Shut Up, Malevolent Dragon! I Don’t Want to Have Any More Children With You

Vol 8. Chapter 84: Travel—and Then We Pick Up Someone Else’s Big Brother

Noa opened her eyes and felt a soft weight on her chest.

She lifted her head a little and looked down: a little head with a cowlick was resting there.

Noa gave a tired smile and let herself sink back. She raised a hand and gently stroked Moon’s hair.

“Thank goodness. You’re all okay.”

“Big sister! You’re awake!!”

Moon lifted her head, eyes wet as she looked at Noa.

“How do you feel, big sister? Does your leg hurt?”

Fresh out of unconsciousness, Noa’s senses hadn’t fully come back yet. Hearing Moon ask if her leg hurt, Noa blinked curiously.

“Leg?”

She looked down.

Her right leg was wrapped in a thick plaster cast. Across it were signatures from Moon, Aurora, Muse, Xiaoxue, and Sherry.

Seeing that, Noa grinned sheepishly.

Because Dad was always getting hurt and needed casts, he always said writing your name on the cast helps the patient recover.

She hadn’t expected to enjoy the same treatment today.

Since the cast was on, that meant... a fracture.

“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

Noa smiled. “Just got hit by a rock, that’s all.”

“Big sister, Dad used that excuse back then. You need a new one.”

Muse, merciless, poked a hole in Noa’s fib right away.

Noa rolled her eyes.

“You weren’t even born yet during the wheelchair era.”

Muse shrugged. “So third sister told you, right? Did she tell you, or did you prod her to tell you?”

“Actually I prodded third sister to tell me.” “Don’t believe Muse, big sister. I told the truth; she was forced to hear it.”

Noa gave a self-mocking laugh, and her sisters laughed with her. That fight had been brutal—but at least they won.

Looking at the ravaged outskirts beyond the Silver Dragons’ lands, there would be a reconstruction problem later...

Well, whatever. That comes after the crisis is solved.

Moon and Aurora took Noa by the arms left and right, while Sherry looked after the just-awakened queen.

Before long, Milan from the maid corps came running over, a fainted Message Dragon in her arms.

“Your Highness! Your Majesty! Sherry!!”

Milan hurried up, barely pausing for breath before blurting:

“I found this Message Dragon knocked out by the blast aftershock while clearing the field. It—it’s from Princess Isha.”

Noa blinked. “A message from... Princess Isha?”

Aurora stepped forward, undid the message tube strapped to the dragon’s back, took out the envelope, and handed it to Noa.

Noa opened it. The contents were oddly brief.

“What does Aunt say, big sister?” Moon asked.

“Aunt says she received Mom and Dad’s intel earlier. She and Aunt Valendna are on their way to the Red Flame Dragon Clan.”

Noa set the letter down. “Before she left, Mom did say that whatever happens next, everyone’s final destination is Uncle Constantine’s. In that case... we should head over too.”

“Maybe we can help.”

“But big sister—your leg... you can’t fight anymore, can you?”

“It’s fine.”

Noa waved grandly, then patted her left leg. “I’ve still got two on this side.”

Moon & Aurora & Muse & Sherry: “???”

Good news: Noa protecting the Silver Dragons looks just like her mother.

Bad news: her chūni streak is just like her father’s.

...

Seven hundred kilometers outside the Red Flame Dragon Clan’s border, a red dragon was flying low.

“Isha, how much longer until we hit Constantine’s territory?”

The girl on the red dragon’s back asked.

“Almost there—really almost. With the sun about to go out, nights have no light at all, so we took a lot of wrong turns. But from the vegetation and soil here, we’re close to the Red Flame lands.”

“Good.”

To read the terrain nearby, Isha flew extra low. The speed was a bit slower, but at least they wouldn’t get lost.

“Say, can’t you turn into a dragon and fly for a while yourself?”

With some time to kill on the road, Isha asked casually.

“Flying myself is tiring.”

Valendna sat cross-legged on the dragon’s back, her teal hair lifted by the wind.

“After finishing the Hivefolk mission and then riding the Hivefolk again, a thousand-kilometer hop like this is exactly my idea of comfort.”

“Oh? Is it now~”

With that, Isha tweaked her flight posture; a quick roll to the side nearly dumped Valendna off.

“Isha! You brat!”

Steadying herself, Valendna smacked the scales beneath her palms. Isha giggled.

But in the next instant, Valendna suddenly pointed toward a patch of forest below.

“Isha, look—someone down there!”

“Don’t try that on me. Who’d be here in the middle of nowhere? You little imp, you’re just changing the subject!”

A tightness seized Valendna’s belly. She sprang from the dragon’s back and in an instant shifted into dragon form. Her dragon body was much smaller—and much nimbler—than Isha’s. In dragon form, Valendna dove toward the trees.

Isha started, realized Valendna wasn’t lying, and immediately followed.

“Wait for me, Valendna!”

In a heartbeat, dragon-form Isha caught up. Before she could change back to human, she saw two shapes in the forest below chasing after something.

Looking closer—sure enough, a ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) person—

Strictly speaking, a dragon in human form.

Red hair, red tail; from his movement, he seemed injured.

After a brief chase, three or four peril-forms hemmed him in beneath a cliff.

No way out.

Seeing their prey cornered, one of the peril-forms lunged.

The man seemed ready to die...

But in a flash, the red dragon broke through like a splitting wedge and smashed the lunging peril-form aside with ease. With the Red Dragon Clan’s raw physique, no peril-form could withstand a high-speed body check like that.

The dragon sitting on the ground opened his eyes. Seeing the red dragon before him, he murmured as if recognizing it:

“A-Yan... is that you...?”

“Huh? You’re not hurt, are you?”

The red dragon slowly turned her head—but the voice was a low female voice. And from the horns and the patterning of the scales, she wasn’t of the Red Flame line—just similar in overall coloration.

Coming to, the man answered:

“N-No... I’m fine. Thank you for the help—look out!!”

He shouted a warning.

But by the time Isha reacted, the peril-form she’d just body-slammed had already recovered and pounced again!

“How is that possible... With a normal peril-form, never mind attacking again—its viscera should be pulp by now...”

Isha drew dragonfire in her throat—but it was clearly too late.

At the critical instant, Valendna arrived. Her wings whipped up a storm and raised a wall of wind, blocking the sneak attack for Isha.

“You hurt?”

“I’m fine. Go check on the one over there—I’ll hold this side.”

“Got it!”

Valendna shifted back to human-girl form and hurried to the man.

She dropped to a half-crouch beside him. “I’m Valendna, Wind Dragon King. I’m going to check your injuries.”

“Th-thank you...”

He answered, weak and breathless.

Seeing the signs of a faint, Valendna rushed to keep him talking—he mustn’t fall asleep, or he might not wake again.

“Don’t sleep—talk to me.”

While casting healing magic, Valendna asked:

“Which clan are you from?”

“I... I used to be Red Flame.”

“Used to? What do you mean? You’re not now?”

“I was... exiled a long time ago. I don’t belong to any clan now.”

“Oh, exiled. Small matter—not a hanging.”

“...”

Valendna, small talk prodigy!

“Hey—hey—don’t close your eyes! Uh—uh—oh, I’ve got it! I told you my name, and you still haven’t told me yours! Talk!”

“My name is... kh, kh—”

“What? What?”

“My name is Wu... Wuconstantine...”