Volume 5 Chapter 12

Volume 5 + Chapter 12: The Dragon’s Treasury

“Elly, if you want to earn my trust, this is still far from enough. You’ll need to be a bit more obedient~”

Xia Yi said cheerfully in front of Elly.

“Your Highness, y-you… what do you want me to do this time? I’ve already proven my loyalty! I’m not a mole… wuuuh!”

The unlucky little green dragon maid wore a miserable expression, on the verge of tears.

She hadn’t even realized that, without noticing it herself, she had already fallen straight into Xia Yi’s trap.

“Elly, you do know about the Dragon Treasury in our Dragon Clan palace, right?” Xia Yi asked.

“Of course I do, Your Highness!”

Elly nodded repeatedly.

Inside the Dragon Treasury of the Dragon Clan palace were countless treasures, among them gold, silver, and jewels offered as tribute by vassal states, as well as many heirlooms passed down within the Dragon Clan itself. Most of them were priceless.

Of course, Xia Yi wasn’t particularly interested in most of those treasures. The thing she cared about most was the Sky-Blue Wood.

Originally, the Sky-Blue Wood had been stored in a warehouse within the Dragon Clan palace. But ever since she had secretly slipped into the warehouse, taken the Sky-Blue Wood, and caused a whole chain of incidents, it had been transferred into the Dragon Treasury.

Those dragon mints, that was her real target.

“Your Highness, why are you suddenly bringing up the Dragon Treasury?” Elly asked.

“I want to go take a look at the Dragon Treasury.”

“Wouldn’t it be enough to just tell Her Majesty the Queen?” Elly was very confused.

As long as Xia Yi brought it up, Xia Lulu would certainly allow her to go.

After all, she was the Silver Dragon Princess, the only daughter of the ruler of the Dragon Clan.

But Xia Yi didn’t think so at all. If she mentioned this to Xia Lulu, wouldn’t that be blatantly telling her that she had ulterior motives?

She wasn’t stupid!

“No, no, no, Elly. That would be meaningless. If I apply to Xia Lulu directly, she’ll definitely put certain things away in advance, and then I won’t be able to see them,” Xia Yi explained. “And those things are exactly what I want to see.”

“Your Highness… what exactly do you want to see?”

“No need to worry about that, it’s not the key point! The key point is that tonight, Elly, you’re going to cooperate with me and sneak into the Dragon Treasury!”

“…Ah!!”

Upon hearing this, Elly’s legs went weak. She collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Her face turned deathly pale, cold sweat poured down her forehead, her whole body trembled, and she could barely speak.

“Y-Your Highness, th-this… this is impossible!!”

“What’s impossible about it? Don’t worry, I’ve already prepared a meticulous plan. You don’t need to be afraid.”

“Your Highness, if I do something like this, my head, no, my entire clan will evaporate!!”

Elly simply couldn’t accept it.

If she were to trespass into the Dragon Treasury without authorization and got discovered, even chopping off nine clans’ worth of heads wouldn’t be enough!

“Elly, you’re misunderstanding. It’s not you sneaking in, it’s you helping me get in! I’m a princess of the Dragon Clan’s royal family, after all. Entering the Dragon Treasury is my rightful authority to begin with!”

“B-but…”

“Elly, if I remember correctly, you’re currently in the probationary period to become a full member of the Royal Maid Corps, aren’t you?” Xia Yi narrowed her eyes.

“…!”

“Elly, you wouldn’t want your confirmation to fail, would you?”

“Of course I wouldn’t… wuuuh!”

Elly clutched her head and let out a wail of despair.

Her weak point had been firmly seized by Xia Yi.

She was so close to finally becoming a full member. If others found out what she had done for Xia Yi, not only would her confirmation be impossible, she might even be expelled from the Dragon Clan palace, or, in the worst case, thrown into prison for harming the Silver Dragon Princess.

“Elly, look, if you help me, you can become a full member of the Royal Maid Corps. If you don’t help me, you can’t. Which side do you think you should choose?” Xia Yi analyzed calmly.

“…Alright, Your Highness. Then I’ll go all in and help you this once, for the sake of my confirmation!!” Elly replied through gritted teeth.

“A truly wise choice!”

Xia Yi was extremely satisfied.

As expected, silly little Elly was easy to control. With a mix of coaxing and trickery, she had turned into her tool just like that!

“Alright, next comes the plan. Elly, listen carefully…”

……

……

“Your Highness…”

“What ‘Your Highness’? Cabbage, what are you talking about?!”

“My apologies, Lord Rice Cake! I’m ready!”

“Very good!”

Xia Yi nodded, clearly pleased.

“Cabbage” and “Rice Cake” were the code names the two of them were using for this infiltration mission.

In fact, they had used these very same code names the last time they caused trouble in the Dragon Clan palace. This stirred up some unpleasant memories for Elly, after that last incident, she had been miserably unlucky. This time…

It should be fine, right?

After all, Her Highness had already made thorough preparations.

Before them loomed the massive Dragon Treasury.

Around its perimeter, an enormous magical formation was in operation, sealing off the entrance. Ordinary people simply could not enter.

To gain entry, there were only two methods.

The first was to possess a token granted by the Silver Dragon Queen, which could open the treasury’s sealing magic array. This was usually done when items needed to be transported into the treasury and required prior approval from the royal family.

The second was to be a bearer of Silver Dragon royal blood, using the power of that bloodline to open the sealing array, this usually meant Xia Lulu personally visiting the treasury, and was relatively rare.

No matter which method it was, one thing was clear: everything led back to the Dragon Clan’s royal family.

In the entire Dragon Kingdom, there were now only two Silver Dragons left, Xia Lulu and Xia Yi.

“Cabbage, listen carefully. According to my investigation, the Dragon Treasury hasn’t had a single incident in nearly several hundred years. Do you know what that means?” Xia Yi asked.

“Y-Your, oh no, Lord Rice Cake, I’m not quite sure.”

“It means that the treasury guards, having lived in comfort for so long, have already fallen into a state of complacency!”

“After all, using conventional methods, it’s impossible to get past the sealing magic array anyway,” Elly replied.

“Heh heh, exactly! And it’s precisely that kind of thinking that gives us our opportunity! I’ve already checked, soon, the guards will have a ten-minute shift change. During those ten minutes, we can begin our operation. I’ll infiltrate the Dragon Treasury, and you, Cabbage, will stand watch outside. If there’s any abnormal situation, report it to me immediately. If it’s an emergency, no matter what method you use, you must buy me time. Understood?”

“…Understood! Cabbage guarantees mission completion!!”

Elly really wanted to refuse, but she had no road left to retreat on.

She had already been dragged onto Xia Yi’s pirate ship, there was no jumping off now. She could only walk this dark path all the way to the end.

Xia Yi declared confidently:

“The Dragon Treasury infiltration plan, activate!”

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