The One Who Hears Everything

"Please, Lord Magnius," Avarius sat on the right corner of the high bed.

A servant girl knelt behind Magnius and massaged his shoulders, two other girls sat to his left and right, and one girl fed Magnius food while the other held a large crystal glass filled with a bluish-colored drink.

"My lord, please," the girl said as she fed Magnius a slice of bacon.

Magnius even deliberately bit the girl's finger lightly to tease her, and it made the girl blush.

"As people say," Magnius glanced at Avarius, "your bar does have excellent service. And—"

The emperor's cousin hugged the girl on his left and right, stroked their thighs, then squeezed their buttocks.

"—You have beautiful girls."

"Thank you, my lord," Avarius smiled proudly. "Your compliments are an honor to me."

"Please, my lord," the girl holding the large crystal glass offered the drink to Magnius.

Magnius frowned. "I've never seen a drink this color."

"Ahh," Avarius smiled broadly. "It is an extraction of Terrac blood, my lord."

"Terrac blood?" Magnius stared at the bluish, slightly viscous liquid in front of his face, and glanced back at Avarius. "Aren't they poisonous? What kind, then?"

"Yes, my lord," Avarius replied. "Terrac blood is just like any other kind of dragon. Very, very poisonous. But my people managed to get the best of this one kind."

"I see, huh?"

"White Regulus."

"Aah," Magnius nodded.

"Please, my lord," the girl said.

Without any hesitation at all, Magnius tasted the bluish liquid, and he seemed quite surprised by the taste of the liquid itself.

"Wow!" He nodded in admiration. "Quite a strong flavor. Sweet but also a bit bitter."

Avarius smiled again. "Very good for your stamina, my lord. You know—"

Magnius chuckled as he watched Avarius' eyebrow gesture at the girls around him.

"No wonder your bar is so famous, Avarius," Magnius praised the middle-aged man. "You are very good at pampering guests."

"Thank you, my lord."

"But tell me," Magnius said as he kept rubbing the thighs and buttocks of the girls beside him. "Isn't the White Regulus species almost extinct?"

Avarius bowed. "I beg you, my lord, to understand this. I deliberately offered the blue liquid to you, my lord."

Magnius smiled at Avarius, growing wider and wider, then laughing out loud, he nodded.

After all, there had been rules in their world, rules enforced by the Imperial Right Counsel about the hunting of Terrac-type dragons, and in particular the White Regulus. That type of dragon was indeed forbidden to be hunted because their numbers were already very small and on the verge of extinction.

But of course, in black markets, it's precisely those kinds of things that people often fight over. The rarer the item, the higher the price you'll get.

"As long as you don't get too greedy," Magnius said, "or those people will suspect you. And if this reaches the ears of the emperor, then I can no longer protect you."

"Thank you, my lord," Avarius smiled happily.

The people Magnius was referring to were undoubtedly the overseers working under the Right Counselors of the Empire.

"You should not worry, my lord," he continued. "An adult White Regulus, that's enough to stock that precious drink for a year."

"I see, huh?" Magnius nodded again, and the girl again fed him a slice of smoked meat.

As for the six imperial soldiers, they were each served by a servant girl.

"Is it only the White Regulus?"

"We are trying on other types of dragons, my lord," Avarius said. "Unfortunately, as of now, only the blood of White Regulus can be extracted into that precious drink."

"Too toxic?"

"Yes."

At least, Avarius was telling the truth.

After all, Magnius knew well enough where this conversation would lead. Since the bar he owned was the largest and most famous among the riders, naturally, the Central Empire's suspicion of the disappearance of riders in the past two decades would be directed towards him.

And Magnius noticed the change in the middle-aged man's face.

"You know, don't you?" he asked. "The Emperor strongly believes that you, the Occyens, must have better information than any other race."

Avarius bowed with a smile. This is it! He thought.

The Occyens were almost the same in appearance as the other races. The only difference was the slightly tapered shape of their ear tips. Legend had dubbed them the ears that heard things.

"So," Magnius said, then glanced at the girl he was hugging on the right, poked one of her nipples, and she giggled. "Tell me something!" his gaze returned to Avarius.

Avarius bowed again. "I can assure you that the culprit is not among the riders, my lord."

"'You look so confident, Avarius," Magnius chuckled. "The culprit could be hiding among those riders, couldn't he?"

"You are not wrong, my lord," Avarius said. "However, with their dragon mounts also missing? I find this quite odd for the assassin himself."

Magnius chuckled again. "Oh, Avarius... I thought you were bringing down the good name of Occyens' ancestors. You're doubting the smell of dragons!"

"No, that's not what I meant, my lord."

"Then what?"

"That latest case, my lord."

"Aah, a rider who disappeared after a young shaman asked him to search for a unique mushroom in the Southwestern Dead Country?"

"That's right, my lord."

"Tell me!"

"The bloodstains found in that meadow," Avarius said. "My people have confirmed that some of that blood is indeed human blood, and we can assume that it could have been the blood of a fisherman or a cattle herder."

"And?"

"And some of the other blood is wyvern blood, my lord."

"Are you sure?"

Avarius clapped his hands twice, then the door to the room opened, and a young man entered the room carrying a glass tube containing a cloud of dark blue smoke.

"Master," said the young man with his face and body looking very clean, he bowed to Avarius and handed him the several-inch glass tube.

The shirtless young man then stood near Avarius, slightly back.

Magnius noticed the young man's slightly bouncy movements, then he noticed Avarius' gestures, and he smiled broadly. He now understood that the young man with a clean face and body was Avarius' mistress, which also meant that Avarius was a same-sex lover.

"My lord," Avarius handed him the glass tube.

"What is this?"