NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 53: The Silver Moon Dragon, Argentia
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FLASH!
“Ohh?”
Vlad gasped as he saw the dying dragon suddenly being encompassed by the silver-colored moonlight, completely healing his dying body and recovering his stamina.
Above all, his dark purple and black scales completely changed, becoming pure silver in color. Its appearance, which was very chunky and fat, became leaner and more streamlined, resembling something similar to a serpent but with large legs.
His horns fused together into the shape of a half-moon, pointing upwards and adorning its forehead beautifully, while its draconic head became more serpentine and elegant, with big, sharp golden eyes.
He had completely evolved through the power of the Moonshine Contract!
“He did it!” Vlad was amazed. “I can’t believe he tamed such a strong monster with a One-Star Subclass! This is nuts…”
As he was surprised, Alitheus slowly opened his eyes, shining brightly with the radiance of the sun, and so did the dragon; both met one another.
“Thank you, priestess of the Silver Moon,” the dragon said. “I apologize for ever doubting your honest words. If I had known you were blessed by our goddess, I would have trusted you sooner. I had thought you were simply trying to talk emotionally to convince me to sign a slave contract, yet I feel different; this is not a slave contract. This is a pact between two equals, is it? My body has been reborn by our silver lady’s grace! I feel so good now, so happy! Thank you! Thank you!”
The giant dragon celebrated, speaking aloud, surprising the two even more as he vowed down to Chris.
“From this day on, I swear to serve you, the beautiful Priestess of the Silver Moon and the daughter of our Lady Selene, until the day I die. Even if you help me achieve my revenge, I will continue to be by your side.”
“T-Thank you….” Chris muttered. “Wait a moment, did you say priestess? Daughter? I-I’m a guy…”
“Hahah! You jest! I suppose you are indeed quite tomboyish, but there’s no way I would ever create a Moonshine Contract with another man, dear priestess. I suppose you pretend to be a man to not be persecuted. I understand that very well, and don’t worry; if that is your secret, then I shall save it.”
"No, dude, seriously, I am!”
Chris constantly tried to convince the dragon he was a man, but the dragon could simply not believe him; he was way too beautiful and feminine and had “no manly features at all,” according to the dragon, which only made Chris feel a bit bad.
“So it worked then!”
And their conversation, full of misunderstandings, was quickly interrupted as Vlad arrived. The dragon’s eyes quickly became suspicious, his huge neck moving around Chris as his large head faced the vampire.
“Who might you be, vampire?!”
“M-Me?”
Vlad stepped back. The pressure of the dragon was immense, making his body feel heavier and his breath difficult.
“Wait! Argentia! Don’t look at him like that, he’s my… well, he’s my friend! I also work for his household as a healer and servant.”
“What?! A priestess is the servant of a vile vampire?! Then allow me to change that, milady! I shall eliminate this tyrant that has been enslaving you this very instant!”
“Wait, what?!”
Paul panicked as the giant dragon opened his jaws, gathering purple-colored flames as the moonlight empowered him even more.
“Begone from the face of this world, embodiment of sloth, vile emotionless demon!”
“STOP!”
As Paul was running away, Chris suddenly screamed. His scream wasn’t just his voice; as it carried power, threads made of pink moonlight appeared out of nowhere around the dragon’s long neck, lifting it up before his breath was unleashed.
BOOOM!
“Ngh?! M-Milady, why would you stop me?! I am freeing you from this monster!”
“You’re the only monster here, Argentia! You can’t possibly just attack some random person you met; are you crazy or what?!”
“T-That’s…”
Feeling the wrath of the “Priestess of the Silver Moon," Argentia couldn’t possibly fight against Chris' adorable, pink-colored eyes and even cuter little body, and it wasn’t because he was just too cute, but because he held power over him through the Moonshine Contract.
Although it was a contract between equals, the master of the Moonshine Contract still had some power over the other. Moonlight Threads were the manifestation of this authority, which allowed Chris to temporarily stop the dragon from being too chaotic or trying to breach the contract’s rules.
It only activated if Selene allowed it, however. And thankfully, the moon goddesses were on Vlad’s side too, so she happily allowed their usage, which came instinctively out of Chris' hands once he wished to stop Argentia.
“But Priestess…!”
“No buts! That’s enough! Vlad is my friend, and maybe something else than that too, so don’t you dare touch him, okay?! Promise me! Also, from now on, while we stay in this city, you’ll be protecting it, okay? Promise me that too!”
“E-Eeeeehh?!” Argentia was shocked even more when he realized the goddess had agreed to such terms and the thread was not going anywhere. “This is… a bit… ugh… Fine… I agree, priestess, so please free me; I don’t like these threads!”
“Alright,” Chris sighed, quickly freeing the giant silver dragon from the threads. “It’s fine now, Vlad; are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” coughed Vlad. “I was just a bit shocked; everything just escalated to that point; that was a bit too much, I would say. But I’m glad everything worked accordingly!”
“Hm?!” Argentia glared at Vlad a second time, realizing his crimson aura was also made of moonlight. “Wait, you’re also blessed by the crimson moon goddess?! That’s impossible! Why did she bless a vile vampire?”
“Are you doubting the goddesses now, you vile dragon?!” Chris angrily said, kicking his giant legs.
“I-I’m not milady; forgive me…!” Argentia quickly panicked, bowing to cover his head and apologizing. “I’m sorry… I won’t do that again, so don’t get mad at me! To see my beloved maiden angry at me… it hurts my dragon heart!”
“Okay…” Chris felt a bit weirded out when the dragon said that, taking one step back.
Paul walked to his side with a weirded-out face too.
“Hey, what’s wrong with this dragon? It keeps calling you a girl… I mean, you do look like one; no offense, but-”
"Ugh, shut up!” Chris angrily said. “There! I did what you wanted me to do! I’m logging out now; I seriously can’t do more of this for today! I’m tired, and I want to go take a bath!”
“S-Sure… Sorry, see you then-”
Before Paul could even do anything else, Chris logged out.
And then an awkward silence filled the surroundings as he was in front of the silver dragon.
It was like a staring contest.
“You, vampire…” Argentia said. “What is your true relationship with milady? Are you two truly just friends?!”
“Why does it matter to you?” Vlad asked. "Also, Chris is a guy! Stop calling him a girl; he’s not a transgender girl either; he very much always identifies as a guy, so please respect him!”
“WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! MILADY IS CLEARLY A BEAUTIFUL MAIDEN!” roared the dragon angrily. “STOP WITH YOUR NONSENSE!”
Argentia became so angry that he started stomping on the ground with his back legs like an angry rabbit, making the ground tremble.
“This is hopeless, huh?”
Paul sighed. He realized this dragon was programmed to be either an idiot or an idiot; there wasn’t any other alternative.
“Well, at least he’s sure strong, and after evolving into a Moon Drake, he’s much stronger now.” Vlad nodded with a smile after analyzing the dragon. “Well, my relationship with Chris, or well, Alitheus, is simple; we’re friends with benefits. Okay? Though I aim for something more... but it’s hard and complicated, so we’re going one step at a time, knowing each other, you know?”
“W-What?! Priestess must remain pure! Don’t you dare lay another finger on her!”
Argentia covered his face in the embarrassment he felt by imagining his lady being touched by this evil, perverted vampire!
“Aahhh~ Someone save me!”
“Argentia…! Please don’t let him touch me!”
“N-No, not there! Aahh~!”
The delusional dragon—he even started imagining Chris moaning as the evil vampire took advantage of him in bed! He gasped in disbelief.
“Y-You’re such a vile, despicable villain…! I-I can’t believe you would do this to a pure, saintly maiden!” The dragon continued spouting nonsense.
“Hey, what are you even imagining?” Paul asked, feeling even more grossed out by this strange dragon. “You looked so intimidating before; was that all a façade? Don’t tell me you’re actually a big pervert instead…”
“I-I am nothing but the honorable steed and guardian of Milady; I would never think of any such things!” Argentia paused for a moment for some reason.
“Aha… Anyway, I’m leaving too for now, so please don’t destroy anything, okay? The goddess is watching you; if you dare destroy anything, I’m sure they will punish you. Remember that you’re below the silver goddess blessings. They’re also what’s keeping you alive… So be a good dragon and rest here for now,” said Vlad.
“A-Ah…! Well, what else would I do?! I shall protect the residence of my beautiful priestess maiden!” roared Argentia. “Now begone from my sight, you degenerate vampire!”
“Why are you calling me degenerate?!”
Paul logged out at long last, leaving behind the strange dragon sitting over the grasslands surrounding Elderbridge.
“Hmph, he’s finally gone! Thank the goddesses!” Argentia said. “Well now, what shall I do now that I am a Guardian Dragon? Perhaps build Milady a new altar to pray with me? Or maybe I could dig a very deep hole and turn it into our nest!”
The dragon spoke out loud, making a lot of people trying to sleep in the city all annoyed, looking around and trying to discern the origin of the voice, only to find a giant dragon head above the walls, smiling viciously.
“No, no, Miady is not a dragon; maybe she won’t fancy a simple and rustic nest,” Argentia sighed. “Well then! I might have too much energy now; what can I do to deplete it? Slaying monsters perhaps- Oh?”
The dragon’s golden eyes widened as he saw what resembled a giant rat of over two meters of height scurrying around a nearby forest.
“A prey! I’m so hungry, right!”
He felt his giant tummy rumbling as the dragon, like a cat hunting a rat, rushed towards the giant rat, running around and making the surroundings tremble.
As he chased the “small” rat, suddenly he heard something.
“S-Someone help meeee!”
“Bandits!”
“Please help! Someone!”
“Hm?!”
Argentia opened his eyes wide as he glanced at the distance. Right in the middle of the road that led to the city of Elderbridge, there was a mid-sized caravan full of merchants being assaulted by bandits.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Elderbridge lacked a market was because the roads were very unsafe! It was so full of bandits and monsters that the city didn’t even bother to take care of them all these years.
The only caravans that would dare get here were the ones desperate to sell anything, and right now, such a gamble is now making these people pay its price.
“Grahahaha! Take all the young women; kill everyone else! Steal everything; today we feast and breed, you bastards!”
A savage-looking werewolf with black fur and an eyepatch laughed, and as he pointed his giant rusty sword at the caravan, dozens of bandits of all kinds of races, such as orcs, imps, demons, and even blood elves, charged, attacking the caravan.
The caravan wasn’t without protection, as it had a couple guards and mercenaries that went to fight but were dying rapidly, some even running away.
“H-Hey! You bastard! Don’t you dare run away!” A fat-looking vampire cried as he saw one of his mercenaries just sprint away.
“There’s no way I’m going to die today, you fat pig! Thanks for the money, though!” The mercenary was a tall Blood Elf man, which laughed at the vampire’s misfortune.
Yet…
“Hm? A coward! I suppose you don’t count in the contract, eh? You measly mercenary! Or should I say snack?!”
“W-Wha…?!”
The blood elf’s eyes opened wide as he saw Argentia’s giant body in all its glory.
“A da… da… dra… DRAGON?!”
CHOMP!
However, before he could scream any further, Argentia devoured him with a single bite, before sprinting towards the battle on the road.
“Here comes the guardian of Elderbridge, Argentia the Silver Moon Dragon! Ahahahaha! I am sure Milady will congratulate me for such a good deed!”
Argentia’s foot crushed the bandits like ants, and then, with a single swipe of his tail, he turned off the flames. The merchants, barely alive, glanced at the giant dragon in disbelief.
“E-Elderbridge… has a dragon guardian?!”
“Hahaha! Yes, I am its guardian, you pitiful mortals! Now that you’re safe, go on! Tell everyone my tales of heroism!”
Suddenly, the most dangerous city in the country has become the safest!
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