Henry was now nearly a hundred years old, but he possessed the strength of a high-level Magister and was on the verge of advancing to become a Great Mage. Like Richard, his lifespan had been extended countless times.

Some of his bodyguards still followed him, while a few with weaker strength had passed away.

Eric had always thought he stayed here to accumulate power, waiting for the day to return to the human world to fulfill his ambitions. He hadn’t expected him to stay in the Hadu tribe for so long, even becoming close with the tribesmen.

But he knew that in his heart, Henry had not given up his ambition to reclaim the Kenya Empire; it was just that the time was not yet ripe, or rather, his power was insufficient.

It was said that the Duke of the Kenya Empire, Henry’s uncle, commanded a Blood Moon Legion under his banner, with combat power several times that of ordinary soldiers. They were equipped with the sturdiest heavy armor and used a forbidden alchemical drug to stimulate the body’s potential, making them impervious to pain and frenzied upon smelling blood. The methods of this legion were extremely cruel; it was said that many among them even ate the flesh of their own kind to maintain their ferocity.

His uncle was wealthy beyond measure, controlling the economic lifeblood of a vast region. Although he did not cultivate magic, having money meant he could buy lifespan and buy the top high-level mages to sell their lives for him. Now he had killed several of Henry’s siblings, ruthlessly purging opponents to take the throne himself.

Henry’s most difficult problem was the Blood Moon Legion and the dark mages following his uncle, which was why he initially targeted the Snow Wolves to borrow their wild power. But now that he had lost his trump card and his financial sources were gradually drying up, he could only silently accumulate power while waiting for an opportunity in despair.

After careful consideration, Eric decided to make a deal with him.

"You say you can help me attack the Blood Moon Legion?" Henry was surprised; the tea cup in his hand was almost unsteady, tea spilling out. He knew the strength of this tribe well, but confronting a regular imperial legion was a completely different matter.

"Yes, but I have one condition," Eric said, his determined gaze looking straight at the other party.

That was only natural. There was no free lunch in this world. Henry calmed down, placed the tea cup on the table, and gently took a sip to hide the fluctuation in his heart: "Please speak."

"The Hadu tribe can send the strongest warriors, equipped with weapons refined from the best steel, riding the fiercest beasts to help you defeat the Blood Moon Legion. I believe the muscle power and combat skills of the beastman warriors can completely crush those medicinally enhanced soldiers. As for other matters like logistics or politics, I think you are already prepared. My condition is that after you ascend the throne, you must use your supreme power to find every single beastman slave in the human world and hand them over to us."

Eric spoke solemnly, his tone carrying the majesty of a patriarch:

"Whether they are small or large beastmen, injured or disabled, imprisoned in dark mines or used for entertainment in bloody arenas, whether children or adults, as long as they are beastmen, we will accept them all. We want to bring them home. Of course, we won’t let you work in vain or suffer losses with other nobles; we will pay you gold equivalent to the market price for every rescued slave."

Henry was stunned; his delicate face rarely showed such a loss of composure. He hadn’t expected Eric’s condition to be so simple yet so great.

After a long time, he looked deeply at Eric, his eyes complex: "I often think, it’s fortunate that you aren’t human, and also fortunate that you are in the Illusory Dream Continent. If you were born in the Kenya Empire, I’m afraid that throne wouldn’t be for my family to fight over."

Before Eric could understand his meaning, he saw Henry stand up, straighten his clothes, and extend a hand to him:

"As you wish, we have a deal. I pledge this on the honor of the royal lineage. From now on, we will be allies."

Eric also stood up, revealing a radiant smile, and shook Henry’s hand tightly, saying: "Yes, allies."

A dragon roar resounded from the horizon, the powerful sound tearing through the clouds; Arthur, missing for many days, had returned. Henry shrugged and sat back down, continuing to enjoy his tea, appearing not to care much about that noisy fellow.

Eric smiled helplessly. Anyway, their alliance agreement had been reached; he didn’t disturb Henry’s rest anymore and lifted the curtain to go out and wait for Arthur.

The small golden dot in the sky gradually enlarged, blocking out the sunlight; the wind from the dragon’s wings kicked up dust. However, Arthur didn’t transform back into human form before landing but kept his huge body perched on the square, which filled Eric’s head with question marks.

One had to know this guy always acted like a civilized, polite person, extremely concerned with his image, never damaging a single brick in the square. Moreover, according to him, landing in human form with robes fluttering looked the coolest.

Suppressing his curiosity, Eric walked quickly towards the golden dragon. By this time, quite a few people in the tribe were craning their necks to look in this direction, discussing the dragon guest’s strange behavior.

Getting closer, Eric was slightly stunned.

He saw the silly dragon lying down slightly, extending a sturdy wing close to the ground like a slide, his huge head rubbing and smiling fawningly (yes... truly smiling, smiling very despicably, eyes squinted into slits) waiting for the person on his back to step down.

As a result, the person just gave him a disdainful look, tapped their toes lightly, and with an elegant demeanor, flew down gently like a God descending to the mortal world.

Arthur dropped his head in disappointment, exhaled a sad puff of smoke, then stood up and shuddered as he transformed back into human form, not forgetting to run fawningly around that person, dusting invisible dust off their shoulder.

Beautiful.

In Eric’s brain at this moment, there were only two words to describe the arrival.

Different from the sharp, androgynous beauty of Elves or the angular, strong masculine beauty of the Dragon tribe, this person had a beauty that leaned slightly towards the feminine, gentle and holy. Smooth long black hair, eyes bright as stars, skin white and smooth without a blemish. Hmm, using words to describe Snow White on this person didn’t feel wrong at all.

"Eric, Eric, come here quickly. This is Lance, he can remove our soul contract! He is the most talented space mage I have ever met!"

Eric was slightly stunned, then overjoyed. Damn it, heaven knows I’ve wanted to dissolve this crazy contract for a long time. Having a mate but still having a contract link in his soul with someone else made him feel exactly like a scumbag unfaithful in marriage, always living in fear that Max would get jealous.

Eric stepped forward quickly, placed his hand on his left chest, and bowed in the most formal etiquette:

"Greetings, Lance, it is an honor to meet you. I am Eric, Patriarch of the Hadu tribe."

Lance blinked, looking at the young beastman in front of him, sensing the natural and friendly aura emanating from him. He was surprised to see stable magic fluctuations on him, as well as the power of the contract appearing and disappearing.

His eyes lit up, and he smiled in return, his voice like flowing spring water:

"Greetings, young Patriarch. I am Lance Jermaine Lowell; it is a pleasure to visit your tribe. I have heard this flying lizard mention a lot about the interesting things here."

Lance’s appearance mixed a few charming features of Southeast Asians, and his speaking style was gentle and warm, without any of the arrogance of a strong individual, making Eric feel even more close to him. The two chatted a few sentences about customs and various magic arrays as they walked, becoming more and more compatible, finally feeling regret that they hadn’t met sooner.

Arthur couldn’t get a word in, abandoned to the side, and could only trudge behind with a resentful expression.

Before winter arrived this year, with Lance’s assistance, an ancient formation was established. The soul contract between Eric and Arthur was finally dissolved; the feeling of removing invisible shackles made both feel light all over, free and at ease.

As soon as the ritual ended, Arthur couldn’t wait to transform into beast form, let out a resonant cry full of excitement, threw Lance onto his back, and spread his wings to fly straight towards Dragon Island, creating a powerful whirlwind that left behind a group of people with dusty faces and a messy pile of debris in the ceremony yard.

Eric dusted off his head while roaring in anger:

"That bastard Arthur, I will definitely pull out your dragon tendons!!!!"

___End of Main Story___