The seaside holiday that lasted a day and a night ebbed like a tide, leaving only wet sand and quiet footprints behind.

They hadn’t planned much, and there wasn’t much to do, so no one lingered like shells clinging to a spent wave.

At the end, Alicia pinned a coordinate like a bright star on a map, clearly saving it for a return when they were ready, maybe with two more little girls in tow.

The Ninety Nine Maiden became the ride again, bearing two little girls and one young maiden like swallows on a breeze, winging back toward the Dragonfolk Gorge.

Nothing big happened along the way; the sky stayed clear as silk, and the trip went smooth as a calm sea.

...

THUD—!!

A muffled boom cracked the stillness of the great dragons’ roost like a hammer on old stone.

One dragon, busy filing a claw like a carpenter at his workbench, flinched; his finger jerked, and the nail splintered like brittle bark.

A ragged shard of claw, smeared with a bead of blood, tumbled through the air like a falling leaf.

ROAR!!!!

The dragon was angry, seething like a volcano’s throat stuffed with fire.

He stomped and turned; the pure-blood pressure he exuded made the air ripple like heat over desert stone, nearly solid to the eye.

Ahead, at the boom’s source, dust billowed like a green-gray fog bank; the smoke hid everything like a curtain.

Sight didn’t matter; dragonkind’s magic sense sketched the world like ink on paper, ignoring the blindfold of smoke.

Magic flared outward, a tide of heat; his vision split into red and green like a hunter’s strange lens, smoke in green, and within it a small red silhouette.

A human girl-sized figure stood there like a spark in mist, tiny and bright as an ember.

His mind snapped to a make-good for his ruined claw, an idea glinting like a coin in mud.

Dragon nature is dragon nature—everyone knows—like a river that wants the sea; dragons crave novelty, and he was no exception.

She looked like a human little girl, but a dragon, chasing freshness like spring wind, didn’t fuss over the details.

He’d never played that kind of game with a human little girl; the thought gleamed like a forbidden candy on the tongue.

Soon he’d ally with Alicia and Yufan Ling, names like flags in his memory; chances to play that kind of game might dry up like a well.

Let me be happy one last time! The vow thumped in his chest like a drum.

He snapped his hips; his tail lashed out like a whip of iron, singing through the air.

In his head, scenes bloomed like lanterns: the girl bound by his tail, panic fluttering like a trapped bird, carried to his lair.

Then he’d play with her all day, board set like a battlefield—last time, the girl left before Aeroplane Chess had a winner.

With that burning wish coiled tight as a spring, his tail swung harder, heavy as a battering ram.

It sliced the air with a whoosh, curved in a neat arc like a crescent blade, cut through the smoke, and flicked back smooth as a dancer.

Feeling the feedback ripple up his tail like a plucked string, he could already picture her flustered face, cute as a cherry petal in wind.

He couldn’t hold it in; the sting of his broken claw blew away like cobwebs in a gust.

He crouched, arched his back like a drawn bow; five-meter wing membranes snapped open and cast a lake-dark shadow behind him.

Then… he beat his wings and went to rise, like a kite seeking the sun.

Eh? (ﾟДﾟ≡ﾟдﾟ)!?

He couldn’t fly—his body stuck to the ground like a stone!

A jolt of wrongness tugged at his tail; the weight dragged like an anchor, and the reason flashed—his tail was too heavy?!

Don’t tell me… that little girl weighs three hundred pounds, like a sack of wet grain?!

He tried to relax his tail at once, to let it go like a loosened knot, but failed; a small hand gripped his tail like a clamp.

You trying to go somewhere? The voice fell cool as dew on his back.

Eh—Σ(ﾟдﾟ;) His heart skipped like a rabbit.

Where are you looking? I’m behind you. Don’t you recognize me? The words brushed his scales like a blade in its sheath.

He knew the voice was behind him, but he didn’t dare turn, fear crawling like frost up his spine.

It wasn’t cowardice; dragon memory is sharp as a honed fang, and he could picture exactly who owned that voice and that small frame.

But today, not turning wasn’t an option, the truth pressing like a stone on his neck.

He turned, but only enough to show a side profile, like the moon peeking from clouds; he feared she’d remember his face.

Do you recognize me? The question landed soft as falling snow.

He nodded, eyes pricking; tears pooled at the corners like dew. Mom… she’s scary…

Is that so… Just two words, dropping like pebbles in a well, and dread rose cold as deep water.

His mind pictured himself pinned and ground into the earth like grain under a millstone.

If I behave, will I suffer less? The thought flickered like a candle in wind.

So he lowered his head obediently, offering his cheek like a penitent, thinking a few slaps were better than execution for “deliberately harming an ally.”

At least I live, right? The hope sat thin as paper, but it held.

He closed his eyes; darkness folded over him like a hood.

A heavy shape landed in front of him with a thud, weighty as a boulder dropped from a cliff.

He figured Ling had dug up a rock to smash him, setting it there like a judge’s hammer before the strike.

He kept silent, waiting for punishment like a tree waiting for storm.

Time crawled like an ant, and no impact came; curiosity pried one eyelid open, a thin slit of light like dawn at the horizon.

Through that slit, he saw Ling’s petite, gold-haired figure, bright as a candle in a cave.

Huh? Not just one—three more—like stars clustering around the moon: a red-haired girl, a white-haired girl, and… the Dragon King?!

With the Dragon King present, he straightened by reflex, spine stiff as a spear shaft.

Hey, Ling, what was this guy doing? The red-haired girl spoke, pity in her eyes like soft rain.

No idea. I was just about to ask him to take me to Edmund. He suddenly squatted, and… well, you saw it, Ling said, voice light as a breeze.

The Ninety Nine Maiden listened to Ling’s explanation and looked at the big dragon with pity, gentle as a shawl.

Sorry. I haven’t been watching my people closely. I didn’t expect one to be born with a defect. I’ll take proper care of you from now on… Jiu Jiu’s words fell like a warm but undeniable hand on the shoulder.

Dragon: ???

Seeing the dragon’s baffled face, Jiu Jiu assumed he didn’t understand and let the matter drift like a leaf downstream.

Alright, that’s that. We’ve about wrapped things up here. It’s time to set out for the Mystic Realm!!! Her voice rang like a bell calling the road awake.