Chương 51: Reborn as the Dragon: — Chapter 51 - KFC Crazy Thursday

Looking at his monsters fired up and ready to march, Su Nian felt deeply satisfied. With a crew like this behind him, flattening every Player in the world and unifying this realm was only a matter of time. Maybe, if things went well, he'd even make it back to Earth Star someday. Reunite with his grandfather. The old man had been alone there long enough, that was its own kind of cruelty. But the thought came and went. Su Nian wasn't someone who dwelled on things.

"All Rock-Armored Crocodiles — except the two females — dig up every last potato and bring them back to the Dragon's Nest. And don't forget your eggs." A few minutes later, the column was ready to move. Four Rock-Armored Crocodiles bore Su Nian aloft. The rest carried their own eggs and shouldered Grey Wolf and Bolikri as the whole procession left the swamp behind. No grief. No backward glances. Just potatoes on the brain. Not that it was a hardship, there was a stream near the Dragon's Nest. They'd adapt fine.

Every other beast in the column clutched an armful of potatoes, roots dangling, like they were carrying something priceless. Their expressions were dead serious. Su Nian didn't doubt them for a second. If some wild beast showed up right now looking to score a free meal, these followers, every one of them carrying a "Strong" or "Robust" title, would make that beast deeply regret the life choices that led it here.... The journey back was clean.

Su Nian kept his Dragon's Might radiating outward the whole way, and not a single creature was stupid enough to test a black dragon leading a hundred-strong monster column through the desert. Still, by the time the Dragon's Nest came into view, the sky had bled into dusk. A summer night settled over the world. Stars scattered across the darkness like crushed silver, the Milky Way draped sideways across an ink-black sky.

The full moon hung alone, its light cool and still, a sight Su Nian had never once seen through the smog of Earth Star. He paused a moment to take it in. Then, from far across the desert, he heard it. Anna. Crying. The sound was small and broken, the kind that cuts clean through everything else. Su Nian's chest seized. He launched himself skyward and covered the distance to the Dragon's Nest in under two breaths.

Inside, Anna was huddled in the darkest corner of the cave, a bearskin blanket clutched to her chest, tears running freely down her face. The Gnolls hovered nearby, useless, nothing they tried could reach her. A gust of wind moved through the entrance. It carried warmth. Something familiar. It swept across Anna's face like a hand. A vast shadow fell over her, deep and black, and instead of fear, warmth. Pure, immediate warmth. She looked up.

The Black Dragon loomed above her, enormous and scarred, his ferocious face inches from hers. His dark gold eyes were cold as always. But Anna could read what lived underneath. She was the only one who could. Concern. And apology. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"I'm sorry, Anna," Su Nian said softly.

"Stop crying. I'm back."

"Brother..." She scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand, then threw herself into him, arms around his neck, face pressed against his scales, like a swallow diving back into its nest. Her small fists found his chest and started hitting.

"... Wuwuwu... l-liar... you promised, you said you'd always... always take Anna with you... wuwuwu..." Her voice was soft and hiccuping, half sob, half accusation. The hits landed like rain, gentle, harmless, furious. Su Nian nuzzled her cheek, slow and careful, then folded his wing around her before she could keep going. He didn't want her bruising her hands on his scales. She wouldn't have bruised them anyway. Her strikes felt like feathers against him. But that wasn't the point.

He looked at her, curled against him, still sniffling, shoulders shaking with small coughs, and something in his chest pulled tight. He lowered his head.

"Anna. I didn't leave you. I went to find food." His voice came out quiet.

"I brought potatoes back. They're delicious, I can make them for you every day if you want."

"But... but Anna doesn't want potatoes..." She shook her head against him.

"Anna just wants to be with dragon brother... doesn't want to be apart... it's... it's scary..." She pressed both hands flat over her heart, fingers laced together, brows drawn, her voice going small and mournful.

"When we're apart, Anna's heart feels... empty. Like there's nothing there. And those terrible things... they start showing up again, like they're right in front of me..."

"Brother. Don't leave Anna." A pause.

"Please." The way she looked at him, arms around his neck, eyes raw and searching, begging the way someone begs when they have nothing left to lose, hit him like a blade dragged slowly through his chest. He'd known Anna had no sense of security. He'd known that from the start. He just hadn't thought carefully enough this afternoon. Her past had built her this way.

The things she'd survived had made her someone who felt every absence like an abandonment, who held happiness at arm's length because she was terrified it would vanish. She was pessimistic about her own body, about her own future, and yet she wanted so desperately to live. Every day was a war between fear and hope, and she fought it alone inside her head. She needed security. Not a little. Absolute security. Right now, only he could give her that. Because to Anna, he wasn't just a companion or a protector.

He was the only family she had left. He hadn't expected this, that in just a few days, her dependence on him could run this deep. He pulled up his system panel. One afternoon. That was all he'd been gone. And from the moment she woke until right now, her favorability had climbed to 68.

"I'm sorry, Anna." He kept his voice low and even.

"I promise, this is the last time. From now on, wherever I go, whatever I do, you come with me. Okay?"

"... Really?" She looked up at him. Cautious. Searching his eyes for something she could hold onto. She found it. She didn't ask again. She just settled against him, nestled in the curve of his body, wrapped in the wing still folded around her. The safest place in the world, as far as she was concerned. Her home wasn't this cave. It had never been the cave. Her home was here, pressed against him, tucked into the warmth he put off without thinking. It had been, for a while now. To make it up to her.

To make her smile again. Su Nian decided to make fries. There was no grief in this world that a good plate of fries couldn't fix. And if fries weren't enough, there were always chips. Either way, he was covered. It was Thursday, too. Perfect timing.... He improvised. A large turtle shell stood in for a pot. He rendered oil from the fattiest cuts of a wild boar he'd killed, and pulled starch and salt from the system store. Ten minutes later, a batch of golden, crisp fries sat steaming in the shell.

Each one was over ten centimeters long. They hissed softly, dusted with cumin and salt, and the smell hit every corner of the Dragon's Nest like a wall. The ingredients in this world were simply better, richer, denser, more alive, and the fries showed it. For dipping sauce, Su Nian had asked Bolikri earlier to track down something tomato-adjacent. He'd come back with a wild fruit whose flesh made a deep purple-red jam, sharper than tomato, but close enough. It would do.

"Brother — is this the fries you were talking about?" Anna stared at the plate with wide eyes, genuinely curious. She'd never seen anything like it. The smell reached her before her hands did. She swallowed. With Su Nian beside her, she'd steadied quickly. Her color was back. Her breathing had evened out. She was still tucked firmly against him, both hands wrapped around his claw, not planning to move anytime soon, but she was here, present, herself again.

She reached out and picked up one fry, very carefully, and dipped the tip into the purple jam the way he'd shown her. Then she didn't eat it. Instead, her face broke into a bright, mischievous smile. She stretched up onto her toes, straining a little, and held the fry up toward his mouth.

"Brother, say ah, let Anna feed you first~" ➤ Next: Master, Let's Discuss Magic