Shell Out(turtle litrpg)

There was so much to say.
What could I say honestly?

Well, there was one thing I wanted to do.

Pah!

'Are you stupid!?' I scolded her furiously.

'Do you know how dangerous it is!?

How could you be so stupid! So reckless!?

What were you going to do if Lord Anubis refused!? This has only ever worked once before, and it was practically a miracle!

What about your parents!? They're probably worried sick!'

I scolded her for a good minute or so to the amusement of others

Seeing her apologetic and innocent look I simply sighed and stopped.

It wasn't like I didn't understand her personality to some extent. I was her fiancé. The fact that she could do something stupid if not tightly supervised was well known to me. The first time I met her was surrounded by slimes because she had chosen to run away from the family home.

Maria was someone who needed supervision, otherwise she would do something dangerous.

Of course, too tight of a grip was just as bad, evidenced by her tense relationship with her parents.

Pushing her is less helpful than it is harmful. She doesn't take well to complaining.

Most of all...

Sigh.

I can't bear to yell at her.

'Lily, tell me what Maria has been up to recently.'

"Of course my lord." she said, much to Maria's chagrin.

"What!? Lily, you're supposed to be my maid?!" she said, whining and the maid nodded in agreement.

"I am, and as your maid, it is my job to ensure your safety. " She responded bluntly before continuing her report.

"Maria has been raiding pirate ships, having drowned ouver 300 pirates and sunk 20 boats as of now, and stolen a few kilograms of gold as well as..."

She went on for a bit before stopping.

I merely sighed, making no comment.

She was a monster now. Fighting enemies, killing and evolving was perfectly natural after all.

How could he criticize her for doing something beneficial to the people around the lake.

What she did entering the underworld was dangerous and unpredictable, but the lake is the domain of Sobek, who even now continued to watch over Maria's family.

In contrast, the rivers are actually safer. Ocean is less safe, since it falls under Poseidon's domain, while Sobek rules rivers, but as Poseidon's subordinate, It's still far safer.

I ended up just praising her for her work in the end, much to her surprise.

Lenore at this moment, raised an interesting question. "So how are you guys are talking exactly?" she asked curiously.

"I mean, no offense, but Earl hasn't said a word since we've first met besides telepathic communication, yet you seem perfectly capable of speaking.

Huh. Why is that?

Servante was clearly interested and Leon and Willow became curious after hearing this question.

The dragons gave him an amused look.

"Yes, I wonder why?" Moray said teasingly. Huh?

[The higher level a monster is, the more likely it is to speak the local languages. S rank monsters are basically guaranteed to speak.

The chances increase infinitely so when the being in question seeks to speak, altering its future development...]

"Well, when I hit S-rank, I gained the ability to speak." Maria said with a friendly tone.

Wait, S-rank!? I interrupted.

Casting appraisal, I discovered they were a lot stronger than I thought.

[Pig dragons(sarcosuchus bloodline(5 percent)]

[While considered an inferior bloodline of the dragon family due to their crocodilian appearance, the pig dragons are imbued with great strength and some even exhibiting powers over thunder and lightning, as well as weather powers.

This creature also contains the bloodline of the sarcosuchus, a prehistoric ancestor of the crocodilian family, known for their aquatic capabilities as well as strength comparable to the dragon clan.]

[Teng Snake]

[Also known as the wingless dragon, the teng snakes are a clan of serpents closely connected to the xuanwu family.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Capable of controlling the weather as well as masters of the art of gu driving, the teng snake family are not a weak clan.

Consuming enough turtle essence can allow them to evolve into xuanwu. ]

Seeing this, as well as the stats clearly presented before me, it was clear they've grown a lot faster than me.

Though, considering what the maid told me, it's not that surprising.

Pirates are not a weak bunch. Anyone who can be confident to raid cargo and ships guarded by high level guards are not stupid people.

The ones who are stupid have already sunk to the bottom of the oceans. For even pirates have to ward against the likes of murlocs and cultists amongst other horrifying things residing in the oceans.

I could easily think of a few SS rank pirates such as white beard, cotton eyed joe, and Jaguar jones.

If she's really been on a pirate killing spree, it makes sense why she's grown so fast, especially once you realize that we haven't killed that many either.

It's not like I've been hunting monsters, and even when it came to elven cult members I didn't kill that many either.

At least, not comparatively.

Hearing that, I now understood why the dragons had given me such an amused teasing look.

As a human I had been the stronger of the two of us, supporting my wife, yet now as a monster I ended up being the weaker one.

[Oh how the turn tables.] Stolidus said smugly. I don't know what that means, but it's probably very rude.

"Alright, alright, come on sit down. We can talk and eat." Moray interrupted, practically rushing to his seat before sitting down to eat.

You would think such a table would be too large for us, and it was, but it was basically our sea, upon which our own tables were seated.

It was a nice and uneventful feat, though Servante was clearly enjoying it more than most.

An opportunity to converse with dragons! How rare was that? Even moreso for the elven royalty, who had consigned themselves to hide in the hidden kingdom.

To them, it was an opportunity to better understand the innerworkings of the dragon family. and for Servante, it was an opportunity to discuss with a dragon.

Best of all, Moray wasn't the type to hide things, and was quite talkative.

"So what makes a dragon a dragon exactly? I see that you don't consider wyverns and drakes dragons, but metal, colored, and eastern dragons are all dragons. I've even heard that in the east, the dragon king has nine sons, all of varying shape, yet considered legitimate dragons.

So what's the separation? Where's the line?"

Moray clicked his tongue as he thoughtfully chewed on a piece of fried calamari.

"Oh that's a weird one. Hmm." he said, thoughtfully chewing on it.

"It depends really. I mean, there are wyverns out there as strong as dragons you know, and they're considered dragons too. So like, hmm. Yeah no that's tough. Britannica, what was it again darling?" he asked his partner.

She had no problem explaining. "Life span.

True dragons have a lifespan of 10000 years as a standard. Wyverns only have a few centuries for lifespan, drakes about 300 years.

Jiao, despite being on the path to dragons, like wyverns aren't considered dragons either since they don't technically have a lifespan of 10000 years, while the nine sons of the dragon king are born with a lifespan of 10000 years.

Respectively, when a wyvern evolves into a being capable of living for 10000 years, they're considered true dragons.

Even if our lineages are often competing for which could be considered the orthodox true dragon lineage, generally as long as you have a base lifespan of 10000 years you're a true dragon.

If a kobold managed to evolve into a creature that could live for 10000 years he'd be considered a true dragon, even if he just looked like a larger kobold with wings, Just not a pretty one.

At least, that's what I've deduced. " she said calmly.

That's definitely an interesting interpretation for sure. And I guess it makes sense. If you're from a family of diverse form, the only thing that could really signify "Dragon" is longevity, since dragons are famously long lived.

I mean, lustful too, but if I were a dragon, would not be my requirement for true dragon status.

It's also been clear that despite the struggle between regions, dragons still consider one another dragons.

Servante brought up another question, though this one was more carefully delivered, for it was a much more delicate subject.

"Oh, I heard they eat dragon liver over there, and I was curious.

Why would they allow that? No matter how strong anyone there is, surely they couldn't compare with the age old legacy of the dragon tribe? It just seems..."

"...Servile? Cowardly? Subserviant?" Moray finished the thought with a sneer on his face. "I agree. Despite having powerful ancestors there such as yinglong, qinglong, and even Zhulong wherever he is, the dragon clan of the east are a bunch of slippery loaches."

Bratannia nodded in agreement. "Were anyone to try and hold a abnquet of dragon liver and Phoenix gall here, there is no doubt that Fafnir, Tiamat,, Bahamut and any top level dragon would retaliate immediately."

While it sounded cruel, I could hardly comment. Any race that dared eat human flesh openly was suppressed by humans immediately. Some small tribes of former maneaters such as minotaurs and cyclops as well as cannibal giants used to consume human flesh before humans rag dolled them and wiped such tribes off the map.

As a result, the current tribes of these people don't even consider eating human flesh. They already suffer enough as a minority, who would be so foolish as to eat man flesh? It's one thing to kill something, but to treat it as food?

No powerful race would ever let their flesh be openly consumed. It's weirder that the dragon and phoenix race of the east allows that.

"When the emperor in heaven was still around, the dragon and phoenix clans willingly offered up livers and galls up, since it was a good way to network and they have techniques relying on their great vigor to regrow their livers and galls.

Nowadays its simply that cultivators are greedy. According to them, they're scared of being retaliated by other human strongmen like Pangu or Lu Bu. I think they're just cowardly. Last I heard, all the human strongmen have already left the east. Even Nuwa, a long time supporter of the chinese people, has joined the romana empire and become a local snake goddess." Moray chatted on.

Well, if nothing else, clearly the dragons are a well-informed clan. It's clear the eastern clan isn't the only one networking furiously.

As for me and Maria?

We're just sitting here quietly and enjoying each other's presence.

She's chosen to wrap herself around my trees.

I chose not to comment. She can be quite stubborn when she wants to be, which often led to fights with her parents, and even to lead her down into the underworld.

Ad she's an S-rank while I'm a mere unfortunate B-rank turtle.

What can I do? I had to convince the ant queen to calm down as well, as she had just begun laying eggs, only for the cool and terrifying presence of an S-rank monster had appeared overhead.

She would simply have to get used to it. We were engaged in the last life and in this life. Servants should learn to recognize their mistresses.

Moray brought something rather unexpected up.

"So when are you going to go enter the inheritance grounds?" he asked curiously.

Huh?

Servante also looked over curiously, with a hint of suspicion.

'Inheritance grounds?' I asked confusedly. I didn't recall such a thing existing. What is he talking about.

"Did you forget? Maria asked, genuinely confused.

'Maria, what are we talking about?' I quietly whispered over. In some aspects, she is far more well informed than I about my own lands.

I was more of a fighter. While not a terrible lord, and even a pretty decent one, my skill wasn't in managing land.

Maria was skilled in management, partially due to her family's strict efforts, but also because of her own innate skill.

'Don't you remember? The rumors about a giant turtle whispering in the people's dreams? It was rumored that some big monster turtle secretly left its inheritance in your territory. Remember Gamoceras territory yet Rudalius family?' She mentally whispered to me.

Seriously? Then me being reborn as a turtle monster....

...Was it merely a coincidence?

Or was there something else going on behind the scenes?