Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 79 - 78 - Grand Reveal and the Heroic Squad.

Chapter 79: Chapter 78 - Grand Reveal and the Heroic Squad.

The rustling grew louder.

Raven’s muscles tensed as he turned his head, the cool stream of water still dripping down his bare chest, his silver eyes narrowing.

Commander Nibbles peeked from behind a mossy rock like a tiny furry sniper, tail twitching like a tripwire.

Then—

The bushes parted.

And out stepped...

A girl.

A completely naked girl.

Moonlight caught her soft pink hair, slightly damp and clinging to her back. Her skin was flawless, with a soft royal luster.

Her wide pink eyes met Raven’s for exactly 0.3 seconds before both their brains short-circuited.

Raven blinked once.

Twice.

Then stared harder.

"...Lio?" He blurted out in confusion.

The girl screamed.

High-pitched. Royal. Definitely soprano.

"KYAAAAA—!!"

Raven screamed too, but more of a strangled yell. "WH-WHAT—WHY ARE YOU A GIRL?!"

The girl stumbled back, slipping on a rock, flailing, and diving into the stream with a loud SPLASH to preserve whatever shreds of dignity she had left.

Water sprayed everywhere.

Commander Nibbles took cover behind a fern.

Raven backed up instinctively, arms raised as if he were being held at swordpoint. "OKAY! OKAY! I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING!—Well, not much! Just—WHY ARE YOU LIO?! I MEAN A GIRL?! I MEAN—WAIT—WHO ARE YOU?!"

’Was it Lio’s sister?! Did he have a twin sister?!’ His mind, already short-circuited, couldn’t understand what was going on.

The girl surfaced, glaring at him with the fury of a hundred betrayed rom-com protagonists.

"TURN AROUND, YOU JERK!"

"I ALREADY DID!" Raven snapped, spinning to face the trees and slapping both hands over his face. "Why does this keep happening to me?! First demon conspiracies, now gender reveals?! What is my life?!"

From behind him came furious splashing and the hurried sounds of someone trying to cover themselves with wet moss and self-respect.

"You... you weren’t supposed to see this," the girl finally said, her voice trembling somewhere between panic and exhaustion. "No one was!"

Raven blinked. "So... you are Lio?"

Silence.

"...Yes," she said finally. "Or... Lia, technically."

Raven turned his head just enough to side-eye her with a single, shocked eye. "You’re telling me I’ve been putting my feet on a girl, a princess at that?!"

"You made me a footrest! So, yes, you did that!!" She yelled, now standing waist-deep in the stream, hugging herself and looking like she was ready to sue reality. "Do you even know what would happen if someone from my kingdom found out about that?!"

Raven stared blankly. "No? You’d have to marry me or something?"

She choked. "WH—ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Commander Nibbles covered his eyes with his paws in shared secondhand embarrassment.

Raven turned away again. "Okay, okay. Let me just... process this."

He took a deep breath and started pacing, shirtless and wet, like an emotionally damaged forest model.

"This... wasn’t in the plot," he muttered. "I read the story. Lio was never a girl."

Raven knew that there was no princess of the Hector Kingdom who was his age.

There was only the annoying twink prince whom he had made into a human ottoman.

’What the hell happened?! How did the plot change like this?! Did he get his gender-swapped or what?!’

"...were you a princess from birth?" He asked, his voice low.

"Duh," Lia huffed, her tone filled with shame and frustration.

’How does that make sense?’

How did he turn into a she when this had happened at his birth?

Like, was his being born enough of an anomaly to turn a person who was supposed to be a guy into a girl?

He hadn’t changed anything before he met Alex, Clara, and Jake—

—Something clicked right then.

’My Soul Dragon bloodline awakening...’

Yes, he had changed the plot hours after his birth.

’But how did it affect someone from a different kingdom?’

"This is so messed up..." He muttered, sighing in resignation.

Lia, however, frowned, thinking he was talking to her. She crossed her arms under the water, cheeks still red.

"You think I wanted this?" He growled. "Hiding my gender was the only way to keep myself from being eyed by people who are after my father’s throne. My powers stopped progressing, so Lia, who could be used as a political pawn, had to be replaced by a good-for-nothing prince, Lio!"

"...So you dressed like a boy?"

"Yes!"

"And you didn’t object when I stepped on you?"

"...yes."

Raven blinked. "That’s commitment. I respect it. Horrified, but I respect it."

She groaned, sinking lower into the water. "This is a nightmare."

Then she looked up and froze again.

Raven was still standing there.

Still half-naked.

And for some reason, the moonlight had decided to highlight every inch of his toned abs and defined back like this was a swimsuit calendar shoot.

"C-C-Cover yourself!" She shrieked again, shielding her eyes.

"I am! I’m wearing pants, woman!" Raven shouted, feeling frustrated for no reason. "You’re the one who showed up fully naked like a plot twist with no warning!"

There was a long pause. Then Raven asked, more quietly, "...Why’d you come here anyway?"

Lia hesitated, cheeks still burning. "To... to take a bath."

"Here?!"

"It’s the only safe place where I thought no one would see me!"

They stared at each other.

One from the water.

One from the edge of reason.

Finally, Raven sighed and started walking away, still muttering. "I’m going to pretend none of this happened. Tell the squirrels to delete the memory files."

Behind him, Lia called out. "Wait! You... won’t tell the others, right?"

Raven paused.

Then smirked.

"I might," he said over his shoulder. "Depends if you’re a good footrest tomorrow."

"YOU DEVIL!"

Another splash of water flew his way, but he ducked and laughed for the first time in what felt like days.

Commander Nibbles squeaked once, then gave a solemn thumbs-up.

The princess’s secret was safe... for now.

Probably.

Raven didn’t know what was going on anymore.

But hey.

At least he was clean.

..............................

(The remaining Chapter would be in Squirrel Tongue as the protagonists of this part are the brave soldiers of Acornia, the empire of squirrels.)

In a part of the forest, far from the place where Raven and Lia were, the squirrels, as promised, were looking for the beasts Raven had asked for.

The moon hung high over the treetops, casting silver light across the forest floor, where a unit of elite squirrel operatives moved in precise formation.

"Team Nutwatch reporting in," whispered Commander Chatterfang, perched atop a swaying bamboo stalk like a tiny general surveying his battlefield. "Objective: locate herbivore-class demonic mana sniffers. Target: any herbivore beast that says that it can smell something foul and disgusting."

"Sir, should we interrogate the carnivores too?" Asked Lieutenant Nibbler, brushing burrs off his acorn-bladed shortsword.

Chatterfang narrowed his eyes. "Negative. Carnivores lie. They always lie. They eat things. We are things. Stick to the grass-munchers."

The squad split up, each darting off toward different groves like silent, furry ninjas.

> First Contact:

Private Crunch approached a large deer standing idly beneath a willow tree.

He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, noble leaf-licker. Have you sensed any spicy, cursed energy in these parts?"

The deer blinked. Slowly.

Then returned to chewing grass with the focus of a retired monk.

Private Crunch nodded grimly. "Uncooperative."

> Second Contact:

Two squirrels clung to the horns of a very confused moose.

"Name. Location. Demonic sniff-prints. Talk!" One yelled, holding a sharpened toothpick near the moose’s eye.

The moose blinked.

Let out a long, judgmental sigh.

Then it sat down.

Both squirrels rolled off like bowling pins.

> Third Contact:

Chatterfang personally interrogated a suspicious-looking rabbit. The rabbit sat on its haunches, chewing a leaf while staring into space.

"Listen, bucktooth," Chatterfang growled. "This is bigger than you, me, or your ridiculous twitchy nose. Have you smelled anything that reeked of hellfire and bad decisions?"

The rabbit sneezed.

The squirrel squad marked that down as a "maybe."

Then it happened.

A gust of wind swept through the clearing.

Birds stopped chirping.

The deer ran.

The moose peed.

A thick, rotting stench rolled in like a fog.

And the ground... rumbled.

The squirrels froze mid-movement as a massive shadow slowly swallowed their clearing. Branches creaked. Bark peeled. Leaves trembled.

Then—

It emerged.

A grotesque creature, twice the size of a bear, with six legs, one eye, and a stomach that grinned with rows of twitching teeth.

A demon beast.

Its entire body pulsated with veins of glowing violet rot. Grass died where it stepped.

"...That’s not a vegan," one squirrel whispered.

Chatterfang dropped his acorn blade and saluted. "Boys. You know the drill."

"OPERATION WALNUT WALL!" Someone screamed.

Instantly, squirrels leaped from every tree, forming living barricades. Some dove at the beast’s eyes. Others tossed smoke nuts to buy time.

Chatterfang grabbed the youngest, smallest squirrel—a rookie barely past his first tree climb—and shoved him toward the path.

"Run. Get to the savior. He must know."

"But commander—!"

"Don’t argue, Private Squeaky. You’ve got the fastest legs and the cutest face. He’ll listen to you."

The rookie’s lip quivered.

Then he saluted with both paws and bolted, dodging a flung tree root with tears in his eyes.

Behind him, the beast let out a guttural roar, and the forest exploded in chaos.

The last thing Squeaky saw before vanishing into the trees was Commander Chatterfang riding the demon’s face like a hat, screaming:

"FOR ACORNIAAAAAA!"

Knowing that none of them would survive, Squeaky gritted his teeth, tears rolling down his furry cheeks as he vowed: ’I will avenge all of you!’

The message would be delivered.

He would ensure that.

He needed to do at least that much because the other squirrels had done their duty.

And Nutkind, especially Squeaky, would never forget their sacrifice.