Chapter 14: Dahuang! Is That You?!

In Fafnir City, a massive caravan was parked outside the Lord’s Manor, and the Fafnir family’s dragon-emblem banner fluttered in the morning breeze.

Kaibuli stood outside the carriage with his two sons, while Su Na shared a tearful farewell with Lady Adelaide inside the carriage.

“Nana…”

Adelaide held Su Na in her arms, utterly reluctant to let go. The intense sorrow made Su Na feel both moved and somewhat puzzled; during this past month, Adelaide had driven her through grueling training, as if trying to impart every skill she knew onto her daughter.

It had forced Su Na to rely on the System’s “cheat code,” allowing her to train in the consciousness space during her rest periods, which had left her nearly burnt out. Now, she could competently execute a full set of basic sword moves, and their bond had deepened rapidly through their constant time together.

In the past, Lady Adelaide had been elegant and gentle—a very qualified maternal figure—but their relationship, or at least how Su Na remembered it from the book’s descriptions, had never reached this level of extroverted intimacy.

In her memories, no matter what mess the original owner made, Adelaide would handle the fallout, and she provided unlimited funds for the girl’s excesses. The original owner had relied on this mother, but actually felt more awe and distance from her.

The two had definitely never engaged in the kind of close, affectionate interactions they’d had lately; they used to be just the standard combo of a responsible mother and a rebellious daughter.

Before Su Na could ponder it further, Adelaide turned to pick up a long wooden box placed inside the carriage and said gently: “This sword was your grandmother’s personal blade; it has been passed down to me…”

Su Na took the box with delight and opened it. Everyone loves a long, hard object like this.

The slender longsword lay quietly in the box. The scale patterns on the brown leather scabbard felt incredibly hard to the touch—not like leather at all, but like steel. The pommel was carved into the image of a Western dragon, identical to the Fafnir family crest, but far more detailed and lifelike.

The beastly pupils, formed by two inlaid blood-red rubies in the dragon’s head, seemed to contain a murderous glint, making it look quite majestic.

“You are my daughter, so this sword naturally belongs to you.” Adelaide looked at Su Na’s enamored expression, her eyes filled with love as she patted the girl’s small head.

“Alright, it’s getting late. Just say a few words to your father and those rascal brothers of yours, and get on the road early.”

After Adelaide finished, she kissed Su Na on the forehead, waved her hand, and jumped off the carriage.

“Uh…”

Watching Adelaide stride away so nonchalantly, Su Na was speechless, though she didn’t like the melancholy of goodbyes, so this was actually quite nice.

Su Na finally met her legendary second brother, Kaiqi. Unlike Kyle, who had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a sturdy, robust build, Kaiqi’s looks were inherited more from Lady Adelaide. Though barely ten years old, he already had the look of a refined young man, and his white robes only accentuated his pure temperament.

He spoke with a soft, gentle tone and even gifted her a silver bracelet he had personally blessed through prayer, which gave Su Na a very good impression of him.

Kyle, on the other hand, stood to the side looking somewhat awkward. Su Na glanced at him, curious; she didn’t expect Kyle to be able to gift her anything, as the costs of a knight’s practical combat training at his age were actually quite high.

Generally, common low-ranking nobles wouldn’t wear iron armor until their physical development had finished. They would try their best to avoid high-casualty missions, waiting until they were fully grown to modify inherited armor to fit their bodies, which minimized costs.

But Kyle was different; he had been following Baron Kaibuli into real combat, and the cost of constantly replacing parts of his armor as he grew was no small annual expense. One could say he was the poorest member of the family.

“Sister…”

Seeing Su Na’s eyes turn toward him, Kyle grunted and pulled a little something out of a box held by his attendant. Su Na took one look, and her eyes lit up.

She took the little creature he held out and examined it closely. The little brown-furred ball held its front paws tucked in against its chest while suspended in mid-air, looking perfectly obedient. Its four limbs hung down submissively as if in prayer, and a pair of watery black eyes stared straight at Su Na. It stretched out a pink tongue and tilted its head to lick her small hand. Su Na squinted, eyes shining with joy: “Dahuang!”

With its pointed muzzle, flat forehead, high-set ears, and small ears, it looked exactly like the native dogs she remembered.

Seeing his sister was clearly satisfied, Kyle felt relieved and explained: “I bought this from a traveling merchant caravan a while back. The merchant said this breed of dog has strong hunting instincts, is loyal to its master, and is hardy and easy to feed. I saw the adult dogs the caravan kept, and they were quite well-built—very close to a wolf—so I bought a few puppies and raised them. Now I’m giving one to you, Sister.”

Su Na played with the little one in her arms and nodded while listening: “You really hit the jackpot this time. We don’t lack feed, so we can keep a few to breed. If they go looking for goblin nests, they’ll be much faster than us relying on our own eyes.”