Chapter 145: March 7th: Just As Planned
"As expected of our Astral Express's peerless God of War, March 7th."
A round of applause broke out across the observation car. To be honest, everyone was utterly floored.
"March, you… how did you do it?" Himeko finally broke the stunned silence, unable to hold back her question.
"Ah? This…" March 7th scratched her cheek, a sheepish grin spreading across her face. "Ehehe, it wasn't me who's amazing. Rekka's the amazing one."
"What does this have to do with Rekka?"
"Everything! Look, it's one of his gadgets." March 7th held up the seemingly ordinary white glove in her hand, waving it in front of the crew.
With the exception of Stelle, everyone's expressions became a little difficult to maintain.
"That thing even works on a dragon that big?" Welt's mind flashed back to Rekka's original explanation when he'd first presented the gadget—'As long as the opponent has hands, it will work.'
That underhanded? As long as it has hands, it works?
'Then I'm afraid the only ones who could counter this thing would be those without hands,'Welt mused grimly.'Like the Swarm?'
He dismissed the thought. Don't be ridiculous. The leader of the Swarm was currently coiled around their train.
"I remember now," Dan Heng said, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Rekka did say this was a gadget specifically for arm wrestling."
No, this… this counted? Could it really ignore such a colossal difference in size? Did a human hand touching a draconic claw truly satisfy the trigger condition? Was this some kind of conceptual-level divine artifact?
"Wait, why am I the only one who doesn't know anything! Have I been excluded?!" Stelle cried out, looking back and forth between her crewmates. "How come I'm the only one out of the loop? I'm crying from anxiety over here!"
"Ahem," March 7th said, patting her on the shoulder comfortingly. "This thing… it's a magical little gadget Rekka made while he was on the train, before you joined us. He doesn't usually show off his inventions, since a lot of them are pretty dangerous."
Outside, Rekka helped the massive female dragon to her feet—or rather, her claws. Although she had come for a courtship, she hadn't done anything particularly excessive beyond chasing him.
The female dragon's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was Rekka, extending a claw to support her, his gaze so focused, so gentle…
In that instant, the giant dragon's heart began to throb with a shy, thunderous beat. The vibration was so powerful that a nearby, uninhabited planet shuddered and then promptly exploded.
Uninhabited Planet: Why are you so selfish! Bah!
"I like you!" the female dragon blurted out, unable to contain herself.
Hearing those three words, Rekka's colossal dragon body shuddered in shock. His hand trembled, and he accidentally threw the female dragon, sending her tumbling through the void. Her massive form spun several times before crashing into a distant asteroid belt with a silent, dusty impact.
"…I didn't mean to." Rekka shrank his neck, his giant draconic head pulling back as he rubbed his two front claws together uneasily.
The female dragon shook her head, dislodging the rubble clinging to her scales. Instead of flying into a rage, her amber vertical pupils shone with an incredible light. She stared fixedly at Rekka as if he were the rarest treasure in the cosmos.
Wonderful.
Simply wonderful.
"Little brother," she purred, her voice echoing across space, "Big Sister will let you have a taste of Big Sister's stylish giant dragon claws in a bit."
Rekka shuddered. "I don't want it! I don't want it, ya! Don't come near me, ya hear!"
"Hey, hey! You have to accept your loss!" March 7th shouted, pulling open the train door. She misjudged the lack of gravity and accidentally drifted out, but fortunately, Rekka's whiskers were long enough for her to grab onto before she could float away. She quickly scrambled back onto his head.
The female dragon looked on, somewhat unwilling, but in the end, she turned to leave.
"Little brother, I'll be back!" she called out.
"Don't come back," Rekka muttered.
"Little brother just loves to joke. Big Sister will definitely come find you next time!"
Rekka fell silent. He had the distinct feeling he'd just been targeted by some incredibly terrifying creature.
"They say 'a wife three years older is like a gold brick,' but this… how many years older is she?" Himeko mused, falling into deep thought.
"Is she thirty million or three hundred million years older…?" Welt's mouth twitched.
"No matter how many years older, it's not okay!" March 7th declared, storming back into the carriage with her hands on her hips. "He's so weak, pitiful, and helpless right now, and he can't even turn back into his human form. How can we just let some random dragon from outside abduct our family's dragon?"
"Exactly, exactly," Stelle chimed in, nodding vigorously despite not fully understanding the situation.
"Eh, where are Rozaliya and Liliya?"
The pink and blue twins had, naturally, slipped off to the carriage closest to Rekka. Using their synesthesia beacons, they were communicating with him through the reinforced glass.
"Captain~ Captain~ are you listening?"
"What is it?" Rekka's voice rumbled back.
"Is the Captain neutered~?"
"Exactly, exactly~"
"Liliya heard that all Dragonkin are neutered~"
"Captain must never be neutered~"
"That's right~"
"I can give birth to little dragons for the Captain~"
"Liliya can too~"
Rekka remained silent. These two troublesome kids…
"Captain~ why aren't you saying anything~"
"Are you shy~?"
Having finally reached the end of his patience, Rekka lightly tapped the window glass with the very tip of his tail.
Instead of being afraid, the two little girls became even more excited.
"The Captain responded to us!"
"This means the Captain isn't neutered!"
"Captain~ let's sleep together today~"
"Liliya likes the Captain~"
Rekka had no response.
"You two." March 7th appeared behind the twins as if from nowhere, grabbing them by their back collars, one in each hand. "Can you stop pestering a poor little dragon and saying such scandalous things?"
March gently placed the sisters on a nearby sofa and handed them each a cup of Pom-Pom's special brew. "Drink up and be quiet."
Rozaliya held her cup, her big eyes darting around as she whispered into Liliya's ear, "March is jealous."
"Mm-hmm, Liliya saw it too. It's so obvious."
"You two…" March 7th's cheeks flushed a light pink. "Hey, don't talk nonsense!"
Rozaliya and Liliya exchanged a glance and together let out a long, meaningful "Ooooh~."
Although March's feelings had long been an open secret, everyone on the Express loved teasing their bubbly companion until her face turned red.
But this, too, was all part of March 7th's plan.
Plan successful.
She was, in her own way, a mastermind.
March 7th was quite shrewd. Though she had been coached, she was the one putting the plan into action.
'You're so silly, it's easy for them to outshine you~' a voice from her memory advised. 'Since that's the case, why not change tactics? Just be yourself, and don't get angry because others tease you about liking him~ By being shy over and over again, everyone will gradually get used to it. They'll subconsciously feel that you're the one who should be with him. How about that? ♭'
March had thought this made a lot of sense—well, everything after the first sentence, anyway. She wasn't silly!
Because now, March 7th had already noticed that everyone had unknowingly accepted the fact that she liked a certain someone. More, they were starting to accept her position as the main heroine. As long as she continued to be tsundere when she should be and sweet when she should be, she wouldn't have anything to worry about.
Her mysterious mentor had very seriously taught her about this, after March had a detailed talk with her about whether being a tsundere was a bad thing.
'Tsundere isn't actually out of style,' the voice had explained. 'What's out of style is the kind that's all 'tsun'and no'dere.' If you're so prickly that you're off the charts, who would bother with you? Making life difficult for people every day is just a twisted hobby.'
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me!
Want to read ahead on our official home, or unlock 50 advanced chapters (plus an Ad-Free experience) to feed your addiction? Help keep this shameless translator alive here:
(P.S. Replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
🌐 Official Website: elysianreads[.]com
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters & Ad-Free): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]