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Chapter 40 Evil Dragon, debut as a Manga Artist
Chapter 40 Evil Dragon, debut as a Manga Artist
My Evil Dragon Daddy.....
Imagining the Young Dragon standing in front of his tombstone, tearfully murmuring "My Evil Dragon Daddy," Lance felt an inexplicable sense of anticipation.
His enthusiasm for painting intensified, he simply had to show the Young Dragon this painting, to have her remember this day.
The only imperfection was that this Black Dragon wasn't in the painting. No matter, he thought, when the Young Dragon learned to paint, she could make one of him.
Concentrating his mind, casting aside the assorted thoughts that cluttered his brain, Lance began to paint with undivided focus.
The Young Dragon perched on Turtle's back was startled when she saw the Evil Dragon squatting on the beach, painting. When she noticed the easel before the Evil Dragon and the dyes placed on either side of his body, a terrified hue emerged in her amethyst, vertical pupils.
Oh no, the Evil Dragon is painting!
People painted by the Evil Dragon... all ended up dead.....
It's over; she reckoned she wouldn't live much longer.....
Huh?
The Evil Dragon might not be painting her; after all, he had promised the night before not to paint her just yet.
Maybe he was painting Turtle and Er Gouzi.
That's fine, then. She could relax and proceed to clean Turtle's turtle shell.
Turtle's shell was so big, and though its back was easy to clean, its edges were not— they were slippery, and one misstep... you'd fall straight into the sea.....
To clean the edges of Turtle's shell, she'd have to do it while flying.
Er Gouzi was no help at all. Turtle had just warned him, saying if Er Gouzi dared lick its shell, it would dare to flip over and drown him in the sea.....
When Turtle got angry... it was quite fierce.....
As night fell, Turtle carried the Young Dragon and Er Gouzi back to the island.
The Evil Dragon who had been squatting and painting on the beach had left before dark.
Lucia guessed... the Evil Dragon might have gone to mix a potion for her.
After laboring all afternoon, coming back to the island and drinking a bowl of dark green potion made all the day's fatigue vanish—yeah, right.....
Her feet barely touching the sand of the beach, she saw the Evil Dragon approaching from the distance with the potion in hand.
Drink up, drink it all and become a stinky Young Dragon.
"Lance, when I was cleaning Turtle's shell, I think I saw you squatting here, painting. What… did you paint?"
"I painted a Young Dragon falling into water, and a dog smacked into the sea."
"........"
What could she do about slipping? It's not like she meant to knock Er Gouzi into the sea.
Taking the Stone Bowl filled with the dark green potion from the Evil Dragon's claw, the Young Dragon held her breath and downed the potion in one gulp.
After drinking the potion and returning the bowl to the Evil Dragon, "Can... can we see the painting you worked on this afternoon?"
A Q-version painting drifted down from the Evil Dragon's horns, floating gently through the air.
Lucia quickly caught it with her dragon claws. The Evil Dragon's draftsmanship, skill, and style were excellent, evident from the various portraits hanging in the Dragon's Nest Study—not hard to see.
So cute (*???*)
She fell for it at first glance.
The Evil Dragon could actually paint in such an adorable style.
It shocked the princess way too much.
How could such a fierce and terrifying Evil Dragon... how could he produce such a cute style of painting?
Just... he made her look a bit ugly. Did she really look that panicked when she fell down?
Was her mouth really open that wide?
And also... when she fell into the ocean, did she really plunge in headfirst?
In the painting, a cute Young Dragon hits a dog before tumbling into the sea, leaving only her claws and wings frantically flailing above water.
Not far away, the dog that was smacked into the sea surfaces, barking furiously at the plump dragon body—its face looks very angry.
There's text... there's text....
The Evil Dragon even provided captions for the dog, reminiscent of the brief comics published by the publishing houses in the Capital.
[Stupid pig-raising Young Dragon, you've made a big bump rise on my dog head!]
The Young Dragon and Er Gouzi had behind them a silly turtle, twisting its head and looking at them with confusion, as if it was beholding two dimwits...
Was Turtle looking at her and Er Gouzi with that same expression at the time?
No way, Turtle had such a nice temper, it must have been Evil Dragon adding an "artistic touch."
"The style is really cute, you should go to the Human World and debut as a comic artist, your comics would definitely be a hit there,"
Lucia praised the Evil Dragon, she sincerely thought that the Evil Dragon's style would be very popular in the Human World, at least girls wouldn't dislike it.
And children too, they would also really like this kind of style.
"Become a comic artist?" Evil Dragon Lance's vertical pupils sparkled, "Do you think a love story about 'Princess, Knight, and the Evil Dragon' drawn in a comic style would go viral?"
"....."
Why was the Evil Dragon so fixated on "love"?
Without ever having been in a relationship, could he create a beautiful "love story"?
'Princess, Knight, and the Evil Dragon'... that comic title... you can tell at first glance it's not a serious comic.
What serious comic would have a name like that...
"I was just saying... just saying... Don't take it seriously, Lance. Instead of drawing comics, better sell your paintings. Like this one... selling a piece for a few silver coins, or maybe tens of silver coins, there will probably be buyers..."
Wealthy noble ladies might buy it, ordinary folks won't – it's too expensive.
A few silver coins, tens of silver coins, that's the livelihood for an average family for two to five days.
To sell a painting for a few gold coins, or tens of gold coins – unless the comic artist is good-looking, even noble ladies might be reluctant to spend money on an obscure comic artist's work.
"A few silver coins? Can't even make back the cost of the canvas..."
"Canvas... that expensive?"
"My specially-made canvas, very expensive."
"Lance... could you... give this painting to me? I want to collect it."
"Sure, I intended to give it to you as an inheritance anyway."
"???"
Inheritance?
This painting... should I still take it?
It seems I should!
Speaking of inheritance...
If there ever comes a day to leave behind an inheritance, it should be her, the Princess, leaving it to the Evil Dragon.
It certainly wouldn't be the Evil Dragon leaving an inheritance to her.
The Evil Dragon would outlast her, the Princess; she couldn't outlast the Evil Dragon.
"Lance, do you know how to fish?"
"Yes, I even have a fishing rod."
"What bait do you normally use for catching big fish?"
"Er Gouzi, to catch a big fish, use Er Gouzi as the bait."
"......"
Er Gouzi showed his teeth and grimaced at the Young Dragon, was the Young Dragon picked up by Evil Dragon Lance an omen of doggy doom?
Why didn't he mention using a fishing rod to fish at noon?
That's because Evil Dragon Lance occasionally used him as fishing bait when catching fish!
Evil Dragon Lance's fishing was tough on the dog...
Sea Beasts in the deep sea were much bigger than those on land; with one gulp of their huge mouths, whoosh, he'd be gone...
"Using Er Gouzi as bait generally has mediocre results; if you want to eat a big fish tomorrow, I'll try a different bait."
"Big fish... want to eat, want to eat, want to eat."
The Phalan Empire was a landlocked country with a few coastal cities. As a princess, if she wanted to eat seafood, she could have it, but the taste could never compare to the freshness of seafood just caught from the sea.
"Tomorrow, you'll be the bait; let's see if I can catch a Deep Sea Beast. The bigger the Sea Beast, the fresher its meat quality. Young Dragon... you... where are you running off to?"
"I don't want to be bait!!"