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Chapter 117: Finding Peggy’s Younger Sister

Nora squatted on the ground, sniffed around, then suddenly looked back and said, “Master, I caught her scent; she isn’t far from us.”

They had searched the whole morning, yet they had found neither Peggy’s sister Neve nor the rumored dragon.

Elyanna yawned and leaned sleepily against Reiner, saying, “We finally found something; if we still came up empty, I was going to ask the little elves to search for you.”

“Can you help me locate the red dragon?” Reiner patted her head.

“You keep asking them; they will think I am a nuisance,” Elyanna complained softly, then tapped Reiner’s knee twice with her staff.

Reiner coaxed her in a low voice, “Help me out and I’ll buy you something tasty on the way back.”

Whenever she refused to do something, Reiner would pacify her this way.

“Bribing me with food again; you really are impossible,” Elyanna murmured, grabbing the hem of Reiner’s coat and slowly closing her eyes. “Keep walking; I will guide you.”

They continued forward behind Nora.

After trekking for half a day through the dense woods, Martina suddenly stopped them and said, “Reiner, the trees are getting thicker; the horses can’t pass.”

When they looked back, one of the horses was wedged between two trees and could not move.

“Tie the horses and we’ll continue on foot.”

Before long, Martina and Junice caught up at a brisk pace.

Peggy, however, wore a gloomy expression and kept plotting in her mind.

(This area is so safe; we have walked for so long without seeing a single monster, so that human is obviously bluffing me. I must not let him find Neve.

But I can’t launch a surprise attack right now; I have no weapon, casting spells makes noise and needs time, and that idiot is watching me closely… she could subdue me in an instant…)

Reiner glanced back at her.

Seeing her silently brooding, he asked on purpose, “What is it? Still scheming to stab me in the back?”

Peggy froze for a moment, and the ferocious look in her eyes gradually softened.

Her beast ears drooped as she pleaded in a hushed voice, “Master, I will do anything you ask, just please don’t hurt my sister. She is a pure and kind girl, I beg you…”

She forced the words through clenched teeth.

“I never said I would harm your sister. I only want you to make money for me; beyond that I have no interest in you demi-humans.”

Peggy nodded yet still looked unconvinced.

Reiner said no more; she was clever enough to figure it out after some observation.

Suddenly a chill swept over them.

They all shivered involuntarily.

Junice edged closer to Reiner and whispered, “I feel… as if something is watching us.”

As soon as she spoke, Elyanna halted and, like a heavy anchor, grabbed the clothes of Reiner and Junice.

“The little spirits say there is indeed a young red dragon nearby; it is not very large, only a bit over 20 meters long.”

“Master!” Nora, who was walking ahead, waved to them, then pointed at a deep pit in the snow, behind which a series of faint tracks led into the forest.

The prints were fresh; the red dragon had probably just departed.

Reiner crouched down and measured the track with his hand; it was almost half as big as his torso.

Elyanna took a careful look and confirmed, “No doubt, these are a red dragon’s claw marks; I have seen them several times before.”

Peggy joined them and glanced at the print, now genuinely shocked: (Such a huge footprint… he wasn’t lying; there really is a dragon in this forest. That means Neve is in danger…)

She poked Reiner’s shoulder and pleaded, “Master, help me find my sister. She is the only family I have left.”

Tears welled in her eyes and her white fluffy tail drooped.

Reiner cast her a sidelong glance and said slowly, “I never refused to help; I’ll do my best.”

Nora walked ahead, craned her neck for a while, then turned and asked, “The tracks follow the scent; shall we go after them?”

“Yes, let’s see whether we can find her sister first.”

No sooner had he spoken than the system’s voice echoed in Reiner’s ears.

【Quest: Investigate Dawn Forest

Current Status: completed

Reward delivered】

Reiner felt his pouch grow heavier; he reached inside and touched five neatly arranged bottles of holy water.

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over him.

From past experience, the system rarely handed him useless items for no reason.

There were exactly five people… Nora, Martina, Junice, Elyanna, and Peggy… far too convenient to be coincidence.

“System, what kind of trick are you pulling now?”

【Just a randomly assigned reward; you think too much.】

【Quest update: Rescue Peggy’s sister.

Quest reward: Breath of the Frenzied Red Dragon (TL: Yes, the frenzied word was added here) can transform into a humanoid form.】

????

Hold on, buddy.

Reiner looked at the staff in his hand.

This thing can turn into a person?

He could read every word, yet when strung together they felt utterly alien.

Whatever; numbers could wait… he would finish the quest first.

“Get ready; we might have to fight soon,” he warned the group, then turned to Elyanna and asked, “Red dragons don’t have mana-detection abilities, right?”

“They don’t; just treat them like beasts.”

“Martina, activate Lightning Armor Forging in advance.”

“Got it!” Martina began to chant.

Like a sputtering lighter, she had to repeat the incantation several times before the spell took effect.

As electric light coursed over her skin, she slowly donned her helmet.

The group huddled together and kept following the tracks.

After some distance, the claw prints vanished without a trace.

Reiner’s heartbeat quickened; he lowered his voice and asked, “Can you still smell that demi-human?”

“Yes, she is probably hiding nearby.” Nora closed her eyes to sense carefully, then opened them and looked at a thick dead tree in the distance. “I found her.”

Peggy looked around, saw no danger, and decisively walked toward Neve’s hiding place.

“Don’t rush; Nora and I will go with you. The red dragon may be hiding close by, so being careful won’t hurt,” Reiner said, glancing back at Martina, Elyanna, and the others. “Stay alert at all times.”

“I’ll do as you say.” Peggy reached out and grabbed Reiner’s clothes.

The three of them hurried to the dead tree.

Once there, Nora knocked on the trunk; it was hollow inside.

A moment later, an uneasy voice came from within. “Who’s there?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Peggy looked back at Reiner and whispered, “Fufu, it’s me…”

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