Leon received the letter from his wife half a month after it had been sent. He had been tirelessly tracking the Shadow Lord's whereabouts with Nacho and the others, leaving no time to check for any correspondence.
The message dragon delivering the letter had first arrived at the Empire's capital, only to find its recipient absent. For a moment, the creature seemed genuinely dazed. But like all message dragons, it was rigorously trained and would never return without completing its mission. A letter, once dispatched, absolutely had to reach its recipient! After two weeks of relentless effort, the determined little dragon finally tracked down the elusive Leon.
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"Captain, I think it's about to pass out," Rebecca said, crouching next to the exhausted dragon as it lay coiled on the ground. She gently poked its head with a small twig.
Seeing no response, she carefully picked up the little creature and brought it closer to their campfire to warm up. She then rummaged through her pack and pulled out two cans of beef, placing them right by the dragon's mouth.
"Poor little guy. Flying this far must have been so hard. Eat up and feel better soon."
Martin glanced at the beef cans by the dragon's snout, then at Rebecca's bag. "Rebecca, isn't that the Captain's field ration?"
Rebecca admitted cheerfully, "Yep!"
"Well, I guess this makes us even for the hospital bill," Martin quipped dryly.
It was hard to forget the time Leon, while practicing his Hyper-Sense technique, had ended up with a concussion after Rebecca 'accidentally' hit him with a rubber bullet. The hospital fees had ultimately come out of her pocket. Using Leon's own rations to feed the message dragon now felt like fair payback.
Meanwhile, Leon, oblivious to their chatter, focused entirely on the letter from his wife. The faint, elegant red mark on the envelope immediately caught his attention—it was a lipstick imprint.
He paused, then a soft chuckle escaped him. He had nearly forgotten; during their last letter exchange, he had jokingly asked her to leave a lipstick print. And true to her word, she had.
Across the fire, Rebecca craned her neck, trying to get a better look. "Hey, Martin, am I seeing this right? That letter hasn't even been opened yet, right?"
"Yep."
"Then why does he look so happy? He's grinning like he just found out he's going to be a dad again."
"...That's probably just how married men are," Martin replied with a shrug.
Nacho, busy mapping out the next day's search route, glanced briefly at the pair before his eyes settled on Leon's unmistakably happy expression. He said nothing and simply returned to his work.
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Leon finally opened the envelope and began to read. Rossweise's handwriting was as elegant and poised as she was. The flickering firelight seemed to illuminate her delicate pen strokes, making the words feel as if she were speaking directly to him.
The letter contained no flowery language or drawn-out monologues—just simple, heartfelt words expressing a wife's deep love and longing for her husband.
But when Leon's eyes scanned over the part about "morning sickness," they widened in pure shock.
Moments ago, his face had been alight with quiet joy. Now, it was completely frozen.
Rebecca immediately noticed the drastic change. From her long experience, such a shift in Leon's expression only ever meant one of two things: either something truly amazing had happened, or something utterly catastrophic.
"Hmm, could it be his wife finally got tired of waiting and decided to divorce him?" Rebecca speculated mischievously as she sidled closer.
Her burning curiosity got the better of her. She maneuvered carefully around the fire and tried to sneak a peek at the letter, a giggle escaping her. "I have to see this!"
Leon, however, was still mentally processing the two words: "morning sickness."
For a man married six years, not much could shake his composure anymore. Life's many ups and downs had tempered him into someone fundamentally steady. But the news of his wife being pregnant? That was a glorious exception.
If they weren't in the middle of the wilderness with Rebecca and the others nearby, Leon would have been rolling on the ground in sheer, unbridled excitement.
"Three kids."
"Another baby."
"Bullseye in one shot!"
"Wait a second," Rebecca exclaimed, her own face lighting up in sudden realization. "Captain! Your wife's pregnant again?!"
Leon jumped slightly. "What—when did you get over here?!"
No wonder he'd been grinning like that.
Leon hesitated for a brief second but didn't bother hiding the letter. There wasn't anything incriminating in it, and if Rebecca saw, it would just give him another chance to silently show off his happy marriage.
Rebecca smirked. "Captain, isn't your youngest daughter only two or three? Why rush for a fourth kid already?" She paused, then added with a knowing look, "Ohhh, I get it now. You and your wife are really going for that dozen, huh?"
"A dozen?! Do you think I'm some kind of breeding champion?" Leon groaned.
Rebecca blinked with feigned innocence. "Aren't you? Think about it: your wife is a dragon and will live for centuries. You, with her Heartguard Scale, are synced to her lifespan. You've only been married six years and already have three kids—and now another on the way."
"At this rate, in fifty years, your kids could form their own royal battalion!"
Leon's eye twitched as her words sparked a vivid, almost terrifying mental image: a palace filled with tiny versions of himself and Rossweise, some with little silver tails, some with curious dragonfly wings, some with his stubborn expression, and others with her regal coolness, all running amok in chaotic groups.
The thought made him shudder involuntarily.
He shook his head to dispel the vision, carefully folded the precious letter, and tucked it securely into his inner jacket pocket, right over his heart.
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"Wait, the Captain's having another baby?" Martin asked, having overheard the commotion.
Leon nodded, a genuine, soft smile finally returning to his face. "Yes. My wife... she's pregnant again."
"That's fantastic! Congratulations, Captain," Martin said, his tone warm and sincere. "Have you thought of a name yet?"
Leon scratched the back of his head, smiling a little sheepishly. "Not yet."
Rebecca rolled her eyes playfully. "See? This is where you're slacking, Captain. You and your wife should make a master list—just go right down the list as you keep having kids. So much easier."
Leon gave her a deadpan look. "Actually, my third child didn't get a name until quite a while after she was born. So the fourth one can wait too. It's not like they'll complain."
Rebecca gasped in mock horror. "Captain, you're a genius—of parental neglect!"
Leon waved her off, he was in too good a mood to bicker. He turned to Nacho instead. "How far are we from the Shadow Lord's last known location?"
Nacho, who had remained focused on his map, allowed himself a small smirk. "What's this? Suddenly eager to finish up and get back home to your wife?"
Leon didn't even bother denying it. "Absolutely."
Nacho laughed. "Well, at our current pace, we've got about a month of hard travel ahead. If we push through, you should make it home just in time for the critical weeks before the birth."
Leon did a quick, mental calculation, a look of deep satisfaction settling on his features. "Perfect."
Nacho stood up, brushing the dirt from his pants. "We've got about five hours until dawn. I'll let the others know we'll be picking up the pace starting tomorrow."
"Thanks."
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Rebecca and Martin, meanwhile, had already launched into a lively brainstorming session, throwing out increasingly ridiculous names for Leon's new baby. Leon, however, was no longer listening. He gazed out at the distant horizon, his thoughts entirely with his wife. Somewhere, under the same infinite blanket of stars, the silver dragon markings on their bodies resonated with a quiet, magical warmth, binding their hearts together across the vast distance.