Evil dragon has a warm heart

Blackfire Festival, a day off for the Blackflame Plains, where the serfs no longer had to work hard and could freely roam anywhere they pleased.

Some young men and women, hand in hand, wove their way through the groves.

Then there were the elderly serfs, puffing on their pipes, reminiscing about life in the Volcanic Oasis of times gone by.

There were also itinerant peddlers, selling their wares from horse-drawn carts along the roads, pushing hand carts deep into the new settlements, or simply carrying their goods in boxes, peddling them on the ridges of fields. They sold tofu, sundries, bread—all sorts of things.

The land reclamation planning blueprint for Blackflame Plains had almost been set.

On the triangular territory, with Cigar Castle at the center, spring water flowed toward the northwest, southwest, and directly east—half due to natural erosion, half deepened by human digging. Three great rivers had been carved out, and with these rivers as the main channels, many irrigation ditches had been developed.

The many estates of the future would be divided according to these three rivers.

The river flowing northwest, passing through the Black Oil Mine, was called Black Water River; the river flowing southwest with newly reclaimed farms on both banks was called Red Water River; the river flowing due east, which could join Leize in the future, was named Xiangshui River.

The Black Water River was likely to flow into a cavern and then disappear into the underground stream.

Red Water River, on the other hand, could potentially converge with Glowing River, forming a larger river before continuing to flush southward.

The reclamation sites were located on the banks of these three great rivers.

Every few kilometers there was a reclamation site which would later become the center of an estate. According to such planning, it was much more orderly compared to Glowing Valley.

This was a territory with flat terrain, an advantage that facilitated such systematic planning.

Along the three rivers, many bridges had been built, linking numerous cinder paths, all converging on the main asphalt road that was currently being laid. At this moment, the serfs were racing along the asphalt road behind horse-drawn carriages.

"This is really comfortable!" a serf exclaimed, "Not bumpy at all, feels like the asphalt road is soft, makes me want to get down and walk on it myself."

"Even better than the roads at the Volcanic Oasis."

"Black oil is really a treasure, it can even be used for road construction, look how smooth this main road is, it’s beautiful!"

"Blackflame Plains will be amazing in the future!" a serf from Volcanic Oasis declared, "Once you get used to living here, it’s much cooler than Furious Wind City, only the ice season is difficult. When I first arrived, I almost froze to death!"

There were also serfs who remarked, "Without mountains, it looks too flat here, I’ve never seen a place flatter than this."

"This place, it’s just like a smaller Tributary River Mouth," said a serf technician, supported by the Rainflower Family, "It also has three rivers, but they’re much smaller than those at Tributary River Mouth, shallow enough to wade across."

"This place is not small at all. I heard from our Knight Lord supervisor that in the future, Glowing Valley, Blackflame Plains, and eastward Leize will merge into one large warm land, huge indeed!"

"This is not false at all. I’ve been to the Snowfield when I went to haul goods before. Now the Snowfield has vanished, turned into land, with only sparse areas left where you can still see the snow hasn’t melted."

"By the end of the Warm Season, it’ll have mostly melted. Many places in the Snowfield are already starting to grow grass."

"So when this territory merges, whose lord does it actually become?" a serf voiced the confusion in his heart.

The serfs didn’t know.

An old serf technician, tapping his pipe, said, "Whichever lord it is, it’s all the same, all the Fluorescent Fungi Family’s territory!"

"Yes, they are all the lords of the Fluorescent Fungi Family."

"Exactly, exactly."

"Praise to our lord!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Praise the Fluorescent Fungi Family!"

"Praise the dragons." A chorus of blessings filled the carriage, and although their feudal lord was not present, they rushed to extol praises out of fear of being punished by the serf supervisors for disrespecting the lord.

In the territory, the noble lord was the sky.

The almost imperceptible asphalt main road quickly reached its end, and a castle under construction came into view.

"Everybody off!" the coachman started calling out, "Stick close to your own supervisors, don’t wander, each reclamation site has its designated spot. Wandering and getting lost, be careful of the knights’ whips, so hurry down!"

The serfs quickly disembarked, finding their respective serf supervisors.

This was a large open space, not far off seemed to be a small market, lights sparkling, crowds bustling, already beginning to sing and dance.

Soon a knight came over to check the serf supervisor’s waist badges, counted the serfs from the carriage to ensure the numbers were correct, and then vocally led the serfs to their designated place on the lawn by a bonfire.

"The serfs from your reclamation sites, celebrate the bonfire party here," the knight pointed to the bonfire and then to a white line on the outskirts, "See this white line? No one is allowed to step outside of it, Anyone who does will get flogged."

"Sir Knight, what if someone urgently needs to pee?" the Serf Supervisor asked bravely.

"Do you see that cabin over there? That’s the toilet. You know what a toilet is, don’t you?"

"I do, I do. One must go to the toilet for both number one and number two, can’t just urinate or defecate anywhere!" the Serf Supervisor hastily responded.

With the promotion of Retting Fertilization Skill, toilets also started to become widespread in the Shadowflame Grand Duchy.

Commoners rarely relieved themselves in the wild anymore.

"Everyone must use the toilet for their needs, and if anyone is found..." The Knight read through the prohibitions of the bonfire party to make sure the serfs understood, then he hurriedly left.

But soon he returned, bringing with him several groups of serfs, until he had gathered all the serfs from a pioneering point.

Following that, knights arrived successively, bringing with them supplies for the bonfire party.

Bread, beer, vegetables, and meats, in a rich variety; there was indeed no shortage of meats, which whetted the serfs’ appetites.

The atmosphere of the bonfire party was heightened to the extreme in an instant.

Drinking beer and roasting meat, singing and dancing around the bonfire, the serfs were all enjoying the rare festivity as night fell.

Just at that moment.

A knight suddenly galloped over, "Everyone stop, Lord Charles has arrived!"

The serfs by the bonfire quickly knelt on the ground, and at that time, Russell rode in on Unicorn Polly at an easy pace.

Dismounting, he took the goblet passed by a knight, smiled, and beckoned, "Today is Blackfire Festival, there’s no need for a disorderly tribute on the ground, please rise, please rise. Everyone, raise the goblets in your hands, and share a drink with your lord, I, Russell Fluorescent Fungus!"

As the serfs fumbled to raise their goblets.

Russell lifted his goblet high and said loudly, "To victory!"

He then downed the beer in his cup in one go, turning the cup upside down, and looked around at his subjects with a gentle gaze.

"Praise the lord!" someone among the serfs started.

The serfs, who rushed to drink the beer in their cups, began to sing praises and blessings, their voices unceasing.

"I have received your blessings," Russell spoke aloud when the voices quieted down, "I hope from here on you can live happily on the Blackflame Plains. I, Russell Fluorescent Fungus, will protect and watch over you!"

"Praise the lord!"

"Praise the lord!"

"Praise the lord!"

Without lingering any longer, amidst the blessings of the serfs, Russell remounted Unicorn Polly and, surrounded by his followers, made his way to the bonfire party of the next pioneering point.

Blackfire Festival is a major celebration on the Blackflame Plains and a face-to-face interaction between the lord and his people.

Russell kept raising toasts and kept receiving blessings from his subjects, with the responsibility and honor of a lord weighing on his mind.

By the time he had visited all the bonfire parties, it was almost the second half of the night.

"Sir, it’s time to return to the knights’ bonfire party, everyone is waiting for your return," Lord Charles said to Russell with a cheerful grin.

With a grand wave from atop the Unicorn, Russell commanded, "Let’s go, back we go!"

Just at this moment, a familiar dragon’s roar thundered from the eastern sky above Leize, "Roar!"

Russell was taken aback, his intoxication vanishing instantly.

The next moment, another familiar dragon’s roar echoed, "Roar!"

"Ah?" Charles exclaimed, "Is that the roar of a dragon, the roar of the Torrential Flood Dragon, and the Shadowflame Dragon!"

"Rossay!" Russell called out in his mind.

On the Dragon Coiling Pillar, Black Oil Dragon Ross swept down in a dive, rushing towards him, and Russell leaped from the back of the Unicorn to mount the Black Oil Dragon. And Polly transformed into a bolt of thunder, imprinting on Russell’s forehead.

"Charles, notify all the knights to guard the bonfire party," Russell ordered resolutely from the dragon’s back, "Keep the music playing, keep dancing!"

Then he soared into the sky, "I’ll be right back!"