Evil Dragon, Without a Princess, I Had to Transform Myself!-Chapter 49 : Witch

There weren't many things in the world that could make an evil dragon change her mind, but vampire thrall cuisine was definitely one of them.
Having enjoyed good food and drink at the Duchess's mansion for so long, asking Patunasankus to try something Elaphia had cooked was something she definitely wouldn't be willing to do.
Moreover, even Latifa definitely wouldn't eat something with such an appearance.
The evil dragon was certain of this.
If Latifa wouldn't eat it, neither would she.
Since she had finally discussed the temporary detour with the Princess, Loranhir felt at ease asking Elaphia about the Grand Mage of Bluefin Bay.
This concerned the major matter of her attempting to enter the arcane field—she couldn't be careless.
No wait!
This was clearly about the major matter concerning the Princess's enjoyment of fine cuisine—she couldn't be careless.
"About the Grand Mage of Bluefin Bay, how much do you know, Elaphia?" Loranhir asked.
"Not much. I remember the locals all called him Grand Mage Oz. The last time I saw him, he already looked quite elderly. At that time, his achievements in the arcane field were roughly at the level of a traveling mage in the seventh circle."
Under the evil dragon's admiring gaze, Elaphia chewed the black paste from the plate, twisting her chin as she thought without changing expression.
"Over a hundred years have passed. Even using various life-extending methods, if he doesn't successfully advance soon, he'll be preparing to enter the grave. Being able to reach the seventh circle as a traveling mage is already the limit for normal people. The remaining ranks already depend on talent, wisdom, and the favor of the god of arcane arts.
Though I've heard some mages will switch to other paths due to insufficient lifespan or simply being poor, but I'm not clear about such matters."
Patunasankus rested her cheeks on her hands, listening with boredom.
Such common knowledge was all too clear to the well-traveled evil dragon.
The mage path, like most professional paths, conventionally divided ranks into nine circles, with the endpoint being legendary-tier astral mages.
Each circle's breakthrough required massive accumulation of arcane knowledge, but unlike sorcerers and paladins who could naturally rely on charisma, the mage path was extraordinarily demanding of talent and resources.
Many things in the world would deceive you, but arcane arts alone would not.
If you couldn't do arcane arts, you simply couldn't.
Patunasankus pressed her two little index fingers against her temples, rotating forcefully.
Anyway, they were all weaklings.
After all these years, the evil dragon didn't know how many arrogant mages she had slaughtered.
Remembering how a group of mages who liked looking down their noses at people had once treated her as a brainless wyvern, trying to ambush her with the simplest, crudest arcane traps, made the evil dragon very displeased.
What did they take her for?
A kitty cat?
She seemed to suddenly lose interest, her gaze shifting aside.
Unlike Patunasankus's disdain, Loranhir listened with great interest.
She seemed to mutter to herself with an enlightened expression.
Even as a village girl, Loranhir had heard of the nobility of mage masters.
Though she lacked education, after becoming a Hero she had at least worked hard to learn all the characters she should know.
Even if the probability was low, it didn't prevent her from trying.
What if it worked out?
With so many extraordinary paths available in the world, Loranhir would try them one by one—she refused to believe she couldn't find the most suitable one for herself.
Try once more, fail once more—if this failure went a bit better, that would be victory!
Having set their itinerary, what remained was traveling.
Loranhir and Elaphia left the carriage.
By now, day had broken, with sparse morning stars twinkling in the gray dawn sky.
After experiencing the sudden wyvern attack and resting briefly here for the night, their three-person team had to hurry on their way again.
As usual, Elaphia served as coachman, with Loranhir occasionally switching with her. When she had nothing else to do, she would polish the ash that had fallen on the holy sword from tending the fire.
Everyone had things to do—only Patunasankus didn't need to be responsible for anything, continuing to stay in the carriage.
Of course, one couldn't say she was just lying inside sleeping soundly.
Patunasankus was still pondering something.
Patunasankus had extracted wyvern Yanubi's heart, and she boredly held this strange object mixed with rubble, examining it carefully.
This heart pulsed bright red, with wyvern Yanubi's power still flowing within it.
Since she was idle anyway, the evil dragon was bored enough to research the dragon feast method that had been abandoned by ancient dragons for a thousand years.
'How exactly is the dragon feast supposed to work?'
Patunasankus pouted.
Though she was an ancient dragon, she hadn't really studied this ancient dragon feast ritual. The inherited memories that ancient dragons possessed from birth might contain records of it.
But without seriously digging, it was difficult to find useful knowledge in the junk pile left by ancestors.
Things like several gigabytes of ancient dragon mating demonstrations, post-egg-laying care techniques, how to get along with stupid dragons, the art of breathing fire... all sorts of miscellaneous ancestral memories abounded.
Anyway, Patunasankus never looked at such things—never.
After swimming in the garbage sea of ancestral memories for a long time, Patunasankus finally found some useful memories.
'The dragon feast ritual requires the presence of a witch?' Patunasankus propped her chin.
In ancient times, to mass-produce powerful yet cheap dragon warriors, ancient dragons had even condescended to transform into witches, specifically to guide humans in making dragons' pure and overwhelming power their own.
The specific reason for creating dragon feasts wasn't mentioned in Patunasankus's inherited memories.
...Dragon warriors.
Hmm... that sounded quite fun.
Just as Patunasankus was considering whether to build a dragon warrior legion for fun after returning to her lair.
The carriage suddenly stopped, with strange war cries and noisy sounds coming from ahead.
At the same time, Loranhir's heartbeat also rang out, its rhythm mysteriously matching Yanubi's heart.
Sensing the abnormality, Patunasankus immediately put away Yanubi's heart, placing it in the dimensional bag she carried. If the two people outside saw this thing, it would be really hard to explain.
They hadn't been traveling long.
What trouble had they encountered now?
Patunasankus lazily sat up, stretching like a cat.
She curiously lifted the window curtain and looked outside.
It was a group of goblins.