"I should bring you back home for Mia."
Neither Max nor Mia had eaten their fill when they were dining on the camels earlier.
Furthermore, ever since Max found the adventurers' emblem, he dared not stay on the scene any longer.
As such, not only had the hunt gone to waste, but both he and Mia did not eat too well.
The desert night had come to an end.
A ray of sunlight emerged from the horizon and gradually covered everything.
Dawn had arrived, and it was time for the humans to become active.
Max looked in the direction of the camel corpses and sighed.
'It's too dangerous to go back for them.'
'There's no telling how many transmigrators there are in this world.'
'I should head back for now.'
'I've already obtained a huge ruby and a giant ballista. This is already a good enough harvest.'
Max walked to the warrior's corpse and took off all of his plate armor.
The plate armor was of no value to the red dragon. It was merely a pile of scrap metal.
Bringing it back would only be a waste of energy.
...
By the time Max had returned to the lair, the sun in the sky was already somewhat scorching.
A small figure was standing in front of the lair.
Mia had been waiting there the whole time.
Max had told Mia not to care about anything and to just continue flying forward.
Mia had done exactly as she was told. She flew all the way back to the cave without looking back.
Then, she waited.
From the dark night until the sun was high up in the sky, she was constantly waiting for Max's return.
Mia had many things she wanted to say.
For example, "Welcome back", "You've worked hard", "It's good that you're alright"...
However, being the proud creatures they were, no such words had existed in their vocabulary.
After much deliberation and much stuttering, Mia finally burst out with the words, "Brother!"
Max smiled indifferently and teased, "Open up! The deliveryman has arrived!"
Then, he threw the corpse of the swordsman to Mia.
With that, the brother and sister consumed the swordsman's corpse at the mouth of the lair.
Naturally, they did not dine within the lair itself.
Doing so would catch Agatha's attention, after all.
She would snatch away their food.
It was already considered noble for a dragon to not eat their own children.
As such, snatching away the food of their children was nothing too serious.
Moreover, Agatha was still sleeping.
It would not be a good idea to wake her up.
After all, human meat was rather delicious.
This was the first time Max had eaten a human.
He knew that this day would come sooner or later. Humans and dragons were mortal enemies, and humans had always been a staple of a dragon's diet.
He had imagined countless times about what kind of state of mind he would be in when the fated day would finally arrive. Or rather, he wondered for what reason would he eat humans.
What kind of reason would cause him to have to eat his former species?
Surprisingly, however, Max did not think much of it when the time had finally come.
His hunger had allowed him to feast on the human corpse without any psychological barriers.
"Delicious."
Mia licked her bloody mouth. "It's even more delicious than those camels."
Knock!
Max rolled his eyes and hit Mia on the head. "Isn't it because brother brought it for you?"
Mia lowered her head and stopped eating.
After a while, Mia asked in a low voice, "What happened after I fled, brother?"
"Nothing."
Max ate the last piece of tender meat. He felt better now that he had something in his stomach.
Regarding that battle, Max was unsure of how to explain it to Mia.
No one would believe a Dragon Hatchling triumphing over three experienced adventurers, after all.
Perhaps Mia would be willing to believe it at first, but as time passed and her knowledge grew, even Mia would find it strange.
After all, the difference between a Dragon Hatchling and a top adventurer in terms of physique and battle experience was way too huge.
Max had used too many underhanded moves to defeat the previous two.
As such, the matter must not be known to the other Red Dragons.
Doing so would bring a great humiliation to the Red Dragons, after all!
'Since when do us dragons have to employ such underhanded techniques to deal with humans?'
However, Max would most likely only laugh at their derision.
After all, the Red Dragons that thought this way were all Adult Dragons. In their eyes, humans were still as insignificant as ants.
They had never considered how helpless a Dragon Hatchling that had yet to fully develop would fare against the vicious humans.
Even now, Max still felt a lingering fear from the battles that had taken place the previous night.
He had only managed to defeat the first two adventurers due to pure dumb luck, and their underestimation of him.
As for the old mage...
Had it not been for the Battle of Existence, Max would have already passed on, and his corpse would have been taken halfway to the human kingdom.
Speaking of this, Max remembered that he knew how to use the Battle of existence. Of course, he could not let others know about it.
The gods were very cautious about the technique.
Forget being capable of using it, most people were not even aware of its existence.
He might be the only mortal that was capable of using the Battle of Existence in the world.
If he were to brag about it and let others learn about the Battle of Existence...
He would probably be punished by the gods.
After all, it was one thing to get rich quietly, but It would be too much to bring others along.
Therefore, Max had another reason not to disclose the truth to Mia.
"It's really nothing."
Max added, "However, we should be more careful in the future. If we face beings as strong as them again, don't provoke them. After all, we are still hatchlings."
"Noted, brother," Mia replied.
The brother and sister were indeed very hungry. They ate the human swordsman's corpse until there was only its skeleton left.
Max beckoned for Mia to return to the lair first.
Then, he found a place and buried the skeleton. This was Max's final act of mercy.
To Dragon Hatchlings, adventurers were natural enemies. They were poachers who deserved to die. However, to the humans, dying in battle against the evil dragons was a great and heroic death.
The reason why he was chased by the adventurers was because he had reincarnated into a Red Dragon. That was all.
If he had reincarnated into a human instead of a Red Dragon, he probably would have hunted several Dragon Hatchlings once he grew up.
Max sighed. He knew that he had no way out.
Since he was a dragon in this life, he should just be a dragon.
After burying the swordsman, Max began to pray in front of the grave.
"Your muscles are well trained. You tasted quite good."
"May you rest in peace. Amen."
...
After finishing his prayers, Max returned to the dark and cool lair.