Chapter 1274: 32. Conversation

“What do you think that dragon actually wants?”

Anna slowly rotated her teacup, watching the ripples spread across the surface. Her words were light and casual, yet somehow seemed to carry the force of pounding drums.

Without a doubt, that dragon was the strongest enemy she......or rather, they had encountered so far.

Because her strength was simply too overwhelming, overwhelming to the point that she could practically ignore all rules.

Compared to her, if a certain Her Majesty the Empress wanted to monopolize Muen, she could only rely on things like a so-called wedding and so-called secular laws to seize the initiative first. But even if she obtained that legal justification, as long as the rest of them put aside their differences just a little and joined forces, it would still be very difficult for her to succeed.

But that dragon was different.

She was a calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the heavens, a being who, to the vast majority of people in this world, existed only in legends.

So-called legal principles and so-called secular constraints meant absolutely nothing to her. With her strength, if she truly wanted to take Muen away and monopolize him......there really was not much they could do.

At least, for the time being, there was not much they could do.

“Since Muen came back, that means she doesn’t have any intention of monopolizing him. Besides, didn’t she already say it herself? She and Muen are only companions.”

“You really believe that so-called companion excuse?”"

“If I don’t believe it, what can I do? If she shamelessly insists on staying by Muen’s side, can we really drive her away?”

Ariel curled her lips. Although she acted extremely disdainful, deep down, she agreed with Anna’s concerns as well.^

She might have acted as though she feared no one before, but she was still very clear about the gap between herself and a calamity.

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river......but that still meant waiting thirty years, didn’t it?.

Thirty years......

If that dragon really had any ideas, by then her little dragon babies would already be running around everywhere......no, no, no. She could not think about that. Something like that would never happen./

Ariel shook her head hard, driving all those ominous thoughts out of her mind.

“Whether we’ll really end up fighting her or not can be set aside for now. But preparing in advance and being caught completely off guard and slaughtered at someone else’s mercy are two entirely different outcomes.”_

Anna raised her eyes and said calmly, “Have you forgotten how a certain Her Majesty the Empress nearly stole a march on us by turning raw rice into cooked rice, and while we were fighting her tooth and nail, the dragon suddenly snatched Muen away? That sense of bewilderment and helplessness......I have no desire to experience it a second time.”

“......”^

Ariel fell silent.

Indeed, although opposing a legendary calamity was an extremely difficult thing, simply because of that, ignoring everything and doing nothing was not her personality either.*

She was not about to lose her fighting spirit just because she had been thoroughly satisfied last night.

“You think we have some way to oppose that dragon?” Ariel quickly caught the key point hidden within Anna’s long speech._

“Oppose her......I wouldn’t go that far. The gap in strength is right there.” Anna paused. “But in my view, perhaps she isn’t quite as terrifying as we imagine.”

“Oh?” Ariel raised a brow. “Why?”

“Because she is still respecting human rules.”

Anna tapped the tabletop and said, “Think about it. Whether it was the time she took Muen away or this time, she never interfered with ordinary people. According to reports from Silent Bureau agents, after revealing her true form, when she faced humans, she even showed an expression resembling hesitation......for such a powerful dragon to behave so cautiously is not a trait that fits the cold and merciless calamity described in legends.”

“What does that prove?”

“It proves......that her personality may be gentler than we imagine. At the very least, she does not casually impose {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} her unreasonable level of violence on others.”

As long as a powerful being still cared about rules, then she was not absolutely impossible to deal with.

At the very least, there was no need to be quite so pessimistic or quite so despairing.

“Are you sure?”

Ariel straightened in her seat and narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t something to joke about.”

“Just a woman’s intuition. Whether I’m right or not still needs to be verified.” Anna took a sip of tea. “And compared to me, haven’t you spent more time with that dragon?”

“......Well, you do have a point.”

Ariel thought back to last night, when she had first encountered Muen and that dragon. She had been so rude to the dragon back then, had even drawn her sword and tried to slash her, yet the dragon still had not reacted much at all.

If that was not because she was so arrogant that she did not even consider Ariel worth noticing, then it could only mean......Anna’s guess was correct.

A calamity said to have destroyed countless countries and cities......was actually very gentle.

“That’s really unbelievable.” Ariel sighed......to tell the truth, she had never considered things from that angle before.

“But most of this is still just us comforting ourselves. After all, no one wants to face an enemy who is completely impossible to resist, so all we can do is assume in advance that she must have some weakness.”

Anna did not linger on the subject for long. She shrugged and said, “So, to sum it all up, our current priority is......first figuring out exactly what that dragon is thinking.”

Only by knowing that could they seize the initiative.

“But that dragon really does seem very pure.”

Ariel frowned and said, “Judging from the level of physical contact between her and Muen, she and Muen probably haven’t developed to......mm, that kind of stage yet. And last night, she didn’t come stop me, nor did she stop you. If she really had those sorts of feelings, those actions would be impossible to explain. Unless......her views on this sort of thing are genuinely completely different from those of humans. She is a dragon, after all.”

“No. Although the level she exists on is different, and the height from which she views things is different, her values are not fundamentally different from those of humans.”

Anna shook her head. “According to the information I gathered during this period using the Silent Bureau’s resources, the great chaos occurred a thousand years ago, while the war between humans and dragons happened even earlier than that. After that war, the dragon race suffered a crushing defeat and withdrew from the continent, while humanity entered an explosive period of civilization......judging from the timeline, a thousand years ago, she should also have grown up in the human world. So we cannot look at her through the perspective of some other species. That point is very important.”

“Understood. In the end, she’s still a woman. Fundamentally, she’s no different from any other seductive little cat trying to steal someone else’s man......so what do you think?”

Ariel looked into Anna’s eyes. Although she hated admitting it, she still had to acknowledge that the woman before her was far more perceptive than she was when it came to matters of emotion.

Since their alliance was still unbreakable for the moment, at a time like this she would have to rely on her a little......no, use her a little.

“Me?”

Anna turned her head and looked in a certain direction, one finger continuing to trace the rim of her cup. “I talked with her a little last night. She probably wasn’t lying. For now, it really does seem like she has no such feelings toward Muen.”