Reel Her In

Of course not.

While Forest Fairy Luna muttered to herself, Caesar narrowed his eyes and studied her carefully. He keenly caught hold of the little thing's thoughts: pure, childish, ignorant... Simply put, she was a sweet fool.

There was nothing wrong with that. In fact, it made her easier to control.

Of course Caesar could not simply let Luna leave. Setting aside the fact that she knew some of his hidden secrets, the Forest Fairy's ability to sense magic alone made Caesar drool with desire.

Caesar was not a noble dragon. Having come from another world, he had inherited more or less some of a black dragon's ugly nature...

Fine, those were all excuses. Stripped bare of pretense, he was simply a selfish person. He coveted the Forest Fairy's ability and wanted to keep Luna locked at his side.

That was all there was to it. Caesar felt nothing shameful about it.

"No. You peeped into a true dragon's private affairs, and I even saved you. We black dragons believe every debt must be repaid. You have to give me something in return."

"Saved me?"

"At the time, I thought you were dead. I held myself back from eating you. Doesn't that count as saving your life?" The black dragon made no effort to hide his greedy face.

"..."

Luna was relatively innocent and had almost no experience interacting with other races. The little thing had clearly never dealt with this sort of situation before. Her little face scrunched into a ball, and for a moment, she did not know how to respond.

But innocence did not mean low intelligence. After calming down, she quickly realized that Caesar's words did not hold up to scrutiny. His claim of "saving her life" contained a serious logical flaw and could not justify itself.

"No, what you said is wrong. If you had not attacked me, Luna would never have fallen into a state of suspended death, and what happened afterward would never have occurred."

The Forest Fairy pointed out the flaw in Caesar's words, her little face turning serious. "Regarding the matter of peering into your privacy, I admit my mistake and sincerely apologize to you, praying for the great dragon race's forgiveness."

As she spoke, she performed a bow in midair. "If you require it, Luna can swear an oath and ask the gods to make me forget that memory."

"Not forgiven!"

Caesar waved a claw, cutting off the Forest Fairy. He realized he had taken the wrong approach from the start. How could he put the other party on the same level as himself for negotiations? That was tantamount to handing over half the initiative.

He should use the method evil dragons were best at.

With that thought, Caesar grabbed Luna and clenched her in his claw. Ignoring the Forest Fairy's pained expression, he blew white vapor from his nostrils straight into her face. "Listen! Little thing, I'm not negotiating with you! You're in my hands now. You must agree to my terms, otherwise... Heh heh."

He had used a similar threat once before when negotiating with the orcs. Repeating the old trick now, he handled it with practiced ease.

But this time was different from the last. Caesar truly intended to kill this Forest Fairy. If she would rather die than submit, refusing to remain by his side and provide help, then he would not let Luna leave either. There was only this one road left.

An evil dragon did not need to make any expression when threatening someone, because it was ugly enough by nature. Besides, Caesar looked even fiercer than an ordinary black dragon. Luna trembled uncontrollably in fright.

She recalled the rumors about chromatic dragons. They were said to all have strange temperaments: amiable one second, ready to swallow you whole alive the next.

That savage face and the bloodstink rushing at her could not be faked. For the first time, Luna felt the shadow of death hanging over her with such vivid clarity.

The evil dragons of legend... were probably like this.

"Y-you-you... You can't force a Forest Fairy like this."

Fortunately, the tales passed down by her ancestors of brave fairies fighting evil dragons gave Luna back a little confidence. She clasped her hands together, struggled free of her fear, and put on a warning expression. "Luna... is very strong."

"You're very strong?"

Caesar was amused and could not help laughing. "As it happens, I'm the weakest among dragons."

"...You misunderstand. I didn't mean that."

Luna hurriedly waved her hands. They could not even defeat ferocious beasts; how could they possibly be a match for an evil dragon? This story was simply a fantasy. Its author had probably never even seen a dragon.

Since the hard approach would not work, she would try soft persistence.

Luna thought for a moment, then tried hard to widen her eyes. Her eyes brimmed with watery light as she forced out a pitiful, tearful expression and pleaded tenderly, "Lord Dragon, could you spare Luna this once? Luna will definitely find a way to repay you in the future..."

How pitiful!

If you did not push yourself, you would never know how outstanding you could be. Luna had never imagined she could act so lifelike and convincing. Ah, I really am a little genius!

It was said that this move worked quite well on humans and could also produce good results on other intelligent races.

"Please wipe away your eye gunk."

The Forest Fairy cried. This time, she was truly crying. Damn it, this black dragon was immune to both soft and hard tactics; she had no way to deal with him at all. Luna knew that this time, her damned curiosity had utterly done her in.

In the end, the little thing had no choice but to submit beneath the evil dragon's claws and sign an agreement bound by divine power.

The treaty's terms were very simple. Caesar guaranteed that he would not coerce Luna into actions that endangered her life, while she had to remain at Caesar's side and provide him with necessary assistance.

The treaty looked quite humane. Aside from restricting Luna's personal freedom, it contained no other clauses squeezing or exploiting her.

To be honest, when Luna first saw the oath, she found it a little hard to believe. This black dragon had made such a fuss, yet in the end, all he wanted was for her to do this little bit.

But then again, Forest Fairies were pitifully weak. What use could they possibly be to dragons? Other than their magical sensing ability, this race had nothing else worth mentioning.

Being pretty did not count.

And the treaty also stated very clearly: once the black dragon obtained the sensing ability, Luna would regain her freedom.

That made her secretly a little delighted. Luna knew that dragons generally acquired all sorts of magical abilities rapidly once they reached adolescence. Basic abilities such as sensing awakened particularly quickly, at the latest by the young adult stage.

And judging by the size of the black dragon before her, it was at least an adolescent dragon. In thirty years at most, this black dragon would obtain the sensing ability.

As a long-lived species like dragons, Luna was only eleven years old. She could afford to wait thirty years.

"Looks like black dragons aren't as vicious and greedy as the legends say."

Luna thought innocently. She spent an entire day signing her name without hesitation; her full name alone filled two entire sheets of parchment.

Unfortunately, she did not know that Caesar was not a true dragon in the strict sense. Waiting for this black dragon to awaken magical abilities on his own would probably be hopeless in this lifetime...

After the agreement was signed, Caesar tossed Luna aside and ignored her. He only forbade her from leaving his lair, lest this foolish little thing run outside and stir up trouble.

First, use a mix of threats and coaxing to hoodwink and reel her in. After that, everything would be easy.