Miss Black Dragon Doesn't Want to Be a Mount

Likaro could not forget her companions' smiles, nor could she forget what they looked like when they died.

She hated her own helplessness.

Likaro had once held fast to her dreams, traveling everywhere with the knights to rescue the weak and help those in need.

But she had never expected the knights' downfall to have been caused by kindness itself.

She could not understand it. She had treated those people so well, saving them from oppression and suffering, so why had they been so greedy? Why had they been willing to betray their word for profit?

Her father had been right. She had been far too naive.

After leaving her father, she had not even been able to protect her companions in a foreign land.

She herself had been wanted by this country, forced to hide everywhere in disgrace.

She somewhat wanted to go home.

Yet she was so unwilling to give up.

The warhorse that had always followed her grazed leisurely nearby. As an animal, it could not understand what its master had gone through.

Likaro's dreams had suffered a tremendous blow. She drew the longsword at her waist and stared at her face reflected in the blade.

Just what kind of people had she been protecting all this time?

Were those people truly worth saving?

Why did she have to change any of this? Wouldn't it be better to let everything take its course?

She hurled her longsword away with all her strength, and the sharp blade plunged directly into the earth.

As a child, she had dreamed of becoming a knight and helping the weak. But now, she no longer wanted to do that.

She had not yet decided what to do in the future, but she knew what she needed to do now: take revenge.

She did not want to return home and seek her father's help. She wanted to rely on herself and kill those people with her own hands.

Likaro had never killed anyone before. Even after defeating her enemies, kind-hearted as she was, she had always spared their lives.

But who had spared her companions' lives?

Looking back now, what she had done then had been completely wrong.

Others would not show you kindness.

Likaro sheathed the sword on the ground, then put her helmet back on and sealed her body completely within her armor.

Likaro had been treated gently all her life, but this world was cruel. She should no longer think of herself as a child.

She would find a way to rebuild her knights, because she could not accomplish her revenge alone.

After going through all this, her dreams had taken a heavy blow.

From now on, it would be difficult for her to hold goodwill toward strangers.

Image: "I heard posting this kind of picture gets votes," Location: "Images/1595883739-100182536-105718712.jpg"

Calamity Descends: The Big-Tailed Wolf

After flying for many days, Ailolin saw the endless mountain range before her. Once she crossed it, she would enter the territory of the Silver Eagle Empire.

After being away for so many years, she had finally returned to a familiar place.

Ailolin first flew back to the Southern Wilderness and arrived at the door of Vidian's house.

Just as Vidian had said before, she had asked friends to take time to maintain the house after she left, so it did not look abandoned.

After using Transformation Magic to take human form, Ailolin went to push open the door, only to find it locked.

After circling around the house, she discovered that the window by the second-floor balcony was open, so she jumped in from there.

There were signs that the house had been cleaned recently. Ailolin made her way into the second-floor hallway.

This counted as Vidian's home, right? It looked very cozy. She wondered whether it had been deliberately arranged that way.

Ailolin went down to the first-floor hall. Looking up, she could see the chandelier on the ceiling still glowing, making the room brightly lit.

Vidian had probably spent these years traveling the world just like her. The only difference was that Ailolin had been searching for her parents, while Vidian had been searching for friends.

Honestly, Ailolin herself felt a little embarrassed that she had not returned or contacted Likaro and the others even once in eight years.

Unfortunately, the places she traveled to had kept getting farther and farther away from here. She had always thought she would definitely come back when it was convenient next time, and before she knew it, eight years had passed.

Eight years really was not much to a long-lived species, but it was different for humans.

Thus, after briefly staying at Vidian's house, Ailolin prepared to head for Aidefalong.

Ailolin decided to first look for Xiya in the forest. If possible, she would ask her to notify Likaro that she had returned.

When leaving the Southern Wilderness, Ailolin noticed that the number of magical beasts there had noticeably decreased. The Silver Eagle Empire was probably constantly subjugating monsters to keep their population down.

The magical beast detection devices of the Southern Wilderness no longer had any effect on Ailolin.

She was no longer what she used to be. She could now use Dragon Language Magic to conceal her aura for a short time, so she did not need to worry about being discovered.

After easily crossing the border, Ailolin recalled the flight route from back then and reached Edafalon Forest in one afternoon.

"Xiya, Xiya?"

In human form, Ailolin called out for Xiya everywhere, but received no response.

By pure chance, she found a hidden cabin in the woods. It looked like the place where Xiya lived, yet there was no one inside.

What should she do? Did she have no choice but to enter Edafalon City and go directly to Likaro's ducal residence?

Just as Ailolin was about to leave, she suddenly sensed the aura of a magical beast in the grass several dozen meters away.

Though it was clearly far weaker than her, it was still much stronger than most magical beasts.

Weren't there supposed to be no powerful magical beasts in Edafalon Forest?

Naturally, Ailolin was not afraid in the slightest. She could judge strength through aura alone, and that unknown magical beast was no match for her.

After concealing her own aura, Ailolin slowly approached the grass. At that moment, a large white tail faintly emerged from the brush.

The tail looked incredibly fluffy. Its soft fur made Ailolin want to pet it.

And in truth, she could not resist doing exactly that.

"Awwooo!"

The large white tail immediately puffed up, then vanished into the grass. Feeling the aura get farther and farther away, Ailolin realized that the magical beast was running away.

After all, it had sensed Ailolin's aura. It would be strange if it did not run.

Ailolin found it very interesting. That tail resembled a wolf's tail, which reminded her of a certain fruit-eating wolf.

So Ailolin used wind elements to accelerate herself and easily caught up.

Only then did she realize that what was fleeing was not a magical beast at all, but a girl with a wolf tail!

At the same time, the girl's fluffy wolf ears twitched with every step as she ran, seemingly listening for sounds behind her.

The feeling she gave Ailolin was simply—white. Even her hair was white.

Realizing that she could not escape, the little white-furred wolf girl stopped.

"If you want to fight, then come on... Huh? A human!?"

Now it was Sulana's turn to be surprised. She had not expected the one chasing her to be a human rather than a magical beast.

"Don't run. I won't hurt you."

Seeing that she could communicate with the wolf girl, Ailolin tried to calm her frightened emotions.

Once Sulana recovered from her shock, she no longer panicked and began observing Ailolin before her.

Why did the aura around this person feel so familiar...

This familiar feeling could not be wrong.

How could she forget that person's scent?

To confirm it, Sulana approached Ailolin. Under Ailolin's puzzled gaze, she buried her face in Ailolin's neck.

Sniff, sniff~

"It really is you! You're Ailolin, right?!"

"Hm? You know me?"

Hearing the wolf girl call out her name, Ailolin voiced her earlier guess. "Could you be... Guoguo?"

Guoguo was a wolf, and the girl before her was the anthropomorphic version of a wolf—or rather, a monster girl.

"Ah, my name is actually Sulana." After confirming that it was Ailolin, Sulana pressed close, hugged her, and rubbed her face against Ailolin's. "But we're good partners, so it's fine if you call me Guoguo too, Little Black Dragon~"

This was the first time Ailolin had properly communicated with Guoguo. She had not expected Guoguo's opinion of her to remain so good even after eight years.

Partners... That was right. They really were partners.

Since Ailolin, a dragon, could transform into a human, it was not strange that Guoguo, who was no ordinary wolf, could also become human.

"Why didn't you come back all these years?"

Sulana sounded somewhat resentful. Ailolin had truly been too much; she had always thought Ailolin had forgotten about her and Likaro.

"Uh... I was too busy, and the route of my journey kept taking me farther and farther away from here..."

"Hmph. Excuses."

Sulana released Ailolin, her large tail swaying behind her. "You came back too late. Likaro left here when she was sixteen."

"What? Where did she go?"

"She went out to have fun, just like you did."

Sulana was a little envious. She actually wanted to leave the forest and go elsewhere too.

"Have fun?"

"Fine, seriously, she went to train in other countries for her dream of becoming a knight."

"..."

Ailolin fell silent. She had not expected the grown-up Likaro to still be pursuing that childhood dream.

"Likaro was very sad when she left, because she really wanted to see you again, but you never came back."

"..."

"So why didn't you come back for so long?!"

Sulana was a little angry. She pinched Ailolin's cheeks and pulled them to both sides.

It did not hurt Ailolin, but she realized that she truly had done something wrong.

She had always thought that she, Likaro, and Guoguo were childhood playmates—good friends who had only spent a few months together.

But she had not expected them to care about her so much. Looking back at her previous thoughts, she felt deeply ashamed.

"Sorry. I was wrong."

Ailolin placed a hand atop Sulana's head and gently stroked her, moving from her fluffy wolf ears down to her head.

"Awwooo~"

Sulana narrowed her eyes, her large tail swaying behind her. It was obvious that she was enjoying it.

Hopefully, this could soothe her a little.

PS:

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