It Was Me Who Was First

The Poison Dragon, a dragon whose life had been intertwined with solitude since birth. Although her parents hadn't abandoned her due to her species, they raised her much like other dragons – with a hands-off approach. The dragon race did not place much importance on familial affection; most parents spent their days guarding their hoards of wealth.

Even father and son, who hadn't seen each other for hundreds of years, would merely ask "Have you eaten?" if they happened to meet on the continent. After receiving an answer, they would go their separate ways once more.

They might even fight over trivial matters. For instance, there was a long-standing anecdote in the dragon's lair about a day when a giant dragon father and son both set their sights on a noble's treasure vault. Upon meeting, they began to argue over its ownership, which naturally escalated into a fight. In the end, the son broke a front tooth of his father and emerged victorious, successfully claiming the noble's treasure vault. The poor noble, meanwhile, had already been scared witless by the two giants' brawl.

Since parents were unreliable, lively young dragons had no choice but to find companions to play with themselves, gradually forming small social circles, which would later become the social circles of adult dragons.

Naturally, there was no place for Philoxis in such circles. She couldn't control her toxins, and the dragons' excellent resistance to poison was like paper before her. During that period, amusing stories of dragon whelps being poisoned by Philoxis would frequently echo through the dragon's lair.

Therefore, besides her greatest hobby of bathing, Philoxis's only other activity was sleeping. She would often curl up in her cave and sleep for decades. The inevitable result was that she couldn't find a suitable bathhouse in the dragon's lair and ended up leaving to wreak havoc on humans.

Not long after leaving, Philoxis had made a name for herself under the title of the Poison Dragon, though it was merely an infamous reputation. Any high-level mage who spotted her would relentlessly pursue her. The Poison Dragon knew her actions were not exactly good, so she generally didn't take lives; when discovered, she would simply flee.

Until one day, she arrived at an unremarkable small mountain. A lake there immediately captivated her. The lake was exceptionally clean, shimmering like gold under the sunlight, making it impossible for the dragon to look away. Just as she was preparing to enter and enjoy herself, she was discovered by a human.

Philoxis clearly remembered searching for a long time before spotting that small human. It was already good if ordinary people didn't run away upon seeing her, yet this human actually forbade her from entering the lake. The Poison Dragon was amused at that moment and asked the human how he intended to stop her. The human, in turn, exchanged information with her until they agreed on a condition: he would bathe the Poison Dragon from then on.

The Poison Dragon's body was fragrant. This scent was naturally not something pleasant but rather the toxic gas emanating from the toxins within her body through her skin. The human fainted while negotiating the terms. Afterward, a mermaid leaped out of the lake and cast a detoxification spell on him.

What happened next was rather miraculous. This human, who possessed no magic power, managed to block the Poison Dragon's toxic gas with a strange mask and diligently dug a pool for bathing next to his house.

Humans are all bad people – this thought only existed in the minds of young dragons. Adult dragons naturally understood that there were good and bad individuals in every race, and the one before her was probably a good person. Whenever she recalled Ruby meticulously and earnestly cleaning her body, the Poison Dragon's heart would warm. Even after returning to the dragon's lair, she would often miss that weak human.

However, she also understood that the lifespan of dragons was vastly longer compared to humans. Even if she slept for a while, she might miss that human's funeral. Therefore, to remember this human, she continuously shortened the interval between baths, reducing it from once every six months to once every three months, and then to once a month.

"It's been so long since I slept in human form."

Philoxis opened her eyes and gazed at the unfamiliar ceiling, sighing. It was late yesterday after her bath, so she decided to stay overnight at Ruby's suggestion. In reality, she usually left immediately after bathing. The reason she made an exception this time was because of the Archmage girl beside Ruby.

"Why would a dignified Archmage live here?"

Philoxis, with a hint of doubt, skillfully opened the passage leading underground. Mayona certainly wouldn't grant her permission to stay underground, and there weren't any extra beds below. Although the young lady Poison Dragon didn't mind sharing a bed with Ruby.

"You're awake. This is your breakfast."

Ruby scooped the last piece of steak from the frying pan and piled it onto the other pieces on the plate. The plate already held quite a few steaks, and with this last one, it made exactly twenty.

"Thank you. I feel like I owe you more and more."

The portion that could easily kill an ordinary person was merely breakfast for Philoxis. However, while she was eating, the Archmage girl kept staring at her with a glass full of milk, making the Poison Dragon, who should have been enjoying her meal, nervous. The taste was significantly diminished.

"You lied to me!"

After Philoxis finished her breakfast with a poker face, Mayona immediately grabbed Ruby and questioned her.

"How did I lie to you?"

"You said her stomach has the same structure as a human's. I ask you, what human in the world can finish this much food in two minutes!"

Mayona was furious. She also wanted to eat so much meat, but she knew that eating this much would likely kill her, or at the very least, make her fat.

"I can't explain such unscientific things either. This is a magical world, after all."

Ruby could only shrug and spread her hands in response to Mayona's confusion. The knowledge in her mind couldn't provide an answer.

"Pfft, the way you two interact is truly amusing. I'm relieved."

Philoxis suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled. She had initially suspected Mayona might have some ulterior motive for staying by Ruby's side, but now she had completely dismissed that thought. Just watching the two of them interact filled her with a sense of warmth, let alone the two people themselves radiating that warmth.

"Relieved? Relieved about what? Why aren't you leaving yet?"

Mayona asked the Poison Dragon with annoyance. The Archmage girl constantly exuded hostility towards Philoxis, though she herself didn't know where this hostility came from.

"I'm leaving now, but before that, Poison Magic [Poisonous Gas Entanglement]!"

Philoxis had no intention of staying long. As she cast the spell, a visible purple poisonous gas emanated from her hand, coalescing in the air into a large purple hand that drifted up the stairs to the floor above.

"Let go of me, let go of me!"

A short while later, the hand formed by the poisonous gas returned, clutching a small boy. Mors struggled but to no avail.

"Mors? Speaking of which, you've been missing since yesterday."

Mayona finally remembered that something seemed to be missing. However, Mors's disappearance didn't make her feel uncomfortable at all.

"He knew I was coming, so he naturally had to hide. If you wanted to hide far away, I wouldn't have caught you. Why are you hiding nearby? Are you that foolish a dragon?"

"I want to stay by my wife's side to protect her. What if she gets hurt by you?"

"Is that so? Is she the human fiancée you mentioned? It would be quite wonderful if we dragons could marry an Archmage wife. I support you."

Philoxis knew a little about Mors's situation. After this young dragon returned from the continent once, something went wrong, and he spent all day talking about marrying a human. Before long, Douglas found out that the human was an Archmage. It made sense; there was only one Archmage in the human world, so who else could it be but Mayona? If she and Mors got together, the young lady Poison Dragon would be delighted.

"Really? You're the first dragon to support me!"

Mors exclaimed in surprise. When he announced his intention to marry an Archmage, not a single dragon approved of him. His own father had even locked him up to calm him down. Could a dragon even dare to think about an Archmage? It was a simple matter for an Archmage to kill a young dragon in minutes. Fortunately, Mors had cleverly slipped out.

"Let's end this joke. I'm taking this kid with me. Uncle Douglas has been looking for you for a long time. His exact words were, 'Beat that dragon whelp to a pulp and bring him back when you see him.'"

Seeing that Mayona was about to lose her temper and start a dragon massacre, Philoxis finally dropped her playful demeanor and, pinching her nose, imitated a certain middle-aged uncle's voice.

"No, I don't want to go back! The dragon's lair is too boring!"

"That's not something I can control."

"Hurry up and go, hurry up."

Mayona, on the other hand, happily encouraged both of them. These two were existences she disliked. This was where the Archmage girl's advantage showed; she was unattached and could stay here as long as she wished.

"Mors, this is for you."

Seeing Mors's expression, which looked like he was about to cry, Ruby took action. He pulled a semi-transparent sphere from his pocket, about the size of a steamed bun. A small silver ball was embedded in the center of the sphere.

"What is this?"

"It's a little toy I made. I was able to make it thanks to the copper ore that Mayona found. It glows when you throw it on the ground, like this."

As Ruby threw the bouncy ball onto the ground, the silver ball, sensing the vibration, began to glow as if commanded. Golden light was released outwards through the sphere, making it look as beautiful as a small sun.

Everyone on Earth knows that copper is one of the best conductors, and refining copper ore was not difficult with the Dragon race's help. Ruby used the information in his mind to create a toy called a bouncy ball. He incorporated a sphere inside that would glow when vibrated, catering to the Dragon race's fondness for shiny objects.

"..."

As expected, both dragons were so dazzled by the glowing sphere that they couldn't look away, forgetting to speak for a moment.

"According to my deductions, the Dragon race's fondness for gold coins isn't due to greed. After all, human currency is useless to you. They probably hoard them because they like the luster they emit. If it's just about glowing, this can do that too. However, I am quite surprised that you like ceramics. Mors always hides my plates after he finishes eating."

"The ceramics you're talking about are white stones, right? We do indeed like those beautiful and smooth utensils. We can even see our reflections in them."

Philoxis wanted to ask Ruby for one too, but she didn't know the value of such an item. If it were precious, she would feel too embarrassed. She absentmindedly replied to Ruby's words.

"Is this a gift of love from my wife? I will cherish it."

Mors happily accepted the toy Ruby had made. He automatically tuned out Ruby's other words, only hearing that Mayona had provided the materials.

"No, I mean, I made this entirely myself..."

"What are you saying? You say you don't want it, but your body is honest. Is this tsundere? Hehehe..."

Mors continued to speak without regard for the consequences. The Poison Dragon felt the surge of magic power around Mayona and his face changed drastically. He immediately ran up from underground, and without even time to say goodbye to Ruby, he fled with Mors, narrowly escaping a massacre. After the two troublesome dragons left, the small wooden house returned to its quiet state with only two people.

PS, please collect and recommend

PS, I could use this title to write a hundred books! It's a real all-purpose title.

PS, a toy I used to play with often as a child, now also obsolete.

PS, thanks to Mo Yu Xiao Mo for the 2000 reward, Cang Zhi Liu Xing Yu, Yue Jian Wu Hua, Jia Mian Wu Tian for the 500 reward, Dai Meng Niao for the 400 reward, and Yue Mian Shang De Da Yan Zhu, Fu Zhu Ni O, Zhe Ge Shi Jie Tai Luan Le for the 100 reward.