Ancient Dragon in Arknights

"I stayed at the school."

Seria's calm tone remained flat, as if whether or not she had a vacation was of no concern to her.

“Then I’ll stay at school too, but before that, I need to see Aunt Yara. Seria, aren’t you going home to see your family? I remember you have a younger brother.”

"..."

Saria's rapidly moving pen stopped. Her expression remained unchanged, but the two women who knew her well could tell that she was angry.

'W-w-w...could it be that Saria and her brother have a terrible relationship?!'

Muirses was well aware that Seria had once expressed her views in a sociology class—emotional venting is meaningless; only concrete action matters.

Many students questioned this statement, but in the end, Saria refuted them all until they were speechless.

Just as she believed in herself, her emotions were always calm, as if they never fluctuated.

As a result—just mentioning her brother was enough to break Saria's composure?

“He doesn’t plan to go home. This morning, I went to the Messenger’s Association to mail a letter—to inform him of my address; but his letter arrived at the same time. It said he didn’t plan to go home for the holidays.”

"..."

Christensen had never met Seria's brother, nor did she know the nature of their relationship, but she was certain that the guy had better not come to Tremont, or he would definitely be met with a brutal beating.

"Um...did your brother say why?"

He said the journey from Victoria to Colombia was too complicated and time-consuming, and he didn't want to go through the hassle.

'What a despicable reason!'

Muirses couldn't imagine what Saria's brother would be like; the difference between him and his sister was just too great.

"Of course, I have another guess, which is related to his school environment."

"How to say?"

“He attended the Royal Guard College of Victoria, where military academies would form teams during their studies, and he made trustworthy friends in Victoria.”

Celia still cared about Nesario; at least, aside from the on-site investigation, she was already familiar with all the descriptions of the Royal Victoria Guard Academy in Colombia.

"Just like us? Except we're a research team, and they're a tactical squad? We fight for truth in the lab, while the soldiers battle evil in the dark. How cool is that!"

Muirses' understanding of the world was naturally not that simple; she was only saying that to fit the atmosphere at the moment.

"But that's where the problem lies."

Saria took out the letter she had received that day from her bosom—the sealing wax on the envelope had been removed, indicating that Saria had indeed read it.

She pulled out a photo that was tucked inside—a group photo on top, the background of which appeared to be a training ground of a military academy.

The main subject of the photo is four figures—from left to right: a brightly smiling orange-haired girl named Vaiva, a calm and even somewhat aloof blue-haired dragon girl, a composed and resolute blonde girl named Rupert, and a handsome young man named Vaiva with a black crown and short silver hair on the far right.

They were a little dirty, looking like they had just come from a battlefield, and you could even see beads of sweat on their faces; but they were all smiling, and you could tell from the photo that they had a close relationship.

"Is the male-to-female ratio at Konoe Academy really that unbalanced?"

"No...the army is definitely predominantly male, so the imbalance is probably only in this unit..."

Both Christensen and Muels were sweating slightly. They knew very well that Seria not only had high standards for herself, but also for those around her. Muels and Christensen's friendships with Seria only blossomed after their talents were recognized.

'Saria's brother is probably going to get a severe scolding.'

Muels felt genuine pity for this little brother he'd never met. Did he have no idea what kind of person his sister was? How dare he send such a photo?

Image 2.jpg from a group member

Chapter 113 Londinium's Loophole

Far away in Victoria, Nesario was naturally unaware of the trouble his letter had brought him. He simply showed Saria his team members—after all, the three girls had taken good care of him, even saving his life.

Of course, when traveling, it's common to only report good news and not bad. Saria was completely unaware that Neltharion had almost died at the hands of the Sarkaz mercenaries; if she had known, she would probably have remembered the three girls' kindness.

Now, Nesario, who is enjoying life with Losili at the cat cafe, just wants to focus all his attention on the present moment.

"Oh dear, this naughty little guy is shedding a bit. My clothes are fine, they're made of a special material, but you'll have to be careful."

"It's okay, we can wash it anyway."

"You don't understand, do you? Animal hair is usually very difficult to remove, and washing machines can't do it."

"Then keep it away from me, don't let that thing fall into my arms."

Unfortunately, Lothiri's prank had already succeeded. She tossed a can of pet food into Nesario's arms, while the most active Filin had already leaped into Nesario's arms.

Many other colors suddenly appeared on the black fabric of the clothes—those were shed hairs.

"My God, is it that serious?"

Nesario opened the can and set it aside. The immense attraction instantly drew all the little guys away, and he looked at himself covered in fur in disbelief.

"Haha, just give me the clothes then. I have special laundry detergent that can clean them."

"Speaking of which, what are your plans for the holiday? Aren't you planning to go home?"

From Lothril's few words, Nesario deduced one thing: the spy had no intention of going home. Why was that? Nesario remembered Lothril saying that she was born into a poor noble family, but she never mentioned her relationship with her parents.

'Could it be one of those classic tropes? Incompetent aristocratic parents dumping all their future and pressure onto their children?'

It's unlikely... With all her abilities, Losley would never be so tightly controlled by her parents; on the contrary, she probably holds the most power in the family.

"To be honest, I can't go back. The Victorian military has assigned me a mission."

"Spy on me?"

"Pretty much, because we seem to have a very close relationship. So the higher-ups are happy to see that, and my task is to keep a close eye on you."

Lothiri was also helpless about this. In fact, she knew a lot about Nesario, and casually revealing one or two things could throw the military into chaos, but she herself would also be entangled in endless trouble.

So now the two of them can only put on an act for each other. Lothiri occasionally reports some unimportant information, while Nesario also has to spread misinformation when necessary.

"Of course, there is also work on investigating smuggling cases."

"Is this case still not closed?"

Nesario had originally thought that with so many forces operating within Lontinim, the smuggling case would be solved instantly.

“The black market in Lentinium was originally under military control, but this shipment came in through the black market. So—you know what I mean.”

"Either the black market has slipped out of control, or there's a problem within the military?"

"Not only that, we've also uncovered other leads. It seems the batch of goods you exposed wasn't the first batch."

"!?"

Nesario had never wanted to leave Londinium so much—this place was on the verge of an Oripathy outbreak!

"They appear to have come from the black market and then been received by various gangs."

"Do those gangsters in Lontinim, who don't even dare to kill people, have the guts to do this?"

"There must be a powerful driving force behind it."

"..."

Gangs... This reminded Nesario of something.

The Fang Gang—a small fry that he and the Glasgow Gang wiped out together. The Fang Gang's godfather was successfully beheaded by Neltharion and Vina—of course, he himself did not die, but was taken away by Vina to be used as a puppet to control the Fang Gang.

How did the Glasgow Gang handle it afterward? Nesario didn't know. He shook his head, putting his jumbled thoughts aside.

"Impossible. That's just a small gang that occupies a few blocks; they wouldn't be involved in something this big."

"Nesario?"

"It's nothing. Speaking of gangsters reminded me of something."

Lori took a sip of coffee, her thoughts drifting back to the time she was tracking down Nesario—how could a mere Glasgow gang cause so much trouble?

"That... Glasgow Gang leader, how do you plan to deal with her in the future?"

The struggle between the red dragon and the lion lasted for a century. Several decades ago, the lions won a complete victory, and the red dragon disappeared completely from Victoria.

And now—a living red dragon sits right in front of Losili.

'Ah, if I write this in my memoir, will some guys come back in the future specifically to read it?'

Nesario would never live a mediocre life, Lothiri firmly believed, but she didn't know how high Nesario would ultimately rise to.

"We'll form alliances and help each other. We're both down on our luck, so it's only a matter of time before we stab each other in the back. We've always had a pretty good relationship."

"..."

While Nesario and Lothiri were sitting in the coffee shop discussing the Glasgow Gang, what were they actually doing?

The answer is battle.

All the street vendors packed up and went home, and all the doors and windows along the road were tightly shut. This had never happened since the Glasgow Gang took control of the area.

But today, the fear of gangsters has returned to the residents' hearts once again—the Ghost Fire Gang has arrived.

One of the largest gangs in Lentinium, their territory spans slums and many urban outskirts. Due to the difficulty of governing them and the low returns, the Lentinium city police have never cracked down on them on a large scale.

That's how society is in Victoria. When aristocratic gentlemen call the police, it rarely takes more than 24 hours from filing a case to its resolution, but they turn a blind eye to the voices of the slums.

The Victorian military was merely planting spies and agents within the gangs; they needed these shady methods to do shady things.

Now look what's happened, the backlash has begun.

A certain Grand Duke unleashed his power, cutting off the collars that General Square had placed around the gangsters' necks, and the seemingly impenetrable Londinium was the first to show a weakness there.

The underworld is in complete chaos – gangs absorbed by the unknown Grand Duke, gangs unaware of the situation, the Victorian military, and other forces are all caught in this mess.

The Glasgow Gang was an unwitting and unwitting member of the criminal underworld—they were attacked by the Ghostfire Gang for no apparent reason, and had already lost some of the territory they had seized from the Fang Gang.

Chapter 114 Key Figures

"Damn it! There are too many of those bastards. Too many of our brothers have already been injured."

When gangs lack proper equipment, fights often boil down to simple addition and subtraction—whoever has more people wins.