"You… you two…!?"
Nono's pupils trembled, her voice filled with five parts disbelief, three parts suspicion, and two parts uncontrollable panic.
"We…?" Melusina blinked, confused as to why her Master kept glancing between her and Emiya.
Was there something wrong?
"Then tell me—where are Emiya's clothes?"
Nono pouted. Sure, you fought, but this wasn't some kind of R18 battle scene—how did you end up knocking off every single piece of clothing!?
"It's not because of the battle. After the fight… I removed them. Clothes would have been a hindrance."
Melusina replied earnestly and simply… leaving out most of the process with that light sentence.
Because the ritual of Dragon Blood Baptism was rather complex.
While extracting the power of the Leviathan Dragonbone Cross, Melusina also had to craft a cocoon-like container for Emiya's body. Then, she would inject the "fetal blood" — thoroughly detoxified and transformed from the Dragonbone Cross — into the cocoon using her silk threads.
Clothing would block the extension and transmission of these threads, affecting the absorption of dragon bone and blood.
This was even mentioned in the Nibelungenlied.
It described how Siegfried, after slaying a dragon, bathed in its blood and became nearly invincible. But because a leaf stuck to his back, that spot remained untouched by the dragon's blood and became a fatal weak point.
Though somewhat mythologized, there was truth to the logic.
"Clothing is a hindrance!?"
Nono was shocked by Melusina's extremely condensed explanation. What kind of outrageous dragon was this? Finishing a battle only to instantly lust after human flesh!?
If she didn't get a real explanation right now, she was going to throw down with this perverted little dragon girl—
"Yes!" Melusina calmly continued, unaware of the rising storm in Nono's tone.
"We cooperated flawlessly underwater and defeated the enemy. But I believe the main credit should go to Emiya. So I gave him an important item, a fruit of victory..."
Melusina glanced at the others near her Master and chose slightly vague wording to explain.
Unfortunately, that wording made Nono's anger blaze even hotter.
"Important item… fruit…?"
Nono's hair bristled as she glared, "You'd better not be referring to yourself!"
"Eh?" Melusina's lazily swaying tail drooped, puzzled by her Master's furious glare.
In the tense and bizarre atmosphere, Zero quietly passed between them. She expertly removed the sword case from Dragon Severing Platform and slung it over her back.
She was just the porter again, nothing new. Just like with the Odin incident. Same old routine.
Time to leave...
Watching that, Nono finally snapped out of her rage. She smoothed her tangled red hair and let out a deep breath—rational thinking finally regaining control.
This wasn't the time to argue. They needed to escape this cursed place and return to reality safely first.
"Let's go!"
——
When the group finally passed through the "gate" and emerged onto the empty on-ramp of an overpass, it felt like they had just exited one chaotic water world… into another, equally chaotic water world.
"What the hell—is the city flooding!?"
Chu Tianjiao, the only one visibly uncomfortable in the group, had planned to keep his mouth shut. But once he'd escaped Nibelungen safely by clinging to a powerhouse, he couldn't help but shout at the sight of the flooded city.
'Torrential downpour' wasn't enough to describe this mess.
The Pugongying Typhoon that made landfall this year had gone extra hard, dragging massive moisture with it. The rainfall had far exceeded previous years, pushing this coastal city's drainage system past its limit. It was basically collapsing under the volume, unable to drain fast enough.
They quietly descended the ramp of the overpass, unnoticed.
Within the white-noise downpour, Nono quietly got an explanation from Melusina—Emiya's lack of clothing was due to the "Dragon Blood Baptism." He wasn't injured, just asleep and unable to wake until his evolution was complete.
A misunderstanding, huh? Forgiven then… yeah right. The little priestess wasn't going to let that slide.
She also quietly warned Melusina to hide herself and not be seen by ordinary people below.
To avoid unwanted attention, Melusina obeyed, retracting her dragon form and fading into "spirit form"—vanishing into the air.
Thus, with that perfectly reasonable request met, Emiya's body was finally separated from Melusina and returned to Nono's care.
Hmph. The tables have turned.
As Nono carried Emiya on her back, she felt a little proud. That silly little dragon girl—no life experience, no subtlety—was still easy to handle.
First time leads to a second, and then countless more.
From now on, Melusina could just stay invisible and watch her and Emiya get along perfectly.
"...?"
Melusina, still in spirit form, noticed her Master's suddenly bright expression, red hair flowing proudly, and wondered why the human girl's mood had flipped so fast.
Perhaps… she needed to study human emotions more?
"So… where do we go now?" someone asked.
As they neared the base of the overpass, they saw the lower road submerged in several centimeters of water.
The proud Mercedes and BMWs, usually aggressive with their high beams, now crawled forward in humility. A few unfortunate cars had stalled right in the middle of the road, emergency blinkers flashing madly — clearly flooded.
Chu Tianjiao wiped rain off his face. "This damn rain's brutal. We can't even get a cab."
"No need. Someone's picking us up."
Zero stepped forward, pointing ahead. A massive RV plowed through the water with headlights blazing, completely ignoring the snail-paced family cars around it. It looked like a celebrity cutting through a crowd.
Chu Tianjiao took a closer look—it was a Saide Unbounded, a custom off-road RV with an IVECO Oba high-chassis upgrade. Pretty rare.
He thought: if this wasn't pre-arranged, he'd eat two whole bowls of Lanzhou noodles through his nose.
He wasn't wrong—Zero's boss, Lu Mingze, had long predicted they'd survive and arranged for Jiu De Mayi to pick them up at this very spot.
The RV blinked its headlights, signaling them to board.
Soaked to the bone, the group rushed in and went straight to the back to dry off and change into warm spare clothes.
…Then Chu Tianjiao, the only outsider, got kicked out.
"...?"
He blinked. Sure, he understood rules about gender separation… but why did they bring Emiya in there too and still toss him out!? This was discrimination!
Did middle-aged men not have human rights!?
Soaking and dejected, Chu Tianjiao walked back to the front. He reached for a cigarette—only to find he'd lost both his smokes and lighter. After escaping Nibelungen, all he had left were his two alchemical blades, Muramasa. His phone and weapon case were gone.
He moved to the passenger seat and gave the driver, Jiu De Mayi, a pitiful smile.
"Hey, beautiful… mind dropping me off at Huanya Group? Urgent matter, thanks."
"Sit tight." Jiu De Mayi, now in full ice queen mode, drove the RV like a rocket through the streets, prompting angry horn blasts from every smaller car she passed.
Chu Tianjiao watched nervously. Yeah… better not mess with this one. Her driving skills were scary good—maybe even better than his.
——
Emiya felt like he was back in the womb, wrapped in warmth and color, drifting in an infant-like sleep.
What happened again? Right—he vaguely remembered slaying a giant dragon and telling Melusina to quickly armor him in new dragon scales… and then nothing.
Before waking, he noticed all the pain and exhaustion from draining his magic circuits had disappeared.
In fact, things were the opposite of expected—some powerful force was silently flowing through his limbs and bones, as if the very essence of nature was being absorbed into him without resistance.
Eventually, he heard voices and fluttered his eyelids open.
Familiar ceiling of the Regent Hotel. Nono was bustling around in fuzzy slippers.
"You're awake?" she called, rushing over again.
He saw she was carrying a bowl of steaming porridge. The kitchen was foggy like a misty mountain, and there was the unmistakable burnt smell of a newbie cook.
What the hell—Nono herself cooked!?
"You didn't need to go through all that. You could've just brought food back from the Admin District's restaurant."
Emiya sat up from the bed. He didn't feel sick at all—quite the opposite. He felt stronger and more energetic than ever before.
"You think I didn't want to? We got back too late—the hotel kitchen was already closed. That Old Tang you always talk about stopped by to check on you, but then ran off to some championship eSports match or whatever. So in the end—I had to take care of you…"
Nono grumbled as she placed the overcooked, burnt-smelling porridge on the side table.
Then she tossed him some temporary clothes.
"You're awake, so hurry and get dressed! Drink the porridge or don't—your choice!"
But as the clothes landed on the bed—
The blankets beside Emiya suddenly squirmed, and out popped Melusina's drowsy face.
Nono: "…"
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]