Alcott’s eyes looked around, his body paralyzed. “Don’t bother trying to move. Most of your muscles are torn, relax, and you will be fine a few days later.” Cain said with a smile, staring at Aclott’s face.

Cain then looked at Ginger, “Take care of him. Treat him as the dragons,” He turned around to leave.

“Wait!” Ginger shouted, calling Cain, and he stopped to look at her, “You better start healing him now,”

Ginger looked at Alcott’s face. His eyes started spazzing, “Someone gets a healing potion.”

Kinryu rushed in with a healing potion, and Cain left while they were focused on keeping Alcott alive since he woke him up.

The people slowly returned to the city, staring in awe at the dragon-filled sky. It was rare to see a single dragon, let alone thousands, and none of them is trying to cause trouble.

“Ha! He’s stable,” Kinryu sighed in relive as Ginger smiled.

“He’s a tough one. He won’t be dead just like this,” The red dragon smiled, looking around for Cain, “Where did that old man go? I can’t feel his magic anywhere.”

“Let him be, for such a master of medicines to rest here. Four thousand years of draconic history and mastery can’t reach the delicate gem crafted by the short and fragile human life,” Kinryu said, combing his beard, “And I do have a nice beard,”

“Humans might not reach us in strength, but they indeed do in wisdom.” The red dragon sat down.

“Say, Ignis. Shall we have our first meeting today?” Kirnyu looked at the red dragon with a smile.

“I doubt there is a suitable place for us to speak, but we shall do it in the mountains.” Ignis looked at Arad, “Shall you guide us?”

The guards finally reached their posts at the front gate, seeing Arad, Nina, Ginger, and Alcott, a strange woman carrying a baby, a long-beared old man, and a massive red dragon.

The city lord rushed in on his horse, stopping at the gate. “Nina! What’s going on?”

Nina looked back, “You’re finally back. Come here for a second,” She waved her hand at him.

“Alcott was heavily injured in his last mission, so the dragons escorted him back here.” Nina briefly explained what happened to the city lord.

The city lord stared at them confused. What could he do with two armies of dragons? He thought of suggesting a feast, but how could he feed such beings?

“We’re going with sir Arad now,” Kinryu said with a smile, “Excuse us, but we can’t keep the armies away from our lands for a long time.” CLAP! He put his hands together, “Mediator, please get well soon.”

“MEDIATOR! PLEASE GET WELL SOON!” All the dragons roared, shaking the city to the core as their voice boomed like thunder. The city lord could feel his lungs vibrate under his chest.

“You’re going with Arad?” The city lord looked at them.

“That’s right,” Kinryu replied with a smile, “He would be the host of our meetings from now on.”

“Wait! Here in Alina?” He gasped with a sweaty face. Such a thing can’t be done without informing the king.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Ignis stared at the city lord, drawing his nose closer and snorting, “It’s not like you own the land, and even if you do, what prevents us from taking it?”

“What?” He gasped.

“I can kill you and take the land, but I can’t do the same to Arad. The land itself approved of him, so he has the last say.” Ignis growled.

“Oi!” Arad growled, glaring at Ignis.

“Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to say that?” Ignis stared at Arad with a confused face, “Make sure humans around here know who’s the boss. Otherwise, you will have trouble in the future. I speak from experience.”

Arad sighed, “Fine,” He looked at the city lord, “Leave this to me. You take the guards and escort Alcott back to his home. 𝗼𝐯𝐥.𝗻𝐭

Puff! Kinryu exploded in a puff of smoke, transforming into his draconic form and carrying Arad in his claw. Claug carried Tina and her daughter and flew toward Arad’s house. She knew the direction for some reason.

The city lord, Nina, and everyone else watched in awe as the dragons’ armies retreated to the mountain range.

BAM! Claug landed beside Arad’s garden, with Kinryu carefully finding a way to step on the ground without breaking it. The other dragons remained flying as there wasn’t much space for them to land.

Aella and Mira rushed out of the house, “Arad! You’re finally back!” Aella raced forward.

Mira stopped in the garden, lifting her head up and looking at the dragons. “Loci was right, there are a lot of them, and they are big.” She then looked at Arad, “Are they your friends?”

“Hmmm,” Kinryu scratched his whiskers, “You could say that. But we’re here since he’s a neutral magic dragon.”

Claug looked at Aella, “Arad will be hosting diplomatic conferences between the metallic and chromatic dragons as a neutral power.”

Aella looked at Arad, “Is that right? Where could we even do that?”

“I always wanted to build a castle in the mountains.” Arad smiled, “This is my chance, and they will pay us after all.”

Kinryuu smiled, Puff! He shifted back to his humanoid form, “I will be the first one to invest in our neutral ground.” He pushed his hand into his baggy coat, pulling a small leather bag.

“Take this, it’s for you,” Kinryu handed the bag to Arad.

Arad looked into the bag, seeing nothing but darkness. “What’s inside, I can’t see it.”

“It’s a storage bag, pointed to an empty space and thing of emptying the content,” Kinryu smiled.

Arad did what Kinryu said, and a golden flash emerged from the bag’s small mouth. CRACK!

Mira jumped back and Aella’s eyes opened wide. “What is this?” They gasped.

“A small part of my hoard,” Arad could see a small mound, half the size of his house of gold and gems.

“I’m a gold dragon after all. I collect gold. That’s a few thousand gold coins worth, feel free to use them to build our meeting hall.” Kinryu smiled, “I didn’t really count them, I just picked a small scope before I left.”

“Hoi! Bastard!” Ignis growled, “Your kind won’t have the sole hand in building the hall.”