Chương 138: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 138 - The Potato Song

"Brother, even a Black Dragon has to take a proper bath~" Anna mixed shower gel into a Waterball as she spoke, then began drizzling it bit by bit over the Black Dragon's body.

"Besides, Brother doesn't need to move anyway. Anna will wash you~""You know, Brother is really something... the barbs actually don't have a smell..."

"Huh?" Su Nian blinked. That last part had come out barely above a mosquito's hum, he'd only caught the rough shape of it. Was it the meaning he was thinking of? Or had Anna just worded it wrong? Something was off. Very off. This fox-eared elf had been getting stranger ever since she accepted the dragon heart. The way she looked at him had shifted into something peculiar, like a certain type of person who finds a helpless, lost Anna alone in a dark alley and considers it fate.

"Nothing!" Anna's face went pink. Her wings snapped open and she fluttered straight into the Black Dragon's blind spot, continuing to pour shower gel down his back.

"Brother, could you turn over? I can't reach your belly from here." The soft, sweet voice came from behind him. Su Nian, who had been deep in philosophical contemplation, silently reciting form is emptiness, emptiness is form, crashed back to earth. Turn... turn over? He absolutely could not turn over right now. His head was a mess. How was he supposed to turn? If he turned over, his entire reputation as a dragon died with it.

"That, Anna, I can wash my belly myself. It's covered in lava circuits, it's actually much more convenient if I, " Su Nian was grasping at straws. He knew it. The quick-witted Anna knew it too.

"Brother~""Pretty please~" She fluttered over to his ear. Her soft little hands curled around his enormous head, and she pressed close, voice dropping into something warm and coaxing. Warm breath tickled his ear. Sweet.

"Let Anna wash your tummy, okay~ Pretty please~""Ah, well..."

"Brother." Anna's lip wobbled. Her eyes went red.

"Do you not like Anna anymore?" The tears were already forming in those adorable peach-blossom eyes before she'd even finished the sentence.

"Fine, fine, fine — turning over now." Su Nian had no moves left. So what if he lost face as a dragon? Whether she was faking or not didn't matter. He could not watch Anna cry. It was a fundamental law of his existence. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. He turned over. The massive dragon body barely rolled, and the earth shuddered like something had struck it from below. Su Nian tucked in his claws. Folded his wings. Stared at the sky.

He had the distinct sense that he had lost something today. Something important. He wasn't sure he'd ever get it back.

"Brother, time to wash your tummy~" The face that had been seconds from tears broke into a brilliant smile. Anna swooped in with a large Waterball full of soapy water in one hand and a small brush in the other, and got to work.... One hour later. Su Nian lay coiled in his lair, contemplating the nature of dragon existence. The bath was finished. Thoroughly finished. Even the barbs had been scrubbed. The polish hadn't been used on his scales, only his horns got that treatment. But it had worked.

The savage horns now caught the light differently, less feral, more like a crown. Anna wasn't as oblivious as she looked. Matte, non-reflective dragon scales were, in fact, perfect camouflage for a Black Dragon. If he went around glinting and sparkling everywhere he flew, he'd be a living target with wings. But that wasn't what was eating at him. What was eating at him was a pointed little question Anna had asked ten minutes ago. Verbatim, it went:"Brother, dragons are so strange. You can actually...

like the cows those dairy farmers raise... though the dragon milk does taste a bit odd... and the location isn't quite right either..." Deliberate. Absolutely, one hundred percent deliberate. Su Nian fumed. Especially because the moment she finished asking, Anna had covered her mouth with one hand, eyes laughing, face scarlet, and vanished in the span of a wingbeat. If that wasn't deliberate. Su Nian would fly upside down. The mischievous little menace had already gone off to gather ingredients for lunch.

Some poor monster in the vicinity was having a very bad day and didn't know it yet. Su Nian had nothing to do. He decided to go see what the Sakura Island players were up to. The three-day weakness debuff was still running, but basic flight was manageable. What wasn't manageable was his breath weapon, every time he tried to breathe fire, what came out was a sad trickle of gray smoke with a faint sulfur smell. His throat ached with a hot, raw pain.

The only thing the debuff hadn't touched was his raw physical strength. Evidence of which could be seen in the several fresh, large holes punched into the bedrock steps. Anna's fault, all of them. He drifted lazily up and over the experimental fields. Below him, the farmland had spread noticeably since he'd last looked, broader, greener, filling out in every direction. The sky was clear. The breeze was easy. The sun was warm. Under it, a crowd of Sakura Island players and human soldiers were hard at work.

From a considerable distance, Su Nian could hear the shouting.

"Our slogan is!"

"Plant potatoes!"

"Our goal is!"

"Let potatoes fill the Silvermoon Forest!" The man leading the chant was Iida Ueji, the balding, middle-aged man whose family had farmed potatoes for generations, who had the craft encoded somewhere in his marrow. He looked nothing like the worried, drawn figure from before. The current Iida Ueji was radiant. He stood before the assembled players and native soldiers and beamed like a man who had finally found his calling.

"Excellent! Everyone's got good energy today. The Kobold Taijun has spoken, two extra potatoes added to lunch!"

"ROAAAAR—!"

"Long live the Kobold Taijun!"

"Long live the Black Dragon Taijun!" Iida Ueji gave a satisfied nod. He straightened up, stood tall, raised one hand, scanned to the very back of the crowd, and swung his fist down.

"Music!"

"Chorus — the Potato Song!" Ding ding dong dong... A simple, jangling beat kicked in. Several players were hitting metal plates with wooden sticks. Somehow, against all odds, they had rhythm. Whoever had picked these particular players knew what they were doing. Then the singing started.

"In this beautiful land~""There is a group of hardworking farmers~""Their favorite food, the humble, round potato~"...

"Planting potatoes is glory! We are proud of potatoes!"

"Potato people! Potato souls!"

"Plant potatoes, rise above all~""Farm like madmen today, a potato world tomorrow!" The melody cut off in a burst of passionate voices. Su Nian's wings spasmed. He nearly fell out of the sky. What in the world had happened while he and Anna were away? How had these players ended up like this? From the looks on their faces, they had collectively decided that farming was the purpose they'd been born for. He had questions. Many questions. Su Nian found Bolikri near the edge of the field and descended.

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