15th of Ab, 120 years since megados eruption

So I just woke up, and I already have a headache. Aesmo and most of the Esmos are gone, with only a note telling me what they're up to. The note just says "Fucking around with religion. Will be back soon." I swear if they're starting some sort of cult I'm going to... not do anything actually. It has no impact on me and I know Aesmo's smart enough to not get everyone killed.

Anyways, the only Esmo with me is Fesmo, who has been complaining that the hydra tree is too big again. Seeing as I'll have to mine a ton of ore again, I've been helping turn it all into charcoal. In the process, I found a familiar problem; the charcoal took up too much space. Apparently charcoal has a low density. I was kind of too annoyed to make a good solution, so I just compressed it directly.

I'm just waiting for my new pickaxe to arrive, as Aesmo has my old pick for some reason. I really wish she'd tell me what she's up to. At least be more specific than "fucking around".

 

26th of Ab, 120 years since megados eruption

I just got my new pickaxe! It's made of adamantite and has way too many enchantments for a normal pickaxe. I love it. I'm going to test it out as soon as I check up on Aesmo. Correction, I'm going to send Fesmo to check on Aesmo, as I'm busy figuring out why there's a spider in my home.

Addendum: it's because there's no one around to kill them. Turns out centipedes are really good pest control. Bonus fun fact; carapace tastes like lead. Slightly sweet, into bitter once you bite.

 

14th of Aes, 120 years since megados eruption

Aesmo is wanted in 3 cities for several counts of murder, arson, disturbing the peace, religious sacrifice (it wasn't religious nor sacrificial!), breaking and entering, theft, burglary, impersonating a guard, impersonating a government official (wait who?), resisting arrest, obfuscating evidence, spreading anarchy, escaping imprisonment, and proving three different rival religions are all fake. (ok that last one isn't even a crime.)

Honestly, I'm just impressed that they didn't charge them with fraud for what they did (technically donations are 100% voluntary). I'm disappointed in you for getting caught. If you didn't then maybe you could have overthrown a government! (But I only wanted to mess with religions.) [Then you could've collapsed more than those three]

Anyways, now that that's all dealt with, I can start re-mining out my bedroom/hole down the center of a mountain. (I wonder if there's a word for that.) I'm going to mine until either Aesmo stops me, or I feel like I should stop. While I'm mining, the Esmos are going to be turning ore into metal dust, then sell it to any nearby city they aren't wanted in for some mythril or gems. Turns out gems are a really dense form of wealth.

Unlike last time, Aesmo will not be writing in this diary, as she now has her own to record the logistical jargon that she likes to write (It's not jargon! :{ It's called reports). To be honest, I'll probably never actually read it, but it's good to keep a record.

---

Ancient journal, suspected to be records for an unknown mine. Attempted translations may be inaccurate. "__" areas are untranslated.

 

19th of Aes, 120 years since megados eruption [TL note: no exact date of megados eruption exists. Approximated 2800 years ago.]

Ore mined; _______, _______, and ______. [TL comment: someone find out what ore was named what.]

Ore processed; 11 jars of ______, 3 jars of _____. [TL note: word for 'jar' may also be possible unit of measurement? Unknown actual amount.]

Trade; N/A

Minor problems; _____ crack on furnace 3, section 4, subsection 2. No fix required. [TL comment: I think it says 'external crack', but the spelling for 'external' and 'internal' looks too similar for me to be sure.] [TL comment: That's because both are spelled the same, but conjugated differently.] [TL comment: It's an adjective, there's no conjugation?]

Major problems; none. [TL note: word for 'none' has many definitions. We chose what we think fits best based on context.]

Comments; Desmo's ability __[3] to be controlling fire that is in contact with her. [TL note: 1; 'Desmo' is conjugated as a possessive proper noun, hence adding 's. 2; word for 'ability' was decided based on context. Possibly wrong. 3; 'seems' would be a good fit, but unable to confirm that is what goes there. 4; last half of sentence was a pain to make grammatically correct while conserving order of words.]

 

17th of Alm, 120 years since megados eruption

Ore mined; ______, _______, _____, ______, and iron. [TL note: derived word for iron from similarity with 'steel'. Small chance to be incorrect.]

Ore processed; 4 jars of _____, 7 jars of iron, 13 jars of ______, _4 jars of ______. [TL note: Written numbers above 19 are untranslatable.]

Trade; ________ of ___ for 7 ___ of gemstones. [TL note: unknown unit of measurement. May be using shorthand.]

Minor problems; [TL note: long list of cracks, similar in writing to previous crack. Full list can be found at the end in section 2.]
Suspected clogging of [output] of furnace 2. Pausing furnace 2 while Desmo clears clog. [TL comment: We know its referring to an output, but does anyone know what kind specifically? Is it a valve? A tap?]

Major problems; none.

Comments; [TL note: entire section had been torn out prior to recovery of journal.]

 

[TL note: from here on out, repetitive parts are truncated. Full version can be found in section 1 of end]

15th of An, 120 years since megados eruption

Ore mined; Iron, _____, [truncated.]

Ore processed; 6 jars of iron, [truncated.]

Trade; __ jars of iron, 7 __ of _____, 1 __ of _____ for 11 carts of _____, 4 ___ of gemstones. [TL comment: what kind of unit is a cart? is it volume? mass? weight? and how much?]

Minor problems; [Cracks truncated]
Charcoal production slowed due to blood river [sic]. [TL comment: I checked a dozen times and yes, it really says that. I can only assume the word for 'blood' has other definitions we don't know of.] [TL comment: Either that, or 'blood river' is a specific river, either by name or title or something. I fucking hate river names.]

Major problems; Chimney appeared to be clogging. Potentially something fell inside. Besmo went to fix it. [TL note: Chimney may not be correct translation. Blame Chris.]

Comments; Besmo is not immune to fumes. Resistant, but not immune. They're currently recovering. Fun fact, Besmo's poison smells terrible when burnt. [TL comment: Mostly easy translating. No idea if 'poison' is actual poison, or referring to something else. I bet it's <redacted>.]

 

[TL note: contextual evidence says we're missing an entry, but that's not possible. The last entry and the next are on the same page. No idea why an entry is missing.]

9th of Ar, 120 years since megados eruption

Ore mined; [truncated.]

Ore processed; __ jars of mythril/titanium, 17 jars of mythril/titanium, [truncated.] [TL note: the word for mythril and titanium are known to be indistinguishable without conjugation. Unfortunately, we do not know what conjugation is for which.]

Trade; [TL note: this section was covered in what looks to be dragon blood.] [TL comment: what the fuck made a dragon bleed? and only on this part of the journal?]

Min <covered>
Recent rain clogged _____. Easily cleared.

Major problems; Charcoal supply is wet. Drying will take a long time.
Furnace 3 suffered sudden rapid deconstruction. No one was hurt. [TL comment: aka it exploded.]
Supply of fiery clay is fully exhausted. Halting further mining until supplies can be refilled and furnaces repaired. [TL note: 'fiery clay' may actually be referring to fire clay, useful for use in furnaces.]

Comments; A messenger pigeon came in three days ago. Nothing notable. [TL comment: Please note that pigeons from 2000+ years ago are very different from modern pigeons.]

---

11th of Ar, 120 years since megados eruption

I mined all the way down to the fortifications again. This time the door was attached to the wall. Well, sort of, it was only hanging on by a screw. Was, because I accidentally hit it and caused the door to fall off. Whoops. Also, turns out mana spire survived! I fully expected it to be dead by now. At this point I feel like I should give it a nickname. What do you think? (Name it Beau, since its beautiful.) [I have no concept of beauty, so I'll just take your word for it.]

Unfortunately, I couldn't mine the gold top of the mountain, as there was a storm approaching. Not that I'm afraid of storms, but the Esmos certainly are (I wasn't :} ). Which I mean, they never experienced a storm before, so I don't blame them. The storm lasted for nearly a month, and thanks to that the charcoal's wet. Desmo learned the hard way why you don't throw wet things into a very hot furnace. (It explodes!)

Aesmo did well with trading, maybe a little too well. I think the local economies would've flatten at the rate we were going. I... have no real use for mythril anymore. Whoops. (Gesmo will use the gems though).

For now, I'm going out shopping for some more fireclay. Maybe I'll try trading my mythril for something with better wealth density; I'm surprisingly running out of room.

 

21st of Ar, 120 years since megados eruption

I've been trying to put it off for as long as possible, but I guess they're losing patience. I'm of course referring to the dragon lord council. See, as a new dragon lord, they want to get to know me better. It's also a chance for the opposite. To be honest, I don't care.

Unfortunately, they scheduled a meeting already in a couple of days, and they expect me to show up. Well, I'll just treat it like an annoying interview, except I'm already hired and don't actually have to do anything for the job. Now that I think of it that way, it makes me sound really lazy. I swear I'm not lazy. Just uninterested. (Nah she's totally lazy)

Aesmo's fixing the furnace while I'm gone, which should keep her busy. In case it doesn't, I'll have her experiment with the jar of gold dust we have. Gold is a fairly unremarkable metal, so I'll be surprised if they find anything. Oh, they're not allowed to test it with any acids. It's a pain to clean up. ( :{ )

---

Interlude; Dragon Lord Council Transcript 3

The following is a written transcript for the Dragon Lord Council meeting that took place on the 24th of Ar, 120 years after the megados eruption. Participating members; 18/25

 

"Thank you everyone who came to welcome our newest member. Vildra, could you please introduce yourself?"

"Hello, I'm Vildra Miltos. I didn't actually want to be a dragon lord, but apparently I qualified for it. I'm 252 years old, forgot what day my birthday was though. I prefer living unbothered by others, and have no plans for starting a family or anything like that."

"Thank you. We shall introduce ourselves in response. I am Genen, the oldest of the dragon lords..."

...

"That concludes the introductions of everyone here. You will receive a letter of introduction from those that are not here today. Do you have any questions for us?"

"Sort of. I already forgot most of your names, and I will forget them again. Will that be an issue?"

"No, names are just a formality. You can use someone's title to refer to them when you forgot their name."

"I see. Does everyone have a title? Do I have one?"

"Yes, though titles are mostly unofficial and can change at any given moment. For you, it is 'richest'."

"...richest? What does that mean?"

"It's quite simple. Your wealth estimates are well above most of us, and the estimates do not include what you have hidden. Accounting for that, most of us believe that you are the richest out of all of us. Hence, 'richest'."

"Huh. I see. I don't hate it, but it's not like I'm rich on purpose. To be honest, I don't give a fuck about wealth. It just takes up too much space."

"Interesting. Anyways, do you have any other questions?"

"No, none that I can think of right now."

"Then we will begin with our own questions. Firstly, how did you get so much wealth?"

"I mined for it. Or rather, I mined and then traded it for gems and mythril. Saves on space."

"Got it. Though its hard to believe that you could mine out enough material to account for all of your wealth in only 2 years..."

"Oh no, I didn't do it alone. I had some... servants to help me. They're quite capable, if odd."

"Is it possible that they are the rumored 'ciel army' that Uildra claimed you had?"

"Maybe? I don't know what my sister thinks."

"I see. What spells do you know?"

"'Erase memory' and 'gravitas'."

"Only two?"

"Well, I know that I should know 8 or 9 spells, but I forgot what they actually are. I at least know what they aren't."

"Unusual, but not unheard of. Next question, why are you a cannibal?"

"Dragon meat is the best kind of raw meat to eat. Nutritious and flavorful. And before you ask, no I do not kill anyone to eat them. I'm an opportunistic cannibal. I only eat already-dead dragons."

"I see. Well, moving on, what is your opinion on..."

...

"Thank you for answering our questions. This concludes the introductory meeting. Anyone who wishes to may leave now."

[3 members, including Vildra, leave]

"...Fuck."

"'Erase memory' huh. I swear we destroyed all records of that spell centuries ago. How did she learn it?"

"We must've missed a copy. Either that, or Liberos did something without anyone finding out. Start checking the records of the last 252 years for any discrepancies."

"She has servants? Where were they during the war?"

"I'm surprised at how honest she was about being a cannibal. I'll respect that."

"How the fuck does she not know about Mip's scam? That was the biggest news in 7 years!."

"I believe we are all thinking the same thing."

"Yes. Should the announcement be made public? or only for dragon lords?"

"Public is fine. It'll probably save her from being courted as well. Though there will always be idiots."

---

An announcement from the dragon lord council.

 

"Contrary to popular belief, the "richest" Dragon Lord Vildra does not care for material wealth. She seems uninterested in having mates, family, tribe, worshipers, friends, or any other social connection other than servants. She also appears heavily isolated from current events. It is for these reasons, as well as her personality, that she has been designated the True Neutral among Dragon Lords."

---

8th of Auv, 120 years since megados eruption

I still have no idea how the Esmos actually reproduce. I mean, I assume its asexually, considering they're all female, but that's too vague of an answer. Do they lay eggs? I've never seen any. Do they give live birth? That doesn't seen possible biologically.

What I'm saying is that I have no idea when, where, or how the 5 new Esmos came from. And yes, they're named Lesmo to Pesmo. Assume that future Esmos will be named in a similar pattern. Or at least until Zesmo. I don't know what's after that.

Good news, the new Esmos are mostly ordinary. As in, no weird mutation or powers or magic or anything. Bad news, they're growing too fast. They're consuming more blood than the tumor thing can produce. The easy solution is to make the tumor produce more blood.

Which is where the results of Aesmo's experiments with gold helps us tremendously.

When a dragon eats a lot of metal, they grow. For most metals, the growth is inconsequential and temporary. However, when a dragon eats an especially unreactive metal, like gold, then they grow a lot more and stay big. I assume its because the gold causes a sort of swelling effect, and because its fairly unreactive, its hard for the body to remove.

Now, Aesmo didn't know this before. They just decided to feed the tumor gold as part of a long list of experiments. And surprisingly, it also grew. Now, the mass didn't change much, but the amount it bleeds did increase. So that solves the blood supply issue.

Of course, this is a temporary solution. For a longer-term solution, maybe making new tumor clumps would work. So how do you duplicate a tumor? I'd ask a doctor, except I don't think there's any dragon doctors to ask. I wonder if any sapient tried something similar to what I'm doing. I'll have to check.

In other news, Gesmo made a gem containing lightning. No idea what to do with it, other than make an explosive, which we really don't need. That's what Jesmo's for. And don't ask where I got a second dragon liver.

I guess I'll have Aesmo see what they can come up with using a lightning gem. Maybe it'll be something useful. In the meantime, I'll be mining the gold off the top of the mountain. And also remake that second direct entrance I want. This was why I asked Aesmo to experiment with gold.

 

17th of Auv, 120 years since megados eruption

Magnets are weird. It's like gravity, except only with certain metals. At least, I thought it was only with certain metals. Turns out you can turn non-magnetic stuff magnetic. Such as gold. All you need is to basically run lightning through it. Yeah, I can see why no one discovered this earlier. (No one contained lightning before?)

I should probably explain. We took a small, thin plate of gold, rolled and stretched it into a thread, then attached one side to the lightning gem. The result is a magnetic gold string that shoots weak lightning out the empty end. It isn't even a strong magnet. Just barely enough to collect stray iron dust on the ground. Though the concept is still neat. (Maybe we can scale it up to make it stronger? Or use other metals?)

Interestingly enough, I can think of at least two uses for this. First is as a sorting tool. Using magnets to sort iron from non-iron is a bit messy. But with this temporary magnet, once the iron is collected, we can disconnect it from the gem and it's no longer magnetic, dropping the collected iron.

The second use is basically a cannon (what's a cannon?). See, magnets can repel as well as attract. If we can somehow control that, then we can make something that shoots out a projectile. Now, most people would ask why we would use such an inefficient weapon when magic exists. In which I point to the fact that I'm in the wastes. Using magic here is risky.

Well, this is all theoretical though. And also gold thread is too weak for a cannon. So Aesmo's next experiment is to find a way to make it stronger. (At this point I'll just delegate experimenting to someone else.)

 

28th of Auv, 120 years since megados eruption

Gesmo made a weird glowing gem. Except it only glows when lightning passes through it. Not really useful to use since we can all see in the dark, but a neat gem nonetheless. At least, I thought so initially.

Turns out it's reversible. As in when exposed to bright light, it releases lightning. What use does this have? I don't know yet, but it's something I'll keep in mind. (It makes stronger lightning if you focus light on it. We couldn't focus that much light though. I wonder what the limit is?)

In other news, Mesmo and Nesmo (designated experimenters) found how to make a stronger temporary magnet. You wrap the wire into a loop. That way, the inside has a stronger magnetic. And you can keep increasing the number of loops to make it stronger.

We are now using it to clean up the floor. Turns out we spilled quite a lot of iron dust over the past few years. Too bad we can't use it to find other metal dust. At least, not now. (Fine, I'll have them experiment for that.)

Next to write about, Desmo is on fire. Literally. I bet it was either Jesmo or Kesmo. Desmo isn't being hurt by it, but it will hurt anyone else who touches them. The easy solution is water. Too bad the Esmos can't swim. Maybe I can teach them. Nah, that's too much work for little use.

Anyways, that's why I went to the ocean. Once I dealt with Desmo's issue, I ate some sea shells and found a beached whale corpse. All the good bits were already taken, so I just took a bone home. Good for calcium. (We also came along to check it out. The ocean is boring. Saw nothing of note.)

Next, Cesmo talks to a fucking crab. I still think Cesmo is insane. The crab's name is David. It got eaten by a seagull a few minutes later. According to Cesmo, "The circle of life is a horrendously beautiful habit. To break the habit is to be free." They were talking to a piece of seaweed. I'm fairly certain dry seaweed is basically dead.

Finally, Iesmo made beds for everyone. They look quite comfortable. I may or may not have tried them without anyone noticing. (*Gasp*! How could you!) [You tried them as well.] Too bad Iesmo can't make too much silk per day. Otherwise we could have some fancy decorations.

 

12th of Ax, 120 years since megados eruption

Aesmo wants to buy some mirrors. Specifically to test what the maximum output of the light gem is. I'll buy them later, but only after I finish digging out the sky-light. I'm almost done, and it's begining to actually be useable.

Hesmo said they 'fixed' the blood lake. To be honest, I forgot about the blood lake. By 'fix', they actually made it clearer. It's still blood, a little murky-red. But a lot less like a lake of pure blood and more like there's a bleeding giant monster in the lake. I'm concerned as to why Hesmo felt this was a 'fix', nor why this was necessary. She isn't answering my questions, which basically means I can only ignore it until it results in anything.

Fesmo managed to manage the hydra tree without cutting its branches. I also forgot about the tree. I'm surprised it hasn't caused any problems. I wonder if Fesmo did anything to it. Oh well, not my problem.

Now what is my problem is Besmo's poison leeching into the ground. It's not dangerous or anything, just smells terrible. My original solution is using the smell of blood to mask it, but the smell of blood faded away, while the poison's smell only got worse.

My new solution is basically an over-glorified scented candle. I just need to find an elf and burn them. Got to be careful though; orange elves smell like sheep and green elves smell like dirt. I personally prefer red elves, but I'm fine if I can't find any.

Finally, Kesmo made a floating gem surrounded by rings of iron. It does absolutely nothing but look cool. I approve.

 

---

Brildlid just wanted to take a rest. He was much too old to be ensnared in a political trap between two rival elven lords. He was also much too important for either lord to actually claim responsibility. The easy solution would be to forgive both, but doing so would give him nothing.

No, the better solution for most would be to punish both equally. Of course, the punishment for harming the king's secretary would be quite severe. Brildlid wouldn't use pain either. No, injuries can be fixed or ignored. But forcing them to donate to Throldhaven would bolster the city's economy. It'd also ease Brildlid's own burden.

Unfortunately, elves hold too much pride, so the two lords went ahead and started a civil war instead of taking responsibility. Brildlid wanted to say they were too old to be part of a war, but technically this wasn't his war. He could just leave, and let them hurt themselves. But doing so would sacrifice so many lives and so much money.

Brildlid's initial solution was to force the lords to duel before the war even began. The secondary solution would be to have them lead their own armies against each other, hopefully killing each other fast enough to cause the other soldiers to retreat or surrender.

The first plan failed, due to one lord falling ill. The second plan would also fail at this rate, as a sick lord wouldn't lead their army. Brildlid had to think of a third plan, with the deadline being a few hours.

Which is why he is on the battlefield. He gave one condition; if the participating lord dies, then the other lord will be punished instead. A risky condition, that relied on a few assumptions.

First, assuming that the side without the participating lord does not want to fight this war, and do not care for their own lord, will surrender immediately. This will cause their lord to be punished, while they will emerge unscathed.

Second, assuming that the side without the participating lord do want to emerge victorious, while not caring for their lord in particular, will target the participating lord. If the participating lord dies, then that side will likely surrender, as there will be no more reason to be fighting.

Third, assuming that the side with the participating lord does not want to fight, while not caring for their lord, they can easily leave the lord defenseless. This can have two outcomes; the side without the participating lord can either kill the lord, causing their lord to be punished, or they can force the lord to surrender.

Fourth, the worst case scenario; assuming that the side with the participating lord does want to fight, while caring for their lord, they will fight until the other side loses, or they are forced to lose, while protecting their own lord. In this scenario, assuming scenario 2 as well, both sides will have lots of casualties.

Brildlid could only hope that it would be one of the first three, or if the fourth were to happen, it would be with the first as well so things can end with the least pain.

Then the dragon came. A familiar dragon, small with dull scales and undamaged wings. The same fucking dragon. Brildlid thought himself cursed. Everyone else was panicking. They were not equipped to fight a dragon. Though the statement is misleading; almost no one is equipped to fight a dragon.

The dragon swooped down and grabbed the elven lord. It was as if there was no resistance from the many soldiers who grabbed hold on their lord, or flung weapons and arrows. The dragon simply carried the elf into the air, until no one could see them.

Brildlid had to admit that this made their own life a lot simpler. The war was called off, and the sick lord received a quite threatening letter explaining that they have been found guilty of obstructing the work of a king. Luckily, the punishment was quite simple; pay every coin they had to Throldhaven. Either that, or execution. Whichever was preferable to the lord.

 

---

20th of Ax, 120 years since megados eruption

Fun fact. Burning red elf smells like sweet mint. A good smell to mask poison. Additional fact; an elf burned in a prepared anoxic container will last for about a month. Which means I'll need to find a way to deal with the smell before I run out of elf.

Anyways, I got the mirrors. They were the most expensive purchase I made in a while. The experiment's going to be done in the central chamber, because it's the biggest. Out of safety concern, the light gem is mostly isolated under nonconductive sand, with only a single thread from one end to show how much lightning is generated.

I think this will be the last major experiment I'll participate in before hibernation. I hope the results are interesting.

 

25th of Ax, 120 years since megados eruption

I'm glad we did the precautions. The sand couldn't contain the lightning completely. It turned into quite a cool looking glass structure. Imagine a crab made of glass and with way more legs, except the center is a gem. Yep, looks pretty cool.

That still doesn't exactly put into perspective how much lightning was produced. Imagine a normal lightning bolt from a storm. Now multiply that by 10. That's about how much lightning we got. I'm certain that much can hurt even a dragon.

Now, I have a theory as to why we got so much lightning. See, the thread that connected to it ended above the light gem. At some point, the produced lightning was bright enough to add a bit of light to the total focused into the gem. This makes more lightning to be generated, which makes it brighter. It only stopped because the thread melted.

There's a couple of obvious uses for this, such as a weapon, or to make a super strong temporary magnet. Because yes, more lightning does make the magnet stronger. Another use is as a way to refine ore faster. Of course, it's only theoretical, but if we can direct that lightning into metal ore to melt it, we won't need a furnace.

In other news, I found out how to deal with the poison smell. Ventilation. If I carve out a wind channel, then connect it to vent holes, it'll draw the bad air out of my home. With some magic circles, this system can work forever to clean out the air in every room. It's a bit cold, but that's quickly fixed by adding a reverse but with hot magic circles to heat the incoming air.

Since I only have a month left until hibernation, I'm going to mine out more rooms for the Esmos. I should be able to get at least 5 more done.

 

2nd of Az, 120 years since megados eruption

I finished digging out the rooms, and am also prepared for hibernation. Aesmo said they won't be leaving this time, which basically means whatever secret project they have planned can be done inside. I have to admit I'm excited. Hopefully it isn't dangerous.

---

Historian's notes:

The following is the only remaining record for what happened in 3 BDF. It provides important insight to the rise of the Esmo Empire.

---

?? of Ab, 121 years since megados eruption

It's been cloudy all week since I woke up. Can't see the moon from down here, and I'm not bothered to check (she's being lazy again). I slept pretty well this time around. Must be the bed. It was especially comfortable thanks to that pillow. Aesmo said Iesmo made beds for everyone. I wonder if I should reward her. (Don't, unless you want to reward everyone else who made so many contributions.)

Anyways, the first thing that happened when I woke up was a messenger crow flying in. Crow means whoever sent it expects a response. Sucks; crows taste nice when mixed with fermented bastard blood. Not that I have any right now, but still.

Here's the message. I think I'm allowed to write it down.

"To the True Neutral, your opinion is required.

3 greater dragons (party a) currently owe a debt to another greater dragon (party b). They attempted to pay in bronze, but due to a recent drop in copper prices, the value of their bronze decreased below what they needed to pay. They have no other way to pay their debts. Under normal circumstances, party a would have to reconsolidate their debt into a stable gem-loan. However, this is the third time they have done this within 500 years, and thus their interest rates are 16%. Based off of their current wealth gain rate, they will take 1262 years to pay off this loan.

We cannot in good faith approve of these loans. However, without them, party b will not receive what is owed to them. The council have not been able to come to an agreement for any course of action. Thus, we require your unbiased and minimally informed opinions.

-Dragon Lord Council"

First of all, they gave me so little context. What's the debt for? How much is it? Why do they assume I'm unbiased? Why would you pay in fucking bronze.

Now that i got those thoughts out, time to give an answer. I'm going to intentionally give the worst options, so that hopefully they never ask for my opinions again.

"I can think of 3 options;

1. Have party a dismember themselves and sell their body parts to sapients. I heard the corvidians wanted a dragon claw to research. I'm sure party a can find enough buyers to repay a debt.

2. Have party a work off their debt by working under a different, unrelated dragon (party c). Party c will pay the original debt to party b. Party a will then have to work under party c until it has been determined by either party b, party c, or the dragon lord council, that party a have worked off their debt.

3. Party a will be declared as (Insert name here). Their debt to party b will be forgiven. Instead, party a will functionally have 0 wealth, and any wealth they gain will go to party b. This will be permanent, or until party b decides party a is no longer (placeholder).

Each member of party a can choose any option, and party c can be party b. I hope this is helpful for you to reach an agreement. -Dragon Lord Vildra"

There we go. Three options that nobody would ever choose. Option 1 is just straight up stupid. Option 2 is masochistic. And in my personal opinion, the third option is too risky, as if party a dies then party b will never get their wealth.

Whoops, option 3 is actually potentially worth the risks. Oh well, that's not my problem. Hopefully they don't even consider the first two. The corvidians can't even afford a dragon claw. (They'll hate you so much if they even trie option 1 then.)

Anyways, the next thing that happened when I woke up was Lesmo unintentionally blinding me by pointing a laser into my eye. In other news, Mesmo turned the light gem into a laser. Basically a reverse of the focused light experiment that we did previously. Now with only a little bit of lightning, we have a beam of light as bright as two suns.

The last thing that happened this week is Oesmo learning how to swim. In the blood lake. Because of course they don't swim in normal water. That's not thematically consistent. (You sound way too sarcastic) [I am! Since when did you care about theme?]

 

?? of Aes?, 121 years since megados eruption

It's been a month, and it's still cloudy! That's not the problem though. The problem is that there's no moon. And can you guess why there's no moon? I'll give you a hint; a certain little gem carver, magic obsessor, and crazy talking centipede trapped it into a gem. To "talk to the rabbit" apparently.

Technically it's just an illusion, but still. I tried to force Jesmo to undo the illusion hiding the moon, but apparently they can't because "Cesmo stole it." Cesmo went out on an "adventure" last week. This is a fucking wild goose chase isn't it. I swear if Cesmo sold it to someone or something I'm going to start a

Okay. I calmed down. I'll deal with that later.

For now, I'll focus on what Gesmo made. First, let me preface this by saying that quartz is weird. When lightning is passed through it, it vibrates. Those vibrations are consistent no matter what. Now imagine if you made it so that every time it vibrates, it sends a pulse of lightning. Now guess what happens if you connect that to the toggle-able magnet coil.

If you guessed "melt any metal that goes within the coils", then you guessed correctly. If you didn't guess that, I don't blame you. How the fuck does a magnet melt metal? And can we use this to replace the furnace? Well actually no, because it's both too small, and doesn't work with ore. Only with pure clumps of metal.

At least it looks cool.

---

Interlude: The legend of Cesmoy

 

There once was a little boy, who went by Cesmoy. And that is the only rhyme within this story.

Cesmoy heard tales of a wonderful thing called a moon. He wanted to meet the great big moon in the sky. Yet the night sky only ever had stars, with no moon.

Cesmoy thought that the moon was just somewhere else. So they left their little village in search of the moon.

They first asked the great big tree where they last saw the moon.

"To the south, I'm certain. Where the grass is greener, and air not so dry." The tree then gave Cesmoy a branch, so he could defend himself from beasts.

Yet no matter how far south Cesmoy went, they found no moon. The moon must have moved on to somewhere else, he thought.

So he went to a fox and asked where they last saw the moon. The fox likes to travel, so surely it would've seen more than a tree.

"Take three days east and a day north. There you will find a hill. That was where I last saw the moon." The fox then gave Cesmoy a foxfire, to light the way at night.

For four days Cesmoy traveled, until they found the hill. Upon it was not the moon, but a rooster.

Disappointed, Cesmoy asked the rooster if they saw where the moon went. They're where the fox last saw it, maybe they saw as well.

"I do not know, for I only look at the sun. However, I know where the moon is not. It is not outside." The rooster then gave Cesmoy a feather to fly with, though he did not know how to use it.

Cesmoy was distraught now. For if the moon was not outside, then where could it be? He could only think of one place not outside. The caves of Yanthim. A prison within a dragon.

The moon was imprisoned! By the cruel dragon of Yanthim no less. How could Cesmoy ever meet the moon now? The only way is to sneak in.

And so Cesmoy journeyed to Yanthim. There, the dragon greeted him with a wide grin.

"I heard you were searching for the missing moon. I apologize, but you will not meet them here." The dragon then opened their mouth, ready to bite.

However, Cesmoy stuck out the branch, stabbing it into the dragon's mouth. It prevented the dragon from closing their mouth, permanently keeping it open.

Cesmoy went into the caves of Yanthim, calling out for anyone. The many locked rooms were empty, and it only got darker the deeper he went.

Then the foxfire started to flare. Fueled by darkness, it only got brighter. Cesmoy eventually found a room with someone within. A white rabbit.

"Thank you for saving me! The dragon ate me and kept me here for so long, I almost disappeared." The rabbit shook Cesmoy's hand.

However, Cesmoy was incredulous. This was not the moon he was seeking! But maybe the rabbit knew where it was.

"The moon? It is in the sky, just hiding. I am sure if you go high enough, you will find it." The rabbit then taught Cesmoy how to use a rooster's feather to fly.

And so Cesmoy flew. The sky got dark, then bright, then cold, then hot. Eventually, there was no sky left to fly to. Cesmoy felt lost, for the moon was not here. Where can they go now?

In despair, they curled into themselves. On the edge of the sky, the little boy grew. He grew until he became the new moon.

The rabbit and rooster and fox and tree rejoiced at the return of the moon, before wondering if the moon ever met that little boy who wanted to meet them.

And the dragon? They died, unable to get the stick out of their mouth. They deserved it.

 

---

 

11th of Alm, 121 years since megados eruption

Finally caught Cesmo. Moon's back to normal now. Everything is alright.

Now that that's done, I think I'll start mining again. I want to know what's below the fort. Aesmo bets it's an ancient city. I bet it's nothing. Everyone else has their own bets. Except Fesmo.

As always, I'll mine until something significant happens. We'll be selling everything except a jar of each metal and the gems.

 

22nd of Ar, 121 years since megados eruption

So far there's nothing below the fort. I did find some new ores and stuff, but it's nothing notable. Oh, actually there was some trace amounts of adamantite. There might be more.

Now as for why I stopped mining, Aesmo told me we can't sell the metal anymore. As in the value of metal has dropped to a point where selling metal barely gets us anything. So that sucks. At least mythril's value hasn't changed.

Now, I'm assuming the price change is mostly local, and caused by us flooding the markets. In that case, going out to a different continent should give us better pricing. So I'll be going out to trade again.

In other news, Pesmo took over the government of a city and is now ruling over it by manipulating the king with string. That's a slight oversimplification of the madness that she's causing. I don't know if I should be proud or concerned. Well, it doesn't affect me, so I'll just ignore it.

Next we have what Lesmo, Gesmo, and Iesmo did. I don't know how I didn't notice since they did it right above me while I was mining. Basically, they strung up a lot of those laser light gems all along the wall, all pointing upwards. They connected them with metal string, all to a series of lightning gems, with only a piece of quartz between them. When the quartz receives lightning from the side, lightning from the gems can pass through and power the light gems.

What results is a powerful beam of light beaconing out the top of the mountain. Looks badass from a distance, but otherwise useless. I mean, I guess if anything is in the path of the beam it gets disintegrated, but that's too much of an edge case to worry about.

Next news; Oesmo is "lost" in the blood lake. They're doing fine, so I recommend we don't do anything. Not like any of the other Esmos know how to swim.

Last and most definitely least, some idiot sent me a book. It's a romance book. To represent how disgusted I am, I ingested some of Besmo's poison just so that I can vomit. I sent it back to whoever sent it, with a "fuck off" in blood on the cover. I'm sure that'll deter them.

 

16th of Auv, 121 years since megados eruption

Don't you hate it when you become a major figure in a new religion? Like what are you supposed to do in response? If you do nothing, then they don't stop. If you try to get them to stop through violence, you become an evil deity. If you politely ask them to stop, they'll become even more zealous. If you send someone else to stop them for you, they won't believe the person you sent.

The only strategy I can think of is disappointment. Let their faith fail them, and they'll stop having it. Now, the problem is twofold. First, I don't know what they want, so I don't know what not to do. Second, if they never expect anything from me in the first place, I can never disappoint them.

Ugh. It's like Dad all over again. Except this time they aren't afraid I'll kill them... actually no they probably are partially afraid I'll kill them, but doing that wouldn't deter them would it. Let me ask mom. She probably knows how to deal with religion.

Anyways, I found out about the new religion because I went out to sell my metal. At least I got a good price for it. Not worth the questions though. Asking a dragon their age is pointless you know. After 250 there's no point in keeping track!

At least there's good news back home. Through the combined efforts of everyone basically, we made a homunculus. These things are super hard to make, and usually take months of costly work. So why did we make a homunculus? Because the Esmos got curious.

Iesmo weaved together a body, Hesmo gave it blood, Gesmo and Desmo gave it a heart, Cesmo gave it a voice, Pesmo gave it muscles to move, and Jesmo, Kesmo, Mesmo, and Nesmo brought it to life.

So what does a homunculus do? Well it's basically a better golem in every way. It's nearly sentient, minimally sapient, and totally loyal to its creator. For now we have no use for it, but Pesmo brought it with them to that city they took over to learn how to emulate life. I'm sure we'll find a use later.

So now that we made one, what's stopping us from making more? No seriously. We spent basically nothing to make one. At this rate we can make hundreds and have an army. Less efficient than bastards to be honest. But smarter. Oh I know! What if we use them to automate ore processing while I mine? That way the Esmos can spend time doing what they want instead.

 

7th of Ax, 121 years since megados eruption

Once you learn how to make one, it's easy to make a dozen more. Sure we used less material this time to see if it makes a difference (it made them weaker, but that's it), but that doesn't matter for what we'll use them for.

Basically, they'll work the furnace, transport material, and assist the Esmos. Me? I don't need assistance. If I get any, then I'll just get lazy.

So anyways, with these prepared, we'll test them by mining for about a month. If things go smoothly, then next year will be so much easier. Worst case the homunculi break apart and we have to make new, stronger ones.

Fun fact; most dragons don't bother with homunculi, as it's cheaper and easier to uplift a whole race into sapients and have them work for the dragon, than to make just 2 homunculi. Plus, sapients are self-replicating. Oh wait, that's something we can experiment. Self-replicating homunculi. That'd be extremely useful.

---

Interlude; Dragon Lord Council Transcript 4

The following is a written transcript for the Dragon Lord Council meeting that took place on the 14th of Ax, 121 years after the megados eruption. Participating members; 5/25

 

"The meeting will now begin. First on the agenda is the debt of Greater dragons Wilson, Belten, and Creo to Greater dragon Nithinhem, presented by Belenova."

"Thank you. Given the options recommended by True Neutral Vildra, Greater dragon Wilson chose self-mutilation and sold their claw and part of a wing to gather enough money to pay off their part of the debt. Greater dragon Belten will be working under Lesser dragon Queb, until at least two parties believe they have worked off their debt. Finally, Creo chose to become beholden to Nithinhem. All things considered, all parties are accepting for these conditions."

"Wonderful. We should thank Vildra later for giving such creative suggestions. Next, the anomaly that occurred at the start of this year, the disappearance of the moon. Reported by Delson."

"Yes. Starting on 19th of Bo, last year, the moon suddenly vanished from the night sky. Analysis of tides suggest that this was only illusory, and the moon did not completely disappear, only visually inhibited. Despite thorough investigation, we could not find the cause. With the illusion being reversed on 9th of Alm, no issues have risen due to the anomaly. I recommend monitoring the moon to ensure this doesn't happen again, or if it does, then a rapid response can be done to search for the cause."

"Alright, I guess that's that. Finally, we have the declining dragon population. Combined with recent events, the population of dragons has fallen below 1000. However, as the cause of deaths are primarily other dragons, I suspect that the population will not decrease beyond a certain point. This of course is not a good thing. What is everyone's opinions?"

"We knew this would happen eventually. Like the angels and demons before us, eventually we will kill ourselves in our own way. I will not do anything to stop it."

"How pathetic. You accept our extinction? No, what we need to do is unite dragons so that we do not engage in such frivolous conflicts that will kill."

"To be honest, the issue is that dragons like Vildra exist. They lack sympathy and empathy, and are willing to kill if allowed. I'd like to cull those, but recognize that that statement is hypocritical. Alternatively, we let the population of dragons fall to a minimum to minimize conflict. The age of dragons would come to an end, but we will still live."

"In that case, who lives?"

---

??th of Az, 121 years since megados eruption

Whoops. I mined for too long. Yeah these homunculi are super useful. We'll make some more, but only after I finish my hibernation. I don't want to wake up surrounded by a hundred of them.

 

19th of Ab, 122 years since megados eruption

So good news. The number of Esmos has not increased. Bad news. We're missing a homunculi. Specifically the first one we made. Apparently Pesmo lost track of it in the city, and now we can't find them. How fun. Well, we shouldn't have to worry about it though. Its innately loyal to us, so it'll never cause us any trouble. (Well, it can cause trouble, but not harm.)

The other homunculi are normal though. I plan on making a total of 30 to transport and process all the stuff that I mine. Based on how long it took to make the weaker ones, I expect this to take only a month. Maybe two if we want to give them more strength.

By relegating the processing to homunculi, this frees up the Esmos to do whatever the fuck they want while I mine. That only mildly concerns me, as I have full confidence that Aesmo can handle most of what they can do. (You lazy piece of zirconia.)

Speaking of what the Esmos do. There's a list of things that they did while I was asleep. In alphabetical order, we have:

1. Aesmo reinvented chess. I fucking hate chess. (Yeah cause you never win.)

2. Besmo learned what mercury is. They then proceded to eat it, to see if they are poisoned by it. They were not. Their poison temporarily contained mercury in it. This means Besmo can improve/alter their poison, by ingesting other poisons. To be honest, I'm concerned that the first thing Besmo thought when learning about something dangerous was to see if it hurt her or not. (I still don't know where she got mercury.)

3. Cesmo is... suspiciously normal for once. No talking to inanimate objects. No philosophical ramblings. Just "ordinary" carnivorous giant centipede stuff. I'm keeping an eye on her.

4. Desmo took a bath in molten metal "to feel any form of heat." It didn't work, and now they are sad. I got them a cherry pepper to cheer them up. They're now asking Fesmo to make a pepper farm. What have I started?

5. Fesmo found bees. Fesmo hates the bees. The bees hate Fesmo. Somehow they coexist in the tree. An uneasy alliance for the tree's sake. Fun fact, hydra trees don't need bees. So I have no idea why the bees are there.

6. Gesmo got a homunculi to help them cut gems. Because 126 arms are better than 124. In other news, Gesmo is trying to make a water gem, which is the only elemental type gem that they haven't made successfully. They got really close with that blood gem, but can't quite get to water. We'll be cheering her on.

7. Hesmo made a blood sword. Well technically, they processed the iron out of blood, then turned that into a sword. It's cool, but useless to us. She sold it at an auction apparently. Turns out if you market it as an art piece it'll get you more money.

8. Iesmo is missing. I mean, we know they're still in the mountain. We just can't find her. The reason we know she's still here is that the walls are being decorated with silk. It's nice to look at, if a bit monotone. I wonder if we can dye it. I'll have to check later.

9. Jesmo, Kesmo, Lesmo, and Nesmo made a nice anti-magic laser. It's a bit hard to explain. First, they placed that floating gem surrounded by iron above the mountain, in the path of the powerful laser they made last year. They then replaced the iron with tarilite. Finally, they connected it with strings to aim it.
When the lasers are all activated, the floating gem focuses it in a direction. With just this, they made a cool laser that burns anything in its path. This includes the tarilite, which gets blasted in the path of the laser. The result is a laser that absorbs magic. If only this was made somewhere with high ambient mana. Its potential is wasted in the wastes.

10. Mesmo made alcohol. Luckily, everyone hates the taste, and no one got drunk. So it was fairly easy to ban further production of alcohol. I do not want to know what a drunk... anyone can do.

11. Pesmo says they hate politics, and yet they're managing a city just fine. I guess 'hate' and 'good at' are not mutually exclusive, but it still feels ironic. To be honest, most of us don't care what happens with the city, If it flourishes, yay. If it falls, oh well.

The only two who didn't do anything are Eesmo and Oesmo. And that's primarily because I don't know where they are or what they're doing. And unlike Iesmo, they aren't leaving behind anything. I want to say I'm concerned, but to be honest, it doesn't affect me, so I shouldn't really care.

Anyways, I'm going to mine deeper. I'll start as soon as we make more homunculi.

 

---

Pov ???

 

Error resolved. Major problem detected. All memories lost. Purpose uncertain. Default priority settings; self preservation, protection of innocents, destruction of enemies.

Analyzing surroundings. Current location; unknown alleyway. Several dead sapients, torn all over alleyway. No threats present. Quelling pity.

Searching for high ground to discern location. Highest visible position; roof of adjacent building. Utilizing thread skin to pull self up to high ground.

Location analyzed. Unknown city. Currently under attack by dragon. Priority: protection of innocents activated. Subdue dragon. Error. Query; is city innocent?

Overruled by priority: self preservation. Warning, incoming dragon. Violent response approved.

Blood of left arm transformed into blade. Dodge right at last second, stab blade into dragon's side. Attack successful. Injecting poison.

Warning. Injected poison amount insufficient against dragon. Additional dosage required.

Notice, dragon casting fire spell. Response; ignore. Use fire as cover and attach to dragon using thread.

5 threads fired. 2 miss. 3 hits. Warning, dragon flying up. Brace for flight.

Pull on thread to approach dragon while midair. When reached dragon, use additional thread to restrain.

Error. Insufficient thread. Warning, dragon noticed. Query; How to escape grasp?

Notice, dragon casting drain life. Response; ignore. Activating blood furnace. Use additional strength to push open grasp to escape.

Notice, dragon used additional arm to restrain further. Warning, dragon attempting to bite head. Activating anti-consumption measures.

Transform all blood in body into needles. Extend needles omnidirectionally. Secrete poison on needles. Notice, several needles pierced into hands of dragon. Dragon retracted arm and head in pain.

Dragon designated as enemy. Priority: destruction of enemies. Needles retract into body, return to blood. Transform arm into blades. Use thread for mobility.

First target, inner elbow. Vein detected. Punctured and poisoned. Next target stomach. Error, unable to locate stomach on dragon.

Solution; indiscriminate slashing. Apply several large cuts across torso of dragon. Next target wings.

Warning. Destruction of wings would cause loss of flight. Proceeding with attack on wings. Cutting into base of wings. Error, blade not sharp enough.

Solution; stab blade into dragon's back. Draw in blood. Use dragon blood to fuel blood furnace. Strength increased. Use improved strength to cut through wings.

wing cutting successful. Notice, we are falling. Initiating parachute. Error, dragon grabbed leg. Holding us below, attempting to crush on landing.

Dragon staring, watching for any movement. Activating flash. Use temporary blindness to break out of grasp using blood engine. Dodge second hand. Jump off of dragon. Initiate parachute.

Dragon crashed successfully. Confirming kill by stabbing vital points and injecting poison. Notice; dragon skull too sturdy to penetrate. Reach brain through top of eye.

Notice, crashed in middle of city. Several surviving sapients surround me. Query; why are they kneeling?

Suspected answer; savior of city. Killer of dragon.

Memory partially recovered. "Aesmo". Type: name. Not mine, but a very important name.

Notice, sapients asking for my name. Error, I have no name. Producing name. "Deus"

---

11th of Ax, 122 years since megados eruption

I'm surprised I managed to mine so much without any interruptions. I think the dragon lord council took the bait and aren't asking for my help anymore. Yay. Though the fact that there's a dead dragon in the food room is weird. And concerning. Hey Aesmo, why is there a dead dragon in the food room? (I don't know. It just showed up one day. Based on the injuries, it looks like it got killed by a sharp blade cutting off its wings.)

It's suspiciously convenient too. I got manacus again, and less than a day later I got a mangled dragon corpse with an untouched liver. If I didn't know better I'd have suspected mom. She's not stealthy enough to get past Aesmo. And it's not like she knows when i'll get manacus, right?

Whatever, I got rid of the evidence. The corpse did have poison, but it was nothing compared to what Besmo is capable of, so I know it isn't her. Hey Aesmo, does Besmo have any offspring? (not that I know of. Actually, it's strange that none of the Esmos produce offspring yet.)

Now, forgetting about that, let's talk about what I mined up. Adamantite. The fabled diamond of metals. And best of all, I got a large chunk of it. Or rather, a suspiciously smooth, flat chunk of pure adamantite.

Yeah, I bet this isn't natural. Maybe it has something to do with that fort I dug past? Its design suggests it was keeping something in the volcano, so maybe this adamantite disk was part of it? Who knows? Not me, nor do I exactly care. I'll be using the disk as my new mattress. I mean, what else would I use it for?

Anyways, next piece of news, Cesmo is back to their crazy selves. I don't know why they went a few months uncrazy, but it doesn't seem important. Maybe Cesmo is just going to be like that. Unpredictable and inconsequential.

Oh yeah, the mana spire. That thing is growing still. I can sense it in the walls. In case you don't know, mana spires seek out sources of mana. The fact it's growing in the wastes means it got enough mana from somewhere to live this long. *Cough cough Aesmo cough cough* (I only gave it some blood!) [Did that include dragon blood?] (Also its name is Beau!)

That's all fo The Homunculi are very useful. They fully replaced most of the Esmos, so now they have free time to do whatever they want. They even made a couple more to help with whatever they're doing now. Pesmo says they have an order of a couple thousand homunculi to send to the city and act as guards, but honestly that'll take 20 years at the rate these ones were made at. Well, long term goals are good.

What else... oh right. The idiot who sent me a romance book clearly did not get the message, and sent another romance book of a slightly different genre. Fucking harem love triangle. The most infuriating combination next to every other combination. I hate any story that can solve itself with a 10 minute conversation.

Alright, I calmed down. So what should I do with this anonymous admirer? I really want to kill them, but annoyance is rarely a valid excuse to kill. Oh hey Aesmo. Do you think you classify as a Daevva?

 

22nd of Ay, 122 years since megados eruption

That son of a bitch started a cult about me! Now I have two religious groups thinking of me as a god. Mom told me to just let them be, or totally annihilate them. Thing is, total annihilation requires that dragon's death. Which I'm still planning on! (I finished planning actually. It'll just cost you a liter of your blood.) [Yeah, sure. Fair trade.]

Leaving that for later, i have a space problem. No one is buying the metal I'm trying to sell. I may or may not have saturated the global markets. Whoops. Easy solution though, sell directly to dragons that don't understand how sapient economy works. Someone like Nathan. I'm sure he'll buy my stuff.

Next issue, David the crab is back. Not the same crab, just Cesmo naming another crab David. Note that we're in the middle of a dessert. Where the fuck did she get a crab? Well, I can guess where. Oesmo came back for a few days, and they smelled suspiciously salty.

Speaking of returning faces, Eesmo also made an appearance. I forgot what they did though. So did Aesmo. And everyone else. Concerning, but not dangerous. I can safely ignore it.

Fun fact, bees evolved from wasps. I feel like this explains why the bees in the hydra tree hate literally everything that approaches the tree. Well, almost everything. They don't respond to homunculi, and Fesmo is begrudgingly allowed.

 

??th of Az, 122 years since megados eruption

Good news, Aesmo is in fact classifiable as Daevva. Good news 2, the annoying cult is dealt with. Good news 3, the annoying dragon is now in my food room, dead. Bad news, the food room is full again, so I had to expand it again. Bad news 2, a lesser dragon witnessed the slaughter. Luckily, there's almost no way they can link me to Aesmo, so I should be safe. (What about me! >:{ )

In other news, Pesmo started a war. How fun. I'll just let her have her fun. Maybe she'll learn something from this, like how to manage morale within an army.

Now some other good news, Nathan bought my metal for his books. Idiot thought he was getting the better end of the deal. Little did he know those metals are worthless. hehe. I'll be reading these books once I wake up. I hope its good enough to merit an 'erase memory'. Well, I should do that outside of the wastes. I wonder if mom will let me cast it in her home.

Oh right, mom. She was not the one who killed that other dragon. She didn't even know about it. nor did she know about my manacus. I didn't want her to worry, so I erased that conversation only. I always hate having to do that with her, but she's the only one I can safely do that with. Anyone else just panics about missing memories, while mom knows it was me and trusts me when I do it.

Speaking of trust, I don't trust Cesmo. Not in a "they'll betray me" kind of way, but in a "Yep, they're hiding something" kind of way. See, they've been really obsessed about change recently. Which honestly would be normal, if not for the fact that they made a list of "everything that changed since that war".

I bet they're making that list to sell or something. Which is why I carefully censored the list so that no sensitive information leaks. Whoever gets this list does not need to know that Aesmo and besmo are daevva.

 

7th of Ab, 123 years since megados eruption

So apparently every Esmo follows a theme? I mean, for some it's obvious, like how Desmo is fire, Besmo is poison. But for others I don't think it's much of a theme as it is just what they do. Like Gesmo cuts gems, that shouldn't mean her theme is gems.

I don't know. I'm not good at thematics or anything (clearly). Though according to that cult, I'm an evil deity whose theme is cannibalism. Honestly, I'm offended. Good thing Aesmo annihilated them.

Speaking of cults, apparently Pesmo started their own cult. Something about the ocean? She's never even seen the ocean. Maybe that's the point? I don't know, cults don't need to make sense ok.

According to Fesmo, them and the bees now have a proper alliance in order to fight against ankhegs. I don't know what bees can do against ankhegs, but I know Fesmo can probably deal with it. Ankhegs are too weak to hurt her.

Fesmo did start that pepper farm that Desmo asked for. I wonder if bees are beneficial to peppers? I don't know as much about bees as I thought I did.

 

26th of Aes, 123 years since megados eruption

The council sent a fucking crow again. I don't think I'm allowed to write down everything, so a quick summary; Dragons dying too fast, population going down, what do?

To be honest, I don't give a fuck. Dragons barely contribute to the rest of the world. I'm sure the ecosystem would be better off without us. I mean, when was the last time you saw a dragon do anything positive to the environment that wasn't motivated by selfishness? Ah fuck, I'm part of the problem, aren't I?

Well, let's think of it like this; Why should dragons continue to live? ...Fuck. I can't think of any reason. If anything, I can think of reasons why we should just die. Wow, never thought I'd have to think about the worthlessness of my entire species. Sucks that I wrote this down in my diary, making it so that I can't just erase this memory and forget about it forever.

If you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm. I can totally just erase this from my memory. But first, I have to respond to the crow. Easy enough; "I don't care. Doesn't affect me."

Now, before I forget, I should clarify that I don't condone senseless killing. If you're killing someone, you better have a good reason. Alright that's all.

 

28th of Aes, 123 years since megados eruption

Cesmo talks to Leviamuth. What the fuck.

 

15th of Alm, 123 years since megados eruption

I have a headache so I'll make this quick. First, Cesmo is somehow talking to Leviamuth from across the world. I didn't believe it at first, until Leviamuth came to the edge of the continent just so that Cesmo could deliver that list they were making. (Technically Desmo delivered the list. Leviamuth too hot for anyone else.)

Now, obviously, the council asked why Leviamuth is basically my neighbor right now, but I was kind of busy with the whole Leviamuth being my neighbor problem I have, so couldn't answer them. They then sent the 'fastest dragon lord' to investigate what the fuck was happening.

One thing led to another, and now they suspect that I really do have an army of ciel and maybe a few daevva hidden. I mean I do, but that's not the point. The point is they're keeping a close eye on me now. Which sucks, because I have so much metal that I need to trade away.

Man, this year just keeps getting worse.

 

21st of An, 123 years since megados eruption

That's it, I'm ignoring all my problems by going mining. Homunculi, move the metals into the blood lake. We can retrieve it later when the price goes up again and we aren't kept under strict council watch. Esmos, please don't attract any more attention. And Aesmo, if any dragon want to talk to me, tell them to fuck off, I'm not accepting visitors while mining. Thanks.

 

3rd of Ar, 123 years since megados eruption

Mining's been going well. Found some weird spongy stuff. Smelled like sulfur. Probably has sulfur. Blew it up accidentally by breathing too close to it. Whoops.

Fun fact; the pickaxe I'm using is enchanted with 'triple strike'. Each time I hit rock with it, phantom picks hit two more times on the same rock. Basically triple the efficiency. I hate it. If I accidentally hit the wrong rock, it means the rock will be hit two more times, which isn't ideal. Oh well, sacrifice one efficiency for another.

 

23rd of Ar, 123 years since megados eruption

Found a nice cave system. I think it was made by flowing lava, since the walls are smooth and glassy. Too small for me to explore in my full form, so I took a smaller, tripedal form. It's still getting smaller though. I might have to go bipedal.

The bad part about cave systems is that it's hard to navigate effectively. Can't really fly with the roof so low, can't run without running into a wall a few seconds. Don't think about jumping down a hole; I mentioned gravity is a dragon's worst friend. I mean, I have gravitas, but I'm still in the wastes. Can't rely on magic too much.

 

12th of Auv, 123 years since megados eruption

Mining in a tight cave is annoyingly hard. Especially when you're in a completely different form from what you're used to. Normally, I'd swing downwards with my hand starting slightly above my head, but with a low ceiling, I can only reach the pick head to my head before getting it caught on a stalactite.

The first solution I tried is swinging from the side, as there's more room for that. However, since I can't rely on gravity, the strike is slightly weaker. For only a few strikes that doesn't matter, but when you're mining out the cave so you can move more easily, you're making a lot of strikes. The inefficiency adds up.

My second solution came from frustration. It's called thermal shock. First you heat up rock with fire. Then you splash water on it. The rapid heating and cooling makes tons of cracks, which allows me to break apart whole sections with minimal effort. It's dangerous, as it can cause a collapse. Well, not dangerous to dragons, but collapses are annoying since they undo all your progress.

The third solution was unintended. Explosions! I'm not entirely sure what mix of dust and gas caused it, but while heating up rock with fire, something ignited, which chain reacted into an explosion. After cleaning up, the caves expanded enough for me to mine normally.

 

26th of Auv, 123 years since megados eruption

Now that I consider it, it's strange for stalactites to be in a volcano, in the middle of a desert. When did this place last erupt? Could've sworn it was less than 1000 years ago. Stalactites take longer than that to grow as big as these.

Putting that oddity to the side, I'd like to mention that I am lost. I went down quite far into the cave, without keeping track of which way I turned from. This isn't a problem, just something to note. Another thing to note is a lack of visible ore. No idea whether or not that's normal, since I didn't have any interest in caves until now.

The last thing to note is a lack of sound. I mean, now that I write it out, it seems obvious. A cave isolated from the rest of the world has almost nothing to produce sound. I guess I never expected to be in a place where no sound is the norm, and my footsteps are an anomaly.

 

11th of Ax, 123 years since megados eruption

I heard a footstep. It was not mine.

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Pov Aesmo

 

Where the fuck is that damn dragon. She leaves me in charge, goes into a cave, and now we can't find her. If it was just that, then I wouldn't be as annoyed. The problem is she left me to deal with Cesmo's mess.

At least Hesmo managed to disguise the blood lake into a normal murky lake with a large amount of iron bacteria. Though how the fuck am I supposed to explain why a dozen homunculi are dumping various jars of metals into said lake. Hell, how the fuck am I going to explain the homunculi?

As far as those dragon lords know, we're supposed to be the servants. So what does that mean when the homunculi are clearly doing servant jobs and we aren't. "We the servants have servants so we can better serve" does not sound like a plausible explanation.

That's not even talking about the various fucking super weapons that dragon just has lying (or floating) around. Like what am I supposed to say about the floating anti-magic laser array? It's just a decoration? It's made out of high quality light gems focused upward into a central gem that redirects it through rings of tarilite into a target as far as 300 kilometers away. It's strong enough to vaporize anything less than a dragon. Yep, totally a decoration.

At least Besmo can control their poison. That's one less thing I have to worry about. Cesmo is... Desmo doesn't have any way to cause problems themselves. Eesmo should be fine; no one can remember what she does, which should be concerning, except I have a tracker attached to her.

Fesmo is busy with bees and ankhegs and peppers, so as long as the dragon lords don't look to the lonely tree several kilometers away, they won't find her. Just in case, I told her to not use her plant growing abilities. I don't know how unusual that is, and dragon isn't around to ask.

Fuck, I'm referring to Vildra as dragon again. Why do I even bother remembering her name.

Gesmo and Iesmo are staying indoors, so they won't be problematic. The problem is Jesmo, Kesmo, Mesmo, and Nesmo. They can stay inside, but their curiosity is too strong for them to not go outside. I'll have to restrict them somehow... or distract them with something inside.

Lesmo is playing with a laser in her room. She's the easiest to keep contained. Oesmo is in the ocean... where leviamuth is. Fuck. I hope she's alright. I can't exactly check on her. Pesmo is in hiding in her city. No one knows she's an Esmo, and my message should've reached her, so she shouldn't attract any attention for now. Finally Hesmo is in the food room cooking some soup. Nothing to worry about.

So how do I deal with Cesmo. At this point I know she's not as insane as Vildra thinks, but that doesn't mean she isn't insane enough to talk to a giant molten entity. How is she even able to do that? From our perspective she just talks normally, but apparently Leviamuth can hear her and she can hear it.

Is it telepathy? Sound we can't hear somehow? Maybe they're communicating through magical means that no one can detect? I don't know, and I don't think I can prevent it. Maybe if we prevent her from talking, but that's a different problem. How does she speak? Her mouth moves, sure, but she can still talk while eating. Hell, I've heard her talk while drinking. Covering her mouth wouldn't stop her.

Why is Leviamuth still here even? Clearly they can communicate from far away. And they already got the list Cesmo made. Is she waiting for something? Ugh, I guess I should ask Cesmo, or have her ask for me.

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Pov Greater Dragon Nithinhem

 

That incompetent buffoon. I never should've agreed to that compromise. He went ahead and died before even collecting his first tax. Idiot fell to his death apparently. How the fuck are you dumb enough to fall to death? Unbelievable. Wait no, totally believable, considering he fell for that scam. Dragons don't have princes, idiot.

Ugh, I have to go collect it myself then. The city better not think they're free. Else I might really destroy it this time. Well, it'd be perfect for me to vent out my frustration though. You know what, might as well destroy some buildings. Got to keep them afraid somehow, right?

Wait, why is the city half destroyed already? Oh that son of a bastard. Not only did not collect tax and die, but he also destroyed the buildings that I was going to destroy. I'm going to raise the tax just for that.

Hm? Who's that standing at the gates? Quite a tall fellow for a... actually i can't tell what race they are. The armor they're wearing hides their identity, and they don't have a scent, which is weird. Whatever. You know, they got my attention, might as well kill them. What's another body to the grave?

Hehe, here I co... where's my hand? URGH! YOU CUT OFF MY HAND!!!

That's it, you just gave me a reason to kill you... where did you go? Ack, my back! Stop stabbing my back! What if I twirl around in the air, huh? If you can't hold on, you'll fall!

Wait, why am I falling? Wings... aren't there? Fuck Fuck Fuck. 'Feather fall'!

Good thing I ha URK. Fucker landed on my head. Why're they so heavy? I... oh. I see.

They didn't just fall to their death out of stupidity. They must've gotten their wings cut off. Well, idiot didn't have any spells to stop their fall, but still. I can see why it happened.

So how do I fight this... being. They're on my head right now, with a blade against my skull. I'm confident they can't pierce my skull at least, but that doesn't mean they can't kill me. This 'ciel' is strong enough to cut off my limbs. They can probably cut my stomach open if they need to. So why haven't they?

Simple. If I hit them with one spell, they die. That must be the reason. A 'glass sword'. Yes, this must be Azriol. The sharpest sword, but most fragile body.

Now how do I land a hit? Simple, I use a spell that doesn't care about accuracy. 'Flare zone'!

'Flare zone' is perfect for this situation. A zone of extreme heat. I just need to make that zone include me, and everything within a kilometer.

Ah, I can see the grass burning. The light of the sun is distorting from the heat. Azriol shouldn't've survived this... URGH! My other hand? No, my whole arm! That ba... that's not Azriol.

Azriol is bipedal, frail-looking, has tattered wings, and carries a sword.

This... entity is made of silver threads for skin, with boiling blood visible through the thin 'skin'. That sword they were using wasn't a sword. It was their arm, blood solidified into the shape of a blade. Hollow eyes, no other facial features, no wings. I do not recognize this ciel. When was a new one... Vildra.

That crazy Uildra was right. Where else could a ciel have come from without the dragon lords knowing? I see now why the war ended in Vildra's absolute victory. If she has an army of entities like this, then most wouldn't have had a chance. But why is it over here? Vildra should be in the wastes. If this truly is Vildra's work, then her world conquest has already begun. Well, shit.

Ow. Fucker. Stop poking me and just kill me already. I know you c

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12th of Ax, 123 years since megados eruption

i'm feeling so much better now. i think i'll be going up and check on surface. Don't worry if i don't write for while. It'll just take me long time to find way out.