"How audacious. Hehe."
Agatha was not shocked. After all, she knew the truth about this army from the very beginning. She had only asked Max to teach her child a lesson.
Agatha continued, "Lord Ardarian, you must've spent a fortune to raise this army, right?"
"I won't kill you. It's not like I'll get any benefit from killing you anyway."
"Get your soldiers off their horses. I want all of them for myself."
As soon as Agatha finished speaking, the soldiers who were still sitting on the horses quickly got off their horses and ran for their lives.
Boom —
A huge dragon breath was spat out from Agatha's mouth, and the strong light drowned everything.
Even Max could not help but close his eyes. As expected, the Ancient Dragon's power was so strong that it had taken only mere milliseconds for her to fire such an intense dragon breath.
Once the dragon's breath ended, only a pile of charcoal remained on the ground.
Had Max not seen the horses with his very eyes, he would not have recognized the charred creatures before him.
Lightning was still flowing from the corner of Agatha's mouth as she licked her lips and retracted her breath.
Then she said, "Ardarian, why did you do such a stupid thing? The money you've used to build this army is enough to exchange for a few years of peace."
Even since ancient times, all armies were founded from real gold and silver.
If soldiers were to participate in labor whilst serving, the costs of maintaining the army would be reduced. However, in doing so, the combat prowess of the army would also decline.
On the other hand, if an army was build completely on the funds of the lord, it would cost an exorbitant amount to maintain them.
Moreover, compared to the residents living in the city, most of the soldiers present looked extremely well-nourished.
The weapons in their hands were clearly of high workmanship, and each of them were equipped with a nice set of armor.
As for the horses that had just died, they were also special horses that had undergone training since they were young.
The building of this army had undoubtedly racked up astronomical costs.
Should the money be used as a tribute to Agatha, it could indeed be exchanged for a long period of peace.
Max had the same question as his mother, and thus, he turned his gaze to Lord Ardarian as well.
"Yes..." Ardarian paused for a long time before answering, "There are three heroes in the kingdom."
"They are Tahir, Carvella, and Rafik."
"You killed them, so I want to avenge them."
"I built this army for this very reason!"
Hearing such an answer, Agatha snorted. "What rubbish, I don't know any of these people! I told you I'm a reasonable dragon, killing people won't bring me any benefits. The last time I killed someone was a few years ago!"
Ardarian suddenly raised his head and widened his eyes. "You didn't kill them?"
Agatha spread her wings and raised her head to roar. "Do you actually think that I, a proud dragon will lie to you?"
...
Max dared not speak.
He did not know who Carvella and Rafik were.
However, he was very familiar with the name Tahir.
He was one of the three adventurers that he had killed in the Battle of Existence.
'In that case, Rafik was the swordsman, and Carvella was the female archer.'
'They seem to be renowned individuals in this world?'
'I'm the one who killed these three people, but the humans thought that it was Agatha had done the deed.'
Max nodded. 'This is to my benefit.'
At least throughout his period as a Dragon Hatchling, he did not want to make too many enemies for himself. Life was already hard enough as it was.
However, as Agatha had been slandered, she was extremely angry. The periosteum on her opened wings trembled slightly, and lightning coursed through her entire body.
"Idiot! Idiot!"
"Don't pin all the bad things that happen to you on me!!"
"Tell me, why do you think I did It?"
Ardarian quickly knelt on the ground. "Lady Agatha, Please calm down. The main reason is..."
"The main reason is that the three of them are extremely powerful humans."
"The day they formed a party, they were instantly bestowed the title of 'the Three Heroes'."
"But ever since they passed through the desert, all news of them had disappeared. After some investigation, it was determined that they had died."
"Aside from you, I really can't think of any other creature that is strong enough to defeat them."
"You must know, Agatha, you are the strongest creature within the northern region of the kingdom.'
After hearing these words, Max nodded.
That's right.
'I would come to the same conclusion if I were in his shoes.'
'If anything were to be blamed, they could only blame the bad luck of the three individuals. Underestimating their enemy was one issue, but encountering me was their greatest misfortune.'
After all, no one would have expected a Dragon Hatchling to be capable of killing three of the kingdom's strongest individuals.
"Tch!"
Agatha let out a dissatisfied breath. "Human, you must pay the price for slandering a dragon!"
"I admit my mistake,"Ardarian replied. "I will prepare the treasure to apologize."
Agatha suddenly jumped down from the city wall and stared at the soldiers with great interest. "No, this time, I don't want the treasure."
"Get your soldiers to line up."
"Group up based on your hometowns."
After saying that, Agatha smiled. "Accept the inspection of a dragon!"
Generally speaking, conscription was done according on one's hometown.
Prior to conscription, the soldiers might have been friends, relatives, or even lovers.
As such, in order to prevent the soldiers from forming a clique among themselves, the superiors would deliberately mess up their order and surround each soldier with strangers.
However, Agatha had ordered the soldiers to group up based on their hometowns.
Those from the same hometown were standing together.
Max did not understand the purpose of his mother's action.
Similarly, the lord and his soldiers who were nervously lining up did not understand the purpose of the dragon's order as well.
However, since it was an order from Agatha, no one dared to resist.
Agatha's cruelty was completely imprinted in everyone's heart.
With just one breath, she had wiped out all of the warhorses in an instant.
If Agatha was unhappy, she could blow them away with just a single breath! No one would be able to escape death!
In a short while, the soldiers had all lined up.
"Report... Report to Lady Agatha! We have already gathered in order according to our hometown! Please give us your orders!"
The soldiers said with a trembling voice.
"Very good." Agatha replied, "Now, report the names of your villages one by one."