623,

“Hahahaha!!! Hahahaha!!!”

With a single flip of the dragon’s body, he thought he could send Marcina flying nine li away.

He did send her flying, but the dragon rope tied around his body acted like a swing.

Not only did it fail to throw Marcina away, it also gave her one thrilling ride.

“Again! Again!!”

She climbed back onto the dragon’s body and even began shaking herself around.

Marcina didn’t care at all about the contact below.

But to the Great Dragon, that spot was equivalent to a human’s waist.

Having a young girl repeatedly bump against his waist from below was a first for the Great Dragon as well.

As cold sweat trickled down his body and he wondered where this troublesome girl had come from, the Great Dragon bit through the dragon rope.

“Were you the one who sent that message?”

“That one? You mean the part about you being impotent?”

With those words, Marcina exposed what she had done.

The Great Dragon remained calm and composed. This time, he didn’t roar. Instead, he silently performed another dragon flip.

“Oh?”

This time, he really did send Marcina flying.

Watching the little girl fly toward the ground, he wondered whether he should fire another shot and eliminate the problem once and for all.

But as he watched, the speck that should have been growing farther away instead began drawing closer.

“Honestly, do you know how much magic it takes to fly even once?”

The Great Dragon knew that although he had been flying ever since birth, his pair of dragon eyes could still see the flow of magic.

By observing how much magic he expended each day, the Great Dragon naturally knew that flying even once consumed a massive amount of magic.

But as a dragon, he had the capital to waste it. That was a dragon’s Arrogance.

Except…

“You…”

He saw that when the little girl flew back, she was using her own magic to do it.

But the moment she flew close to him, the magic flowing from her body vanished.

Instead, she drifted through the magic he had released and used him to fly.

Anyone who could use someone else’s magic was clearly no ordinary opponent.

“You’re such a nice person~ No, a nice dragon! Sharing your magic like this… It’s my first time flying around in the sky without using any magic of my own~”

What?! Her first time?!

For some reason, a trace of displeasure rose in the Great Dragon’s heart when he heard Marcina say that.

Her first time? How dare she show off in front of this dragon?!

The Great Dragon casually spat, then attacked Marcina with the dragon cannon that had just wiped out the heretics.

But Marcina was far too small, making her impossible to aim at properly. Naturally, the attack missed.

But that didn’t matter. Even a casual shot would wipe out a whole stretch of land. It would surely scare the other party out of her wits and teach her not to joke around in front of the dragon race again.

“Wait! Not that way!!”

Marcina lightly waved the magic wand in her hand, and a sphere of water appeared in the sky.

The dragon cannon struck the water sphere and merged into it.

It didn’t unleash its usual power. Instead, it merely burst softly, causing a light rain to fall over the area.

Someone had actually blocked his attack. It had only been a casual spit, but for the Great Dragon, this was still the first time he had encountered such a thing.

“…”

Marcina flew onto his head and sat down without the slightest hesitation.

The Great Dragon saw a black thong showing beneath the shorts the girl was wearing.

It seemed to be made of thin, silky fabric. The strange sensation on top of his head made the Great Dragon shake his head at once.

Who would have thought that this shake would send Marcina sliding toward one of his horns?

As she slid along the thick, elongated dragon horn, Marcina shuddered.

“Y-you naughty thing~♡”

The Great Dragon was speechless.

“This dragon is the strongest dragon in the world—the Great Dragon Belioniel! How dare you use my dragon horn like that?!!”

Although she clearly heard the Great Dragon, Marcina still twisted her waist and adjusted her position.

She lightly bit the little finger of her right hand before speaking.

“Aww! Are you embarrassed?”

“Would this dragon get embarrassed? Nonsense…”

Before the Great Dragon could finish, Marcina had already spoken.

“Also, Be-Be… Your name is too hard to remember. From now on, I’ll just call you Babe~”

Not only had she used her own body to make herself comfortable, she had even changed his greatest and coolest name into a cutesy nickname that sounded neither masculine nor feminine—more like a pet’s name.

At that moment, a blaze of fury erupted in Babe’s heart.

***