When I landed, there was a cheer from the humans. A crowd quickly gathered, shouting my name. I noted there were more females and children than before. The soldiers and workers must have accepted my invitation to bring their families to the island. It was odd to consider that I’d only been gone a short while and they’d made so much progress.

  Soon, I’d be able to turn the humans’ greatest strengths to my own requirements—especially their ability to rapidly reproduce. Within the span of a short forty years, I predicted I could grow a population here ten times what it currently was. That would supply me not only with workers, but amongst so many there would surely be some humans who would make suitable warriors and mages to serve what would become Scale Nation.

  The plan I had required me to draw power from nearly every possible means.

  As the press of minions got closer, I toyed with the idea of roaring to scare them back. I hated to deprive them of the opportunity to bask in my glory, but Cami still needed healing. Before I came to a decision, the problem seemed to solve itself.

  Two warriors stepped forward. They wore heavy armor which nearly covered them from head to toe. By human reckoning, they were massive, I’d say a little over eight feet tall. But it wasn’t just their height that was off. They were also wider and thicker than any humans I’d ever seen.

  What I found most odd about them, though, was the shape of their helmets. The helmets had a snout worked into them.

  I was curious, so I watched as they moved the crowd back. The two warriors were never rough with the humans and they seemed to be well liked—especially by the children. My nose caught a whiff of their scent, but I could only shake my head.

  That couldn’t be right... could it?

  Then Cami asked, “Is that Rollie and Patch?”

  “It smells like them,” I admitted, “once you get past the scent of all that metal they are wearing, but I didn’t expect their transformation to be anything like this. Besides, wasn’t it supposed to take something like four months for them to fully transform?”

  “Alright… but who cares how it happened. I know that it’s them.”

  I sensed frustration from her. Cami wanted to hop down and run over to the former bears. On the far side of the crowd of humans, I saw Cassandra, Modessa, and Daggin. They’d come out of the largest building in the small town at the base of the volcanic mountain.

  “I am glad to see all of you, my minions,” I called out. “Now, though, I must meet with some of my special minions. Rollie and Patch, I am going to fly up to my lair. Bring Cassandra and anyone she believes necessary and join me as quickly as possible.”

  With that, I crouched and then jumped into the air. The gusts of wind from the first down sweep of my wings stirred up a small dust storm which served to push the people back more effectively than the bears turned… well, I wasn’t really sure what they were now.

  A minute later, I landed at the entrance to my lair. I transformed into my human form, careful not to drop Cami. It was rather frustrating to forego my natural might, but I knew it was more comfortable for Cami if I carried her in my arms like this, rather than in my claws.

  Once inside the cave, I was greeted by a number of guards who bowed to me. A human in robes came up and bowed low. “Lord Nico, we are thrilled that you’ve returned. I am Mage Pelum. Lady Modessa appointed me to oversee the cataloguing of your hoard. At your convenience, I would be happy to supply you with a complete accounting.”

  I wanted to know how much was in my hoard, but hoards were for looking at and sleeping on, not for counting.

  “I’ll have you keep that information to yourself. Just see to it that the hoard is constantly growing. It wouldn’t do for it to become sickly… though I’d have you pay special attention to ensure that no mimics make a nest within my hoard. They are most annoying and some of them have been known to lay their eggs in dragon hoards. It would be awful to be resting peacefully upon my hoard only to have some of it move or even bite me.”

  He bowed, “As you wish M’lord. We have also taken the liberty of setting up a bed and other comforts which Lady Cami should appreciate.”

  I let him lead me further in, marveling at the progress they’d made. A large bed, table, washtub, and other human sized comforts had indeed been set up mere feet from my hoard. The piles of gold, silver, gems, and other precious objects seemed to have grown. It was all I could do not to jump into it, letting all that beautiful gold cascade over me.

  But I needed to focus on Cam, first.

  Carrying her over to it, I set her gently down on the bed. I absently wondered if I was supposed to see if I should have asked if she needed me to pull down the blankets for her or some such human nonsense, but decided she was made of sterner stuff than that.

  Once she looked comfortable, I asked, “Now what?”

  “We’ll get to that soon enough. Don’t you need to see what’s happened here while we’ve been gone? And don’t even try to tell me you aren’t just dying to roll around in your hoard.”

  My eyes narrowed, and I tilted my head as I said, “Dragons don’t ‘roll around’ in our hoards. We surge, glide, and we stretch out in it. And then we let it all cascade over us. What I plan to do deserves a more majestic description than merely ‘rolling around’.”

  Cami chuckled. “Okay, but don’t forget that I can sense what you are feeling.”

  She briefly closed one of her eyes for a moment—I think she’d called it a ‘wink’. It was an odd human expression, lacking the gravitas of one’s eyes narrowed in a dragon glare.

  Rather than argue with her, I transformed back into my proper shape and took a step towards my gold. My long neck turned easily until I looked back over my wing at her. “I should probably make sure it feels the same as before. Counting is a human thing. I’ll know my hoard is well just from some physical contact.”

  “Uh-huh,” Cami said while nodding her head. The smile on her face showed just how happy she was to see me reunited with my hoard.

  Walking over, I slid forward and turned over in a very dignified manner. Sure, I might have had to adjust my shoulders and wings a few times, but that was just about shifting the larger piles of gold to match my increased size. I was most definitely not rolling around.

  I couldn’t, however, keep a very long, deep and contented sigh from escaping. And why should I? This was my hoard. Of all places on Ileria, if I couldn’t relax here, then where?

  Fifteen minutes later, the two large warriors in armor came trotting up the tunnel. One was carrying Cassandra, who looked more like she was driving a chariot than being carried in his outstretched arms. The other bore Modessa, who did not look at all happy at having to be carried.

  The day just kept getting better! But then again, given how badly it had started, things could only go up from there.

  Cassandra and Modessa both stood and bowed.

  “You aren’t a minion, you don’t need to bow to me Modessa,” I said.

  For some reason, her body stiffened and even trembled a bit when I said that. I’d learned to pay very close attention to humans’ body language. To be honest my mind was still not entirely made up on the issue of Modessa.

  She’d been quite the cracked bone stuck in my teeth when we’d first met. Yet, I couldn’t deny that she had proven useful. It seemed pointless to turn away such a potentially powerful minion—if she could be healed, that is.

  “If you can’t forgive me, I understand, but I can only say I’m sorry so many times. I did what I did… and I can’t change that. I have apologized and done nothing but work for your interests here since. If you can’t find it within yourself to forgive me, then I ask only that you allow me to stay near Cami. I still have many things to teach her,” Modessa replied.

  Her back was straight and her head held high as she spoke. I noted, however, that she refused to make eye contact with me.

  “I can respect that you don’t grovel,” I admitted. “It can be amusing when a minion grovels, but I can never truly trust one who has so little respect for themselves. Cami was injured on our trip and I wanted to discuss the matter with Cassandra before we attempt to finish her healing.”

  Questions were clear on both women’s faces, but even if I could now recognize human expressions, I wasn’t in the mood to humor them by telling the story—not now. That could come later.

  Cami spoke up, then. “First, I want to see Rollie and Patch.” She hadn’t taken her eyes off of the two armored figures since they’d arrived.

  They each raised massive, gauntleted hands to their heads and removed their oddly shaped helms. This took a bit of doing because of the shape, but I recognized quality craftmanship. Daggin must have made these helms with an ability to remove them as necessary.

  Sure enough, when the metal was removed, the two large warriors had bear heads. Their heads were actually a bit smaller than they might have been in their previous, natural forms, but were still larger than a human head.

  The each dropped to one knee. “Lord Nico and Lady Cami, we wish to give you proper oaths as minions, now that we are able to understand it,” Patch said. I recognized it was him by the patch of darker colored fur on his head.

  Rollie added, “We know it isn’t technically necessary because your mighty power has already sealed us to you, but we want you to know that we choose to follow after you—and would do so if we weren’t bound to you.”

  I simply nodded, and then they both pledged to me as proper minions.

  As soon as their oaths were given, Patch asked, “Lord Nico, may we remove our armor? Modessa insisted that we wear it almost constantly… something about bare bears scaring the women.”

  Chapter 18 - Connected…

  I chuckled. “Why not?”

  Modessa said, “Uh, you may want to reconsider, Nico. It wouldn’t be a problem if they walked around on four legs, but…”

  I simply narrowed my eyes and shushed her—though it sounded more like a beast crashing through tall grass, making that sound in my natural form. It was almost unfair how much more nuance there was in human gestures and expressions.

  “Just let them wear what they want to,” I insisted. “This isn’t some strange human culture where we build boxes to store our waste products.”

  Modessa groaned but said, “You’re the boss. Just remember that there are some things you can’t unsee.”

  With my permission, Rollie and Patch began taking off their armor. Underneath it, they weren’t wearing any other clothing—they were bears, after all. Once they were done and standing upright, I couldn’t help but chuckle. There, on display for all the world to see, was their bear sized… equipment.

  Cami made a choking sound.

  Cassandra simply shook her head with a silent grin.

  Modessa pursed her lips at me. “Do you understand why they need to wear some clothing now? No one wants to look at their junk hanging out like that.”

  I scoffed. “Bah, is this because it makes the human males feel inferior, or are all humans this uptight?”

  Cassandra snorted. “Some things are best left for in private, but I’m too old to let something like this bother me.”

  Meanwhile, Rollie and Patch looked at me expectantly. They seemed very eager to please, which would make them perfect minions. I still needed to find out just how intelligent they were, but Soul Seer showed me that the system prompts had been correct. They each had souls now.

  The most important part about that, was that it proved I had a way to restore the freed dragons.

  “Rollie, Patch…”

  They replied in unison, “Yes, Master?”

  “You may dress as you wish. I will not be a hypocrite and demand something of you that I don’t do myself… though I will point out that when I’m in my human form, I wear clothing. It may be help you to blend in more.”

  They looked at each other but seemed confused.

  Cassandra shook her head and said, “They are basically children. They are very good boys, but they need a great deal of direction.”

  Modessa quickly said, “I’ll help them find something that will work so that they can properly blend in, as you say.”

  With that, the rogue led the two bear warriors out of my lair. As they were leaving, it dawned on me that I hadn’t even checked on their changes. The results were enlightening—they were no longer considered bears by the system. Instead, their race now showed as Ursus.

  Once they were gone, I looked at Cassandra. “How did they finish evolving so quickly? I thought it was supposed to take much longer.”

  “Ah, you don’t know about what happened to us when you got your latest title,” she replied, pressing two fingers to her lips. “All of your minions got a notification a few days ago.”

  A second later, she shared it with me.

  Congratulations, minions. Rejoice, for your lord and master, Nicosandumas has risen in the world. He is now a dragon noble. All minion benefits are increased.

  Effective level boost: +1

  Lifespan increase: +25%

  A rapid influx of energy will enter all minions upon the elevation of your master. Creativity and productivity will be increased. This effect will slowly fade over the next 30 days.

  “Ah… that explains how you have accomplished so much. I knew it had to be thanks to me.”

  Cassandra laughed, but I could never quite tell if she was laughing at me or with me.

  “The bears finished their evolutions in less than a day after that notification appeared. The workers have all been pushing forward and building like maniacs. Before, they were putting up a couple of houses a day, but now they build almost fifty. Each day the effect lessens, but it has been powerful.”

  “And how has this affected my craftsmen? What have Rubin and Daggin done with it?”

  Cassandra’s grin grew wider. “Rubin has been using the time to etch defensive enchantments all over the island. He didn’t come to see you because he is trying to make the most of this boon. As for Daggin, he and his apprentices have been creating some incredible armor and weapons for your warriors. I have had a ton of inspiration since the notification. The potions I’ve brewed these past two days have all been of legendary quality, so it's quite something.”

  We discussed the changes occurring on my island for a bit longer and then I transitioned to explain what had happened to Cami. We also discussed the tension which had arisen with Miseria, along with the attack by a group of humans who wanted to keep dragons enslaved. My bonded, of course, told Cassandra about all of this from her perspective.

  While the two women talked, I looked back through my notifications. I hadn’t even realized a new one popped up when I’d laid down on my hoard.

  You have reconnected with your lair and hoard.

  New benefits for Dragon Noble status are now available.

  Pick one of the following options:

  Base maximized: Base minion number available increased by 100% and gain one extra exalted minion

  Or

  Elites Maximized: Minion numbers increase by only 50% and gain three extra exalted minions.

  “Nico, did you get a notification?” Cassandra asked. “You appear to be distracted.”

  I gave them a toothy smile before explaining the options I had been given.

  “You haven’t made any of your current minions into exalted minions, so it’s hard to say what the benefits would be,” Cami offered.

  Cassandra didn’t immediately respond, but allowed Cami and me to discuss the options. Eventually, though, she added her two coppers, “From what you’ve told us, you’re going to need an army and all the support that requires. Unless you intend for all the fighting to be done by the dragons, that is.”

  “No, I don’t yet know what we can rightfully expect from the freed dragons. Though I had to set a few examples of my dominance, they obey me… for the moment. It will depend on how much we can restore them to what they were meant to be.”

  I thought about it, but ultimately pushed the decision off onto future me. I needed to focus on Cami.

  Cassandra began an examination of Cami. I had hoped she’d find something that Lisella missed, since she had a different set of skills. I wanted to avoid having Cami operating on her own soul. Unfortunately, it appeared that was not going to be the case.

  We helped make Cami as comfortable as she could be, by which I mean that Cassandra did everything to get my bonded rider properly settled. I was clearly too important to fluff pillows—which didn’t have anything to do with the fact that one attempt at doing so resulted in a flurry of goose down feathers exploding all over this part of my lair.