Miss Black Dragon Refuses to Be a Mount

There was money inside! And most of it was gold coins!

"Wait... no!"

Ailolin suddenly realized that what she had just done counted as theft!

There was no one in the castle, but that did not mean the horse had no owner!

Its owner might have only left temporarily.

What exactly had she just done...?

She had thought the abandoned castle was a ruin, so she had wanted to find something valuable. In the end, she had only found a horse and simply assumed it was her spoils of war.

In her excitement, she had not considered who the horse belonged to at all.

Ailolin felt deeply ashamed. She had not meant to become a thief; her mind had just gone blank, and she had not thought of it.

So she hurriedly rode the horse back, intending to return it.

However, she could not find the direction of the castle at all.

What was she supposed to do...?

Finding one's way in the wilderness was extremely difficult. Ailolin did not dare transform back into her true form and search for the castle by flying, because without her pressure, the horse might very well run away.

Thus, she could only ride around searching for the original castle. Yet after searching for a long time without finding it, even the horse beneath her, no matter how good its stamina was, became utterly exhausted.

By sheer accident, Ailolin found a human city instead. Looking at the outline of the city in the distance, she hesitated over whether to enter first and ask around for news of Likaro.

Right, she could leave the horse at a stable in the city first, then hurry back to search for the castle.

She only hoped that when the horse's owner discovered it was gone, they would still wait there...

Ailolin felt incomparably guilty, because this was the first mistake she had made since being reborn.

Likaro, dressed in a mage's robe, entered the city easily. Though she had concealed her face, the guards showed her respect upon seeing the Mage Association insignia and did not dare inspect her face.

At the same time, Likaro used magic to alter her voice and make it sound more mature, lest anyone who had encountered her recognize her.

Though she had a wanted notice on her head, that meant little to Likaro. What truly affected her was—she had run out of money.

It was all that damned horse thief's fault. Her coins had all been stored in the saddlebag behind the horse.

Now that she did not have a single coin on her, even getting food was a problem.

Likaro could only endure the hunger in her stomach and make her way to the Adventurers' Guild in the city.

She only wanted to accept the quickest commission possible, enough to earn the money for one meal.

After all, only once she was full would she have the strength to complete more difficult commissions.

With no money at all, Likaro could only start over and slowly build up her wealth again. As for her revenge plan, it could only be delayed.

But the hatred in her heart would not fade. So long as those people still lived, she would never give up.

Just as Likaro stepped out of the Adventurers' Guild, a man suddenly appeared before her and knelt down.

"Honorable mage, please save our village!"

The man wore ragged clothes, and his expression was utterly miserable.

"What happened?"

Hearing a woman's voice, the man froze for a moment, but quickly began explaining. "Monsters attacked our village, but the lord refuses to send troops to save us. We do not have enough money to post a commission either, but for a mage like you, those monsters..."

"Find someone else."

"Please! When it is over, you can take anything in the village!"

"...I don't have time."

Likaro clenched her fists. In the past, she would absolutely have agreed without hesitation, but now she truly did not want to do this sort of thing.

The man continued pleading desperately. The crowd gathering around them began pointing at Likaro and whispering. With their numbers, they seemingly no longer feared this esteemed mage.

Mages were indeed noble, but in the eyes of commoners, mages were often on the same side as the nobles they despised.

After all, many lords had several people wearing mage robes like this by their side.

Many sharp and spiteful words reached Likaro's ears—things like how she had no compassion, only loved money, and had no sense of justice.

Likaro gritted her teeth and left without looking back.

Those words hurt her deeply.

After quickly completing a commission, Likaro collected her reward, found a restaurant, and rented a private room before starting to fill her empty stomach.

Usually, restaurant rooms were suited for gatherings of many people. As Likaro ate, she stared blankly at the large table and all the empty chairs around it.

Back when she and her companions gathered for meals, it had always been so lively. Now, only she remained.

Remembering the accusations she had suffered outside the Adventurers' Guild earlier, the grievance in her heart grew stronger and stronger until she finally began to cry.

No one would enter a private room, so she could cry her heart out inside.

If she had not gone out adventuring, she would still be the young lady of a duke's family, enjoying the respect of countless people.

She increasingly felt that her dream of becoming a knight had no meaning at all, and her resolve began to waver again.

But she truly could not give up. Before avenging her companions, she would never return home.

Still, it should be fine to write a letter to her father and mother, to tell them of all the grievances she had suffered...

She just did not have any paper or a pen now. She could only write after finishing her meal.

Perhaps because of her mood, Likaro's appetite became enormous, and she wiped out every bit of food on the table.

There was a window in the room. After thinking for a moment, Likaro decided to open it.

As fresh air blew in with the wind, the clamor from the street outside also reached Likaro's ears.

She stood by the window and looked down at the street, only to suddenly see the raggedly dressed man from before running by. He looked delighted, and several people who appeared to be adventurers were following behind him.

It seemed someone had still been willing to lend him a hand.

Looking at those adventurers, Likaro vaguely saw shadows of her former self. They looked just like she had when she first arrived in this kingdom.

But that was too naive...

Likaro did not want to waste time on such matters now. These trifles could not obstruct her path of revenge.

She possessed great leadership ability. Like her two elder brothers, she was suited to commanding armies. Now, she had decided to rebuild the knight order, bide her time, and launch her revenge against her enemies.

The Lumbart Kingdom permitted military organizations such as knight orders, but their numbers were restricted to no more than two hundred people.

But to Likaro, two hundred elite knights would be enough.

PS: Poor Likaro will get to snuggle with Little Black Dragon soon. So many people said this is painful—i-is it...? (blank stare) I didn't mean to deliberately make everyone suffer, believe me, QAQ.

Also, thank you all for your votes and tips~

Calamity Descends — Release Notice + Bounty Event (Please Support the First Subscription)

This book had reached the point where it had to be pushed into release.

I'm very happy to have come this far. Thank you all for your company.

I will work hard to write this story well.

According to Shuke tradition, there should be extra chapters after release.

So for the coming week, there will be a guaranteed three updates every day.

At the same time, I'm opening a bounty event, also lasting one week.

This is my first time doing one, so I don't know the exact numbers. Following the advice of the big shots...

One extra chapter for every 10,000 in tips / 1,000 recommendation votes / 100 monthly votes / 100 blades.

As for blades, since I did not meet the full-attendance requirement, they are actually a huge loss for me.

So if you want to send blades, you can start sending them after August 1st.

The numbers before the bounty event are—

Recommendation votes: 8612

Monthly votes: 335

Blades: 164

Tips: 25040

The cap will be 50 chapters. Honestly, I feel the bounty event probably will not even exceed 10 chapters.

Lastly, please support the first subscription, OVO!

PS: Three chapters will be updated at 12 today.

Calamity Descends — 009: Encounter at the Tavern

When Ailolin saw the outline of the distant city, she reined in the horse.

She hesitated over whether she should enter the city directly.

She was currently wearing a cloak that could conceal her identity, but if the guards ordered her to remove it when entering the city, her Dragonkind traits would be exposed.

Ailolin moved a little closer to the city gate and noticed that many people passing through had their faces covered. None of them were questioned by the guards.

In that case, there should not be any problem, right?

She got down from the horse and led it toward the city, only for the guards to suddenly ring an iron alarm bell.

What was going on!?

The guards at the gate began rushing toward her, while arrows were fired at her from the city walls.

"Pursue the fugitive! Reward: 500 gold coins!"

The soldiers howled as they charged at Ailolin. She froze for a moment. Though she could easily kill the soldiers, this was not the time to cause trouble.

So she mounted the horse again and fled in the opposite direction. The soldiers at the city gate were infantry and could not catch up to a horse.

By the time the mounted soldiers emerged from the city, Ailolin had already escaped.

After reaching an uninhabited stretch of countryside, Ailolin paused to catch her breath and began to realize what had happened.

So the horse's owner was a fugitive! They had mistaken her for the fugitive because she was riding it!

This was truly unfair to her.

She really wanted to complain. Were those soldiers biologists or something?

Most horses looked the same to Ailolin. How had they even recognized this horse?

Then, to Ailolin's despair, she discovered that several arrows had struck the horse, and the wounds were fatal.

For it to carry her so far under those circumstances, it really was...

Ailolin wanted to cast healing magic on the horse's wounds, but the pitifully small amount of life element within her could not save it.

She could only watch helplessly as the horse died...

In the end, Ailolin dug a pit and buried the dead horse.

After hesitating for a moment, she took all the coins from the saddlebag behind the horse and put them into her own backpack.

Ailolin felt that what she had done today could completely be called "evil," because she had taken someone else's wealth.

She felt terribly guilty. She did not even know who the horse's owner was, so she could not find them even if she wanted to compensate them...

Afterward, Ailolin transformed back into her true form and searched, finally finding the original castle. Yet it was still completely empty.

Helpless, she could only give up on finding the horse's owner.

It was already late. Ailolin decided to head to the city she had discovered earlier. This time, she remembered the way.

She avoided the patrol routes of the guards atop the walls and climbed directly into the city.

The city was not as lively at night as it was during the day, but some places were still brightly lit.

Ailolin came to a tavern. The main hall was bustling with activity, while the second floor contained rooms for resting.