Chương 114: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 114 - Salvation

Well, that was fast. Already transported over? Not a second of preparation. He was starting to get a feel for how these skills worked. No warm-up window, no countdown. Activation meant it had already begun. Which meant he needed to be fully ready before triggering anything from now on.

"Huh? Brother?"

"Is Anna dreaming~" Anna rubbed her bleary eyes and looked around, gaze soft and unfocused. It had to be a dream. The room was far too lavishly decorated, clearly human territory, not the Dragon's Nest. Satisfied with that conclusion, Anna giggled and climbed down off Su Nian.

"Brother actually did that yesterday — can't let him off easy. I have to launch a full retaliatory strike. Let him know Anna is not someone you push around! Hmph hmph ╯^╰..." She muttered under her breath as she circled halfway around the Black Dragon. She had already noticed the elven girl lying on the floor. But she didn't give it much thought. It was all a dream anyway. As a Half-Elf, it was perfectly normal for a long-eared Wood Elf to show up in her dreams. So.

How exactly was she going to "get back" at her brother? Anna tilted her head, thinking. Then her gaze landed on the dark red spike.

"Um — Anna..." Su Nian noticed where she was looking. Foreboding settled over him immediately. But he didn't dare move. The space was small, and his dragon body was enormous, one careless shift and he'd bring the whole room down around them. Anna didn't respond to his call. She was completely focused now. Eyes locked on target. This is one of brother's weapons for hunting prey. If she bit it and broke it, brother would be very troubled...

"Awoo~" Bite. Su Nian: (╯‵□′)╯!!... Half an hour later.

"Brother, I'm SO SORRY!!!" That was Anna's fifty-ninth apology. And no number of apologies was going to save her face, already blazing crimson from embarrassment and mortification all the way to her ears. The worst part: this was not a dream. And there was a stranger elf in the room watching the entire thing. She had died socially. Completely. Irrevocably. [Awoo woo woo woo... so embarrassing, I want to die, I want to die... woo woo...] [Brother is definitely going to hate Anna...] [Without brother, what is Anna going to do... woo woo...] Su Nian looked at the teary-eyed girl in front of him and listened to her heart hammering out thoughts like a news ticker on loop. He exhaled slowly.

"Anna," he said again.

"I'm fine. Really."

"I don't blame you. I don't hate you. I'm not going to dislike you." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"R-really?" Anna studied his face with careful, searching eyes. His gaze was steady. Honest. Not a trace of performance in it. He genuinely didn't seem to blame her. Brother is so gentle... Warmth spread through her chest, soft and quiet. The tight knot in her heart began to ease. Still burning with shyness, Anna padded over to him, rose onto her tiptoes, and pressed a small, placating kiss to his dragon face. Then she tucked herself into his embrace and went very still.

She coiled her snow-white fox tail all the way around herself. A perfect little rice ball. Nothing visible but two adorable peach-blossom eyes and a pair of fluffy fox ears trembling faintly at the tips. Su Nian lowered his head and nuzzled her cheek, pulling her a little closer so she could feel the warmth radiating from his scales. Then he shifted his attention back to the elven girl who had been waiting on the floor this entire time. This "elven" girl was named Serestin. He already knew that much.

He wasn't actually opposed to teleportation. The real issue was this: the System clearly wanted him to bring more NPCs under his banner, building his power through subordinates. Which meant, from the very beginning, it had been designed to let him fully embrace his nature as a dragon. And for a dragon, accumulating a tangle of romantic entanglements was practically tradition. Su Nian didn't want any of that. Anna was the only one in his heart.

The problem was that half his soul was dragon, and some primal instincts didn't ask permission. Under the wrong circumstances, they might not be controllable. Especially with more females around. That was the real reason he'd been resisting the teleports. If the one summoning him had been a man, and the destination wasn't dangerous, he'd have gone without hesitation. New territory to map. New subordinates to gain. Even if the summoner accidentally got themselves killed in the process, he'd inherit their abilities.

Win all around. But he didn't want to let Anna down. And he absolutely refused to let her get hurt. Still, running from it forever wasn't the answer. The real question was how to make use of these NPCs' abilities without letting things go somewhere they shouldn't. Avoidance wasn't a strategy. With that settled in his mind, Su Nian let the impulse to incinerate Serestin with a breath of dragon fire quietly die out.

"Since you are now my servant," he said, "I will grant you my favor in return."

"Earlier, you spoke of needing my salvation. Tell me, what is it you need saving from?" His tone was cold and measured. Not a flicker of warmth in it. Though, the more he looked at this "elf," the more familiar she felt. He had seen her somewhere. He was sure of it. But where?

"For your great knowledge," Serestin began, "I am the Saintess of Saint Olis, and the ruler of this nation."

"Saint Olis was once a peaceful, stable country. We worship the Goddess of Peace. We never provoke our neighbors. We simply lived quietly in our corner of the southern continent." Her voice began to crack. Grief and fury braided together under every word. She pressed on through gritted teeth.

"To the east of our southern continent, there is a mercenary group with a notorious reputation, the Black Beast Mercenaries."

"Their leader is a fourth-tier warrior named Garth Jett."

"The men under him are brutal humanoid species. What they enjoy most is invading small nations like ours."

"Four countries have already fallen to them. And they don't just invade, they impose what they call 'Servitude Nation' status." Serestin wept as she spoke. She laid out everything she knew: every rule of the Servitude Nation system, every detail of what had become of the countries already swallowed by it. The more Su Nian listened, the colder he felt. He looked carefully at the weeping saintess kneeling in front of him, and it clicked. Oh. Oh. He knew exactly who this was.

The details didn't match the anime from his past life perfectly. No Seven Shields Alliance here. No magic tower built by Dark Elves. But the bones of it? Almost identical. He'd enjoyed that anime back in the day. But standing here now, looking at Serestin, seen from her side of the story, that experience had been nothing short of hell. He was in front of her now. He had the power to actually do something. Letting it go wasn't an option. Besides, this Saintess was genuinely, straightforwardly lawful good.

Her character was solid. And her figure was flawless. Su Nian had no interest in any female but Anna. But staring at Serestin was still considerably easier on the eyes than spending every day looking at kobolds and gnolls.

"Your plea," Su Nian said, "has been heard."

"Offer me your loyalty — and I will erase your enemies."

PS: I've seen a few reviews lately calling the female lead childish. When a girl likes someone, she naturally gets a little childish. Anyone who's actually been in a relationship knows this. Nobody's perfect. If you accept her cuteness, you accept a little silliness and willfulness along with it, and for the record, Anna's "childishness" is well within bearable range. I'm not here to lecture anyone on romance. I can't write you a perfect girlfriend.

I'm writing real people, characters whose personalities shift as they grow through the story. That's how it works. They're not fixed archetypes. They're not your 2D paper wives. Who a person is has everything to do with what they've lived through. Also: "simp" means giving unconditionally with nothing in return. Please don't stick that label on the male lead. If you're unclear on the definition, look it up, or ask your parents. If you're still unclear after that, go fall in love once. Art comes from life.

Everything I write comes from experience. I'd bet most of you reading this are younger than me, and I'd also bet that 99% of those older than me don't see anything worth complaining about in how the female lead acts. I'm 24. Thank you. ➤ Next: Sacred Wall of Felinir