On the slightly shaking deck, the captain cleared his throat and said, "The changes have indeed been huge... as if overnight! Borderlands The behavior of those notorious monsters and aliens has become... well, how should I put it, polite."
"An unprecedented collaboration has begun between different races."
"They took the initiative to conduct trade exchanges with us business groups traveling to the Estonia River, exchanging local minerals and furs for food and daily necessities."
"Many people don't know what's going on. They just think it's because the monsters suddenly became enlightened or the sun comes out in the west."
The captain carefully looked around to make sure that no other crew members were too close, then lowered his voice slightly and said with a sense of mystery, "But I happened to hear some inside information from some old guys who traveled around..."
He came closer and lowered his voice. "It is said that this piece of Chaos Lands located on the edge of Ser Wilderness and bordering Permafrost Tundra, after an unknown number of years of Bloodshed disputes, finally gave birth to... the only and true "King of the Borderlands"."
"It was this mysterious king who brought unprecedented order to this lawless land! It was he who formulated the rules and restrained those lawless monster minions with an iron fist."
"Few people have seen his true face with their own eyes, but his reputation and influence are everywhere. You can even see that even the most cunning and greedy Goblin, who is accustomed to extortion, now does not dare to ask for an extra copper plate from the businessmen who come and go."
"It can be said that all intelligent creatures in Borderlands nowadays, no matter strong or weak, live under the huge shadow of this "king" and follow the rules set by him."
"Oh? So powerful?"
Alberto raised his eyebrows, with a playful expression on his face, and said in wonder, "Then what is the origin of this "King of the Borderlands" you are talking about? Is it Goblin? There is a hero in that has not been seen in thousands of years? Is he a strong man among humans? Or... those Iron Hoof from the Centaur tribe defeated Borderlands?"
The captain shook his head vigorously, his expression becoming extremely serious and serious.
"No, there are different opinions about the specific identity of that "king", and there is a lot of mystery, but the most widely circulated and most accepted theory is..."
He took a deep breath and said word by word, "The people who rule this dangerous land are not ordinary races, but a noble, kind, and unimaginably powerful...Metal Dragon, and the leader of Metal Dragon, the noblest and most powerful...Gold Dragon."
After a second of silence.
"Pfft... Hahaha! Jin...Gold Dragon?!"
Hearing this answer, Alberto seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He couldn't help it anymore and burst into hearty laughter.
Just as he laughed loudly, the captain standing next to him stiffened suddenly, and an indescribable cold shudder from the depths of his soul swept through his body without warning.
But this feeling came and went even faster. It was just a moment of trance, and the suffocating fear receded like the tide.
It seemed as if everything just now was just an illusion caused by my excessive nervousness.
(What a risk... I almost didn't hold my breath, Shapeshifting Spell's maintenance fluctuated...)
Alberto stopped smiling, and his handsome face regained the sunshine-like calmness, but deep in his eyes, an imperceptible light that was mixed with absurdity and cold ridicule quickly passed through.
"King of the Borderlands is Gold Dragon... Where did you hear this interesting saying?"
Alberto calmly squinted his eyes, maintained a polite smile on his face, and asked the captain in a calm tone.
"Hey, I just heard it from chatting with other captains and guys."
The captain responded in a matter-of-fact tone, as if he thought this idea was natural.
"Many people are talking about this in private. If you think about it, it can restrain those lawless and cruel monster minions of Borderlands and allow creatures of different races to cooperate and do business in an orderly manner. These two points alone are enough to explain the problem."
He stretched out his rough fingers and made famous gestures in the air. "First of all, this King of the Borderlands, he is definitely not Evil Dragon from the evil camp, right? Evil Dragon does not have the patience and kindness to maintain order."
"The next thing is."
The captain's voice was lowered, with a hint of sharing a secret. "I have heard of a theory."
"Most Metal Dragons are actually more inclined to maintain the existing order and are less willing to take the trouble to "create" a new set of rules. Only the most noble and responsible Gold Dragons will take the trouble and effort to build an orderly system from scratch."
The smile on Alberto's face was still bright, but an imperceptible strangeness flashed deep in his eyes, and he fell into a brief silence.
"It's not Evil Dragon? Then why do I smell the strong evil smell coming with the wind before I actually set foot on Borderlands?"
"Besides... only Gold Dragon is willing to take the trouble to create order?"
"What a naive realization."
"Have you ever been a Gold Dragon? Do you know what Gold Dragon really thinks? Apart from me... I have never heard of any Gold Dragon compatriot who likes such troublesome things as creating order."
An imperceptible golden light flows quietly in the depths of the adventurer's pupils.
Alberto's inner lake is calm on the surface, but inside it is filled with calm and sharp storms of thoughts.
There is no doubt that the identity of "adventurer" is just a layer of disguise that he carefully constructed. His true identity is the dragon! And it is the most noble one in the captain's mouth - the head of Metal Dragon, Gold Dragon!
It is true that Gold Dragon Clan naturally advocates order and justice.
However, the vast majority of adult Gold Dragon have already formed deep-rooted behavioral norms and thinking patterns.
They generally believe:
An act of justice must be carefully considered, with all potential consequences carefully weighed, ensuring that the "cure" does not cause more harm than the "disease" itself.
There are countless injustices in the world, and no existence can personally correct every mistake.
Rather than having to do everything personally and do everything for others, it is better to encourage intelligent creatures to rely on their own strength to solve problems within their capabilities.
Only those "tribulations" that are truly huge and complex and can only be dealt with by Gold Dragon's own strength and wisdom are worthy of their all-out efforts.
But compared with those Gold Dragon siblings.
Alberto·Aurelius is an outlier.
Ever since he emerged from his shell as Dragonling Stage, he has been regarded by his parents as a stubborn and hopeless "bad boy".
He possesses a strong sense of autonomy far beyond that of his peers, as well as an almost paranoid cognition.
Justice and order are by no means gifts that can fall from the sky just waiting, but are ultimate goals that need to be "created" and "shaped" by one's own hands with absolute power and supreme wisdom!
Other races and even the vast majority of Dragonkin do not have such noble bloodline and insight into the essence of wisdom as he does.
Instead of letting them make mistakes in ignorance and chaos, it is better to "control" them under a perfect order framework carefully designed by him to prevent them from doing irreparable stupid things.
Based on the above ideas, he has a grand and radical ultimate dream.
Through ruthless conquest and absolute rule, all divided countries, races, and forces across the entire continent and even multiple dimensions will be unified into a supreme centralized government! In this way, the soil where "evil" breeds will be completely eradicated, and a Eternal Realm, perfect Golden Order will be established.
Now, the weather, the right place, the right people, and the right people seem to be on his side.
Almost all the powerful Metal Dragons of adulthood and above were urgently summoned by their respective Dragon Realms. They were busy dealing with some kind of higher-level crisis and had no time to pay attention to his "deviant" Young Dragons. In the Lothern Federations composed of the southern human countries, the seeds of civil strife have taken root and sprouted, and a storm is coming.
The perfect opportunity to punish traitors and eradicate evil, and start his journey of great conquest, is right in front of him.
After careful intelligence collection and strategic deduction, young Gold Dragon Alberto locked his first strategic target - Borderlands, located between Ser Wilderness and Permafrost Tundra, guarding Estonia River's throat.
The terrain here is complex, connecting wilderness and civilization, and can also be used as an excellent lever and base of advancement to leverage the situation on the entire continent.
However... plans can never keep up with changes.
He never expected that this virgin land that he carefully selected would be occupied by a mysterious "king"! What's even more ridiculous is that the identity of this "king" in the rumors is said to be... Gold Dragon, who has the same origin as him?
"Interesting..."
(I want to see with my own eyes what kind of "similar" they are, and in what way, they can rule this chaotic Borderlands before me?)
Alberto was filled with a desire for exploration and competition, but on the surface he still maintained the harmless and friendly attitude of an adventurer, calmly continuing to chat with the captain about local customs and trade goods.
Time passes leisurely like the Estonian river flowing beneath our feet.
The merchant ship sailed smoothly, the landforms on both sides of the strait changed quietly, the traces of artificial excavation gradually increased, and the smell of sulfur, metal and powerful Dragon Might in the air became increasingly clear and discernible.
Borderlands is already close at hand.