Chapter 1249: 6. Dragon Knight

"Human society?"

Hamreign froze slightly. Time seemed to stagnate around her once more, with only her long, fine eyelashes trembling faintly. Through the flickering light and shadow, Muen saw ripples spreading through her eyes.

"Miss Dragon......it has been a very long time since you entered a human country or city and truly experienced it, hasn't it?"

Muen thought of the forest that had left such a deep impression on him—the Forest of Death and Doom.

That was Miss Dragon's current dwelling, and it was also where he had first met her......although, for him, that first encounter had not exactly left a pleasant impression.

According to the rumors, the Dragon of Death and Doom feared by all had occupied that place for several hundred years. Most people even believed that she had remained there all that time without ever taking a single step beyond the forest, which was why it had become a forbidden land.

But after spending this time with Miss Dragon, Muen had learned that even during those centuries, she had frequently left the Forest of Death and Doom to deal with various sources of Pollution throughout the world.

Yet despite that, she had left almost no additional traces or rumors within the cities and countries inhabited by humans. That alone was enough to show just how deliberately distant she had kept herself from the human world she protected.

"What is there to experience?"

Hamreign lowered her eyes. "Human cities all look the same, and humans themselves all look more or less alike. They are not pleasant to look at."

"It isn't only about seeing the scenery...... Of course, the scenery is part of it, but for you, Miss Dragon, the greater meaning lies in those cities, those residents, and everything they contain."

Muen smiled. "The Love God once said that all your efforts were meaningless. What I want to tell you is......that is the meaning. Their very existence is the meaning."

The light within those golden eyes flickered once more.

Hamreign instinctively wanted to refuse, but faced with Muen's most sincere invitation, the words of rejection reached her lips yet refused to come out.

Because just as Muen had once said, the reason she had persevered until now was precisely because......she cherished all of it so deeply.

"You know what I am."

Hamreign took a deep breath.

"If I recklessly enter a human country or city, it will cause tremendous chaos."

"Weren't you rather direct when you went to Belrand before?" The corner of Muen's mouth twitched.

She had abducted him in front of so many people back then—and from a wedding meticulously arranged by the Imperial Empress herself! Why had she not worried about causing chaos then?

"I moved very quickly at the time. At most, it could only be considered passing through. Even if it caused chaos, it would quickly subside, and ordinary people would hardly notice anything. But if I do as you suggest and look around carefully, or even enter those cities and remain there for an extended period......"

A calamity. The Dragon of Death and Doom. The strongest creature beneath the heavens.

She did not even need to reveal anything. That string of titles alone was enough to make people tremble.

"Everyone......will fear me."

The fear and anger displayed by the residents when she had arrived in New Tars surfaced in Hamreign's mind once more.

Stories of the evil dragon had not spread only there.

She knew that.

And the memory still unsettled her.

"Miss Dragon, although you certainly possess extensive knowledge concerning humans, hasn't much of it become somewhat outdated?" Muen sighed.

"Hm?"

"How many centuries has it been since you last moved around the continent......within the sight of ordinary people? uutxt.com xiaoshuomi.com youshengxsw.com longtengxsw.com wuxuixsw.com To the overwhelming majority of people on this continent, you are nothing more than an intangible legend. Even if you swaggered straight into a city looking exactly as you do now, no one would recognize you."

"But New Tars......"

"New Tars had those bastard survivors constantly indoctrinating the population and reinforcing their understanding of you. But elsewhere on the continent......in normal places, your image appears only in stories, popular novels, and cheap roadside literature."

"Is that not enough?"

Hamreign frowned.

"If stories about me have spread so widely, then my terrifying image must already be deeply rooted in people's minds."

"It is quite deeply rooted, but you must understand that in certain human creations, ancient legends and stories are often subjected to......a little creative adaptation." Muen's expression became peculiar.

"Adaptation?"

"Ah, I'll just show you. But you have to promise me that you absolutely won't get angry." Muen stared into Hamreign's eyes and spoke cautiously.

"Why would I become angry?"

Hamreign tilted her head slightly and asked in confusion, "They are merely human stories. What reason would I have to become angry?"

"Good."

Muen snapped his fingers.

Illumination Magic, activate!

Light twisted and formed images, displaying before Hamreign several books Muen had once seen.

Naturally, Muen could not display the entire contents of every book in detail. Only the Black Book could reproduce something that precisely. At present, he could show only their covers and titles......but Muen knew that would already be enough.

Hamreign looked toward the titles.

《Arrogant Evil Dragon, Stop Playing Hard to Get: A Rustic Girl's Naughty Strategy》

"?"

《A Savage Divorce and Fierce Love: The Ultimate Calamity Falls for Forty-Year-Old Me, a Mother of Two》

"??"

《After Defeating the Demon King: The Happy Life of the Sunny Hero and the Scheming Evil Dragon. Note: BL》

"???"

《Falsely Accused, I Threw Myself into the Evil Dragon's Embrace, and My Imperial Brother Regretted Everything! Note: Contrasting Evil Top × Righteous Unyielding Bottom × Wife-Chasing Crematorium》

"????????"

As those titles were imprinted into her mind, even Hamreign, tempered by a thousand years and long since rendered incapable of reacting strongly to most things in the world, felt as though an enormous hammer had suddenly struck her forehead.

Her vision went dark, and even her golden eyes became somewhat vacant.

What exactly was this?

What did these titles mean?

She could understand every individual word, so why did they become °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° incomprehensible when combined?

And what were those bizarre images on the covers? Why were all the evil dragons depicted as male human characters with dragon horns?

And in the final two books, why were several men whose pectoral muscles were even more exaggerated than a woman's breasts entangled together in disgusting poses?

Th-this-this......

"Has the Love God's Pollution already spread this far?" Hamreign was an evil dragon in shock.

"No, no, no."

Muen hurriedly denied it. "In a certain sense, the love depicted in these is still quite pure. Even the Love God has not become perverted to this extent."

"Then......has humanity already fallen this far?"

"No, no, no. That isn't it either."

Muen hurriedly dispersed the light and images. Evidently, although Miss Dragon had studied an enormous amount of human knowledge over the past thousand years, she had never touched these more deviant and unorthodox subjects.

That was normal. What calamity would ever read cheap roadside literature?

"I already told you. These are merely adaptations of your image."

"But......I am a female dragon, while all the ones you showed me were male." Hamreign became even more confused.

"This...... All I can tell you is that turning men into women and women into men has always been a classic method in all sorts of adapted literature. Especially for someone as famous as you, this kind of change in portrayal is perfectly normal."

As he spoke, Muen coughed forcefully. "Of course, there are also adaptations going in the opposite direction, but I think it would be better not to show you those."

After all, if Miss Dragon learned that certain individuals with rather unusual preferences had depicted the calamities as adorable little girls and subjected them to all sorts of unspeakable acts—and that there was even a special collected edition featuring all four calamities—she would probably immediately decide to destroy this filthy world.

Those things were simply too sinful.

Naturally, Muen would like to formally declare that he had never sought out such sinful material of his own accord.

It was all that filthy Pink Bear's fault...... Yes, Pink Bear constantly talked about these things, which was the only reason Muen had gained the slightest bit of familiarity with them!

"Do you understand now?"

After viciously condemning Pink Bear in his heart once more, Muen returned to the subject. "Several hundred years is an unimaginably long time for ordinary humans. Nowadays, the only ones who know how terrifying you truly are are the leaders of various countries and a few top-tier powerhouses. And I doubt any of them would be stupid enough to harass you."

Hamreign had always worked hard not to disturb the human world. She was merely a legend—a legend dwelling deep within a forbidden forest, burdened with countless sinister tales of destroying countries and cities and inspiring terror.

And legends were things very far removed from reality.

"Trust me, all right? Even if someone does try to bother you, Miss Dragon, it won't matter. I'll take responsibility for stopping them. Putting everything else aside, I still possess at least a little influence among the powers of various countries."

Rustle......

At those words, the scene before him flickered. Several familiar and beautiful silhouettes appeared in Muen's mind, and an inexplicable chill rose from the bottom of his heart.

But Muen hurriedly suppressed it, and his smile became even gentler.

"All right."

Hamreign looked at Muen's face without much hesitation. That pale, warm hand once again clasped his tightly. "Since this is my companion's request, even if it truly causes trouble, I will go and take a look. Moreover, judging by the things you showed me just now, it has been a long time since I studied the latest knowledge concerning humanity. Learning more in that area may prove useful later."

"No......it would be better not to study those particular things. I only brought them out as an example." The corner of Muen's eye twitched.

"What?"

"Ahem, no......nothing. If there is anything you don't understand, Miss Dragon, you can ask me. This time, it will be my turn to teach you."

"Thank you."

"There is no need to be polite. After all, this is my selfish request, and it also contains a little personal desire of mine."

"Personal desire?"

"Yes."

Muen nodded and said with complete seriousness, "I hope the legend of the evil dragon will forever remain nothing more than a legend and gradually disappear into a forgotten corner of history. And the story of the real Miss Dragon......I hope it will be shown to everyone in an entirely different way."

"......"

The wind blew gently.

The world was silent.

Hamreign stared blankly at the human before her. Although all sunlight had been blocked by the mist, at that moment, she felt as though the human man's face had been illuminated by a warm radiance, making him appear incomparably handsome.

That strange throbbing sensation once again caused her heart to accelerate.

Thump.

Thump.

"Then I will look forward to it......companion." Hamreign lowered her head, preventing Muen from seeing the fleeting blush across her face.

"Yes. Companions who promised each other that we would walk forward together for eternity, right?"

Muen smiled, failing to notice anything unusual about Hamreign.

He turned to look around, abruptly changing the subject. "Then we should be able to leave this place now, shouldn't we?"

His injuries had mostly recovered, and everything concerning Tars had finally reached a conclusion, even if that conclusion was not perfect.

There was no longer any reason to remain here.

"Of course. We can leave at any time."

Muen felt the hand holding his suddenly tighten.

"Wait......"

Bad memories abruptly resurfaced in his mind, and Muen instinctively cried out in terror.

However, the sensation against his palm had already changed. The gentle little hand......had transformed into a sharp, icy claw.

An enormous dragon appeared before Muen in the blink of an eye. Hamreign did not even bother using black mist, transforming in such a direct and straightforward manner.

In an instant, Muen went from being a companion holding hands with Miss Dragon to a tiny mouse lightly pinched between her enormous claws, swaying helplessly through the air in an exceedingly adorable manner.

"N-no way. Again?"

Muen's face fell.

As those claws slowly closed around him, enveloping him within them, Muen almost immediately recalled the turbulent misery of being carried as dangling cargo. His mind instinctively began to spin, and phantom pain even appeared across his skin.

But as his body suddenly became weightless, Muen discovered in surprise that......

This time, he was not being held within that familiar dragon claw. Instead, he was gently placed......upon the dragon's back.

"Huh?"

The raised ridges along the enormous dragon's spine dug into him somewhat, but compared to being carried as dangling cargo, this position was far more comfortable.

Most importantly, the stifling humiliation of being toyed with at will vanished completely. Sitting atop the back of the world's strongest dragon, Muen could not help feeling a powerful surge of heroic pride.

Did this mean......he had become a Dragon Knight?

Had his previous wish really been fulfilled so easily?

"What is wrong?"

After transforming into her dragon form, Hamreign's voice became deeper. "Did you not always want to ride on my back? Are you unhappy?"

"No, no, no. I'm extremely happy."

Muen hurriedly said, "I'm simply too happy. I couldn't react for a moment."

"That is good."

Hamreign's voice softened slightly, as though she too had breathed a sigh of relief. "Hold on tightly. I am about to take off."

"Okay!"

She was even warning him before taking off now. How considerate!

His treatment was completely different from before.

At that moment, Muen nearly burst into tears.

Whoosh......

The fierce wind howled, lifting the enormous black dragon into the sky. Muen instinctively lowered his body and tightly gripped the protruding ridges along the dragon's back, only to discover that there was barely any turbulence at all.

He did not know whether it was because of his position or because Miss Dragon had made her flying posture much steadier.

As the dragon climbed higher in the blink of an eye and drew ever closer to the mist, Muen instinctively tensed again. He remembered how dangerous it had been when the cries of the world affected him during his last passage through the mist.

He quickly prepared himself.

However......

"Disperse!"

Accompanied by the dragon's low roar, unimaginable power spread outward from her enormous black body. The dense mist was instantly pierced through, and a colossal opening appeared directly before Muen.

Carrying Muen with her, Hamreign passed through the opening without touching any of the mist, rising into the high sky beyond it.

The sky was incomparably blue.

The sun hung overhead, impossibly warm.

It took Muen a long moment to recover. He gently stroked the scales along the dragon's back.

"Thank you, companion."

"There is no need to thank me."

The dragon spoke softly.

"As companions, this is only natural."