He had only just stepped out of the Duolinge Wetlands, the Black Dragon Lord's lair. David Uthos, who had appeared so warm and generous in front of his own mother, then revealed his 'ferocious true face' to the three small black dragons. He slapped two contracts, thick as dictionaries, in front of the two black hatchlings,
"Come on, be good and sign this Magical Contract. Become my 'foster sons,' alright? Our journey has just begun."
Seeing a young Red Dragon baring its teeth and a youthful Green Dragon glaring fiercely, it was clear there was no chance of escape at such close quarters.
The black dragon brother looked wary and struggled, while his little black dragon sister had burst into violent sobs,
"What exactly do you want us to do? Can you let Viola go, please? I can pay a ransom. I can give you thirty, no, forty pounds of treasure. It will just take some... some time to raise."
In the end, the black dragon brother sighed. Too lazy to even look at the fostering contract, which seemed no different from a dictionary from hell, and seeing no other choice, he bit his palm and pressed a small, cute paw print onto it.
Sure enough, a six-pointed Magical Mark emerged on the back of his paw.
This mark could be used for long-range positioning and tracking, and it's likely I can be forcefully summoned to their side using a spell similar to Summon Animal Companion through this contract.
After this, freedom is probably a thing of the past.
He immediately turned his head toward his hopeless sister and said,
"Viola, my sister, let go of your naive fantasies. Seeing that our... seeing that our foster father is willing to take such a huge risk, even spending twenty pounds of Gold to take custody of us from our mother, do you think he would care about the difference of a few dozen pounds of treasure?"
After speaking, the black dragon hatchling bowed to David, whose face was full of surprise and satisfaction, and said,
"The Offspring of Wicked Shadows, Farid Alfonse Mekhty Montenegro, greets you, Foster Father."
He then turned to Nifadora and said,
"I pay my respects to the great Venomous Emerald, Nifadora. I have long admired both of your illustrious names."
David and Nifadora looked at each other, then burst into laughter before David commented,
"Truly worthy of a real black hatchling—far smarter than that big smarty Mofei! Very good, Alfonse. From today onwards, you will be the head of the young dragons of our Dragon Nest camp. Look after your 'younger brother and sisters' for me."
"Thank you for the recognition, Your Highness," Alfonse said gravely, though he inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. He had bet correctly.
When fate cannot be resisted, one must do everything in their power to blend into it, use it, and wait until one has the ability to reverse it. This was the wisdom Alfonse had gained from years of studying the draconic legacy.
Poor White Dragon Mofei. While he sat oblivious at home, a black dragon had already seized David's favor with his wit and opportunism, essentially being parachuted into a position right over Mofei's head.
Under the 'persuasion' of Alfonse, the new dragon underling, his black dragon sister Viola also grimly signed the 'unfair contract.'
As for their dragon beast brother, he didn't yet have the status to warrant wasting one of David's Magical Contracts.
A Magical Mark and some Dragon Food were enough to make him loyally follow this great dragon, David, who treated him better than his own mother and brother—even if this great dragon's specific kind and aura were quite different.
However, David knew all too well that mere repression only breeds discontent. So, he turned to the last page of the contract and handed it to the black dragon siblings, Alfonse and Viola, offering them a glimmer of hope,
"Trust me, aside from your required loyalty to me, you will still be relatively free.
"The terms are written in detail in this contract. When you have nothing else to do, you can take a look. I will raise you until you reach your youth. During this period, you must obey me and complete the tasks I assign. However, it won't be for nothing; I will establish a mission hall in the camp. There, you can accept and complete tasks to earn corresponding rewards. You will also have the right to retain and defend your private property.
"As I told your mother, once you reach your youth and we have each fulfilled our obligations to one another, you will have the right to choose to leave.
"The precondition is that you repay the one thousand pounds of treasure for the fostering fees you owe me.
"That is a relatively fair price. As True Dragons, you should be able to do the math on this." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ noⅴelfire.net
This whole setup was something David had learned from his mother, Pafila.
For a hatchling in dire need of protection and a relatively stable environment to survive, few would refuse such an opportunity if it only cost some treasure to be delivered in the future and a degree of restricted freedom.
Of course, that was assuming the offer was real and guaranteed.
After all, being alive meant having all these things. Death meant losing everything.
But after hearing this, the siblings Alfonse and Viola were truly shocked.
How the hell could there be such a good deal in this world?
If what this Red Dragon said was true, he was practically a Holy Dragon among Chromatic Dragons!
According to their original destiny, by the end of their juvenile stage, their mother would typically have asked them to leave the nest and fend for themselves.
Even by those standards, their mother was considered 'benevolent' among Chromatic Dragons.
They both knew that their existence had already delayed their mother's progression into her slumber, her search for her Legendary Destiny.