Discovery

By agreement, the Stone Crow Clan had to guarantee the black dragon's daily meals. Yet during this time, they had come to regret it just as Caesar had, their fear of hardship growing severe. Having felt the terror of being dominated, they wished they could tear up the oath at once.

Because this guy simply ate far too much!

By all reason, dragons were quite restrained in their diets except during their wyrmling stage. Their daily intake would not exceed half their own body weight. Even the red dragon "Queen"—one of the very few truly morbidly obese dragons known to present-day scholars and adventurers—did not eat more than twice her own weight in food each day.

But this dragon—the black dragon who had formed an alliance with them, named "Caesar Ortorenso Targaryen"—was confirmed by the orc warriors responsible for transporting food to consume more than three times his own body weight in meat every meal.

In other words, Caesar could now eat four entire Baismai Horned Bulls in a single day.

(Note: The Baismai Horned Bull is an herbivorous animal currently found across the western plains, mountains, and forests. It was first discovered by the dwarf Baismai and named for the enormous horns atop its head. Ferocious by nature, it fed on grass, leaves, branches, bamboo shoots, bark, and the like. Adult horned bulls generally measured four meters in length, with the largest reaching five meters, and weighed roughly 1.5 tons.)

Watching the black dragon wolf down his meal before them, the already green faces of the warriors delivering food turned an even deeper green. Baismai Horned Bulls were no easy prey. The herds roaming the wilderness were exceptionally fierce, prone to breaking into mad charges and smashing into everything around them.

At first, the orcs had assumed the hateful black dragon was deliberately making things difficult for them. Only later did they discover that his appetite really was that enormous. Watching Caesar eat bulls without even spitting out the bones, yet still lick his chops for more, the orcs realized that four Baismai Horned Bulls might not even be enough to fill him completely.

This outrageous news caused a small wave of panic within the hunting party. When they reported it to Sifu, even their clan chief—who was the least orc-like among them and always calm and composed—was startled enough to feel his teeth ache. He hurried back into his stone cave to consult the records.

Caesar's appetite had indeed had no small impact on the Stone Crow Clan. To provide the black dragon with enough meat, they had no choice but to transfer twenty elite warriors out of the hunting party specifically to hunt horned bulls.

For the Stone Crow Clan, which had only sixty hunting warriors in total, this was already an extremely heavy burden. In truth, insufficient food had always been a grave problem for orcs. The wilderness was exceedingly dangerous, and some high-ranking aberrations were particularly powerful. Every hunt could cost an orc his life.

Yet even so, these green-skinned fellows had not complained to anyone. Aside from looking rather unpleasant whenever they watched Caesar eat, they had not even mentioned the matter to him.

Just as Caesar remembered, orcs were incredibly hardheaded. There was a saying among their race: "An orc's spit is as hard as a Thick-headed Dragon's skull." They did what they said and never broke their word. Though hunting horned bulls had exhausted the warriors to the bone, until they found a better substitute, they could only grit their teeth and hold on.

However, in order to ensure the black dragon had enough to eat, the food allotted to ordinary Stone Crow Clan orcs was gradually decreasing. Many female orcs and young orcs had already begun eating their stores of cured meat.

This was a very bad sign.

"It's time to resume trade with the humans." After discovering this development, Chief Sifu had no choice but to make a decision.

"Mm... Damn dry season. Looks like it's coming again."

Caesar sprawled in his nest with his hind legs splayed out, raised an oversized stone goblet, took a gulp of his homemade drink, and sighed.

"I've never tasted anything this delicious. It's even better than flower dew!"

Little Luna copied him, taking a sip from a cup not even the size of a grain of rice. Her eyes involuntarily narrowed into slits, like a mouse that had stolen cheese. "Caesar, you really are a genius. How did you ever think of making this?"

It had begun when Caesar, while watching the orcs hunt, discovered a plant in a mountain wetland that looked remarkably like mint. Its stems and leaves were rougher and thicker than mint's, but the taste was similar—only cooler, with a hint of sweetness.

At first, Caesar had merely wanted a change of flavor. Fresh meat, rotten meat, cooked meat—every kind of meat had left his mouth sick of it. He would pick a few stalks of the plant, chew them to pulp, and hold them in his mouth like cooling candy.

But as the weather grew hotter and hotter, he had a sudden idea. He ordered Luna to bring back several bundles of the stuff, boiled it in water over a fire, then chilled it with his frost breath.

The result was so delicious it was almost ridiculous. Luna no longer drank flower dew every day. At dawn, she would run out, heaving and puffing as she carried back a huge pile of grass, diligently boil it over the fire, then stare at Caesar with eager eyes, waiting for him to make his move.

After spending some time together and becoming familiar with one another, Luna was no longer as frightened of the black dragon as before. This guy was different from other black dragons. He neither liked living in damp, filthy riverbed swamps nor liked making himself reek of rot. He even kept his nest neat and tidy. He was practically a gaudy little temptress among black dragons.

Of course, those were only her private thoughts. The real reason was that Luna had found his temperament rather good. Unlike the irritable, savage, and neurotic black dragons of legend, he was fairly easy to get along with most of the time. Other than becoming so gloomy and stern that he frightened her whenever he got serious, there was no problem communicating with him.

"Even you don't know what this grass is called?"

Caesar glanced at Luna, who was still noisily slurping her drink, his tone undisguisedly scornful. A mighty Forest Fairy who did not even recognize all plants and vegetation.

"Ohh."

Luna choked, hurriedly patted her chest, and retorted with complete righteousness, utterly unaware of her own shortcomings. "In Eladia, no one studies or names ordinary plants that are neither dangerous nor filling. Forget Forest Fairies—even if you searched all of Eladia, no race would know its name."

As if that was not enough to express her indignation, she puffed out her cheeks and added, "Even if there is one, someone must have just made it up on the spot."

"Is that so..."

Caesar thought for a moment. He was about to ask Luna more about Eladia's customs and local conditions when the little creature suddenly sprang up, darted between his spikes, and became incomparably serious. "A spellcaster is approaching the Stone Crow Clan."

Hearing that, Caesar immediately crawled closer to the edge of his nest, stuck out his head, and looked outside.

"Humans."

Within his field of vision, a sizable human party that appeared to be merchants slowly arrived and entered the Stone Crow Clan's territory.