In a bustling market district of the imperial capital.
Though called a market, it felt more like the commercial streets Ye Chui remembered from his previous life. Besides the small stalls lining the road selling fruit and vegetables, there were countless little workshops, taverns, and shops. Pastries unique to the southern style of the Star Empire could all be found here.
Ever since her birth, the elf baby had been kept inside the castle for “safety reasons” by her irresponsible parents. This was her very first time in such a lively, noisy place. Hearing the clamour of vendors and smelling the sweet fragrance of food and desserts, the little Elf danced her arms happily, letting out a string of crisp “Eee-ya! Eee-ya!” cries while her tiny legs pattered excitedly down the street.
Long Bao and Gui Bao hurried to stay close on either side, carefully guarding her. In truth, such protection was unnecessary. The moment three impossibly adorable children appeared, even the gruffest passer-by felt no urge to harm them. People instinctively made way, and quite a few had already recognised the elf baby as the adopted daughter often seen at Ye Chui’s side.
Soon the trio arrived at the honey-sugar pastry shop Guni had mentioned.
The owner was a middle-aged man who happened to know the elf baby on sight. When the little princess of the Ye family turned up at his humble stall, panic flashed across his face. He very nearly fell to his knees. His voice trembled as he said, “This humble one… this humble one is honoured to serve the young ladies and young master…”
Although the pastries in his little shop were exquisite, never before had any noble of note set foot inside. Guni, of course, was the exception; she drew no distinction between rich and poor, which was precisely how she had discovered this place.
“We want to buy your pastries. That kind,” Long Bao declared, stepping forward as the self-appointed adult of the group and pointing at the display. Then his chubby face froze. Buy… that word was closely related to money. The crucial problem was: where was their money?
He turned to look at Gui Bao and the elf baby. Needless to say, the two of them probably didn’t even understand the concept of money. Gui Bao had never truly lived among humans; she was born in the Chaos Sea, raised by Long Bao in the divine realm, and for the five thousand years after the realm’s fall, though she received human offerings, she had never walked the mortal world. Money meant nothing to her.
The elf baby’s age was counted in days; there was even less to say about her.
As for Long Bao himself… back when he was the Black Gold Flame Dragon, the breath he exhaled could turn stone straight into gold. Money was basically dirt to him! Yet now that they had come out seeking delicious pastries, they had forgotten the most important thing!
Realising this, an awkward expression appeared on Long Bao’s plump face. Looking at the terrified shopkeeper, he wondered whether a bit of cuteness might convince the man to give them the pastries for free.
Hearing that they wanted to buy something, the owner hurriedly wrapped a piece and offered it to Long Bao with both hands.
“The money…” Long Bao began, a little embarrassed.
“No, no, how could I possibly take your money? It’s only two coppers. Consider it a gift…” the owner said quickly.
As it turned out, with the overwhelming cuteness of the Dragon-Turtle Trio plus the elf baby’s status, they didn’t even need to act cute to get it for free!
Relieved, Long Bao accepted the pastry, thanked the owner with a smile, and decided that later he would have Ye Chui send the man several jin of gold coins as thanks. He wasn’t used to owing anyone anything. (P.S. Long Bao measured gold in jin…) He turned and solemnly presented the pastry to the elf baby.
The pastry was reddish-brown, wrapped in mulberry leaves. It didn’t look particularly impressive, but it gave off an enticing sweet fragrance. The elf baby cradled it carefully in both hands like a treasure, crying “Eee-ya! Eee-ya!” She was saving it to enjoy properly once they got home.
Thus the Dragon-Turtle Trio prepared to head back, bringing their little adventure to a close. Though Gui Bao glanced longingly at all the interesting sights around her and didn’t really want to leave yet, everything had to take second place to Her Majesty the Queen’s safety. Ye Chui’s castle was the safest place.
However, as they walked back and turned into a quiet, almost deserted alley, the elf baby (who was walking at the front holding her precious pastry) rounded the corner and let out a startled “Aiya!” She bumped into a burly man coming the other way.
Of course, the man never actually touched her. The instant contact seemed imminent, Gui Bao reacted with divine speed and cast a turtle-shell barrier, protecting the elf baby completely. Still, a little of the impact reached her, making her tiny body wobble. With a splat, the pastry she had been cradling like treasure fell to the ground.
The elf baby instantly froze.
“I’m terribly sorry! It was all my fault. The gods should strike me blind!” the man apologised at once, looking deeply contrite. This was none other than Yoru, the man Fare had secretly instructed earlier at the Radiant Giant Dragon Tavern. Despite his bushy beard, he showed no trace of menace; on the contrary, he seemed quite affable. He crouched down with an apologetic smile. “Little ones, are you hurt?”
When he had “collided” with the elf baby, he had felt a strange rebound force and glimpsed what looked like turtle patterns flashing past, but he paid it no mind, thinking it an illusion.
The three children ignored him completely.
Long Bao and Gui Bao looked nervously at the elf baby.
Slowly she squatted down, big eyes fixed on the pastry now lying in the dirt. It had rained a few days ago; the ground was muddy. Nearly half the pastry was submerged in filth; it was clearly inedible. Her little mouth tightened, her nose twitched, and tears welled in her eyes. She looked on the verge of bawling.
Instantly an apocalyptic sense of dread and fury surged through the two abnormal creatures, Long Bao and Gui Bao.
“Why did it suddenly get colder?” Yoru shivered, looking around in confusion. The sun was blazing; the air was hot. Where had that chill come from?
Ignoring the odd sensation, he kept his friendly uncle smile and said to the elf baby, “What a shame your pastry fell. Let uncle buy you a new one, all right? Uncle has lots of that kind at home.”
At these words, the elf baby (who had been about to cry) immediately looked up happily. “Eee-ya?”
“You can really give us more of these pastries?” Long Bao asked hurriedly. Nothing in the world mattered more than stopping Baby from crying.
Yoru chuckled, stood, and gestured invitingly. “If you don’t believe me, come with me. I have as many as you want!”
…
Moments later, Yoru led the three children, inwardly laughing, to a secluded, abandoned mansion.
All the way there he marvelled silently. A figure like Ye Chui, yet he never taught his kids any caution! In all his decades of kidnapping and scamming, he had never seen children so lacking in wariness. If every child in the world were this easy to trick, business would be too good…
“Where are the pastries?” Long Bao asked with a frown, scanning the dilapidated building suspiciously.
The elf baby also looked around, crying “Eee-ya, eee-ya.”
Yoru ushered them into a room, still smiling. “Don’t worry, just wait here a moment. Uncle needs to prepare them first. Don’t wander off, okay?”
With that he backed out and slowly closed the door.
The three children, completely unguarded, were swallowed by the darkness of the room.
Outside, a group arrived, led by Fare, president of Dragon War Magic Guild. Several guild members were supporting the now dead-drunk and unconscious Evans.
“President, we’ve got them,” Yoru reported in a low, pleased voice as he approached Fare.
Fare gave a curt nod, turned toward the main building of the ruined mansion, and summoned his grimoire. It was slightly smaller than those of the Black Phase Attendant or Jacob, yet still impressively large. The pages rustled open. He then took out a strange stone: a dragon-bone fossil.
His plan was to kill the elf baby and frame Evans.
Evans was the second son of Flower Village’s president Sheral. By doing this, Fare intended to spark enmity between Ye Chui and Sheral.
Sheral hailed from the distant Tidal Empire, where many warriors were Dark Swordsmen who combined the powers of magician, swordsman, and summoner. Sheral and his two sons were outstanding examples. The supreme ability of their bloodline was to summon a divine dragon phantasm beast, one of the Twelve Phantasm Beasts.
Fare had long treated Sheral as a rival and had studied their divine dragon phantasm. He could imitate it to perhaps seventy or eighty percent similarity, albeit with the aid of certain magical items, such as the dragon-bone stone he now held. By extracting draconic aura from it and combining it with his own spell, he could mimic the power convincingly.
His subordinates dumped Evans on the ground. Fare began weaving his spell, slowly forcing the draconic aura from the fossil while casting a wind spell from his wind-specialist grimoire.
Howling wind rose. A dragon’s roar echoed.
Inside the ruined building, Long Bao looked toward the door in puzzlement. “Huh?”
The next instant, Fare’s spell fused with the draconic aura from the fossil and transformed into a terrifying attack. It took the shape of a ferocious wind dragon that roared toward the mansion: 【Furious Dragon’s Wrath】.
BOOM!
The already dilapidated building collapsed instantly amid a cloud of dust.
Fare waved the dust away from his face, glanced coldly at the unconscious Evans on the ground, and gave a sinister smile. “Evans has an impulsive personality and has been saying lately that he wants to challenge Ye Chui. Getting drunk and causing trouble is nothing new for him. This time he got drunk and killed Ye Chui’s adopted daughter. With a little nudge from me, Ye Chui and Sheral are guaranteed to fight!”
Imagining that delightful scene, a crafty, fox-like grin spread across his face.
He then led his guild members away quickly, returning to Dragon War’s castle.
Now all he had to do was quietly wait for the matter to ferment.
However…
“Hey, where’s the pastries you promised us?”
The moment they stepped back into the guild and the gate was closing, three small figures appeared neatly on the other side of the iron fence.
Fare: “…?”
Long Bao marched up to the gate, gave it a kick with his short leg, and the forged-steel doors crashed open with a clang, torn clean off their hinges and sent flying aside.
He strode in, looking rather cross.
The elf baby followed.
Gui Bao came last. She waved a hand; ripples spread through the air, and Evans’s body tumbled out, landing with a thud. In her clear, childish voice she announced, “You dropped something just now. I kindly brought it back for you.”
Everyone from Dragon War: “…”
The elf baby planted her hands on her hips, puffed out her chest, and shouted angrily, “Eee-ya! Eee-ya!!!”
“She says you’d better compensate her pastry right now, or she’s going to get really mad,” Long Bao translated. After a pause, a chillingly incongruous cold smile appeared on his chubby little face.
“If you don’t give us that pastry, believe it or not, we’ll tear this whole place down! Cheating little kids out of their treats, have you no shame?”
The implication was clear: yes, we really did come all this way just for that one piece of pastry.
