Chapter 24: The Incomplete Shadow

Smoked cod flakes, rice, eggs, cream, curry, and some vegetables were mixed together to make a dish of fish egg casserole.

In his memories, Fluorescent Castle’s breakfast buffet never lacked fish egg casserole.

“Isn’t it a kind of happiness to like fish-egg casserole?” Russell said as he ate roasted meat and fried eggs with jam, occasionally scooping a bite of the casserole. He sighed in boredom, “At least I can enjoy happiness every day, unlike me, who can’t even enjoy a simple stir-fried dish.”

His mood, which had been cheerful, dipped slightly due to the fish egg casserole, but Russell was still in a good mood overall because he had regained Little Dream Dragon.

It also meant that he would have a steady supply of sprites in the future.

After breakfast, Russell bid farewell to his parents and, as expected, received a shipment of resources – nothing much, only three large carts.

Adding this to the five carts the Baron had given him earlier, he had already received eight large carts worth of supplies from his parents.

“Father, Mother, thank you for your generous gifts. I will work even harder to manage the Black Waist Snake Estate, train an order of knights as soon as possible to protect the safety of the Dusklight River Valley, and go to the snowfields to slay snow demons and contribute to the restoration of humanity’s former dominion!” Russell declared passionately.

The snow demons had frozen the entire continent of Dragonmire.

But when the dragons awoke, humans began to ride them and fight back against the snow demons, striving to restore their rule over the once-warm continent.

Meryl, proud of her son’s ambition, said, “The dragons are watching you, Russell.”

The Baron waved his hand. “Go back to your estate. If you keep this up, Fluorescent Castle will end up at Black Waist Snake Estate!”

Russell laughed heartily. “That’s because of your generosity, Father.”

“Russell, when will you take me to Black Waist Snake Estate?” Rora asked, covering her mouth a little dissatisfied.

“I will definitely take you there when I have time!”

Ruffling his sister’s hair, Russell then mounted his horse and headed toward his estate with the three large carts of supplies.

The journey was smooth, with no provocations from Lord Ross.

When the carriage stopped at the estate’s outbuildings, Charles, who had been supervising the construction of the windmill, rode over on horseback.

“Haha, I knew it! The Baron is so fond of you. As long as you show up with the birch worms, I was sure you’ll receive generous rewards.”

“Unfortunately, days like this can’t come too often,” Russell replied.

“Who knows? Maybe tomorrow, or the day after, you might find another sprite grubs. You never know,” Charles said.

“Let’s hope so.”

The two of them walked into the annex, one after the other.

Charles, talking nonstop, said, “The materials for the windmill are easy to get. The stones can be taken from Blade Mountain, but the wood is a bit tricky. The birch forest definitely can’t be cut down, but there are no other trees in the area.”

“If there are, they can’t be cut down, especially the ones that are used to mark the boundaries of the fields. They need to be properly protected,” Russell replied.

“Then we’ll have to buy wood from the town.”

“Go to Red Falcon Estate. I remember Lord Ertras likes to plant trees. Much of the lumber used in Fluorescent Castle comes from Red Falcon Estate.”

Lord Ertras was one of Dusklight Baron’s vassals, granted lands at the foot of Knife Ridge Mountain on the east side of Dusklight River Valley.

As one of the Baron’s most capable aides, Ertras was also a Fantasy Beast Knight and had taught Russell some martial arts when he was younger.

Now Russell wanted to build a stronger relationship with him so that when they went to the snowfields to hunt ghosts, they could help each other. “Charles, I’m going to write a letter. You can deliver it to the Red Falcon Estate and buy enough timber from there.”

“All right, I’m happy to serve.”

The weather, however, did not live up to expectations. What had been cloudy early in the day suddenly turned to a light drizzle in the afternoon.

Construction on the windmill had to be halted, and Charles was in no hurry to buy the wood. He and Russell took shelter in the outhouse of the estate and enjoyed some black pearl wine.

Eric, not one to be idle, suggested, “My lord, I’ll take Tom and the others to patrol the borders.”

“Are you really going out on patrol in this weather?”

“The worse the weather is, the more dangerous it is. If the serfs run into trouble, they might not even be able to send out a warning.”

Eric’s dedication to his duty was clear, and Russell had no reason to stop him. “Put on your raincoat before you leave.”

“Understood.”

The sound of horse hooves faded as Eric rode off down the muddy charcoal path.

Charles looked out the window from above and sighed, “This rain signals the end of the Ice Age. The Dusklight River is about to flood.”

“I was hoping to keep watch over the wormgrass,” Russell grumbled.

With Little Dream Dragon back, he had planned to camp outside for several nights, searching the surrounding area for sprite grubs.

Now, he had to put those plans on hold.

That night, the rain not only continued, it got heavier. Unable to camp outside, Russell retreated to his warm, comfortable bed in his room.

“Ga!”

In the Dark Dreamscape, the Little Dream Dragon appeared as promised.

This further confirmed Russell’s earlier suspicions: Little Dream Dragon had been absent for the last three days due to the Dragon Flame injuring its vitality, forcing it to rest. Now that he had recovered, he returned on time every night.

“Let’s go. Let’s take off and see if we can find anything new around the estate annex,” Russell said as he mounted Little Dream Dragon. The two of them circled the estate annex, occasionally checking the Dusklight River, which was starting to flood, or diving down from above.

With no new discoveries, they spent most of their time playing.

“Snowcone, what do you think? How can we expand Dark Dreamscape so that I can keep an eye on everything in the area while I sleep at home?”

“Ga ga.” Little Dream Dragon was too busy playing to care about Russell’s question.

Russell could only sigh in frustration.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed something – a faint, incomplete human figure appeared at the edge of the Dark Dreamscape, glowing with a faint blue light.

“Hmm, someone!” Russell quickly urged Little Dream Dragon toward the glowing figure. As he got closer, he saw that it was sneaking around the estate annex, and it wasn’t anyone familiar like Eric or Charles – it was a stranger.

“This person has martial energy. A knight, from the glow and shape, it looks like a fully armored knight!”

Russell quickly assessed the level of the stranger.

The figure’s torso and arms emitted light, but its legs did not glow – this was a typical trait of an armored knight. The person likely hadn’t fully opened their meridians, so the martial arts energy couldn’t circulate to their legs, leaving them dark.

Russell, riding Little Dream Dragon, flew directly to the incomplete shadow.

The figure cautiously approached the outer wall of the annex, using the rain to hide his movements. Using a combination of hands and feet, the figure climbed up to the second floor.

“Damn it!”

Russell furrowed his brows. “Who is that? How dare they sneak up on my estate! Could it be someone from the Resounding Water River Cave?”

A fully armored knight would be a prominent figure among the freemen of the underground world.

Before Russell could ponder further, Little Dream Dragon flapped its wings and said, “Ga.”

It was already tired, unwilling to maintain the Dark Dreamscape any longer. It wanted to leave.

“No… Snowcone, think of something to wake me up! Someone is plotting against me!” Russell cried urgently.

However, Little Dream Dragon didn’t understand, tossing Russell off and flapping its wings, disappearing around the corner.

“Damn!”

“Idiot Snowcone!”

Russell had no choice but to yell loudly at himself in the moment Dark Dreamscape collapsed, “Wake up, wake up! Someone is trying to assassinate me!”