A powerful, pungent snort scattered the gold coins in the young cleric's hands, snapping him out of his seemingly frenzied state.
The cleric lowered his head slightly and met that eye. For a moment, his thoughts were in such disarray that he could not think at all.
Whether advancing to fight or retreating to flee, either option had already become a distant dream for the members of the Tree Worship Church.
As they trembled in terror, the enormous red dragon's head slowly emerged from the mountain of gold coins. It stretched its neck, the scales across its body spreading in comfort and releasing the gold coins caught in their gaps.
The head atop that thick neck blocked the light inside the cave, making the atmosphere even more chilling.
The church members did not know whether this was the legendary "dragon fear" or whether they had simply been scared out of their wits. Their legs shook like sieves, no longer capable of keeping them standing.
Only then did the bishop finally react, trembling as he raised the wooden sword his right hand had become.
Although he could not muster the slightest hostility toward the dragon before him, doing this at least gave him a greater sense of security.
The other clerics followed suit, raising their wooden swords and pretending they were ready for battle.
The dragon, vast enough to blot out the sky, lowered its head and saw the farce playing out below like a hand-puppet show.
Dazed, the clerics seemed to hear a snicker.
The dragon opened its mouth, and a swift flash of flame swept past. Their wooden swords instantly became torches, adding a little light to the cave that had just grown dim.
The searing pain made them grimace, but they dared neither cry out nor use any means to extinguish the flames.
They could only watch the flames gradually burn along the wooden swords their right hands had become, enduring the heart-searing pain.
Just as the atmosphere was about to reach freezing point, the dragon suddenly spoke:
"What business do you people from the Tree Worship Church have with me?"
Although its voice was heavy and muffled, and its words indistinct, they could understand it well enough.
They realized that the dragon before them had no intention of killing them, at least not for now.
After a brief silence, the bishop, the most composed among them, stepped forward to speak.
In those few seconds of silence, he had already gone over every excuse he could use.
Naturally, he could not call this a misunderstanding. As two parties bound by a mutual pact, the Tree Worship Church and the dragons theoretically could not commit such an affront.
Especially when several fully armed clerics had barged into a dragon's dwelling like this. Setting size and strength aside, how was this any different from trespassing?
It was precisely these considerations that made the bishop find the situation increasingly thorny. Coming up with a suitable reason to resolve the current crisis was indeed rather difficult.
And he had now stepped forward precisely because his racing mind had come up with a good idea:
"Honored dragon, how should we address you?"
"You are not worthy of knowing my true name. Answer my question. State your business."
Two streams of hot air burst from the dragon's nostrils, freely roasting the bishop's cheeks like an air fryer running at full power.
Forcing himself to endure the pain, the bishop said, word by word:
"Mighty dragon, we came to ask whether you have seen an apostate like this nearby."
As he spoke, he took an internal Tree Worship Church wanted notice from the pocket at the side of his robe and displayed it before the dragon's eyes.
Both the bishop and the wanted notice were far too tiny for the dragon. It turned its head sideways and held its breath, finally managing to make out the contents of the notice with one eye:
[Test Subject 1-3-0027, self-proclaimed name: Ed Adrian, bounty: 1,000 tree seeds (sketched portrait)] [Test Subject 1-3-0027-1, mutated plant already fused with 0027, bounty: 0 tree seeds (separate bounties on derivatives prohibited) (sketched portrait)]
The dragon committed all the information on the notice to memory, then asked:
"The bounty. How much?"
The bishop suddenly realized a problem: to preserve the purity of their faith, precious-metal currency was prohibited within the Tree Worship Church's territories and even within its ecclesiastical court. Tree seeds were the hard currency.
But to a dragon, tree seeds had no value whatsoever. Gold, silver, and other precious metals transmuted through alchemy were the truly prized goods.
Gritting his teeth, the bishop said:
"Five hundred-no, one thousand. As long as you capture this apostate, I will personally deliver one thousand gold coins to you. If he is dead... he is still worth eight hundred gold coins."
A dead test subject had absolutely no value, but to avoid angering the dragon, the bishop still adjusted the terms slightly.
A rumbling purr echoed through the cave. The dragon was like an enormous feline, strange noises coming from inside its body as it pondered.
The noise suddenly stopped, and the pondering dragon opened its eyes again to look at them:
"Deal."
The crisis was over!
"Praise your mercy, and thank you for your help."
The bishop bowed slightly in what appeared to be a neither servile nor overbearing gesture, then exchanged looks with his companions to signal that they could leave. They had to go, and had no choice but to go. If they stayed any longer, the flames would reach their torsos.
The dragon's enormous body was also sinking bit by bit into the sea of gold coins, seemingly unconcerned by their departure.
Just then, the concealed stone door through which they had entered suddenly opened on its own, and a half-dragon-transformed young man appeared in the passage.
Seeing the members of the Tree Worship Church in the dragon's dwelling, the young man looked as though he had seen a ghost. Then he looked at the dragon, whose head was slowly sinking into the gold coins, and dropped to his knees with a thud.
Oh no!
The bishop realized something. Looking at the somewhat familiar young man before him, he suddenly recalled the sight of him following behind that dragon-transformed man.
It's over. The tattling bastard is here!
Sure enough, just as the bishop had expected, the young man prostrated himself on the ground and shouted:
"Great master! These are the people who forced their way into your kin's territory! They even conducted a sweeping search, disrupting our metallurgical plans and treating the great pact as though it meant nothing!"
Fuck you! When the fuck did I conduct a sweeping search?
The bishop's gaze looked as though it could kill the man outright, but he could neither kill him nor flee. Doing either would amount to tacitly admitting the man's accusations.
He-all of them-could do nothing but stand there and await the final judgment of a dragon that was at least mid-tier.
The dragon's head slowly rose from the gold coins, and its enormous golden eye fixed on them once more:
"Really?"
The man prostrate on the ground said mournfully:
"I would not dare deceive the great master. The village chief sent me here precisely to inform you of this matter, lest any oversight affect the pact and cause you harm in the future."