The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases

As David was still puzzled about what "livestock" meant, he faintly heard panting. Struggling to shift his gaze, he was shocked to see a group of men and women on one side of a partition, coupling in twos and threes, engaged in nature's primal act of procreation. Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, were Redscale and the other children who hadn't yet grown up.

Ah, this... David couldn't help but reflect. Have I been repressed for too long in this young dragon's body since I transmigrated? Is that why my first Lucid Dream is so... 'sinful'?

Redscale showed little reaction to these somewhat inappropriate thoughts, instead speaking calmly yet firmly, "Have you forgotten that time? If your fear of punishment hadn't wasted precious time, I nearly managed to escape with a few of you."

At these words, the other children of various strange kinds fell silent. Only the boy's voice continued, "But didn't those vampires all say that was your bloodline awakening? I told you to stop. The purer your bloodline, the more ruthlessly they'll drain it."

"Quiet, someone's coming."

Following another child's warning, David's perspective suddenly flipped, and he was hidden away in darkness.

Groggily, he felt as though he had been tucked into Redscale's pocket...

What on earth have I dreamed myself into? No wonder my perspective was so strange earlier, as if I were in a land of Giants.

Soon, a door opened, and a man's indifferent voice sounded, "All of you, behave and come with me."

An unmeasurable amount of time passed, marked only by feeble and fragmented footsteps, before a voice finally spoke again, "Huh, the Royal Capital's order is quite large this time, isn't it? This isn't enough."

"Can't we just draw more from each brat, like usual?"

"It's not enough."

"How much stock do they need? Show me the order manifest. By the gods above, have they started fighting again? Those rebels really can't keep quiet, can they?"

"What do we do?"

"What else can we do? Slaughter a few more then. It's a bit of a loss, but better than our superiors getting angry. If it really comes to it, we'll just go 'restock.' Oh, and right, that little Magician girl must be kept, or we'll suffer a huge loss."

"Tsk, that's a pity. Two of them are quite good-looking. Once they're a bit older, they'll be usable."

Upon hearing these indifferent and brutal words, these children, regarded as little more than pigs and dogs, knew their end had come. The boy who had repeatedly 'teased' Redscale now growled, "I'll fight them! Redscale, run! I'll hold them back... UGH!"

"You little brat! I've had enough of your damn face for a long time!"

"Rhodes!!!"

"Get lost, little Dragonkin girl. Count yourself lucky you're worth more than this trash."

David once again felt a violent tremor, accompanied by a crash. It seemed as if he—or rather, the vessel binding his 'body'—had cracked apart. With the impact, sharp fragments dug into soft flesh.

Looks like a bloody nightmare. How uninteresting. Just as David was about to open his eyes, intending to 'change the channel' by going back to sleep, he heard that familiar prayer once more:

"Crimson Calamity..."

"Lord of the End of All Things..."

"Blood Demon..."

"Please, grant me strength once again..."

"I beg of you, I am willing to offer my body, my soul, my everything..."

David, who had been about to wake himself, suddenly felt as if something in the void was calling to him, drawing him in.

Huh... David, who initially felt powerless, suddenly grasped a possibility. He immediately began to 'think' along those lines.

Following the logic of some magical summoning ritual from his original world, David responded with a somewhat sluggish and labored thought process:

"Heh. Then the deal is struck. Now, you are mine."

The next moment, David felt himself 'merge' with something.

It must have been, for the most part, blood—Redscale's blood.

Like a scene from Inception, David felt himself plummeting into a deeper layer of the dream. He then regained sensation in his 'body,' smelled the metallic tang of blood, and heard sounds reminiscent of a slaughterhouse.

Finally, he had succeeded in 'controlling the dream.'

David suppressed the excitement welling up inside him and slowly opened his eyes. He saw two brawny men forcing the first boy he'd noticed—who also appeared to be a Half-Dragon—onto a large earthenware jar, preparing to 'bleed him like a stuck pig.'

Perhaps it was because the boy, being a Half-Dragon, possessed incredible vitality, or perhaps it was simply because this was David's dream. Either way, despite the fatal wound and having his throat slit, the boy wasn't dead yet and was still struggling ceaselessly.

His few 'companions' were completely petrified by the bloody scene. After continuous beatings, they cowered in a corner, their faces ashen. They remained there until, to their astonishment, they saw Redscale, their 'Big Sis,' who had been knocked down earlier, stagger back to her feet after taking a heavy punch from one of the men.

The shift in the children's behavior naturally didn't escape the notice of the two men. One of them frowned, turned his head, and sneered, "Looks like I'll have to give you an early lesson in the cruelty of the adult world."

"Great! I'm looking forward to it!" David, having just succeeded in 'controlling the dream,' also grinned.

However, perhaps because he had been a Red Dragon for many years, this grin, formed by facial muscles unsuited to his current form, ripped the corners of his mouth open, exposing the entirety of his blood-streaked white gums and jawbone.