Russell firmly believed that the Dark Dreamscape had expanded.
He had noticed that big tree before. Only a small half of it had been enclosed within the Dark Dreamscape, but now, more than half of the tree was wrapped inside.
"It's certain now. All these changes happened after Little Dream Dragon swallowed the Hail Bead!" Riding Little Dream Dragon, he grinned from ear to ear. "Snowcone, just wait. One day, I'll feed you Gold Coins every day!"
"Gah?" Little Dream Dragon tilted its head.
Seeming to understand something, it nodded repeatedly. "Gah, gah, gah, gah!"
"Gah gah!" Russell imitated Little Dream Dragon and called out twice.
Hail Beads were indeed valuable, but raising Little Dream Dragon and expanding the Dark Dreamscape were things money simply could not measure.
Because...
Russell increasingly felt that Little Dream Dragon might truly be a dragon.
Though it did not exist in the real world and could only be ridden in dreams; though it was not as colossal as the grand duke's Shadowflame Dragon, capable of creating an endless warm oasis; and though it was a little lacking in intelligence.
Dragons were legendary creatures to begin with, strange and varied. There was not only one Shadowflame Dragon template.
Little Dream Dragon might be a dragon of another kind.
"Gah." After playing for a while, Little Dream Dragon grew tired.
Russell affectionately rubbed Little Dream Dragon's big head and waved with a smile. "Good night, Snowcone. Sweet dreams... Ha, what even counts as a sweet dream? Maybe you and I are already living one... Anyway, I hope that one day, we can soar across the skies together!"
"Gah!"
Little Dream Dragon vanished around the corner, and the Dark Dreamscape returned to silence.
In the morning, sunlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, adding a bright stripe to the bedroom.
A lord's life was quite comfortable. No one came to wake Russell anymore, but the biological clock he had developed still woke him early.
He casually tugged the bell rope beside his bed.
Then Russell got out of bed and went to the bathroom to relieve himself—the entire manor residence had only one bedroom with a private flushing toilet, and that was his. Of course, servants still had to carry water over to refill the toilet tank; there was no advanced water supply system.
After relieving himself, he returned to the bedside, steadied himself, and abruptly pulled open the drawer. Then he let out a breath of relief.
Not a single Hail Bead remained inside, meaning that what he had experienced last night had not been an illusion. It had really happened.
Little Dream Dragon had indeed swallowed the Hail Beads and expanded the Dark Dreamscape.
"Good, good. I'll hunt more Snow Ghosts later, then raise a dragon!" The corners of his mouth lifted, as though he could already see a brilliant future.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. "Good morning, sir."
"Good morning."
Head Maid Leona pushed open the door and entered with three maids, promptly getting to work.
Freckled Irene, bucktoothed Phoebe, and short, plain Olivia—Russell had more than enough reason to suspect that when old butler Carter had arranged his servants, his mother had specifically instructed him to rule out all the pretty maids first.
Otherwise, given old butler Carter's affection for him, he could not possibly have failed to choose pretty maids for him.
"Maybe old butler Carter put up a fight... At least Leona looks decent, and she has a nice figure." Russell glanced at the head maid again. Her backside was truly quite round when she bent over and stuck it out, enough to inspire involuntary respect.
"Good morning, sir." The manservant Ram knocked and entered.
Russell gathered his thoughts, let Ram help him get dressed, then went downstairs for breakfast before beginning that day's morning knight training.
By the time he had worked up a sweat, Charles had just come downstairs. "Good morning, my lord."
"Good morning, Teacher Charles."
"Oh, right, my lord. Are you still inspecting the manor today? If you have some free time, I think it's time for a knowledge lesson," Charles said. He had always been Russell's tutor, responsible for teaching him cultural knowledge.
"We'll talk about it later," Russell brushed him off.
He was already an adult and did not want to attend specialized cultural lessons anymore. His arrangement for Charles was to serve as his assistant and adviser.
He could ask for guidance whenever there was something he did not understand.
As they were talking, a knight came galloping over from outside and was soon led in by Butler Morris. "Sir, a messenger has arrived from Fluorite Castle."
The knight thumped his chest in salute. "Raphael sends his greetings, Young Master Russell."
"Hello, Sir Raphael."
"Baron Lord has a message for you. He hopes you will dine at Fluorite Castle at noon. Baron Lord has something to discuss with you then."
"Very well. Sorry for the trouble of making the trip. Go have a cup of tea first, and we'll return to Fluorite Castle together later."
"Thank you."
The knight went to have tea, and Charles immediately said, "It must be about hunting the Snow Ghost. Baron Lord is watching over you at all times."
"Mm." Russell naturally understood. In the baron and his wife's eyes, he was probably still a child who had not grown up.
Though they had allowed him to live on his fief, they still kept watch over everything he did.
After taking a bath and changing into fresh clothes, Russell immediately returned to Fluorite Castle with his personal manservant and two knight retainers, following Knight Raphael.
Once he arrived at Fluorite Castle, as expected, they asked about hunting the Snow Ghost.
"Chris already told me yesterday. Well done, Russell. You hunted the Snow Ghost earlier than I expected," the baron praised him.
Russell humbly replied, "It was my duty as a lord."
Madam Meryl, however, reproached him gently. "You're still growing, and you've only just begun cultivating Battle Aura. You should take fewer risks. And Chris, honestly—you asked him for help, yet he stood by with his hands in his sleeves and let a child like you fight."
The baron said, "Russell is no longer a child. He has already held his coming-of-age ceremony."
"No matter how old he is, he is still my child."
"Woman's nonsense." The baron turned and headed upstairs. "Russell, come to the study with me. Madam, don't follow us. Let us men have a chat."
"Go on, go on." Meryl straightened Russell's clothes at the hem.
Once they entered the study, Baron Roman took a bottle of red wine from the bookshelf and poured a glass each for himself and Russell.
They clinked glasses and took a sip.
The baron casually asked, "How did your first Snow Ghost hunt feel?"
"It felt pretty good. Maybe the knight squad's battle spirit carried me along. I didn't feel afraid, nor was I very nervous. Later, I was simply exhausted to the point of collapse and had no energy left to think about much else. The battle just ended like that."
"You did a little better than your older brother. When Roland first went ghost hunting with me, he saw a headless Snow Ghost and actually got distracted despite still being able to fight."
"Maybe I'm just thick-skinned."
"No, you're more meticulous than your older brother." The baron smiled. "I was worried you would have trouble adapting to independent life, but you adapted even better than I expected. You handled this Snow Ghost invasion very well—not rash, yet not cowardly."
"I've benefited from your influence, Father."
"You've only been gone for a few days, yet your flattery has already improved. Not bad. You're much more cheerful now than before," the baron said with feeling.
Perhaps he had cared too little about this second son in the past. Now, with Russell standing before him, he actually felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
Russell smiled along with him but offered no further explanation.
He could hardly say, I'm the one doing the flattering. The taciturn one was your son.
But soon, both father and son became taciturn—once the topic of Snow Ghosts was exhausted, they could find little else to discuss. They rarely had such formal heart-to-heart talks, so they could only awkwardly raise their wineglasses to conceal the slightly silent atmosphere in the study.
Fortunately, it was time for lunch.
"Sir, Young Master Russell, Madam asks that you hurry to the dining room for lunch," a manservant came to announce.
Baron Roman and Russell both let out a sigh of relief. Then they exchanged smiles and left the study lined with bottles of red wine, one after the other.
Before you continue