Did You Really Think Headless Bro Was Just a Live-in Son-in-Law?

Although his next destination was the territory of the overseas dragons, Anbaixiu was not foolish enough to simply walk right up to their doorstep. When it came to a massive secret concerning the future of an entire race, even the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss's reputation was bound to fall short. If Anbaixiu dared ask about it to their faces, the dragons would reduce him to ashes the very next second. Therefore, preparations had to be made in advance. For instance, he could first ask Gareth what the situation was. Even though Gareth had married into the family, he was a live-in husband who had stashed tens of millions in private savings and run away from home. What the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss could not say, he might very well be able to spill. Anbaixiu sent Gareth a message: [Ultraman Tiga: Brother Gareth, has the tension between you and your wife eased up lately? Need some relationship counseling?] A long time passed before Gareth sent back a reply: [Crown of the Headless Horseman: A bachelor skeleton is going to teach me how to get along with my wife?] [Ultraman Tiga: I'm only single *right now*, but I have several centuries of dating experience.] [Crown of the Headless Horseman: Stop boasting. You call visiting brothels and one-night stands dating experience? If you had even a shred of real talent in that department, would you still be single? That Rose Queen has practically thrown the entire underground kingdom at your feet with herself as the dowry.] Anbaixiu froze for a moment. What nonsensical garbage was Headless Bro spouting? His interactions with the Rose of Decay were strictly business transactions. How could undead have hearts for romance? Headless Bro and the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss were the only anomalous couple who somehow managed to retain such feelings. If the Rose of Decay had even the slightest affection for him, would she have sent over so many gorgeous drow elf women? Catherine had stayed at Anbaixiu's place for so long; if the Rose of Decay truly harbored such thoughts, she would have stormed over and kicked Catherine out ages ago. *Sigh, poor Gareth. He let a woman slow down the speed of his blade, and now he wants to drag others into the mud with him.* Though he deeply looked down on men blinded by love like Gareth, Anbaixiu still replied: [Ultraman Tiga: You're right. It seems I really don't have any talent in that area. Good brother, why don't you share some of your wisdom? Have you two had any fights lately? What were you fighting about? Tell me about it.] [Crown of the Headless Horseman: No fights, actually, but Canggu's been very busy lately. She hasn't even had time to search for my private stash.] Here it came. The crucial information was finally coming. Anbaixiu quickly pressed on: [Ultraman Tiga: Busy with what? What could your overseas dragon clan possibly be busy with? Having babies or grilling fish?] Anbaixiu had only intended to fish for information, but Gareth's next reply went far beyond his expectations. [Crown of the Headless Horseman: You should know the Astral red dragons came overseas, right? You were the one who let them in, after all. Ever since these red dragons arrived, relations between the bone dragons and the other dragons have grown tense, so Canggu had to go back and help.] Puzzled, Anbaixiu asked: [Ultraman Tiga: How does that connect? What conflict could the bone dragons have with the Astral red dragons?] [Crown of the Headless Horseman: Plenty. Those red dragons brought along a pack of toads, claiming they wanted to cooperate with the other dragons to return to the mainland. The bone dragons disagreed, causing old grudges and new grievances to erupt all at once. It nearly turned into an all-out brawl. The Astral red dragons and those toads kept fanning the flames, so I had to step in and slaughter a dozen or so Astral red dragons. That finally made those outsiders behave themselves. The fighting has stopped for now, and they're preparing for negotiations, which is why Canggu is so busy.] Anbaixiu remained silent for a long, long time. This Headless Bro was truly terrifyingly fierce. He had slaughtered over a dozen red dragons right in front of the dragon clan? Even if the overseas dragons hadn't intervened, Gareth's opposition had been over sixty red dragons and over a hundred thousand Githyanki! Wasn't that a bit excessively overpowered? Or perhaps the bone dragon clan had helped him? [Ultraman Tiga: You stepped in... Was that really fine? Aren't you worried the other dragons will take issue with it?] [Crown of the Headless Horseman: They dared bully my wife! Do I need anyone's permission to teach those interlopers a lesson? Did you really think I married down into the dragon clan as a meek subordinate? I only stayed on Dragon Island because Canggu didn't want to leave her kin behind. Those dragons have no authority over me. I've just kept too low a profile over the years, to the point where every piece of garbage thinks they can strut around in front of me.] Well then, it turned out he had completely misunderstood. Live-in son-in-law? Far from it—this was the damn Dragon King. Still, were the bone dragons on bad terms with the other dragons? Anbaixiu had never actually looked into this. After all, dragonkind had vanished for too long; by the time Anbaixiu transmigrated to this world, legends of dragons had already disappeared from the mainland. Upon pressing further, Anbaixiu gained a rough understanding of what had happened. First of all, the concept of a unified "dragon race" was fundamentally flawed. In the era before the Demonic Dragon Tyrant was born, chromatic dragons, metallic dragons, time dragons, and all the various other dragons were like independent nations. Not only did they share virtually no ties, but most were bitter enemies. Even the chromatic dragons under Tiamat fought their own separate battles, with no communication between them, only mutual exploitation. This fit the dragons' nature. As creatures at the apex of the food chain, their only real rivals were each other, which meant relations between different dragon breeds were almost universally poor. If one type of dragon was slain by humans, the other dragons would never seek vengeance on their behalf. They would either pretend not to know or applaud the killer. It was not until the Demonic Dragon Tyrant emerged—time dragons being the pinnacle lineage among dragonkind—that he used absolute strength to intimidate all dragons into submission, uniting them to establish the Dragon Dynasty. During that era, all dragons received tribute from the mainland's other races, keeping humans and other intelligent races as captive livestock. That marked the first great unification of dragonkind. Because they could lounge around without lifting a finger and still receive endless gold and food—and because it was "one dragon per city," sparing them the need to fight amongst themselves—the dragons accepted that way of life by default. Many years later, Arthur Ryan led heroes of every race to slaughter the dragons until fewer than one in ten remained. The surviving dragons were forced to kneel before Arthur Ryan and sign a covenant promising never to return to the mainland. Afterward, the few living dragons fled overseas, finding isolated islands where they scraped by. Because dragonkind had been rendered so terribly weak back then, dragons of different breeds had no choice but to huddle together for warmth, putting aside their racial divides. In fact, to prevent the dragons' strength from dwindling further, they took the initiative to establish the Dragon Tomb island. All dragons would live out their natural lifespans there and subsequently transform into bone dragons. This was an outright heterodox practice, as the vast majority of dragons loathed undead; turning into a bone dragon was seen as a desecration. Yet they had had no choice. Without doing so, how could the young hatchlings ever receive protection? The first great dragon alliance had been forged by the Demonic Dragon Tyrant, while the second great coalition had been born purely out of desperate survival. Many more years passed in this manner, and the overseas dragons grew accustomed to the existence of bone dragons. But then the Astral red dragons arrived. These distant relatives from the Astral Plane had never experienced that complicated history, and they felt nothing but hatred and contempt for bone dragons. Meanwhile, the Githyanki were entirely militaristic, without a single diplomat among them. The moment they set foot on the island, they escalated tensions with the bone dragons. The Astral dragons had arrived bearing the hope of returning to the mainland, a prospect the other dragons could not bear to forfeit. As a result, the bone dragons were abandoned, treated as a pledge of allegiance—a blood token—to present to their Astral kin. The Githyanki had no reservations about slaughtering bone dragons either. Just as an all-out battle was about to erupt, Gareth appeared, riding atop his wife. There were no warnings, no threats—just a single, devastating charge. Gareth's overwhelming combat power combined with the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss's innate talent for stealth made the couple virtually invincible. Gareth severed the heads of over a dozen red dragons, inflicting over ten thousand casualties on the Githyanki. Such horrifying losses forced the arrogant, overbearing Githyanki and Astral red dragons to rein in their haughtiness, leaving them no choice but to pursue peaceful negotiations. [Crown of the Headless Horseman: They should probably have things settled in a few days.] [Ultraman Tiga: Do you know what method they plan to use to break the covenant's restrictions?] [Crown of the Headless Horseman: I'm not entirely sure about that. I heard it's confidential. Why are you digging around for this info? Are you trying to stop the dragon race from returning?] [Ultraman Tiga: Not necessarily. Depends on which side is more profitable. But given our relationship, whatever I do, I have to consult you two first. If I were to stop their return, how would you feel about it?] [Crown of the Headless Horseman: Whatever, I don't care. Whether it's the dragon race or the people on the mainland, it's all the same to me. Let them fight however they want. As long as Canggu is happy, that's enough for me.] Anbaixiu understood. The crucial factor lay with the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss. As long as she was satisfied, Anbaixiu would not have to worry about internal friction within the Elegy Poetry Society. Still, when it came to negotiating with a bone dragon, the price would likely be anything but cheap.