Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Don’t you dragons inherit Magic through your bloodline? Why would you be interested in a Magic Canon?”

”Giant Dragons aren’t the most powerful creatures just because we were born into it!” Aiksuuri tossed down a massive Original Text from the bookshelf, its corners bound in huge chunks of jade. It nearly crushed Ron underneath. ”How much can you really learn from just innate breath Magic?”

”We have plenty of time and Energy for studying!”

”What’s this one?” Ron pushed the book open, only to find he couldn’t understand the Dragon Language script. He showed it to Silvia, but the Vampire Descendant admitted she knew no more than Ron did. ”Aiksuuri, would you mind translating this for us?”

”This is... oh, it’s this one.” It took Aiksuuri some effort to flip through the book as well, but thankfully he was a fast reader. He extended a claw and snapped, and the spoon in Ron’s hand instantly lost its glow, plunging everything back into darkness.

”What did you do?” Ron hurriedly felt for the Enchantment runes on the spoon but couldn’t find them, no matter how much he searched.

”Dispel Magic. That’s what this Original Text is about,” Aiksuuri said from the darkness. ”I just learned it the last time my teacher was giving a lesson.”

”Come on. I’ll take this chance to translate our language for you, but I’m only going over it once. I haven’t quite mastered it myself yet.”

With Ron now in full-on lecture mode, the others had no choice but to take his spoon and explore the area themselves. A thick layer of dust covered most of the place, a clear sign that no living creature had been there for a very long time.

”I knew this would happen eventually...” Aive sighed. ”Victoria, didn’t your deity give you the ability to see in the dark? Why are you so insistent on holding this spoon?”

”Because Sera doesn’t.”

”Then why not just cast Light Magic?”

”But Aive, don’t you think this is more fun?” Victoria waved the spoon around, giving it another snap whenever the light grew dim. ”Besides, it’s not like we have to choose. We can use both at the same time and make it even brighter down here—”

”Don’t!” Caught off guard, Aive and Delaford cried out in pain from the sudden bright light. ”Turn it off! Please, take back your divine power! You’re blinding us!”

”I could have used Daylight Magic to make it even brighter in here, you know...” Victoria said with a hint of regret as she canceled her Light Magic, ceasing the assault on her companions’ eyes.

”Sigh... Ron, did you remember all that?” Silvia asked, looking at him with a sense of resignation. Aiksuuri’s impromptu lesson was over. It felt like she had learned a lot, but on second thought, she couldn’t seem to recall any of it.

Ron, on the other hand, had hit almost no snags thanks to his Spellbook. He could now read Dragon Language books with basic proficiency, though there were still some sounds he simply couldn’t pronounce.

”It’s fine. I’ll teach you again when we get back,” Ron said with a smile. ”But for the pronunciation, you’ll still have to go to Aiksuuri. My vocal range is more limited than yours.”

This ”mute” Dragon Language was fine for reading, but it was basically useless for Casting spells. In that regard, Ron was even worse off than a Kobold, for whom it was a native tongue.

”Whatever makes you happy.” Aiksuuri wasn’t one to jealously guard his knowledge, but he didn’t particularly care about their progress either. After his one-time lesson, he went back to flitting about the library. ”Hey, check this out! You’ll definitely be interested in this!”

He pulled a small booklet from the shelf, one much thinner than a Magic Canon. ”I’m guessing this is the Green Dragon’s diary. We might be able to find out what exactly killed him!”

”Oh? So he kept a journal. Good for him.” Ron quickly caught the diary as Aiksuuri tossed it down. ’Serious people don’t keep diaries, but diaries sure can help serious people!’

”The fifth century. It seems he categorized his journals by his age. If you look around more, you might find his entries from other eras.”

”We’ll worry about that later. Let’s read this first!” Aiksuuri flew down, urging him on. ”I’m dying to know what he went through!”

”Let’s see... hmm... ’Having a Red Copper Dragon for a neighbor is a novel experience. In all my past years, I’d never tried it before.’”

”’She is beautiful and powerful, but she is far too noisy! I can hardly get any decent sleep. Her ill-timed visits always interrupt my slumber and my territorial patrols.’”

”’But I cannot afford to anger her. No matter how bad or lame her jokes are, I must feign appreciation for her sense of humor. She threatened to corrode my garden with Strong Acid if I don’t—by Tiamat and Bahamut, I’m starting to consider moving again.’”

”’I tried to ambush her when we first met, but the result was humiliating—she’s two hundred years older than me. I couldn’t possibly beat her!’”

”Now that’s some bad luck,” Aiksuuri said, clicking his tongue. ”Good thing they’re both dead now.”

”’Cause for celebration! That one is finally gone! She hastily left me a Short Message Magic saying I could have her lair and territory—as if I’d want them! What’s so great about those barren hills and canyons? She just had to riddle the place with all sorts of strange little holes, claiming she wanted the wind to be her accompanist?!’”

”’A group of Elves found me. They said they were new residents as well, led by some Baron or other...’”

”What Baron?!” Silvia started. ”Could it be the one you were talking about, Baron Saran Lane? He sought out this Green Dragon?”

”That’s not so strange,” Aiksuuri said nonchalantly. ”My own lair isn’t too far from here. It would be stranger if they *hadn’t* met.”

”This was not long after the Red Copper Dragon moved away,” Ron said, struggling to decipher the symbols the Green Dragon had used for months and dates. ”That means the Elves of the Hailan Empire likely visited the Red Copper Dragon, too.”

”Why were they looking for dragons?” Silvia wondered aloud. ”To help them restore their empire? Or to try and enslave them? They must have been dreaming.”

”Not so fast. Let’s keep reading.” Ron turned another page in the journal. ”’I refused them. These High Elves are completely insane! Do they think they’re so clever? Trying to seek out the madness that lies beneath this land, and even claiming to have made contact with *those* entities?’”

”’My heart felt like it was going to burst as I spoke with them. Their words, their plans... even to my eyes, they were utterly evil and unforgivable. As for the threats they made afterward? Don’t make me laugh.’”

”’Do those filthy things, who only dare to hide in some dark corner of the world, really have the audacity to provoke me right outside my own lair?!’”