'Sigh, such a good woman, and she's actually my wife.'
'Truly troubling, huh (holding back laughter)'
"Let's start from here."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The feeling of falling pulled Leon back to reality from his thoughts.
Several silver dragons slowly descended, beneath them was a lush grassy field, and further ahead was a mountain forest. That was the border of the Silver Dragon territory.
He jumped off Rossweise's back, and the dragons also turned into human form.
Rossweise walked to his side, the couple walked forward side by side, with Anna leading the maids and guards on either side.
The group crossed the grassland and entered the forest.
Not long after walking in, Leon keenly noticed the hidden sentries in the giant trees of the mountain forest.
There were quite a few sentries, it was clear that ever since Constantine's last attack, Rossweise had added more personnel.
Leon observed carefully around, then lowered his voice, "There are about 27 hidden sentries in this area, right?"
Rossweise raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised, "Yeah, didn't expect you to spot all of them. Looks like we'll have to assign more people."
"Blindly adding more people is useless. It's better to focus on improving camouflage techniques."
On matters like this, Leon still had some authority to speak.
It's like a god-level thief getting placed on payroll and becoming an anti-theft expert.
So Rossweise also treated Leon's suggestion seriously, "Alright, I understand."
The couple spoke in low voices; Leon wouldn't point out her minor mistakes in front of her subordinates.
Outside, you've got to give Her Majesty the Queen a little face.
About two hours later, the group was about to exit the forest.
Further ahead would be leaving the Silver Dragons' territory.
At the edge of the forest, Leon saw Constantine's dragon head.
It was hung between two giant trees, swaying gently in the cold wind.
Half a year had passed, the scales and keratin had fallen off the dragon head, and the remaining single horn was dull and lusterless, as if it would break off easily with a slight twist.
Leon walked in front of Constantine's dragon head, expressionlessly scrutinizing the huge skull.
After a long time, he gave a cold snort and muttered to himself, "Siding with the Empire was your biggest mistake, Constantine."
Rossweise walked to his side, glanced at the dragon head, then looked at him, "What, reminiscing about your first-class military honor here?"
She also lowered her voice to ensure Anna and the others in the back wouldn't hear.
Leon curled his lips, "Opponents of this level aren't worthy of my nostalgia."
"Oh? Then what kind of opponent is worthy of your nostalgia?"
Leon withdrew his gaze from Constantine's skull and met Rossweise's eyes.
The couple looked at each other, everything was understood without words.
However, the originally romantic moment was crushed by the queen herself in the next second.
"Hmph, a little captive like you still wants to hang my head on your doorstep?"
Leon rolled his eyes speechlessly.
'Serves you right that I won't confess to you.'
'You, you, you — just you wait, wait until the end of time, the apocalypse, I still won't confess to you, dumb dragon.'
After paying respects to Old Con's remains, the group arrived at the edge of the territory.
Beyond that, the environment gradually worsened. Flying sand and stones, desert and rocky plains.
"There's nothing abnormal here, let's go to the next place," Rossweise said.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The group turned to leave.
But Leon was still standing in place.
After walking a few steps, Rossweise noticed Leon hadn't followed, so she turned back, "What's wrong?"
Leon was squatting slowly, staring at the dividing line between the grassland underfoot and the desert ahead.
The boundary was sharp, like it was cut by a blade.
"This dividing line is way too clean…"
Leon pondered, then slowly stood up and said with his back to Rossweise, "Send more patrols here in the coming days."
Rossweise's eyes shifted slightly, then she nodded, "Alright."
Leon stood on that blade-sharp boundary line, gazing into the distant sandstorm, narrowing his eyes slightly, "I've got a feeling something dangerous is coming."
———
The dog man's routine these past few days had been a straight line:
Bedroom → Library → Outing
Every morning at 7 a.m., he'd wake up, wash up, eat breakfast, then take his daughters to the library and stay there the entire morning.
In the afternoon, Noah and Luna practiced magic, and Little Light cheered for her second sister on the side, hoping she could reach the basic threshold of "simultaneously channeling lightning and fire elemental power" for the twin awakening.
Leon, however, would be nowhere to be found until he returned in the evening.
Such a regular rhythm of life made Rossweise curious.
How come ever since taking him on that border patrol, he had been so rarely home these days?
One afternoon after lunch, Rossweise took a short nap for twenty minutes and then began her afternoon work.
Before long, Leon passed through her temple hall.
He was holding a camera.
Rossweise sat on the high throne, leaning forward with her elbow on the table and chin resting on one hand, her silver eyes following Leon's figure.
As he was about to walk out of the temple door, Rossweise finally spoke,
"Going out again?"
Leon stopped and looked back up, "Mm, what is it?"
"Nothing really, just that you've been going out for long stretches every day lately."
She lowered her eyes, then looked at the camera in his hand, "And now you're even bringing a camera?"
"With your Silver Dragon territory being so beautiful, mountains and rivers, I thought taking a few photos wouldn't bother Her Majesty the Queen?"
Rossweise rolled her eyes at him, knowing it was just a random excuse, "Suit yourself, let's talk more tonight."
Leon shrugged, "No problem. I was planning to share my findings from the past few days with you anyway."
Hearing this, Rossweise raised an eyebrow, "Findings? About the Empire's secret cooperation with the dragons?"
"Not exactly. Anyway, there's no definite conclusion yet, so I'd rather not say too much. Let's see if I can gather a few more reliable clues later."
Leon said, "Just focus on your work. Leave the fieldwork to me."
The queen's lips curled slightly. She leaned back against the throne, crossed her long legs, and spoke leisurely,
"A year ago you couldn't care less about Silver Dragon affairs. Why are you so proactive now? But let me say this in advance, no matter how proactive you are, there's no salary."
"Always bringing up money hurts the relationship, Your Majesty."
"What relationship do I have with you?"
Leon raised his hands in surrender, too lazy to argue, "Alright, alright, if you say we have none, then we have none. Anyway, save some time tonight, we'll talk properly."
"Mm, got it."
Rossweise paused, then added, "Oh right, if you're going out, should I assign you an escort?"
Leon thought for a moment and nodded, "Sure, I was just about to submit a personnel request."
Rossweise rolled her eyes again, "Tch, even making it sound official. I'll have Anna assign someone for you."
"OK."
Once everything was settled, Leon turned and walked toward the door.
A few steps out, he heard Rossweise call out again, "Come back early."
Leon waved his arm without looking back, "Yeah yeah."
A few minutes later, the sound of giant dragon wings echoed from the front yard of the temple.
Rossweise was a little surprised, "Oh? He's even flying? Looks like that idiot's heading somewhere far."
Muttering to herself, Rossweise shook her head, refocused, and resumed her desk work.
Her daughters had visited earlier that afternoon.
Luna said she was about to master the technique of using two elemental magics at once.
Rossweise naturally gave her loads of praise.
Twin Awakening was already a rare talent, even someone as chill as Luna didn't want to waste it.
As soon as Noah returned home for break, Luna had been pestering her big sister to teach her how to draw magic power. Plus, with Leon's guidance on the twin awakening, little Luna was progressing rapidly.
Then Rossweise asked Little Light whether she had any interest in magic.
Little Light said she was curious about anything she hadn't experienced before, but unfortunately, her stamina couldn't keep up yet, and her body's magic circuits hadn't fully developed, she could only watch her sisters practice.
Rossweise comforted her, saying it's okay. For now, she could just watch and study theory, building a strong foundation was also important.
Little Light, of course, understood that logic.
The mother and daughters chatted idly for a while, the few little dragon girls were very sensible, knowing that mom still had to work and couldn't be disturbed too long. When parting, the three little ones came up and pressed against mom's face, then went to the backyard.
Snuggling with her daughters was one of Rossweise's few resting times during her busy workday.
Although very brief, it was enough to heal Rossweise's tired body and soul.
The little dragon girls were just too adorably cute, obedient and sensible, and even knew to care for mom—
Much better than a certain dragon-slaying hero who always sang the opposite tune to her.
"Just know how to piss me off, just know how to piss me off," The queen propped her face with one hand, muttering while scribbling and drawing on discarded paper.
With just a few strokes, she outlined the dog man's "big-headed doll" image.
Just like how she looked at him through the wine glass that day.
'Ugly-cute, ugly-cute.'
"If you eat Dragon Power recklessly again, I'll give you no food for three days, starve you to death, starve you to death."
Still feeling unsatisfied, she drew a thick X over Leon's head portrait.
"Hmph, let's see if you dare defy your superior again."
After 'taking revenge,' she neatly folded the paper with Leon's big head drawn on it, and placed it into the pocket of her jacket.
Then she started working again.
.
.
.
.
By evening, Rossweise finished handling the last document of the day, capped the fountain pen, let out a relieved sigh, sat quietly for a moment, then stood up, preparing to get off work.
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