Chapter 1: Old Man, Your Apprentice is a Delinquent

Twenty days later, at a cave in the ravine between human and dragon territories.
Rebecca and Teg sat on opposite sides of a wooden table.
Before each of them lay a pile of pistol parts.
The young and old looked at each other, then Rebecca said softly,
“Begin.”
As soon as she finished speaking, both started assembling the parts before them.
Barrel, slide, return mechanism… various intricate parts rotated and combined in Rebecca’s hands. In barely ten seconds, Rebecca had completed assembling her pistol.
She raised it, pointing the muzzle at Teg’s brow.
Looking at Teg’s progress, he hadn’t even completed half the assembly.
“You lost again, old man.”
“One more time!”
Rebecca put down the gun and rested her chin on her hands, smiling at the stubborn old man across from her. “Again? Old man, this is your thirty-fourth loss to me. The result will be the same no matter how many times we try.”
The crazy girl had a point.
Teg sighed, tossing the unfinished gun onto the table. He leaned back against the chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples.
Rebecca picked up the gun her old man hadn’t finished assembling and slowly put it together while saying, “Why hasn’t the Silver Dragon King arrived yet? It’s already past our agreed meeting time.”
She and her old man had arrived early this morning, and it was nearly noon now.
Given the Silver Dragon tribe’s speed, they should have arrived by now.
Teg shook his head, “Not sure, maybe something delayed them.”
Rebecca’s thoughts wandered, and she suddenly remembered, “Oh right, some time ago the Empire wanted to completely eliminate the Silver Dragon tribe to cut the grass and remove the roots, but later… they failed?”
“Yes, somehow the Silver Dragon King managed to repel the joint invasion from the Empire and other dragon tribes.”
“Could it be outside help or something?”
“The Silver Dragons’ only reliable external support would be Rosvitha’s sister, the Red Dragon King Isabella, but Isabella’s territory has been constantly at war lately, so she probably couldn’t spare attention for others.”
Rebecca pouted, putting her hands behind her head and propping her feet on the edge of the wooden table. She leaned back in her chair with the front legs off the ground, but maintained perfect balance.
“If they wanted to eliminate them completely, they wouldn’t give up so easily, right? I still think the Silver Dragon King must have gotten some kind of outside help,” Rebecca said.
“Let’s hope so.”
Teg’s expression grew serious as he stared at the table, his voice low, “If there really is outside help, I wonder if they’re powerful enough to find Leon and bring him back.”
Rebecca quietly watched the old man, knowing how important the captain was to him.
Though an adopted son, the old man had treated the captain like his own flesh and blood all these years.
Aunt Charlotte especially doted on the captain.
After the captain disappeared, if she and Martin hadn’t stopped him, the old man would have gone to solo the Royal Guard with just his knife.
Their “elderly, weak, sick and shut-in” group had already lost one powerful warrior – if anything else went wrong, they might as well disband.
As for Leon’s departure, Rebecca’s mood had also hit rock bottom.
Years ago during the Silver Dragon War, she had abandoned Leon and fled back to the Empire with the Dragon Slayer Army in disgrace.
But at that time, she still held onto a glimmer of hope, believing someone as capable as the captain couldn’t die so easily.
Three years later, Leon did indeed appear before her again, alive and well.
But this time, Leon had vanished into a spatial rift.
No sign of him alive or dead. No matter how optimistic Rebecca was or how much she believed in Leon, she couldn’t convince herself the captain was still alive.
All they could do now was help avenge the captain by completely crushing the conspiracy between that dog emperor and the dragon tribes, then expose it to the world.
Coming back to her senses, Rebecca let out a sigh.
Looking at the old man again, he still wore a dejected expression.
After thinking for a moment, Rebecca said, “Old man, take out the photos of your granddaughters, let’s look at them.”
After the captain left, photos of the little dragon girls became the old man’s only spiritual comfort.
Looking at them always had a magical effect when he was feeling down.
Sure enough, Teg nodded and took out several photos from his chest pocket.
Among them were two older ones – a yellowed family photo and a portrait of the little pink-haired girl.
The remaining photos were ones Rosvitha had brought during their last meeting after Leon’s disappearance.
Rebecca stood up and walked to Teg’s side, looking at the girls in the photos.
Although the Silver Dragon tribe was constantly at war, judging from their clean faces and the room environment in the photos, Rosvitha had protected them well.
“Human-dragon mixed-blood babies grow so fast! In the recent photos compared to the family photo, they’ve grown so much bigger,” Rebecca said.
“Mm…”
Looking at his granddaughters in the photos, a smile finally appeared on Teg’s weathered face.
Seeing the old man’s mood improve slightly, Rebecca continued to tease,
“If I get the chance, I want to be their godmother.”
Teg paused, then asked with a smile, “You’re only in your twenties and already eager to be a mother?”
“Being a godmother isn’t the same as wanting to be a mother!”
Rebecca picked up a photo of Muen and Aurora hugging each other’s little tails and said, “I can skip the whole marriage and pregnancy thing and still have such adorable daughters – what’s not to like about that?”
Teg smiled, “Well, that depends on whether the Silver Dragon King would agree to let you be her children’s godmother.”
Rebecca opened her mouth to say something.
But then a familiar voice came from the cave entrance,
“No need to ask her, I agree.”
Hearing the voice, Teg and Rebecca both froze.
After recovering their senses, they slowly turned toward the cave entrance.
There stood two figures.
One was naturally the Silver Dragon King.
And the other…
“C-Captain!!”
After a moment of mental blank, Rebecca’s eyes welled up as she ran toward Leon, calling out.
Seeing this, Leon’s heart skipped a beat.
Judging by the crazy girl’s momentum, she was going for a long-awaited reunion hug.
She had done the same thing in the future, and Leon had openly returned his old teammate’s embrace.
But that was when his wife wasn’t around.
Now Rosvitha was standing right beside him!
Although his relationship with Rebecca was purely that of comrades-in-arms, hugging another woman in front of Rosvitha…
Who knows how the jealous Silver Dragon Queen would settle accounts with him after they got home.
Rosvitha glanced at the man caught in his dilemma, suppressing a smile at the corner of her mouth, and said softly, “Go ahead and hug.”
“Really?”
“In public, I’ll give my man enough face.”
General Leon’s eyes lit up, “You never call me ‘your man’ at home.”
Rosvitha gave him a sidelong glance, “Are you going to hug or not? If not, I’ll hug her in your place.”
Leon immediately stepped forward and gently embraced Rebecca.
Of course, it was just a brief hug—Rebecca took the opportunity to wipe her tears on the captain’s clothes.
“Captain, I thought you were really gone this time! Our elderly-weak-sick-shut-in group can’t be without you, Captain!”
“…Why do you keep bringing up that stupid group name?”
Rebecca giggled, wiping the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes, and said with a smile,
“It’s good that you have a conscience and came back. You must have been worried about leaving such a beautiful wife at home for too long!”
Leon gave a forced smile and poked the crazy girl’s head,
“You really know how to make small talk, Rebecca.”
The familiar sarcastic remarks – whether now or in the future, Rebecca hadn’t changed.
Leon was quite pleased about this.
Then, his gaze moved past Rebecca’s head to the old man behind her.
“Master…”
“Kid.”
Teg stood in place, holding the first family photo Leon had given him, tears gleaming in his cloudy eyes, “You finally came back.”
“Yes, I’m sorry, Master. I made you and Master’s wife worry.”
Teg came forward and patted Leon’s arm, “It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back.”
As master and apprentice exchanged greetings.
Rebecca’s sharp eyes noticed a bit of silver pattern showing beneath Leon’s short sleeve.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, then pointed at the captain’s arm and said,
“Old man, your apprentice is being bad again, he even got tattoos on his arms! Hey, Captain, you’re married and have three kids now, why are you still acting like a delinquent getting full sleeve tattoos? You should be setting an example for the kids—mmph!”
Leon spread his hand over Rebecca’s face and pushed her aside,
“Adults are talking, kids shouldn’t interrupt. We’ll talk about the delinquent stuff later.”
“Hey! We haven’t seen each other for six months too! Don’t you miss me at all?!”
Rebecca complained, but then felt someone pat her shoulder.
She turned her head to look – that silver-haired beauty was somehow standing behind her.
Rosvitha elegantly raised her right hand, putting her index finger to her lips in a silencing gesture, then said with a gentle smile,
“Shh, let them discuss important matters. I’ll keep you company in the meantime.”
Rebecca’s eyes widened slightly.
My goodness, the Silver Dragon Queen herself offering to chat with her to pass the time – she felt truly honored.
The previous few times Rebecca had seen Rosvitha, she’d given off just two impressions:
Aloof and cold.
Though this might have had something to do with Leon’s disappearance.
Now that Leon was back, it made sense that his wife was in a good mood and willing to chat with Rebecca.
“O-okay then, let’s go over there to talk.”
“Mm.”
Rosvitha and Rebecca moved to one side, not wanting to disturb the master and disciple’s important discussion.
After they sat down, human and dragon suddenly fell silent.
Rebecca had never sat this close to the Dragon King before.
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t feeling pressure.
She could only steal occasional glances at the beauty beside her before quickly looking away.
Honestly, the Captain had impeccable taste in choosing a wife. Rosvitha’s face was perfect from every angle.
So beautiful that even as a fellow woman, Rebecca had to admit she was a top-tier beauty.
And being around beautiful people often came with quite a bit of pressure.
Rebecca pursed her lips, rubbing her palms, looking around.
“How old are you?” Rosvitha asked softly.
“Ah… I’m twenty-two.”
Out of politeness, Rebecca asked in return, “How about you?”
“Over two hundred.”
“…Ah, that’s nice.”
Captain, who knew you were in a younger man-older woman relationship.
Seeing Rebecca’s slightly shocked expression, Rosvitha covered her mouth and laughed lightly.
She had quite a good impression of this human girl.
Leon’s loyal comrade, reliable partner, excellent gunner – though she was a young girl, her inner conviction already surpassed most self-proclaimed righteous folks.
Especially in the future, when everything fell apart with Leon missing, Teg retired, and Rosvitha out of commission – Rebecca still risked danger to gather intelligence for Noia.
That will and courage alone was enough to make Rosvitha take notice of her.
Rebecca heard her laugh and nervously asked, “What’s so funny…?”
“Nothing, just thinking you’re… interesting.” The queen rested her chin on one hand, looking at Rebecca with a smile playing at her lips.
Rebecca’s pupils flickered slightly.
She recalled that during their first meeting, Rosvitha had also called her an “interesting human girl” before leaving.
And whenever Rosvitha made eye contact with Rebecca, she had this… way of looking at her like she was a child.
What’s this, Your Majesty? Are you planning to adopt me as your goddaughter?
Wouldn’t that make me one generation below that dog Captain?
That absolutely won’t do!
“Have you ever flown?”
Rosvitha’s voice interrupted Rebecca’s wild thoughts.
Rebecca shook her head, “Fly? No, I’m a gunner. Never learned any flying magic.”
Rosvitha made a soft “oh” sound, then asked, “Then… would you like me to take you out for a ride?”