Chapter 13: Casmode, Hero of the Dragon Race!

“Wedding… gift?”
Rosvitha didn’t quite understand.
A wedding gift she could comprehend – although Grandmother Veronica was strict, she had always been good to her and her sister Isabella. When they were young, both sisters would receive gifts from their grandmother on important holidays.
Her “marriage” to Leon had been very… low-key, and her grandmother had only found out about it later.
So receiving a wedding gift now wasn’t particularly strange.
What really puzzled Rosvitha was:
Why would grandmother entrust Principal Olet to deliver it to her?
As far as she remembered, besides the fact that both sisters had graduated from Saint Hiss Academy, their Melkvi family hadn’t had any other interactions with Principal Olet.
Looking at the exquisitely brilliant pendant necklace, Rosvitha’s eyes flickered,
“Principal, when did you get to know my grandmother?”
After thinking it over, Rosvitha decided it was better to ask directly.
As the principal of Saint Hiss Academy, Olet was naturally a completely neutral figure, so Rosvitha didn’t need to beat around the bush with her.
“Well… if you’re asking when we met, that was quite a long time ago.”
Principal Olet smiled and said, “I knew Veronica when you were still studying at Saint Hiss Academy, though we were merely acquaintances then. Later, through various circumstances, I met your grandmother again during a survey project in the Far North.”
The Far North?
Survey project?
Rosvitha had some recollection of this.
When her grandmother last returned to provide information about Ravi, the Space Dragon King, she had mentioned being active in the Far North all these years, working on some kind of survey project.
However, her grandmother hadn’t elaborated, and Rosvitha hadn’t pressed for details.
Now that Principal Olet brought up this so-called survey project again, it piqued Rosvitha’s curiosity.
“Principal, have you been operating this… survey project in the Far North all these years?” Rosvitha asked.
“Yes. It’s quite a large undertaking, often keeping me away for years at a time.”
Principal Olet adjusted her glasses, smiling wryly, “I was worried that old rascal Wilson would have thrown my academy into chaos, but surprisingly, he’s managed it quite well, especially in discovering a genius student like Noia.”
Managing well, meaning abandoning his vice principal duties to incite the entire faculty and student body to become Melkvi couple shippers.
Principal, you’re being fooled!
Leon silently listened to his wife’s conversation with the principal without interrupting.
He wasn’t very familiar with dragon affairs, so it was better to listen more and speak less.
This was one of the small pieces of advice Rosvitha had given him when teaching him about power dynamics and officialdom.
Besides, the “Far North” they spoke of was completely inaccessible to humans – it was a place that existed only in history books.
Probably only thick-skinned lizards like dragons could survive in such a harsh and terrible environment, Leon thought.
“The vice principal indeed… manages well, mm.” Rosvitha agreed.
Leon glanced at her.
He knew that when Rosvitha was saying something against her true feelings, she had a habit of adding “mm” at the end of her sentences.
For example:
“Leon, you’re asking if I hate you? I hate you to death! Mm!”
“Leon, your cooking isn’t good at all, mm, not good.”
“Leon, how could you think I like you? Are you crazy? Mm, you’re crazy.”
And so on.
However, even though he could tell his wife was just being superficially polite, Leon maintained his poker face.
“So what were you surveying in the Far North?” Rosvitha asked.
“Something very ancient, so ancient it doesn’t belong to our era.”
The principal said, “However, the survey project has now been terminated.”
“Terminated?”
“Yes.” Olet nodded, “The project’s progress required assistance from space dragon kings like Ravi, but this fellow seems to have been a mole who infiltrated the survey team, secretly attempting to steal our findings. Until recently, he suddenly left the Far North, and the next time we heard news of him… was during that battle at your Silver Dragon border.”
As she spoke, Olet’s gaze slowly shifted from Rosvitha to Leon.
Leon raised an eyebrow, looking at Olet, then at Rosvitha, before adjusting his posture, “What is it, Principal?”
“Although I’ve only recently returned from the Far North, I’ve still heard about how the Silver Dragon Prince prevented Ravi’s final spatial rift disaster. Dragon scholars say that if that spatial rift hadn’t been stopped and had been allowed to expand, the destruction wouldn’t have been limited to just the Silver Dragons.”
Olet looked at Leon approvingly, “So from a certain perspective, Mr. Leon, you saved many more dragons.”
“……”
Though it was meant as praise, why did it sound so strange?
A dragon slayer saving dragons… what an ironic turn of events!
However, this hadn’t been Leon’s intention. He only knew that if he hadn’t stopped the rift then, his wife and children would have been done for.
As for saving more dragons…
Well, let’s just call it life for life.
After all, the number of dragons I indirectly saved that time probably doesn’t exceed the number I directly slaughtered before, say whatever you want.
“Without me, someone else would have come to stop the rift, Principal,” Leon said modestly.
That’s what he said.
But if they had waited for someone else to stop the spatial rift, it probably would have been too late.
“Principal, you mentioned earlier that Ravi might have been a mole who infiltrated the survey team?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who sent him?”
Olet shook her head, “That’s unclear. But what’s certain is that besides Ravi, there were others in the team with ulterior motives.”
Hearing this, Leon raised an eyebrow and secretly complained:
Principal, your team must be full of talent, eh? How many dragons are there in total? Half must be moles, right? Want to hire me to catch the spies? I’m very good at it.
“After Ravi left, we could only slow down the survey’s progress. However, although the speed decreased, we still achieved significant results in the end.”
Olet continued, “But before we could celebrate, the Iron Wing Dragon King, Feil, stole part of our survey findings and disappeared to parts unknown.”
“Feil, huh… mm, the Iron Wing Dragon race can match our Silver Dragon race in speed, making it easy to shake off most pursuers,” Rosvitha said.
“Ah, it’s really troublesome.”
Olet paused, seeming somewhat dejected, “Oh, let me pour you some tea.”
“Ah, thank you for the trouble, Principal.”
“It’s no trouble.”
Olet got up to find the tea leaves.
During this interval, the couple began secretly plotting.
“Do you think this Iron Wing Dragon King might also be cooperating with the human empire?” Rosvitha asked in a low voice.
Leon frowned slightly, “You mean he stole part of your grandmother’s survey findings and then handed them over to the empire?”
Rosvitha nodded, “There’s a high possibility. After all, wasn’t Ravi one of the Dragon Kings cooperating with the empire?”
“Indeed.”
Leon’s eyes flickered, and he added, “But from Principal Olet’s tone, while she sensed that Ravi and Feil were working for some organization, she doesn’t know that this ‘organization’ is actually the human empire.”
“Mm, that’s right. But if the Principal learns that Ravi and others are cooperating with the empire, she would easily deduce that the Silver Dragon Temple has been hiding a certain human.”
Rosvitha looked at Leon and said, “Because from Constantine to Sta, Ravi, and recently Blai and other Dragon Kings, these guys wouldn’t attack the Silver Dragon Temple without reason. They definitely have a common purpose. And once it’s discovered that the empire’s shadow lies behind this common purpose, it wouldn’t be hard to guess who they came for.”
Rosvitha’s analysis made sense and was easy to understand.
So far, very few people knew the secret of the human empire’s covert cooperation with the dragon race.
If this secret were to leak, chaos would be the least of their worries for the empire’s side.
Even Leon couldn’t predict how things would develop, which is why he hadn’t rashly made this conspiracy public. Instead, he was investigating in secret, waiting to obtain solid evidence and advantage before overthrowing the empire’s absurd rule.
As for the dragon side, once they learned that Constantine, Ravi, and others were “dragon traitors” cooperating with humans, and that they had repeatedly targeted the Silver Dragon Temple, it wouldn’t be hard to suspect that the Silver Dragon race must also have some kind of relationship with humans.
In that case, not only Leon but also Rosvitha and their children would become targets of the dragon race’s collective hatred.
General Leon wasn’t afraid – he’d kill as many dragons as came to trouble him;
But his wife and children were different.
If anything happened to them, what use would it be even if he, Leon, was strong?
So in a sense, Leon, the empire, and those “dragon traitors” were all grasshoppers tied to the same rope – self-destruction would benefit no one.
This was a dangerous game, with both sides walking on a narrow tightrope, trying to maintain their own foothold while attempting to topple the other side.
“I understand.” Leon nodded, “However… your grandmother and Olet are both quite cryptic, talking in circles without revealing what they actually accomplished in the Far North. If they told us, we might be able to predict the Empire’s next moves.”
Rosvitha shrugged helplessly, “Perhaps like us, they have their reasons for not being able to speak directly about it.”
“That makes sense. Well, it doesn’t matter much – we still have Master and the others working as insiders in the Empire, so getting intelligence shouldn’t be difficult. Let’s see if Master can figure out what this ‘thing’ is that the Empire went to such lengths to obtain when we meet next time.”
Rosvitha smiled, “Indeed.”
“Sorry for the wait, here’s the tea.” Olet brought three cups of hot tea and continued chatting with the couple.
She didn’t reveal much about the Far North. When Rosvitha asked about her grandmother’s whereabouts, Olet only said she would return after some time.
“Oh right, your grandmother specifically instructed that you must wear this wedding gift at all times,” Olet said.
Rosvitha’s gaze fell on the pendant necklace. “Wear it at all times?”
“Yes, it’s said to be made from some kind of magical crystal that, when worn long-term, can absorb impurities and toxins from the body, achieving a beautifying effect.”
“…I’m only a little over 200 years old, I don’t need such elaborate skincare yet.”
Rosvitha shook her head with a wry smile, but still agreed. She reached out to take the necklace and carefully put it away. “I’ll do as grandmother instructed. If you meet her, Principal, please relay that to her.”
“Of course.”
Afterwards, Olet chatted with the couple about Noia’s studies and other domestic matters. After finishing a cup of tea, the conversation came to an end.
“Thank you for your time, Principal. Please don’t see us out,” Rosvitha gave a slight bow.
“Take care, both of you.”
The couple turned and left the principal’s office one after another.
After they left, Principal Olet let out a relieved sigh. After confirming their footsteps had faded away, she went to the bookshelf in her office and gently turned a hanging lamp beside it. The bookshelf then opened to both sides, revealing a secret chamber behind it.
Principal Olet stepped inside. In the secret chamber was a silver-haired woman.
“I’ve given the Primordial Crystal to your granddaughter.” Olet said, “Sigh, couldn’t you have given it to her yourself and told her what it was?”
Veronica Melkvi stood quietly before a magic formation, with her back to Olet, and said softly, “Have you forgotten what I told you before? Little Ros’s husband is very mysterious. I don’t want him knowing too much about matters concerning the Far North.”
Olet walked to Veronica’s side, joining her in watching the milky-white energy mass floating quietly in the magic formation. “You… don’t trust him?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust him. Any man Little Ros chooses certainly wouldn’t be bad. It’s just… I don’t know enough about him yet.”
Olet nodded thoughtfully, “Then, did you personally deliver Isabella’s Primordial Crystal?”
“Yes.”
Olet’s thoughts stirred, and she asked again, “Are you sure it’s alright to give Noah’s power to these younger generations?”
At these words, Veronica slightly narrowed her eyes. Instead of directly answering the question, she asked in return, “Angelina, it’s quite interesting – do you know how humans pass down their legacy?”
Olet shook her head.
“Humans only have a few decades of life, with the longest-lived barely reaching a hundred years. Compared to the dragon race, it’s practically negligible.”
“Yet they continue to expand their understanding, constantly learning new knowledge.”
“They live their brief lives so diligently, then leave their achievements for their descendants to inherit.”
“This is how humans grow generation after generation, continuously progressing.”
“So I think perhaps this era, which has gradually become absurd and chaotic, no longer belongs to old folks like us.”
Veronica looked at her old friend of many years and smiled, “Isn’t it good to leave our ancestors’ achievements to our descendants and let them end all this?”