Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 115: Why Aren’t You Laughing Anymore?

Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Why Aren’t You Laughing Anymore?

Cecilia stayed in Leon’s cabin for nearly a week, and once the "injury" on her calf was completely healed, she left.

Leon, to be honest, felt somewhat regretful. The reason was simple; even if it was all pretense, Cecilia had helped him tidy his room and clean up during her stay, saving him a lot of effort. This allowed him to devote more energy to his training, especially when the repeated calls of "brother" stirred his heart and mind.

No sooner had Cecilia left with her front foot, Lulu came hopping along with her back foot.

Lulu twirled around Leon, saying, "That sister was so scary, I’m glad she’s finally gone."

"Scary in what way?" Leon was sure that Pixie had no way of seeing through Cecilia’s transformation magic.

"I always felt like she wanted to eat me," Lulu said, swinging her legs as she sat on Leon’s shoulder.

Leon pinched the Pixie’s cheek, thinking to himself that the little one’s sixth sense was pretty sharp. But why didn’t it work on him? If he reverted back to Dragon Form, just one glance should be enough to scare the little one to death, right?

As flowers bloom in twos, each branch tells its own story.

Cecilia walked deep into the Primitive Forest, looking around to make sure no one was following her—those Rangers and Druids from the Elf Village were extremely adept at hiding, and it was easy to be tracked if one wasn’t careful. Confident that she was alone, she boldly reverted back to her Dragon Form, transforming into a Green Dragon.

Leon felt that moving around in Dragon Form was inconvenient in the Primitive Forest, but it didn’t hinder Cecilia from moving freely through it.

It wasn’t that she was much smaller than Leon—after all, the Green Dragon’s size ranked third among the Colorful Dragons, and even a young Green Dragon was quite large. The main reason was that the Green Dragon’s limbs were proportionally longer compared to its body than other Dragons, allowing it to easily stride over bushes and other forest clutter, not to mention it was accustomed to the Primitive Forest.

Cecilia quickly found a filthy pond and met her two accomplices.

There’s not much to say about the Evil Ghost—it’s a standard evil creature.

Cecilia detested the Green Hag to death because she was so repulsively talkative. Besides, even though she might be stronger than other hags, whether it be an aunt or grandmother of hags, they’re still hags—yet the Green Hag fancied herself the equal of a True Dragon, which was exceedingly audacious.

She had made up her mind that after dealing with the Elf Village, she would kill the Green Hag, but before that, she needed to find a way to dismantle the fragile alliance between the Green Hag and the Evil Ghost.

"My dear, you’re finally back," said the Green Hag. "Let Grandma Polly give you a kiss."

"Get lost, disgusting thing," Cecilia growled at the Green Hag, baring her teeth.

"Did you get information from that man?" said the Evil Ghost, trying to change the subject.

He needed to acquire magical knowledge from the Green Hag’s clutches but also didn’t want to offend the Green Dragon.

The comment from the Evil Ghost made the Green Dragon laugh.

Cecilia shared the information she had extracted, lightening the mood and turning a tense atmosphere into one of harmony.

"He said he defeated an adult Blue Dragon?" the Green Hag said with a smile, "Although Grandma Polly has never seen an adult Blue Dragon, I’ve heard stories of one destroying a whole fleet of ships... We would have to see if the adult Blue Dragon would even want us as his subordinates."

"What nonsense. He could have been a noble lord in a great city if he defeated a Blue Dragon, not hiding in the deep forests," laughed the Green Hag while clutching her underarm. "Grandma Polly’s big teeth might fall out from laughing."

"I’ve heard that the Sphinx either guards Divine Treasures or powerful Spells, Divine Artifacts, or forgotten secrets like Magic Doors," the Evil Ghost scratched his head, "I wonder if I can pass the Sphinx’s trials and then obtain the treasure."

"What an intriguing head you have," said the Green Hag playfully, "I want to pick his brain and chat with him every day."

"Don’t you even think about it," Cecilia stuck out her tongue, "He’s mine. I’ve decided to take him as my subordinate."

Compared to gold and silver treasures, Green Dragons actually prefer living treasures even more—they enjoy intelligent creatures that submit to their will the most, like beloved heroes, certain famous sages, or renowned bards, and they always manage to subdue others by revealing their deepest desires.

That man named Leon, she had gathered quite a lot from the few days of interaction. Handsome, knowledgeable, and certainly competent, but too fond of boasting, exaggerating to the sky, claiming he defeated a Blue Dragon, and had an Efreeti as a servant.

...

...

The evening of the day after Cecilia left, Leon saw Cecilia, who had returned, bringing along an old granny and a middle-aged man with a long-handled blade.

"You just left, why are you back already?" Leon sat behind the campfire.

He wasn’t cold and wanting to warm himself up. He wasn’t afraid of the dark and in need of light. He simply felt that without a fire, something was missing—like many people who leave their TVs on at home whether they watch it or not, for the feeling of home.

Leon, with his Heavenly Eye Technique, recognized at a glance that the old granny was the Green Hag and the middle-aged man was the Evil Ghost. Perhaps the him before would have been afraid, but now he didn’t even want to move.

"We are Cecilia’s nannies and Knights," said the Green Hag as she approached the fire to examine Leon’s face, "What a handsome young man... Grandma Polly heard that you saved our little petal, Cecilia, so I made a special trip to thank you."

"You’re welcome," Leon waved his hand.

Cecilia crossed her arms and remained silent.

She didn’t actually want to bring the Green Hag and the Evil Ghost here; she intended to use her own methods to gradually corrupt Leon and, inevitably, make him fall into her clutches. As it happened, she was short on manpower, but she couldn’t prevail over the Green Hag and Evil Ghost.

The Green Hag maintained the image of a kindly old grandmother, although her smile revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth was somewhat unsettling. She said, "Polly Granny heard from little petal that you are a powerful adventurer who has defeated the Blue Dragon and the Sphinx... Is it true?"

"I defeated the Blue Dragon, but not the Sphinx," Leon seriously said, "The Sphinx has male and female aspects. The female can be challenged, but the male is just too strong. The male-faced Sphinx is even more formidable than an adult Red Dragon."

The Green Hag chuckled, sounding like an old hen, and said, "Defeating the Blue Dragon is impressive too. The Blue Dragon is the despot of the desert, after all."

"Just an adult Blue Dragon, not that formidable, not yet a desert despot," Leon sighed, "I can handle flying, but as for digging, I really don’t know what to do. I can’t dig as fast as they can."

"Since you can defeat the Blue Dragon, you can surely defeat the Green Dragon, too." The Green Hag glanced at Cecilia. "Would you be willing to help Polly Granny defeat the Green Dragon?"

"As long as you can afford my price," said Leon.

"Still thinking of fighting the Green Dragon? Be careful, or the Green Dragon might eat you all," Cecilia leaned against a post, "Though I guess the Green Dragon might not favor old tough meat."

"Old tough meat is tasty, as long as it’s not rotten," Leon said, "Green Dragons are easy to deal with, unless we’re talking about an old Green Dragon. An old Green Dragon is powerful; I’m probably no match."

The Green Hag covered her belly with laughter, constantly patting it, and said, "Polly Granny likes you, she really does. Why don’t you come with Polly Granny?"

"I’ve heard there is a giant called a Storm Giant," the Evil Ghost interjected, "Can you defeat a Storm Giant?"

"Storm Giant..." Leon thought for a moment; many worlds’ giants use a complex hierarchical system to organize themselves, which is called ordinals. Storm Giants sit at the highest rank of the giants and have an impressive challenge level, "A standard Storm Giant, no problem, but a strong one is out of the question."

"Do you have a feud with the Storm Giant?" Leon asked.

"No feud," said the Evil Ghost, "I just heard that they use greatswords, and I want one too."

"You can’t handle the greatswords used by Storm Giants," said Leon, "If you want a weapon, better to have a Fire Giant forge one. I have a weapon forged by a Fire Giant. It’s really nice."

"You have a weapon forged by a Fire Giant?" said the Evil Ghost, "Can I take a look?"

"Now’s not a good time to show it," Leon declined.

As soon as Leon finished speaking, cheerful laughter echoed around them.

"It’s my turn, my turn," the Green Hag stopped the Evil Ghost, "Do you know about the Supreme Fairy? Can you defeat the Supreme Fairy?"

"The Supreme Fairy? The Queen of Summer, Titania?" Leon had gleaned information about a few Supreme Fairies who served as Sect Masters for Contract Mages, from a sourcebook, shaking his head like a rattle, "That’s definitely out of my league. How could I possibly defeat a Supreme Fairy?"

The Green Hag finally sensed something amiss. How could this man in front of her know about the Queen of Summer, Titania?

Boasting could not explain the knowledge of Queen of Summer, Titania, who never appears in the tales of bards.

"I can’t defeat Supreme Fairies, nor can I defeat Noble Genies. A regular Efreeti, maybe," Leon paused, "As for Demons, I can deal with Six-Armed Snake Demons and Goristros since they can’t fly, but I can’t handle a Balor of that level. With Devils, an Ice Demon is manageable, but a Pit Fiend truly is out of the question."

Leon picked up a stick casually and poked at the fire, babbling on.

"Among Celestial Creatures, I might take a shot at an Otherworldly Divine Servant, but I wouldn’t dare to cross paths with a Solar or anything from the Supreme Heaven."

"I can’t defeat a Kraken, much less a Tarrasque."

"I can deal with a Vampire but not with a Death Knight, Demilich, or Witch Demon... if I saw them, I’d certainly run faster than anyone."

"Beholders like the Death Kiss, Death Tyrant are manageable, but the Nest Mother’s Eye and the Elder’s Eye are tough nuts. The Aboleth is no big deal, and I can handle the Elder Brain if it’s up for a duel."

"I can only beat standard creatures, not even the weakest Demon Lords or Devil Lords. The Ancient Dominator is surely out of the question, not to mention Dendar, the Night Serpent, the landspring of the primal nightmares, the devourer of tainted shadows, the harbinger of world’s end, something like Gunnade, the God of Abnormality in the Dark Territory... Do you have any idea how powerful these beings are?"

A person name-dropping several famous figures might be seen as boasting, but can you still make that claim when they can mention those lesser-known big shots, not ordinarily known to outsiders? What if they can recount a myriad of tales and anecdotes about those big shots?

Anyway, when Leon finished, he sat on a small stool and observed his quiet surroundings.

"Why aren’t you guys talking anymore?"

"Why aren’t you guys laughing anymore?"

"And why are you all standing?"

"Take a seat, come on, sit down."