Chapter 76

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

This time it’s the dragon whose body goes stiff. Even before he’s rarely had such intimate contact with the little merman.

His most, most treasured is now in his embrace… When he realises that, Sachston can’t help but lift up his hand clumsily trying to hug the little merman. Though he doesn’t really want to risk putting his paw on Bai Lianhua either, afraid that he might accidentally harm him.

——Even in his human form, the dragon still feels that the merman is too fragile compared to him. He can’t put his paws on him.

Sachston, the dragon in human form, thus just stands there in this weird posture, unmoving, looking awkward and uncomfortable; oddly, a silly smile emerges from his lips, as if he now possesses the entire world, and his mood improves greatly.

System “…” Emm… He’s already all healed up?

Well, true, the host himself is the best existence there is to calm the antagonists down, but what the heck? No matter how hard the other antagonists work for it’s still rare to see the host approach them of his own initiative. And now this antagonist with the weirdest disposition by far easily achieves that? Host, are you sure your tastes are not off…

Sigh. As a system, it really can’t understand.

Not only can’t it understand, it feels slightly frustrated for some reason.

But… it did choose this world specifically for the host. Even if it might end up with its eyes blinded by all the brilliance, it’ll have to look on and stay strong.

…

After finally having the dragon collect himself from his excitement in reunion, Bai Lianhua drags his tail along and tries to sit onto the rock to have a serious talk with the dragon.

If he just continues with this posture of being half-strewn on the rock with his head lifting up to look at the dragon, it will look much too casual.

Though the rock that’s washed day and night by the ocean is very slippery. The few tries he took all ended with him failing to swing himself up.

Before Bai Lianhua starts feeling annoyed or whatever though, it is the dragon who seems to have a hurt expression looking at his tail slide down time and time again, like he was greatly harmed personally.

Bai Lianhua “…” It doesn’t hurt, really. Merfolk have surprisingly durable tails, besides, it’s the ocean catching him each time.

If anything, it feels more depressing looking so miserable in front of the antagonist.

The system cheers him up, “host, you don’t have to worry about your appearance. The antagonist always views you through such heavily filtered rose-tinted glasses that no matter what you do they’ll always be impressed.”

Especially the dragon in this world. To him, even the tip of the host’s tail is the best looking ever.

Bai Lianhua chooses to ignore the system.

In the end, it’s Sachston that finds it too much to watch and so he carefully and delicately lifted Bai Lianhua up to a rock that’s closest to the seawater and which is regularly lightly caressed by gentle waves. It’s convenient as it’s both easy to talk and wouldn’t require the merman to come out of the water. This is a display of the attention to detail that would be unexpected of Sachston’s appearance.

Bai Lianhua’s earlobes thus go red quietly. He feels slightly embarrassed… But of course, he still remembers his mission. He tries to ask the dragon with a serious expression, “when I was swimming back here I heard the fishermen talking… What happened? Why are they calling you an evil dragon again?”

Before, when he left the world, the antagonist no longer held the title ‘evil dragon’ already. Why would everything be reverted when he comes back here… He’s already stopped the potentially controversial ‘Tribute’ event dead in its tracks.

And no matter how much he doesn’t want it to be so, but Bai Lianhua fears that it is again related to him… But he must first know what the big guy decided to do and to what extent after he left.

Seeing Bai Lianhua already having heard the rumours, the dragon that still looked like a cheerful dum-dum immediately looks sad. He lowers his head as if waiting to be lectured for his mistakes as he slowly relays what happened.

——As expected, it’s related to Bai Lianhua’s disappearance.

When Bai Lianhua left the world, the dragon discovered that the merman that would have come for him every few days stopped appearing altogether.

He waited a long, long time, but the merman still didn’t show up.

Is the merman tired of being with this uninteresting and unlikable big dummy and started to dislike him, so he decided not to come anymore? The dragon tried to recall the last meeting between him and the merman going through how he might have messed up, but he couldn’t find anything.

——If the merman was fine… Then, then even if he hated him then, and he could only recall him in his memories, then he might feel sad but, that’s alright. He would have been the only one in pain. What worried the dragon was that the merman might have been in danger.

The concerned dragon sought out other merfolk to ask. The merfolk were scared of Sachston’s size and would disperse whenever he showed up. Yet, from the ones that swam slow and had to answer the dragon’s question, they would tremblingly tell him that they have not seen Bai Lianhua.

The dragon searched through anywhere the merman might have been, yet he did not see him anywhere. He had to come to terms with the fact that he has lost his merman. The little guy is missing.

When he was sad, he recalled that Bai Lianhua adored humans. He suspected if the merman might have been taken away by men with malicious intentions due to this natural goodwill his little merman had… And he found it more and more convincing by the day.

He was a good-looking yet frail merman. If he did fall into the hands of people like that, the dragon didn’t even want to guess what might have happened to him.

The far-off island that used to be peaceful and calm was now covered up in clouds and thunder. It became terrifying to see even from quite the distance away.

The dragon could no longer remain on the island. He went out at sea and asked each and every fisherman he came across.

——”Have you seen my merman?”

——He’s the treasure I hold dearest in my heart.

——He has gone missing.

Yet, all the fishermen replied they haven’t. They’re also really scared of this big creature that looked extremely fearsome.

The dragon looked too threatening. Even if he only appeared temperamental when he didn’t swallow up people or capsize boats, the fear brewed and brewed as it spread about the people.

When the news reached the palace, the stingy King was certain the dragon must have been making excuses. What merman? A great dragon would care about a little merman? The guy must have been trying to rob him of his rare metals and jewellery anew.

The King even felt that he has had enough of reacting passively to the dragon’s whims, worrying about the dragon asking for all this and that of his.

True, the dragon did relent on the treasures before and one-sidedly annulled their agreement. Nobody could guarantee it would last, though. Maybe the dragon could suddenly reopen its maw to consume——Consume all those valuable things that were unquestionably his and his alone.

The King decided to end it once and for all.

He decreed to gather up braves. He accepted all whether they wanted to slay the dragon or become dragon riders for the purpose of subjugating the evil dragon.

Yet, when the day came, the dragon easily made the King who was making trouble with him severely injured. The King came with all the pomp and ceremony and then returned frail and weak, carried on others’ backs. The braves had nothing to show in front of the angered dragon.

Sachston was certainly unappealing in looks among the dragons, but his black colour was an indication of the highest level of battle prowess. Those people that didn’t know this had just assumed and underestimated his power.

While he did restrain himself to only harm the King, the power he showed back then had made the terrified people spread the name of the evil dragon again.

He finishes the tale with a lowered head and voice, looking as if in fear of something, completely unlike what a cruel, evil dragon should look like, “please don’t be afraid of me. I might have sharp claws and fangs, but I will never bare them towards you. I will never hurt you.”

“…I promise I will never hurt people again. Even if I really hate them I will do my best to hold back and do nothing.”

“I just can’t accept that I couldn’t protect my treasure.”

Bai Lianhua seems confused, “huh? Treasure?” He raises his head towards the direction of the dragon’s lair not far away.

The dragon who accidentally let this dearest nickname slip spills it all out, “no. My most important, most-most important treasure is not the gold or the silver or the jewellery. It’s you… If you are here, I can give up on what little collection I gathered over all these years.”

“If you are well, I can definitely, definitely be the kindest dragon of the land.”

What he didn’t dare say before the merman went missing, the dragon still blurted out in the end.

Though Bai Lianhua starting to distance and fear him from this point onwards is something that is painful to even imagine for the dragon… If the little merman didn’t find his current infamous reputation despicable and is willing to continue to interact with him, he can change. He can change whatever he wants.

Under the dragon’s expectant look, Bai Lianhua nods lightly, “alright. I will not be afraid of you… I also believe you. You must be a good dragon that is soft at heart and keeps promises.”

He holds the dragon’s paw in his hand and smiles, showing his little dimples, “and, for me, becoming a treasure of yours, is a great honour.”

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