Even after rubbing my eyes and looking at it again, it was still Smartie. Dialugia, who was standing and looking around, had come with Smartie, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Smartie. The last time I saw Smartie, it was as big as a puppy, and I was shocked when I saw how it had become as big as a tiger. At this point, Smartie had become scary rather than cute. It was sniffing around as if its surroundings were interesting, and then it looked at me. At that moment, I thought maybe I should have worn some armor because I saw an indescribable emotion in its eyes.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

It screeched and violently nodded its head while drooling, which worried me. Smartie was still doing the same actions it had gotten used to when it was still a baby, but I was worried that Smartie had started to see me as food. Its propeller-like tail was intimidating, but I was excited to see Smartie. It had also been a while since I had seen my child, so I thought I shouldn’t neglect it.

Dialugia had to be angry because she was frustrated by the fact that I wasn’t there when Smartie was growing up, so welcoming them with open arms was the best thing to do here.

“Ah… Smartie…”

When I spoke, I saw it charging toward me.

“Pant, pant! Pant!”

‘What’s wrong with Smartie?’

“Kyaaaaah!”

It ran towards me pretty fast, so I had to assume a stance.

Before I could think about how I was going to catch it, it jumped on me, and its heavy weight caused me to naturally fall to the ground.

“Kyah! Pant, pant! Kyaaaah! Pant, pant!”

The pain only lasted for a moment because when I saw its eyes filled with tears, I started to feel bad.

“Kyaaaaaah! Pant, pant! Pant, pant!”

Tears started to fall from its eyes and seeing it wagging its tail like a propeller proved that it was indeed Smartie.

“Hey!” I called out.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Have you been doing well, Smartie?” I asked.

“Pant! Pant!”

Not only did it start licking me, but it kept sniffing me. I couldn’t hold it in my arms like before, but I did hug and stroke it here and there.

“Good job! You’re so good!” I complimented it.

“Kyah! Pant! Kyah! Pant! Kyah! Pant!”

Smartie still jumped around whenever I clapped.

“Cute.’

Smartie looked at me as if it was asking me to give it an airplane ride, but I wasn’t strong enough to lift it up. Upon seeing us interact with each other, Dialugia slowly approached us.

“Smartie grew pretty fast,” I commented.

“When you’re with her all the time, you don’t really notice it. I have finally noticed how careless you have been with our Dialuria,” Dialugia said.

“I was kind of busy. I did think about returning home, but things didn’t work out, and I had to work hard for our nest. I have been sending food for Smartie every time, though, so I’ll be kind of sad if you keep scolding me like this,” I told her.

“Just because you have been doing the bare minimum doesn’t mean you have fulfilled your role as a father. Being next to Dialuria is more important. Think about how lonely she has been all this time. It missed you so much that she even started crying. Are you okay, Dialuria?” she asked.

“Kyaaah!”

“I’m not mad at your father, Dialuria. We’re just talking. I’m not scolding him and we’re not fighting, my lovely daughter,”[1] she added.

“Kyah!”

“I won’t ask you to stay with her every day, but you should stay with her at least once a week; no, once every three days at least. Also, I’m going to start teaching her how to hunt, so you need to be with her during those times no matter what. It’s Dialuria’s first hunt and it’ll be helpful if her father is there,” she requested.

“I see. Of course, I’ll be there, but if you could tell me these things ahead of time…”

“That’s why I’m telling you now,” she interrupted me.

I understood why she was kind of dissatisfied and seeing Smartie cry did break my heart. In terms of time, I didn’t think that a lot of time had gone by, but I was sure it wasn’t the same for Smartie. As she continued licking me, a thought popped into my head.

‘It’s directly connected to my survival.’

“Will she grow bigger?” I asked.

“No, she’ll maintain this size for a few months. She may grow little by little, but it’ll take a long time for her to grow even bigger,” Dialugia replied.

“Ahhh…”

Smartie’s life might actually be in danger if she grew even bigger.

“It’ll be a bit difficult to handle,” I commented.

“She’ll learn how to transform and talk,” she added.

“Oh! Like you?” I asked.

“Of course. It’s normal for dragons to take a while, but our Dialuria is smart,” she answered.

Whether it was on here or on Earth, every parent always thought their child was smart.

I tried to get up because I thought I shouldn’t keep rolling on the ground, but despite getting up, Smartie continued to jump around and kept trying to get on top of me.

‘Ugh…’

Obviously, she couldn’t get on me so easily.

‘You’re heavy.’

My strength had increased a lot, so I was a lot stronger than most ordinary adult males, but it still wasn’t easy to handle this kind of weight. Despite that, Smartie looked like she didn’t want to give up, so in the end, she hung onto me as if I was giving her a piggyback ride. Her hind legs and tail were wrapped around my waist, and her fore legs were around my chest and left shoulder while she placed her head on my right shoulder and screeched.

“Shall we stay together today, Smartie?” I asked.

“Pant! Pant!”

At this point, I had to use my mana, and using it helped a little bit. That was when I heard a voice from outside.

“Is she Dialuria? Or was it Smartie? Darling?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.

“Kyaaaaah!”

I wasn’t sure why, but Smartie looked at the red-headed woman and screeched, but the sound was different from her usual screech. It wasn’t because she was in a good mood. It was more like she was being hostile toward Cha Hee-Ra.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

“Kyaaaaaaah! Kyah!”

“Smartie is cute, darling! You really were chosen by a dragon. I knew it after seeing the nest in Lindel, but it’s more convincing seeing you like this,” she commented.

The closer she got, the more Smartie lowered her head. She instinctively sensed that the woman in front of me was dangerous. Her quick-witted side definitely resembled me, but I obviously hadn’t made any contributions to Smartie’s genetics. Still, I couldn’t help but think about it sometimes.

“She’s really cute. Look at how she lowered her head. Smartie looks weak, darling.” Cha Hee-Ra pointed out.

Smartie was acting like this because Cha Hee-Ra was reaching for her. However, Dialugia stopped her before she could pat Smartie.

“Can’t you see that she’s scared? Please step back.”

“Ah…”

After looking up and down at Dialugia, Cha Hee-Ra stared at her horns for a moment before she started talking.

“Oh, you must be… Dialugia?”

“Yes, and you are?” Dialugia asked.

“You can call me Cha Hee-Ra. I had no idea she was scared… my bad. I’m sorry, Smartie. And I’m sorry, Dialugia,” she apologized.

“I-It’s fine… I was being a bit sensitive…” Dialugia responded.

Seeing that side of Cha Hee-Ra was a bit surprising, and seeing her looking at Smartie made me think that she liked cute things. Of course, Smartie was too grown up to be considered cute, but it was strange to see her trying to be nice to Smartie.

‘Does she like children?’

She immediately apologized when Dialugia stopped her, and I may be rude for saying this, but she reminded me of a gorilla that was taking care of a baby. Seeing Cha Hee-Ra apologize to Dialugia made me think that she was still a woman at heart. Although Dialugia was on edge, she also looked shocked.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to meet you. It’s okay if I talk casually, right?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.

“I don’t really mind…” Dialugia replied.

It seemed like they were getting along well.

“You’re going to the training camp, right, darling?” she asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah,” I answered.

“Dialugia? How about you and I rest for a bit?” she suggested.

“What? But… I need to look after my child…”

“It’ll only be for a moment, and our darling will look after Smartie. His workplace isn’t far from here, anyway, so you can run to him if something happens. What do you say?” she asked.

“But…”

“Let’s have some tea and talk. You look like you really need a break right now,” Cha Hee-Ra added.

I agreed. The hesitant Dialugia seemed like she wanted to rest as well. I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but there were bags under her eyes. Her smooth skin and hair looked messy and dull—even the color of her horns looked washed.

‘I wonder if she’s tired.’

Of course, she was exhausted. It didn’t matter even if her stamina was over 100 points…

‘Parenting is difficult.’

Smartie may be calmly hanging from my back right now, but once she started to run wild, I was certain it would be difficult to calm her down. Raising a human was hard, so I was sure raising a dragon was even more difficult. Obviously, I started to feel guilty, so I had no choice but to say something.

“I think you should rest for a bit, Dialugia. I’ll look after Smartie for today.”

Dialugia seemed relieved. After looking at Dialuria for a bit, she finally nodded.

“I’ll leave it up to you then,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” I assured her.

“You’re going to be with Daddy all day, Smartie. Okay?” I asked.

“Kyah! Pant, pant!”

“But if you don’t listen, I’m sending you back home, so you have to stay quiet,” I warned her.

“Kyaaaah!”

She definitely understood what I said because she nodded violently, and Dialugia looked like she was happy with this arrangement.

“We’ll be heading out now,” I told them.

“Okay...”

‘I’m sure nothing will happen.’

The fact that I had been chosen for the Eight Seats was something the majority of the trainees already knew, and it also included the fact that I was chosen by a dragon. I was sure some of the trainees were suspicious about whether it was true or not, but I was certain that I would receive a lot more attention today.

‘Even if Smartie is still a baby…’

Her stats were incredible.

[Checking Legendary-Ranked Named Monster Black Dragon Dialuria’s Status Window.]

[Name - Dialuria]

[Title - Smartie]

[Age - 1]

[Nature - ???]

[Race - Dragon]

[Stats]

[Strength - 32/Above legendary growth limit]

[Agility - 32/Above legendary growth limit]

[Stamina - 33/Above legendary growth limit]

[Intelligence - 10/Above legendary growth limit]

[Endurance - 41/Above legendary growth limit]

[Luck - 32/Below legendary growth limit]

[Magic - 40/Above legendary growth limit]

[Overall Review - She’s very excited. You’re lucky that you can be the father of such a being. Please be careful.]

‘She hasn’t unlocked her nature yet.’

Her endurance was 41, while her magic was 40 points. To put it bluntly, even if the attack team attacked Smartie all at once, they wouldn’t be able to defeat her. Obviously, she couldn’t fight right now because she still couldn’t control her body and mana, but she did have the instinct, so I was confident that she was well above them.

‘There are still about three days left until the completion ceremony…’

I decided to spend more time with Smartie once this training camp was over.

‘Yoo Ah-Young’s plan is almost reaching its end as well…’

I recently saw her spending time with Kim Ki-Chul, so I guess she really wanted to go all out in backstabbing him when it was time. I told her she could do whatever she wanted, but I had never imagined that she would plan something like this. I guess this side of her was hidden behind her optimistic and easygoing personality.

When I entered the training camp while having various thoughts, I felt people staring at me, and obviously, I also heard them whispering.

“Isn’t that… a dragon?”

“Really?”

“Wow… I didn't think the rumors were real… Some people really have all the luck in the world. I wish I were chosen for something.”

“I’m sure he got that dragon from a goblin or something.”

These were the types of comments I heard, but the strangest part of this situation was…

‘What’s wrong with her?’

Smartie was calmly hanging from my back, and she didn’t cause any trouble even when a male trainee passed us by.

‘What’s going on?’

But, whenever a female trainee passed us by, she would foam at the mouth and growl at them.

“Kyaaah!”

To make things worse, Smartie would show them her fangs as if warning them not to get closer, so I knew something was wrong. She looked around as if to see whether someone was approaching us or not. It was ridiculous, but I had seen that gaze before.

‘Jung Ha-Yan?’

Smartie was showing the same attitude Jung Ha-Yan had always been showing.

‘It’s probably just a coincidence.’

I activated Mind’s Eye just in case.

[Check Legendary-Ranked Named Monster Black Dragon Dialuria’s Unique Habit.]

[Twisted and Dangerous Love in the Dark][#Silly Father Complex][#Mommy is Frustrating Too]

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Th-This is crazy…”

I realized ahead of time that Diaugia had failed at raising our child.

1. We finally know Smartie’s gender ☜