Dragon God’s System

So, he was kicking me out of the nest. Of course, I had expected it to happen sooner or later. Gothi could be separated into two categories. The first category was for dragon wyrmlings. When they grow old enough, the young dragons will be given a group of kobold minions. These minions would then follow the gothi when they were sent away to conquer their own territories. Needless to say, those kobolds were often young kobolds who were eager for challenges or who the chieftain wanted to get rid of, for whatever reason.

The second category was when kobold tribes became too large. When this happened, those kobolds who were the most discontented would be sent off to a different location where they would start a new city. Unlike in the first circumstance, these kobolds would still owe their loyalty to the same dragon.

Since I was technically a dragon, Dróttinn was viewing me almost the same as he would a young dragon. The main difference was that since I wasn’t the offspring of Einvaldskonungr, I probably wouldn’t receive the same amount of support. In fact, I would get a minimal amount of assistance. More than likely, I would be given the malcontents and incompetents.

Despite the fact that I was soon going to be kicked out of the kobold city, I was actually quite pleased with what was happening. While I felt a connection to the tribe, Dróttinn had done a good job of keeping me separated from the rest of the tribe. Still, I had to admit that I felt a lot of affection for the tribe that had given birth to me. However, I also really wanted rule over a city filled with minions. Therefore, I wasn’t offended by what the chieftain was saying at all.

‘I understand,” I said. “When will my group be leaving?”

“It will be in two weeks,” Dróttinn said, apparently pleased by the fact that I wasn’t complaining or arguing. “Right now, I am gathering volunteers since your group will be creating a new city. We have several locations already selected for you to choose from. Here, let me show you their locations.”

With that, the chieftain pulled out a map and started pointing out different sites I could choose from. I was very happy when he also started providing information about the disadvantages and advantages for each location. For the next hour, Dróttinn answered my questions and made suggestions of his own. By the end of the conversation, I found myself amazed at how quickly I was being kicked out of the city.

After Dróttinn left my room, I sat down and tried to settle my mind by studying the third level spells in the spellbooks. While I could be wrong, I doubted that I would be allowed to take the three spell books with me. Because of this, I needed to transcribe the spells at the very least. Before I got started, I sent a mental command for Alsvartr to scout two of the caves that the chieftain had told me about. With Hyggiandi’s input, I could choose the best site for my new city.

Every once in a while, while I was transcribing the spells into my spellbook, I would glance at the Aegis Libram. More and more I was certain that the being who gave me the system was also responsible for sending me the spellbook. The timing was just too coincidental to ignore. Obviously, someone, or something, was looking out for me. However, I had no idea who or what that being was. Still, I wasn’t going to complain since it was helping me.

I guess I could narrow it down at least a little though. It had to be a god. While I couldn’t be certain the god who gave me the system and the Aegis Libram was the same god that had reincarnated me into this world, I would bet all my gold on it. While it was possible that one of the gods whose favor I had gained could have given me the Aegis Libram, I just didn’t feel like that was the case.

From everything I knew, when people reincarnated as a baby, they generally lost their memories. I hadn’t. While my memories were often foggy, I could remember many of them, even if it felt like they were the memories of someone else. Maybe that was why they faded almost as quickly as I remembered them. Although I suppose the god could have made a mistake, I doubted it. It almost felt like the god who had reincarnated me had a plan.

Sighing, I continued to transcribe the spells. I wasn’t trying to do anything other than copy them because I knew I had a lot to do. After I got settled into the new city, I could take some time to learn the spells. By just copying the spells instead of trying to learn them, I was able to save a lot of time.

Despite only copying the spells, it still took me two days to transcribe all the spells into my spellbook. After that, I started planning out what my city would look like. Most of the time I was simply making plans in my mind while I wandered around the city. I was looking around it to gain inspiration. I made mental notes about things I liked, such as how the kobolds had created chokepoints at strategic locations. While it might interfere with wheeled traffic, it was also worth it for the improvement in safety.

I could already tell that I needed to focus on defense. Traps which could be reset easily were obviously a must. It would also be great if I could incorporate natural resources, whether as building components or as defenses. Lava pools could be used for protection as well as a source of heat and energy. Even nearby animal colonies, such as with bats, could be used both for food and for protection. If invaders had to pass through an area guarded by bats, my city would have extra defenders who could be used as a food source.

While I wanted to concentrate on survival, ensuring an adequate number of resources was also necessary. Obtaining those resources might be difficult though. Afterall, if the locations Dróttinn had shown me were ideal, another tribe of kobolds or dwarves would have already settled there. Since the sites were unpopulated, there probably weren’t rich deposits of minerals or other desirable traits present. Of course, the minerals could just be undiscovered. However, while I would love to have a vast amount of natural resources, I really only needed enough to allow a city to survive.

After becoming familiar with all the different areas in the city, I started sketching designs for possible city layouts. That wasn’t the only thing I was doing though. I periodically checked on the main tunnel entrance. Despite being untrained recruits, the invading soldiers had made some significant progress through the tunnel. During this time, I had also noticed that the number of kobolds I would see as I walked around the city had diminished. The city had become almost a ghost town.

At first, I had been worried that the green kobolds were going to ambush one of the kobold caravans as they transported eggs and newly hatched wyrmlings to safer locations. I was relieved when this didn’t prove to be the case. I was really becoming confused about what the Groenneitr tribe was planning. Were they wanting us to move out of the city so they could move in? Were they too busy to take advantage of us while we moved our population to a safer location?

From what I could tell, Dróttinn was planning on continuing to defend the city. At the same time though, he was also evacuating all the noncombatants to some of the nearby mines. After the soldiers left, they could always quietly move back into the city once everything settled down. That was if they still desired to do so. It actually made sense.

While it was possible the humans might start a mining village where the kobold city was located, it wasn’t likely. Not only did the humans not have enough manpower, but extracting the remaining minerals and ores was labor intensive. In addition, all of the easily accessible minerals and ores had long since been mined since the kobold city had existed for over a century. As it was, Dróttinn had already been lamenting the fact that mining had become much more difficult in recent years. Kobold miners had to travel for hours each day.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the move wouldn’t benefit the tribe in the long run. The kobolds would be closer to the mines and also still be close enough to serve their dragon god. In fact, I could easily imagine Dróttinn creating several small kobold villages instead of one big city. Whatever the circumstances, I was sure they would survive. Kobolds were nothing if not survivors.

Speaking of survivors, another thing I had done over the last two weeks was meet with some of the kobolds who would be following me into exile. Most of them were lackluster. Obviously, Dróttinn wasn’t giving me the best of the best. In fact, a few of the kobolds were rambunctious or belligerent. At least almost all of the kobolds were young. Surprisingly, each of the maids who had watched over my room decided to join me.

The most important thing was that, with Hyggiandi’s help, I had finally decided on a location for my city. It was actually located on an island with an inactive volcano at the edge of the Penningr Republic. The island was surrounded by steep cliffs and strong currents. Because of this, it wasn’t easily accessed by sea. However, it was accessible through an underground cave system that was formed from old lava tunnels.

There were several reasons why it was currently unoccupied. One reason was because the island was located on the border of two kingdoms who were currently at war and had been for decades. The other country was the one the kobold tribe was currently in, Konungdómr Kingdom. In fact, that border was where Baron Réttr’s veteran soldiers could be found. Needless to say, with two different armies fighting nearby, most races wouldn’t feel safe.

Another reason was because of the difficulty in getting to the island. Most races weren’t interested in a small island that was only accessible through an underground tunnel. If the tunnel failed, the inhabitants might be trapped on the island. This meant that only races that preferred underground cities would be interested.

The dwarves had withdrawn to their own cities for the most part. The drow and other underground races were even more secretive and preferred to be far away from human expansionism. That mostly left goblins and orcs. While Hyggiandi did indicate that a few goblins and orcs could be found in the vicinity, there weren't a lot of them.

The main reason was because both of those races sustained their population mostly through raiding. They preyed on weak villages that were lightly defended to survive. Every few years, the kingdoms would send soldiers across the border to test the other side. This had been going on for almost a hundred years. While there wasn’t constant warfare, or even large-scale battles, both kingdoms had stationed a lot of soldiers to guard against the periodic invasions. Because of these frequent skirmishes, the orcs and goblins that used to live in the area had long since left.

While it wasn’t ideal, it was probably the best I was going to be able to find, especially since there was a time crunch. Tomorrow was the day when my minions and I would set out for the island. I was a little worried since we would have to travel overland a lot of the trip. While there were some underground passages, the passages didn’t extend all the way. Although I hoped nothing would happen, I knew there was no way we were going to be that lucky.