Chapter 38: Space Magic System

“You two… cough cough”
Grandmother really didn’t want to interrupt her granddaughter and grandson-in-law’s eye contact.
But damn it, can’t you two feel how your gazes are practically dripping with honey?
I’m over eight hundred years old and want to live a few hundred more years, stop showing me this stuff!
Hearing this, Rosvitha quickly withdrew her gaze, unconsciously scratching her cheek.
Mm, it was still a bit hot.
Grandmother watched her granddaughter’s somewhat shy demeanor and privately sighed that marriage really changes women – it was like night and day compared to fifty years ago.
But she didn’t scold or hint at any warnings to her granddaughter because of this.
Although Grandmother was a strict person, since the little Ros of the past had grown into today’s Silver Dragon Queen and built her own family, how she would live her life from now on and where she would go should all be decided by herself.
Grandmother wouldn’t interfere too much in the younger generation’s choices.
“It seems Leon wasn’t lying to me – you two really are very loving,” Grandmother said leisurely.
Rosvitha raised an eyebrow, “Leon said… we’re very loving?”
Grandmother nodded, “He did.”
She paused, then added, “Several times, in fact.”
The Queen’s heart quickened, and she couldn’t help but look at the dog of a man across from her, suppressing both her upturned lips and the smugness in her voice, “Really? Dear~ husband~?”
Taking advantage of the moment, Rosvitha opened their married couple’s internal voice chat.
[Oh ho ho, you really said that?]
[Several times, even?]
[How loving are we? Tell me about it~]
[How come I never heard you say this before? Were you too shy?]
[Speak up! Leon!]
[Turn on your mic! Quick, turn it on!]
…
[Leon Casmode has left the team voice chat and blocked teammates]
He lowered his head, silently covering his face.
The dragonesses of your Melkvi family aren’t just good at changing faces, they’re also experts at making people die from embarrassment.
“Oh come now, Little Ros, you’re making him embarrassed,” Grandmother stepped in to smooth things over.
Rosvitha let out a light snort, “It’s fine, Grandmother, we’re always like this.”
Grandmother gave a faint smile, “Well, that’s quite nice then.”
After some more casual chat, Rosvitha changed the subject, “By the way Grandmother, you didn’t come back just to visit me and my sister, did you?”
The old lady rarely returned once in decades, and each time she came back it was for something important.
So Rosvitha figured this time would probably be no exception.
Sure enough, Grandmother nodded, the smile fading from her face as her tone grew more serious,
“Yes, there are indeed some things I wanted to discuss with you.”
“When Leon heard this, he tentatively asked, ‘Should… I step out for a bit?’
Grandmother shook her head, ‘No need, Leon should stay and listen too, it’s fine.’
‘Alright.’
Rosvitha sat up straight, ‘Go ahead, Grandmother.’
With a serious expression, Grandmother spoke steadily,
‘Actually, I planned to return three years ago. Because I heard that humanity’s elite dragon-slaying army planned to attack your territory. Leading them was that man in black armor – they say he was humanity’s strongest dragon slayer. Before then, several Dragon Kings had already fallen by his hand.’
Leon: Maybe I should step out after all?
The old lady sure knows how to go straight for the vital points when she strikes.
The couple exchanged glances.
Rosvitha shook her head almost imperceptibly, meaning ‘It’s fine, keep listening.’
‘After getting the news, I immediately prepared to return. But at the time, I was surveying the far north with several Dragon Kings. Even flying at full speed, it would take at least a month to return to Silver Dragon territory.’
‘Fortunately, the Star Wanderer Dragon King Ravi was there too. He said he could use his spatial transfer magic to send me part of the way, which would save about half the time.’
‘But it would take several days to prepare the transfer array. I agreed.’
‘However, by the time Ravi’s transfer array was ready, news came that the Silver Dragon Queen had defeated the human dragon-slaying army.’
‘So I gave up on returning.’
The old lady narrowed her eyes slightly, carefully recalling the scene from back then. ‘At the time I thought, that man in black armor didn’t seem as strong as the legends said. How did he manage to kill so many Dragon Kings in succession? Was it coincidence?’
General Leon: Should I demonstrate for you right now? Someone bring my black-gold war chariot!
Seemingly sensing a hint of displeasure from her dog of a man, Rosvitha quickly smoothed things over,
‘Ah actually that guy was very formidable, I only managed to defend the territory by luck.’
Rosvitha was indeed touched that Grandmother had always been concerned and thinking of her, but if they continued down this line of conversation, a certain someone might get heated.
Usually when he got heated, Rosvitha would continue to tease him for fun.
But with Grandmother here now, if he said something wrong due to his emotions and Grandmother noticed something, it wouldn’t be worth it.
So… it was only to avoid Grandmother’s discovery, not because she was defending that dog of a man.
“The next time I heard news of you was during Flame Dragon King Constantine’s invasion.”
At this point, Grandmother looked up at Leon sitting opposite her,
“The messenger said that the Silver Dragon Queen wasn’t personally on the battlefield at that time. In her place was someone who used lightning magic. Lightning magic is rare among dragons, perhaps only some… survivors of minor dragon clans would use lightning magic, isn’t that right, Leon?”
‘Survivors of minor dragon clans’ was the background identity Rosvitha had made up for Leon, which he had just used to introduce himself to the old lady.
Though this explanation might barely work to fool outsiders, it didn’t seem very effective before Grandmother.
From the old lady’s tone, she didn’t believe Leon’s self-introduced background.
But she didn’t directly expose this, instead throwing the question to Leon, wanting to see how he would answer.
Rosvitha just realized that while Grandmother hadn’t detected Leon’s human identity, she was skeptical of the claim about him being a ‘survivor of a minor clan’.
So… when the old lady said earlier that she didn’t mind her granddaughter’s husband’s background, was she just humoring her granddaughter?
Ah, indeed, the older ginger is spicier, Rosvitha secretly sighed to herself.
“You’re not wrong, I killed Constantine.”
Somewhat unexpectedly to Rosvitha, he admitted it so directly.
But this was good too – there wasn’t anything that needed hiding, and being evasive would only raise Grandmother’s suspicions.
“Because at the time, Rosvitha was about to give birth, and Constantine’s mole within the Silver Dragon clan leaked the information, which is why he chose that moment to launch a surprise attack. To protect Rosvitha and my unborn child, I staked my life in that battle and barely managed to defeat Constantine.”
Staking his life meant staking Constantine’s life;
“Barely” meant it took ten minutes to defeat him.
If he could store mana, would five minutes have been enough?
Mm, that was the idea.
Grandmother smiled and replied, “Leon, you don’t need to be so nervous. I won’t pry too much into your past. Since little Los chose you, that means she trusts you.”
Leon let out a slight breath of relief, taking the opportunity to glance at Rosvitha.
The beauty smiled, her expression slightly proud.
Silly dragon, what are you being proud about? Tone it down.
Grandmother continued,
“Within just three years, the Silver Dragon clan faced two large-scale attacks. This gave me an ominous feeling.”
“So I thought, once the northern survey was complete, I would return immediately.”
“Fortunately, in the days that followed, I didn’t receive any more news of wars happening on Little Los’s side, so my worried heart settled somewhat.”
“But… not long after, Star Wanderer Dragon King Ravi suddenly withdrew from the northern survey mission, for unknown reasons.”
“Without Ravi’s spatial magic expertise, we could hardly continue our survey, so we had to temporarily halt. I took this opportunity to come back and visit you and Isabella.”
“And on my way back, my scouts gathered some interesting information.”
“For instance… besides Ravi, two other Dragon Kings skilled in spatial magic – ‘Black Sun Dragon King Blai’ and ‘Chaos Dragon King Jagus’ – had also suddenly disappeared without trace, yet their clans remained peaceful.”
Grandmother looked up, glancing at the couple listening intently, but didn’t continue.
Rosvitha immediately understood, picking up where Grandmother left off, “When a clan’s Dragon King disappears without word, but the clan continues to operate stably, it means they arranged everything in advance before leaving.”
Grandmother nodded approvingly, “Correct. Though I’m not certain whether Ravi and the other two Dragon Kings’ secret activities are related to the recent frequent attacks on your Silver Dragon clan, I thought you should know about such important intelligence.”
Several Dragon Kings suddenly gathering in secret – that couldn’t be good news.
Grandmother’s intelligence was indeed crucial, at least it would give Rosvitha time to prepare in advance, avoiding another sudden crisis.
Rosvitha asked a few more questions about Ravi, which Grandmother answered one by one.
Meanwhile, Leon pondered the three Dragon King names Grandmother had mentioned:
Ravi, Blai, Jagus.
All of them…
He’d never heard of them before.
Just like… he’d never heard of Constantine before either.
“It’s hard not to connect these old monsters together…” Leon thought silently.