Chapter 217: The Dragon’s Arrival

"Are you kidding me!? You really think this is someone else’s problem, don’t you!? Do you realize that if we fail to stop the Monster Stampede, this entire country could be destroyed!?"

"Well, that’s true."

"Then you should take this a little more seriously..."

"There is no point in trying to protect too many people on your own. There is a limit to how many people one person can protect with their own hands, and I understand that. I only want to protect the people I am responsible for protecting. That is all."

Shangguan Wan’er furrowed her brow at Viktor’s words.

"Are you saying you don’t care about anything as long as you’re the only one who benefits!?"

"Countries rise and fall. They may prosper for a time, but they may also eventually collapse. Nothing lasts forever. Everything eventually comes to an end, and believing that you can control all of it according to your own standards is nothing more than arrogance. I understand my own limitations, so I stopped trying to solve everything with my own hands. The bare minimum is enough. There is only one person I need."

The moment Qiu Nuoya heard those words, an indescribable feeling welled up inside him.

The one person Viktor was talking about was almost certainly Qiu Nuoya himself.

Qiu Tailang was already gone. Perhaps Qiu Nuoya was merely a substitute for him, but even so, the realization that he was the only person Viktor needed now filled Qiu Nuoya with complicated emotions. He felt happy, yet frightened at the same time, and the feelings swirling inside him left him unable to say a word.

"Besides, we do have a dragon. I do not know whether a dragon’s roar will actually be effective, but I think it is worth trying."

Viktor continued speaking as though nothing had happened, completely unaware of the turmoil inside Qiu Nuoya.

"There is a dragon?"

"Yes, there is a dragon. Nuoya, could you summon Long for us?"

"Huh? Ah! Yes! Just give me a moment!"

Qiu Nuoya suddenly found himself flustered.

Of course I’d be flustered. For me, that was basically like having someone suddenly whisper a confession of love into my ear. That’s terrible for my heart.

Am I just being overly self-conscious? No, but still...

With his thoughts spinning in circles, Qiu Nuoya took the key hanging around his neck and opened the door to the paradise of monsters.

He blew the dragon flute, and Long soon appeared. The dragon tilted his head and asked.

[ What do you need? ]

Beyond the door to Elysium, a gigantic dragon peered through the doorway, glaring at them with his huge, bulging eyes. The Saintess and her group stared back at Long with expressions as though their souls had been completely drained from their bodies.

[ What do you want? ]

"Um, we have food, so I thought we could all eat together. We also have alcohol."

[ Alcohol? There is alcohol? Then it’s time for a feast! ]

Long had looked rather displeased about being summoned, but the moment he heard the words "there is alcohol," his mood immediately improved. Simple-minded, and very convenient.

[ Wait a moment... ]

Long said before disappearing from the doorway. He soon returned in his demi-human form and stepped through the door. He looked around the room with curiosity and remarked, "Something feels different from usual."

"Hm? Master, who are those three?"

When Long turned his reptilian eyes toward the three unfamiliar people, each of them reacted in a completely different way.

The first to react was the Prince, who shouted with sparkling eyes, "It’s a dragon!"

His excitement was so intense that he looked as though he had just encountered his favorite celebrity.

"Amazing! The real thing!! Waaaah!!"

He cried out in delight like an excited little child.

At the same time, Arana, who was serving as his bodyguard, turned deathly pale and collapsed to the floor in fright. A bodyguard really shouldn’t be like that, but if a gigantic monster suddenly appeared right in front of you, it was understandable that you might react that way.

And finally, there was the Saintess.

Her reaction was, well, rather subdued.

She continued staring intently at Long, watching his every movement without showing any obvious reaction.

I wondered if she was simply too shocked to speak.

But then, her face suddenly flushed bright red, and she hurriedly tried to hide behind Xiao Tao, even though there was nowhere for her to escape to.

What kind of reaction was this supposed to be? Qiu Nuoya stared at her blankly, completely baffled.

"It has begun," she muttered.

What exactly had begun?

"He’s so handsome! This is insane! My excitement is through the roof! I’m going to die from how thrilled I am!"

"???"

Qiu Nuoyacouldn’t understand what Shangguan Wan’er was saying.

This was strange. He was supposed to have an automatic translation function, yet he couldn’t understand Shangguan Wan’er’s words at all.

She kept talking, or rather, half-shouting while repeatedly smacking Xiao Tao on the back. Qiu Nuoya could barely understand anything she was saying. However, he somehow managed to understand one sentence.

"My story has finally begun! Thank you, God!"

With Xiao Tao translating for him as well, Qiu Nuoya eventually figured out what was going on. Apparently, Long’s appearance was incredibly similar to that of the singer Shangguan Wan’er was a huge fan of. And apparently, Shangguan Wan’er was one of those fans who had genuinely fallen in love with the singer.

For reference, a "serious love fan" refers to a fan who is genuinely in love with an idol or celebrity. In other words, a hardcore fan.

The old man Qiu Nuoya has been completely left behind by the times.

"Um, to sum it up, Shangguan Wan’er really likes Long’s appearance, right?"

"Well, I suppose that’s a good enough way to understand it."

Xiao Tao answered while Shangguan Wan’er continued smacking and shaking his back. His eyes looked completely lifeless, like a dead fish.

Well, I guess the emotion hidden in his heart was probably something along the lines of, "I don’t care about your feelings."