Chapter 164: Set Fire to the Mountain, Sit in Prison Till the End (36)

"Good, this is the spot."

Before nightfall, after a long trek, Herbert finally completed the remaining road and arrived at the destination he had been looking forward to.

He stood atop the tallest tree in the forest and looked around, then nodded.

"Very good, just as I imagined!"

The chosen site was located at the lower-right corner of the entire Misty Mountains, with a straight-line distance of no more than five kilometers to the nearest seaside.

Such a situation would be convenient in the future whether for expanding the town or building a port, and a five-kilometer distance wouldn't put them at too much risk when traveling back and forth.

However, because the visibility in the mist here was about one kilometer, he actually couldn't see the seaside — he could only faintly sense the salty tang of the sea breeze and the moist air.

Later they would build a road and set up some markers along the way, and a small village hidden in the mist would be considered initially established!

"Very good… Hmm!?"

Just as Herbert was feeling full of confidence, he suddenly felt a tremor beneath his feet.

Earthquake!!?

And while he was thinking, he suddenly felt the ground give way beneath him, and he dropped straight down from the treetop over ten meters high.

Then he understood the truth of the matter — it wasn't an earthquake, but the tree beneath him had been chopped down!

Valentina, in dragon-person form, was gnawing on some unknown fruit in her mouth while using her tail to directly sweep through and snap the trees in her path.

Whoosh—crack.

Crack crack crack… thud!

In just a few seconds, a giant tree that had taken hundreds of years to grow was directly destroyed by her, crashing to the ground with a rumble.

Leaping between the trees, Herbert landed safely, then angrily shouted at Valentina:

"Hey you! Yes, you, the one eating! That's you!"

"Where's your safety officer! Call your safety officer over!"

Damn it, I'm doing high-altitude work here, how can you just tear down my scaffolding!!?

Valentina looked back at his words, gave him a withering glance, then continued stuffing the fruit she'd just found into her mouth.

(munch munch munch munch munch)

Then she flicked her tail toward the side again.

Whoosh—crack!

"Hmph."

You want me to work but make it so troublesome!

Ignoring you!

She wasn't deliberately picking a fight to drive Herbert down from the tree — she was following the area he had just planned and cutting down all these trees, clearing out a region where future residents could live.

To get rich, first chop trees.

However, the trees here were unusually hard, their hardness even comparable to ordinary rock, and if Herbert had to chop them alone, no one knew how much time and effort it would take.

At this moment, what Herbert wanted most was to have an enchanted axe with Efficiency V and Unbreaking III…

However, although Herbert didn't have the powerful spatial storage ability of a block-person, nor could he craft equipment out of thin air,

He had a dragon girl.

The kind that consumes one cream puff per hundred kilometers.

With Valentina around, the speed of chopping trees was greatly increased.

But the hungry Young Lady dragon was still somewhat unsatisfied with this speed.

"Hmm…"

Valentina swallowed the berries, turned her head and shouted at Herbert: "Hey, I say! Is this all we need to clear?"

"Hmm?"

Herbert blinked, not knowing what she meant by that?

Complaining there's too little work?

I never realized you were such a hardworking dragon girl!

"Yes, just this area, no need for too much, just clear out a small section first."

Since the visibility here was about one kilometer, they would first clear out a circular area with a diameter of one kilometer.

"No! What I mean is… can I breathe fire?"

"Hmm?"

Without further ado, Valentina turned her head, blew a breath at a nearby tree trunk, and spat out a small wisp of flame.

Fwoosh!

The moment the flame touched the tree, it directly melted the wood that was as hard as stone.

The flame began to spread from the melted gap, just showing signs of continuing to burn, when Valentina slapped it out with one paw.

"There, can I use fire to burn it?"

The speed of chopping barehanded was really too slow; with so many trees, she still felt using fire would be faster.

Herbert thought for a moment, but still shook his head and said: "Better not, do you want to lure the Archbishop over?"

As the saying goes, set a fire on the mountain, and the station chief will fall for me.

Although there was no station chief here, if it attracted the Archbishop, that wouldn't be fun.

Set fire to the mountain, and you'll sit in prison till the end, my friend.

You're already in prison, and after finally behaving well enough to start getting sentence reduction, don't go making things difficult for yourself.

But after hearing this, Valentina scrunched up her nose and retorted: "Hey — does that mean we can never light a fire here in the future?"

Hmm?

Herbert blinked, intending to argue back, but suddenly realized where the problem lay.

"This… you have a point."

He glanced at Valentina in surprise—he hadn't expected her to spot that blind spot.

True.

If they couldn't use fire now, did that mean the people who would live here in the future would never use fire at all?

Couldn't even produce a single flicker of light?

They couldn't just live forever in a lightless environment.

This wasn't some primitive society—they couldn't really work at sunrise and rest at sunset.

Besides, the place was already shrouded in fog, the straight-line distance to the monastery was not short, and there were mountain ranges blocking the way in between…

"Fine, burn it!"

Herbert slapped the table and nodded.

They'd have to burn it sooner or later anyway, so they might as well do it now—perfect chance to test whether it would draw the monastery's attention.

"Yes! Hahaha! I couldn't hold back any longer!"

Valentina, having gotten permission, grew excited. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to get straight to work, but Herbert grabbed her by the tail and held her back.

"Hold on! You can use fire, but you have to control the blaze—don't let it spiral completely out of control, or we'll have a real mess on our hands."

If they really burned down the entire Misty Mountains, what they drew out might not just be the Archbishop, but also those strange things deep within the Misty Mountains.

"Don't worry!"

Varona nodded vigorously, then broke free from his grip, spread her wings and took flight, instantly reverting to her true form in the sky.

Roar—

Herbert looked up at the hundred-meter-long crimson giant dragon, then thought about the land he had planned, and couldn't help covering his forehead.

"Aha, I knew it…"

Great, he'd been tricked by the hungry dragon Young Lady again.

There weren't that many reasons to complain about being slow.

She just saw all that timber and wanted to set fire to it—how many excuses did she need!

Sigh…

Forget it, forget it.

If the kid wants to play, let the kid play.

The giant dragon soared upward, then dove down from high above, spewing fierce fire from her mouth the instant she touched the ground.

Valentina kept breathing fire while adjusting her direction, tracing a massive ring of flame on the ground!

Diameter… two kilometers.

"Hey hey hey, stop stop stop! Follow the blueprints!"

"I'm asking you—where's your technician!?"

"Get your technician over here!"

(End of chapter)