Chapter 24: Night watch

The night was very quiet. Sitting beside the blistering bonfire, Roland who was on night watch unconsciously stared at Yi Longlong and Lin Qi, his thoughts occupied with other matters.

It was originally an extremely smooth journey. He accepted two jobs, observing and testing Easley along the way. It was supposed to return with success, but instead a very tiny mishap happened.

Dragon.

He had never expected to actually encounter the single descendant of dragons here and in this way.

The creatures known as dragons were an existence that can absolutely make people tremble. Even for the Poem of Cerulean wielding Eric who was eventually hailed as “The Sky Piercing Radiance”, it was only due to his strength that won the dragon’s acknowledgement, and not through prevailing in a fight. This acknowledgement was like a teacher’s praise towards an excelling student, or the same as a person with extremely high achievements under their belt acknowledging the younger generation within the kingdom.

The unpredictable deaths of the dragon race gave rise to an invisible panic among the human world. Regardless of whether they were a single person or a crowd, to possess a brutal strength that could even kill dragons, they all posed a terrifying threat no matter where they were. But as if they had become accidentally famous, they did not create any disturbances to the human world and only silently killed the dragons.

The great nations on the continent had previously sent people to search for the mysterious “Dragon slayer”, desiring to rope them into worldly affairs. However, they unsurprisingly came empty handed. The dragon slayer was like an assassin in the dark, stealthily snatching away dragons’ lives again and again, his blade eventually extending even towards the pseudo-dragons that shared some traits with dragons.

Among those currently observing this matter, their attitudes towards the dragon slayer were split into two factions. One party believed they should try to exterminate this dangerous existence. This type of person can affect the continent’s affairs and even devastate nations. Leaving them here would amount to leaving a threat that can explode at any time. The other party believed that with the dragons dead anyway, since the dragon slayer didn’t seem to develop any malice towards humans, if it was possible, they could rope them into their own influence, just what a great force it can be.

However, no one has seen the real identity of the dragon slayer. A dragon knight had previously witnessed from afar the dragon he had contracted being killed, but he did not clearly see the other party’s appearance and only vaguely knew that it was a black colored human shape, whether it was human or not it could not even be ascertained. After all, on this continent, things that possessed a human shape were not limited to humans.

…Black color.

Roland subconsciously glanced at the sleeping youth laid next to the bonfire. The youth’s pitch black hair and clothes seemed to merge with the night, as if he was the child of night born from a place that never saw the day. The moment people saw him, they would all be attracted by this calm and serene blackness.

The next moment, Roland instantly laughed at himself: How’s that possible? It must be because my brain’s been injured from today, to come up with this strange connection. Lin Qi only so happened to have long black hair and wear black clothes, how can he be that terrifying dragon slayer? The one he ought to suspect is the master of that tower: having collected numerous valuable legendary artifacts, possessing the art of puppet creation and also the spatial magic that was extremely difficult to master, regardless of which it was, they were all deserving of being recorded down in history, however that visually aged tower was only discovered not too long ago.

But for a terrifying person like that, what were they doing chaining Lin Qi up? And even chained to a bed…

Roland surmised not without some nasty thoughts. He had heard that in some places, people with abnormal talents would usually have an unspeakable eccentricity. Perhaps Lin Qi was a victim of such eccentricity.

His gaze slightly shifted. Roland then saw Yi Longlong curled up next to Lin Qi. The little white dragon had tugged Lin Qi’s robe over to use as bedding. The small round grass shoes were removed and placed at the side of the “bed”. The leaves were her blanket, her two tiny claws tightly clutching it.

This creature that looked like a dolly pet, from his knowledge, was the one dragon in the world. If he was still suspicious of their identity before, after the event of Hundred Billion Stars slicing the tower, he did not require any more evidence to ascertain it.

Yi Longlong lied down for a while, when out of nowhere she opened her eyes, the beautiful blue eyes meeting right with Roland’s line of sight. “Hey, you there,” the dragon maiden said with some embarrassment, “Mind turning your head around and don’t look at me? I’m not used to being watched while falling asleep.”

Lin Qi was actually soundly asleep. It was as if he died the moment he shut his eyes, falling asleep without a care in the world.

The purple haired rogue spoke with an unchanging voice, “Excuse me, please call me Roland or rogue, I’m not ‘you there’.”

“Alright, Roland, do you have the habit of watching ladies fall asleep?”

Roland could not restrain his face from darkening. He thought for a moment, then at last unwillingly turned his body around. “Have to say, as a dragon, you having such a strange oddity can really rustle up people’s anger. Besides, won’t you attack me while I turn around?”

“That’s something a rogue would do!”

“Don’t look down on rogues!”

After the short quarrel, the silent forest under the veil of night recovered its peace once again. Yi Longlong lied beneath the leaves, her tiny body fidgeting all over. Still unable to sleep, she stealthily lifted the leaves she used as a blanket then furtively glanced to see if Roland grew an eye on his back or whatever. After making sure the other party was not peeping, she finally determined that the reason she was unable to fall asleep was due to herself.

After flipping around she sat up. Yi Longlong hugged onto the leaf, put on her shoes and pattered over to Roland. She reached out a claw and carefully jabbed him. “Oi, let’s chat for a bit.” She could not sleep.

Roland looked down at her and gave a nefarious sneer. “Do you need me to tell you bed time stories? Weak little animal?”

Yi Longlong groaned and lowered her head, weakly saying, “Even if you told it I would still be unable to sleep. I’m used to my bed. Without the silver blue grass bedding, it’s very difficult to get used to it.” Even if she was on the road with Eric, every night, Eric would still lay out the soft grassy bedding for her, letting her fall asleep amid the light fragrance. With the environment changed all at once, it was a bit hard for her to adapt to it.

Roland spoke with a stony expression, “What a pity, I don’t have the space to find the silver blue grass to make your bed.”

Yi Longlong shook her head. “That’s not what I meant, I’m saying… hah, never mind, since I can’t fall asleep, I’ll go on night watch and you take a rest. We’re still depending on you to find the way tomorrow.”

Roland threw a skeptical glance at her. “You? Can you even night watch?” Truthfully, Roland had already known that due to the special attribute of the silencing forest, there normally would not have any excessively ferocious beasts or monsters around here, but there’s nothing wrong with being a bit more cautious.

“No problem. Should a dangerous fellow come, I’ll let out a high pitched scream to wake you up.”

“With this coming from the mouth of a dragon, it’s really asking for people to be disillusioned.” After weakly saying this, he did not hold back on the dragon’s hospitality. He flipped down and lied on the ground, and it wasn’t long before his breathing settled. For people like him who were used to surviving in the wilderness, they could fall asleep in any type of dangerous environment in order for a speedy recuperation.

Carrying the leaf as a blanket, Yi Longlong looked with ennui at the bonfire, and after for who knows how long, she saw a black shadow standing up on the opposite side. It gave her a fright, but looking more clearly she discovered it was Lin Qi and then let out a sigh of relief. Afraid of waking up Roland, she quietly asked, “You can’t sleep as well?”

Lin Qi was expressionless. His pupils were dim and enigmatic, compared to during the open day, it had an added sense of concealed mystery.

On the other side.

Eric freely swung his sword. His seemingly ordinary blade sliced apart a monster bigger than a person with an unparalleled swiftness and ferocity. Like a sky piercing radiance, it left an elegant trail in the dark. He withdrew his sword then sent another pouncing beast flying with a dexterous flick.

It was already night time. All sorts of monsters were still endlessly swamping in, but compared to them, the word “monster” seemed to suit the man at the center of the slaughter more. Mountains of corpses were piled on the ground everywhere; the blood tainted the soil into a luster that was brighter than sunset, yet not a single drop of blood fell onto the sword wielder’s messy head of resplendent blond hair, still retaining its radiance and splendor.

Eric casually swung his sword while glancing left and right with angst. “Where the blazes should I go, wonder how that little fella’s faring, will she be unable to sleep without a familiar bed.”