Civilization: Beyond Two Worlds

The third was the one that had been struck to the ground by Horus and fallen at St. Covero University.

A strange glint flashed through Kang De’s eyes, then he smiled and said, “Why? Is it very powerful?”

Speaking of serious matters, Stella became serious. Or rather, topics related to dragons were usually very serious—except for the dragon maids.

She replied, “Every dragon has a powerful background.”

After all, they were below the gods. Compared to them, even the elves who were said to be favored by the gods were not qualified to compete in talent and could only work hard.

Kang De nodded and said, “In other words, killing the dragon will bring a lot of trouble?”

Stella shook her head and said, “No, killing a hired dragon in the war doesn’t mean trouble. Firstly, those dragons signed a security agreement with the Twilight Dynasty and joined the war sequence of the Royal Army as mercenaries. They also fought for the Twilight Dynasty. This pattern has been popular for many years. Dragon Island recommended their ultimate mercenaries to the entire world. The details are already extremely perfect.”

The Second Princess raised a finger and said, “A very important point is that Dragon Island announces to the world that any individual, organization, army, or country who kills a dragon who serves the other party in a war won’t attract Dragon Island’s revenge. The position of the dragon hired to fight doesn’t represent the political preferences of Dragon Island itself. The dragon hired to fight is responsible for his actions and position.”

“This is very important. Otherwise, only dragons are allowed to slaughter wantonly on the battlefield. Killing this dragon will instead attract the revenge of Dragon Island. Then, the dragons would have long been jointly destroyed by the various countries.”

That was true.

Kang De asked, “But the rules are always flexible, right?”

Stella nodded and said, “Yes. If the ones who killed the dragons in the war are the Twilight Dynasty or the Human Empire, the dragons will definitely follow the rules even more than the most honest businessmen. However, if it’s a weak small country, although Dragon Island won’t take revenge on the surface, it’s inevitable to target and vent their anger openly and secretly.”

“Because they added additional terms. Firstly, if they used dishonorable methods, dishonorable plans, and despicable tricks in the process of killing the dragon, the dragon race has the right to pursue the matter.”

Kang De raised his eyebrows and said, “What method and plan is it?”

Stella spread out her hands and said, “They didn’t say that the final explaining right still belongs to them. The exact situation depends on whether the fist of the murderer is hard. If the elves did it, even if they take a hostage, poison a sneak attack, and set a Dragon Slaying Trap, it’s still a necessary method of war. If it’s a small country that can be bullied, even if they kill them head-on, the dragons can find an excuse to charge.”

Kang De sneered, “In other words, we’re a small country that can be bullied?”

When Stella heard this, her heart immediately softened. This subconscious word “we” simply struck the Second Princess’s heart, causing her to feel as if she had been seduced by the sweetest words of love. Her entire body was indescribably carefree.

—The facts have proven that as long as you know how to cast a forbidden curse and can fight a powerful army alone and kill three Dragoons in ten minutes, even an unromantic straight man can subconsciously seduce girls… or even girls can imagine themselves being seduced.

Stella pursed her lips. Although she did not have to snatch a man from a girl, Kang De’s words still increased her impression of him greatly. She said gently, “Goethe is a small country, but with you, it’s not. The elves were shocked by you and stopped their attacks. The Dragon Emperor is not stupid. How can he stupidly deal with you for the elves?”

Kang De changed to a comfortable sitting posture. “I guess there’s a but after your words.”

Stella nodded. “The Dragon Emperor won’t charge into battle for the interests of the elves, but if it’s for the interests of the dragons, it’s a different story.”

Kang De smiled. “I hurt the interests of the dragons?”

The Second Princess replied, “Yes, to be precise, you’ve hurt the face and money of the dragon race, but in the end, it’s still a matter of money.”

Kang De crossed his legs. “What do you mean?”

He was very angry because of Cleveland’s father.

“The dragons are proud and value their dignity. They’re powerful creatures, the overlord of the sky, and the number one race in the universe. They’re born powerful and have long lives. They’re a legendary race respected by the various races… However, you killed three of them in ten minutes in a row. This really damages the dignity of the dragon.”

Kang De nodded in understanding.

After all, in novels, the dragons kept saying “lowly ants”. It was really too infuriating and embarrassing to be slaughtered by a human like pigs. They could not endure it.

However…

He asked curiously, “Do you think it’s about money in the end?”

Stella sighed, “That’s right. The fact that you can kill three dragons in ten minutes, and it’s in a direct battle, shows how powerful you are. Although the dragons are proud, they’re not stupid. Look, if a god raises his hand and kills a few dragons, will the dragons feel that their dignity has been damaged and want to take revenge at all costs?”

“Then what does this have to do with money?”

“It’s very relevant…”

The Second Princess replied, “As an independent political entity, Dragon Island is extremely greedy for money. Where will their huge assets come from? It’s fine if it’s the old dragons, but they have savings, industrial manors, and investments in minerals. Where will the young dragons, who have just become adults, accumulate their initial wealth?”

“Now is not the ancient times when dragons can rob and blackmail everywhere. If they do such a thing now, they will be organized by various countries to put a bounty on them to hire experts to chase after them and beat them to death. Even Dragon Island doesn’t dare to protect them.”

“As for dragons, they don’t have patience and don’t know the art of business very well. Even if they have investments and industries on the continent, they can only hire servants and agents to take care of their business. Even so, they still have to face the suppression and ostracization of their competitors, as well as the attention and vigilance of various countries. After all, serious business comes with money very slowly and their income is not much.”

“Some dragons do some gray business, and some dragons simply serve as the guardians of some independent city-states or small countries. With dragons, they sign employment agreements with some large families with deep foundations and become fighters. After all, they’re extremely powerful dragons. Using strength to exchange for money is the most efficient method.”

“However, there’s a problem with this method. That’s, the dragons will privately go out to take on work and seek transactions. They’re lacking in organization and can easily be suppressed by various countries. There will even be malicious competition at a low price between the dragons and even conflicts. Instead, the buyer will benefit…”

Stella spoke tirelessly, and Kang De listened with a subtle expression.

—Hey, are there so many things?!

What was with this feeling that sounded very ridiculous, but on careful thought, it indeed made sense?! In this day and age, even dragons had to consider economics when they went out to work?

As expected, the Second Princess said, “This situation became more and more intense. In the end, it was terminated by the current Dragon Emperor. After the vote of all the dragons, they finally agreed that Dragon Island would form a security company as a whole and choose capable clansmen to hire foreign business geniuses to be in charge of selling weapons to outsiders.”

“Assess the risk, promote mercenaries, fight for treatment, raise the price, and lobby the various countries. With the martial strength and credibility of the dragons as the support, eliminate the malicious competition between the low price and the dragons and fight for more benefits for all the dragons. In order to promote the arms sales business, they even hired a large number of bards to forcefully brag about the concept of a dragoon…”

At this point, Kang De understood what was going on. “In the end, it’s about money.”

He muttered, “In other words…”

Stella nodded helplessly. “Yes, this month happens to be the end of a fiscal year for the dragons. Dragon Island is settling the fiscal year and starting to renew the contract for the arms sale.”

“Under such circumstances, if the big news of you easily killing the three dragons is exposed, the upcoming business negotiations with the dragons will undoubtedly be a huge setback. It will definitely be taken advantage of by many people led by the elves to lower the price. After all, the various countries hired the dragons because they saw their destructive battlefield dominance and deterrence. Now, the facts have proven that the value of the dragons as a top deterrence force has been challenged…”

“Although the Dragon Emperor’s policy treats the dragons as a unified entity and exports the arms sales business, which is beneficial to reducing internal strife and obtaining more benefits, on the other hand, this security company has to be responsible to all the shareholders, which is the signed dragons. If the arms sales negotiations are frustrated and the profits fall greatly, the dividends of all the dragons will decrease. Believe me, even the Dragon Emperor can’t endure this pressure…”

—I’ll choose.

As a modern person, he understood Stella’s words very quickly.

However, his mood was very subtle.

How should she put it?

—I can understand the logic of causing trouble from Dragon Island because I killed the dragon.

...

However, he did not expect the exact logic to be like this!

Kang De could not help but think of the M1A2 tank that had been f*cked over by the Houthi. It was a symbol of excellence, the pride of the United States, the power of democracy, and a free chariot. It had been pressed to the ground and rubbed by a group of guerrillas and had even been directly seized. They did not care about using it and destroyed it on the spot.

How was it destroyed?

It was lit.

What did he light it with?

You might not believe it, but he was not even willing to use gasoline and only used… a pile of waste cardboard.

Hmm, it was the waste cardboard like a delivery box that lit up a main battle tank…

The American Empire’s face was pressed under his feet.

It could be imagined how tragic and awkward a bargaining action Abrams’s external military sales project would face.

The dragons faced a similar dilemma.

—Our dragon is number one in the world!

...

—You were beaten up by Kang De. Three against one, ten minutes.

Dragoon, the ultimate deterrence, the strongest on the continent!

—You were beaten up by Kang De. Three against one, ten minutes.

Now, when renewing the contract for a year, they had to give a month out for free!

—You were beaten up by Kang De. Three against one, ten minutes.

Just for this reason, Kang De believed Stella when she said that the Dragon Emperor would come to kill him.

It was really reasonable and convincing.

It was not a problem of pride, but of money. After encountering such a setback, the dragons would definitely think of a way to increase their client’s confidence and wash away the humiliation of this crushing defeat. They would take back the reputation of the dragons as the overlord of the sky and make the countries that spent a large sum of money to hire dragons every year think that this business was worth it.

After all, Kang De had cut off the dragon’s wealth. This was even greater than killing his mother.

There was no need for the elves to instigate it at all. The dragons would take action themselves.

Kang De asked, “Is there any news?”

Stella nodded. “That’s right. I received a secret letter from a friend today and reminded Goethe to be careful of the threat from the dragon. That’s why I figured this out…”

When she saw Kang De’s expression, she hurriedly added, “Goethe will advance and retreat with you. You attacked for Goethe. This is our responsibility to begin with. Moreover, those three dragons killed many soldiers and people. No matter what, they have to pay the price.”

Kang De pinched the space between his eyebrows.

Alright.

The elves, the Empire, had added another Dragon Island.

Although the battle had stopped and the danger of destruction had dissipated, the danger still existed.

Even internally, Prime Minister Xide might fall…

Kang De asked, “How will the Dragon Emperor deal with me? Will he send a few hundred dragons to kill me?”

“Perhaps it won’t be so direct. After all, according to the officials, Dragon Island won’t take revenge because they willingly accepted the employment of their clansmen who went out to fight and died on the battlefield…”

Stella said faintly, “But it’s hard to say. If the dragons come out in full strength this time and want to directly kill you, the various countries will definitely be happy to see it happen and turn a blind eye to the fouling of Dragon Island…”

D*mn.

Kang De calculated the reserves of the arsenal. There were not many air missiles left. There were not many to begin with. That wave of air attack groups was here to wash the ground. Hanging an air missile at the tip of the wing was purely a precaution.

These air weapons could not be refreshed repeatedly like other resources. The planes and missiles that were free from Comoros Airport were all used a little less and were temporarily non-renewable resources.

Unless he could buy some, park them in his field, and farm them.

Therefore…

—Should I borrow some S-400 from the Russians, or should I return to the country and ask for a wave of red flags?

Stella looked at Kang De’s expression and her eyes shook slightly in disbelief.

Then, she lowered her eyes and said softly, “However, I’m inclined to think that the dragon might want to talk… At the very least, they have a chance to talk.”

Kang De asked, “An opportunity?”

“Yes, an opportunity will definitely come. I told you before that the dragons want their reputation. Although they won’t take revenge on the individuals and countries who killed the dragons, they’ll bring back the corpses of their clansmen. Of course, they’ll pay a considerable ransom.”

“This is to protect the dignity of the dragons and reassure their clansmen who are going out to fight. Let them know that even if they accidentally die in battle, they won’t be pulled out, peeled off, dismantled, and sold to the black market to become various equipment… In the public statement, they also clearly declared that the dragons have the right to retrieve the corpses of their clansmen.”

When Kang De heard this, his expression became awkward.

As expected, Stella said, “Although the corpses of the other two dragons were torn, they were finally found and sealed by our people. I’m here for the third dragon corpse…”

—I’ve absorbed it.

Horus also shared a large portion.

At that time, the feeling was extremely strange, and it concerned the secret of the Fire Thief. It was indescribable. He could not even tell Stella, let alone anyone else.

Otherwise, if the dragons knew that not only could Kang De easily kill the dragon, but he could also automatically absorb the corpse after killing it, that would be huge. What face? Money? The Dragon Emperor would definitely not care about anything and do his best to kill Kang De first.

Stella looked at him and sighed. “Your expression tells me that you can’t take it out…”

Kang De looked into the distance and said, “Irresistible factor…”

Moreover, you might not believe it, but I did not extract it at that time. It was the power of the Fire Thief who did it… Akatum did not stop it.

Stella said softly, “That’s troublesome. If the dragon attacks, this is an extremely good excuse…”

Kang De thought for a moment. “Let’s take it one step at a time. I’ll think of a way.”

The Second Princess said anxiously, “Goethe will stand with you.”

Kang De stood up and waved his hand with a smile, “I appreciate it. This is probably not a problem Goethe can deal with. I don’t want to fall out with many Goethe people because of this. That feels too bad.”

Stella wanted to say more when footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, followed by a knock.

Kang De said, “Please come in.”

The door was pushed open, and there was a trace of sorrow on her beautiful face. The beautiful girl was first stunned, then her eyes widened. “Second Sister, why are you here?”

Kang De immediately said, “It’s just a small matter…”

Stella snorted. “Don’t misunderstand. I’ll tell him about the dragons.”

Kang De frowned at her. The Second Princess said, “Tina, my father, and the others knew beforehand. After I heard this news, I naturally told them first before coming to find you. What else? If I hide it from them and only come to find you, won’t you think that I’m advising you to take care of this alone?”

The girl who looked similar to Tina but was even more knowledgeable and powerful looked at Kang De without backing down.

Tina also looked over with dissatisfaction in her eyes. “Kang De, why can’t you let me know about the dragons? I don’t want to be stupidly protected as a vase like before.”

“…”

Kang De shook his head. “Let’s not talk about that first. What’s the matter?”

Tina said, “Father invited you to the banquet. He relented.”

“Let go?”

“He finally agreed to my request and agreed to hand you Tedrell’s most precious treasure.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve begged him for a long time. I wish I could have given it to you two days ago.”

“Yes?”

“But Father is still hesitating. He said that that’s against the rules…”

“Yes?”

“But I think Kang De needs it, very much.”

“…Hmm?”

“This will make Kang De’s life more complete. If I don’t give it to you, I believe a corner of your fate will forever be missing and can’t be filled…”

“Huh?!”

“Therefore, I tried my best to persuade Father to agree. I also hope that you can cherish it…”

“…Wait, let me ask for the time being. This precious treasure…”

“Yes?”

“…Is it you?”