Chapter 70: The Truth of Everything

“So since you all knew I was human all along…”
Leon looked at his youngest daughter. “Then Little Light, why did you keep insisting I transform into a dragon earlier? Can I even do that? Am I capable of that?”
Aurora remained silent with a smile.
General Leon froze, then suddenly realized.
“You… you troll…”
When he first met this future version of Little Light and heard her cold tone, Leon thought these twenty years had changed her childhood personality.
After all, this was the same fierce girl who had deliberately held her tongue for two months just so she could watch her parents bicker and argue more.
But unexpectedly—
Mountains may change, but one’s nature remains the same!
A troll will always be a troll.
She just became beautiful, turned into an elegant lady, and happened to be wearing a white coat now.
“Mom used to enjoy watching you squirm back then, I just inherited that from her,” Aurora explained reasonably.
“So… when are you taking me to see your mother and Muen?”
“We can go right now. But I thought you’d have lots of questions to ask, like what’s really going on here… that sort of thing,” said Noia.
Leon’s eyes shifted slightly as he replied, “Well, I can ask questions along the way. Besides… no matter how dire the situation is, I can handle it. Right now I just want to see your sister and mother as soon as possible.”
“Tch—”
Aurora drew in a sharp breath. “If anyone else said that I’d think they were just bragging, but coming from you, Dad… I actually believe you can do it.”
This aligned perfectly with her first impression when she reunited with Leon a few hours ago:
Dad is back, the strongest man has returned, and all troubles will be solved.
Noia also smiled knowingly – the old bastard was still just as she remembered: so confident, and a bit childishly dramatic.
“Alright then, let’s go.”
Noia stood up and walked toward the cave exit. “Little Light, you must be tired from flying all this way?”
“Yeah, pretty tired.”
Aurora massaged her shoulders. “I only learned to transform into a dragon recently, and I had to fly such a long distance with a 77-kilogram old fool on my back.”
“Did you really need to be that precise with the number……”
“This is a scientist’s rigorous approach to numbers, Dad.”
Leon snorted with laughter.
Chatting with his youngest daughter always felt like his old banter with Rosvitha.
This made Leon even more eager to meet the twenty-years-later Rosvitha – provided that the dragon mother doesn’t greet him with a punch too.
He could barely handle his daughters’ punches, but Rosvitha’s Dragon King punch could probably shatter his duodenum!
Lost in these thoughts, the father and daughters arrived at the cave entrance.
Noia spread her dragon wings, transforming into her giant dragon form.
Her dragon form was also completely silver, being of the Silver Dragon race.
But because she had half of Leon’s bloodline, some of her scales were black.
It wasn’t an jarring black, but rather a smooth gradient.
Besides that, she was just smaller in size compared to Rosvitha, with no other notable differences.
Leon and Aurora mounted Noia’s back, and she beat her wings, flying out of the cave.
After leaving the ravine, Leon looked back, remembering how Little Light had told him hours ago that Noia would be waiting for him here.
“Wait…”
Leon pondered briefly, then asked, “Noia, you’ve been waiting here for me all this time, right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then… Little Light was waiting at the Silver Dragon Sanctuary?”
“That’s right, Dad,” Little Light sat beside him. “Because those were the only two places you might go when you returned someday. We couldn’t be sure which one, so we had to wait separately.”
Leon carefully considered his daughter’s words.
She only mentioned that she and her sister waited at two different locations for Leon, deliberately avoiding mentioning “this wait lasted twenty years.”
Aurora indeed remained the carefree troublemaker she used to be, but her thoughts were equally delicate.
Leon scratched his forehead and asked, “But what if… I never came back?”
“Then—”
“Then we would have kept waiting,” Noia finished her sister’s sentence.
Leon looked down at the giant dragon beneath him.
His daughters seemed to have grown up, yet somehow hadn’t.
They’d become strong, mature, and steady, but still remained as stubborn as children.
Waiting for someone who might never return is the most agonizing thing in the world.
Leon covered his face with both hands and heaved a heavy sigh.
Aurora silently watched her father, saying nothing.
The silver dragon flew through the night sky’s cover toward a certain part of dragon territory.
There, all the truth lay hidden.
……
After eight or nine hours of flying, Noia finally began to slow down.
Below them was dense mountain forest, and they hadn’t seen any dragon settlements along the way.
Noia slowly descended, landing in the forest.
After transforming back to human form, she turned to the others, “Let’s go.”
Leon nodded and followed along with Aurora.
They were now very far from Silver Dragon territory, and from the surrounding environment, there were no signs of past battles.
Leon didn’t know if they had left the Silver Dragon Sanctuary voluntarily or if they had fled here after being hunted by certain people.
But regardless, he would soon see Rosvitha and Muen, and learn the whole story from beginning to end.
Following Noia deeper into the heart of the forest.
They wound through a narrow mountain path, with routes so complex and intertwined that one could easily get lost without a guide.
After walking for about twenty more minutes, the father and daughters arrived at a huge boulder.
The path ended here.
Noia slowly raised her hand and gently pressed it against the boulder.
The next moment, the boulder began to flicker irregularly, then vanished completely.
Illusion magic.
And a highly advanced type at that – even Leon hadn’t noticed it just now. He had expected there might be some kind of hidden switch in the rock.
Behind the illusory boulder was a tunnel.
The two daughters stepped in, with Leon following closely behind.
After all three had entered the tunnel, the boulder reappeared.
Footsteps echoed in the dark tunnel as Noia bent down to pick up a torch from the corner, then lit it with dragon flame.
The firelight illuminated the path ahead.
Leon was slightly surprised.
Noia’s elemental affinity was the same as his – lightning.
Though people could learn a second elemental magic later on, it typically took much more time to master.
Yet Noia’s precise control over the fire element seemed beyond what someone her age should be capable of.
It seems the overachiever hasn’t changed a bit over all these years.
“Let’s keep going.”
Noia’s voice broke Leon’s train of thought.
“Alright.”
The three passed through the tunnel, which ended at several spiral steps leading underground.
Following the stairs down, they entered a carefully constructed underground space.
Noia placed the torch beside a wooden door, then reached out to push it open.
Hearing the door open, a cheerful voice identical to Noia’s immediately came from inside:
“Sister, Little Light, you’re finally back!”
“What did you find this time?”
“Mom’s still the same as always, I’ve been keeping her company and talking to her.”
“Sister, I want a grilled steak, could you make one later… D-Dad?!”