Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 71 Encountered a Dragon

How could it be her?

When Rean saw the girl on the platform, he was completely stunned.

The fiery red dress was gorgeous yet elegant, the ruby ​​necklace around her neck contained abundant flame elements, her golden and reddish hair seemed to be burning fiercely in the sunlight, and there was a faint flash of lightning in her blue eyes.

That's right, it's her, Long Shou, a candidate for the title of Heroic Soul, who is suspected to be born into an ancient noble family.

She looked exactly the same as she did in the first dream; it seemed this was her formal attire.

She was also the only candidate whose identity remained shrouded in mystery; only Rean knew her true face.

But given her current status, this concealment seems inevitable.

"But when we met in the last dream, it didn't have these lion ears and tail."

The girl's posture, like Lana's, is clearly a disguise, but the lion's fur around her head, neck, and arms makes this disguise much more sophisticated.

Why is she pretending?! She's clearly a princess, so why is she disguising herself as an ordinary lion? Perhaps it's precisely because she's a princess that she has to pretend.

"Your Highness, could it be that she isn't the Hero's child?" Even Rean had heard this kind of common rumor.

The more secluded and back alley the place, the more people enjoy discussing the gossip and anecdotes of important figures, and the kingdom's royal family naturally faces a lot of criticism.

This rumor about His Highness's identity has not only spread widely, but also gained considerable popularity.

The origin and logic are actually plausible. The princess was born more than half a year after the hero's death, and there are too many suspicious things that can be speculated about.

"I saw Her Highness in Xindu once. She's almost sixteen, but she looks like a thirteen-year-old girl." In fact, as she grows up, the gossip becomes more and more frequent and more and more true.

The statements, such as "In order to maintain the crumbling kingdom, the royal family deceived the people by saying that the hero had offspring with the royal family" and "The current princess is the queen's later child, and the hero's original child was strangled," sounded as if they were true.

"Hehe. She's a dragon descendant. A high-purity evil dragon! She grows slowly! That's normal!"

But Kuku saw through the truth at a glance.

The problem is that the Queen certainly knows the truth about the girl's dragon lineage, which makes it even more inexplicable.
"The hero is a lion, and the queen is also a lion, so how did they give birth to a dragon?!"

Let alone others, even Rean was a little confused. He even wondered if he had been cuckolded in his past life.
"Oh dear, this is terrible, we've been attacked by a dragon. We've encountered a wicked dragon." Kuku, however, seemed to be still cawing and laughing, completely enjoying the spectacle.

Could it be that Princess Dania really isn't the child of the hero Rex? This thought flashed through Rean's mind.

For some reason, Rean felt a little relaxed, yet also a little regretful.

In short, at that moment his mind went blank, his emotions were a complete mess, and he couldn't explain them at all.

Rean instinctively felt that something was wrong.

When he first met Dania a few days ago, he felt an inexplicable sense of closeness and affection, as if he had seen a family member.

Later, the subtle "old man and girl" relationship between "Sul" and "Dragon Hunter" may have originated from this subtle resonance and intimacy in their bloodline.

He initially thought it was because of the bloodline of the dragonborn, but when he confirmed that Dania was Rex's child, Rean had a strange feeling of "I knew it".

Could it all be an illusion?
"No matter what race the Great Bad Dragon is, its children are all dragonborn." But Kuku's seemingly casual words completely stunned Rean and shattered this sordid conjecture.

"Kuku's sixteen children. They are all dragon descendants! Dragon descendants!" Kuku even had evidence.

However, when he said this, he seemed to be gritting his teeth, and there was even anger coming from the other side of his soul.

“Kuku said it. The soul is the essence. A child of the dragon soul is still a dragon! Kuku was very confused and angry back then!” This anger was real and well-founded.

It's likely that Kuku's children back then didn't even have many of the physical characteristics of kobolds.

In a sense, every "Lee Eun-suk" who dislikes Lee Eun-suk may have their reasons.

If they encounter misfortune and confusion in their lives, it can be said that the source has made a mess of things.

Otherwise, Paladin Sul might have lived a peaceful life, and Kobold Kuku might not have been expelled from the Horde.

Putting everything else aside, perhaps Kuku was also quite confused back then, looking at the dragonborn children who were all much taller than him.

Kuku's claim of "being attacked by a dragon" was not just something he said offhand; it was a "special phenomenon" recorded only in some ancient species.

Do the kingdom's queen and princess know? In fact, the queen does know.

After the Day of Cataclysm, after Lex's death, all information about his face disappeared, including people's memories of his appearance. Then came the birth of Dania, the Dragonborn. The royal family at the time naturally knew that something was wrong and had the ability to verify what had happened.

The royal family at that time still had high-level connections, and the Queen also contacted some trustworthy elders to inquire about the situation.

Finally, from a particularly ancient person, they received a compassionate response.

"This is... we've been attacked by a dragon."

"A dragon? What kind of dragon?" But the ancient man didn't explain the specifics.

The ancients merely informed the Queen that if someone died and their appearance disappeared without a trace, and their descendants were of dragon lineage, it was most likely because of "his (the dragon's)) existence.

This is neither a mockery nor a deception; he is still himself, with a complete life trajectory. It's just that his departure will bring about some strange phenomena.

It seems that a dragon is constantly reincarnating in the mortal world, erasing some of its information each time it leaves to avoid being discovered.

"It has no real impact, just ignore it," the ancient man said. But from the royal family's perspective, it was impossible to truly ignore it, given that countless eyes were watching.

The Queen herself didn't know how to understand this truth, let alone tell her child. Tell her that her father was a dragon who was constantly reincarnated? That was too abstract, especially since the kingdom had just been destroyed by another dragon.

Rather than these inexplicable things, it's better to let the child feel that his father is a hero who died for the kingdom.

In the end, all Dania learned was that her father, Lex, had been killed and cursed by a dragon.

The curse followed his bloodline back to his unborn self, turning him into a dragon descendant.

She was burdened by national and personal vendettas, and also carried a 'curse,' so naturally her hatred for dragons was abstract and profound.

After all, given this inexplicable and undisclosed reason, at a time when the kingdom's citizens were filled with hatred for dragons, it was impossible for Dania to reveal her dragon-blooded identity.

You believe me just because I say you're the curse of the dragon? We'd also say you're the result of the queen's affair with the dragon, and maybe the hero was killed by your conspiracy.

The world will always have its share of malicious rumors and ambitious people. In that environment, Princess Dania had no choice but to wear fake ears and a fake tail all day long to disguise herself as a lion-man.

And this seems to be something you have to wear for a lifetime, and you might even have to worry for the rest of your life that the secret might be exposed.

"Poor girl. Bad dragon. Big bad dragon!" Even Kuku couldn't bear to watch anymore.

Regardless, she still managed to raise her dozen or so children well.

The kid in front of me is probably living a muddled life.

Do normal dragonborn hate dragons? Uh, I think so.

Kuku, a dragonborn kobold, shook his head. He was an exception, a victim too!
"It's all the big bad dragon's fault!" In short, it's all Lee Eun-suk's fault!

Now, the "big bad dragon" himself is completely bewildered.

"How about you, Lex?!" He reached into his Pokédex, wondering if the conditions were met, since the princess was right in front of him.

Rean wanted to shift the blame, but unfortunately, the Heroic Soul Card remained completely unresponsive.

Since the "princess" has already been met, and the conditions are still not met, it's likely that this princess refers to the one from sixteen years ago, now the queen.
Looking at the girl still speaking so eloquently, Rean sighed.

Rean didn't really hear what she said; his mind was a complete mess.

He had a premonition that now that he was within the kingdom, he would not be able to avoid what happened back then.

To uncover the truth of the events of that year based on the needs of the heroic spirits, and also to avoid real trouble coming knocking on their door, leaving them completely bewildered.

"Is this also the reason why I woke up here?" Rean had already realized that he was fundamentally different from Kuku, Lex, and Sull.

They are complete reincarnations, only regaining their memories before death, while they were in their original form and had their memories intact from the beginning.

Rean felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled that Lex had quite a few old acquaintances from back then, and another possibility came to mind.

"Lord Kuku, that magic that erases appearance shouldn't be broken, right? I hope I won't be so unlucky as to have it dug up."

"Ha, how could that be? There's no magic in this world that can't be broken! There's no absolute, but magic is the only absolute!" Kuku said very seriously, even switching his train of thought.

At this moment, Rean was genuinely considering whether to move to another city to develop his career.

But when I think of Talia, Dimon, and Larry, it seems I've already formed too many entanglements.

In the end, he could only sigh helplessly and pray that he wouldn't be come knocking on his door.

I can't bear the consequences of what happened to Lex back then; I'm truly innocent.
"Rean!" At that moment, Larry gave him a push; it was time to go on stage to receive the medal.

He was a little confused, but he still went up obediently.

Recalling what the etiquette teacher had said, he knelt down before the princess and accepted the third-class knighthood and the fourth-class royal knighthood.

"Gah, father kneels before daughter!" Kuku seemed quite pleased.

"Shut up!" Rean was also inexplicably annoyed.

But looking at the young girl who was so close to him, hanging the medal around his neck, Rean, who was kneeling, had to calm down.

He had absolutely no idea what to say; his mind was completely blank. He just opened his mouth wide and laughed like a fool, seemingly very happy.

"Hmph, far inferior to Suer." This girl, while smiling broadly, leaned closer and whispered a sarcastic remark.

It seems she still holds Rean, the heir to Sull, in contempt.

Rean was both amused and exasperated, and could only nod repeatedly.

Yes, yes, it's far from it, too far from it. Please, Your Highness, don't focus your attention on a nobody like me!
(End of this chapter)