Lord: Starting with Contract Half-Elf Twins

Chapter 11 One Action, Two Benefits

After bringing the kobold flintclaw back to the cave on the cliff edge, Allen talked to it for a whole night.

Because the flintlock's general vocabulary is very limited, and every few sentences it speaks, it will involuntarily begin to express its loyalty.

After some hesitant conversation, Allen gained a general understanding of the situation within the kobold tribe.

This kobold tribe, which lives in deep pit caves, numbers over fifty.

Just as he guessed, Flintclaw, a kobold with spellcasting abilities and who had learned dragon language, was originally the leader of his tribe.

Within the kobold race, there are some ancient books unearthed from the ground. Although the magic attached to them has weakened, they have still managed to survive the long years.

It was from these books that the most intelligent of the tribe, Flintclaw, learned the art of spellcasting and some of the common language.

But at some point, a powerful kobold suddenly grew up and was able to defeat the original leader, Flintclaw, with sheer physical strength, even without the ability to cast spells.

The kobold race is so small that even when a new leader comes to power, the old leader is usually not banished or killed.

In particular, the Flintclaw possesses spellcasting abilities and is considered a "wise man" within the tribe. Rejoining the tribe can bring lasting value.

To its surprise, the new leader refused its request to return to the tribe and instead imprisoned it.

During their imprisonment, Flintclaw discovered that the tribe, under the leadership of their new chief, was behaving increasingly strangely.

Hunting rock worms became less and less frequent; instead, the entire colony began to dig continuously, day and night, creating a huge, deep pit.

Although kobolds love minerals and possess certain forging and polishing techniques, the tribe's mining activities have clearly far exceeded its internal needs.

At the same time, it also exceeded the burden limit of the ethnic group.

Food became severely scarce, newborn kobolds began to starve to death, and adult kobolds, lacking food, were forced to eat the corpses of their own kind.

Anxiety, despair, and an atmosphere of death began to spread within the tribe, as if Flintclaw had foreseen its demise.

However, even under these circumstances, the imprisoned Flint Claw still had an ample food supply, which surprised it.

Until the long-absent new leader—a hulking kobold as big as an owl and bear—ended its imprisonment and led it to the edge of the deep pit.

It finally understood the truth.

A glimpse of an ancient ruin has emerged at the bottom of the deep pit.

Even a mere wisp of leaked magical energy was enough to drive an ordinary kobold mad.

The new leader who suddenly appeared was not a result of some sudden mutation, but rather the result of being affected by the ruins after an accidental excavation.

Moreover, it is clear that the new leader has been completely consumed by the madness of magic and no longer wants to continue or expand the race. He only hopes to absorb more magic and become stronger.

Unable to control magic, it could only think of one way to continue gaining power.

—Sacrifice the only member of the clan who controls magic, Flint Claw.

Fortunately, it didn't know how to perform the sacrifice, and while it was carrying out the crude sacrificial ritual, Flintclaw escaped from the pit.

Its brain contains the tunnels dug within each tribe, as well as traps used to hunt rock worms.

Using these abilities, it narrowly escaped the deep pit cave, using the sunlight as cover to flee outwards, and then ran into Allen, who was out "recruiting men".

After hearing the reason why Flintclaw escaped, Allen stroked his chin and began to think about how to gain the loyalty of this kobold tribe.

It's actually a very common thing.

The kobold tribe unearthed ancient ruins, but due to the leaked magic, they gradually perished.

This kind of thing happens every day in the wilderness.

If Allen has enough power to suppress the entire kobold tribe, then there's nothing more to say.

Unfortunately, Allen didn't have that ability yet, so he didn't plan to take Flintclaw from the start.

What truly changed Allen's mind was the "intelligence" displayed by Flintclaw.

Yes, although it is a kobold, it was able to learn spellcasting and Common Tongue in the wilderness with only some surviving books. Its potential is quite high, enough to be rated as an elite template by the Lord's Handbook.

Admittedly, the half-elf twins are also natural elites, but there are fundamental differences between the two.

Even though Solina and Viola came from humble beginnings, they still grew up within a civilized society.

They, including Allen himself, could not fully comprehend the thought processes of non-civilized races.

But Flintclaw is different; it grows entirely according to the laws of the wilderness.

Since Allen has decided to establish a territory in the wilderness, he must be prepared to rule over all kinds of uncivilized races.

Therefore, Allen hoped that in the future, Flintclaw would be able to govern and manage the people of non-civilized races on his behalf, which would be a very important part of the territory's development.

Therefore, in Allen's mind, the long-term importance of the Flintclaws even surpassed that of the kobold tribe that was on the verge of extinction.

Saving that kobold tribe was only one step towards completely subjugating Flintclaw.

"You crave power, don't you?"

"yes!"

"Power doesn't come from nothing; I need your 'dedication'."

"All! Flint Claw... uh, everything, Dragon Lord!"

The flintclaw racked its brains trying to understand the meaning of "dedication." In its meager understanding, loyalty shouldn't be so complicated.

Soon, it seemed to realize something.

It held up its most precious possession with both paws and carefully presented it to Allen.

"Stone, sparkling, fire."

Flint Claw seemed to have finally figured out what the Dragon Lord needed, his voice filled with obvious flattery.

Allen looked at the stone staff held in Flint's two claws, feeling both amused and exasperated.

This kobold really thinks it's a humanoid dragon, believing it loves sparkling gems like a dragon does...

He picked up the short staff and fiddled with it for a moment.

Just as he had predicted, this red crystal had the effect of gathering fire elements, making it a simple magical artifact.

Unfortunately, not only Allen, but even Solina couldn't use it.

Their control over fire stemmed from within; the fire element was compatible with the magic coursing through their bloodlines.

This is effective against fire elementalists like Viola who rely purely on skill.

"Take it back. This isn't the kind of offering I want."

Allen tossed the stone staff back into Flintclaw's arms.

Seeing the bewildered and frustrated anthropomorphic expression on Flint's face, Allen thought for a moment and decided to be more direct.

"You must serve me with concrete actions. Once you kill a powerful enough enemy, I will grant you true power and allow you to reclaim your people so that you can better serve me."

Upon hearing this, Suizhu looked even more bewildered.

Its little brain is not yet able to comprehend such a series of cause-and-effect relationships.

However, it is very good at grasping the key points.

Kill powerful enemies to gain strength.

"Yes, Lord Dragon!"

This series of goals was the result of Allen's careful consideration.

He needs the loyalty of Flintclaw, but he cannot fulfill Flintclaw's two current needs: to be granted power and to reclaim his people.

Although he could also rely on his innate red dragon bloodline to suppress Flint Claw and get its followers for free.

But that would conflict with Allen's long-term plans.

Granting power requires the Follower Recruitment and Training functions, which Allen originally intended to obtain by completing some achievements.

That's perfect, it'll motivate Flint Claw and help him earn the power-granting crystal.

On the other side, the kobold race of Flintclaw is on the verge of extinction, so let them perish for a while.

If we delay for a while, allowing the population of the tribe to decline to a point where it no longer poses a threat to Allen, then we can use the strengthened Flint Claw to reclaim the tribe.

Incidentally, the kobold race, skilled in mining, will not lack suitable stone for construction, achieving three goals at once.