Chapter 335: Chapter 222: Let’s Hear What the Victim Has to Say
Upon hearing this long-lost name, Naferutali was so frightened that she wet herself on the spot.
If there was anyone who was profoundly impacted by the disaster of Spider Nest City, it was certainly none other than this group of Drow.
And as former matrons of Spider Nest City, they were the ones who bore the brunt.
In fact, they had already received some information when Flavia, that bitch, began courting disaster. However, at that time, they all adopted the attitude of a bystander:
They knew Flavia might fail, and they were prepared to capitalize on her downfall. However, they never expected that the Red Dragon Wyrmling would unexpectedly topple the entire Spider Nest City, bringing them and the other matrons down with it.
Heaven knows, that was truly an undeserved disaster.
After lurking and struggling for decades, perhaps even a century, to finally overthrow all their crafty and scheming sisters and their mother, they had scarcely seized the matron’s throne with aspirations to realize their ambitions when Sed Ponga struck them with a blast of the Chromatic Dragon Queen’s divine power, leaving them destitute and even blacklisted by the Spider Goddess.
Since then, they had never dared to set foot in the Gloomy Region again, let alone claim to be followers of the Spider Goddess.
Instead, she fled to Central Earth’s Valden Duchy with several dozen Drow who had no choice but to rely on her. She infiltrated and took control of Count Pablo, who was considered pathetic. Relying on her old trade and personally taking charge of operations for a while, Naferutali managed to rebuild her resources to some extent. She set down roots in the chaotic nation of Luwalden, delegated authority, and retreated behind the scenes like a widow spider.
But thirty-two years ago, when a group of Drow subordinates came to her with a boatload of goods bearing a dragon’s head insignia, looking terrified, and claimed they might have accidentally robbed a merchant ship belonging to the progeny of the Crimson Calamity, she was so enraged that she felt like killing someone.
Oh, no, she actually did behead the Drow who led the maritime plundering team.
The fine head is still being pickled in a salt jar.
Just so she would have it to negotiate a way out when the Red Dragon came seeking vengeance.
However, the Red Dragon never came seeking revenge.
Instead, rumors first reached her that his mother, Pafila the Crimson Calamity, had ascended to godhood...
At that moment, Naferutali felt like slitting her own throat and descending into hell.
It was bad enough that he was so divinely favored he could call upon the Chromatic Dragon Queen’s divine might at will, but now he had become a genuine second-generation god! Were they even going to let me live?!
Then, not much later, while she lived in constant fear and unease, news came that his Sed Ponga Red Dragon ancestor, Christoph, was leading Vassals on a march into the Gloomy Region...
And after that, information about the Red Dragon, David Uthos, seemed to vanish altogether, as if he had left this plane of existence.
Connecting this to the news of his mother Pafila’s ascension to godhood, Naferutali could only assume that he had gone to directly follow his mother.
As for me, perhaps he had simply forgotten about me, this ’minor character’?!
Years, then decades, passed, and it seemed that was indeed the case. Naferutali gradually emerged from her constant state of alarm.
After thirty-two years of diligent work and management, leveraging Count Pablo’s power and resources, she had finally seen a glimmer of success in her endeavors.
But it was at this very moment that she suddenly received news that the Red Dragon was coming to Luwalden with hundreds of dragon Vassals.
Naferutali’s first thought upon hearing this news was:
The Red Dragon is coming to seek vengeance on me!
Back when he was just a Red Dragon Wyrmling, he had the power to wreak havoc on the entirety of Spider Nest City. Now, he has grown into a proper young Red Dragon with countless loyal Vassals under his command!
No matter how I think about it, fleeing seems to be my only option.
And the thought that a legendary Red Dragon—one who had been relentlessly hunting Drow in the Gloomy Region for thirty years—still roamed there, made my Drow existence feel utterly bleak.
"My dear, what’s the matter with you?" Count Pablo, who had naturally noticed Naferutali’s sudden terror, asked with a worried and caring expression.
The other young men of the Pablo family also looked on with concern. However, even bootlickers had to respect the hierarchy; with their old man present, it wasn’t their place to offer solicitous inquiries.
After nearly thirty years together, Naferutali didn’t treat these men—whom she largely saw as tools—as complete strangers, and so she recounted the past fiasco and her current worries.
However, even Count Pablo, with his half-century of worldly experience, visibly deflated upon learning the terrifying background of the enemy his mistress had unwittingly provoked. The sight of all four Pablo men simultaneously cowering made the former Drow matron sneer inwardly.
Just as Naferutali was about to dismiss these ’manservants’ to ponder the thorny and life-threatening problem alone, she was surprised when the old Count, who was poring over ’intelligence reports’ from the Port of Wallens, actually offered a rather useful piece of information:
"But as far as I know, the High Elves launched an expedition to the Old Continent, Skanis, more than ten years ago. That progeny of the Crimson Calamity didn’t choose to engage in direct conflict with the High Elves at this juncture. Instead, he led all his retainers and followers to Luwalden. Don’t you think this, in itself, explains a lot?"