Volume 1 Chapter 127

Volume 1 + Chapter 127: Riding A Dragon There

“Damn it—why did I run into her here? How come I didn’t sense even the slightest trace of danger from her at all… Has this woman’s ability to conceal her power improved again?”

The evil dragon blocking Chancelianne’s group was none other than Anna—the same dragon who had previously been thrown to the ground with a shoulder throw by Leah, suffering a complete loss of face.

Although Eve had talked to her and tried to console her afterward, it was obvious that this alone was far from enough to quell the anger simmering in her heart.

What was more, just as Eve was about to finally open her heart and Anna was ready to throw herself into her arms and act a little spoiled, Eve suddenly said something about needing to go home to cook for her precious darling—and then hurriedly left.

This infuriated Anna to no end. She originally wanted to follow and see what was going on, but before she had gone more than a few steps, she lost track of her.

Eve’s methods of concealing her aura had, undeniably, become more and more superb.

And so, indirectly, this led to the awkward situation unfolding now. After lying low for several days, Anna had finally mustered the courage to come out and rob a human caravan to regain some pride—only to accidentally run into Eve again.

She had followed a very fragrant, very alluring feminine scent to this place. In the past, such a scent could only be found in the imperial capital.

But she had long since made a three-point agreement with Eve, she could rob food and drink, she could even take some jewels and gold coins—but she absolutely could not harm people, nor abduct them.

For a dragon, entering into an agreement with humans was an extremely humiliating thing. But unfortunately, the other party was the Crimson Witch.

If Anna didn’t agree, there were plenty of other dragons who would.

Dignity? Pride? How much were those worth, anyway?

Anna only knew that here, she could live in comfort and abundance with ease, while her relatives and friends seemed to be having an increasingly hard time, as humans kept developing more and more countermeasures.

Those other dragons simply didn’t understand that merely robbing caravans—taking inconsequential food, drink, or a few novel trinkets—would not actually cause any real harm to the caravans.

Anna had long since accumulated enough gold, silver, jewels, and piles upon piles of glittering coins.

In truth, she didn’t hoard them out of greed. After all, human currency was useless to her as a dragon.

She simply found it pleasant to sleep atop heaps of gold coins—soft, loosely piled, and pleasantly cool—far more comfortable than sleeping on bare stone.

Thus, with Eve’s tacit approval and the empire’s silent consent, Anna lived a fairly comfortable life. She could already be considered half a domesticated dragon trained by Eve.

After understanding Anna’s habits, imperial caravans would even deliberately add an extra cart of food to their convoys, thereby avoiding more than ninety-nine percent of potential losses.

Anna’s presence also served to warn other dragons that this region was her territory, and that no other dragon was allowed to encroach upon it.

After all, compared to the food-loving, good-tempered Anna, other dragons could practically be described as demons.

This time, however, Anna had clearly stumbled—and it was at Eve’s hands.

Her act of robbery had already been somewhat rough, and she was carrying pent-up resentment. As soon as she landed, she frightened one of the horses in Chancelianne’s convoy to death.

The enormous impact also rendered the finely crafted carriage unable to proceed. Whether stopping to repair it or dispatching another carriage would waste a great deal of time.

This made Eve very angry. She had rushed all the way here and even resolved the map issue, yet trouble still arose in the end.

Sensing the displeased look in Eve’s eyes, Anna lowered her head even further.

“Miss Eve… what exactly is going on here?”

Chancelianne looked at the massive black dragon that had been so aggressive just moments ago, but now looked as timid as a little puppy.

It was obvious that this change in attitude had occurred only after she saw Eve.

“Well… about that… this is actually…”

For a moment, Eve felt rather awkward. She couldn’t exactly say that this dragon was on her side, could she?

After all, from top to bottom, the empire still held a great deal of resentment toward dragonkind. Even if Anna was helpful to imperial caravans, her acts of robbery could not simply be ignored.

Especially in the early days, before she had been properly “disciplined” by Eve—back then, Anna had been extremely irritable.

Killing people had been no more than a blink of an eye.

Of course, the empire didn’t understand the danger that would arise if Anna were gone. They only knew that the empire was fortunate that the dragon dwelling near its trade routes was a relatively manageable existence.

The Church even took the opportunity to heavily publicize the matter, claiming that it was only under the protection of the gods that the empire had achieved such an outcome.

Without divine protection, if they had encountered a dragon that devoured humans without leaving even bones behind, the empire would surely have suffered disaster.

Eve knew the Church’s nature all too well—those people could turn the dead into the living with their rhetoric.

She couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.

But the current situation still left her at a loss.

How exactly was she supposed to explain this big, stupid dragon’s reaction to her…

“A kind of magic—yes, magic. A spell that allows me to command dragons.”

Eve spoke off the cuff, but clearly, her words caused Chancelianne and the guards beside her to widen their eyes in unison.

Magic that could make dragons obey… what level of magic would that even be?

The empire wasn’t unfamiliar with research into using magic to control magical beasts or other animals.

Yet after years of study, they had only managed to make a single mouse obey commands for a few minutes—and only one mouse at a time.

Slightly larger creatures were utterly out of the question. The smarter the creature, the harder it was to control.

And yet Eve was claiming that her magic could control dragons…

Under imperial research, the most difficult beings to control were dragons—followed closely by humans.

To control dragons meant that Eve also had the ability to control humans.

Terrifying. Truly terrifying.

“Don’t misunderstand—it’s just a magical item, specially designed for dragons… a kind of magical formula.”

Eve desperately tried to keep making things up, but the more she spoke, the less confident she felt. Just as she was about to run out of fabrications, Chancelianne, having recovered her senses, stepped in to smooth things over.

“So that’s how it is. Listen well—this matter must be kept strictly confidential. This is the empire’s highest-level secret. You are also the empire’s most trusted guards. What needs to be done—I don’t need to remind you, do I?”

The guards, still immersed in shock, snapped back to their senses and hurriedly dropped to one knee, pledging their loyalty.

“Miss Eve truly is…”

Chancelianne felt somewhat awkward, unsure how to praise Eve for a moment.

The look in her eyes as she regarded Eve carried a few additional, indescribable nuances.

It was as if she had confirmed something through Eve.

“For the empire to have Miss Eve—it truly is the empire’s great fortune across three lifetimes. Then as for this dragon…”

Chancelianne looked at the mountain-like dragon before her. Other matters she could help Eve cover up, but this one was not so easy to explain away.

“Well… isn’t it that the journey is long and bumpy, so I thought of a faster method?”

“Ride the dragon there.”