Chapter 148
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: To Escape Solo Life (3)
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A sweet temptation suddenly rang out from somewhere.
A proposal so enticing that just letting it settle into his inner ear made his heart flutter sweetly.
At that unexpected coaxing, Solitas froze.
“……What?”
He hastily aborted the self-destruct sequence that had been activating.
He turned toward the source of the voice.
There stood another human.
He vaguely remembered glimpsing him right before firing his breath attack earlier.
The dark-haired man who was allies with the silver-haired knight he’d been fighting until moments ago.
“A proposal? From you? To me?”
“Yes. From me. To you, sir.”
Lloyd smiled brightly.
“Just as I said. If you’re amenable, why not hear my proposal?”
“So, you’re saying that if I listen, you’ll get me married within ten years?”
“Yes.”
“How can I trust that?”
Solitas’s face twisted.
He glanced back and forth between Haviel and Lloyd, who had him surrounded.
“Honestly, it’s tempting enough that I considered hearing you out, but I just can’t bring myself to believe it. When you get right down to it, you two are nothing but intruders who barged into my dungeon uninvited.”
“What? Intruders? Perish the thought.”
Solitas’s gaze grew fierce.
Lloyd quickly moistened his lips.
“We came here from the start with a good proposal in mind.”
“Hah. Nonsense. Then why did you smash through every magic trap on the way in?”
“To avoid dying.”
“What?”
“The magic traps were laid out so intricately and densely. They were too lethal, you see. We had no choice. We just did our best not to die, and that ended up breaking the traps. If that was rude, I formally apologize. I’m truly sorry.”
“What…….”
Solitas was momentarily at a loss for a rebuttal.
What the human was saying.
It sounded off-the-cuff, but it somehow made sense.
And before he could muster a proper counterargument, the human pressed the advantage again.
“Anyway, we worked hard to make it here. To give you a good proposal.”
“A good proposal…….”
“Wouldn’t you like to learn gem processing from the finest craftsman?”
“What?”
Solitas froze.
His eyes widened involuntarily.
Lloyd quickly continued.
“I won’t beat around the bush. Esteemed Dragon, sir, I know your troubles. You’re not good with your hands, right? You’ve struggled with gem processing, so you couldn’t amass any treasure, and that’s kept you from getting married and left you heartbroken, hasn’t it?”
“How did you…….”
“It’s a solvable problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re not handy. Effort is all it takes. So, train intensively under the best craftsman for about ten years. You could master gem processing that way, no?”
“W-Wait. Hold on.”
Solitas cut Lloyd off.
He asked with eyes full of shock.
“How do you know I lack handiwork skills and that I’m troubled over marriage issues? How in the world? What method did you use?”
He was flustered.
No, bewildered.
He was a dragon.
He had no dealings with any humans.
It had only been about fifty years since he’d reached adulthood.
He had no interactions with humans, let alone other dragons or similar kin.
Yet here was a human who knew his personal struggles precisely.
Talk about spot-on.
‘What kind of human is he?’
It didn’t make sense.
How did this human know his inner thoughts?
Was he perhaps a ghost?
Or an ancient dragon disguised as a human?
Maybe a grand archmage or prophet who had reached the pinnacle among humans.
Solitas felt a mix of wariness and curiosity, caution and intrigue, jumbled like a half-and-half noodle dish.
A polite smile creased the corners of Lloyd’s eyes.
“It wasn’t hard to figure out.”
“Not hard?”
“The Iron-Blooded Knight told me.”
“Knight? Iron-Blooded?”
“Yes.”
“Who…… is that?”
“An incredibly powerful knight. Powerful enough to scout this place while fooling your senses and slip away unscathed.”
“Lies.”
Solitas wrinkled his nose.
“You’re lying to me right now. No human could be that strong. Fool my senses and enter and exit my dungeon without me noticing? So stealthily that I didn’t detect it until then? You think that’s possible? That such a human exists?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You just saw this guy, didn’t you?”
Lloyd pointed nonchalantly at Haviel.
“You’ll remember. He just held his own against you with a single sword.”
“That was…….”
“And the Iron-Blooded Knight is even stronger than him.”
Of course, it was true.
In the novel, the Haviel who earned the title “Iron-Blooded Knight” was stronger than the current Haviel.
He had reached the Grand Master realm.
He possessed six circles—Hexa Circle.
Fooling the senses of a newly adult dragon like Solitas would be child’s play if he set his mind to it.
Lloyd said,
“That knight told me. There’s a dragon’s dungeon here, but no gems piled up. Even the few that were there were processed abysmally.”
“So, you’re basing your guesses about my situation on that story?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded.
He infused his voice with confidence.
“How else could I presume to know your circumstances and worries?”
The Iron-Blooded Knight was, naturally, a fictional character.
A Haviel from a book that didn’t exist here.
So right now, this was a bluff—a bold-faced lie.
But no one had a way to verify if it was a lie.
In situations like this, you had to exude confidence.
That’s how even unconvincing bluffs land.
And convincing bluffs land even better.
“Hmm.”
Deep furrows formed between Solitas’s brows.
Doubt, worry, curiosity, and interest swirled in his mind.
Could he trust this human?
Was that story really true?
Suspicion arose naturally.
But dismissing it as lies felt off somehow.
‘He’s hitting the core of my troubles too accurately.’
The lack of handiwork skills preventing him from crafting gems and amassing treasure, leading to his marriage woes and heartache.
He’d pinpointed it exactly.
He was boldly promising to resolve those issues.
Unless someone had secretly inspected the dungeon, no one could know that information.
Yet this human did.
Which meant this outlandish claim might actually be true.
He wanted to verify it.
It wouldn’t cost him anything.
After wrestling with it, Solitas made up his mind.
“So, you came here with a good proposal for me?”
“Yes.”
The dragon was hooked.
Lloyd’s mouth curved into a smile that screamed trustworthiness, diligence, and honesty.
His tongue darted out to wet his lips.
Watching from the side, Haviel suddenly thought,
‘Iron-Blooded Knight, huh.’
He’d heard the name before.
Lloyd had mentioned it in passing.
‘I wonder who it is.’
He grew curious.
The knight was said to be stronger than him.
Yet he’d never heard the name anywhere else.
‘Someone quietly honing their swordsmanship without revealing their name? But that makes it even stranger. Why would such a person secretly help Lord Lloyd?’
A master surpassing him.
Someone seemingly in covert contact with Lloyd.
Haviel felt those two facts didn’t quite match up.
‘Something’s off. And I’ve never seen Lord Lloyd meeting anyone in secret.’
Maybe he’d sung a lullaby to put him to sleep and met then.
The more he thought, the murkier it got.
But he didn’t think the Iron-Blooded Knight Lloyd mentioned was pure fiction.
It was because of the image of Lloyd he’d always had.
‘He’s not the type to act on flimsy intel or plans.’
The Lloyd in his mind was a survivor.
Petty, meticulous, cunning, and relentlessly scrappy to avoid even the slightest loss.
In other words, extremely cautious.
The more cautious a person, the more prudent they are.
‘Lord Lloyd moves with ironclad precision. Flimsy intel or plans? He’d never act rashly on that. He’d think it could lead to massive losses. Which means he knew in advance about this dragon dungeon and its internal situation. He got reliable info from someone trustworthy, planned based on that, and acted.’
And the result was this moment.
‘Which implies the Iron-Blooded Knight who provided that reliable info to Lord Lloyd is a real person.’
Who could it be?
The more he speculated, the more curious he became.
On the other hand, he couldn’t help but feel a touch of awe at Lloyd negotiating with a dragon.
‘He designed this entire scenario based on that intel.’
He’d brought him along to fight the dragon.
He’d let him overpower the dragon.
Thus imprinting their superiority on the dragon.
Breaking the dragon’s innate boundless arrogance.
In that advantageous position of having seized the initiative, he was dangling a sweet temptation the dragon couldn’t resist.
All with his signature flashy tongue work.
‘That tongue of his is a weapon in itself.’
But that tongue work wasn’t random chatter.
He’d prepped the perfect environment and situation for it to land 100%.
Only then did he unleash it.
That’s why it always yielded maximum, efficient results.
‘Scary guy, that one.’
And the pitiful dragon who’d fallen for it.
Haviel looked at Solitas with pity.
Solitas was already half-swayed by Lloyd’s silver tongue.
“Just as I said earlier. You’ll learn gem processing from the finest craftsman. As his apprentice.”
“Apprentice? To a craftsman?”
“Yes. Luckily, we have just such a person in my territory.”
“Who is it?”
“Wells Kogidus, the royal dwarf craftsman.”
“Dwarf? Kogidus?”
Solitas’s pupils trembled slightly.
A craftsman—and a dwarf, no less.
No need to verify skill.
Undoubtedly the pinnacle of the pinnacle.
“So…… you want me to apprentice under that dwarf and learn gem processing?”
“Yes. Your pride won’t be hurt by that, will it?”
“……Hmm.”
Honestly, it stung his pride a bit.
But Lloyd’s follow-up changed his mind.
“Bend your pride just a little, and you’ll get a girlfriend. You’ll get rich, get married, enjoy sweet newlywed life, have kids, build a happy family.”
“Really? And a honeymoon too?”
“What kind of obvious question is that?”
“…….”
Solitas’s breathing grew a tad heavier.
But true to his draconic nature, he quickly regained composure.
“Hmm, it’s a good proposal, but it still raises suspicions.”
“Suspicions? In what way?”
“It feels like you’re giving me all this for nothing. Naturally, you want something from me in return, right?”
“Of course. I was just about to get to that.”
“Out with it.”
“Yes. Straight to the point: Once a month, near my territory, just use your breath attack once.”
“……My breath?”
“Yes.”
Solitas was puzzled.
What was this about?
Lloyd continued.
“A grand sewer system is planned for my territory. It’ll separate and collect various wastewater and excrement underground for processing.”
“And?”
“That’ll produce massive amounts of sludge as precipitate.”
“No way…….”
“Yes. As expected of a dragon—you’ve already guessed. And you’re right.”
“You want me to burn the sludge with my breath?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded.
“It’s too much volume for human hands to process and incinerate. Too difficult and dangerous. But your breath, as a dragon? Ten seconds tops. You could reduce it all to ash easily.”
It was true.
No matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t think of a way for humans to handle the sludge.
Even with mages, it’d be the same.
‘The royal court’s top Hellfire magic? Even that would struggle.’
Hellfire magic was hot, sure.
But the heat wouldn’t last even a few seconds. The area was narrower than expected, making it hard to process large volumes at once.
It might even cause needless explosions, splattering filthy sludge fragments everywhere.
A dragon’s breath, though?
‘The temperature alone is insane.’
Plus the range and heat duration were on another level.
Just one blast a month.
It could turn all the accumulated sludge to ash in an instant.
‘Then use the ash as fertilizer.’
That was Lloyd’s plan.
To seal the deal, he drove in the final nail of persuasion.
“If you find processing sludge dirty and refuse my proposal, well, you can stay in this dark dungeon as an eternal bachelor forever.”
“…….”
Eternal bachelor.
That one phrase squeezed Solitas’s heart like a vise.
‘D-Damn it.’
The red dragon agonized fiercely.
The human’s proposal.
It required swallowing his pride twice.
Apprenticing under a dwarf craftsman.
Processing excrement-laden sludge.
But if he just bent that pride a little?
‘He could walk a flower path forever.’
Successful romance and marriage.
The dream he’d longed for would become reality.
‘Maybe…… give it a shot.’
Solitas’s heart wavered.
Of course, he had no idea what fate awaited him at this point in the novel Iron-Blooded Knight.
He didn’t know about the conflict surrounding the elves’ forest that led to his clash with Haviel. Or that he’d lost a horn, suffered a mortal wound, fled, languished for 500 years from the trauma, and met a miserable end.
Instead, right now.
Thanks to Lloyd, a new flower path of choices lay before Solitas.
And he resolved to change his destiny.
“Fine. I accept the proposal.”
“You’ve made the right choice.”
Flutter!
Lloyd beamed and pulled out a single sheet of paper.
A capitalist document prepared meticulously for this moment.
An outsourcing work contract—something no human, orc, elf, or even dragon could escape. More ruthlessly binding in reality than most magical oaths.
The essential slave contract paperwork.