Chapter 383: A Fire in the Swamp

Another spring graced Wubei Domain, ushering in the season of plowing anew.

This was always a bustling season, but this year, with the influx of port construction workers, it became even more so.

However, Lord Ning found himself in a relatively leisurely time.

He spent most of his time studying magic and combat techniques, only leaving the castle to wander the domain when boredom set in.

Hum~

Pale flames bathed the courtyard in scorching heat, turning it into a summer inferno.

Iron ingots at the flame's core glowed red, softened visibly, then melted into molten pools.

"The Seventh-Tier Magic, Heart of the Earth Flame, was indeed formidable."

Ning marveled once more at the marvels of supernatural power.

No fuel, no heating—just mental focus and magical energy conjuring such intense flames, far more convenient than Red Mountain Town's iron furnaces.

The only regret was the scarcity of fire Grand Mages; it seemed unfitting to assign such esteemed mages solely to iron smelting.

As he pondered, hurried footsteps approached, followed by a towering figure entering the courtyard.

"Disaster, Lord Elron! Something's happened!"

The panicked voice drew Ning from the inner courtyard, where Elron and other mages emerged from the castle lab.

"What's the matter, Damon? Didn't I say no shouting in the castle?"

Elron frowned slightly; quiet was crucial for potion-making, and he couldn't afford failures at critical moments.

Damon, a newly arrived high-ranking knight and de facto squad leader.

"Apologies, my lord, but this is too bizarre and urgent."

Damon apologized while reporting, "A fire erupted in the marshlands, consuming over a dozen farmers clearing fields. Flames spread rapidly; me and Captain Rieg tried everything, but we couldn't stop it!"

Hearing this, Elron and the others paled.

This was no small matter. Even without threatening the town, the dozen dead farmers made it a catastrophic incident.

Elron didn't hesitate. "Let's go see!"

"Damon, gather the other knights and infantry."

"Yes!"

As they hurried off, Ning stepped out to see only their retreating backs.

"Marshland fire?"

In previous marshland development, peat fires had occurred but were always contained without casualties.

This scale of fire was unexpected.

"I'll check it out."

He swiftly summoned Wind Wings, soaring into the air. A glance revealed thick black smoke to the northeast.

The wings trembled, and he arrived above the flames in moments.

The fire raged like a mountain blaze; even professional firefighters would struggle to contain it.

If those untrained townsfolk tried to fight it, more lives would be lost.

"Seems like it's up to you."

Ning didn't hesitate, mentally contacting Karlos to come swiftly.

In the marshlands, Rieg stood with knights at the fire's edge.

When the fire started, he'd tried summoning earth walls to contain it, but the flames spread too fast.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind carried Ning to Rieg's side.

Rieg jumped at the sudden arrival, staring at the delicate, cicada-wing-like wings. "Lord Ning is not only a mighty knight but also a powerful Grand Mage?"

The knights around him stared in shock. Could their lord fly?

But the nearby farmers cheered loudly.

To them, their lord was omnipotent; flying was expected.

Now the lord was here, the fire would be extinguished.

Relatives of the burned farmers wailed and pleaded for Ning to put out the fire.

"What's the situation?"

Ning asked, "I saw a massive sinkhole from above."

"Yes, my lord!"

Rieg snapped back. "We were fighting near the sinkhole when the ground shook, cracked, and collapsed. If we hadn't run fast, we'd have fallen in."

He shuddered, "What should we do, my lord?"

Water would be useless—they had no containers.

Best option was a powerful water mage to control the water.

But only two water mages in the domain, and Jennie, the strongest, was merely a High Mage—she couldn't move much water.

Just then, a piercing dragon roar pierced the sky!

Rieg felt his soul tremble, overwhelmed by pressure.

"What is this?"

He turned, terror-stricken!

A massive shadow descended, wings like a black cloud obscuring the sky, its huge body and fearsome head sending chills down spines.

"Oh god, it's a beast! A beast!"

"How can there be a beast in Marsh Town?"

"Are we going to die?"

"Run, run, run!"

Panic erupted; some fainted.

Honestly, if not for the lord beside him, Rieg would have fled.

The unknown beast was terrifying; before it, he felt like an ant, powerless to resist.

"Don't panic. This is my beast."

Ning no longer needed to hide the dragon; to prevent further casualties, using it as a firefighter seemed fitting.

He leapt onto the dragon's back. "Karlos, this fire is yours."

Karlos chirped happily, elated to finally appear openly, basking in the awe and fear of mortals.

Riggs's eyes widened into dinner plates as he stared at the Lord perched upon the magical beast's back, a profound shock rippling through his fragile, youthful soul.

Those in full flight froze in their tracks, gazing upward in absolute awe at the Lord astride the dragon's back.

Realization finally dawned upon them: of course, their Lord was here, so why on earth were they running?

"Long live the Lord!"

"The Lord is invincible!"

One after another, the crowd fell to their knees, raising their voices in fervent, thunderous acclaim, as if worshiping a living god.

Irrespective of the crowd’s reactions, Carlos had already set to work.

A torrent of frost breath cascaded from the heavens, attempting to extinguish the raging inferno within the massive crater, yet this initial blast yielded no results; instead, the flames erupted violently outward.

"This crater..."

Roning's brow furrowed tightly, a sudden intuition whispering that something was deeply amiss with this gaping chasm.

"Pour it on."

Carlos grew incensed as well; that a single breath had failed to douse the fire wounded its draconic pride.

If it could not suppress these flames, it might as well strip the "Frost" from its title as the Wings of Frostfire.

The dragon threw its head back majestically, causing the surrounding water elements to fluctuate wildly as they coalesced toward its gaping maw.

As it snapped its head down, a devastating deluge of pure frost descended from the sky.

Even with the fierce blaze raging below, the moment this breath erupted, a sudden, piercing chill swept through the entire vicinity.

Though the massive pit burned with terrifying intensity, it deadlocked with the draconic breath for mere seconds before being utterly suppressed, and the flames were swiftly snuffed out.

Roning commanded Carlos to extinguish the remaining fires scattered around the area, while he himself drifted down from the sky to inspect the immense crater at close range.

The area spanned roughly two hundred square meters, plunging down to a depth of some twenty or thirty meters.

Following the scorching torment of the flames, the entire perimeter was charred a pitch black.

"The upper layer is peat, mostly burned away."

Roning pinched a piece of the blackened earth, murmuring, "What is this?"

He cast a fleeting fire spell, and the black solid resting in his palm instantly caught fire, burning brightly.

"It's coal!"

Roning gasped in profound shock.

While it was technically possible for coal deposits to exist within a swampland, he had never expected them to stumble upon one here.

The collapse of this pit had occurred at the perfect juncture, laying bare the subterranean coal seam beneath.

"No wonder, no wonder the fire here burned with such terrifying ferocity."

The vital importance of coal resources was self-evident; not only could its combustion yield intense temperatures unattainable by ordinary firewood, but it could also be utilized to produce an array of chemical products.

For the territory of North Woe, Roning could leverage it to smelt metals, completely liberating them from the need to burn wood into charcoal just to achieve higher temperatures.

Roning rubbed the thoroughly incinerated residue between his fingertips.

If he truly managed to construct the steam engine in the future, this coal mine would completely resolve his fuel anxieties.

"This is truly a pillow delivered precisely when I am drowsy—heaven itself is aiding me!"