The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Duke Andrew's funeral took place on March 6th, with a fine drizzle falling from the sky.

The local customs did not honor a funeral culture; when people died, they were simply buried in the ground, and there were no annual rites of remembrance.

In accordance with Duke Andrew's last will, he was buried around the Dragon Nest of the Sapphire Dragon—his most cherished charge.

At this moment, thanks to Ach's healing intervention, the Sapphire Dragon had merged with the part of the Dragon Soul that was taken from it. It lay in the Dragon Nest, watching the ant-like humans file past Duke Andrew's grave. A fleeting trace of sorrow flashed through its dragon eyes.

Dragons, by their nature, are proud and look down on humans; however, it had directly communicated with Duke Andrew's soul and shared life and death with him.

Some memories are destined to be unforgettable.

So, it turned its head away from the funeral, closed its eyes, and quietly went to sleep.

…

After the funeral was over, everyone dispersed.

After exchanging farewells with his good friend, Mathew of the Red and White Roses, Liszt also returned to Flame Island. In Flame Castle, he saw Jela, already dressed as Little Flack Abiye—walking around with her chest puffed up, her transparent wings fluttering as she slowly inspected the entire castle.

The Greater Elves could ignore Jela, but the Little Minor Elves were quite fearful of Jela's tyranny and hid in their Worm Rooms upon seeing her. The Elf Bugs still didn't understand fear, and Yati, the Buckwheat Dragon Sprite who stayed in the castle, also disregarded Jela.

Jela likewise ignored Yati.

After all, it was not on the same level and could not defeat Yati.

"Wow, Liszt, the Little Minor Elves are performing well," Jela exclaimed as it quickly flew to Liszt and reported its work with great pride.

Liszt did not skimp on praise: "Hm, well done, Jela."

Jela immediately puffed up her chest: "Of course!"

A display of youthful arrogance.

After teasing the elf for a while, Butler Carter came to report: "Sir, Lady Mary has returned from abroad and is resting in Flame City. She hopes to meet with you at the earliest opportunity."

"Hm, send someone to notify her to come over."

"Yes."

After the invitation, Mary Dawn Break arrived soon at Flame Castle and entered Liszt's study.

"Sit," said Liszt nonchalantly as he flipped through a newly published Knight's Novel.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"The Blood Servants have worked hard during this time, traveling across the three great kingdoms to gather a lot of valuable information for me," said Liszt as he personally poured a glass of red wine for Mary. He didn't like drinking wine, but pouring wine for his followers was one way of showing closeness as a landlord.

Mary accepted the wine glass, deeply moved: "Working for Your Highness, the Blood Servants are full of enthusiasm, and to participate in the founding of the Flame Kingdom from nothing is indeed an unparalleled honor."

They exchanged a few courteous remarks.

Liszt got straight to the point, "Mary, how is the investigation about the Vulture Family going?" He had previously dispatched Mary to personally go to the Blast Furnace Fortress Kingdom to investigate the Vulture Family, which was the original holder of the Dou Qi Secret Technique "The Eye of Magic", the family of Steve Vulture.

Mary took a sip of red wine and replied, "Your Majesty, the Vulture Family had perished over a hundred years ago. According to the information I gathered from my inquiries, the last patriarch of the Vulture Family was closely associated with the Sapphire Family. Because the Sapphire Family left the Blast Furnace Fortress Kingdom, the Vulture Family planned to follow but ended up not going and soon perished. No one knows why."

"Perished, you say?" Liszt frowned, "Did you find out any information about this person, Steve Vulture?"

"I did. He was the last patriarch of the Vulture Family, and his title was Earl of Wind-Thunder City. However, the deeds of Earl Steve are no longer remembered by anyone. I've been to the original castle of the Vulture Family, and another earl's family has occupied the castle for over a century now."

"Is there any other related news worth mentioning?"

"I heard from an elderly noble that the heir of the Vulture Family did not die in the disaster that wiped out their family, but became a destitute novelist and wrote a book about the Vulture Family. He then vanished without a trace," Mary said as she took out a book from her bosom, "but there's a remnant of that book that has been passed down."

This was a torn and moldy book with a thick leather cover; half of it was already rotten. Liszt flipped through a page, and it was in the script of the Blast Furnace Fortress Kingdom—Serpent Script.

Unreadable.

Mary seemed to have expected this and explained, "I asked the elderly nobleman, and he said that the novel's title is "The Vulture Knight Stephan's Expedition". It primarily describes Steve Vulture's campaigns to the south and north, quite dull and without any noteworthy plot."

"The Vulture Knight Stephan's Expedition…" Liszt looked at the damaged Serpent Script book and pondered with a frown.

The book from which he had obtained the Magic Eye Dou Qi Secret Technique was "The Vulture Knight Stephan's Expedition", but it was published in Serpent Script.

A gold leaf that recorded the Dou Qi Secret Technique was hidden in its cover.

The volume in Serpent Script at hand had a rotten cover, and clearly, it couldn't hold a gold leaf that bore the Dou Qi Secret Technique. He was greatly puzzled—why didn't the Serpent Script edition contain the Dou Qi Secret Technique, whereas a book with the same title published thousands of miles away in the Duchy of Sapphire had a cover concealing the Dou Qi Secret Technique?

Unfortunately.

Too much time has passed, and the Vulture Family had already turned to dust in history, with no more understanding of what happened to them.

Liszt could only guess—at a stretch, he presumed that Steve Vulture, due to his close association with the Sapphire Family, got implicated when they defected from the Blast Furnace Fortress Kingdom, leading to the family's demise, and Steve's son happened to be a novelist, thus published a knight's novel documenting his father.

Due to poor sales and financial pressures, the son crossed the Steel Ridge Kingdom and sought refuge with the Sapphire Family.

When he arrived in the Duchy of Sapphire after much hardship, he might have been rejected by the Sapphire Family or for some other reason did not prosper. So, when penniless, he hid the two pieces of Dou Qi Secret Technique in two books, one being "The Vulture Knight Stephan's Expedition", and the other "Searching for the Magical Beast Beetle King among the Pincered Beetles".

Hoping that someone destined could obtain the Dou Qi Secret Technique and restore the glory of the Vulture Family, and driven by the power of fate, both books ended up in Liszt's hands.

As a person obsessed with scraping book covers, Liszt, of course, happily accepted them.

Regardless, he was fairly certain: "The Eye of Magic and Breath Decay, these two Dou Qi Secret Techniques, should only be possessed by me and could serve as the Flame Family's hereditary Dou Qi Secret Techniques."

Of course.

The Eye of Magic already had a version for magicians, the Super Magic - Eye of Mana, which Ach had taught to seven mermaids who would search in the sea for Elf Bugs.

"So, should I also pass on the Eye of Magic to my dedicated followers, letting them help me collect elves?"

Mary's news of the Vulture Family's extinction made him understand all at once that the Dou Qi Secret Technique was merely a minor skill, and even if nobles acquired it, they wouldn't be able to join the Dragon Rearing Family. The true foundation of the Dragon Rearing Family is dragons, and the Flame Family has six dragons!

It's only in the hands of the Dragon Rearing Family, and specifically practiced by Dragon Knights, that the Eye of Magic can realize its full potential.