A few days after the dragons had arrived, things became a little bit problematic. I haven't met any of them for the past few days but I have received reports of them being just generally rambunctious, troublesome really. They had trashed multiple places in the city and were causing me to lose money with their actions. It was getting quite annoying to just let them do what they want, but that ends now.

I was on my way to meet the emperor to talk about the situation and see if there was anything I could do to...stop it. I knocked on the door to his office and waited.

“Come in.” I entered and bowed in a brief greeting before getting on with what I was there for.

“Is there a way to control the dragons?” The emperor looked at me for a few seconds. He knew exactly what I was referring to so he only took a short pause before saying only one thing.

“Strength. Be stronger than them and they will have no choice but to respect you.” I looked at him skeptically.

Of course I knew that the dragons had a culture of strength, but I wasn't sure if I could be harsh with them with the dragon king around. I didn’t want to deal with the repercussions that might come about of beating a dragon within an inch of their life in the presence of their ruler.

“And he wouldn’t mind?” He knew who I was talking about.

“He might even grow to respect you a little, the only reason I was able to marry my wife was because I beat all her suitors half to death. Well, she could have done that all on her own but I digress.”

‘Just beat them up, huh?’ I thought for a few seconds, before I nodded to myself.

“Thank you, your majesty.” I turned and was about to leave his presence when-

“That is all?” I heard him say and sighed.

‘Of course he noticed.’

“Your majesty?” I adopted a confused expression on my face.

There really wasn’t any reason to keep him in the dark about the resort I was building by the ocean, I just wanted to take my time with this without being rushed like I was with Treehome. I wasn’t spiteful or anything, and most of the animosity I had towards him had mostly been washed away by all the money I was able to fleece off of him.

‘Maybe I am a little spiteful, but oh well. Until I am as powerful, or more preferably, more powerful than him, I’ll just keep my head low and do what I can on the side to be….let’s call it annoying.’

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“So there is no reason the best builder in this empire and one of the few beings I consider a friend is avoiding me, saying he is busy building something?”

“He is? That’s a shame.” I looked remorseful and I saw his brow twitch. The surrounding temperature increased a little.

‘He’s getting a little annoyed, good.’ He finally waved at me.

“Just go.” I bowed in his direction, turned around and left.

Later that day, I was walking along the west main street when I heard the commotion I had been looking for. I saw a group of dragons shouting at one another with the patron of the shop they were in trying to diffuse the situation. I narrowed my eyes in that direction before making my way over. As I got closer, I started to hear the tail end of their conversation.

“...and so what? I will be the one who eventually marries the princess and gains a position close to the emperor for my family. I am the most powerful one here after all.” A red headed, red eyed boisterous looking dragon said with his chest puffed out.

“Strongest? This great one cautions you to watch your mouth before I rot it off.” A black haired, black eyed dragon said with a pompous attitude. The red dragon suddenly let off his hot mana that destroyed the surrounding shop and melted the ground a little.

“Are you sure you want to go there? Your daddy isn’t here to protect you, I can kill you without any problems here.” The red dragon said.

The black dragon replied in kind by releasing his own mana that also destroyed the surrounding area with a concussive blast of darkness. Their mana clashed as they steadily increased the amount released when-

“I think that’s enough, don't you think?” I was suddenly there. The shop owner came to me and bowed before he started explaining.

“They came in at different times but started arguing when the-”

“Are you the lord of this territory?” The red dragon asked.

‘You know I am. You were there when the dragon king first saw me.’ I looked in his direction before answering.

“Yes, I am.”

“Hmph, I am offering the barest of courtesy because of who you are, so you better-”

“You lot are ignoring the presence of this one?” I felt an intense burst of dragon mana and I turned to look at the black dragon.

“I am not-” I began to answer him but was cut off by the heat from the red dragon's mana increasing.

“And? You are not so important that we should pay attention.” The red dragon taunted.

“Cur! This great one hopes you are prepared to-” I released my mana and magic circles formed underneath both dragons as they were forcefully teleported to a still barren part of my territory.

“Where did you take us? You used one of your daddy’s artifacts, didn’t you?” The red dragon shouted at the black dragon.

“Ingrate! Cur! You think this one has the time to play humorous games with the likes of you! Prepare, cur, for the beating of your life!” They both prepared to attack each other when-

“You really are just going to ignore me?” They both snapped in my direction. I let my mana slowly rise to match the amount of theirs and surpass it.

“I hope you are prepared.”