Seven, Black Dragon Holmes

  Seven, Black Dragon Holmes

  "Here it comes, here it comes! Everyone get ready!" A sailor threw the feather duster behind him and shouted loudly.

  "With a 'hula' sound, the crowd that was originally crowded around scattered in surprise, clearing out a large space."

  "Achoo!"

  With a loud sneeze, a string of fireballs and a gust of cold air suddenly appeared, rushing towards the iron frame erected on the deck in advance, where the hard bread strung up instantly turned into roasted bread and frozen bread. The crowd that had just dispersed quickly gathered around again, with some sailors holding hot roasted bread cheering and taking big bites, but there were also many unlucky devils staring blankly at their rations that had turned into ice blocks, frowning and using small knives to scrape off the ice chips on top.

  "Which little scamp is scratching my nose again?" A hoarse voice sounded on the deck, and Holmes, a 599-year-old black dragon who was extremely reluctant to open his yellowed eyes, said, "Hey, you little rascals, how can you make me, an old man, bake bread for you again? You don't know how to respect your elders at all!"

  A petty officer, who was gnawing on a sandwich with salted meat, hastily put down his food, wiped his mouth and said, "No way, Old Dragon. This weather is so cold and the wind is so strong, it's really unbearable without hot food. You also know how dangerous it is to make a fire at sea, just help out for everyone on this boat."

  "Yes, yes, please help us out." Another officer chimed in, holding a frozen hard bread, "But, when you sneeze, why does one nostril always shoot fireballs and the other ice blocks? And the positions of the two nostrils keep changing, making it really difficult for us! Is there any pattern to this?"

  "How many times must I say it? Address me as the esteemed Mr. Holmes!" Old Black Dragon was somewhat displeased, but seeing the officer's carefree smile, he could only weakly sigh, "Who pays attention to their own sneezes? You've brought me here for no reason, are you really going to use me as a free stove or something? Speak up, what's this about?"

  "Hmm, as expected, you can't fool me." The officer stuffed the last piece of bread into his mouth and spoke in a muffled voice, "The Commander wants you to go to the flagship, leave immediately."

  "What's going on now?"

  "I'm not sure about this either, but don't keep Commander waiting, Old Dragon!"

  "Rude little devil..." Holmes muttered, slowly shifting his body to the edge of the boat, then jumping off with a most ungraceful belly flop, sending up a huge splash in the cold seawater.

  "Good heavens, my wings are frozen stiff!" Holmes thrashed about in the icy sea, making for the flagship "Eternal Isle" with its glowing red magic lamp. In the process, he tried to fly several times, only to discover that his aged body simply couldn't manage it. He had no choice but to resort to a more elderly-friendly method of propulsion through the water, launching himself into a dog paddle sprint towards his target while praying he wouldn't become the first black dragon to drown at sea.

  Fortunately, although the Dragon Gods had long since fallen, Lady Luck Tymora seemed not to have abandoned him. The dragon's vitality was strong after all, and he finally reached his destination before exhausting himself and freezing his body completely.

  "Old witch, it's not even light yet and you're calling me, what's the big deal? Ah-choo! It's really cold, my cold seems to be getting worse. Ah-choo!"

  Finally managed to be hoisted onto the flagship's deck, Sherlock Holmes, cold and tired, loudly complained to Sofia Litvinova, while continuously sneezing. Apparently due to excessive energy consumption from swimming in the icy sea, the flames coming out of his nostrils had weakened even more. Many sailors used bamboo poles to hold up wet clothes near his nostrils, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to dry them.

  Sophia looked at the wet and old black dragon in front of her, suddenly realizing that she had completely lost her desire to live. She weakly waved her hand, "The fleet has already arrived at New Thayril, I order you to fly over and scout out the situation on the shore."

  "Fly over? In such cold weather, my wings would freeze to death, I really don't have the ability!" Holmes said with a puzzled face. "Besides, it's still nighttime now, what can I see even if I get there?"

  "Your Black Dragon doesn't have dark vision? How can you spend your days in a dimly lit region?"

  "....Well, as one gets older, one's eyesight tends to decline somewhat." Holmes said with some embarrassment.

  Sophia's scarred old face stretched even longer, almost becoming a donkey face. If it were in the past, she would have skinned and dismembered this useless old dragon that disobeyed its superiors, making dragon meat kebabs out of it. But now...she had to tolerate the only aerial combat force at her disposal.

  Holmes, this old, useless black dragon was a spoil of war from the third expedition to Serl in 1984 by the Elf Army DR. As soon as he hatched, due to severe physical defects - estimated to be premature birth, his small size made him not look like a dragon at all, and his low intelligence - he was abandoned by his disappointed parents. Fortunately, a merchant with a keen eye discovered the entertainment value of this miniature black dragon and smuggled him into the city of the Drow Elves as a pet, then later sold to the human kingdom on the surface. He had been a noble's mount, a royal collection, a living teaching tool for a wizard academy, and finally became a circus performer. The name Holmes was also taken from the circus, said to be named after a famous half-elf detective.

  As Holmes grew older, his movements became increasingly clumsy and his performances began to lose popularity. The ruthless circus owner took him to Sell, intending to sell him to the Red Robes as experimental material. However, due to the poor quality of his dragon skin and severe skeletal deformities, all the Red Robes refused to accept him, allowing the old black dragon to narrowly escape.

  Holmes, unwilling to be skinned and dismembered, took the opportunity to escape during his journey, but unfortunately encountered a defeated fairy army and was easily captured. The commander who had lost the battle was worried that he could not report to his superiors, and when he caught Holmes, he was overjoyed and immediately boasted in his combat report that he was a hero who had captured the powerful black dragon alive, and sent Holmes back to Yongju Island as an important spoils of war.

  The kingdom government, being deceived, happily accepted Holmes, only to discover that he was an old, useless thing who couldn't even do magic, lacked physical strength, and could barely fly. His dragon breath couldn't even roast potatoes. They had no choice but to abandon him in the royal garden, leaving him to fend for himself. It wasn't until recently that the high-ranking officials of the fairy military headquarters remembered him. At the same time as they bluntly refused Sofia's request for any flying ships and green dragons for this expedition, they also forced Holmes onto her, saying "Combining two old antiques is truly the best way to utilize waste!"

  "In that case, you'd better go back and rest first, we'll talk again when it's daylight." Sophia suppressed the urge to flay Holmes alive and gave the order calmly.

  "Go back? I'm afraid this old body can't take a second trip! Old witch, how about letting me sleep here and have some breakfast instead? I promise I won't snore!"

  "Get out!"

  ****

  In the latter half of the night, in the port area of Emon, a large number of soldiers with helmets or iron pots on their heads suddenly gathered, hiding behind temporary fortifications made of ice and snow and mud, intently gazing at the lights on the sea. Senior officers boarded the highest building in this area under tight protection, the extinguished lighthouse of Emon Port, observing enemy movements with binoculars and directing combat operations.

  "Achoo!"

  After standing at the top of the leaky lighthouse for a long time, Feili finally couldn't help but let out a sneeze. Due to his hasty departure, he hadn't put on his wig and leather hat properly, and the cold wind kept slipping over his smooth scalp and pouring in through the collar, freezing him to the point of chattering teeth.

  It would be great if there was a magic heater to warm his hands, he thought wistfully, but unfortunately the only one he had was currently in Renny's arms. Looking at her pale face from the cold, Ferry really didn't have the nerve to ask for it back, so he could only rub his hands desperately, hoping to warm himself up a bit.

  After receiving the news of the enemy's arrival, Charlotte and Zena stayed in the city, leading 2,000 soldiers to evacuate the remaining civilians and transport supplies. As a result, only 5,000 imperial troops were left at the port, temporarily under Rick's command, while General Norm personally supervised the battle to show his dedication.

  Due to the heavy artillery and most of the ammunition having been withdrawn to the second line of defense inland, the coastal defense troops' long-range firepower was severely insufficient. Of course, no one expected these pot-headed guys to hold out for long, and the commander just treated this as a training exercise with a slightly higher level of danger. After all, only soldiers who had seen blood and smelled gunpowder were considered real soldiers.

  Moreover, the large floating ice outside the port not only affected the landing speed of the Elf Army but also made it impossible for them to drive their warships to a distance where they could exert the firepower of their cannons, greatly increasing the survival probability of this motley crew by the sea.

  In fact, abandoning Emmon's Port had another consideration: rather than letting a powerful enemy roam the seas and launch an attack on any defenseless port city with unpredictable consequences, it would be better to let them occupy a city that was neither suitable for landing nor defending, and then slowly exhaust them with low-quality but numerous militia - invisible enemies are the most terrifying, while visible enemies can always be dealt with. The occupation of Emmon's Port by the Elf Army also meant being nailed down in this city, losing the most important tactical flexibility, and naturally becoming less intimidating in the eyes of the New Nefertari people.

  However, there are many things in the world that cannot be inferred by common sense and old examples, and war, which is full of unexpected events and changes, is even more so.