Seeing Sasha's appearance, Friel's eyes shifted toward Jona Velli.
"Do you know what you said five days ago?"
Jona Velli was taken aback, having a bad premonition.
"Of course I remember."
Friel wore an intriguing expression; ignoring Jona Velli's lie, she continued on her own.
"You said Sasha would be our third sister from now on."
Jona Velli breathed a sigh of relief; fortunately, it was just that.
"I know that, so what?"
Seeing Jona Velli still being stubborn, Friel clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.
"Are you serious?"
Jona Velli fell silent. The relationship between Chromatic Dragons and Metal Dragons was well-understood, and she was very aware of Friel's hostility toward Sasha.
However, Jona Velli felt that Sasha wasn't bad. Coupled with their conversations while drinking, she had a better impression of her. Adding to that Gris... Jona Velli looked at Gris and found that he seemed somewhat expectant, her white dragon mouth curling slightly.
"Of course, why not?"
Upon hearing Jona Velli's answer, Friel's brow furrowed.
She wanted to refuse, but considering Jona Velli's personality, she felt that her refusal would be useless.
"Fine, do as you wish. But what I want to say is that our third brother isn't dead yet."
As she spoke, Friel looked toward Gris.
"Isn't it a bit inappropriate to establish her as the third?"
Gris thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, Older Sister, I'm not dead yet. If she's the third sister, then what am I?"
Jona Velli spoke casually.
"Then Sasha will be the little sister from now on."
...A middle-aged man stood outside a tavern, looking at the plaque above and speaking softly.
"This should be the place."
With that, he stepped inside.
As soon as he entered the tavern, the noisy atmosphere made him feel very uncomfortable.
But he didn't leave; instead, he keenly caught the bits of information being babbled by the drunken patrons.
"Hey~ did you know? Mrs. Angley is still so charming."
"How did you..."
"Big brother, are you sure that's really an Ancient ruin? Could the information be wrong?"
"Sigh~ No, has your big brother ever been wrong?
I'm telling you, after finishing this job, I'm quitting being an Adventurer. What about you guys?"
...A pile of useless information flooded into the silver-haired man's ears, causing a look of disgust to appear on his face.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, the conversation of two old men reached his ears.
"Sigh, did you know? Frey is dead?"
An old man with a full white beard said, raising his glass and draining it in one gulp.
"He's dead? Time really does fly. Considering he was an Adventurer for so many years, such an end is no surprise."
The sharp-chinned old man opposite him fell silent for a moment and sighed.
"You're right, but it's a pity. In the latter half of his life, he ran to the Yesupu Continent almost every year. He was put through a lot, which is why he passed away at only seventy-some years old."
"Speaking of the Yesupu Continent, do you remember that silver-haired young lady?"
The sharp-chinned man thought back and nodded.
"Of course I remember. Such a young and beautiful lady is hard to forget.
However, it's been over twenty years, and she still hasn't returned. She's probably dead."
"What a pity."
While the two old men were lamenting, a shadow loomed over them.
The two looked up and saw a mature-looking silver-haired man standing before them.
The two old men glanced at each other, both asking with their eyes, but before they could reach a conclusion, they heard a slightly raspy voice.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your leisure, but I would like to know about the silver-haired young lady you were talking about."
Hearing this, the two old men sized up the silver-haired man, and the bearded one spoke first.
"May I ask who you are?"
"I am her uncle, Polite."
...Days gradually settled into a calm routine. Having some free time, Jona Velli began to have Medusa report to her on the development of White Crystal City over these years.
At the beginning, everything proceeded according to her arrangements.
Mining where mining was due, farming where farming was due, and expanding where expansion was due.
Now, the entire Slumbering Forest was within the sphere of influence of White Crystal City, and all intelligent magic beasts and monsters in the Slumbering Forest had surrendered.
Furthermore, the area from the Buzewu Plain extending to the outskirts of the Sam River was also within the sphere of influence of White Crystal City, accounting for about one-fifth of the entire Buzewu Plain.
However, a change occurred during the mining.
Twenty years ago, while Blockhead was leading the White Phosphorus Goblins to mine an iron ore cave, they unearthed an Ancient ruin.
Based on some information found there, it was estimated to be at least ten thousand years old.
But that wasn't the most important part. What was more important was...
Some of the Ancient documents inside recorded a vast amount of knowledge on alchemy, forging, enchantment, Runes, and Magic Patternss; it was truly immense.
Ordinarily, they wouldn't have been able to understand these Ancient scripts. But the strange thing was that Blockhead could read them. Moreover, he was always muttering to himself, claiming to be a great Gnome.
He also said that the high-and-mighty gods were nothing more than a group of cowardly rats who only knew how to secretly curse the Gnome race, turning them into lowly Goblins.
"So those alchemical creations in the city were made by Blockhead alone?"
"Not entirely, Great Master, because some White-Scaled Goblin and intelligent Goblins were also involved."
Medusa answered truthfully.
"At first, I didn't want to believe it either, but the fact is that Blockhead led those White-Scaled Goblin to create all sorts of miraculous alchemical creations."
She also found it strange why the lowliest Goblins, after seeing those documents, seemed to suddenly gain enlightenment and become extremely intelligent.
However, not all Goblins were like this; only a few Goblins and White Phosphorus Goblins underwent such a change.
Jona Velli nodded thoughtfully. She had already had some suspicions before, and now there were facts to verify her viewpoint.
Goblins were devolved from Gnomes of ten thousand years ago, and the reason for this devolution was the curse of the gods.
As for why they were cursed? That would require mentioning the Ancient, Antiquity, Primordial, or even the Creation Eras.
According to the inheritance, at the beginning of the world's creation, the first batch of living beings was born; their appearance has no specific explanation to this day, and the world calls them Mythical Creatures.
Among them were powerful magical creatures such as Dragons, Unicorns, and Titanss.
And the entire world was ruled by these creatures, the strongest of which were the Dragons and Titanss.
At that time, Dragons ruled the skies and parts of the land, while Titanss ruled the land; as top-tier Mythical Creatures, neither side would submit to the other, and they were often at war.
This period was known as the Era of Titans and Dragons, and also the Era of War.
It was precisely tens of thousands of years of conflict that led to a significant weakening of their combat power, allowing other newborn races to take advantage of the situation.
But the native species alone were fundamentally unable to shake the status of the two sides, even though they were already at the end of their tether.
The one that delivered the fatal blow was that powerful foreign race—the Demons.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"