The bounty for the Red Dragon had been raised to ten thousand gold coins. In the Northern Countries, that amount of money was considerable, but it also represented a fortune in the prosperous Empire of Fadlan to the south and the affluent Victoria Port near Moon Bay—even more so for these impoverished adventurers.
This amount was enough to allow a fledgling Mage to construct his own Mage Tower. It could also enable a warrior to purchase a set of magic equipment that could be passed down through generations.
Perhaps due to deliberate publicity by the Rackman Family, the Ashen Nest had been depicted as a perilous yet affluent realm.
Rumor had it that within that Dragon Valley lay the treasure of a greedy Red Dragon, with endless gold coins flowing from the valley. Despite no one taking the Bard's exaggerated tales seriously, it indeed left adventurers with the illusion that the Ashen Nest was a "symbol of wealth."