“That topic shift was way too clumsy! Do you really think I’m that stupid? Don’t think you can just gloss over everything!”
Veronica huffed in frustration, then began counting the dragons’ crimes on her fingers: “Disturbing our people’s rest, destroying the forest environment, crushing the garden fences, stealing the vegetables I planted, tricking me into coming to the Southern Continent, and letting my gem get stolen…”
Wait, the last two sound off. And who even ate her vegetables? Lu Qiuchen silently complained at the elf’s tirade.
This elf seemed a little troublesome, but didn’t strike Lu Qiuchen as someone completely unreasonable. Was she really chewed up by those two dragons?
Doing her best to stay calm, Lu Qiuchen said, “We’re sorry for what happened yesterday, but that was literally our first time meeting. You coming to the Southern Continent has nothing to do with us!”
“Aren’t you dragons too? Of course it’s your fault! Those two liars told me to come to the Kingdom of Knights to meet them and said they’d compensate me! But I’ve been here for a whole month and haven’t seen them even once!”
The elf girl seemed to grow even angrier as she continued accusing them: “And my gem got stolen too! I only just managed to get it back! That’s also because of them!”
Veronica frowned slightly, looking conflicted, but she still added one last point. “And yesterday, you… you…”
As if suddenly remembering how embarrassing she was yesterday, Veronica turned bashful. “…You did that to me!”
That phrasing really left room for misunderstanding. We didn’t even touch you. It was Fiya who carried you to the bed. And everything else was Andorra’s fault, not ours.
After hearing the whole story, Fiya seemed to realize something. She gave the elf a look usually reserved for idiots and said, “I think you misunderstood. Andona and Andora aren’t in the Kingdom of Knights. They’re up north in the Kingdom of Tara.”
“What?” The elf was shocked. She quickly pulled a pigeon-egg-sized gem from a small pouch on her belt. After channeling mana into it, a magical projection appeared above the gem.
The projection first showed a map—clearly from a high-altitude perspective—with a line of squiggly dragon script scrawled across the center: If you’re looking for revenge, come find me in the Kingdom of Tara!
Veronica read the text aloud in Elvish, translating it: “If you want your reward, come to the Kingdom of Tara… How could this be? I really got it wrong!”
Lu Qiuchen and Fiya didn’t bother pointing out the translation error caused by her poor magic reading skills. Both dragons were too stunned by what they were seeing.
Fiya had never seen a magical item like this before. Her eyes lit up with shock and greed as she stared at the gem. Lu Qiuchen, on the other hand, was mostly filled with curiosity and excitement.
“What kind of magic is this? Who invented it?” Lu Qiuchen asked in Elvish, her voice urgent. Although the elf girl spoke the common tongue quite well, she’d already caused one disaster due to translation issues, so Lu Qiuchen figured it was safer to stick to Elvish.
She’d never heard of magic like this in this world before. Back when she was on Dragon Island, she had often regretted not being able to capture the beautiful scenery. If this magic could do what she thought, it was like a camera from Earth—it could change people’s lives in countless ways. It could be used for reconnaissance, communication, and completing tasks that were once impossible.
She’d actually examined the gem yesterday, but only superficially. After confirming it didn’t look like a human-crafted gem, she’d put it back. That was also why she hadn’t questioned Veronica’s claim that the gem was hers.
Realizing she had made a mistake in her excitement, Veronica quickly put the gem away and became visibly wary.
Lu Qiuchen did her best to make her smile look even more sincere. Switching back to Elvish, she said, “Veronica, we’re sorry for what Andora did to you. I’ll make it up to you on her behalf. I want to know where that magic came from. Will you tell me? I’m willing to pay you.”
Looking at the burning curiosity in the eyes of the two humanoid dragons, Veronica knew she had no way of avoiding this.
In her tribe, this kind of gem and magic wasn’t even considered rare among the knights. Still, she huffed suspiciously, “Dragons are all terrible and greedy! You can’t trust a word you say!”
Phia had been itching to make a move for a while now. The moment she heard those words, she nearly lunged forward to snatch the gemstone, which would have only confirmed the elf’s accusations.
“Then what would it take for you to believe in our sincerity?”
Lu Qiuchen sighed inwardly and held Phia back. No wonder dragons are called robbers—they see something shiny and immediately want to steal it. Arrogant and domineering… those words were practically made for dragons.
Veronica lowered her head in thought. If she had the chance to make a demand of these detestable dragons, what should she ask for?
As a kind and peace-loving forest elf by nature, she couldn’t come up with anything particularly harsh. After biting her lower lip in hesitation, she looked up and said, “I want to go to the Kingdom of Tara. Take me there. I have a score to settle with those two vile silver dragons!”
Phia, still disgruntled over Lu Qiuchen stopping her earlier, snorted. “They haven’t been in the Kingdom of Tara for a while. They returned to Dragon Island two months ago.”
Veronica’s eyes widened in shock as realization dawned—those two dragons had been toying with her. She clenched her fists and growled, “I knew it. Dragons are all lying scoundrels!”
Thinking back on her own bold resolve when she snuck away from home, the panic she’d felt when she discovered the gem was missing, all the hardships she’d endured over the past month—and the fact that she’d just been captured and bullied by the two dragons yesterday—Veronica suddenly felt overwhelmed. Her eyes welled up with tears.
The two dragons looked at each other, then back at her, both wearing innocent expressions. We really didn’t do anything to this elf today…
*****
Lu Qiuchen transformed into her dragon form and soared northward. The clouds at high altitude cloaked her figure. Riding on her back, Veronica looked around in awe—this was her first time seeing the world from such a height, and the excitement in her expression made Phia curl her lip in disdain.
Country bumpkin.
After a friendly negotiation, Veronica agreed to teach the two dragons how to use the magical formation. In return, Lu Qiuchen would compensate her clan on behalf of the silver dragon sisters and escort her back to her people.
According to Veronica, the magic within the gemstone was called a “Projection Magic Formation,” though it wasn’t originally created by her clan.
One of the forest elves had found a strange magical item while digging up tree roots during an expedition. Curious but clueless, the elf brought it back to the clan’s alchemists for study. They eventually managed to extract the formation from the artifact. But during analysis, they discovered it was created using demonic language!
This revelation horrified the elves. They conducted a serious and thorough investigation and repeated tests. Fortunately, later assessments confirmed that the artifact was at least ten thousand years old—something the demons had left behind during their retreat millennia ago. The area it was found in had been untouched ever since, which was why it had remained undiscovered until now.
Relieved, the elves dismantled the artifact and managed to recreate a “forest elf version” of the projection magic formation.
Lu Qiuchen’s trip to Veronica’s clan was all for the sake of learning this formation. Veronica had explained that it had already been spread among several neighboring clans and wasn’t considered some secret magic. As an outsider, Lu Qiuchen should be allowed to study it.
She sounds so naive, Lu Qiuchen thought, but for now, I’ll take her at her word.
From her perspective, the magic formation seemed to be little more than a curious novelty to the elves. If she wanted to learn it, there likely wouldn’t be much resistance.
*****
Five days later.
Lu Qiuchen completed her studies in projection magic arrays and returned to Dragon Island—but Phia did not follow her back. The reason for this goes back to their journey to the Elven clans.
Back when the two little ones were riding on Lu Qiuchen’s back, Veronica would constantly grumble about how much she disliked dragons, while Phia always responded with disdain. But to Lu Qiuchen, their interactions seemed oddly… off.
The moment they were together, the two would start bickering. In these verbal spats, Phia usually came out on top. Yet after a brief lull, she would seek Veronica out again for another chat. Once Veronica’s temper cooled, she would end up getting caught up in Phia’s chatter, only for things to end with her getting mad again and refusing to talk. After a few rounds of this, although the two clearly didn’t see eye to eye, they had become quite familiar with each other.
During their days in the elven village, Lu Qiuchen had no time to mind Phia as she was busy learning magic arrays from an alchemist. Phia, on the other hand, lost all interest in dry magical theory the moment she got her hands on a magical gem gifted by a forest elf—and promptly ran off to bother Veronica for fun.
Veronica, having snuck into the human world without permission, was under house arrest. Bored out of her mind, Phia turned her attention to the other young elves. Back on Dragon Island, she was already something of a ringleader among the children. Here, she flourished even more and, in just a few days, established herself as the undisputed “boss” of the elven kids.
And so, when she learned Lu Qiuchen was about to leave after mastering the array, Phia flat-out refused to go back. She was having too much fun playing with the young elves to even think about returning to Dragon Island.
Lu Qiuchen’s attempts to persuade her were completely useless. She didn’t dare use force either—it might damage elven territory and escalate into a diplomatic incident. After all, things had already turned unpleasant the last time the silver dragon sisters caused a stir. Not wanting to create another international mess, Lu Qiuchen had no choice but to return to Dragon Island alone.
What puzzled her most was that Phia knew perfectly well that staying behind would get her forcibly dragged back by the Elder Council, and that the punishment would be severe. Yet she insisted on doing it anyway. There had to be something more to it—something Lu Qiuchen didn’t understand.
After traveling non-stop for a full day and night, Lu Qiuchen returned to Dragon Island and immediately reported the situation to the Elder Council.
Once she’d finished explaining everything, she looked nervously at Auduin, afraid she might be held responsible. After all, she had personally vouched for Phia when they left.
“I understand the matter,” said Auduin. “We’ll send a dragon to handle it.”
Though the Dragon Sovereign had always given her a tremendous sense of pressure, this time he didn’t make things difficult for her.
“I’ve seen your efforts firsthand,” he said. “And your performance in the coming-of-age trial has proven that you are indeed the prophesied Fatebound Dragon.”
“I now have a task for you.”
Of course there’s more, Lu Qiuchen thought inwardly. Every time I see Auduin, it’s never good news. Last time it was about me becoming part of the Dragon Clan and staying in this world. What now?
“A rebellion has broken out in the Kingdom of Tara.”