"What's wrong with my age? I'm originally over a thousand years old!"
Despite his sense of injustice, he only had a warm mug of barley tea in front of him.
'What's this? If I had known this would happen, I should have had a drink in the kitchen.'
He regretted not having thought of that. The idea was to cater to the dwarves' taste, but it was a mistake to let only Berdin taste it.
'I was careful not to let him get drunk before the banquet started... Now I need that sense of camaraderie from sharing a drink!'
Sharing drinks and conversation during a meal is a good way to build camaraderie.
He planned to share delicious drinks and meat in a relaxed atmosphere, gradually easing their grudges.
But the first step went off the rails.
Seeing the black dragon cub's gloomy face, Ferdikion's lips curled up.
"Cheer up. Your attitude towards me isn't very respectful."
'He doesn't even know what plans I had.'
The drink was a means to break down the barriers of authority.
Rune sipped his barley tea, disappointed that he couldn't execute the final part of his plan.
'In a place reeking of alcohol, I was going to try to work on them when they were feeling good.'
Unlike Rune, who was just stuffing his mouth with food, Ferdikion nodded and even smiled slightly.
"Right. He's a grateful kid in many ways."
"Indeed. Though he's still a young hatchling, he's very clever!"
The dwarves and Ferdikion looked at Rune warmly.
'Did they get swayed by the food and drink?'
Rune recalled the dwarves' nature.
They were strong in loyalty, impulsive, and simple.
They had a strong sense of justice and wouldn't forgive traitors or wrongdoers, but they were greedy when it came to benefits.
'I thought it would be hard to change their hearts, so I planned to focus on the benefits.'
The tyrant was Ferdikion's father, Pasias.
But Ferdikion, his son, had also followed in his father's footsteps at one point.
Thus, he thought it would be difficult to improve the relationship between Ferdikion and the dwarves, even if Ferdikion changed.
It would sound like he wanted to inherit his father's wealth but not his debts.
'So, I planned to show them the benefits of Ferdikion's rule.'
Rune scratched his cheek after swallowing a piece of meat.
The tea tasted better than expected.
But in a place filled with the smell of alcohol, drinking tea alone made him feel depressed.
'Pfft. We'll see. I'll make him drink a whole barrel of orc ale later.'
The banquet in the dwarf palace was unusually warm and friendly.
the disappointment of a certain hatchling who had his drink taken away grew deeper.
Chapter 44: I Have Something Good
Rune hosted a banquet every day, dazzling the dwarves with his culinary skills.
A heavenly feast that they could never taste in the land of fire!
The rumor spread, and the dwarves even drew lots to decide who would attend the next banquet.
"How can meat taste like this!"
"Beer! Fresh honey beer!"
"What about the shower cream!"
"I never knew potatoes could be this delicious in my whole life!"
For them, who had to rely on flat beer and dried bread, it was a novel experience.
Fresh beer and glossy meat!
Sauce and cheese made from fresh milk!
Through these lavish feasts, the relationship between Ferdikion and the dwarves improved quite smoothly.
According to their own values.
Moreover, some dwarves began to change their minds subtly after hearing about the benefits at the banquet.
'There were more dwarves who felt positively about Ferdikion besides Berdin, which was unexpected.'
The dwarves who had been observing Ferdikion's behavior took this opportunity to raise their voices.
It was just a matter of timing, but now there were dwarves who praised him as a potential benevolent ruler.
'Given that this land is the red dragon's territory, it's impossible to keep hating Ferdikion, who is trying to treat them properly.'
The grudges of those who lost family members or were maimed by Pasias' tyranny were still deep.
But more and more dwarves began to distinguish between the past and the present under Ferdikion's rule.
On the side, he also visited the forges of the traditionalists and reformists.
The main purpose was to discuss the items to be submitted to the blacksmith competition.
Rune's evaluations were quite positive, and he even bought good weapons with his own money.
The downside was that the blacksmiths still had a greedy look in their eyes when they saw his scales.
"Are you going there again? I'll protect you, Rune! From those scary uncles who want to peel you like a fruit!"
'I was going to bring them anyway.'
Fortunately, the attention was diverted to Phoenix's chick, Baiye, and the succubus, Heumi.
Especially Heumi was overwhelmingly popular.
Her warm and cheerful personality matched well with the dwarves.
Moreover, she had recently developed a taste for jerky and followed the dwarves closely.
'Is she teething? She says she wants to chew on tough meat to relieve her itch.'
The food that satisfied Heumi's desire was jerky.
The texture and taste helped her relieve her itch by chewing.
The dwarves fed her jerky as if they were feeding a well-behaved grandchild.
She had a voracious appetite and always eagerly accepted the jerky, becoming the dwarves' favorite.
But he had a foreboding feeling.
Recently, Heumi's behavior had been unusual.
She would stare blankly at Baiye or scratch her pillow.
Suddenly, she would run around or make meaningless "kyahng!" sounds.
There was a limit to how long he could suppress Heumi's instincts.
He had gained enough goodwill and trust here, and the urgent matters were settled.
'I need to bring up the dungeon.'
It was finally time to talk about the dungeon.
Rune met the increasingly busy Ferdikion early in the morning.
"I want to go to the <Abandoned Mine Dungeon>."
At the mention of the dungeon, Ferdikion's brows furrowed slightly.
He knew Rune had been particularly interested in the dungeon.
But he was just a ten-year-old hatchling.
Too young to be sent into a dungeon.
"No. I hate to say this, but the dungeon isn't that easy."
'I plan to make it very easy.'
Though he thought that, Rune smiled and brought up another topic.
"I'm not going alone. Gorban and Wood said they would form the team with the highest chance of clearing it. Besides, no matter how strong the monsters are, they can't pierce my scales, right?"
"…The dungeon adjusts to the entrant's abilities. I can't guarantee it will be easy."
Despite his words, Ferdikion knew the <Abandoned Mine Dungeon> would be easy.
A veteran team would take longer to mine the ores.
"Didn't you say before, 'Even an inexperienced servant can use their abilities'?"
"It doesn't matter if I'm a hatchling."
Seeing Ferdikion hesitate, Rune grinned mischievously.
"The difficulty of the dungeon monsters is based on the entrant's strength, right? I have something good."
He pulled out a leather pouch from his waist.
"Look, brother. I kept this just in case it might be useful."
Rune opened the pouch and took out a vial that shimmered with a purple hue.
It gave off an ominous aura.
Ferdikion looked at the small vial Rune held and said, somewhat exasperated.
"It looks like a potion. What is it?"
"It is a potion. In fact, it's a black dragon's curse potion."
Ferdikion's feet moved quickly towards Rune.
Predicting his move, Rune swiftly put the potion back in his pouch.
"Don't worry. It's called a curse potion, but it's actually very useful."
One of the most powerful abilities of the dark attribute clan.
Even though the clan no longer existed, its past reputation remained.
"Calm down, brother. You'll understand once I explain what it is."
"What makes you so sure?"
Despite his obvious displeasure, Ferdikion listened as Rune spoke cheerfully.
"A potion that temporarily weakens one's strength."
"The effect lasts up to ten minutes for an adult. I can adjust the potion's concentration to control the degree of weakening. For a hatchling like me, it lasts two to three hours."
Originally, it was a potion optimized for assassination, capture, or torture.
"I plan to use this to weaken myself and lower the difficulty when entering the dungeon."
Ferdikion thought it was a good idea.
The <Abandoned Mine Dungeon> was designed to mine ores and mana stones, not to gain from monsters.
After a long silence, Ferdikion finally nodded.
"How much of the potion do you have?"