"Don't move! Let me see!"
"No, Master, please don't! You absolutely cannot look there!"
"Rebecca, hold him down. I'll open his clothes!"
"Yes, Dad!"
The two of them worked together to press the Dragon Slayer hero against the wall and tore open his shirt. The dragon pattern on his chest flickered briefly twice before extinguishing.
Looking at the silver lines on the captain's chest, Rebecca raised her eyebrows playfully and whistled. "Captain, this magic array of yours… feels a bit kinky."
"Magic array, my foot! Kid, what exactly is this thing?" Tiger demanded.
Leon avoided eye contact and stammered, "Um… it's just a tattoo, really just a tattoo."
"Do tattoos from your family glow purple? It's obviously not some ordinary tattoo." The master saw through the mystery at a glance.
"Hey! That's not true, Master. This tattoo, though it looks kinky and unconventional, is actually a symbol of love between the Dragon Slayer and his dragon wife," Leon said with great seriousness.
"Explain."
"Um… that can't be explained in detail."
"Why can't it be explained?" the master pressed.
"No need to ask, Dad. It's obviously the captain and his dragon wife's couple tattoo," Rebecca said with a knowing look, adding meaningfully, "But dragons have all sorts of magical tricks. Who knows if this tattoo has any other purpose."
Ah, young people these days, they seem to understand everything.
Leon quickly put his clothes back on, stood up, and changed the subject. "The other purpose is a private matter between me and Rossweise. You just need to know that this tattoo is where I store my magic power."
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Hmph, if you won't say, then you won't. I'll look up the information myself another day."
Curiosity killed the cat; you'll regret looking it up!
The three returned to the fire pit and continued their previous discussion.
"Well, since the brat can't use magic now, we need to be more cautious with every step we take," Tiger said.
"Yeah, but luckily the Empire is only sending out some Dangerous Types. We still have the strength to deal with them," Leon nodded.
"We just said the first step is to uncover the mole who framed you. How do you plan to do it?"
"Let's start by finding Victor. Rebecca said he became a resident singer in a bar after leaving the Dragon Slayer Army. Compared to Martin, who lives with the ministers, we're more likely to get to Victor," Leon said.
"Good. Let's leave it at that for today. We'll start our operation tomorrow night."
"Yeah. Oh, by the way, I'll take the first watch. You and Rebecca rest," Leon offered.
Tiger shook his head. "You take the first half of the night, I'll take the second."
Understanding Tiger's temperament, Leon didn't argue. "No problem, Master."
"Wait a minute!" Rebecca suddenly raised her hand.
"What is it?"
Rebecca put her hand on her chest, stroked her chin, and pretended to look serious. "Since the three of us are going to live and die together, shouldn't we come up with a team name?"
Leon and Tiger exchanged a glance and shrugged in unison.
"What do you want to call the team?"
"How about the Grumpy Old Man, Clueless Straight Guy, and Pretty Girl Combo?"
Leon smirked and teased, "That's such a straightforward name, it could almost be a thesis with a bit more length."
"Tch, then let's call it… the Old, Weak, and Sick Combo!"
"Old, weak, and sick?" Leon raised an eyebrow.
Rebecca nodded, explaining logically, "Dad's getting old, so he's old; I'm a helpless girl, so I'm weak; the captain can't use magic and can't figure out why, so he's sick."
Leon couldn't help but applaud the gunner's logical thinking skills. "Makes sense, very convincing. Now let's get some sleep, helpless girl."
Rebecca happily lay down by the fire pit, and Tiger covered her with the only blanket they had. He hadn't expected Leon to return so early and bring a teammate, so their supplies like blankets weren't fully prepared. But being able to find a refuge while being wanted was already quite challenging. Both Leon and Rebecca admired Tiger for that.
After his master lay down, Leon slowly walked outside.
He sat on the dusty steps and looked up at the night sky.
It was a full moon.
Some bards in the empire often used the phases of the moon to symbolize the joys and sorrows of life. But tonight, the moon was so round, and Leon couldn't enjoy it with a certain someone.
He wondered if the moon seen by the Silver Dragon tribe, thousands of miles away, was just as round…
Lost in thought, Leon raised his hand to touch his chest.
"When the one with the dragon tattoo starts thinking about the other, the mark will begin to shimmer."
So… was she thinking about him too?
Leon lowered his gaze and sighed.
After adjusting his mood slightly, he began to focus on keeping watch.
.
.
.
The next morning, Leon slowly opened his eyes. "You're awake, Captain," the girl's face appeared above his line of sight.
"Hmm… what's up?" Leon rubbed his eyes.
"Nothing much, don't you feel your throat is a bit dry?"
Leon, puzzled, sat up. "What's the problem? Huh… now that you mention it, it does feel a bit dry."
Pausing for a moment, he suddenly perked up. "You and Master didn't do anything strange to me last night while I was asleep, did you?"
Rebecca shook her head.
At this moment, the Master also walked over and stood beside Leon. "After you fell asleep last night, you called out several names, and each one many times."
Leon was startled. "Whose names?"
Rebecca accurately counted, "Aurora 104 times; Noah 110 times, and Muen 112 times."
Leon breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, they're all my daughters' names.
It's only natural for a father away from home to mumble his daughters' names in his sleep, right? It's all out of love for them!
But then Master dropped a bomb that left Leon petrified on the spot. "Rossweise, 518 times."
Leon: ?
"Truly a love-struck War God, Captain. Dad said you were muttering your wife's name so much you were foaming at the mouth, a whopping 518 times. Tsk tsk tsk, the power of love!"
"The hammer of love… just talking in your sleep, it doesn't mean anything," Leon defensively argued.
Rebecca glanced at Tiger. "Dad, has your apprentice always been this stubborn?"
"Yeah, when he was little, even after being kicked by a donkey, he didn't utter a word of 'ouch,' harder than the pancakes his mistress made," Tiger chuckled.
"Ah, I really don't know how that Dragon Queen managed to live with such a stubborn guy for three years," Rebecca sighed.
Is it possible that the Dragon Queen was even more stubborn than me… Leon chuckled awkwardly, skipping over the topic.
Since they were going to find Victor only in the evening, the three of them had plenty of time to prepare.
Tiger was in charge of gathering information about the city's current situation; Rebecca would find a way to secure enough bullets; Leon, meanwhile, focused on devising a detailed action plan. With some rare quiet time, he could draft several strategies to unmask the traitor.
Three years had passed, and the moment of revealing the truth was drawing near.