Smooth Sailing

The reason he could instantly tell their race was due to their peculiar appearance, which didn't help in hiding that reality.

Some of their upper bodies resembled the body of a lizard, in particular, a humanoid lizard, and their lower body seemed to be human. And two of them had the head and torso of a human but had the body of a lizard as their lower part.

In conclusion, their appearance couldn't escape Sam's kneen insight, who had read novels and watched anime for years non-stop and had already seen this kind of creature multiple times in those shows.

Sam knitted his brows when he noticed the thing they were dragging was not an object but a girl who seemed to be in her late teens.

Sam looked closer at the girl and found a small glimmer of lizardskin on her neck and realized that she wasn't a human but one of them.

"Three-body refining stage level seven, one level eight and level ten "

Normally killing them with his level of cultivation would be an impossible feat; however, the system gave him the perfect tool to kill them if he could catch them by surprise and kill them silently one by one without alerting the others.

But before that, he decided to open the system and browse the subordinate tab. At the moment, the interface was empty, and on the corner, the system showed him the maximum number of subordinates he could have.

"One huh? For the moment, it's enough, but hey, system, explain how this subordinate thing operates."

"When the host wants to make someone his subordinate, you can activate the system's recruitment feature. The target must be willing to accept to be Host's subordinate, and if the target is willing, the system will recruit the target as Host's subordinate."

"Can a subordinate betray me or get information on you, the system?"

"Host doesn't have to worry about that, a subordinate cannot betray or harm the host in any way, and if the subordinate acts in any way that brings harm to the host, the system would activate the countermeasure and eliminate or punish the subordinate before the subordinate could harm the host. For your last question, except the host, none would know about the system's existence unless the host chose to reveal it, but the system strictly recommends not to do that."

"Nice, that's what I like to hear, and I'm not crazy and dumb enough to say that I have a system in my mind."

He closed the system as the world before him came to life.

Even though it appeared like he spent minutes thinking about these staff, in reality, only a few moments passed in the real world.

As he was seeing the lizardmen regularly getting past his spot, he casually jumped on the ground and said, striking up a conversation with them.

" Hello, I come in peace."

The lizardmen turned around, but the moment their eyes were met with the dragon snake-like eyes with a platinum color, they instantly knelt on one knee on the ground, their bodies uncontrollably shivering out of fear.

" Your Highness shouldn't joke around like this; we are all your subjects and under your order."

The lizard kneeling on the front spoke first in a loud tone, his heart almost failing to give him enough blood to support the countless thoughts going on inside of his head.

On the other hand, Sam was confused by this sudden turn of events and didn't know what to think of this situation, but he quickly acted accordingly based on their words and raised his voice in a majestic manner; his quick wit even surprised the system.

" Good that you know your place; I have been away from this region for a long time and forgot several things, so I have a few questions to ask."

The lizard on the front felt his blood boiling hearing his words, but he still respectfully replied.

" Yes, your highness."

Sam ordered, taking the role with extreme caution and making it look like he was really of a royal lineage or something along those lines as this lizard expected him to be.

" First, I want you to tell me how did you recognize me; I'm pretty sure I have used disguise to alter my appearance."

The lizard on the front looked at his four companions from left to right before he locked into Sam's eyes and truthfully answered.

Even though he was confused by his highness's words, he wouldn't dare to disobey his order and refuse to answer his question; that's simply suicidal.

" Beg your pardon, your highness, but I think your disguise isn't under effect if the purpose of it is used to hide your royal appearance."

Sam mused inside, not helping but chuckle,' Of course, it isn't under effect; I'm not employing such a disguise in the first place.'

But he quickly told them to elaborate on their words, pushing those funny thoughts to the back of his mind.

Even though he didn't know what was going on exactly or if his words would draw suspicion or no, he would still prefer to take such a gamble.

He was confident that if worse came to worst, he could effortlessly kill off these five lizards in front of him using the element of surprise.

Contrary to Sam's inner thoughts, the lizards didn't even suspect anything from his questions.

The royal clan's words were absolute; no matter who they were or from which region they came, they had to obey and truthfully answer.

The only situation where they would disobey an order is when it required them to sacrifice their lives or send them on a dangerous mission. At that time, they would respectfully oppose and ask said royal dragon to take this matter to their direct superiors.

" Your neckless, your highness, it isn't hidden by your disguise; only the royal clan have such majestic scales around their neck, which is why we instantly recognized you."

Sam surprisingly gained a lot of information from the lizard's words, but after he heard the system's sudden warning several times, telling him about a sudden change in its functions, he chose to ignore this matter completely and ask what he really came down to do.

" I see, I indeed didn't cover my neckleless. Anyway, I have come from another region not long ago and I need a map for my surroundings since I lost mine on the way here."

The lizard on the front immediately looked at the muscular lizard on his left, his eyes alone indicated his meaning.

The lizard in question quickly retrieved a map from his bag and gave it to his leader, which he then respectfully gave it to Sam.

Right after, Sam gave a few random words that ended the conversation and went on his way, not forgetting to place the map inside of his warehouse that is provided by the system.

After flying for more than an hour and finding a big enough cave that could support his size well hidden behind a waterfall, he abruptly entered it and checked the system warning messages that kept ringing in his ears back then.

Soon, a frown was deeply attached to his face as he contemplated the sudden change, not helping it but inquiring about it to the system.