Red Dragon Emperor - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The Observer in the Shadow

Just as Jose and his followers were discussing the feasibility of developing animal husbandry in the mine, there was a movement in the corner.

Crack.

Jose turned to look at the 13 lizard eggs in the corner. One of them had a crack in its shell.

“They’re finally hatching.”

The tiny life inside the egg expanded the crack bit by bit until a hole was opened in the eggshell. The little lizard popped its head out of the hole, and the moment it came out, it saw two pairs of eyes staring at it. It quickly shrank back and hid inside the eggshell to peek at the outside.

“Heh, it is still shy. Soda, go get some meat.”

“Yes.”

After a while, the kobold follower brought a chunk of minced meat and tore it into small pieces before handing it to Jose.

Jose used the meat to lure the little lizard that was still hiding in the eggshell. Lizards and dragons had many similarities. Be it their body structure or physiological habits, they could eat meat as soon as they were born.

The little lizard was still afraid, but its stomach gave in first.

First, it stuck its head out of the eggshell and sniffed the fresh meat hanging above its head. It ate the meat in one bite and immediately retracted its head. It squinted its eyes as it chewed, then swallowing with great effort.

Jose picked up a small piece of fresh meat again and continued to lure it, as if he were teasing a cat with a fish. He lured the little petrification lizard out of its eggshell and into the clearing to continue feeding.

The remaining lizard eggs broke one after another, and small lizards crawled out one by one. When they saw the first lizard eating happily, they did not need to be enticed to crawl over. The clear egg white left traces on the ground as they moved.

Looking at the little lizards fighting for food, Jose smiled.

As expected, the little lizards that hatched beside him were contaminated with a trace of his True Dragon aura. The best proof was that the edges of these young petrification lizards’ green scales were slightly red now.

Dragonkin that were contaminated with the aura of a dragon were naturally comfortable with it. Otherwise, newborn lizards would not let down their guard so easily and crawl out of their eggshells to be fed.

Contrary to Jose’s mood, Soda did not feel good about this development. In fact, he was troubled.

There were 13 more mouths to feed now.

Although the lizards were still young, they would grow up eventually. When the time came, there would be 13 big stomachs to feed.

He glanced at his master, feeling a little guilty, and wondered if he should bring up his difficulties.

After thinking for a while, Soda was no longer worried. After seeing what his master had done recently, the blood-tooth tribe was truly lucky to have met such a benevolent dragon.

The other Five-Colored Dragons would not care whether their subordinates were full or not. They would only care about eating well themselves. If they were unhappy, it was even common for them to eat their subordinates for a meal.

“Master, I’m a little worried.”

“What are you worried about?”

“You have too many pets. I’m worried that I won’t be able to supply enough meat.”

Jose turned to look at his follower as he said, “First of all, I have to correct you that they are not pets. Just like you, they are warriors. Secondly, there is no need to worry about food. By the time they grow up, this problem will be solved already. Finally, I am feeling hungry now.”

Soda was listening attentively. He was stunned when he heard the last sentence.

“I’ll prepare food for you now.”

Soon, a group of kobolds carried 10 steaming pots over. Jose smelled the aroma of stew.

The large pots with stewed meat were placed in front of Jose in a row. These pots had been specially prepared by the kobolds for the True Dragon. They were three meters in diameter and would not be considered small even for Jose.

He lifted the lid of a pot and looked at the messy goodness inside. Large chunks of meat, konjac, wood ear fungus, and plant stems had been cut into pieces. Due to the time they spent in the pot, the plant stems had already turned mushy.

Frankly speaking, Jose felt that he could definitely cook better than the kobold chef, but as a lazy bum… unless necessary, he did not want to do it himself.

After all, if he did things himself, what would be the point of having servants?!

Feeling at ease, Jose picked up a large pot and raised it over his head. He was not afraid of the heat and directly poured the steaming soup and food into his mouth.

Gulp~

One pot after another, he quickly ate until he was 90% full.

This was enough.

The kobolds carried the pot and left. Only Jose was left in the cave. He lay on the ground and pondered.

There were many improvements to the original kobold tribe.

Take the iron pots for example. These iron pots were made by pouring molten iron into molds, and after the shape was fixed, they were hammered and polished.

As the craftsmanship was too primitive, there were often flaws like bubbles. On average, it took them three tries to forge a useable iron pot.

Weapons were also being created using the same molding and polishing method. Unfortunately, such weapons would break easily when they clashed with hard surfaces. They might be enough to deal with wild beasts and other primitive monster tribes, but if it was against a proper human army…

Jose could already imagine the battle between the kobolds and a human army. When their weapons clashed, the metal weapons in the kobolds’ hands would shatter first. Then, a one-sided massacre would ensue.

Fortunately, he did not have to worry about fighting with a human army for a while yet, so he could put aside the matter of the forging process. The matter of meat was most pressing as winter was coming.

For this, Jose had already thought of a solution. On the one hand, he would actively expand in the outside world, annex other monster tribes, and widen the range of their hunting grounds. On the other hand, he would build an aerial unit to increase their reconnaissance and hunting efficiency.

Of course, the kobolds could not fly, nor could the blood-tooth tribe afford to raise large flying beasts.

Jose’s chosen aerial unit was going to be another primitive monster race — the harpies.

Harpies were commonly seen humanoid creatures on the Tedanol Continent. They had the bodies and faces of female elves. Their arms were replaced by wings, and beneath their knees were skinny eagle claws.

Due to the fact that their arms were bird wings, the harpies were unable to start a fire. The tools that the Harpies could create or use were also very limited. Therefore, the harpies’ level of development was very low, and they lived the lives of wild beasts.

Like many birds, they built their nests on steep cliffs in case they were ambushed by animals while sleeping.

During the relocation, Jose happened to see a harpy’s nest not far from the kobold tribe.

Under the cover of night, a huge dragon shadow darted out of the forest and flew into the sky until it disappeared into the clouds.

In the distance, on a mountain peak, hidden among dense tree branches, a black shadow saw the dragon flying into the clouds, and it quickly grabbed a vine to slide down the tree.

In a deep tunnel, a hooded old gnoll with a hunched back and a walking stick moved quickly. His steps were so fast that he did not seem as old as he looked.

Smelling the faint traces of blood in front of him, the Gnoll Mage — Old Mosa — was shocked. He quickened his pace and entered the den filled with green poisonous gas.

Old Mosa saw a huge black shadow lying in the middle of the den staring at him with its diamond-shaped pupils.

He stopped and tidied up his somewhat messy clothes due to his quick steps, before bowing respectfully as he reported, “Master, we have a new neighbor.”