Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Watching Lynn's puzzled face, Hill revealed a mischievous smile, "Behind the inn, there's a building for staff housing, and the top floors are all suites, quite spacious too.

If you're willing to manage the inn for a while, the top floor would completely be yours to use, and when you can't stand Quelva anymore, you could always come here and become the sheriff!

I'll always welcome you here~

But that's all for later discussions; during this phase, I guess you won't leave Silvermoon City.

The most crucial thing now is that Tower Spirit Marsha and I are not quite accustomed to how inns operate in this world, and we need a bit of help.

The main point is, it's perfect for you to teach Terry how to be a bartender. He doesn't even know what a cocktail is, only sells those single type of drinks, and I'd like to pay him more, but I can't."

Lynn looked at him, surprised, wondering if Hill had grown demon horns on his head?

Who would dare let a dragon mix their drinks!

Even if a Golden Dragon belongs to the Kind Alignment, it's still a dragon! And a dragon whose mom is the Queen of the North!

That Silvermoon Dragon Queen clearly spoils her son.

"That's what you don't understand!" Hill gave him a look that suggested thinking carefully, "Haven't you met the Dragon Queen before?

Dragons have a different concept of money than humans.

In front of gold coins, they don't need such a thing as pride.

If someone is really willing to spend a lot of money to drink a cocktail mixed by a Golden Dragon, Terry would even be willing to mix it with his dragon claws."

"Mix a drink for 100 gold coins?" Lynn asked with a laugh, "Who would be such a fool? Too much money to enjoy the thrill of danger?"

"For 100 gold, the variety has to be greater, starting at 50 gold would be just right. You just need to teach Terry more," Hill leaned back on the couch, speaking in a laid-back tone, "Rest assured, whether humans or Dwarves, or even some Elves, their vanity will show you the results."

"Of course, in the beginning, we need a few plants..." Hill said airily, "That's where you come in, dear Lynn, you must have a few brave friends among the Harpists.

Others might not be so bold, but as members of the Harpist Alliance, they won't believe that the Silvermoon Dragon Queen's son would harm them over such a trifle, right?

As for the gold coins, I'll cover them, Terry won't be working for free."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Lynn said tersely, "However, if Terry shows up at the tavern, best make it clear that the dragon egg he had has been sent away."

"No need for that, look outside." The carriage they were in had slowed down as it was almost reaching its territory, and Hill looked up at the sky.

Lynn leaned in closer; three immensely large Metal Dragons flew in the sky, each clutching a sturdy net in its front claws containing two dragon eggs.

"Golden Dragon, Silver Dragon, Brass Dragon." Lynn murmured softly, "This is…"

"Bahamut's underlings, here to collect the dragon eggs." Hill looked up, "It seems that this Platinum Dragon God is also displeased with recent events.

He even sent three Ancient Dragons to retrieve the eggs."

Lynn was silent for a few seconds before continuing, "The Dragon Gods, although only the Platinum Dragon God and the Chromatic Dragon Queen appear active, there are actually several of them.

Most don't want to get involved in the dispute between Metal Dragons and Chromatic Dragons, so they remain silent.

But this time... I feel that humans on the Ferun Great Land really don't know what to expect in the future.

I can't imagine, even Fel, who loves to share stories with friends, could grow weary of humans."

For Lynn, a Bard, he seemed more familiar with the brass-colored giant dragon known as Storyteller.

She loved to create stories and poems and was willing to share them with friends from the Good Alignment, and it seemed quite possible for someone like Lynn, who had lived a relatively long time and was somewhat favored by the Gods, to have interacted with her.

"But if the Elves and Humans fall out, wouldn't you leave Quelva just the same?" Hill spoke slowly, calmly.

"Hill, I've been in Quelva for 50 years now, it's mostly Half-Elves there," Lynn couldn't help but press his lips together, "Elves won't completely fall out with humans, we humans are too few."

His tone carried a touch of desolation.

This had probably long become the consensus among rational Elves and Half-Elves like Lynn, who welcomed coming to the human world, not just because they got along with humans well.

But once Elves bring the Undead Tribe into play, humans might not see it that way.

If they understand that this mercenary group isn't one with the Elves, paying them off as calamity money is something humans have always been good at.

But if someone really views the Undead Tribe as allies of the Elves and treats them as enemies, the Undead Tribe certainly won't consider the humans of this world as their own kind.

Hill was quietly silent, watching with Lynn as the three dragons flew north.

There probably won't be any problems, Tyr and many servants of the Kind Alignment Deities are still in Felunryel! They must have a good understanding by now of what the Undead Tribe is like.

If it's really impossible to prevent the Undead Tribe from coming to Toril, they will certainly instruct their followers, and in the end, it should only be the Evil Faction that suffers.

Should it?

Hill drove the carriage straight home, reassured. The deities of Toril were pretty reliable. If there were still some from the Kind Alignment who faced against the Undead Tribe, they must have been watched by the Goddess of Misfortune. Such people were bound to have bad luck.

Hill glanced back at Deepwater City: He remembered that both Elf and Dragon had their God of Destiny, right?

Muttering a few more words always helped.

When Hill's carriage landed in the small square in front of the Floating Castle, Terry was already waiting there.

"Hill~ you're back~ I'm free~" he said cheerfully and even eagerly as he opened the carriage door.

Hearing the joyful tremble in the voice of the Golden Dragon, Hill couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"Terry, this is Lynn, my Half-Elf friend. He has agreed to teach you bartending and how to be a competent bartender," Hill introduced as he gestured towards the big head poking in and then to Lynn standing next to it.

"Lynn, this is Terry, your Golden Dragon student. If possible, it would be great if he could also make cocktails with his dragon claws."

The Half-Elf and the Golden Dragon looked at each other, nodded, then both turned to look at Hill.

Terry was easy to deal with. As Hill stepped down from the carriage, he described the future and Terry simply nodded eagerly for his gold-scaled cutie.

Lynn was a bit more troublesome; he stared at Terry's claws, looking quite perplexed.

"Don't worry, Lynn," Hill led them into the hall, "start with human form first. Terry is pretty smart and his hands and feet are quite nimble. The dragon claws are the next stage. To double the revenue, Terry will work very hard."

He spread his arms towards Agleya, who stood elegantly in the hall waiting for him to come home. The adorable little girl immediately rushed into his arms, "Welcome home, Dad Hill~ where's my gift?"

"Of course. Agleya, I brought a lot of fun little gifts, shall I ask List to bring them to your room?" Hill smiled as he stroked her hair, "There are also some beautiful silks inside, Marsha has many designs, you can make some pretty clothes."

"Silks for making clothes can't be considered a gift, can they?" Agleya asked looking up, her voice clear.

"Of course," Hill took out a jewelry box.

Lynn couldn't help but glance at it; it was the luxurious jewelry box Hill bought from 'Harlan Barult's Harpsichord and Harp'. Its only purpose was that it would play a soothing melody when opened.

He never understood why Hill would spend 600 Gold Coins on such a useless item—was it really just to pamper his daughter?

Feeling unconvinced, Lynn thought that if needed, he could buy a beautiful jewelry box and enchant it with his own singing.

His singing was praised by the God of Singing for being delightful!

"Dad Hill~ are these acorns the gift?" Agleya asked curiously.

She hadn't even noticed the jewelry box embedded with gems and emitting the Ruth harp's melody.

Lynn, surprised, walked over to see. Initially, Hill picked a green jewelry box filled with necklaces made from acorns of various sizes, but wasn't that to showcase the box's utility?

Hill handed the jewelry box to Agleya: "Have a look, are there some good items inside?"

Terry couldn't help but stretch his neck to see, and then sat down next to Agleya to look.

Lynn felt awkward joining the two kids, so he sat on the couch next to Hill and pondered deeply.

These acorns were regarded so highly by Agleya, who was an incarnation of the Sea God; they definitely weren't ordinary Holy Acorns from Silvermoon City.

Such acorns were precious to Adventurer, but meaningless to a deity who could easily create Holy Water.

Moreover, those acorns naturally emitted a comforting scent, which the shopkeeper should have noticed too.

After long thought, Lynn suddenly looked at Hill in astonishment. If there was a necklace made from acorns rare enough to interest a deity in Ferun, it could only be the Amber Acorns from the Druid Ring of Moon Forest!

The Amber Acorns from the Druid Ring were a legacy from a Druid Ring that thrived 100 years ago in the western woods of Silvermoon.

They had disappeared completely 70 years ago.

These Druids were best at creating and storing Magical Items, and their most famous were their Amber Acorns.

These acorns were actually made of amber, each containing a tiny piece of elemental matter (air, earth, fire, or water). Each day, the wearer of the necklace could use a Level 6 ally summoning to summon creatures of that element.

Lynn looked up to see Agleya walking towards him with three necklaces in her hand, two of which had four acorns strung on vines.

The other had six.

Lynn knew the four-acorn ones should be Amber Acorns, but the six-acorn ones?

Lynn gasped: Could that be the treasure key of Moon Forest Ring?

That was from the wealthiest Druid Ring of the Silvermoon Alliance back then!

What luck Hill has!