CH 40

The little black dragon closed his eyes as soon as he flew into Ning Chu’s arms, looking very tired. Ning Chu felt like he was holding a hot potato, while hesitantly holding him in his arms. 

He had the intention to let Wuuth sleep in the cushion, but Wuuth had a human form and was still an adult, which was different from other dragons after all.

Ning Chu had tried to avoid any overly intimate contact with him, like the previous hug in the arms, rubbing or kissing his forehead and rubbing his dragon horns was certainly no longer suitable to do. But he was now inexplicably vain, he was sleeping too deeply, and didn’t even know that he was being picked up, which caused Wuuth to stay awake all night.

Forget it, just hold him, he was just a human-shaped dragon nest.

As for the overly intimate state of the two when he woke up just now… Ning Chu decided to wait for Wuuth to wake up, and then find an opportunity to mention this to him.

Not long after, Second Cub stopped to switch with Third Cub.

The dragons ate their breakfast, but the little black dragon didn’t eat, and continued to sleep in Ning Chu’s arms.

Fifth Cub’s place was taken. She was chewing on the oat grass, but she didn’t dare to chase the little black dragon away. She came up to Ning Chu and rested her front paws on his legs.

After breakfast, Third Cub took off with everyone.

Because Ning Chu had instructed them to do so, the dragons flew around the towns, picking the less populated areas.

In the afternoon, it was Fourth Cub’s time to take charge, and as he passed through the woods, he heard the sound of young dragons calling from below.

It was so far away that it was very faint, but he could hear their fear and helplessness.

Fourth Cub slowed down and looked down to see, but his view was firmly blocked by the dense undergrowth.

The other dragons also heard it and looked over as well.

Including the little black dragon, which didn’t even eat at noon and stayed in Ning Chu’s arms all day, making Ning Chu not know whether he was really sleeping or not, he also opened his eyes and looked down.

Ning Chu noticed that all the baby dragons were suddenly abnormal and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Even though Ning Chu had adjusted his sensitivity level upwards, his hearing was still not as good as these dragons, and because he wasn’t a dragon, he couldn’t have the same acuity that they had with their own kind.

Third Cub told him that there were young dragons below, and there were more than one, and they weren’t in a good condition from the sound of their calls.

This was usually the case when there was some danger and the adult dragon wasn’t around.

Ning Chu also knew that under normal circumstances, adult dragons wouldn’t leave their young unattended and would leave one in the nest even if they went out to feed. He was also a bit worried and asked the dragon cubs and young black dragon for their opinion, “Shall we go down and take a look?”

Once everyone agreed, Fourth Cub turned around and flew towards the source of the sound. Ning Chu was cautious, fearing that it was another trap like the one the Church had made, and asked Fourth Cub and the other dragons not to go there yet, until he could check it out.

Wuuth landed and transformed back into human form and joined Ning Chu. The two of them looked for the sound and found a dragon’s nest. The young dragon inside heard a stranger approaching and the sound stopped.

Wuuth lifted his right hand, and the black mist that coalesced in his palm dispersed into the nest with dragon breath. The young dragons felt the powerful breath of their kin, their panic and fear were calmed, as they weakly called out again.

There were no adult dragons standing guard near the nest, and looking at the traces of the cave entrance, it seemed that they hadn’t returned for several days.

Such a situation, most likely the adult dragon met with some kind of accident.

Listening to the faint “whimpering” of the young dragons, Ning Chu lit up a fireball and walked into the nest. As the nest became narrower and narrower, Ning Chu finally bent down and took out a nest of newly broken hatchlings from inside the nest.

The surrounding area was safe for the time being, so Ning Chu asked the dragon cubs in the distance to come over.

Fifth Cub was lying on Second Cub’s back, her claws clinging to his neck fur, and several dragons flew closer to take a look at the brood in Ning Chu’s arms.

There were three hatchlings in total, and Ning Chu couldn’t identify the species for a while, so he bought some dragon milk from the mall first. The hatchlings were temporarily placed in the grass, not yet able to walk or fly, and were timidly staring at several different colored dragons.

Fifth Cub got close enough to sniff the three hatchlings and rubbed one of them on the middle of its forehead.

Ning Chu carried a water bottle with him and made a formula to feed the hatchlings one by one. They were all starving and gulped at the bottle. Ning Chu was worried that they would not hold up, so he fed each of them only one bottle.

Although Ning Chu was a human, he had the aura of a dragon, and fed the three young dragon cubs. Most of the adult dragons in the nest disappeared before the hatchlings broke their shells, so they took Ning Chu as their parent and found a comfortable position in his arms after eating and drinking, rubbing his clothes and trying to remember his scent.

But Ning Chu still had to travel, so it wasn’t convenient to bring them along.

Ning Chu was worried, “What should we do? Why don’t we look for other dragon nests nearby?”

The chances were that the parents of these young dragons wouldn’t return, and the dragons wouldn’t reject the young of other dragons and would help to take care of them.

“Okay,” Wuuth responded, “Let’s put them in place before we leave.”

Otherwise, the young dragons, who had just broken their shells a few days ago and had no ability to protect themselves, a common beast could break into the nest and bite them to death.

The woods seemed to be very big, and Ning Chu carried the three young dragons and followed behind Wuuth.

Fifth Cub was also in Ning Chu’s arms, huddled with the young dragons. She was the youngest and was now back to being a juvenile again, and was very close to the young. Third Cub and Fourth Cub were crouched on Ning Chu’s shoulder, while Second Cub and Wuuth were in the front.

After walking a little deeper into the forest, Wuuth suddenly stopped in his tracks. Second Cub also stopped and landed on a tree branch, staring into the distance.

Wuuth said, “There are humans.”

Ning Chu followed his gaze and saw figures scurrying through the gaps in the tree trunks and branches, and there seemed to be a lot of them. He pulled Wuuth back and lowered his voice, “Let’s hide, don’t let them find us.”

The vegetation was dense, and Ning Chu took Wuuth behind a bush that was about a man’s height as the people in the distance approached.

Wuuth probably had never done this kind of hiding before, frowning and looking unnatural, Ning Chu tugged his sleeve and made a “shh” motion.

The two were so close that their shoulders were leaning against each other, and the marks between Wuuth’s eyebrows disappeared quickly.

The young dragons in Ning Chu’s arms began to get sleepy after eating, and by now had fallen asleep. A thin layer of dragon breath covered the surrounding area, isolating all senses.

When a group of people in the forest approached, Ning Chu quietly peeked out from the side. They were dressed like a group of mercenaries, led by a wizard, clutching his magic staff and leading the way.

“Captain,” a man at the back of the group looked depressed and almost wailed, “Let’s go back, don’t look, all the dragons here have been caught long ago…”

The magician he called the captain didn’t stop, “You don’t want this month’s commission? Even if it’s a dragon egg, you have to find one for me.”

The group of people approaching footsteps gradually grew louder. Ning Chu embraced the young dragons that had awakened, and were restlessly rolling over and wriggling. Ning Chu hurriedly calmed them down and kept them from making noise while continuing to listen. However, the rest of the group just rushed along, looking for signs of dragons in the forest and occasionally chatting.

Ning Chu was very concerned about their comment that “all the dragons had been captured long ago”, and when he turned his head to look at Wuuth, he received the same message from his eyes.

The group of people were about to leave the area, so Ning Chu thought about it, gave the young dragon in his arms to Wuuth, and lowered his voice, “Wait for me here.”

He got up alone and silently approached the group.

Ning Chu put on his mask and hid his form behind the trunk of a tree, raising his hand to activate the wood magic in his body.

At the end of the group was a young man who was walking on the grass when he suddenly tripped over something under his feet. He looked down and saw that it was a vine that had hooked his ankle. He lifted his foot, but couldn’t break free.

The group in front of him kept going, and seeing that he was about to be pulled down, he pulled out his pocket knife and bent down to cut the vine away.

At that moment, a green leaf gagged his mouth, and several more vines tied him firmly and dragged him behind a nearby tree. He didn’t have time to make any sound, when his neck was caught by a sharp wooden spike, and he was threatened by a masked man, “Don’t make a sound, I will ask you a few questions. After you answer, I’ll let you go.”

The young man was frightened and nodded, indicating that he would cooperate. The leaves covering his mouth moved away, but his arms and legs couldn’t move yet. He forced a smile that was worse than crying, “What do you… want to ask?”

Ning Chu whispered, “I just came here not long ago and I heard you say that the dragons here were all caught. What happened?”

The young man relaxed a bit when he asked about this, “Ah… this, indeed, at least thirty dragons were transported away from here in the previous week.”

“Carried away? Taken alive?” The wooden spikes in Ning Chu’s hands weren’t loosened at all, “Who did this?”

“They’re alive, those people just want to live,” the young man scowled back, “As for who… I heard the captain mention it yesterday, I think he said it was… the Church…”

The last two words he said very softly, seemed to be very fearful of the Church. Why was it the Church again?

The face under Ning Chu’s mask looked a little worse, and he asked, “What were they doing here?”

The young man cried, “I-I really don’t know, believe me…”

He didn’t dare to speculate about Ning Chu’s identity, afraid that he couldn’t explain.

The look on his face didn’t seem fake, and this person was weak, obviously not having much status in the team, so him not knowing more information was normal. Ning Chu finally let go of the wooden spikes and vines, ready to fulfill the promise just now, but first knocked the young man unconscious.

He wasn’t planning to kill this person, but for insurance purposes, he couldn’t let him go back now. By the time the team realized the man was missing and came looking for him, or he woke up on his own, Ning Chu would be long gone.

Placing the young man behind a tree, Ning Chu returned to Wuuth and the dragon cubs. He removed his mask and told them what he just heard from the young man.

The Church was simply relentless, but it also showed that not only the Lance Academy chapter, but also the Church everywhere was targeting the dragons. They were ruthless and cruel, and this time they took so many dragons and Ning Chu didn’t know what they were going to do with them.

Seeing that Wuuth’s face was getting sunken and on the verge of losing control of his anger, Ning Chu held his wrist, “Let’s get out of here.”

Ning Chu picked up the three hatchlings and Fifth Cub, and led Wuuth and the other dragons in the opposite direction of the group’s advance for a while, making sure the area was safe before stopping. He stroked the sleeping hatchlings in his arms and looked at Wuuth, “Do you want to stay? Let’s put the search for the Eldest Cub on hold.”

“Wu?” Fifth Cub was curious and asked Ning Chu what he was going to do to stay and save the captured dragons.

Ning Chu stroked her horn and replied, “Robbery.”