Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Hill's prayer was very sincere, and both Agleya and List could hear it.

"The group from the Harpist Alliance would go mad if they heard sir's prayer," List couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, "but I think they're almost there already, even daring to dive to the bottom of the swamp. The paladins from the Silver Shield are now watching them with looks usually reserved for suspects."

Hill paused for a moment before slowly saying, "Put some potions that remove toxin and cold poison in the potion shop, I remember we have some in the stock."

"Why should Hill's Dad care about this?" Agleya asked, not understanding, "These are the consequences they face for their greed, whatever the outcome, it's normal."

"I had the paladins and the Harpists stationed here to guard against the God of Death, Baal!" Hill said earnestly, "No matter what happens, we must not forget our original intentions, Agleya. Never mind the cold poison for now, but with frequent contact with the toxin, what if one of them suddenly gets tempted by the soul of Baal?

They can forget the lessons of Baldur's Gate, but I absolutely do not want such things happening on my watch.

You too, Agleya.

Not adopting a faith does not mean you do not protect those who offer you their faith and loyalty."

Hill suddenly realized, Agleya, in her dealings with humans, actually adopts a distinctly divine perspective, distant and aloof from the mortal world, scrutinizing human actions from above.

Hill had no intention of changing Agleya's attitude. A slight distance between the divine and the mortal world was beneficial for both parties.

However, on the other hand, Agleya must not neglect her own followers. Human hearts change rapidly, and love and hate can switch in an instant.

Sometimes, it's not the haters that are frightening, but rather when a fan turns into a hater.

Hill planned to find some precedents to show Agleya, like the leader of the Dragon Worship Church who caused a huge mess last year; wasn't he once a faithful follower of the Goddess of Magic?

List calculated the quantity of the stock: "These potions in the warehouse are sufficient for now. For the future, I'll just start a new production line. The herbs needed for these potions are minimal; the materials within the amulet are enough."

Hill nodded, "We'll only sell these two special potions, which also align with the needs of this place. We'll still primarily stock basic potions."

Agleya didn't have a good impression of these people, and although she wasn't keen on proselytizing, she disliked their selfish intents that took precedence over her Main God.

She leaned against the window, looking toward the Sword Mountain Range: "Is Terry laughing or crying now?"

Of course, Terry felt like crying.

Was he being watched by Eo? Why did the lightning strike right above his house!

In just a moment, five dragon eggs appeared on his rooftop!

Terry was completely stunned, worried about the dragon eggs falling and getting damaged; he quickly picked them up, only to find that there was also the lightning of vitality in the swamp!

Luckily, Agleya was quite powerful; Ambori, that waste, didn't even last 10 minutes, or else Terry wouldn't have known what to do.

Despite Agleya making it look easy, Terry could feel that immense pressure.

The storms summoned by the deities were of a completely different intensity.

Terry truly rushed down wailing, worried about any foes taking advantage of the situation to attack them both.

Such a small child as he couldn't withstand it!

But he couldn't just watch idly as others took away his kin. Otherwise, he would be looked down upon by other giant dragons for his entire life, even a white dragon could scorn him!

Even if it cost him his dragon life, he could not let himself fall into such a dire fate.

Clutching the dragon eggs he retrieved from the swamp, Terry looked at the Harpists still searching underwater, a trace of cold light flashing in his narrow dragon eyes: The stories his parents told him, he had never taken them to heart.

They as giant dragons were so powerful, why were they still subject to humans and even beastmen through forced contracts? Weren't those who formed companionships with humans just like him, offering loyalty willingly out of gratitude?

But today, from these Harpists who also belonged to the Kind Alignment, Terry finally understood why, despite the might of dragons, the world still belonged to humans.

Giant dragons were intimidating to individual humans, but not insurmountable to organized humans.

They would not hesitate to force a contract on young dragons just because of the strength of Terry's parents.

His mother's stories gradually surfaced in Terry's mind — stories of young dragons naively leaving home, captured by humans, and forced into bloodline contracts that demanded obedience as long as the human family's lineage endured.

No wonder his parents liked humans, but always maintained a slight distance from human friends, seemingly trusting only Elaströ truly.

Just as his mother said, the people of Elaströ weren't particularly kind, but she was very committed to her promises, which made her a reliable partner.

Kindness alone wasn't a reason to make friends.

Being a golden dragon wanting to make friends required kindness, capability, justice without rigidity, and adherence to promises — traits not easily found.

Terry felt incredibly lucky that he encountered Hill during his most unlucky time.

His parents had lived so long to find only one true friend, yet he had met one so soon!

Terry's slender tail gently tapped the ground, his gaze fixed on the six dragon eggs in front of him as he fell into deep thought.

His friend, of course, was his alone, Terry completely didn't want to share with other dragons, not even the young ones.

Besides, taking care of Hill was exhausting enough, let alone six more dragons, Terry thought anxiously, surely that's unaffordable! Where could he get that much meat?

Moreover, why should he buy meat to feed other dragons? Terry sniffed the aroma before him carefully. Although they were all metal dragons, only one was a Golden Dragon.

He slammed the ground heavily with his tail and decided to write a letter to his mom.

Unfortunately, these dragon eggs couldn't be mailed.

Terry exhaled from his nostrils, he wanted to, but Bahamut might come over and spank him.

Hill had no idea that Terry was preparing to pass the buck. For him, who easily sent Ambori away, he was more focused on whether there were any new inspirations related to the Magic Book.

He flipped through the Magic Catalog in his hand, scanning slowly, but felt nothing at all.

Hill sighed softly and decided to make a wood golem instead.

Beneath his floating castle, a patrolling guard was now needed as people were sneaking in, trampling the grass until it was bald.

Why did people believe the fairy tale that the reason the floating castle could stay fixed in mid-air was because a giant gemstone was hidden underground beneath it?

Hill initially thought someone wanted to trouble him, but then discovered it was because of the jokes Terry told when he was bored.

Some permanent residents of Hill's Inn had already followed the thunder and left, hoping to rise to the heavens. Even if they couldn't afford dragons, selling a found dragon egg would be enough for them to live carelessly for the rest of their lives.

Although Hill doubted they would really live for a few more years.

Compared to those obsessed with becoming Dragon Knights, he guessed both Chromatic Dragons and Metal Dragons would despise those who sold dragon eggs even more.

Having made iron golems before, Hill was a bit more adept with wood golems, but he chose not to use wood, instead using coarse vines.

Hill had become accustomed to a life of not chopping down trees, only collecting dead trees for wood.

Such materials were fine for making furniture, but completely insufficient for creating wood golems.

As Hill pondered how to make them fireproof, he received some strange letters.

This was the first time he had received letters from others besides Lynn since the post office had been established.

Hill slowly opened the letter at the top from the Deepwater Lord.

He thought Black Staff had let him go, but it turned out he was waiting right here?

It was a very polite invitation, without any forceful tone insisting on Hill's attendance, just sharing his great aspiration with Hill.

The tone was gentle and alluring.

It played up his determination to purify the Supreme Wastes and invited Hill to join in the effort to take over the lost city of Mayrita.

If Hill truly was a Nature Mage who dearly loved the Ferun Great Land, perhaps he would have been moved by his sincerity.

But Hill had no interest in going where Archmages either died alongside Kelben or owed him a debt of life, later having to protect his wife, Elaströ's sister, and the twins, who were not yet born but had some prophecies made about them.

Knowing what would happen, Hill had no interest in risking it for some treasures, even if it involved the core of the Floating City.

He rubbed the letter, as a Chosen of the Goddess of Magic, Kelben seemed completely unaware of Hill's identity.

Hill was not optimistic about his fate; he felt Mystra would definitely not resurrect this Archmage who left the Harpist Alliance over dissatisfaction to start his secret organization anytime soon.

Hill picked up a pen and wrote a very polite letter of refusal.

Although it essentially said "not going," he made full use of the writing skills he learned from the Gold Elves to rewrite an eloquent poem.

He had to fill at least a page, after all!

Hill then opened the second letter.

His expression became serious; it was an invitation from the elves.

They planned to thoroughly take over Mistral City, which had been lost for over 700 years.

A contingent of Elf Crusaders from Eternity Island planned to collaborate with the Fey Demon families to return to this ancient elf city.

Hill sighed.

Every exploration and recapture of ruins was a dreadful war, especially Mistral, where many demons and devils had been destroyed in conflicts over the past few years, but many remained.

But Human mages and elves and fairies were set to simultaneously explore the ruins without dragons interfering this year.

Hill fell into deep thought; suddenly, he didn't know what to choose.