40. Let’s Fire a Shot First
After leaving Selina’s photo studio, the family of four headed to a quiet little restaurant.
Upon entering, Leon found himself surrounded by large lizards with all sorts of different tail styles scurrying around.
He stood at the entrance, a bit dazed, staring at the room full of Dragon Race diners, his legs starting to shake uncontrollably.
“First-class merit… first-class merit… so many first-class merits!” Leon mumbled to himself like a lunatic.
Roswiser rolled her eyes at him, “What are you so excited about? Don’t forget, you’re with a first-class merit who’s given birth to two little first-class merits!”
“No, no, no, your level isn’t first-class.”
“Oh? Then what is it?”
“Special merit, the kind where the king personally crowns me and awards me!”
Roswiser scoffed, ignoring him.
They settled into a window-side seat and ordered some simple dishes.
The restaurant was pretty quiet, with everyone speaking in hushed tones.
Leon and Roswiser tacitly avoided any more conversation with each other.
The little ones, however, were very well-behaved, and once the food arrived, they dove right in.
After lunch, they had to wait about four or five hours for their photos to develop.
Fortunately, Sky City had plenty of places to k*ll time.
Of course, mainly focusing on making the daughters happy, where Leon and Roswiser ended up didn’t really matter.
While they didn’t quite see eye to eye in their everyday interactions—after all, you couldn’t expect a pair of rivals to smile at each other every day—they surprisingly clicked when it came to parenting.
After a bit of wandering, they arrived at Young Dragon Paradise. The little dragon sisters ran ahead hand in hand, with Leon and Roswiser trailing behind at a respectful distance.
There were plenty of parents in Young Dragon Paradise, but most were solo parenting. Couples like Leon and Roswiser were a rare sight.
It seemed the Dragon Race really was keen on asexual reproduction.
After playing on some simple entertainment facilities, Moon spotted a balloon-popping booth with a bunch of teddy bear prizes.
She tugged at her sister excitedly, and off they went.
Since her little sister wanted a teddy bear, Noia naturally had to lead the charge.
Leon watched in mild surprise as Noia stood on a stool, clutching the toy g*n, “Wow, I didn’t know dragons played with guns too.”
“Well, only in Sky City. It’s a very inclusive place, where it often discovers interesting things or cultures from other races.”
Roswiser chimed in, “As for the other Dragon Race entities, most are too proud and disdainful to accept anything from other races.”
“Oh… I see.”
Leon stretched his arms behind his head and casually said, “I feel like you’re surprisingly compliant.”
Roswiser raised an eyebrow, “Oh? How so?”
“Remember last time when I suggested you let the daughters call you ‘Mom’ instead of ‘Mother’? Did you tell them that that night?”
Roswiser didn’t shy away from the topic, openly admitting, “Yeah, I have to say, your human child-rearing ideas are indeed more developed than those of the Dragon Race.”
“Right? Right? If you were to raise them yourself, the outcome might be, uh, less than ideal.” Leon grinned proudly.
“Hmph, childish.”
“You’re the one who’s childish.”
“No, you are.”
“It’s definitely you, Mother Dragon.”
“Shut it.”
Bang—bang—bang—
Three gunshots rang from the balloon booth.
From where Leon and Roswiser stood, they couldn’t see how many balloons had burst.
But judging by Noia’s expression, the results were probably not great.
Leon and Roswiser exchanged a glance and, as if on cue, headed towards the booth.
By the time they got there, Noia had taken a few more shots, and her serious little face was still void of any smiles.
Stepping closer, they saw that all the smiles were on the booth owner’s face.
“It’s okay, little one! Just keep trying a few more times, and you’ll hit it!” The owner was grinning, a bulging bag of dragon currency in hand.
Looks like his business was doing pretty well that morning.
Noia lifted the g*n and took a two more shots.
Leon then noticed that the Dragon Race’s toy guns fired magical energy bullets, no wonder Moon hadn’t given it a go; compared to her sister, she wasn’t even old enough to use magic yet.
However, Noia missed again.
Smack—
She unhappily placed the g*n back on the table, biting her lip, her eyes full of disappointment.
“Mommy, Moon, let’s go play somewhere else.” Noia tried to adjust her mood but still looked a bit sulky.
While most of the time she carried herself maturely, she was still a kid at heart.
Some things that upset her were written all over her face.
Leon didn’t encourage her to keep trying.
Because it was obvious that the booth owner had rigged the toy guns; there was no way Noia could have missed with her skill.
This kind of “business secret”, Leon had figured out when he was a child himself. He’d never expected to find a place in the Dragon Race’s Sky City where children’s money could be ripe for the picking.
He walked over and scooped Noia off the stool.
The family of four was about to leave.
But the booth owner seemed to sense that this family was rather well-off and wanted to squeeze some more coins out of them.
“Hey, I can’t believe no toys were claimed today. These parents truly don’t understand what their kids want!”
The owner wiped the toy guns while hinting.
Leon suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked down at Noia, “Do you want those teddy bears, Noia?”
Noia bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, “Not really.”
When the eldest daughter says she doesn’t want something, it doesn’t necessarily mean she genuinely doesn’t want it.
Leon then looked at Moon, “What about you, Moon? Do you want it?”
“Uh… Moon doesn’t want it either,” she replied reluctantly.
Aha, that’s code for “We want it.”
It was probably that Moon had expressed wanting the plush toy, which is why Noia pulled her over. At least that’s Leon’s guess.
He took Moon’s hand and turned back to the booth.
Noia blinked in surprise and glanced up at Roswiser.
Roswiser smiled and gave her a nod.
With mom’s approval, Noia quickly dashed over.
“Ten more shots, boss.” Leon returned to the booth.
“Ten? Doesn’t seem like enough, sir; this game looks easy, but it’s quite tricky. Your daughter hasn’t hit one yet,” the owner coaxed, clearly trying to get Leon to spend more coins.
But Leon just reiterated, “Just ten.”
“Okay, okay, ten it is.”
The owner handed over the toy g*n again.
Noia pulled a few coins from her pocket and handed them to the owner.
“Thank you,” Leon said.
“Mm-hmm.” Noia nodded.
Leon took up the toy g*n, channeling magical energy from his fingertips into the magazine.
Besides aiming, the Dragon Race version of the balloon game also required precise magic manipulation.
Bang—
First shot.
The b*llet veered off.
The owner chuckled, “No worries, no worries, keep going.”
Moon tugged at Leon’s shirt, looking up, “Daddy, maybe we shouldn’t keep going; Moon doesn’t mind not having that teddy bear.”
Even though they could certainly afford the few coins for this shooting booth, and that teddy bear could be bought at a premium.
But the owner was in for bad luck; this family was incredibly stubborn.
Especially the one wielding the g*n right now.
Leon patted Moon’s little head, “It’s fine, Daddy’s got this.”
“Yup, yup, sir, I believe you can do it! Want to throw in more coins for a few more—”
Bang bang bang—
Three consecutive shots, three balloons popped, each explosion obliterating the owner’s last words.
Noia and Moon’s eyes lit up.
“Daddy’s amazing! Go, Daddy!”
The owner had celebrated way too soon.
The reason Leon missed that first shot was simply to test how much the g*n had been tampered with.
Now that Leon had the data from his little test, he adjusted his aim accordingly.
He kept firing round after round.
Using up all ten shots, Leon hit nine.
The reward? Two giant teddy bears.
“Thanks, boss! I told you ten shots would be enough!”
Leon handed one teddy bear to each of the daughters.
The owner wanted to cry helplessly.
Where did this magical person come from?
Even with a crooked aim, he could still hit?
Get these people out of my booth already!
Leon, satisfied, turned around and looked up at Roswiser.
The Mother Dragon had empty hands;
Then he glanced at the two daughters, fully loaded with toys.
After a moment of thought, Leon turned back.
“Boss, let’s do ten more shots.”
Author’s Note: Triple update today, please vote with your monthly ticket~
