Chapter 264: Chapter 48: The Returning Expedition Team
“They are back!?” Azuhan exclaid with joy.
“Um, they returned today, go and see for yourself,” Akala yawned, a golden fla spurting from her mouth, “I’m going back to sleep.”
Azhuan nodded and quickly left the room, making his way to the parlor.
In the parlor, several Fire Lizards with remarkable presences sat silently on chairs, exuding an aura that strangers should keep their distance. The maid from the Pyramid, standing beside them, trembled with fear.
Azhuan entered the living room, “Gentlen, you have worked hard during this period!”
Upon seeing Azuhan enter, the Fire Lizards imdiately stood up from their chairs and gave him a military salute.
Azhuan gestured, and the maids left the room. With a thunderous sound, the heavy obsidian door plated with tal was shut securely.
A unique field imdiately enveloped the entire room.
“My lord, fortunately, we did not disgrace ourselves. During this overseas exploration, we found what you were looking for.”
Among the Fire Lizards, the most powerful one removed a tal tube from his belt, intricately engraved with gold – clearly a creation of Giant Dragon Alchemy.
The Fire Lizard opened it and poured out a leather scroll. The scroll contained a map that recorded several shipping routes and a few islands sprinkled across the ocean.
Azhuan took the map, examining it repeatedly for a long while.
After a long ti, he rolled the scroll back up and solemnly addressed the Fire Lizards,
“Gentlen, you are the great heroes of the Fire Lizard Clan. Your contributions will be eternally recorded in history books, to be sung about for millennia.”
Azhuan spoke earnestly; the map represented sothing of trendous importance.
In the outer realms of the main continent of the Red Sun World was the boundless Sea of Lava, where even the most audacious Fire Lizards only dared to hunt so Fla Giant Beasts in the shallows during regular tis.
The depths of the Molten Sea, however, had never been visited by any Fire Lizards.
But after the conflict of the Three Kings began, Azuhan had to face a reality—they might very well be defeated.
At that ti, the entire Red Sun World would beco the Wizard’s backyard, and all Fire Lizards would be slaves to the Wizard.
Thus, Azuhan began contemplating how to preserve their lineage should the Fire Lizards be defeated.
And so, the plan to explore the Molten Sea was conceived.
According to ancient Fire Lizard legends, the Molten Sea was not just lava. Myths suggested that there were many islands atop the Molten Sea, inhabited by reclusive, peculiar Giant Dragons who shunned the outside world. Rumors even claid these islands were inhabited by living dragons.
For this mission, rrick’s Shield spent a vast amount of resources to construct the Golden Ship that could traverse the Molten Sea and dispatched the most loyal, reliable operatives from rrick’s Shield to explore.
The fierceness of the Molten Sea was no less daunting than the Wizard, inhabited by nurous Fla Giant Beasts and Fire Elent creatures, which caused significant trouble for the fleet..
An expedition where five out of ten ships returned was considered a great fortune.
Fortunately, after the rger of the two great empires, rrick’s Shield’s available personnel and resources were greatly enhanced. With the silent approval of Harash and Mai Han, this costly exploration mission was conducted repeatedly.
The Fire Lizards who returned now constituted the tenth expedition team. They spent the most extended period this ti and finally found the legendary islands. Moreover, they discovered dragon skeletons on the islands.
This further verified the credibility of the legends.
The Molten Sea seed-preserving project, after paying a trendous price, was finally successful.
Hearing Azuhan’s praise, a few Fire Lizards couldn’t help but shed tears of old age.
During their exploration, they lost too many comrades. Devoured by Fla Giant Beasts, blown to cinders by Fire Elent creatures, turned to ash by the Burning Winds of the Molten Sea… Each voyage ant a near-certain death.
The fear of the unknown ahead constantly overshadowed every Fire Lizard who set sail.
They would even prefer to fight the Wizard rather than venture into unknown territories of the Molten Sea.
Now, at last, it was over.
“Gentlen, due to the special nature of this mission, I can’t award you dals or host a victory feast,” Azuhan said with a complex expression as he opened the door of the parloring room, instructing a maid outside.
Soon, the maid ca in carrying heavy bags.
“Since there are no spiritual honors, I can only compensate you materially. Here is a little money; take it and rest for a while.
A lot has happened in the Empire recently.”
The Fire Lizards looked at each other, taking the bags filled with shimring gold coins.
These gold coins, even for Silver-horned Nobles, represented a substantial sum.
None of them were Silver-horned Nobles, and faced with material rewards, they did not decline but accepted them.
Seeing that they had all accepted, Azuhan nodded, satisfied, smilingly telling the Fire Lizards,
“Gentlen, forgive for having matters to attend to and for not being able to entertain you further. Akala is pregnant recently, and my work schedule is quite tight.”
The Fire Lizards were startled upon hearing this.
Princess Akala is pregnant?
It seed indeed that a lot had happened in the Empire during their exploration of the Molten Sea.
After offering their congratulations, the Fire Lizards left the palace.
Watching the Fire Lizards coming and going on the streets, the expeditionary Fire Lizards felt as if they had been away for ages.
Soon, the lead Fire Lizard asked his companions,
“With all this money Lord Azuhan gave us, what do you guys plan to do?”
As he spoke, a knowing smile appeared on his face.
“I have lots of connections, and the price is right. I can even get a date with the daughters of Silver Horn nobles.”
Several team mbers smiled at these words, but only one shook his head.
“I can’t, my son is currently learning alchemy from Master Haye. It requires a lot of money.”
Saying this, the Fire Lizard sighed, his deanor akin to that of a middle-aged worker burdened with both young and old family mbers, with his son enrolled in a private noble school and his wife unemployed.
The other Fire Lizards looked at him with sympathy—alchemy is indeed an expensive craft.
Even though they had a lot of money, to study alchemy for a long period, this amount was still not enough.
“Luo Jia’er, your kid seems a bit slow, is he really cut out for learning alchemy…”
The Fire Lizard who spoke didn’t finish, but everyone understood his implication.
Luo Jia’er waved his hand, “I know what I’m doing. Master Haye is very pleased with his talent, otherwise I wouldn’t continually support his studies.”
The other Fire Lizards said no more.
They parted ways on the road, with Luo Jia’er heading back to his residence, while the others walked arm-in-arm toward the tavern, ready to drink through the night.
Luo Jia’er’s ho was in the suburbs of the Royal Capital. As he opened the door, he saw a young Fire Lizard manipulating a lump of tal that continuously changed shape.
The Fire Lizard turned around and said sowhat blankly:
“Luo Jia’er, you’re back.”
After speaking, he got up and hugged Luo Jia’er.
Luo Jia’er smiled and hugged the Fire Lizard, then entered the house.
The house wasn’t big, but it was very clean. A portrait of a family of four hung on the wall, and the fra was spotless.
Luo Jia’er handed the bag of gold coins to the young Fire Lizard, saying softly:
“Climb, go find Master Haye later with this money.”
“…Luo Jia’er, Master Haye said I don’t need to see him anymore. He said he has nothing more to teach .”
Luo Jia’er was stunned. Although Master Haye wasn’t the most powerful Alchemy Master in rrick’s Shield, he was certainly among the top ten. Before he had set out to sea, Clim climb had just started learning alchemy with him.
It had been only slightly over two years; how could it be that there was nothing left to teach?
Luo Jia’er thought for a long ti and then two possibilities popped into his mind.
“Did you make Master Haye angry?”
“I don’t know, but he always looked at strangely. He kept mumbling ‘impossible, impossible.’ I don’t understand what he ant since I was only doing as he taught .”
Luo Jia’er was speechless. Now, only one possibility remained.
This “son” of his was an alchemy prodigy.
“Alright, I’ll go ask him about it tomorrow. You go play with your stuff.”
With that, Luo Jia’er, carrying his weary body, went upstairs.
Entering the bedroom, Luo Jia’er lay on the bed and then picked up the portrait from the bedside. The family in the portrait looked joyous, but upon closer inspection, one could notice that a little Fire Lizard on the edge of the portrait seed sowhat out of place.
It looked like an afterthought.
As Luo Jia’er looked at the portrait, tears involuntarily fell from his eyes.
He muttered, “It’s been ten years, Mishan. Are you and Climb doing well in the Netherworld?”
…
Azuhan’s ideas quickly turned into a concrete plan, and the entire United Empire’s Fire Lizard Army was divided upon a single order into countless squads of twenty.
These squads were ordered to stay hidden, then spontaneously ambush the wizards.
Thanks to the prior reduction in forces, this order quickly reached all Fire Lizard Army divisions, and the Fire Lizard Warriors were split into countless squads within a month.
Thus, the wizards encountered a strange phenonon.
Their forces were unstoppable, but they could never find the Fire Lizard’s main troops. Under interrogation by Soul Wizards, they learned of the Fire Lizard’s plan.
“All split into squads of twenty?”
Richard, hearing Vladimir’s news, was genuinely surprised.
These Fire Lizards were quite clever and bold.
By dispersing their forces, the wizards’ biggest advantage—the Great Wizard—was nullified.
“What does the command say, Master?”
Vladimir, puffing on his pipe, said slowly:
“What else can they say but to spread out and suppress the bandits? These Fire Lizards have a good head on their shoulders; this tactic is truly clever. With the army spread out, the influence of the Great Wizard is minimized, preventing them from being annihilated en masse.
However, this doesn’t really disadvantage us; these small squads of Fire Lizards are not difficult for us to hunt, whether for specins or for capturing slaves.”
Richard agreed with the logic.
“This is quite good; I just need to capture a few Fire Lizard slaves.
This plan of the Fire Lizards really is a win-win.”
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