Chapter 867: All Set

The dockside tavern in Flower Town.

Two merchants sat together, the same two from their previous deal, this time with new information to trade: "The news you wanted, I've managed to uncover it. I had to pull strings to bribe a servant from Thorn Fortress... That knight always transports supplies to Dodo Island!"

"Dodo Island?"

"Exactly, an island to the north. I've even brought you the nautical chart. What's your offer?"

"How about ten?"

"Twenty!"

"Don't be greedy, fifteen!"

"Heh, make it seventeen. This isn't just for me—my contact needs his cut too. That servant from Thorn Fortress cost me a fortune to bribe!"

"Any chance we get burned?"

"Relax, this servant is a castle lifer. No one would suspect him."

Only after the other party agreed to pay seventeen gold coins did the merchant spill the details on Dodo Island, including the volcanic crater, the grove of Human Skull Trees, and the knight's training there—any investigation would confirm that they're really building something big on Dodo Island.

However, it wasn’t for building a training site but rather a small town, with plans to mine volcanic ash for cement production.

This information reached Alonso Cyclamen within just half a month.

To ensure timely communication, he had already sent vampires sneaking back into the Sapphire Duchy once more. However, to avoid detection, the vampires of the Black Knight family kept their heads down, hiding their blood magic fluctuations, as the family was aware that a group of vampires had defected and joined Liszt Flame's ranks.

"Dodo Island..." Alonso called in his right-hand knight. "Send the Eagle Riders to inform His Highness Alex, Duke Noire, and Duke Piero—Operation Extinguish is officially underway. We will gather and lay low at the Sapphire Hot Spring Island on April 3rd!"

Eagles were mid-tier wind magic beasts, not much in a fight but extremely fast.

Armed with Alonso's markers, the Eagle Knights swiftly departed from his castle, flying toward various locations across the Kingdom of the Eagle.

Watching the knights vanish into the horizon, Alonso white-knuckled his fist. "His Majesty still trusts me to lead this operation, and I will not betray that trust! Liszt Flame, you're probably feeling pretty cocky right now—young, ambitious, eager to establish your own kingdom. But you don’t realize the old hunter has already set a trap for you. Heh."

...

Preparing for dragon-slaying was often a protracted affair.

After completing all preparations within his power, Liszt swiftly headed to the coastline of the Kingdom of the Eagle, searching relentlessly for natural nodes. Unfortunately, the material boundaries here seemed more stable than those around the Flame Archipelago. After over half a month of searching, he only turned up two natural nodes.

One was in a familiar place—the Iron Mine of the Trapped Dragon Mountain.

The other was among a cluster of reefs not far from the coastline, another familiar spot where he had once encountered the elderly sea witch, Is. He named it the Sea Witch Reef Cluster, though Is was no longer there, and he couldn’t reunite with the still-charming sea witch.

"Two natural nodes... I hope they lie directly on the flight path of the returning dragon knights. Otherwise, I’ll have to resort to tailing them for an assassination attempt... Bard is still just a kid. If he were fully grown, with all his abilities at their peak, I could simply storm the dragon knights' strongholds directly!"

The invisible dragon was only eighty years old, its combat prowess not yet formidable. Going behind enemy lines for an assassination carried significant risks.

Who knew if these long-standing dragon knights had countermeasures, such as magic that locks down space or special moves?

"No stupid risks" was Liszt’s current guiding principle.

Soon, he received word from his blood spies—Alex Bai Kou Tie, the White Iron Dragon Knight who should have been stationed at the border of the Blastfurnace Kingdom, was no longer at his post and had returned to the royal capital. Ever since the daughter of the Eagle King married the Duke of Highcastle, the younger brother of the Blastfurnace King, things between the kingdoms got messy.

Generally, alliances through marriage didn’t automatically make kingdoms friendly. In fact, over the past few generations, nearly every kingdom had intermarried, yet conflicts persisted.

"Alex is exactly as I predicted. The Kingdom of the Eagle and the Blastfurnace Kingdom are colluding, freeing him up. If there’s to be a Dragon-Slaying War, he's definitely in on it!"

The WhiteMouthed Iron Dragon possesses formidable combat strength, making Alex the top fighter of the Kingdom of the Eagle.

The Kingdom of the Eagle has two WhiteMouthed Iron Dragons, one still without a Dragon Knight. However, this dragon once nearly killed the first-generation Sapphire Dragon Knight in a one-on-one battle alongside its previous rider, showing how deadly it is. As for Alex, he has slain an ice dragon and bears the Dragon Slayer title.

After thinking for a moment, Liszt instructed Acheronides to tell Mary Dawnbreak through the magic platform: "Continue keeping tabs on Alex. Report directly to me if he takes any action or secludes himself!"

He possesses the magic platform.

With Mary and other blood servants carrying the magic platform and infiltrating the Kingdom of the Eagle, info gets around fast.

Unfortunately, making the magic platform isn't easy, security measures are still incomplete, and training covert operatives is challenging. Vampires also require time to develop. Otherwise, a proper spy network could be stationed in various kingdoms. Currently, only a few blood servants are equipped with the magic platform.

As blood servants gradually take their positions, reports keep coming in—Alonso has left his post riding his dragon, Grand Duke Loyr of the Purple Copper Duchy hasn't shown his face for days, Duke Piero of the Gray Iron Duchy has also secluded himself, and Prince Alex has done the same.

There are also reports of a silver dragon leaving its nest.

Then word comes of renewed border tensions between the Blastfurnace Kingdom and the Kingdom of Steel Ridge.

Though March appeared uneventful, every move made by the Kingdom of the Eagle was known to Liszt. Were it not for the early warning from the smoke mission, these actions might have gone unnoticed... Yet under Liszt's close watch, they all stood out as suspicious.

"It's almost certain that Alonso, Alex, and Grand Duke Loyr will participate in the dragon hunt. The grey cast iron dragon from the Gray Iron Duchy will also join, along with a silver dragon. Other Dragon Knights' locations and dragons remain unclear."

"Then, where will they ambush me?" Liszt mused as he looked over the map of the Sapphire Duchy. The Dragon Knights must gather before launching their attack, so they'll probably strike somewhere between Dodo Island and Darkhorse Island.

This is the battlefield Liszt has deliberately arranged.

Centered around this stretch of sea, the surrounding islands could all serve as ambush points.

"The most probable location is Hot Spring Island. The Earl of Hot Spring Island is a longtime noble—whether he is involved remains to be seen. The rats I sent to investigate might uncover some clues... Other nearby islands could also serve as ambush sites. After years of influence by the Kingdom of the Eagle, who knows which local lords have flipped?"

During the Dragon Slaying War in the Azure Sea, the Pale Emerald Dragon Knight, Ka Erluo Violet, showing up out of nowhere, led the Sapphire Duchy to suspect that traitors still lurked among his followers.

Providing Ka Erluo with a foothold.

However, no traitor was ever uncovered, as the Sapphire Archipelago has many uninhabited islands where a Dragon Knight could hide. They eventually dropped it.

Liszt stroked his chin, his gaze seemingly tracing the trembling threads of fate: "Could it even be that the Sapphire Duchy has struck a deal with the Kingdom of the Eagle to eliminate me and pave the way for Anthony?" He included the Sapphire Duchy in the Dragon Slaying War scenario.

Preparing for the worst.

If the Sapphire Duchy truly betrays him, he will wipe out the Sapphire family first, no matter what.