Evil Dragon Chapter 24: Great Plan!

Chapter 24: Great Plan!

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: CaiCai, Kris

Lin Nuo’s heart was pounding wildly, and he was so scared that his tail felt like it was about to snap off. His initial reaction was to leap onto the windowsill and dart out through the crack in the window, fleeing far away and never coming back. But just as his paw was about to touch the curtain, he suddenly realized: No, I’m on a mission, and Sir Rennes is responsible for my safety— If I leave like this, how will he explain it to the king? And maybe he’ll worry about me? What time is it? Why am I still lost in thought! What I should be thinking about now is where to get more coins! Wait a second—If I need more coins, doesn’t Rennes have plenty of them in the suite at the palace?! If I could sneak back and then return…

Lin Nuo lay on the windowsill, staring blankly at the bedroom door, his mind already set on a plan.

After knocking three times and receiving no response, Rennes asked again, “Your Highness? Are you feeling unwell? May I come in and check?”

Lin Nuo was about to blurt out, “I’m fine! Don’t come in,” but immediately realized he could only make a ‘chirp’ sound at the moment. So, in a flash, he covered his mouth with his paw, avoiding making any sound.

Next, with a swift movement, he darted at lightning speed into the bathroom, desperately turning the tap on the bathtub to make the water gush out. This way, Rennes should be able to hear the sound of running water from the bathroom and logically deduce that Lin Nuo was taking a bath.

Indeed, the door only opened a crack and swiftly closed again. Lin Nuo rested his little head on the cool brass tap, took a long breath, thinking to himself that luckily, even if Sir Clement was audacious, he wouldn’t barge in on him while he was bathing. But the time bought this way was brief. He couldn’t spend the whole morning in the bath, could he?

Lin Nuo composed himself, flapping his wings, struggling to pull out his sketchbook, tearing out a page, and then grabbing a quill to start writing.

When he transformed into human form, his handwriting was very fluent and elegant, always earning Count Kaunitz’s praise. But in his dragon form, just being able to hold the pen and scrawl was an accomplishment; every stroke looked like scribbles from a kindergarten kid.

After half an hour of effort, Lin Nuo was sweating, but he finally completed a short letter:

“Teacher: Faro City is beautiful, and I want to explore. I’ll be back in a couple of days. Please don’t come looking for me! I’ll be safe! Best regards, Linno”

Lin Nuo, with ink all over his paws, put down the quill and carefully placed the letter on the small round table. Then, he leapt back onto the windowsill, covering his body with the curtain, leaving only a tiny gap. Lin Nuo was quite satisfied with his hiding spot—it allowed him to see the situation in the bedroom while being able to slip away through the crack in the window at any time.

Twenty minutes later, Sir Rennes’ voice echoed again, “Your Highness? Are you okay?”

He’s here! Lin Nuo’s heart started pounding wildly again.

This time, Rennes slowly opened the door. As soon as he entered, he noticed the letter on the small round table. But instead of immediately walking towards the table, he glanced around the room, his gaze stopping at the curtain for half a second—

Lin Nuo’s heart felt like it stopped.

Fortunately, Rennes didn’t take another look at the curtain or come closer. He walked over to the round table and picked up the letter, giving it a quick scan. Lin Nuo could clearly see the perfect arch of Rennes’ eyebrows, tightly knit together. Rennes’ face displayed a very complicated expression.

Is he angry? Lin Nuo thought, trembling with fear. Doesn’t seem like it. This expression, rather than anger, seemed… a bit helpless or sad? Is he upset because I ‘ran away from home’?

Lin Nuo nervously nibbled at his claws. Fortunately, just a few seconds later, Rennes’ face returned to calmness.

Then, Lin Nuo heard Rennes taking brisk steps outside and telling the carriage driver waiting, “His Highness has some urgent matters and needs to stay in the city for a day, postponing the journey.”

Phew, it seems my letter worked! By telling him not to come looking for me and that I’ll be safe, I unintentionally reminded Rennes how dangerous it is for the prince to go out alone. Although this guy is cold and stingy, he’s incredibly responsible, so he’ll definitely search everywhere in the city for me! This way, I’ll have plenty of time to fly back to the palace and raid his room for coins! The plan is just perfect! Hehe, even in my dragon form, my intelligence still works fine!

Lin Nuo was so delighted that he wanted to spin in place.

After confirming that Rennes hadn’t looked in his direction, Lin Nuo silently turned away and squeezed out through the crack in the window, flapping his wings toward the royal city. Lin Nuo, of course, didn’t see that after he had flown away, Rennes walked to the window, unfolded the white sheet of paper again, and stared at the tiny ink paw prints, furrowing his brow tightly.

At this moment, the sky had already brightened. In the city, vendors were transporting fresh vegetables to the market, small restaurant owners were hurrying to prepare breakfast for sale, women were dragging their children to school—all bustling, a constant stream of activity.

Lin Nuo tried to select areas shaded by trees along the way, gliding slowly under the tree canopies. This way, even if someone looked up and saw him, they would probably assume he was just a slightly ugly bird, unlikely to think he was a magical creature.

Was it because of the lack of magical power? After flying a distance, Lin Nuo felt his wings becoming heavy and his chest panting heavily. Gasping for air, he decided to rest in a plane tree for a while.

It was a large tree, with a dense canopy, each leaf broad enough to shield Lin Nuo’s small body. Hiding in the shade of the leaves, he raised his head, squinting through the leaves to glance at the greenish sun for a while.

At what time would Rennes start to worry? Where would he look for me? The toy store? The scene of the two of them buying toys together flashed through Lin Nuo’s mind again. Remembering Rennes staring at the shop window, a faint smile on his face, Lin Nuo couldn’t help but grin silly under the sunlight.

Just then, he heard caw, caw from beneath the leaves. A chill ran through Lin Nuo’s heart. Gently using his claws, he peeled open a gap in the leaves and stealthily looked down. Darn it! There were about a dozen pitch-black crows below, dozens of green, shiny eyes staring fixedly at him! Some of these crows were practically drooling!

Lin Nuo didn’t dare to look further and quickly pushed off with his hind legs, flapping his wings hard, and swiftly flew away into the air. Behind him, some dozen crows all flew up whoosh and chased after Lin Nuo’s figure closely. They kept making caw, caw sounds, as if saying, ‘This is my food! My food!’

Lin Nuo didn’t care about being tired or panting anymore; he was solely relying on instinct to escape. Swish! One crow, the fastest of them all, charged towards Lin Nuo’s right side, trying to claw at the small, unidentified creature.

Fortunately, after a month of evasion training, Lin Nuo’s body had already developed a reflex— he easily dodged to the left, perfectly evading, even plucking off a black feather from the crow. Then, a crow from below Lin Nuo charged at him! Lin Nuo flipped in mid-air, avoiding it once more.

Caw! Caw! The crows became more excited, more aggressive. They were surrounding Lin Nuo from all directions, blocking his path.

Why do I feel like these crows see me as a toy?! Regardless, whether they saw him as a toy or food, Lin Nuo knew being encircled like this meant he couldn’t fly away. What to do?! He couldn’t breathe fire or burst ice arrows now! How to break through this?! If only there was a coin right now… If he could control the coin as a weapon…

Lin Nuo recalled the training Rennes had given him a few days ago. He didn’t have a coin on claw; all he had was the black, smelly feather he had plucked. He looked down at the feather and noticed its sharp tip. If he could move it fast enough, could this feather also become a weapon?

Determined, Lin Nuo clenched his flat mouth tightly. ‘Focus. Move it according to your will; control it to move forward…’ Lin Nuo silently repeated Rennes’ words in his mind. The feather… It floated up! Lin Nuo’s round eyes were about to become cross-eyed in excitement.

Then, the feather floated down…

What on earth! Lin Nuo shrieked. Unexpectedly, after he shouted a few times, the actions of the crows slowed down. Moreover, they started looking at each other, making random cawing sounds, as if asking, ‘What’s going on?’

Whatever it was, for Lin Nuo, it was an opportunity to escape! He vigorously flapped his wings, using his little head to forcefully push away a large crow blocking his path, breaking out of the encirclement. He flew quite a distance, confirming that these crows really couldn’t catch up.

At this point, Lin Nuo felt completely exhausted. His whole head was dizzy, and he could pass out at any moment. Could he really fly back to the palace like this? Lin Nuo began to doubt his perfect plan. Just then, a gust of wind blew, tossing Lin Nuo around in the air until he crashed into a tree.

Squeak! Lin Nuo screamed in pain and slid down the tree trunk. No, it’s not possible… He needed to rest for a while before he could continue flying… But lying here and waiting for wild cats or dogs to eat him? Thinking about it, Lin Nuo made an effort to get up, trying to at least find another hiding spot.

Then, he heard a cautious voice, “Young Master?”

Lin Nuo looked up and saw a round, chubby goblin boy.

“Young Master! It’s really you!” The round goblin looked like he was about to cry and immediately knelt in front of Lin Nuo.

Lin Nuo leaned against the tree trunk, wanting to ask ‘How did you get here?’ But all that came out was a squeak.

Unexpectedly, the round goblin continued, “A pigeon spirit sent a message, saying they saw the young master in the sky. I thought it was a lie, but it really is the young master!”

Lin Nuo blinked, meaning, ‘Can you understand what I’m saying?’

“Of course!” The round goblin said confidently. “As a creature of magic, I can understand your words now since you’re in a monstrous form!”

‘Oh…’ Lin Nuo scratched his head with his claws, not understanding why he couldn’t understand magical creatures when he was in human form. Was it due to differences in magical power?

“Young Master, look, after I turn into a magical creature, you can understand my words!” The round goblin said excitedly and then, with a quick movement, turned into a stone-colored goblin.

Lin Nuo looked at the familiar round goblin, thinking it was better this way; at least, he didn’t have to strain his neck to look up at him.

The goblin hopped closer to Lin Nuo and said, “Gua gua!”

This time, Lin Nuo understood. The goblin was saying, “Young Master, what happened? Why are you here?”

Lin Nuo squeaked, meaning, “It’s a long story… Anyway, I need to return to the palace now.”

The goblin added, “Young Master, if you’re tired of flying, I can take you.”

Lin Nuo’s eyes lit up.

The goblin apologized, “But, I can only take you to the city gate. The royal aura protects the palace; No other magical beings can enter except for you.”

Huh? No other magical beings can enter… Then why was he almost swallowed by a giant crow in the palace earlier? Lin Nuo guessed the goblin probably didn’t know the answer. He didn’t want to reveal the story of being saved by a knight either, so he just nodded and said, “Then take me there.”

The goblin’s eyes sparkled with joy, nodding vigorously, saying, “I’ll change back… huh?!”

“Gura-gura?”

“Chirp, chirp?”

The goblin and the young dragon both screamed.

Because a finely woven net suddenly covered them both! Then, the net was lifted into the air, and a freckled face with a lot of freckles came close to the two little magical beings, “Wow! What a fat frog! And such a strange little creature!”

Seeing Lin Nuo’s pink face, the freckled youth burst into laughter, showing a mouthful of rotten teeth, “I’ll sell this fat frog and keep this pink little oddity as a toy!”

Lin Nuo shook but found he couldn’t tear the net with his claws. He quietly said to the goblin, “Use some magic or something to break this net.”

Unexpectedly, the goblin cried, “I’m sorry! Besides swallowing gold and silver treasures, I don’t have any other magical abilities!”

Lin Nuo was at a loss and whispered, “Don’t cry. If nothing else, turn back into a person. At least you can break this net and then run away with me!”

The goblin quickly nodded, “I’ll change… huh?”

The goblin’s frog face swelled like a balloon, but it still couldn’t change back into a person.

Lin Nuo had an ominous feeling. “Hey, hey, you can’t turn back into a person either?”

The goblin cried, “I… I think I’m too nervous. I can’t change back!”

Lin Nuo: Help.

Help!

Help!

Helpless and unable to do anything, the young dragon and the frog were brought in a net by the freckled youth to a bustling market.

The freckled face ran to a shop selling fish and shrimp, holding up the net, “Boss, do you want this fat frog?”

The goblin muttered on the side, “I’m a goblin, not a frog…”

Lin Nuo almost fainted. He thought, At this point, does it matter if you’re a goblin or a frog? You’re about to be sold!

The man gutting fish glanced up and said, “Too fat, probably won’t taste good. I don’t want it.”

The goblin, Lin Nuo, and the fishmonger: ….

The fishmonger took another look at the swaying net and said, “But that pink one… it’s quite cute. I’ll take that.”

The freckled face whistled and said, “Nope, I want to keep the pink one as a toy.”

The fishmonger chuckled, grabbed a freshly gutted fish, and tossed it into a wooden tub, then casually said, “I’ll give you five copper coins. Enough for ten small loaves of bread.”

The freckled face whistled again, “Okay, pack it up for me!”

The fishmonger sneered, took five copper coins from his apron, and tossed them to the freckled youth.

Seeing the bloody knife and the dead fish in the tub, the goblin held onto the young dragon’s arm tightly, “Y-young Master… What do we do? Looks like we’re going to be killed…”

The young dragon coughed, “Hey, can you let go…?”

The freckled face chuckled and pocketed the coins, tossing the net back to the fishmonger.

Snap! A bony hand intercepted the net in mid-air. Lin Nuo trembled and looked up, meeting Rennes’s dark eyes. Lin Nuo shivered, unable to breathe properly, gripping the goblin’s arm tightly, causing it pain.

“I’ll buy these two. One silver coin,” Rennes said, tossing a silver coin to the fishmonger.

The fishmonger, interrupted midway, shivered and, instead of the foul language he had planned, said, “Do you need any other fish? I’ll pack them for you.”

Rennes ignored him and removed the net, carrying two magical creatures.

The goblin began to shake violently. “Young Master, isn’t that the Sir Clement who’s usually by your side? What does he want? Has he seen through your disguise?!”

Lin Nuo, terrified but trying to keep his composure, muttered, “Don’t be afraid! Everything is under control!”

Hearing the chirps of the little dragon, Rennes’s slightly cold hand rested on his back, murmuring, “Don’t make a fuss; I’ll take you home.”

 

 

 

 

 

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