Chapter 366 - On Equal Terms With A Dragon.
After dinner , Drax requested Rudra to meet him in private , and Rudra accepted the proposal , as the two decided to meet in the open Royal garden.
Inside the royal garden , for the first time , Drax shapeshifted from a dragon to a human form. He was a muscular human with a lean face and golden blonde hair just like his scale color.
When he stood face to face with Rudra , Rudra felt gratified. He was standing on equal terms with a dragon currently , it was not something , he could have ever imagined.
Rudra said " So you can shapeshift? ".
Drax replied " All dragons can shapeshift , but we are most proud of our dragon form , why would we live as other creatures if we are dragons?".
Rudra chuckled , in a way what Drax said made perfect sense.
Drax said " Before I tell you anything , I need to ask you again of your identity. Are you related to a man called Augustus Won Knight? ".
Rudra raised his eyebrow, this was a very unexpected question , but after cautiously weighing the options , he said " Why do you think so?".
Drax replied , " That move ... The way you returned the dragon breath back to the red guard with double the power. It was a move I personally saw with my own eyes , performed by that man Augustus ".
Rudra nodded as he said " My name is Shakuni won knight "
Rudra offered no further explanations , as a single sentence was enough. Drax made his own assumptions , as the two started to take a walk.
Drax said " As you must know , the Beast Emperor is dead , the immortal phoenix fell under my father , the dragon Kings assault , and to prevent him from rebirth , his soul was dissipated using a forbidden technique , a fragment of which now lives under your pet ".
Rudra was shocked by this news , it was naturally not something he knew , or had ever heard about in his two lifetimes.
Rudra's interested was piqued , as Drax continued " The fight was brutal and the dragons took heavy losses , including my father losing vision in both his eyes ... ".
Rudra nodded as he said " My condolonces ".
Drax waved it off as he said " It was a foolish decision to take on the Phoenix Emperor , but my father wanted to be the beast Emperor. With no strong warriors within the phoenix clans middle ranks. The dragons had an edge in the war, but the death of the beast Emperor has irked the other divine beast races , including the very powerful Nine tailed beast clan ".
Rudra took some time to process the news , but he currently knew too less about the beast power structure and big players and clans to understand the severity of the situation. But it was just as he thought it would be, it was somehow related to Furball .
Drax continued " Your pet , it can be a bridge between the dragon clan being on good terms with the Divine Nine tailed beasts again , hence why I want this favour from you , name your price human , I want your pet ".
Rudra immediately shook his head as he said " Not possible. Furball is not for sale , not now not ever ".
Anger flared in Drax's eyes for a moment , but quickly vanished. But that one moment of unrestrained killing intent , gave Rudra the understanding of the power disparity between the duo . Rudra was the ant here , and he needed to keep that in mind.
Drax said " Why? , You can have enough gold to buy entire human empires. Enough knowledge that will take your backward race 100 years into the future in an instant , you can have name and fame , you can ask the dragon's for any favour to raze any enemy you want to the ground. Even so? Will you not sell me your pet? ".
Rudra said " Call me a fool , but once i take someone as a part of the Elites , then there Is no price in the world that will make me sell them out , Furball is a member of the guild , she will not be sold ".
Drax both respected Rudra's conviction and was frustrated at the answer Rudra gave him , as he said " You do know , I can kill all of you before you even lift a finger right? , I may look like a human , and you maybe a won knight , but don't forget kid , I'm stronger than a million of you combined ".
Rudra was not intimidated one bit , instead he calmly walked on and said " Why is the dragon prince soo desperate ??, What is in it for you , I know it's not the national interest. Otherwise we would not be meeting in private , but in the royal court with the king present ".
It was Drax's turn to be surprised , Rudra was indeed a smart one . He was not the average Joe, hence Drax said " Well observed human , as you said , I am the prince of Draconia , not the crown prince , the credit for making peace with a tribe like the Divine Nine Tailed beasts would be enough to safeguard my spot ".
Rudra nodded , understanding more of the picture now , as he said " Explain me the current power structure of the beasts ".
It was funny how slowly Rudra was turning from the weaker one to the stronger one in the conversation , as slowly but surely he started to take charge. Ofcourse it was only because he knew that Drax needed him , and not the other way around , that is why he could test his bottom line.
Drax said " Any beast who reaches tier 6 , is called a divine beast , and direct descendants of divine beasts are those who usually excell in all aspects of the race , and usually end up becoming a tier 6 beast themselves , currently there are 3 divine beast clans , the Divine dragon's , of whom I am a part of . The divine Phoenix , with whom we fought a war with , and the Divine nine tailed fox , with whom our neutrality is at a risk.
Every divine beast race faces the same problem , that is fertility. In the last 640 years , my father even after trying every single day , could not concieve a child with over 7600 noble dragonesses.
Only the queen , my mother , and the second queen , the mother of my younger brother , were able to give birth to children , in my father's 800 years as Dragon king.
Unfortunately for him ,unlike my grandfather , he could not reach the divine ranks , and truly become a contender for becoming beast Emperor .
Even so , his ambition made him go for that throne anyway.
But the point is , in the last 1000 years the phoenix clan had no new divine blood descendants added to their ranks , and the nine tailed fox beasts were even worse with no new blood within their ranks for the last 2300 years , or soo it was untill that little one you have showed up.
That is why the little one is soo valuable. Its existance alone will be waves In the beast world. What annoys me is , such a beast chose a human as a master. But now that I know you are a won knight , it makes sense. Your blood is special too ".
This was a lot of information to process at once for Rudra , Rudra was completely speechless about furballs importance , the pet he was cuddling with a few hours ago , was actually some lost extinct breed of divine beast.
Also , Drax thought him to be a blood relative or Augustus , which was not the case , but Rudra was not at all eager to clear that confusion.
Rudra hence said " I'm willing to negotiate terms with the the nine tailed fox clan for you , if I can bring you peace , and you can take the credit,?What will you give me?
Drax instantly chuckled at Rudra's ridiculous proposal , but when he saw the dead serious look in Rudra's eyes , he paused to consider it for a moment.
Drax said " 9 days , the Centurial?dragon summit is in 9 days. If you can bring me a signed peace treaty from the divine nine tailed fox clan by then , then all the resources , all the knowledge , all the treasures under my personal possession will be open to you and your group members. Technologies far beyond your brain can comprehend , and skill scrolls that no other?humans possess .... Name your price and you shall have it , do you dare? ".
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION : Quest Recieved ( Negotiate a peace treaty )
Difficulty : A
The dragon prince has assigned you the task of negotiating peace with the divine nine tailed fox clan .
Time limit : 9 days
Rewards : 50 days, unlimited access to all resources within Draconia.
DO YOU WISH TO ACCEPT
YES
NO.
Rudra unhesitatingly pressed yes , as he grinned and said " give me a flying dragon , and host my team for my absence , I'll be back within 3 days , dragon prince ! , That's the Elite way of doing things ".
Drax did not know if Rudra was a fool or a genius , he could only state at the man blankly , before clapping his hands twice soo that a guard dragon flew in quickly to him.
Drax said " Take this man to the land of illusions .... ".
It seems like Rudra had a quest to complete!