DKIE CH14: Twin Dragons

The Crown Prince of the Demon Realm was well-known, but in Cullen’s words, he was an unscrupulous opportunist.

“Alec would never tolerate anyone touching his industries. For every niche industry, he ensures he takes at least ninety percent of the profits.”

Because of his powerful talent and outstanding demeanor, even among humans, he had his deviant worshippers.

Cullen shook his head: “Assassination, framing, enticement, threats… he uses all sorts of tactics against competitors.”

Luka tried to speak in a calm tone: “I’ll be careful.”

The Demon Realm was far deeper than he had imagined.

However, he currently didn’t have the luxury to aim high; the top priority was to write the second part of The Beloved Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old.

Before leaving, Cullen asked a question he would regret for the rest of his life.

“Oh, why is this book called Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old?”

Luka absentmindedly replied: “Three and a half is a critical point. By then, the little monster will gain the ability to turn into a human, and different types of guardians will also come to its side. He ticked off on his fingers: “There’s an angry, dark demon dad, a flying demon who’s ruthless to outsiders but incredibly patient with the cub, a cute and contrasting skeleton sister… they’re powerful outside, but when it comes to the cub, they’re exceptionally gentle…”

Cullen: “…I have something to do, I’m leaving first.”

Luka continued: “During the day, the demons kill without blinking, and at night, they’ll sit by the bed taking turns telling the cub bedtime stories…”

Dark Seven, hidden in the shadows: “I feel a bit unwell, I’m flying off first.”

“They turn clouds into rain, and all their efforts are to shield the cub from storms.”

The quill had nowhere to escape and spat blood all over Luka.

“…”

Luka cursed its lack of class, felt his money bag, and sneaked out.

He walked alone through a dark alley.

He sought criticism but not a beating. If he exposed himself to the public now, he’d probably get a few rotten eggs thrown at him.

In the alley with scattered bricks, the boy’s silhouette slowly stretched.

Shortly after he passed, a pair of blood-red eyes slowly opened from between the dirty brick cracks.

Demon Servants.

A group of sharp and capable minions under the Demon Realm’s First Prince.

They liked to hide in the dark, stir up trouble, and their methods were often unpredictable.

Even Luka himself probably wouldn’t have expected His Royal Highness, the First Prince, to act so quickly. After all, he only had one best-selling book, and his pen name wasn’t his original body’s name but his own name from the real world.

Clearly, he underestimated the First Prince’s terrifying business intuition.

Demons always preferred to nip threats in the bud. If there was a threat, it had to be eliminated early.

The quill was now hanging from Luka’s waist.

Along the way, it closed its eyes and sneered. It was stupid to go out at this time; getting targeted was deserved.

Luka quickly walked to the exit and turned to study the high wall: “Actually, climbing a few walls can also lead straight to the pharmacy.”

The quill subconsciously asked: “Why go to the pharmacy?”

“To buy you vital essence.”

Luka weighed his money bag: “Thanks to you providing reference materials earlier, you have half the credit for the publication.”

He hadn’t forgotten that this deformed heart needed a large amount of vital essence.

Beast vital essence could be bought at the pharmacy, but because it required specialists to draw magic patterns to ensure energy didn’t leak, the price was very high, making it a poor value for money.

The quill was silent for a while after hearing this.

Luka, halfway over the wall, suddenly found that the nearby long street was unusually quiet. Strange crystals seeped into the clouds in the distant sky; the clouds were frozen solid, which was a very abnormal natural phenomenon.

“What’s going on?”

Boulder City was as prosperous as ever, with peddlers and merchants busily going about their duties, occasionally even different races would clash.

The hot topic from a few days ago hadn’t died down, and the demon servants played a significant role in this.

They first instigated people to spread defamatory remarks, escalating from the book to his character, while secretly observing and tracking Luka, confirming his strength, and preparing to find an opportunity to kill him.

“Can you believe it, relying on that garbage book The Beloved Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old, that beautiful-but-useless boy supposedly earned over a thousand gold coins!”

A burly man exaggeratedly cursed in a roadside tavern.

This figure, thrown into the crowd, caused a sensation.

Not only did the drunkards in the tavern’s hearts inevitably breed evil thoughts, but even passers-by felt malicious intent.

Some people came to Boulder City purely to escape misfortune, and their savings had long been depleted by one gold coin a day.

A human boy with wealth, beauty, and weak magic elements was simply a piece of fat.

Killing was forbidden within the city, but that didn’t mean there were no loopholes. For example, what the alchemist once did: using drugs to make people unconscious, tying them up, and dealing with them outside the city.

The burly man raised his voice: “Writing such trash to poison people, the author should compensate us! He and the garbage deformed creature he wrote about have no right to exist.”

“That’s right, make him refund the money!”

Immediately, someone echoed. With more people, even if they didn’t resort to violence, they had plenty of ways to make a profit.

Just as this momentum was about to turn into a wave, the burly man suddenly felt a push, and he instantly turned into a shooting star. He tried to stop midway, but all his attempts failed. Finally, the burly man’s eyes widened in horror, and he let out a desperate scream.

The people around him were knocked over one by one, too busy to care about him.

The guards rushed over and looked anxiously at their captain.

The captain shook his head, “He’ll fly directly out of the city.”

At this speed, he’d probably either be dead or half-crippled, but he flew out completely intact, which in a sense didn’t break the rules.

As he spoke, the captain’s muscles tensed, and he lowered his voice: “Quickly go notify the City Lord.”

He stared intently ahead.

Dragons had arrived.

And more than one.

The guards belatedly realized the true identity of the uninvited guests, their faces changing drastically.

Dragons rarely walked on the continent, and two arriving at once was Boulder City’s biggest news this year.

Some people who had been knocked over earlier scrambled away, and passers-by subconsciously retreated to the sides of the street.

For a moment, it looked like a grand welcoming ceremony.

Watched by countless eyes, the Ice Dragon kept its head down, engrossed in reading the book. Even after reading it several times, it was still reluctant to part with the content and return the book.

Leo walked in front with a cold face, his steps halting when he passed a bookstore.

The Ice Dragon was still behind, its head not even raised. The bookstore owner only saw the grim-faced Leo and almost burst into tears.

Could it be that the dragons bought a book out of curiosity, were disgusted by it, and now came back for revenge on the bookstore?

“Noble, noble guest, is there anything…”

Leo: “A free gift.”

“Huh?” Seeing the dragon’s impatience grow, the bookstore owner woke up as if from a dream and finally reacted: “You mean the event where readers can exchange a message for a free gift?”

Leo nodded.

The bookstore owner was even more tearful.

“So… sorry, the event exchange time is in a few days, it hasn’t… started yet.”

Leo, after being cut off in the story, had been entirely focused on the gifts and hadn’t looked at the specified exchange bookstore or the exchange time. Hearing this now, he raised an eyebrow.

The bookstore owner immediately trembled like a sieve, wanting to suggest that they just tie up the author.

Just as the bookstore owner was about to speak, Leo’s gaze caught the doorway, and he suddenly asked: “How many other bookstores are there in the city?”

“Three.”

There were over twenty blacksmith shops, but bookstore business was generally poor, less than a hand’s worth.

The owner, fearing they wouldn’t find them, specifically drew a map. Let his colleagues suffer, not him!

A small mountain of gold coins appeared on the table.

The bookstore owner was overjoyed. When he looked up, Leo had already reached the door, carrying the cute promotional stand.

It was then that he realized there was actually another dragon in the store!

The Ice Dragon Berlanie finally looked up at the owner and pointed at The Beloved Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old on the shelf: “I’ll take all of these.”

A few minutes later, the owner, having packed the books, absentmindedly saw them off at the door.

Berlanie’s gaze was fixed on the stand, exceptionally serious: “The next store’s stand is mine.”

The appearance differences between Eastern and Western dragons were quite significant. When condensed into Q-version characters, people wouldn’t immediately associate them with dragons.

Unless the readers already felt a sense of connection.

Berlanie belonged to this category.

The little monster on the stand had very bright eyes, and despite being somewhat deformed, its body exuded a vibrant vitality. The promotional stand was large, but in the eyes of a dragon, it was still tiny.

So cute.

The onlookers on the street watched in horror as they entered a bookstore, swiftly cleared the shelves of Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old, not even sparing the promotional stand, and then rushed to the next one.

After a long while, someone, it’s unclear who, swallowed their saliva: “Could it be that the dragons… really like this book?”

What an astonishing piece of news!

Everyone exchanged glances, all feeling the shock in each other’s expressions.

The soldier captain who had originally remained on standby hurried towards the City Lord’s mansion. By his position, he wasn’t qualified to meet the City Lord, but the soldier who reported earlier had already conveyed the message. Anything involving dragons was no small matter. Hearing him report the subsequent situation, the City Lord’s guard immediately allowed him to pass.

Walking through courtyards built of towering strange rocks, he stopped and saluted at the City Lord’s study door.

Upon receiving permission, the captain eagerly recounted what had happened on the street.

After reporting in one breath, he heard no sound, and the captain couldn’t help but look up.

The Lord of Boulder City didn’t appear as gentle as he had at the auction that day; his refined face carried an inviolable majesty.

When he noticed the City Lord seemed to be lost in thought, the captain couldn’t help but feel a bit strange.

Ultimately, this was just a misunderstanding. As long as it was confirmed that the dragons were harmless to Boulder City, the remaining instruction was to monitor them closely.

The City Lord did not respond to the captain’s confusion.

Different positions afforded different perspectives. His subordinates clearly hadn’t noticed the immense profit hidden behind this incident. An item that could pique the interest of dragons, both the item itself and its creator, would also form a subtle, intangible connection with the dragons.

How to operate this to benefit humanity was a matter well worth pondering.

“Where is the person?”

The captain was confused; weren’t they talking about dragons?

The City Lord stared at him and asked a question he hadn’t cared about before: “The author of this book… go investigate his current situation.”

On the street, the commotion caused by the dragons entering the city not only didn’t subside, but more and more people rushed to discuss it after hearing the news.

Luka, secretly standing far away, couldn’t see the full picture due to his height, only vaguely learning about the dragons buying books from the shocked conversations.

He immediately beamed, happily muttering, “The future is promising.”

He didn’t forget to look down and happily transmit to the quill, “Your blood is also promising.”

The quill had been silent since earlier, and it unusually didn’t mock or dampen his excitement.

Luka quickened his pace.

He was busy climbing walls and didn’t notice a gray mist line seeping from the quill hanging at his waist.

It floated lightly, like smoke, drifting backward.

In the shadows further away, the demon servant who was muttering, ‘This boy absolutely cannot be left alive,’ hadn’t even reacted before being brutally strangled.

The demon body was easily cut into tens of thousands of pieces by the gray line, turning into particles and vanishing.

As if it had never appeared in this alley.

Luka seemed to hear something and was about to turn back but was attracted by the conversation on the opposite street.

One of the people who had been knocked over earlier still had shaky legs and tried to save face: “Tsk, no matter how arrogant a race is, don’t they all transform into human forms for important negotiations?”

Humans were the mainstream of the continent.

The person next to him, worried he’d speak out of turn and provoke a回头杀 (retaliatory kill), said irritably, “Otherwise? Everyone transforms into groundhogs and screams together in the conference room?”

“…”

“Speaking of which…” The person next to him frowned: “Why did Lord Leo return to Boulder City?”

He still refused to admit that the other party was simply there to buy a book.

The staff of Stone Magazine had rushed to the scene immediately. The writer scoffed, “Can’t you tell how much the two Dragon Lords love The Beloved Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old? They even carried off the promotional stand.”

The image of the giant dragons carrying the stand instantly reappeared in everyone’s minds. While fantastical, they had to start accepting this reality.

The article, dubbed trash, seemed like some rare treasure in the eyes of dragons.

Could it be that they truly didn’t understand how to appreciate it?

Someone, unconvinced, bought another copy on the street and forced themselves to read a few lines… they simply couldn’t!

“Can anyone tell me what’s so good about it?”

A broad-minded magician suddenly stood up: “The one who should feel most disgusted right now is the First Prince of the Demon Realm.”

The other party’s domineering style was famous throughout the continent.

He had monopolized so many niche industries, and now a piece of meat had finally been dug out. This author of Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old, with dragons as readers, definitely wouldn’t just stick to a small plot of land; this was probably just the beginning.

The magician spoke rather loudly when he said this, and Luka heard it clearly.

He proudly transmitted, “I am a national hero.”

The quill said chillingly, “Humans are amazing because of you. Go report your merits to the Holy City.”

Thinking of the other half of the blood in his body, Luka frowned and sincerely asked, “Wise Lord Alex, how can I truly integrate into human society?”

Before he transmigrated, he was originally human, and in the future, he preferred to operate in the human realm.

And some rare treasures, extending life, and even the most brilliant knowledge were concentrated in the Holy City. He couldn’t hide in Boulder City his whole life.

The quill didn’t even think: “Unless you bring the Demon King’s head.”

Luka also didn’t even think: “Can I bring a ding?”

Why should children pay for their parents’ love story?

Let’s ding to atone.

“This is an overt scheme. If I bring a ding and claim it’s the Demon King’s, then how, pray tell, is the Demon King to prove he hasn’t been castrated?”

“…”

The quill felt like it was going crazy because it actually thought about it and found it unanswerable.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and Luka temporarily stopped the conversation, seizing the time to detour to the pharmacy first.

The pharmacy wasn’t too crowded during the day. Seeing the masked Luka, the boss immediately woke up from his nap: “It’s you, ‘A Smile Worth a Thousand Gold’?”

Compared to Luka’s strange pen name, people remembered the story of “A smile is worth a thousand pieces of gold” more clearly.

Luka’s mouth twitched. He pulled out gold coins: “I’m buying beast vital essence, the purer the better.”

Spending a large sum of money on blood at once, the boss looked at him suspiciously.

Luka urged: “Don’t you see I’m a magic waste? I’m trying crooked methods to see if I can improve my physique. Please hurry.”

Boss: “…”

Quill: “…”

__

Author’s note:

Luka: I’m going to do something crooked, don’t worry about it.

Boss: I don’t know what to say for a moment.