novelraw Chapter 249
Chapter 249
Chapter 249: My Evil Dragon Has Escaped
“Your sword…”
“What about it? Is there a problem?”
As the rebel organization in the east grew in strength, the security checks at the entrance to the Royal Capital became increasingly strict.
Such a complicated inspection process reminded Xia Li of airport security on Earth.
However, airplanes don’t allow you to carry cold weapons.
Let alone the sharpened weapon Xia Li was carrying on his back.
Under the watchful gaze of the city gate guards, Xia Li grabbed the hilt of the Demon Repelling Sword and slowly drew it out.
As soon as the guard took it, he was crushed by the unexpected weight.
This sword… was unexpectedly heavy! This young man’s sword-drawing action was so light that it made people think it was a light sword… but it was unbelievably heavy.
With his skills… he’s probably a well-trained warrior.
The guard, clad in light leather armor, took a deep look at Xia Li.
He repeatedly checked Xia Li’s identity, almost searching him from head to toe.
In the end, he couldn’t find anything suspicious.
“Sir, we came from Taro City. You’ve seen my carriages, they’re all loaded with local specialties. Taro City is very safe now…”
The old coachman traveling with Xia Li stepped forward and stuffed two silver coins into the guard’s hand.
The guard wanted to find fault, but the heavy silver coins curved his lips upward.
His lips curled into a smile as he secretly pocketed the coins.
“No problem, go ahead. Stay inside for two seconds. If there’s no alarm, you can enter the city directly.”
The guard lowered his spear and winked at Xia Li.
Xia Li then packed up his things and went in with the coachman.
The convenience that money could buy on Earth also worked in this world.
Without the identity and status of the Brave Hero, Xia Li was undoubtedly an ordinary person in this world.
So ordinary that all he had left was money.
Passing through the city gate, stepping through the dark tunnel, his vision suddenly opened up.
The dazzling sunlight made Xia Li’s eyes uncomfortable for a moment.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw an endless stream of pedestrians. The intersection connecting the city gate led in all directions. At the end of the street was a magnificent castle, resplendent in its glory.
The prosperity here was no less than the downtown area of Qingcheng City.
Only without the skyscrapers of a modern city, lacking a sense of technology, it felt more like a ‘bustling rural town’.
Xia Li lowered his head, looking at the evenly laid blue stone bricks beneath his feet, and subconsciously tilted his head to the side.
“Lu…”
His left hand grasped at empty air, failing to catch that small, white hand. The expression on Xia Li’s face froze for a moment.
Habit…
Habit was truly a scary thing.
Xia Li had long been accustomed to having a dragon by his side. Now that the dragon was suddenly left outside, Xia Li felt as if his heart had been left outside as well.
Retracting his empty left hand, Xia Li also put away his thoughts of admiring the new city.
The scenery was indeed meaningless without her.
He had to get down to business.
“Guest, that… hehe.”
The old coachman rubbed the large ring on his hand, looking at Xia Li with a sly smile.
The look was self-explanatory, and Xia Li understood what he meant.
Taking out two silver coins from his pocket and handing them to the old coachman, Xia Li instructed.
“Take me to the largest exchange here. I need to buy a large amount of magic storage crystals and scrolls containing two-way teleportation magic.”
◈◈◈
“Sister, do you want some dried sweet potato?”
Under the shade of a tree outside the city gate.
The little girl took out a piece of roasted sweet potato from her worn-out pocket. After offering it, she shyly hid her hands behind her back.
As if remembering that nobles didn’t eat such things, she smiled embarrassedly, preparing to put the food away.
Lucia was quick to react, grabbing her slightly cool little hands.
“Hey, don’t hide it, I want to eat it!”
For an all-accepting dragon…
Let alone food offered by a human child, even if a human child handed her another human child, Lucia could swallow it down.
Of course, the latter was a joke.
Stuffing the dry sweet potato into her mouth and chewing it, Lucia tasted a hint of sweetness after her dragon saliva mixed with the food.
“Delicious!” she praised without reservation.
The little girl smiled.
She was happy that her snack was accepted by the noble big sister. Even when talking to her, she gained a bit of confidence.
The big sister’s actions were different from those arrogant nobles…
She was so approachable and friendly, she must be a good person!
“Where are you a noble from, big sister?”
The little girl sat down on the grass, carefully taking out her few remaining snacks from her pocket and giving them all to the big sister.
“I’m… a noble from Xia Li’s house!”
Lucia paused for a moment, chewing on the dried sweet potato and answering vaguely.
The little girl blinked. Although she didn’t understand the place name, she felt genuine admiration.
“Then your family name must be very powerful, big sister!”
“It’s alright…”
Lucia scratched her head sheepishly.
Her surname was too rare, so rare that it was passed down only within her family.
She figured this human child wouldn’t know it even if she said it.
“What level of magic can you use, big sister? Mom said that the reason why nobles are ‘noble’ is because they can use powerful magic…” The little girl looked at her with clear, innocent brown eyes, her tone full of envy.
“Mom also said that if I can master magic above the third level, I can become an adventurer… That way, I won’t have to be a lowly servant in a caravan, but can have an exciting life.”
“Hehe… It’s a pity I can’t use magic. My affinity for magic in the air is too low.”
The little girl laughed as she spoke, her fluffy short hair covering her shy cheeks.
Although she was talking about something unfortunate, her tone was quite calm, as if she had long accepted her fate.
“I can use very high-level magic!”
Lucia had eaten enough dried sweet potato and took out the modern snacks from her pocket.
These two jellies were her last snacks.
After hesitating for a while, she gave one to the little girl.
“How high-level?”
The little girl’s eyes were full of admiration.
“Super high-level… The kind that can crush a Backstabbing Bear with one punch!”
Lucia casually gave an example. The little girl ate the jelly with a look of excitement on her face, speechless.
“…That’s amazing.”
“Right?”
Lucia smiled, her eyes glancing at the surrounding carriages, and asked the little girl beside her.
“By the way, where’s your dad? I only saw you and your mom along the way.”
“My dad was a mercenary. Mercenaries have short lifespans. He died a long time ago…” the little girl said with a smile.
The smile on Lucia’s face faded.
Unlike the human children on Earth, the human children in this world were quite calm when facing the death of a loved one.
After all, human lives in this world were short and ‘cheap’.
Accidents, diseases, wars… These things could easily take a person’s life.
Death was too common here.
“It’s okay, I still have my mom!”
Noticing the sad expression on Lucia’s face, the little girl smiled, grabbed Lucia’s hand, and comforted her in a low voice.
Lucia was silent for a long time, then shook her head.
‘Mercenaries have short lifespans…’
◈◈◈
This sentence lingered in her mind for a long time, unable to shake it off.
“Hey, let’s play hide-and-seek!”
Lucia suddenly suggested.
The dragon’s strong adaptability allowed her to quickly recover from any negative emotions.
Only this time… she didn’t recover, but learned to hide like a human.
“But, my noble brother said…”
The little girl hesitated.
Lucia pulled her up.
“Don’t worry, I won’t run around. We’ll play around here!”
“Okay then…”
At seven or eight years old, it was the time when children were most playful.
Coupled with the fact that this big sister was a powerful magician, the little girl no longer hesitated.
“I’ll hide, you lean against this tree and count to twenty!”
Lucia pulled her to the tree and pointed to the old tree, which was about as thick as a person’s waist.
“But… I can’t count that high.”
“Oh dear~”
Lucia was helpless and sighed.
“Then you just wait quietly for a while, and when I give you a signal, you can open your eyes!”
“But, how will you give me a signal…”
“You’ll know in a bit. Don’t forget, I’m a magician!”
Lucia put her hands on her hips and spoke to the little girl in the same gentle tone that Xia Li used to coax her.
The little girl nodded. She had played hide-and-seek before.
Putting her hands over her forehead, the little girl leaned against the tree trunk and began to close her eyes and count.
“Five, four, three, two…”
Unfortunately, she had never learned math, and the numbers in her mouth were just repeated over and over.
Lucia didn’t hesitate any longer. She turned around and took a quick look at the surroundings.
The servants who were staying outside the city were not all idle, each with their own things to do.
Carrying goods, organizing carriages, cleaning…
Not many people were paying attention to her.
Putting on her white cloak, Lucia narrowed her almond-shaped eyes slightly.
She turned and ran quickly deeper into the woods.
When she had gathered enough speed, she bent her knees slightly and jumped in place.
“Whoosh—”
A gust of wind suddenly swept through the forest.
The people who were busy with their dirty and tiring work raised their heads and looked towards the eastern sky.
The sky was clear and empty.
But the invisible pressure made people shudder.
It was as if a huge creature had soared into the sky, whistling past their heads…
“Sister, are you hidden?”
The little girl finally understood what the big sister meant by ‘give you a signal’.
It meant using magic to create a strong wind!
She opened her eyes and looked around blankly.
As expected of a magician…
She disappeared in an instant!
She must have used some high-level magic!
This was probably the closest she had ever been to high-level magic!
The little girl rolled up her sleeves, revealing her ice-cold little arms, full of energy for the game.
Meanwhile.
High in the azure sky.
The sound of wind tearing through the sky roared in her ears.
With every beat of her dragon wings, waves of wind followed.
The silver dragon used visual obstruction magic to conceal her form, her massive body speeding through the wind.
After cloaking herself, Lucia became completely transparent, making it difficult for the naked eye to catch her movements.
Only the dragon’s innate pressure startled a large flock of birds.
The birds screeched and flapped their wings in a frenzy, vying to take flight.
The dragon narrowed her golden-red dragon eyes, relying on the memories in her mind to discern the direction.
Destination—
Dragon Homeland.
It was not only the hunting ground recognized by the dragon race, but also the home in the heart of every giant dragon.
This was true for both mixed-scale dragons and pureblood giant dragons.
Although this race took the sky as their blanket and the earth as their bed, they always kept the birthplace of their race in mind.
Lucia had something she had to deal with.
She had to get back before Xia Li left the city.
◈◈◈
“Rumble—”
The clear sky suddenly whipped up a deafening wind like thunder.
In front of the stall selling high-quality crystals, Xia Li seemed to sense something and suddenly stopped his actions.
“What’s wrong, my esteemed guest?”
The old coachman hunched over, his head bowed humbly, asking about the guest’s situation in a low voice.
Xia Li looked at the clear sky in the east.
He felt a sense of impatience in his heart.
On the horizon, the golden sunlight was gradually disappearing behind the clouds.
Thick, lead-grey clouds piled up, rolling in from the horizon.
The sunny day was coming to an end.
It looked like it was going to rain.
“It’s nothing.”
Coming back to his senses, Xia Li weighed the crystal in his hand.
He suddenly regretted taking the easy way out and not finding a way to bring Lucia in to have a look.
He knew nothing about magic and was a clumsy swordsman.
Choosing crystals like this was something that Lucia, a dragon attuned to multiple elemental magic, should be better at…
Otherwise, he wouldn’t even know if he was being ripped off by a cunning merchant.
“Are there any specialty shops around here?”
Xia Li put down the crystal and asked the old coachman beside him.
A humble smile appeared on the old coachman’s face, and he whispered in Xia Li’s ear with a ‘men understand’ look.
“Of course there are specialties…”
“Do you prefer demi-humans with a bit of mixed blood, or mature human women? Oh~ right, I heard that the exotic shop on West Street even has rare elves. Is that special enough?”
Xia Li: “…”
Xia Li felt that he must have been misunderstood by this cunning merchant, and the expression on his face quickly cooled down.
“I meant food specialties. I promised that beautiful lady… that is, my wife, that I would bring her back some interesting food.”
“Oh, I see!”
Misinterpreting the other party’s meaning, the old coachman quickly restrained his smile and said apologetically.
“Of course, the food here is plentiful. I recommend two dessert shops… And, the Lyon Empire is most famous for its flowers. It has abundant sunshine and water resources, and the flowers are all blooming beautifully. I’ll take you to buy some, your wife will definitely love them!”