Having finally reunited with his family after months of separation, General Leon settled into a new, demanding routine:
– By day, he took care of Noah, ensuring she recovered fully from her ordeal.
– By night, he took care of his wife, attending to the whims of his pregnant queen.
One task drained his energy, the other his strength, but he found the rhythm deeply fulfilling.
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A few days later, a welcome distraction arrived. Noah received a letter from her best friend, Helena. The letter began with earnest inquiries about Noah's health before moving on to important news: the academy's promotion exams would be held again.
"Redoing the promotion exams?" Leon asked, after Noah summarized the letter's contents over the dinner table.
Noah nodded and put the letter aside. "Yes. Because of Adam's interference, the number of dangerous creatures in the Demonic Moon Forest surged unexpectedly. The academy couldn't accurately measure the difficulty level for all students, so they decided to hold the exams again to ensure it was fair."
Leon considered this for a moment before replying seriously. "That makes sense. Are they holding the new exam in the Demonic Moon Forest again?"
"No," Noah replied. "Helena mentioned that the sudden incident completely disrupted the academy's plans. Since they hadn't prepared an alternative site in time, they're reverting to the old exam format."
Rossweise, listening while elegantly eating her dessert, raised a curious eyebrow. "What is the old exam format?"
"It's... simulated combat," Noah said after a brief pause.
"Simulated combat?" Rossweise's tone was gently skeptical. "Isn't that similar to your regular training? Wouldn't that make the promotion exam much easier?"
"Not necessarily," Noah countered. "The simulated combat in promotion exams is different. Specifically, it involves..." She hesitated, searching for the right words to make her parents understand. "Role-playing," she finally said, choosing the simplest term.
"Role-playing?" Leon and Rossweise exchanged puzzled looks across the table.
"What kind of roles do they usually play?" Rossweise asked, now genuinely intrigued.
"Oh, various scenarios," Noah explained with a small smile. "Things like wounded knights, zombie kings, or desperate heroes and lost succubi. It's about testing our adaptability."
"But why would simulated combat need role-playing?" Leon asked, his soldier's mind struggling with the concept.
"It's mostly to help the instructors teach us how to handle unpredictable social and combat situations," Noah said with a shrug, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Fair enough," Leon conceded. "What kind of role are you expecting to face this time?"
Noah scratched her head, glanced across the dinner table at her father, and then said, almost apologetically, "The person we'll face is someone described in our textbooks as... 'a man in black armor.'"
For a moment, it felt as if a thunderbolt had struck the room. Leon froze on the spot, his fork hovering in mid-air.
For the dragons in the room, there was no one else in the world who could match the description of "a man in black armor" from their history books besides Leon himself.
Rossweise stifled a laugh behind her hand, but Leon's expression darkened as he quickly pieced things together. The dragons had likely framed his historical role to match their wartime narrative, just as human literature from the same period often painted dragons as mindless, evil creatures to instill animosity in children.
Understanding the propaganda didn't stop Leon from feeling a sting of bitterness. He had devoted himself to training his daughter and sending her to the best academy in the dragon kingdom, only for her graduation project to involve role-playing a battle against her own father. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on him.
As Leon sat there reflecting on the irony, Rossweise's amused voice broke the silence.
"You seem upset," she teased, her eyes glinting. "Tonight, why don't you 'role-play' the man in black armor for me? Let's see if I can make you cry."
Leon glared at her. "Very funny."
Noah, trying to diffuse the tension, chimed in, "Apparently, the academy pulled those black armor sets from their storage for the new exam. They're just props, nothing like the real thing from our textbooks."
This piqued Leon's curiosity. He leaned forward, a new thought occurring to him. "Speaking of textbooks, what exactly do they say about the man in black armor?"
Noah hesitated, her bright blue eyes darting away as if she were carefully choosing her words. After a pause, she finally spoke, her tone measured. "It says he wielded a powerful, unknown magic that caused significant trouble for the dragon warriors on the frontlines. Several Dragon Kings fell to his hands. He's described as the dragons' greatest enemy of that era."
"I see..." Leon scratched his nose, trying to sound casual. "And what do you think about him? Was he strong?"
Rossweise muttered under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear, "You're embarrassing yourself, Leon."
Leon ignored her, his gaze fixed on his daughter expectantly.
Noah sighed inwardly. Was this what it was like to deal with a clueless father seeking validation? She suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for her mother, wondering how she had endured this for so many years.
"I think... he was very strong," Noah replied, her tone careful but firm.
After a moment, she added with quiet conviction, "And my goal is to defeat him."
Leon raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The war is over, Noah. You'll probably never encounter him."
Noah met his gaze steadily, a flicker of competitive spirit in her eyes. "Who knows? Maybe one day, fate will grant me the chance to challenge this legendary man, and when that day comes, I'll win."
Leon sighed internally. You'll be the death of me, my dear sweetheart.
Deciding it was best to leave the conversation there, he let it drop. If they continued, things might devolve into something truly absurd. Besides, Rossweise was already barely holding back her laughter.
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After dinner, Noah returned to her room to write a reply to Helena, while Leon and Rossweise remained in the living room, the quiet of the evening settling around them.
"What do you think about the rescheduled exams?" Rossweise asked, reclining on the sofa with her dragon-winged slippers on, gazing at the ceiling.
Leon sat beside her, his demeanor shifting from the lighthearted father to the seasoned general, his expression suddenly serious.
"Adam's sudden appearance in the Demonic Moon Forest caught everyone off guard," he stated, his voice low. "Noah and Helena barely escaped with their lives. If things had gone slightly worse, we might not have been having dinner with them tonight."
Rossweise nodded thoughtfully, the amusement fading from her eyes. "It's true. We were lucky this time." She studied his face. "What are you worried about?"
Leon met her gaze, a mysterious, knowing smile spreading across his face.
Rossweise blinked, and then her eyes widened slightly as she quickly realized what he was planning.
"You're not thinking of..." she began, a slow smile of her own starting to form.
Leon's smile widened. "Exactly."