CH 47

There were dragons in Lough Valley, but the young ones were usually too well protected for the elves to see, which was why they were so curious.

Ning Chu noticed that Second Cub had left the group and called out to it, “Er Er?”

Second Cub flew back, Ning Chu stroked his neck hair and lowered his voice, “Behave, don’t scare them.”

The Lough Valley was like a paradise, except there was no farmland, except for the gravel paths and the short houses built everywhere with no pattern, full of trees and flowers.

Winka said to Ning Chu as he walked, “The magical beasts in the valley live in the forest over there, so they don’t interfere with us, and we’re planning to house the dragons there.”

Ning Chu nodded, “Ok, thank you.”

This was the best, dragons didn’t like to be too close to other magical beasts or races, he was wondering if Lough Valley was big enough, now it seemed there was no need to worry.

“You’re welcome.” Winka looked at the three juvenile forms of magic dragons around him, as well as the meek herd of dragons that had been following behind, “They listen to you very well.”

He had heard Ximan say that the dragons had been captured and locked up in cages, and assumed that when Ning Chu brought them here, they were also in a locked up state, but he had never expected this. The dragons were not only well-behaved like domestic pets, but also followed behind them neatly.

Winka sighed to himself, but he had never heard of anyone who could move dragons. Like Ximan, he wondered who Ning Chu was.

Ning Chu thought vaguely, “Not only is he nice, he’s also quite smart.”

The common dragons were far less intelligent than a few rare dragons, but simple commands were fine.

Wuuth was still holding Ning Chu’s hand and the two just walked along, Ning Chu tried to struggle again and said, “Why do you keep holding on to me…”

It was strange to ask him and he didn’t say anything. Wuuth still didn’t answer, not looking ahead at the road, nor letting go. He just didn’t like the fact that Ximan was always looking at Ning Chu, and there were so many elves here, in case any of them recognized Ning Chu as one of their own, and he wanted to show them that Ning Chu was his.

Ning Chu’s coat was originally tainted with his scent, but after being blown on the road for so long, it had faded to almost negligible. There were outsiders nearby, so Ning Chu couldn’t do anything about Wuuth, even after adjusting the game data. Ning Chu had no choice but to let him go.

Before sending the dragons into the mountain, Winka took Ning Chu to the center of Lough Valley. There was a huge tree, standing under the tree and looking upward, one could hardly see the top, the trunk of the tree needed at least five or six adults to hold it, and there were many small green fruits hanging between the branches of the tree.

Winka bowed to the tree and said, “This is the tree of life of our people, it is the tree that protects this land.” He stepped forward and stroked the trunk, green magical energy flowing upward from his palm, and after a moment Winka withdrew his hand, turned and smiled, “It loves you.”

Ning Chu pulled Wuuth up and followed Winka’s lead, saluting the tree, with a few dragon cubs stopping behind. When he looked up, a branch above the tree moved. The branch slowly descended and stopped in front of Ning Chu’s eyes, with a bright green fruit hanging from the top.

Ning Chu reached out his hand, and the fruit automatically fell into his palm.

The Tree of Life’s magical aura was strong, nourishing the surrounding land and spirits. Fifth Cub quietly looked into the tree again, curiously looking at the giant tree in front of her. The branch from earlier returned to its original position and dropped another one, this time stopping in front of Fifth Cub, also carrying a green fruit.

Fifth Cub was still a bit scared and shrank back a bit, looking up at Ning Chu.

Ning Chu stroked her head, “Don’t be afraid, it likes you.”

Only then did Fifth Cub lower her guard and came closer to sniff the leaves and fruits on the top of the branch. Her eyes went from confused to glowing, and she opened her mouth and swallowed the fruit, burping.

The Tree of Life only gave the fruit to Ning Chu and Fifth Cub, and then returned to its original state. Ning Chu thought to himself, probably because he and Fifth Cub both had wood magic? But his magic came from Fifth Cub, so this fruit was a result of Fifth Cub’s light.

After Fifth Cub ate the fruit, she curled up in his pocket and went to sleep. Ning Chu put the fruit away for now and went to the back of the mountain with Winka. Many magical beasts in the mountains and forests had fled early in the morning when they caught the scent of the dragons, and the dragons were sent inside.

One by one, the dragons stopped at a nearby meadow. Their wounds still needed to be treated, and Winka intended to ask some elves to stay and help.

Ning Chu declined, “Wuuth and I will be fine, they might get nervous with outsiders around.”

He bought some primary pills from the mall and fed one to each dragon.

Winka didn’t push, telling Ning Chu that he would arrange for someone to wait for him at the bottom of the mountain and take the clan away. Once the outsiders were gone, the young dragons were much more at ease, flying around the area to observe.

Second Cub was quite satisfied with the environment and gave an “aowu”. Third Cub and Fourth Cub had not been able to participate in this operation, and were very angry at seeing the wounds on the dragons, and wanted to fly back and flog those people from the Church.

And what did they want to do when they took so many dragons?

Ning Chu also wanted to know this question, he deliberately left a live one at first, wanting to ask some useful information from it, but unfortunately the man listened to his questions, stammering speech, as if they were put under some kind of ban. This time, he succeeded in saving the dragons, but Ning Chu was still very worried.

Ning Chu gave medicine to all the injured dragons and left a lot of meat nearby, so that they would go to the forest to find shelter on their own after they had eaten something to recover a little. When he was done, he stood up and ordered the dragon cubs, “Let’s go.”

Winka had prepared food for Ning Chu and Wuuth at the bottom of the mountain, a pastry and muyi tea unique to the elves. The dragon cubs also had a share, and theirs was the meat of magical beasts, raw and cooked, so they could eat whatever they wanted.

When he found out that there was a dragon who didn’t eat meat, Winka hurriedly asked someone to prepare some grass leaves.

“No, no,” Ning Chu called him back, “Little Five is sleeping. She just ate the fruit of the Tree of Life, she should not be hungry.”

Fifth Cub fell asleep after eating the fruit, and Ning Chu didn’t wake her up because she was breathing calmly and sleeping soundly.

Winka didn’t insist and asked, “How are the people who captured the dragon swarm? Why don’t you stay here for a few more days to make sure it’s safe?”

With the Tree of Life in place, no race would dare to trespass on the elves’ territory without permission.

Ning Chu simply said, “No one should find us here.”

The Church was dead and they hadn’t found anything unusual along the way, but Ning Chu did have the intention to stay. He was in a hurry to make money and didn’t want to let go of any opportunity. He had just seen a large forest of fruit and tea fields on the side of the back mountain, and there were not many of one branch of the elves, so the dragon herd might really have some use.

Ning Chu planned to get acquainted with Winka first, or at least wait until tomorrow to inquire about the situation. Winka still suggested Ning Chu to stay, and he sent his clan members to clean out an empty house near the Tree of Life, which was enough for Ning Chu, Wuuth and a few dragon cubs.

Ning Chu said gratefully, “Thank you, it’s too much trouble.”

He could also see that Winka was very interested in them, not sure if it was because of his natural enthusiasm or because he wanted to get close to him. Ning Chu would prefer the latter, as it would be easier to negotiate the price if he did leave the dragons here to earn money.

Lough Valley was a good environment and the climate was better than outside, the sun did not shine at all at noon, but was accompanied by a gentle breeze. The tables and chairs for food and tea were out in the open, and Ning Chu and Winka chatted for a long time about inconsequential topics.

Ximan was there, too, his attention focused on the baby dragons.

Winka was so thoughtful that he even prepared chairs for the cubs, partially padded with hay, with one dragon occupying one chair.

Ximan regretted the absence of the green dragon cub, and held up a piece of dried meat in his hand, “Hey, do you want to eat?”

The three little dragon cubs each plopped down on a chair and looked at him in unison.

Second Cub looked at him with disdain and disgust, and Third Cub turned his head back with little interest. Only Fourth Cub flew up to Ximan, but he didn’t eat either, just sniffed close and turned his head away, his tail tucked behind him, the purple gem shining in the sun.

Wuuth sat beside Ning Chu, the pastry and tea in front of him half untouched, listening to Ning Chu and Winka talk more and more, his heart gradually impatient.

Ximan wasn’t that annoying anymore, but now Winka came out.

Wuuth suddenly spoke out, “Ning Ning.”

Ning Chu was caught off guard and almost choked on his tea, “Ahem… what, what’s wrong?”

Wuuth sat against the light, half lowered his eyes, his face looked inexplicably a little lost, as he looked at Ning Chu, “I’m also hungry.”

Winka treated him like a human, and he didn’t want to eat any of the food that was brought to him.

Ning Chu fumbled to open the game, intending to buy Wuuth something to eat, “Then I…”

Winka looked between the two and got up sagely, “Look at my memory, I forgot that the clan still has some business to take care of, so I’ll leave you alone for now.” He called for Ximan, who was attempting to tease the dragon, and told him to take Ning Chu and Wuuth to their quarters, “If you need anything, just ask.”

Ning Chu thanked Winka and Ximan followed him out. Winka prepared a large house for them, with two beds in the corner and a few temporary nests made of branches and hay. After Ximan left, only Ning Chu and Wuuth were left in the room, along with three dragon cubs.

Not long after, an elf came knocking on the door and brought a steaming plate of roasted magical beast meat. This made Wuuth feel slightly better about Winka so he accepted it.

Ning Chu gently carried Fifth Cub out of his coat and placed her on the bed, and came to sit at the table, “Wuuth.”

Wuuth looked up, “Hmm.”

“You…” Ning Chu hesitated, “Don’t call me that in the future.”

Wuuth frowned, “What?”

“Ning Ning, what you just called me, and the last time…” Speaking of the last time, Ning Chu looked unnatural, “This name isn’t quite appropriate.”

Wuuth had only eaten half of the meat of the beast on his plate, he put down his chopsticks with little expression on his face, “Where is it inappropriate? The name you gave me is Cubbie.”

In his opinion, these two names were similar, as the same first word was repeated pronunciation, how come Ning Chu could call him but for him to use it, it was inappropriate?

“Cubbie…” Ning Chu inexplicably a little nervous, eyes drifting, “This… this name is actually a little less appropriate…”

Wuuth’s face gradually turned sullen, “Why?”

Although Ning Chu had not called him that for a long time, he actually did like the name.

Ning Chu sighed and explained to him, “Because… since you have a human form, you’re not the same as before, you can’t be like when you were a child…”

Wuuth’s face was even worse, last time Ning Chu said that he had a human form, just one more identity, how come he suddenly had a different attitude. Since Ning Chu disliked his human form, he wouldn’t show it but as long as he was a dragon, Ning Chu wouldn’t change if he returned to his previous appearance.

Wuuth didn’t wait for Ning Chu to finish and turned back into a small black dragon. The little black dragon quickly flew over and jumped into Ning Chu’s arms.

But Ning Chu still resisted him and grabbed him up in panic, “What are you doing…”

The little black dragon was very unhappy, forcibly broke away from Ning Chu’s hand, and came close to lick his face. He couldn’t speak now and was too anxious to tell Ning Chu that he could do what he did before, when his fangs accidentally broke Ning Chu’s skin.

Ning Chu “hissed”, and the little black dragon immediately quieted down.

He didn’t know what to do, as Ning Chu covered his face, “Change back.”

The next moment, Wuuth appeared in front of him and gently pulled Ning Chu’s hand away.

A little red blood seeped from the wound, and Wuuth touched it with his fingertips, “I’m sorry.”