Just calling him the "model husband of the dragon clan" was no longer enough to describe General Leon. Now it had risen to the level of "having you is the greatest blessing of our dragon race."
Ha, a bunch of big lizards with tails. If they knew what kind of identity your Brother Leon really had, that line would instantly turn into, "Having you, our dragon clan must've been cursed for eight generations straight."
The discussions of others didn't really affect the couple and their daughters.
Because they had woken up too early, Luna was already leaning in her daddy's arms, half-asleep;
Little Light obediently held her mommy's hand, sticking close to Rossweise's side, her big pink eyes looking straight ahead, filled with anticipation for the new semester and new fun.
Noah, however, was glancing left and right, scanning the area as if looking for someone.
Rossweise lowered her eyes and quickly realized who her daughter was searching for.
"The sea dragons live farther from the academy, so your friend might arrive a bit later."
Noah turned back and nodded, "Got it, Mommy."
Just as the words fell, the sound of a water droplet echoed deep in Noah's consciousness.
["Little brat, you seem to care a lot about your friend."]
The Ancestor maintained her human form, white hair falling down, one hand on her waist, standing tall and elegant, graceful and dignified.
["What kind of question is that? She's my friend. Of course I'd care about her."]
Noah answered naturally. After a pause, she asked again, ["But we've known each other for so long now, and I don't think I've ever heard you mention any of your friends from your era."]
["I don't have, nor do I need, things like friends."]
The Ancestor's white eyes half-lowered, her voice cool, her tone flat.
["The strongest king standing at the peak is destined to be lonely, because any emotion or bond will only become the weakness of the 'strongest.'"]
Noah blinked.
After thinking a bit, she understood, 'This old auntie must've reached the age of coming down with a case of Chuunibyou.'
But faced with such a chuunibyou-style statement, Noah stayed completely calm, ["Oh, I see. Not bad."]
Saying that, Noah turned around and started walking toward the exit of the consciousness space.
The Ancestor looked at her small back, and the aloof expression she had just been holding cracked slightly.
["Hey…"]
["What?"]
["Don't you think what this king said makes perfect sense?"]
Noah (expressionless) nodded, ["Mm, makes sense."]
["Then why are you still so calm? Shouldn't you have that kind of 'one sentence from a wise man surpasses ten years of study' feeling of sudden enlightenment?"]
Back in the day, all sorts of dragons wanted to listen to her, the Original Dragon King, give a lecture, it was "a ticket you couldn't buy no matter what."
And it wasn't even called "listening to a lecture." "Pilgrimage" was more accurate.
But now, a six-year-old child was treating the knowledge she had accumulated for tens of thousands of years as if it was nothing more than wind in her ears.
'Unbearable!'
'Absolutely unbearable!'
Noah turned back, thought seriously for a moment, and answered, ["Not even a little."]
Ancestor: =_=
["Your chuunibyou isn't nearly as bad as my Daddy's. That's probably why."]
["What does chuunibyou mean?"], The Ancestor tilted her head. If she didn't understand, she asked.
["It's hard to explain, but when my Daddy shows it, I'll let you know."]
After a pause, the little curly-haired queen added seriously, ["He does it often, so it won't be hard to catch."]
The Ancestor waved her hand.
["In any case… if you want to go further down the path of the strong, aside from family, it's best not to have too many bonds."]
This time, Noah felt a slight stirring in her heart.
But not because she agreed with the Ancestor, quite the opposite.
She couldn't understand that kind of thinking at all.
But perhaps that was just the generational and positional gap. So Noah thought, and didn't argue further with the Ancestor.
["I know."]
With that, Noah exited the consciousness space.
Unknowingly, the family had already arrived at the academy's plaza.
There were even more students and parents here.
Plenty of teachers and staff were also present to receive them.
Rossweise found an empty bench and sat down with Little Light in her arms.
As the family chatted, Noah soon caught sight of a familiar flash of blue in the crowd.
"Helena!"
The little sea dragon girl heard her best friend's voice and immediately turned her head.
She had also been searching for Noah just moments before.
"Noah-chan~"
"Mommy, Daddy, I'm going to find Helena. I'll see you later in class."
"Alright, go on. Be careful, don't be late."
"Mm-hmm."
Noah waved and ran toward her best friend.
Helena also ran happily to meet her.
But Noah's call of "Helena" was also heard by Luna, who had been dozing in Leon's arms.
As soon as the Little Luna picked up on the keyword, the ahoge on her head stood straight up.
Her sleepy little head instantly woke up.
"Where's Helena? Where is she?"
"Oh, that woke you up fast," Leon was surprised.
Little Light pointed, "Over there."
"Alright, let's go, Little Light."
Rossweise froze, "Go… go where?"
Before Leon could even react, his darling daughter had already wriggled out of his arms, running with the little pink-haired girl toward Noah.
Watching their daughters' backs, the couple looked lost amid the crowd.
"So Luna and Little Light are also that close with Helena…"
"And you still refuse to admit you're a dense straight man."
"What?"
"You really can't see it?"
"If you can see it, then explain it to me. Why are Luna and Little Light running after Helena?"
The queen snorted softly, then declared with absolute confidence,
"Helena is their senpai, so of course they want to discuss the new semester's study plan with her."
Leon's eyes lit up with sudden realization, "Oh~ so that's it."
One dares to say it, the other dares to believe it. That's why they say even sharing the same bed doesn't make two people the same kind.
With their daughters off playing, Leon and Rossweise simply sat quietly on the bench, waiting for staff to receive them.
After a while, Leon's sharp eyes caught sight of a "familiar face" in the crowd.
He pointed, "Look, doesn't that guy seem familiar?"
Rossweise followed his finger. It was a red-haired youth, with a boy at his side.
The boy looked like a cocoon-born dragon.
The red-haired youth was shouting at a staff member about something.
Rossweise frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then said, "Oh, that's the Crimson Flame Dragon Duke whose knee you shattered before. His son's name is Lar. He tried to bully Noah before, but Noah broke his arm."
At that, Leon also remembered, "But after Constantine's incident, didn't all the Crimson Flame dragon kids withdraw from school? Why are they back now?"
What Leon called the "incident" was when old Con went, under imperial orders, to attack the Silver Dragon clan, only to have his head chopped off by General Leon and hung on a tree.
Old Con's fall left the Crimson Flame clan leaderless. Factional strife grew fierce, even disrupting the education of the younger generation of dragons, forcing them all to suspend their schooling.
"Maybe after Constantine returned and handled the clan's internal affairs, he let the younger Crimson Flame dragons re-enroll," Rossweise said.
Leon nodded thoughtfully, "That must be it. And a few days ago, Alres already withdrew the surveillance troops stationed near Constantine's territory. The other dragon kings pulled out soon after."
"Alres must've decided there was no need to keep targeting Constantine. After all, he's definitely not going to hand over the Primordial Energy."
Rossweise let out a breath, "I just wonder if the Crimson Flame clan will cause more trouble."
"I don't think they will."
"Oh? Why?"
Leon's expression turned serious. He pointed in another direction.
"Because even Old Con wouldn't be reckless enough to cause trouble at Saint Heath Academy, right?"
Rossweise looked.
Not far away, the crowd was instinctively parting, avoiding someone as if they didn't dare get close.
And the one they were avoiding was, of course, the Crimson Flame Dragon King who embodied "Burning", Constantine.
———
Constantine appearing at Saint Heath Academy really did cause a stir.
First, because Old Con had been written into Young Dragon Popular Science Readings and various history books as a legendary Dragon King. Even though he'd gone through two deaths and resurrections, that didn't lower his prestige.
Second, because back before he attacked the Silver Dragon clan, Constantine had launched small wars everywhere, so everyone respected and avoided this Crimson Flame Dragon King.
But you couldn't really call Constantine some "civil war god." After all, infighting and annexation among dragon clans was very common.
Still, his appearance on campus inevitably stirred heated discussion.
"I heard at one Dragon King meeting, old Alres was seriously targeting Constantine."
"Yeah, yeah, and our clan's Dragon King even sent troops to monitor the Crimson Flame borders. What's that all about?"
"But if Constantine is standing right here alive and well, doesn't that mean the surveillance has ended?"
"Then what's he doing at the academy? I never heard of the Crimson Flame Dragon King having any kids."
"Maybe he's here to secure some campus benefits for his people?"
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