Leon chased this far, wasn't it all to deal with Shadow?
So, the bargaining chip Adam laid out was indeed tempting for Leon.
It's just a pity...
"You still haven't figured out one thing, Adam."
A sharp bird-cry rang out. Alongside the scorching heat brushing past his side, Adam's heart went cold.
"The moment you hurt my daughter, you were already a corpse."
———
Noah felt she was being held in someone's arms.
'Is it Daddy who came...?'
'No, not right.'
This person carried a faint fragrance.
'Is it Mom?'
'Hmm... not right either.'
'Mom's arms are soft.'
But the one holding her now, though not exactly hard, definitely didn't feel like Mom's embrace.
Noah wanted to open her eyes and see who it was.
But having withdrawn from the outburst state of Primordial Power, on top of overusing the Nine Gates Hell, her body was utterly exhausted.
Even the act of opening her eyes was beyond her strength.
She could only let herself be carried, rushed along at full speed.
Thankfully, Noah didn't sense malice from this person.
Probably someone the Academy sent to rescue her.
In the haze, Noah heard their voices.
"We can't head straight over there, it's full of dragons."
A girl's voice. Sounded young.
"Alright, there's a stone cave ahead. Let's take the two of them there."
The reply came from another youthful male voice.
"Okay."
Noah struggled to think over what the girl had just said, "'That side is full of dragons'?"
'Why would she say it in that tone, in that way?'
'Facing that hammer-wielding monster, in such danger, she doesn't seem to want her fellow dragons to help?'
'Or could it be...'
'These two young people aren't even—'
Weariness surged again, overwhelming Noah's brain in an instant.
Her ears rang, and then she slipped back into unconsciousness.
———
When she regained some awareness again, her condition had improved slightly.
She barely managed to open her eyes, finding herself in a secluded stone cave.
From afar came rumbling thunder and dragon roars.
After a brief daze, a relieved smile finally appeared on her tired little face.
'Daddy is here.'
Though she didn't know why that man showed up, he always managed to appear at the most dangerous times. It seemed to have become his tradition.
"Ohoho~ The captain's little dragon girl is even cuter than in the photos~ *Poke!* Hehe~ so soft~"
In a daze, Noah felt her cheek being poked.
Very lightly, and with a childish curiosity.
"Cute, cute! Let me poke again!"
'Fine, poke if you want, but why call me cute?'
Noah wanted to resist symbolically, but her body had no strength at all.
Even the Ancestor in her head had gone silent.
'Probably dead now (not really).'
So Noah could only let that slightly "pervy" voice keep poking her cheek.
"Rebecca, gentler. Don't wake her."
"No way, she's sleeping deeply. I still want to touch her tail!"
Noah: '?'
'Oh no. Looks like I have been carried off by weirdos.'
Being treated like a kitten and pawed all over, Noah would rather fight the Warhammer Dragon King three hundred more rounds.
But right now, she could only leave it to fate.
A few seconds later, a faint sensation touched the tip of her tail.
She clenched her little fist silently, not daring to make a sound.
Who knew what these two were? If she woke and a fight broke out, what then?
So... if they touched her tail, then let it be. Endure.
Besides, having a girl touch her tail didn't feel that bad. She and Luna, Little Light often played with each other's tails.
What's more, this Rebecca girl was careful, gentle, as if afraid of hurting her.
"Martin, I still want to kiss her once. Such a soft little face must be great to kiss."
"Why don't you just take her back and raise her for the captain," Martin said helplessly.
"Hmph! Don't care, I want to kiss."
Maybe because all the dragons she'd seen were the type to fight at the drop of a hat, she had never encountered a soft, sweet, cute little dragon girl like this. Rebecca couldn't get enough of Noah.
Touch here, touch there, and when her mood rose, she planted a smooch right on Noah's cheek.
"Alright, Rebecca, come stand guard with me. I can't cover the area alone."
Rebecca reluctantly let Noah go and ran to the cave entrance to stand watch with Martin.
Finally, Noah got some peace, and could think over what that girl had said.
She had mentioned "the captain's little dragon girl."
'Did she mean Daddy by "captain"?'
'But Daddy never said he has been a captain. Mom said he was a survivor of a clan long since dissolved.'
And judging by the girl's curiosity toward her tail and other dragon traits, she clearly hadn't been this close to dragons before.
Or rather, to a young dragon.
Which was why she found Noah so fascinating.
Suddenly, Noah sniffed a faint smell of gunpowder in the air.
Very faint, not like explosive powder, more like... bullets?
Dragons never used firearms. Even the Sky City balloon-shooting game was imported from other tribes' culture.
But the Academy taught that on the continent of Samael, certain weaker races relied on firearms and tools to make up for lack of power.
And if someone's whole body carried that gunpowder scent, lingering in the air. It meant they'd been partnered with guns for a long time.
"Gunner..."
Noah remembered the textbooks mentioning such a special profession.
Like the various schools of magic-users, Gunners were a branch from tool-using races.
And among all these races, only one treated Gunners as a formal, systematic training path:
Humans.
Adding to that the girl's earlier phrase "those dragons over there," Noah had already guessed the answer.
'If what she said about "the captain" really referred to Daddy, then—'
Past memories and details pieced together like a puzzle in Noah's mind.
Finally forming the conclusion she had long suspected.
'So it's really true. Daddy...'
"Mmh—"
As she thought, Helena's soft little groan sounded at her side.
"Noah... where are we?"
"Ah, we—"
"There's movement over there, Rebecca, we have to leave."
"Who's that? Who's at the cave mouth?... Why aren't they, ah!"
Helena's words were cut off as darkness claimed her again. Having just woken for less than five seconds, she fainted once more.
Noah gently supported her best friend's shoulder, leaning her securely against herself.
"Sorry, Helena. Sleep a bit more."
Saying that, Noah closed her eyes again too.
"Wait, before we leave, let me kiss the little dragon girl one more time!"
"No, we really have to go now."
Martin walked over quickly, hoisted Rebecca onto his shoulder.
Rebecca flailed her legs like a sardine unwilling to be caught.
"Little~ dragon~ girl~ I haven't kissed you enough! When you grow up, remember to come find me, I can be your godmother!"
Noah's inner voice: 'Adults really are childish after all.'
Not long after Rebecca and Martin left, Noah heard voices outside the cave.
"Teacher, here! I heard noise from this side!", It was Kristina's voice.
Before Noah and Helena entered the inner circle of the Nightmare Moon Forest, Helena had spotted a trace of a dangerous species and shared the clue with Kristina.
"Noah! Helena! Where are you?"
"Helena!"
"Noah-chan!"
"..."
Teacher and classmates called outside.
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