Chapter 210: The Place Where Dreams Begin

Even if a traitor deserves to die, it won't be now.

A few minutes later, Rossweise withdrew her hand and let out a relieved breath.

Only then did Leon speak, "Did you just use some kind of memory-probing magic?"

Rossweise took a brief moment to catch her breath before turning to look at Leon, "Yes."

Leon spread his hands, "If you have such a useful skill, why didn't you use it earlier, Your Majesty?"

"Because memory-probing magic has quite a few limitations and costs," Rossweise reached out, lifted Maureen's chin, and let Leon take a good look at her face.

She looked dazed, her gaze unfocused—far worse than before.

"First, the principle of memory-probing magic is to forcibly inject one's power into the target's cranial magic circuits. This causes irreversible damage to the target's brain. If no useful memories are obtained, the target will be completely unable to cooperate in future interrogations. So unless it's absolutely necessary, interrogation rarely involves memory-probing magic."

"Second—"

She withdrew her hand, and Maureen's head slumped down again.

Rossweise didn't look too well herself.

Leon looked at her, opened his mouth as if to say something out of concern, but when the words reached his lips, they became less sentimental, "Does it consume a lot of your magic power?"

But Rossweise shook her head, "Because I rapidly browsed through the target's memories, it was like experiencing everything Maureen went through in the past few years in just a few minutes."

Leon pursed his lips, feeling awkward for a moment before squeezing out, "You've worked hard..."

Rossweise snorted, "Finally, some words that are pleasant to hear, idiot."

Leon's face turned slightly red. Thinking back, he had just mocked Rossweise for her poor interrogation skills, yet now, the Silver Dragon Queen had gone to such lengths to extract information from Maureen for his sake.

This changed everything.

After composing herself, Rossweise said, "Constantine never told her about your human identity. So, we don't need to worry about that—"

She paused, feeling the phrasing was off, and quickly corrected herself, "I mean, you don't need to worry about that anymore."

Leon raised an eyebrow, keenly catching the queen's lightning-fast correction, "What you originally meant to say was 'we don't need to worry about that,' right?"

Rossweise: →_→

"Casmodeous, the Silver Dragon Tribe's dungeon isn't a place for you and me to... to... um..."

Rossweise wanted to snap back at him, but for a moment, she couldn't find the right words to describe Leon's behavior.

Fortunately, General Leon, well-versed in both strategy and literature, immediately completed her sentence, "It's not a place for us to flirt and bicker. I get it."

"Go to hell, you."

Since Maureen didn't know about Leon's human identity, the couple truly didn't need to remain tense.

After a brief exchange of banter, Rossweise suddenly turned serious again and added another key piece of information.

"Oh, right. Maureen has had multiple face-to-face conversations with Constantine. From those dialogues, it seems... the Dragon King cooperating with the Human Empire is not just Constantine alone." [T/N: Why am I getting a feeling that Isa is also a traitor? I hope not]

———

'A Dragon King cooperating with the Empire is not just one...', Leon rubbed his chin, frowning in thought.

Normally, such intel would be explosive.

But after dealing with the internal betrayal involving Victor, Leon had gained a profound understanding of the Empire's corruption and decay.

So no matter how shocking new revelations about the Empire might be, he wouldn't find them surprising anymore.

"Are there any concrete leads?", Leon asked.

Rossweise shook her head, "Maureen was just one of Constantine's pawns, not even an important piece in this conspiracy. Merely a minor, peripheral player. Constantine only mentioned the possibility of other Dragon Kings in passing."

"What exactly did he say?"

"'Let those old geezers handle trivial matters like this. Why must I be the one dealing with it?' Maureen overheard this sentence when she was leaving after delivering intelligence to Constantine. He was speaking to another Crimson Flame Dragon at the time."

Hearing this, Leon's eyes lit up, "That means if we find this Crimson Flame Dragon that Constantine was talking to, we might uncover more Dragon Kings working with the Empire?"

"In theory, yes. But Maureen's memory didn't capture any detailed information about that individual. Their appearance was blurry, and she didn't even hear their voice since she was in a hurry to return to the Silver Dragon Sanctuary and didn't linger around Constantine."

Just as hope ignited, it was doused immediately.

The anticipation in Leon's eyes dimmed.

Leaning against the table in the prison cell, he pondered for a moment before murmuring, "At least we now know there's someone who might hold more secrets about this conspiracy. It's not a complete loss."

Rossweise gave a tired smile. The aftereffects of the memory-probing magic had yet to subside. She lowered her eyes slightly, resting one hand subtly on the table's edge, and agreed, "Yes, that's true."

"If we go to the Crimson Flame Dragon Tribe, we might find this person, right?"

Rossweise thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"That's unlikely in the short term. When a Dragon King falls, their tribe enters a period of severe instability. Power fragmentation leads to absolute chaos. And the Crimson Flame Dragon Tribe, a nearly ten-thousand-year-old lineage, has a much more complex internal power structure than ordinary dragon clans."

"Plus, Constantine spent the past year conquering cities and amassing countless enemies. It's only been half a month since you killed him—his homeland must be swarming with people lining up to seek revenge. If you go there now looking for someone, you'll probably run into trouble."

A king thinks like a king.

At this moment, Rossweise was analyzing the situation from the perspective of a Dragon King.

And she was absolutely right.

Seeing Leon's clear yet clueless expression, Rossweise knew he hadn't considered any of this.

But she couldn't blame him.

A warrior riding into battle has no reason to concern himself with the power struggles of the elite.

"You're right," When it came to serious matters, Leon never argued with Rossweise.

'The mother dragon might be a bit devious, but her expertise is undeniable.'

For her, being a Dragon King was a job, and she just happened to be an extreme workaholic.

"But if the Crimson Flame Dragon Tribe is going to be chaotic for a while, wouldn't the person we're looking for use this chance to escape? Or worse... die in the struggle for power?"

"Hmm... Escaping is possible. But if he's someone Constantine trusted that much, his disappearance would definitely attract attention. So when the time comes, we'll be able to track him down."

Rossweise continued, "As for dying in the power struggle... that's also possible. But if that happens, it's nothing to regret. Even if the one holding the secret dies, the secret itself still exists, waiting for us to uncover it."

'Well, look at that, this is what you call professionalism.'

Extracting intelligence, finding clues, analyzing the situation, listing all possibilities, and finally delivering a little bit of motivational speech as a precaution—her captive got to experience a full-service "one-stop" treatment.

Leon slowly pondered over Rossweise's words just now. Her logic was clear, and as a Dragon Queen, her way of thinking was worth his study and reflection.

And he couldn't help but wonder—if he had taken Rossweise with him back to the Empire to catch the mole… would he even need to look for clues here now? Wouldn't he have just speedrun the Empire dungeon instead?

If that were the case, then he, his master, and Rebecca—their team of the old, weak, sick, and disabled—would need a name change.

Change it to "old, weak, crippled, and pregnant."

But that was just some self-deprecating nonsense he amused himself with after the fact. Leon knew that was impossible.

If Rossweise had gone to the Empire, it wouldn't just be a matter of "having risks."

"Alright, then let's wait for a while before digging more clues out of this person," Leon said.

"Mm."

The two of them took one last look at Maureen.

The mind-reading magic had damaged her brain, leaving her dull and dazed.

But fortunately, they had already obtained the intelligence they wanted. This traitor, who looked harmless on the outside but was actually dark and cold inside, was now useless.

Neither of them expressed any emotion towards her—not even mockery.

A betrayer who abandoned her people and her faith—any emotion spent on her would be a waste.

The two left the prison.

But after only a few steps, Rossweise suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. Losing balance, she suddenly fell backward.

Luckily, Leon had quick reflexes and caught her by the waist.

His broad, slightly cool hand supported her, and the first thought that crossed her mind was, 'Why not just lie down a little more and see if this bastard can still catch me?'

If it were before, the Silver Dragon Queen would have already scrambled to her feet in a panic, then stubbornly explained to Leon that she was fine.

How could she possibly be like this now, with such an active and playful inner monologue?

'Hiss—'

'Oh no!'

Say no more, this was really starting to feel like a married couple.

"You okay?", Leon's voice pulled Rossweise out of her wild thoughts.

She straightened up and shook her head, "I'm fine, just a side effect of the mind-reading magic. I'll be okay in a moment."

"Alright… you worked hard."

That was the second time in ten minutes he had told her that.

The queen smiled knowingly and muttered in a low voice, "At least you have a conscience, idiot."

General Leon's dense, straight-man soul was hit head-on by that coquettish idiot, and he couldn't help but shudder three times.

He quickly withdrew his hand from Rossweise's waist, awkwardly looking away, "I've always had a conscience."

Rossweise crossed her arms and looked at him. The moment she saw his reaction, she was immediately in the mood to tease.

She glanced around at the prison cells, and her mischievous thoughts instantly started brewing, "But a conscience can't help this queen relax and unwind, you know? Seeing so many memories in an instant is really exhausting for both the mind and body."

Leon spread his hands, "Then what do you want to do?"

Rossweise chuckled, "Come with me, I'll take you somewhere."

Leon became cautious, "Where... exactly?"

"The place where dreams begin."

———

After obtaining the key intelligence from Maureen, Rossweise did not rush to take Leon out of the dungeon.

More precisely, she did not leave the dungeon at all.

They passed through the prison corridors and arrived at another section.

Although it was still all iron bars, iron doors, and iron fences, Leon keenly noticed that all the cells in this section were empty.

In contrast, the section where Maureen had been held still contained dozens of dragon prisoners.

Seeing Leon's confusion, Rossweise explained, "This is the area for imprisoning outsiders."

Leon paused in his steps, quietly processing that, "Imprisoning outsiders..."

The Silver Dragon Clan was not warlike and never actively sought conflict with other dragon clans or foreign species, so it made sense that this area, designated for outsiders, was mostly empty.

'But why did she bring me here?'

Leon wasn't sure what this female dragon was up to, but his instincts told him it probably wasn't anything good.

As they walked deeper into the area, Rossweise continued, "Do you know what was the biggest foreign war the Silver Dragon Clan has fought in recent years?"

"Which one?", Leon asked instinctively.

"The Human Empire's Dragon Slayer Army Invasion."

'Damn it, I shouldn't have asked.'

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