Chapter 184: Captain
“Hey, why is your tattoo glowing?”
After a moment of nostalgia, Leon returned the family portrait to his Master.
His Master, who fought tooth and nail in the Empire, never forgot to carry this photo around. It seems the old man really liked his two granddaughters that he had never met before.
Unfortunately, the little daughter was just born, and Leon didn’t have the chance to snap some photos before he rushed back to help Master in the Empire. Otherwise, he would’ve shown the little one to Master.
You know, once people hit a certain age, they start thinking about more than just themselves or even their kids, but about their kids’ kids. It’s that whole grandparent bond.
Taige safely tucked the photo away and got back on track, “So, you just mentioned Constantine invaded the Silver Dragon Race?”
Leon nodded, “Yeah, I have no clue if it’s a coincidence that Constantine chooses to attack the Silver Dragons when Roswiser is at her weakest, or if there’s something else going on. I don’t have much information, so I’m hesitant to make any assumptions. But there’s one thing Roswiser reminded me of.”
“What’s that?”
“Constantine probably started operating broadly among the Dragon Races, stirring up wars and conflicts about a year ago, and you came back to the Empire about a year ago, Master.”
Leon’s expression turned serious; he was already connecting the dots when Roswiser mentioned it.
But… he was a bit scared to follow that thread further.
Because where that investigation could lead, might be something Leon couldn’t accept.
Seeing Leon’s expression, Taige also vaguely guessed what his student was getting at. “Are you saying… there’s a cooperative relationship between the Empire and Constantine?”
Rebecca raised her hand, “Wait a minute, you two jumped from clues to conclusions way too fast. Didn’t you have any reasoning process? I don’t get it. What does Taige returning to the Empire a year ago have to do with Constantine causing chaos among the Dragon Races?”
Leon looked at Rebecca and patiently explained, “Constantine’s wars and conflicts are just a cover. His real goal isn’t to swallow other Dragon Races; he came for the Silver Dragon Race from the start. Even before he launched the official attack on the Silver Dragons, he deployed forces to the ‘Red Dragons’ to pretend like he was stirring trouble with them.”
“When everyone thought Constantine was acting like a mad bull in a china shop, he suddenly gathered elite troops from the Red Flame Dragon Race to launch a lightning-fast assault on the Silver Dragons, even personally showing up on the battlefield, all to ensure he took down the Silver Dragons without a hitch.”
“And when I fought him, he recognized my human identity. But among the Dragon Race, only Roswiser knows I’m human. She wouldn’t just go and tell Constantine that—there’s no reason for it.”
“So if nobody among the Dragon Race besides Roswiser knows this secret, it can only mean… it’s the Empire.”
“Three years ago, during the war with the Silver Dragons, I was betrayed by an insider, severely injured, and everyone just left me there. Afterwards, everyone thought I was a goner. Even Master and Mistress, even I myself thought that way.”
“But who would have guessed that not only did I survive, but I also reached out to Master two years later?”
“When Master learned I was alive, he returned to the Empire to clear my name of that ridiculous treason charge, but the Empire insisted that ‘the dead should just shut up and take the fall,’ and they even framed him as a murderer.”
“So, like Master said earlier, for the past year he’s been pressuring the Empire, trying to force them to concede. But the people in the Empire aren’t fools; a guy who has already seen through the world and is living in seclusion in the mountains isn’t suddenly going to develop an obsession with clearing his student’s name.”
“So they might have already guessed that I might not have died three years ago when I was abandoned among the Silver Dragons. They sent Constantine to fake chaos within the Dragon Races and then attack the Silver Dragons to eliminate me completely.”
“And after I killed Constantine, the Empire had to get anxious. They needed to eliminate Master’s influence as quickly as possible, even risking releasing their Dangerous Species. Because they knew that if I returned to the Empire and found Master, I might expose their dirty secrets.”
“So to sum it all up:”
“One, there’s a collaborative relationship between the Empire and the Dragon Race, and Constantine is part of it, though not necessarily the only one;”
“Two, the insider who betrayed me was likely directed by the Empire. Just the reason of ‘using the dead to take the blame’ isn’t enough for them to go to such extremes to k*ll me.”
Leon laid out the past three years, while Rebecca slowly processed the information.
Master’s expression was grave as he stared silently into the fire, deep in thought.
Leon let out a slow breath; he thought speaking it all out loud would lighten the burden, but it didn’t.
Because these conclusions were merely based on existing clues.
It was just the tip of the iceberg.
There were countless questions remaining unanswered.
Like why did the Empire want to cooperate with the Dragon Race? What was their objective? And why did they need to k*ll Leon?
So many questions piled up in Leon’s mind like a mountain.
He readjusted his mindset, looked at Rebecca, then at Master, and said, “So my next step is to find the insider who betrayed me and see if I can get some clues about the Empire from them.”
Taige naturally had no objections, “Sure, whatever you want to do, I’ll support you.”
“Oh, I thought you were going to say from now on, I’m not your Master, you’re not my student, and if I get into trouble, don’t come running to me—ow!”
Taige kicked over the little stool Leon was sitting on, laughing as he scolded him, “You think I’m helping you? I’m helping myself! If anything happens to you, your Mistress will skin me alive! And most importantly—”
Leon sat on the ground, raising an eyebrow, “Most importantly?”
“If you d*e, who’s going to help me with the donkey’s hoof?”
“……”
Alright, so Leon’s status in the family was like this:
Mistress > Donkey > Master > Leon
And down at the bottom of the food chain, these two were a husband under the command of his wife and a long-distance relationship, which is quite an abstract and amusing sight!
After a bit of playful banter, Leon suddenly remembered something.
“Oh right, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“I can’t… use magic anymore.”
Taige and Rebecca froze, “Can’t use magic? Does that mean your magic circuits are burnt out?”
Leon shook his head, placing a hand on his heart, “I don’t really know why, but I can’t gather mana right now. I can only refine some mana and store it in… cough, store it in some array on my body, but the efficiency is really slow. I used up all the mana I gathered tonight trying to help Master break out.”
Rebecca’s eyes lit up, “When you mentioned some array on your body, why did you seem a bit shy?”
“Ah… shy? No way, it’s just an array, what’s there to be shy about?”
Rebecca narrowed her eyes and slowly raised her hand, pointing at Leon’s chest, “Then what’s with the purple glow shining out of your chest?”
Leon: Σ( °△°|||) Huh?!
Giant, Mother, Dragon! What are you doing?!
