Chapter 183: Meeting with Ophelia and a Darkness Dragon
Even though Ophelia’s elegant silhouette was interfering with his direct line of sight, the clumsy movements upon waking up of that mysterious girl with short, pink hair immediately revealed her most distinctive biological trait.
A solitary, sharp white horn protruding right in the middle of her forehead.
Upon visually confirming that it was a dragon assuming its humanoid form, Ryan’s analytical mind did not waste a single second.
He inspected her out of pure inertia, summoning the translucent system window into his field of vision while he remained standing at the door.
[ CHARACTER STATUS ]
› Race: [Dragon]
› Threat Level: SS
› Elemental Manifestation: Darkness, Lightning
› Titles: None.
› Strength: 10,110 | Magic: 8,233 | Agility: 13,830 | Psyche: 6,100 | Stamina: 6,520 |
Ryan rapidly scanned the numerical values hidden within his interface. Her Agility stat was absurdly high.
Exceeding by a considerable margin both that of Ivis and that of the very Abyssal demon he had just faced in the throne room.
The rest of her physical and magical attributes remained at almost the exact same level as Ivis, even surpassing her in a few areas.
’It is a true relief to have my Psyche stat high enough to be able to measure the power of SS-rank existences using inspection.’ Ryan thought, processing the information without altering the coldness of his face.
Without taking his eyes off the curious girl standing in front of Ophelia.
’But I still cannot inspect Ophelia; just how much of a difference could there be between us?’
Completely oblivious to the analysis that was dissecting her from head to toe, the girl got up from the wooden bench where she had been sleeping and stood on her feet with evident heaviness.
She tilted her body to the side, stretching her neck to be able to see over Ophelia’s shoulder and fix her gaze upon the man in the black trench coat.
"Is that guy right there your guest?" the girl asked with genuine curiosity, blinking slowly.
"Yes, that is correct." Ophelia responded. The Demon Queen turned toward Ryan and raised her hands in a gesture of feigned innocence, playing dumb as to why there was a dragon sleeping inside her personal retreat zone.
But the dragon girl was not satisfied with just a simple look. She leaned her face forward and her small, pale-skinned nose twitched subtly, sniffing the air of the cabin with the precision of a predator tracking the scent of a strange prey.
After all, biology dictated her instincts. If it weren’t for that solitary sharp horn and the particular vertical connotation in her reptilian pupils, dragons, when they adopt that form, appear to be completely human beings.
"You never told me at any point that your mysterious guest would be a simple human," she said, her voice laden with intrigue.
"That is none of your business." Ophelia denied, furrowing her brow immediately and crossing her arms.
"I had given you an explicit order. I told you that I would be here and that I wanted absolutely no interruptions from anyone. Did you happen to forget?" Ophelia responded, her tone exuding a sudden and clear annoyance at the insubordination to her security protocol.
The dragon girl let out a long, heavy sigh, scratching the back of her neck with complete unconcern, not at all intimidated by the queen’s title.
"I didn’t forget it at all." The pink-haired dragoness defended herself.
"I stayed very far away from this valley just as you said. I followed your instructions to the letter, I left right at the agreed time, and since I didn’t feel your presence, I came back a little while ago to take a nap. It is not my fault at all that you arrived late to your own schedule."
Upon hearing the word late, Ophelia turned her face abruptly and shot a sharp look full of accusation straight at Ryan.
It was a heavy look, one that intended to pin all the blame on him in the face of any uncomfortable situation involving the responsibility for a delay.
"Yes, yes, I get it." Ryan responded, raising a hand in a sign of diplomatic surrender and adopting his usual expression of annoyance to settle the matter.
"It was my fault that our meeting was delayed."
’But, to begin applying the logic of the facts, none of this would have happened if you, Ophelia, had gone to the dungeon entrance personally, exactly as we had agreed three days ago, instead of sending Ivis.’
Ryan thought to himself, shelving the complaint, knowing perfectly well that arguing with a superior being about punctuality was a complete waste of time and saliva.
"Wait a second." The dragoness intervened, opening her eyes wide as if she had just connected two very strange pieces of information in her head.
"A Demon Queen demanding total privacy... a human brought in secret to a secluded cabin..."
She closed the distance, stuck close to Ophelia’s arm, and gently nudged her ribs with her elbow. She shot her monarch a look laden with malice, suspicion, and evident amusement.
"Fufu, fufu... Are you perhaps planning to eat him?"
Smack!
The sound of a quick, dry smack echoed off the wooden walls of the cabin. Ophelia didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second and struck the daring dragoness right on the forehead with the back of her hand.
"Ouch! Why did you hit me?" The girl complained, stumbling back a couple of steps and bringing both hands to her forehead, rubbing the area of impact while forming a pout.
"To begin with, I am not a savage like you." Ophelia sighed, closing her eyes and massaging her temples, as if dealing with that dragon’s immaturity drained all her energy.
She resumed her elegant posture and pointed at the intruder. "Ryan, this woman is Janina."
"That name..." Ryan murmured, narrowing his eyes.
His mind cross-referenced the data instantly. He evaluated the structure of her name, her physical features, and the base of her mana signature. He observed her with an intense curiosity.
"Now that you mention it, you look a lot like a rather annoying dragon I met some time ago." Ryan commented directly, without bothering to dress up his words or hide the connection.
Upon hearing that simple declaration, Janina’s relaxed and playful attitude vanished in less than a microsecond.
Making use of her monstrous Agility stat, Janina took several steps forward.
Her movement was so immensely fast that she seemed to teleport, planting herself directly in front of Ryan and invading his personal space without giving him any time to react.
She raised her face, with her pupils dilated and fixed right on him, emanating a sudden and suffocating magical pressure.
"Did you meet my older sister, Irnina?"
