Chapter 717: Marriage And Family, Teasing

Author’s Note: There will no NTR in the current arc (or any future arc obviously). I had to mention this since there might be some misunderstandings.

...

Isaac Hargraves smiled, and answered. "I just came here because I wanted to meet the Lord Annihilator. I’ve heard about quite a few of your achievements, so I wanted to see what kind of dragon you really are."

The dragon stared at him silently, immediately realizing that there was probably some kind of scheme behind his words. Someone like Isaac would not have walked through this ruined Sector and approached a dragon known for destroying almost everything around it without having some reason for doing so.

Still, the dragon was too tired to care.

After watching Isaac for a few moments, the dragon simply lowered its head and closed its eyes. It had no interest in wasting energy trying to figure out what another person wanted, especially when Isaac would probably reveal his intentions sooner or later.

Isaac did not seem bothered by the rejection. The next day, he came back.

This time, he brought alcohol with him, along with a few things that seemed completely unnecessary in a place like this. The dragon opened one eye when it sensed him approaching, but after realizing that Isaac had no intention of attacking or causing trouble, it simply ignored him and continued resting.

The day after that, Isaac returned again.

He brought fruits this time, and a few days later, he arrived with several rare treats that the dragon had not seen in a very long time. The dragon still refused to pay much attention to him, but Isaac continued appearing every day as though he had already decided that visiting the dragon was part of his routine.

Days gradually turned into weeks, and weeks eventually turned into months.

During that time, the dragon became familiar with the sound of Isaac’s footsteps and the feeling of his presence nearby. Sometimes Isaac would spend several hours talking about meaningless things, while on other days he would simply sit nearby and drink his alcohol without saying much.

The dragon slowly began to wonder about him.

Isaac was obviously suffering, and the dragon could sense that the corruption inside his body was constantly trying to spread. Even though he could somehow stop it from completely taking over, the pain caused by maintaining that resistance must have been unimaginable, so the dragon could not understand how Isaac continued behaving so casually.

He should have been desperate. Instead, Isaac was always smiling, joking, and wandering around as though he had all the time in the world.

The dragon knew that Isaac must have something he wanted to accomplish badly enough to endure that kind of pain, and that goal was probably the reason he continued clinging to life.

Yet the dragon still could not understand why he kept coming here.

Isaac had a goal, and every moment spent sitting beside the dragon was time he could have used to pursue it. The dragon could not see any obvious benefit in these visits, which made his behavior increasingly difficult to understand.

Eventually, the dragon began responding to him.

It was not as though they suddenly became close, but the dragon occasionally answered his questions instead of ignoring him. Isaac seemed satisfied with even those small responses, and he never pressured the dragon into speaking more than it wanted to.

Isaac was a strange man.

He was brash and shameless at times, yet there was also a certain gentleness in the way he treated the dragon. He was bold enough to make jokes and ask questions that would have gotten most people killed, but he also learned quickly whenever the dragon made it clear that something was unacceptable.

One example was his mana.

Isaac was blind, but that did not mean he was unable to perceive his surroundings. Within a abnormally large radius, his powerful mana allowed him to sense everything around him, and he could probably determine the dragon’s general appearance if he extended that perception toward it.

The dragon never allowed him to do that. Whenever Isaac tried to wrap his mana around its body, the dragon immediately became irritated because it was extremely sensitive to mana. Isaac eventually understood that this was one boundary he could not cross, so he stopped trying to sense the dragon directly.

Time continued passing in this strange routine. One day, while Isaac was sitting beside the dragon and pouring himself another cup of alcohol, he suddenly asked, "Have you ever thought about getting married?"

The dragon slowly turned its head toward him and stared.

It could never understand what was going through this man’s head. Isaac was willing to endure unimaginable pain just to remain alive, which meant that he clearly had a goal important enough to justify his suffering, so why was he spending so much of his remaining time sitting around and bothering a dragon?

"What type of dragon do you like?" Isaac asked casually as he poured more alcohol.

The dragon lifted the enormous cup beside it with mana and drank the entire thing in one gulp before answering. [I don’t know.]

Normally, the dragon would have ignored such a brazen question, and depending on the person asking it, there was a good chance it would have simply smashed them without bothering to respond. However, Isaac had become familiar enough that his strange questions no longer provoked the same anger.

"Why not?" Isaac asked. "Don’t you want to settle down somewhere and have a happy family? You could have children and live peacefully with them."

His blind eyes remained fixed toward the horizon as he spoke, and although his tone remained casual, something about his expression seemed different. After a brief pause, Isaac added, "Isn’t that what most people wish for? I also hope I could have a family."

The dragon almost wanted to laugh at his first sentence.

How could anyone possibly settle down and create a happy family in this ruined Sector? There was almost no life left, and the number of corrupted monsters continued increasing every day, so it would not take long before every remaining trace of intelligent life disappeared.

But the dragon could not bring itself to mock him after hearing those final words.

[You... wanted a family?] the dragon asked, and there was a noticeable hesitation in its voice. It was not sure why it was surprised, since Isaac was still a human being despite everything that had happened to him.

"Mhm," Isaac replied with a small smile. "I had someone I loved, but well..."

He chuckled and shook his head before taking another gulp of alcohol. The dragon noticed that Isaac did not elaborate, and it did not ask him to explain because there was no need to hear the answer.

The use of the word had was enough.

"Oh, well, it’s fine," Isaac said after a moment. "I have a plan, so I’m fine."

The dragon became slightly confused by those words.

What plan could Isaac possibly have? The dragon wanted to ask, but before it could say anything, Isaac stretched his arms and turned toward it with the same teasing smile he often wore whenever he was about to say something troublesome.

"What about you? Is there someone you want to marry? I’ve heard dragons are crazy libido, so you must have had your fair share of lovers and adventures," Isaac said in a teasing tone.