Chương 121: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 121 - Hope for a Cure

Saint Orist didn't have a single priest to its name. Honestly, that was just embarrassing. Though when Su Nian thought about it, maybe it made sense. If they'd had priests, the Black Beast Mercenary Group wouldn't have been able to grind the place into its current sorry state so easily. The capital was still standing for one reason only: the Black Beast Mercenary Group kept stopping to sow their seeds along the way. Three, four days in every village and small town they passed through.

That was why their advance had been so sluggish. Well. A witch was a witch. This wasn't the time to be picky, and honestly, a witch might turn out to be more useful than a priest anyway, different toolkit, different tricks. With that thought, Su Nian nodded at Celestine.

"Bring her here. Quickly."

"As you command, my master." Celestine gave a slight bow and flashed him a seductive little wink. Then she turned and left in a hurry. Off to fetch the witch. Only her hips swayed with every step. It was genuinely difficult not to read something into it. Su Nian watched with the detached appreciation of someone evaluating a painting, and left it at that. Nothing more. Anna's waist wasn't any worse, for the record. Soft. White. Silky smooth and wonderfully springy. Don't ask how he knew. It wasn't important.

A dragon's tongue was a serious instrument. Its sensory organs were extraordinarily developed, capable of catching the faintest trace of scent carried in the air, and far more precise in reading texture than even the sharpest dragon claw. Take the small porcelain bottle he was turning over in one claw right now. A single slow lick, and he could feel every minute detail of it, the warmth of the glaze, the smoothness of the finish, the subtle variations in color that human fingertips would never catch.

Celestine was efficient. It wasn't long before she returned, the so-called witch in tow. Su Nian blinked. He knew her. Wasn't this the Kaguya Priestess from that series? Huh. The ruler of the Third Fortress. He just hadn't expected that in this world, she'd apparently been running with Celestine. The girl was striking in a quiet way, black hair, red eyes, a short cut that sat just above her ears. She wore the red-and-white robes of a shrine maiden and carried herself with a kind of still, unhurried calm.

Her features were delicate, almost doll-like in their precision. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Even standing before a black dragon of his size, her expression barely shifted. She looked at the world the way someone looks out a rain-streaked window, present, but unmoved.

"Great master." Celestine knelt gracefully at Su Nian's feet and began her introduction.

"This is Miss Kaguya. She is a powerful witch." A brief pause.

"She was also the ruler of the Third Fortress — until three days ago, when the fortress was suddenly attacked by a group of rude barbarians. She came to me for refuge."

"Rude barbarians?" Su Nian's mind went straight to players. He just couldn't think of which faction would earn a label like that.

"Yes, my master. These barbarians charge into battle shouting things like 'Ura ura' and 'PPSh.' They are very large humans, and their combat strength is formidable. Miss Kaguya was no match for them." Oh. It clicked instantly. The Fighting Nation. Earth's Fighting Nation, transplanted here. Supposedly, every last one of them was a soldier by nature. There was a story from his previous life, an old Russian grandmother, eighty years old, had gone to India on a tour group and got separated from the rest.

She was set upon by over eighty local thugs. By the end of it, all eighty-plus of them were hospitalized with serious injuries. The grandmother walked away with nothing worse than sore knuckles.

"Tsk." Su Nian gave Kaguya a sympathetic look.

"Losing to them isn't a disgrace. Anyone would." He thought privately that those Fighting Nation players had actually done Kaguya a favor, if she'd run any later, she would have walked straight into the Black Beast Mercenary Group instead. No need to spell out how that would have ended. Kaguya, for her part, had no idea what the black dragon's expression meant.

She stared at him with wide, placid eyes while quietly working through a very different question in her head: which part of dragon meat would taste the best?

"Miss Kaguya." Su Nian's voice was even.

"I'd like you to examine my wife. She has something on her — a curse, or an illness. Can you identify it? Can it be treated?" As he spoke, he gently drew Anna out from where she'd been nestled against him. Anna stood before him, small and uncertain. Her soft hands curled around his forearm. Her eyes, wide and peach-blossom shaped, shining with unshed tears, tilted up toward him with an expression that belonged on a kitten about to be left behind.

"It's all right," Su Nian said quietly. He gave her cheek a slow lick.

"Let her take a look." He knew why Anna was hesitating. She was afraid of what Kaguya might say. As long as no one told her outright that she was incurable, there was still room for hope, and hope, however small, was worth protecting.

"Brother..." Anna's voice trembled. Her fingers tightened around his arm. Her face was pale pink and written through with dread. What if Kaguya said there was no cure? Then every day that passed was just one fewer day left. How was she supposed to live with knowing that? The thought spiraled and Anna felt herself sinking under it. Her eyes were already bright with tears, blinking fast. She wanted to go when it came, peacefully, without warning. Happy until the end. Not like this.

Not counting down from a number someone had handed her, waking up each morning heavier than the last, dragging her brother's mood down into the dark alongside her own.

"Brother." Her voice broke on the word.

"C-can we... not? Can we not look?"

"Anna's scared." What was Su Nian supposed to do? He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, holding her carefully, murmuring low reassurances against her hair. Then Kaguya's voice arrived in his mind, not spoken aloud, but transmitted directly, quiet and precise. [I have examined your wife's body using aura-reading.] [What afflicts her is a curse. A vicious one.] [Its source lies within her heart. Everything else — the other symptoms, are secondary effects that have spread outward from that point.] [Without your care, she would not have survived past half a month. She should have died seven or eight days after the curse was placed.] [The purpose of this curse is to steal talent.] Su Nian went still. His gaze moved to Kaguya. She looked exactly as she had before. Standing quietly, expression unreadable, watching Anna with those pale red eyes. No movement. No sound. [Can you cure it?] He let the question reach her through his eyes alone. She would understand. A flicker passed through her expression.

Barely visible, there and then gone. [I cannot. I'm sorry.] [To remove the curse, the afflicted heart must be replaced with a heart taken from a blood relative. Under normal circumstances, that would not be difficult to arrange.] [But now,] [Your wife has absorbed the dragon vein from your body.] [Because of that,] [To save her,] [What is required is a heart.] A beat of silence. [A dragon's heart.] ➤ Next: Dragon Heart