether the Silver Dragon had earned or the legendary mage had lost, only the parties involved knew best.

The most remaining were the oddly shaped nuggets and some unrefined gold ore and naturally formed uncut gemstones.

The dragons' gazes lingered on these things.

Every dragon had the ability to appraise treasures, not to mention that they didn't even need this ability, they could see the value of these things with the naked eye.

Gnoll chief Yugu also stood next to the dragons to introduce the origins of these things to the dragons,

"The Gnoll tribe discovered a fairly large mine at the bottom of the Dragon Lizard's nest, which not only has abundant gold mines, but also various symbiotic precious minerals and gemstones, but we Gnolls do not have the talent to distinguish minerals, so we only mined some gold,"

Gnoll Yugu secretly looked at the Red Dragon, the Red Dragon's reaction was not as eager and impatient as the other dragons.

"I will dedicate this mine to the dragon clan as the Gnolls' offering to the dragons."

Karon nodded, "Tell the location of the mine to the Kobold Bagg.

He will handle this matter for the dragon clan, and send these unrefined ores to the Kobold tribe, they will arrange the subsequent refining and smelting."

Then the Red Dragon turned to look at these dragons who could no longer hold back, a faint smile appeared on his thorn-covered cheeks, "According to the original agreement of the dragon clan, these treasures belong to all the dragons, all members have a share."

The little female dragon Kraina excitedly gave a low roar, her long neck couldn't help but linger on the treasure, constantly sniffing the treasure's scent.

The other dragons also happily gathered around, the steady Blue Dragon Dos also blinked his large eyes, revealing a look of desire.

Karon divided these coins, nuggets, and gemstones into several parts, because it was not the annual agreed dividend time for the dragon clan, so he almost divided all the treasures equally.

Then the Red Dragon allocated the largest portion of gold coins and treasures, "Rosani, although the Gnolls' treasures are voluntarily contributed by them, you contributed the most, so you deserve the most."

Roar,

The Black Dragon Rosani gave an excited low roar, and couldn't wait to walk up, using his slender dragon claws and slender tail to surround his share of the treasure.

"Chiron, come forward, this is the spoils of war belonging to you Centaurs.

The dragons will not forget the dedication and sacrifice of their servants, this is also what you should get," Karon allocated almost the same amount of treasure as the Black Dragon Rosani, signaling Chiron to come forward to receive it.

"Praise the great dragons, thank you my lord," the Centaur did not refuse or show false politeness, but knelt down and saluted, and then signaled his warriors to move the spoils back to the tribe.

"This belongs to you, Kraina," Karon allocated the remaining almost equal treasure to the female Red Dragon, Kraina jumped up and pounced on her share of the treasure.

"Akaz, Dos, Kamid, Gamot, Antagina, these are your shares," Karon allocated the remaining treasures, these dragons all squeezed up, swallowing their treasures into their storage stomachs, no dragon would politely refuse the treasure, they were dragons, not dinosaurs.

Finally, Karon allocated the largest part to his name.

This was the rule that had been set from the beginning of the dragon clan's agreement, so even if the dragons coveted the treasure in front of Karon that was almost more than all the dragons combined, they were very well-behaved and honest, because the Red Dragon was glaring at them with his dragon claws that were bigger than sandbags.

"Very good, the Gnolls' offerings have pleased the dragon clan," the Red Dragon turned to look down at the Gnoll chief Yugu and said, "Now I am very happy, tell me, what are your demands, maybe I can satisfy you and give you the reward you deserve!"