Tom.

In the next moment, Sam was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a small round crystal on Derek's right palm, which seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

The crystal bottom was crafted from a black stone of an unknown origin, and the crystal itself appeared quite dim due to its grey color...

In the blink of an eye, the round crystal shone with a faint green light, and a friendly voice could be heard coming out of it.

" Derek? Didn't we just finish our yearly deal for your farm's transportation a few months ago? Is there something else you need?"

Derek awkwardly scratched the back of his head with his left hand as he spoke, his tone filled with impatience," Don't worry, this is also part of our contract since it is related to the farms and infant dragons. It's just that we left an infant dragon to grow up to be sold for a higher price later, and now I need him transported to the Elf's Empire without any issues. Can you arrange that?"

The voice on the other side was still friendly as he replied," Is this some kind of new experiment after your clients complained about the prior infant dragons growing weaker with each passing year? Well, I wouldn't be surprised by this move of yours. I bet Don was pressured by the other farms having a better quality in dragons that he dropped his main rule and started this one."

Before the man on the other side of the crystal could even keep speaking, Derek impatiently cut him off," Tom, let's chat later after we meet. For now, just send a team accompanied by a mount."

Tom didn't get mad about his friend's impatience, nor did he care about it in the first place. He had worked with him since the first farm was established, and he knew that his friend was always this forceful. Hence, he simply went to work treating him like one of his clients.

" What kind of team do you want, and how big is the mount you asking for? Don't forget that you are gonna have to pay half the price before we even depart."

Derek quickly gave him specific information about what he required," I want the strongest team in your guild, accompanied by your fastest and strongest flying dragon mount."

Tom, on the other side, couldn't help but take a deep breath after he heard his friend's words." Hey Derek, do you know how much gold that will cost you? Just the strongest team alone will amount to 100k gold, while the flying mount you are requesting won't go less than 20k. Do you even have that kind of gold on you?"

" Tom, you don't have to worry about the payment; I'll even pay the full price before we depart. Just send the team accompanied by the mount as fast as possible to farm 7. Our client is waiting for his order, and Don is even yelling at me as we are speaking."

Derek spoke as he made a few gestures with his left arm; he then took out a ring and placed it on top of Don's dead body.

The moment the ring touched his back, a buzzing sound radiated from it, followed by a dazzling light, and in just a second, the whole body got sucked into the ring.

He breathed a sigh of relief and stowed his ring away after witnessing his spell effectively cleaning the blood that had leaked from his wound.

" Done; I have contacted them; you are lucky they are here waiting for a mission in the first place. The estimated time for their arrival is 10 minutes; hope that's okay with you." Tom professionally replied.

" Good," Derek agreed and instantly cut the mana supporting the communication crystal, ending the call without any prior notice.

***

In another place, not far away from Sam's current spot, an old man who was adorning a worried expression could be seen placing his feet on top of a wooden desk, leaning on his comfortable chair as he uttered, his eyes full of uncertainty.

" Oh, Derek, what have you done? I always warned you about going against your superiors since their influence and power are more than what you can imagine, yet, it seems like you never took my advice to heart. Am I gonna lose one of my last few friends like this?"

***

Sam was a little bit surprised about this whole situation; he wasn't even sure what to think of this as he gazed at the man who was carefully and gently patting his head like a pet.

' Dragon God, am I not supposed to be in a safe place away from humans to quietly develop and get stronger? Why was I sent to some kind of farm that bred dragons? I'm even gonna be sold to some random people!'

Sam yelled in his mind as he kept trying to shake off the hand of the thin man patting his head, only to be met with the harsh reality of life.

His body was still not responding to his commands!

Sam quickly did his best to ignore this uncomfortable feeling and started thinking about what just happened, a hint of worry visible in his platinum eyes.

' I'm not surprised that I could understand the language of these two people since I was sent here by the Dragon God himself; he obviously took care of language barriers and other stuff. What I'm actually astonished about is the cruelty of this person.'

From Derek and Don's conversation earlier, he understood that they had been colleagues and even friends for quite a few years, if not longer. Yet, Derek didn't hesitate to kill his partner the moment he heard about the infant dragon's rarity and price.

' Am I really that special and expensive? I mean, the Dragon God obviously gave me a great body superior to ordinary dragons, but I'm pretty sure other baby dragons had the same bloodline and traits as me in their other farms, or else Don would have never been able to tell that I was special.'

He paused for a moment as he had a sudden realization,' Who cares about his reason for killing him! What's important right now is to find a way out of this. Yes, the gifts of the Dragon God; he said he gave me three presents that will help me in my journey. I'm pretty sure the information related to that is part of the memories I just received; let's check them real quick.'