Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon's Might-Chapter 41 - Increased Knowledge

He shook his neck and was about to go out hunting when he saw half a giant boar and remembered that he had hunted a whole one yesterday, and brought back half to his lair.

The Dragon Nest perched halfway up the mountain was not accessible to just any animal—without the ability to fly or the skill to walk on walls, it was unreachable.

Nevertheless, Leon discovered that a good amount of meat had been stolen, likely by some bird or eagle.

Leon didn’t mind such a minor loss.

He bit into the giant boar’s leg, jerked his head forcefully to tear off a large piece of meat, chewed briefly and swallowed.

The hard bones of the giant boar were no different from finger biscuits to him.

As he ate the raw boar meat, Leon thought back to the pork he had at the Orc camp yesterday—which had been cooked and even sprinkled with a little salt, he didn’t know where they had gotten it from.

He found the difference in taste between the two to be quite significant.

Without having experienced light, one can endure darkness; without having tasted cooked meat seasoned by culinary skills, Leon would not have hesitated so much.

Leon pondered over the possibility of mooching meals every day from the Orc camp.

After much hesitation, Leon decided against it.

He was worried about becoming dependent and losing his ability to speak freely…

Indeed, while regular Red Dragons often resorted to extortion without carrying out their obligations, there was a huge difference between chaotic evil and Order Evil, but he couldn’t be so shameless to let himself turn entirely into a Red Dragon in just a few years.

Leon continued to eat the raw giant boar meat.

He thought that ordinary Flame Breath wouldn’t cook it, Samadhi True Fire being too powerful to use casually, so for now, it had to be this way.

However, next time he went hunting, he could try bleeding the prey to lessen the gamey smell…

It must be the boars that weren’t castrated that smelled so strong.

Feeling full, as a fire-element True Dragon, Leon didn’t have much need for water.

He thought of tidying up the things he brought back yesterday.

First, he sorted out books, then jewelry…

Lastly, as usual, he scattered all the money onto his bedding as decoration, gemstones included.

Wait, Leon suddenly realized a problem: The money he used to decorate his bedding had decreased.

As a Red Dragon, he possessed the basic quality of a Red Dragon—even a missing coin was enough to catch his attention, let alone when the loss was far more than just one.

Meat going missing I can understand, but money?

How did that happen?

And if everything were missing, I could explain it as the work of a thief.

But why would they only take a few coins or a dozen or so?

Who would do that?

Leon pondered for less than a minute and had his answer.

It must be a crow, or some other bird.

Many male birds, to win the affection of females, like to collect shiny things—coins, gemstones, shells, and the like—to adorn their nests.

Clearly, his nest had been visited by such trifles, taken without permission.

The Red Dragon was an obsessed collector, placing the value of his treasures above all else, and would flare into a rage over a missing coin, mercilessly hunting down the thief.

But against a small avian thief, even he would probably be out of his depth, wouldn’t he?

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How would a creature tens of meters in size chase after a bird no larger than a hand?

Leon didn’t value money that highly to begin with, and he was even less inclined to care now.

Nevertheless, he knew to learn from this lesson.

To prevent small avian thieves from visiting again, he collected his coins and put them in a box…

Everything valuable in his treasury was put into boxes.

There must be plenty of flying thieves in this world.

Today it was his good fortune to encounter only a small bird thief; next time he might not be so lucky.

Since he had already received a reward for establishing his treasury, it was time now to ‘hide the bow after the birds are gone, and to cook the hounds once the hare is caught.’

Simply putting the treasure into boxes wasn’t enough; Leon hardened his resolve, picked up his boxes, made a round around the mountain, and then buried them in a hidden spot, even camouflaging the soil on top.

Now he truly no longer had to worry about thieves.

Leon could now read in peace, focusing on books that the orcs had retrieved from the abandoned fortress.

Surely, no one would steal those.

Some books were too damaged to read, but others had clear writing that was still legible.

He skipped over kitchen procurement lists, weapon inventory logs, and various records.

An unknown person’s diary was good to pass the time with; Divine doctrines were worth a flip through when bored, and even a goblin observation report…

In the end, Leon settled on a travel journal.

In summary, Leon’s life had returned to its peaceful routine.

With an abundance of books to read, he became even more reclusive than before, rarely stepping outside except for hunting and absorbing the Sun and Moon Essence.

The Human Empire he used to live in was named Zio, now in its twilight.

Even a dying camel is bigger than a horse.

To the north lies the Frozen Soil Wilderness and within it, the kingdom of Belun.

But the Frozen Soil Wilderness is not home only to Belun; on the fringes of civilization, there are many Barbarian tribes.

A coalition called the Talia Alliance, composed of many small countries and city-states, barely manages to stave off the Empire’s invasions through their united front.

Not just Ferren, but this world also has a Dark Territory underneath the surface, where deformed, evil creatures reside to avoid the sunlight.

At first glance, goblins, Bugbears, and Hobgoblins might belong to different races, like Halflings, Dwarves, and Elves.

But it was the Conquest God Magrubie who united them, transforming three races into a single race: goblin-kin.

For an entire month, Leon lived this way, until he had read all the books.

Now, he had gained a lot more understanding of this world and filled in many gaps in his knowledge.