The one running at the very front, upon seeing Leon, ran over like he'd seen a life-saving straw.
"Prince! Prince! There's a dangerous species!"
Seeing them so panicked, Leon furrowed his brow.
He knew the dragons' combat ability. Even dragons whose job was purely farming could fight A-rank and even higher dangerous species.
And a dangerous species that could make this bunch of Silver Dragons flee in such a terrified, scatterbrained way… it surely wasn't something to be trifled with.
"Don't panic, tell me slowly. What dangerous species is it?"
"I-it's a Super S-rank dangerous species… a Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk."
"Super S-rank…"
Before Leon could search his memory for such a dangerous species, a huge figure shot out of the nursery and straight into the clouds ahead.
That monster was massive, six wings blotting out the sky and sun, a single hawk cry echoing through the universe.
The gusts produced by the wing beats came rushing in; Leon stepped forward and pulled Noah into his arms to protect her.
When the gust passed, he turned to look at the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk.
In its beak it was carrying an entire Jade Dew Dragonfruit tree.
"I've, I've already taken command of Shirley's guard unit, they'll be here soon!"
A gardener from the nursery wiped the sweat from his face and said anxiously, "Prince, Jade Dew Dragonfruit is hard to cultivate; across the whole garden only that one tree had two fruits on it."
Leon stared at the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk's silhouette flying away into the distance, squinting slightly, "When Shirley and the others get here, that thing will have flown off."
As he spoke, Leon took off the backpack on his back and put it at his feet, then instructed, "Noah, stay here. Daddy will be right back—"
Before he finished, Grinding King had already dashed off in the direction the dragon-hawk fled.
Leon paused, then shook his head with a smile, "What a girl of action."
Having said that, Leon quickly followed.
Although Leon's first thought was to have Noah stay put while he solved the situation, he didn't mind Noah actually joining in.
This was a rare chance to train his daughter.
After all, not every day a dangerous species dares invade dragon territory and actually manages to steal something.
With the Silver Dragon guard not yet arrived, father and daughter could at least try to slow it down; even if they couldn't stop the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk, they could delay it as much as possible.
Otherwise, as Leon said, by the time Shirley's group arrived, it would be too late.
"S-rank dangerous species are already rare, I've only ever seen Super S-ranks in books," Noah said while running, looking up at the dragon-hawk in the sky, "Daddy, have you fought these dragon-hawks before?"
Leon shook his head, "Once a dangerous species has evolved to this degree, it's basically because it's been influenced by dragon power."
"Influenced by dragon power?"
"Mm."
Leon recalled what they'd learned from the Dragon-Slaying Academy textbooks and patiently explained to his daughter, "On the Samael continent, there are many races, most of which possess spirit and can use magic and tools, even having their own cultures."
"Although we call some non-communicative, aggressive species 'dangerous species,' in reality they're independent species with certain intelligence."
"So these dangerous species can also practice magic."
"The Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk is one of them."
"Hundreds of years ago, the A-rank dangerous species 'Iron-Winged Grey Hawk' was hunted en masse by major races because its feathers and beak were very valuable."
"That ultimately pushed the Iron-Winged Grey Hawk to the brink of extinction; surviving individuals scattered across the Samael continent."
"With time, these scattered Iron-Winged Grey Hawks, influenced by local environments and races, gradually changed their forms."
"What we see now as a Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk is precisely due to the influence of dragon power, the original A-rank 'Iron-Winged Grey Hawk' evolved into what it is today."
Noah listened seriously, then thought for a moment and asked, "So the messenger dragons we often use to carry letters, do they also have their own original species, but were influenced by dragon power and became dragon subspecies?"
"You can understand it that way. But messenger dragons, aside from being influenced by power, were also trained by dragons for a long time, so there's a big difference between them and this Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk."
"I see."
Noah looked up at the dragon-hawk again, a cold little smile on her face as she murmured, "After all, nobody's going to use a big guy like that to deliver mail."
A cold joke, but coming from the eldest daughter, it was amusing.
Leon smiled and didn't comment further.
"But whatever the dangerous species, none has ever invaded our territory before. Why would this dragon-hawk suddenly slip in and steal a Jade Dew Dragonfruit?", Noah asked again.
To be honest, Leon hadn't figured that out either.
Logically, even if an Iron-Winged Grey Hawk evolved from A-rank into Super S-rank, it shouldn't dare make trouble on Silver Dragon land.
Because however strong a dangerous species is, it's still a dangerous species;
And even a weak dragon is still a dragon, it's not something a dangerous species can casually touch just because it picked up a bit of 'holy light' and evolved.
Even if the farmland Silver Dragons couldn't handle it, the guard unit could send a dragon to make that little hawk into "chicken pot pro max."
So why did this Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk go crazy enough to steal from the Silver Dragons?
"No matter what, we must get the dragonfruit back. The man just said only that one tree had two fruits, we can't let that thing steal them."
"Yes, Daddy."
Father and daughter sped up.
But those on the ground can't catch those in the sky.
Within minutes, the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk had already put some distance between itself and Leon and Noah.
Seeing the hawk flying farther, Noah asked, "Daddy, are your wings healed yet?"
At that, Leon's steps faltered half a beat, but he adjusted quickly and didn't show too much panic.
"Ah… Daddy's wound… short term it's years, long term it may be permanent. It's not easy to heal."
As the Silver Dragon prince who could not fly, Rossweise had long ago prepared a cover story, publicly claiming Leon's wings were injured so he couldn't fly.
That was also the story told to the daughters.
Noah stole a glance at her Daddy.
Though the foolish old man tried hard to hide it, Noah still saw a trace of embarrassment and awkwardness on his face.
It turned out pretending not to know while knowing was such a satisfying thing.
'Mommy reveled in it for so many years; now it's my turn, as the daughter, to enjoy it.'
Grinding King thought secretly, then added, "That's a real pity, Daddy. I was thinking when your wings healed, you could take me flying."
When a doting father can't meet his daughter's wish, the helplessness feels magnified many times over.
Leon wanted to cry but had no tears.
'Good daughter, it's not that Daddy doesn't want to take you flying, Daddy really doesn't have that function.'
Leon pursed his lips, thought it over, and finally said, "Actually… when you grow up, you can take Daddy flying too, it'll be about the same~"
A faint smile crossed Noah's cold little face, "Alright, then Daddy, wait for me to grow up and take you flying."
A few playful lines later, they were farther behind the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk than before.
"If it gets away with it, I'll be dead meat," Leon muttered.
Noah raised an eyebrow, curious, "Why say that, Daddy? The stolen fruits can be replanted. We already bought all the herbs needed for the Nourishing Soup anyway."
"No no no, the Nourishing Spirit Soup just helps your Mommy rest better, but the Jade Dew Dragonfruit stabilizes emotions."
"Stabilize emotions… does Mommy get… violent when she's pregnant?"
Leon replayed scenes of Rossweise during pregnancy and shivered. A few images were enough to make him feel numb.
He trembled and shook his head, "I'd rather your Mommy be a bit violent, at least violence is something you can respond to."
Leon thought of a joke:
Who's scarier, a terrorist or an unreasonable girlfriend?
Answer: the girlfriend.
Because at least a terrorist can be negotiated with; a rampaging mother dragon cannot be reasoned with at all.
So, for the sake of his peaceful months ahead, he had to get the Jade Dew Dragonfruit back.
———
As the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk was about to vanish into the distance, Leon was already considering whether to perform a Dragon-Smiting strike.
At that moment, a silver figure suddenly appeared beside them.
Leon and Noah turned, it was Shirley in dragon form.
"Prince, Princess Noah, leave that Dragon-Hawk to me. You can rest."
"No, Sister Shirley, we'll go together. Some things only have meaning if you do them personally, right Daddy?"
Leon smiled and nodded, "Mm, you've picked it up quickly."
"Alright, then Prince and Princess, please jump onto my back."
Saying that, Shirley adjusted her flying posture and turned slightly.
Shirley's dragon form was much smaller than Rossweise's, so it wasn't hard for Leon to hop on.
After jumping onto Shirley's back, Leon reached out and lifted Noah up as well.
"Hold on tight, Prince, Princess."
With that, Shirley beat her wings and shot into the sky.
The Silver Dragon clan's innate speed was no joke. In an instant they closed the distance to the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk.
Air howled past Leon's ears; he braced his stance to stay steady, gently supporting Noah's lower back with his hand so she wouldn't lose balance during the rapid flight.
At about a hundred meters from the Six-Winged Dragon-Hawk, Shirley gathered dragonfire in her mouth and fired several shots at the hawk.
A few fireballs left brilliant, scorching trails in the air and all smashed toward the dragon-hawk.
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