Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 307 Sowing
Just now, a concerned citizen named Ethan witnessed a domestic violence incident. The black baby dragon, who also witnessed the scene, was so frightened that it trembled and hid half of its head in his arms.

Thus, the mission from the single dragon mother came to an end. However, this did not match the touching scene of father and son meeting that Ethan had imagined. Rather than a hatchery, this place looked more like a research institute used for some shady research.

The baby dragon that had burrowed into the Azure Dragon's corpse sensed the commotion outside and frantically buried itself in the Azure Dragon's flesh and blood. These demon cubs instinctively sought the protection of their mother, even though she had long since lost all signs of life and was now just a decaying shell.

Black Steel's eyes were icy, and more dark red energy surged from his raised right hand.

Just as this aura of destruction was about to descend, he suddenly turned around and looked back in the direction he had come from.

After a moment's hesitation, he extinguished the energy ball in his hand and strode up the stairs.

A commotion was breaking out in the capital.

Rumors spread rapidly among the people. The Cuckoo Bird Daily published the latest news from Fogwood County: a plague had broken out there the night before, and all those infected had symptoms similar to those of mechanical monsters. At the same time, some news about members of the royal family also spread like wildfire.

A writer named "Musashi" revealed the scene inside the royal palace—at a critical moment for the kingdom's survival, the royal family and ministers were indulging in pleasure and ignoring the summoners suffering in the border cities. She also discovered from within the Royal Association that the quartermasters had misappropriated monster eggs originally intended for distribution to volunteer soldiers, passing them off as inferior ones.

Another reporter, using the alias "Mud," managed to infiltrate the black market in the royal capital and discovered that a large number of high-quality monster eggs had flooded the black market a few days prior, indirectly proving the authenticity of Musashi's information.

This series of intelligence reports caused widespread panic in the capital. When the latest issue of the Cuckoo Bird Daily reached the palace, the king was so angry that his beard almost stood on end.

Tricky people!

A bunch of troublemakers!
But these troublemakers are irrelevant; as long as Chairman Black Steel is still around, the situation remains under their control.

Whether the enemies are mechanical monsters, plagues, or rebellious peasants, none can shake their rule.

While Blacksteel was busy dealing with the sudden public opinion crisis in the capital, Ethan also completed his exploration of the "underground research institute." He held the Kingdom Dragon Atlas that Rowena had stolen from somewhere and carefully compared the characteristics of the baby dragons one by one. Although he had a premonition, the numbers he found still left him dumbfounded.

27 characteristics of dragons, which almost cover all the species in the dragon atlas.

What kind of dragon breeding is this!
It seems that the single-parent spiny dragon mother was not the only victim. It appears that one of Blacksteel's hobbies was to mate with different female dragons to produce offspring, and then use these dragon eggs for research.

The research project should be related to the changes in the baby dragons.

The newly hatched Azure Dragon babies have already shown characteristics of mechanical monsters, but judging from how Blacksteel treated them, this still doesn't satisfy him.

Ethan examined the blue dragon's corpse on the altar. The fatal wound in its abdomen had been forcibly carved out by some extremely destructive energy, which had almost instantly taken the dragon's life.

The blue dragon's eyes remained wide open, gazing in the direction of the dragon egg.

The dragon eggs have hatched, and several hungry, blue baby dragons have stumbled out of them.

Ethan didn't know what kind of dragon bloodline Blacksteel wanted to create, but he saw the fear and anxiety in the eyes of the baby dragons, including the cubs that the single dragon mother had entrusted to him for care.

At that moment, he suddenly understood Bucciarati's feelings when he faced his boss directly.

What will happen to them?

Rowena asked.

The baby dragons' attitude towards these uninvited guests had changed from initial curiosity to dependence. She suspected that dragons also had a chick complex, and they had clearly regarded Ethan as their new father.

More than thirty newly hatched dragons gathered on the altar, their necks craned back, chirping softly at Ethan.

Although Rowena loved the baby dragons, the surviving ones became a big problem. Her invisibility cloak couldn't hold so many, and they couldn't possibly take them out into the street.

But keeping them in this hellish research institute is not a solution either.

Blacksteel never intended to take care of these hatchlings from the beginning. Most of them were left to fend for themselves. Shriveled corpses were scattered around the eggshells. Some starving baby dragons barely survived by gnawing on the corpses of their dead kin.

To make matters worse, there's a wicked father who occasionally barges in and, when he's in a bad mood, he'll strangle the baby dragon for amusement.

These baby dragons seemed to understand human language. When Rowena asked them a question, they all stopped their hissing and looked at Ethan with pleading eyes.

Miss Chloe couldn't stand such stares, so she bent down and covered the nearest baby dragons under her wings, providing them with a temporary haven with her warm feathers.

"Lovina's concerns are valid; we can't possibly take so many hatchlings with us on this mission."

He had already made up his mind, "But we can't keep them here any longer. As I said before, Team Rocket's mission is to help monsters in distress."

……

When Ethan emerged from the basement with a brood of hungry dragon babies, the dragon maids in the manor were stunned; none of them had seen how he had gotten in.

But Ethan, who was good at interpersonal communication, quickly became friends with the maids. He first personally demonstrated to the maids how to cook a healthy breakfast for the dragon babies. Among them, the milk of the Mistweaver Antelope and the protein-rich recipe were the secrets to ensuring the growth of the baby dragons. He quickly finalized a week's menu with the maids and then mobilized the dragon maids in the manor to go to the underground research institute to clean up the mess.

This was the first time the dragon maids had ever seen the underground research lab, and they were all terrified by the hellish scene before them.

Ethan cremated the long-dead Azure Dragon, then took the lead in picking up a broom and mop and began cleaning.

During the big clean-up, the little octopus and the big wolfhound took on the core responsibilities of the team, one could spray water and the other had endless stamina.

The dragon maids of the manor were also inspired by Ethan and threw themselves into the renovation work.

They also struggled to explain their feelings, even knowing that their actions might bring them death—Blacksteel forbade anyone from entering the basement, and whenever he returned to the manor, he would shed his disguise and unabashedly display his most brutal side.

This is the dragon-like nature that flows in his blood.

Neither humans nor demons can suppress their true nature forever.

Ethan learned about their origins from the dragon maids—it turned out that Blacksteel's seeding plan was not limited to dragons; he had also searched for many "high-quality" individuals among humans in the past, but the results of mating still could not satisfy him. These hybrid maids were his offspring, or more accurately, survivors.

Most of the hybrid dragons died shortly after birth, and those who survived did not receive any proper care. The only reason they were allowed to stay in the manor was because Blacksteel needed servants to manage it for him.

"It's getting late, Mr. Sakaki, please leave as soon as possible."

As time went on, the atmosphere in the manor became increasingly tense.

One of the maids finally couldn't contain her anxiety and spoke up.

As she said those words, her large tail drooped to the ground, and she relaxed completely.

No one blamed the dragon maid who spoke up; instead, someone said, "An upright person like you shouldn't die here." They all knew what Blacksteel would do when he returned to the manor and saw the changes.

The dragon maids put down their cleaning tools, stopped and looked at the bright moon in the night sky. At this moment, they finally understood the emotions in their hearts.

Even if it was only for a short day, they experienced being treated as human beings rather than as servants.

"Running away in the face of battle is not the style of the Rockets."

Ethan waved his hand; as a mediator of conflicts within monster families, he still had his most important mission to complete.

Upon hearing this, the dragon maid's expression changed.

"Lord Blacksteel is not a summoner. If you oppose him, you will..."

The scorching heat interrupted the dragon maids' warnings. When the tall, black figure appeared in the doorway, the more timid ones were so frightened that they fell to the ground.

"What will he do? Go on."

Black Steel's voice was deep and resonant, and the aura of this high-ranking monster made the dragon maids feel suffocated.

"...will die."

After an unknown amount of time, such a sound finally came from the crowd.

For the summoners of this plane, death is not a common word. Everyone will encounter countless dangerous monsters during their adventures. They may be defeated many times, but they will eventually wake up in the rescue station in the wild. All of this is thanks to the blessing of the Crimson Queen. It is thanks to her protection that people and monsters can coexist in harmony to this day.

However, they had all witnessed Blacksteel commit murder.

The summoners in the Royal Society who opposed him initially even stormed into his manor to protest.

But Blacksteel broke the Crimson Queen's rules many years ago: those human bodies would be torn apart and taken into a secret door in the study, never to be seen again.

Shortly after Black Steel took over as president, many members of the Royal Summoner Association went missing. To this day, the general opinion among the people of the capital is that these missing persons left in anger because they couldn't stand Black Steel and simply left the capital.

After all, in a world without fighting and death, this is how people resolve conflicts.

The scene before them triggered terrifying memories for the maids.

Humans like Ethan, who were unaware of Blacksteel's true identity, have come here before.

“Mr. Black Steel, you’re back just in time. I have something to discuss with you.”

They watched as Ethan nonchalantly walked straight toward Blacksteel, pulling out a neatly organized list from the inside pocket of his clothes as he went. “I’ve arranged your offspring in three different areas of the manor, and prepared different nutritional diets for them according to their species. But you should know that children grow very fast, and it may not be long before your manor can no longer accommodate them. Therefore, after surveying the structure of the manor, I have developed a renovation plan.”

Ethan handed the renovation plans to Blacksteel.

Their team is full of talented people. Unexpectedly, the other side has made achievements in architecture and drew up a sketch in just one afternoon.

"My maids and I cleaned your underground research room. It has a good foundation and with a little modification, it can provide the most suitable environment for the children to grow up in."

Ethan believed this was advice no responsible father would refuse, given the wide range of Blacksteel seeding, which meant his offspring encompassed almost all common attributes.

Ice dragons inhabit snow-capped mountains, while fire dragons prefer to bathe in lava. He designed human-like facilities for the young dragons based on their different needs.

The dragon maids looked ashen-faced.

Ethan's words just now were tantamount to touching Blacksteel's sore spot.

A dark red energy suddenly erupted from the cracks on his face. "Sakaki of Team Rocket, I've heard of you."

"Oh? I'm that famous now?"

"It's impossible for the news to spread throughout the capital in such a short time with just two insignificant characters like you who suddenly appeared."

Kurogane slowly extended his palm, and the object he held in his hand looked somewhat familiar.

The brown, withered wood still retains a wisp of energy that has not yet been extinguished.

"Was it that ancient tree that instructed you? Unfortunately, it seems you're destined to have wasted your time."

With that, Black Steel snapped the withered wood in his hand into several pieces. Before the broken wood chips hit the ground, they were burned to ashes by the dark red energy. "It asked me to tell you that your mission is over."

The jet-black scales continuously released terrifying heat, spreading upwards along the black steel forearm until they covered his entire face, and his eyes turned into vertical pupils, like a lizard eyeing its prey.

His open mouth revealed a row of sharp teeth.

The problem that had troubled Ethan for so long was finally solved.

The reason he could see the Black Steel panel was because the rumors of a "hybrid human" were false. What he was facing was not a hybrid, but a dragon that had transformed into a human and hidden in human society.

Ethan felt his hopes were doomed to be dashed.

It's difficult for a species like Black Steel to transform into a devoted and responsible father; that would probably require intervention at the genetic level.

Claws shrouded in dark red energy slammed towards him.

"Fortunately, I also have the 'Growing Up with You Package B' for them. The feature of this package is that parents do not need to accompany them."

“I will tell them that their father was sent on a business trip to a faraway place by his company in order to earn money to support the family.”

As they were speaking, a figure appeared almost instantly, blocking their path.

Black Steel's swung claws paused for a moment.

He clearly saw a wolf transform into a human right in front of him.

He also saw that Ethan never took a single step back.

"If it were a business trip, which city would you like to be sent to?"

(End of this chapter)