Chapter 2: Spouting Nonsense, Do I Look Like a Fool to You? (Revised)
From her actions to her words, the suddenly-appeared human gave the fire dragon Godwin Caesar a thorough lesson in what it meant to be an insidious, cunning, and unscrupulous human.
Practicing some unseemly, bizarre black magic, and lying to his face without batting an eye… if such a human were allowed to go around proclaiming herself a follower of Godwin Caesar…
Godwin could already imagine how infamous his reputation would become.
No, absolutely not.
“No, you are definitely not my follower.”
Shen Jiang nodded in agreement, her attitude positive. “Before receiving your approval, I can only be an ordinary admirer. But I admire you deeply, and I came here to obtain your personal permission.”
Godwin said, “I will never agree to let a despicable and shameless human become my follower. Shut up.”
Shen Jiang was a bit dumbfounded, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What had she done to be called despicable and shameless?
The dragon before her didn’t seem very bright. He kept refusing, yet he hadn’t killed her outright.
He’s a surprisingly decent dragon?
Godwin looked strangely at the human before him, who appeared so fragile she could shatter at a touch. He couldn’t probe her magic level at all.
Even though Godwin Caesar couldn’t identify her magical attribute, upon careful consideration, this unprecedented magical technique was not entirely beyond analysis.
One possibility was the legendary top-tier magic that required not only sufficiently powerful magic of one’s own but also the blessing of the God of Light—Divine Resurrection Magic. If she were a believer in the God of Light, it would be impossible for her to say she was his admirer. Godwin had heard a little about humans who believed in the God of Light; these people regarded their god as the sun in the sky, sacred and inviolable, and would never change their faith even in death.
Moreover, those people were famous for revering top-tier magical power. Why would they allow their own bodies to be so fragile?
It could only be black magic, which was quite consistent with the black-haired, black-eyed human before him.
The restrictions on such a secret and ancient powerful magic must be extremely fatal. After all, to be able to defy the heavens and return from the dead, perhaps one of the conditions for its use was that the body must be weakened to the extreme.
Godwin felt his speculation was quite reasonable.
Godwin Caesar made his judgment without hesitation:
Although this person was, to some extent, weaker than an insect, her magical strength was absolutely unfathomable.
This fragility was entirely intentional on the human’s part.
The trigger for her magic was definitely death, allowing her to be born from death.
Godwin had never encountered such a troublesome individual, one he could neither kill nor drive away.
Even the most powerful human knights and mages combined were not as much of a headache for the fire dragon Godwin as she was alone.
*
An eerie silence was born between the dragon and the human, and it spread.
By now, Shen Jiang could no longer tell if her body was in pain or just numb. This silence before the storm felt incredibly oppressive.
“Would you permit me to become your follower?” Shen Jiang asked in a careful, pleading tone.
It was the first time he had encountered such a fawning human. The utterly unbelievable words, spoken from that harmless, fair face, were like a succubus casting a charm, and they somehow gained a degree of credibility.
This is not good.
Alarm bells rang in Godwin Caesar’s mind. He had almost been bewitched by the human’s non-threatening, deceptive face.
Godwin Caesar quickly dismissed the idea of imprisoning the human.
Keeping her locked up under his nose, wouldn’t that be a constant reminder of his own incompetence? He couldn’t even kill such a tiny, frail human. For a dragon as powerful as him, this was an utter humiliation.
Godwin Caesar’s golden pupils narrowed dangerously, as if trying to peer into her soul through her eyes. But all he could sense from her were warm, gentle natural elements, something a cunning and wicked human could not possess.
A look of bewilderment once again flashed in the black dragon’s golden eyes. Could a human’s disguise be this perfect? Was this person really his follower?
“Why do you admire me?” Godwin Caesar lowered his head nonchalantly, continuing to gaze at the human beneath him.
A look of surprise appeared on Shen Jiang’s face. “Do you not know that your astonishing legends are renowned throughout the continent? In the hearts of countless people like me, you are our spiritual leader.”
Godwin Caesar flicked his tail behind him. “Oh? Is that so? You admire me because of my power?”
Shen Jiang nodded hastily, but the black dragon snorted coldly again. “I have no need for an incompetent follower like you.”
Now get lost. The farther, the better.
Shen Jiang was stunned by the draconic words, which were laced with both contempt and killing intent. She could almost foresee her own death, and her brain began to spin wildly once more.
“I know I am weak, especially in your presence, where I am not even worth mentioning. A powerful being such as yourself may not understand, but I still wish to tell you my story.”
The black dragon endured the human’s chattering, his massive golden eyes filled with impatience.
“You see, I left my mother when I was very young.” Shen Jiang raised a hand and gestured to the air at knee height. “I was only this tall back then.”
Godwin Caesar’s golden draconic eyes blinked, as if seeing through the human’s intentions.
What is this human doing?
Don’t tell me she thinks playing pitiful will earn my sympathy?
It should be known that in the world of dragons, only true warriors deserved respect. For those incompetent rats who hoped to gain a sliver of life by kneeling and begging at the end of their lives, showing weakness was practically a death wish.
Weakness would only further provoke a dragon’s more brutal and cruel side.
Just a moment ago, Godwin Caesar had been marveling at this human’s powerful magic, albeit misguided. Now, he felt ashamed to have such a follower. The black dragon’s gaze gradually turned cold.
“If it weren’t for you, I think I would still be bullied today. If it weren’t for my quest to find and follow you, I would never have known how vast and wonderful the outside world is.”
Godwin Caesar was taken aback. “Because of me?”
When had he ever helped a little human girl? How come he himself didn’t know about it?
“It’s a long story. After I became an orphan, I went to an orphanage that specifically took in children like us who had lost our families. There were many children there, but resources were pitifully scarce. Every day, we only had a little food and clothes that couldn’t keep us warm. There, I was ganged up on by the other children and bullied horribly.”
I can see that. With her flimsy little frame, who else would they bully?
Then how did she grow into what she is now? If it wasn’t innate, acquiring such powerful magic later in life is no easy feat.
Godwin Caesar’s curiosity was gradually piqued, and he waited for her to finish her story.
“You may laugh, but I was really scared at first.” Shen Jiang smiled faintly, her eyes holding an indescribable, moving brilliance. “But then I started having a strange dream. In the dream, a black dragon was always calling to me, telling me to stand up for myself and protect myself with my own strength. It said it was the most unparalleled being in this world, and if I could do it, I could become its follower.”
Godwin Caesar froze. A black dragon?
As far as he knew, he was the only black dragon left in the world.
Shen Jiang continued, “With the faith the black dragon in my dream gave me, I fought back for the first time. Only then did I realize that resisting wasn’t as hard as I had imagined, and they weren’t as scary as I thought.
It was the Lord Black Dragon in my dream who gave me the strength and courage to resist. Otherwise, I might never have been able to take that step. Later, I finally left that place and made my way to your side, step by step. Look at my black hair and black eyes. I am honored to share the same black color as you.”
Godwin Caesar listened, entranced. In a daze, he unconsciously loosened his grip on the human.
Dragons didn’t know much about humans. The magic books stored in the library of the Dragon Magic Academy only recorded humanity’s greed, shamelessness, and cunning duplicity. That was why all human intruders who coveted his treasure were dealt a fatal blow by Godwin Caesar at the first opportunity.
The moment the claw on her chest loosened, a large amount of fresh air finally rushed into her lungs. Shen Jiang gasped for breath greedily, her heart still pounding as she calculated her next move.
“Since you are my follower, what treasure have you prepared to offer me?” the dragon’s thunderous voice rang out again.
Shen Jiang’s gasping hitched.
Treasure? What treasure?
“Hmm?”
The lazy syllable was drawn out, carrying a faint hint of killing intent, as if this were the most natural part of the process.
Shen Jiang had not at all expected that the evil dragon’s first reaction after hearing her story would be to ask for a gift.
She was being forced to choose between her money and her life. This kind of blatant, thuggish behavior almost caused her expression of pure piety to crack.
Struggling to survive in a tight spot, Shen Jiang knew that if she couldn’t produce a decent treasure, the ghastly white bones not far away would be her fate.
Her gaze swept over the dazzlingly brilliant things the black dragon had been lying on earlier, and she couldn’t help but complain internally about the evil dragon’s excessively extravagant taste. She was just an ordinary person who had only been working for a few years. Let alone the fact that she had no money, even if she did, it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy this lord’s picky taste.
Any one of those glittering golden things in his treasury was probably worth more than her entire net worth.
The only thing Shen Jiang had on her…
Was the amulet her grandmother had given her.
At this critical moment, it had truly become her life-saving talisman.
No matter how reluctant she was, Shen Jiang still raised her arm and reached with difficulty for her neck. Just this one last step, and she should be able to gain the dragon’s trust. But would the dragon even look twice at this small piece of green jade in her hand?
Shen Jiang struggled to pull the pendant out from her collar. Before she could even embellish the value of this piece of jade, the black dragon had already hooked the thin chain from her hand and was examining the small stone, which wasn’t even the size of his own fingernail.
Seeing her look of utter reluctance, he had thought it was something good.
He must not have been mistaken. When she was at the cave entrance, she had looked at the treasure beneath him. She was definitely plotting to get her hands on it.
That was the look of naked greed!
“You dare to trifle with the great dragon?”
“No, Lord Dragon, this is the renowned Imperial Green. A tiny piece is worth a fortune. It is the most supreme and coveted color among all jade…”
…What Imperial Green? All he saw was the word “green.” Was the human king so lacking in taste?
The black dragon looked at the human spouting nonsense on the ground as if she were an idiot, as if to say, “Do I look like a fool to you?”
Shen Jiang said with great earnestness, “A gem like this, its significance surpasses its value. It often represents status. Only the noblest status in the world is worthy of it… Of course, it certainly cannot compare to Lord Dragon’s treasures.”
She rattled on and on. In truth, Shen Jiang was exaggerating the quality of the jade pendant, but seeing the dragon’s disdainful look, she feared he wouldn’t feel her sincerity if she didn’t add some value to this little piece of jade.
If you asked her, this jade pendant was far more meaningful than any Imperial Green. It was her coming-of-age gift from her grandmother! A treasure her grandmother had cherished for a very long time.
Godwin Caesar shook his ears impatiently. He expressed his disdain for the human’s shallow knowledge. Such a paltry little thing was actually worth showing off.
All tiny, fragmented gems were to be treated as scrap treasure.
With a flick of his massive triangular claw, he casually and precisely tossed the human’s little green gem, chain and all, into his pile of treasure. The crisp clinking sound made Shen Jiang’s heart tremble.
Ah! That hurts!
“Since you worship me so fanatically, why were you heading for the cave exit when I first saw you?”
She was powerful and her origins were mysterious. Heading for the exit was definitely not an attempt to escape. Unable to figure out the reason, Godwin Caesar simply asked his question directly.
Shen Jiang’s secret joy and resentment came to an abrupt halt under the other’s death glare.
Her brain, which had been running at full speed, seemed to crash. She never expected to be hoisted by her own petard. She had almost forgotten that when the dragon discovered her, she had been stealthily trying to escape.