"Yes."
Max replied.
He did not expect Mia's question to be focused on the 'being together' part, and he had assumed it to be regarding the outer sky.
Under Max's affirmative answer, Mia gradually calmed down.
Max released his wings to reveal a sleeping Mia with a few drops of tears hanging from the corner of her eyes.
'Is she really a dragon...'
Max had initially thought of himself as an anomaly among the dragons. Compared to his cruel brethren, he was as merciful as a saint.
As such, he had never expected his sister to be even more sensitive than him.
'Sigh, perhaps her genes are mutated.'
At this point, Max could only use genetic mutations to explain this phenomenon. It was not impossible for one or two unusual dragons to appear, after all.
In any case, as long as it was a living creature, no matter how powerful it was, it was possible for such mutations to occur.
At times, these mutations would prove beneficial, as they would bestow their hosts with greater talent.
Most of the time, however, they were more of a bane than a boon, as the mutated host might not even live to make a difference.
Based on Mia's actions, Max surmised that she had only acted this way due to a genetic mutation.
After all, normal dragons would not cry easily.
The only time that they would feel sad and tearful was when they had lost their hoard of treasure.
Even then, they would more likely feel hopeless and angry rather than sad.
As for the separation between family members...
Forget about it. To them, leaving their family members was as natural as drinking water.
...
One morning...
Agatha's voice rang out, "Get up, you lazy bums. I'm going to show you something today."
Max shook his head. The moment he woke up, his mother had already begun to inform him of his schedule for the day.
'She wants to show us something?'
'Is there even anything good in this desert?'
Max did not understand, but he still flew behind Agatha.
After a while, Mia exclaimed, "Humans!"
Max looked down.
There were indeed humans.
Moreover, there was more than one. It was a human village.
Agatha stopped in mid-air.
"These creatures are called humans. They are something you must be careful of in the future. Although they are not strong, their intelligence is comparable to us dragons. However, unlike us, they are even more cunning and they're willing to sink low to achieve their goals!"
"Stay quiet after this. Just follow behind me!"
"I'll show you how we should interact with humans as dragons!"
With that, Agatha swooped down.
...
"It's a dragon!"
The village chief heard a burst of sound from the sky, and to his terror, the skies had been occupied by a huge red dragon.
Boom —
The huge dragon suddenly landed in the center of the village and raised a cloud of dust in the process.
"A... A dragon!"
"It's Agatha! Agatha is here again!"
"Our tribute have been on time, right? W-Why is Agatha here then?"
"Damn it, damn it, let's run... No, we can't run, we'll be killed if we run!"
All the villagers knelt on the ground and worshiped Agatha. All of them were trembling, but not a single one of them had dared to run.
The last village chief who suggested to run had been torn in half by Agatha in front of everyone.
Dragons were such unreasonable creatures.
Agatha treated all the villagers as slaves. She neither killed them easily nor let them go.
In order to continue living, the village would have to send a constant tribute of camels to Agatha. After all, camels were the favorite food of Red Dragons.
For this reason, the villagers had tightened their belt and had even sold some of their children away. They were forced to do so as it would enable their tributes to arrive on time, and by doing so, they hoped to prevent Agatha from slaughtering them.
However, Agatha had still paid their village a visit. They were deathly afraid that she was here to slaughter some of them to appease whatever bad mood she was in.
The dust dispersed, and Agatha's form was in full view to the villagers.
Compared to the mud houses in the village, Agatha was so huge that even when she was lying on the ground, she looked as massive as a tiny mountain.
Agatha's roared, and the powerful shockwaves had caused several villagers to faint from fear.
The village chief swallowed his saliva and stuttered, "L-Lady Agatha... Is this humble one permitted the honor of viewing your majestic visage?"
"Permission granted." A cold voice sounded.
The village chief raised his head.
The eyes of the dragon, which were like huge lava balls, were bearing down at him at this moment.
He could even feel the wind that was stirred up whenever dragon breathed, and he could see all the gaps in her scales with vivid clarity.
"Lady Agatha." He resisted the urge to turn around and run. He asked on behalf of all the villagers, "M-May I know to what do we owe this pleasure of your visit today..."
"A camel, or a baby."
The village chief extended his trembling hands. "B-But we don't have any more camels, nor do we have any babies... I'm really, really telling the tru—"
Bang --
Agatha ignored the village chief and swept off the ceiling of a house with her tail.
Then, Agatha reached in with her claws and took out a small object.
Upon closer look, Max noticed that it was a crying baby.
"No! That's our last descendant!"
"Lady Agatha! Please let us off this time. It has been a long time since a child was born in the village. Most of them have been sold for camels!"
"Lady Agatha, eat me. I'm willing to die for that child!"
...
Max felt that something was off.
Just as the villagers had mentioned, in order to pay tribute to his mother, the villagers had sold off their children in exchange for camels.
In other words, in the eyes of the villagers, their own lives were greater than that of their children.
'In that case, why do they care so much about this baby girl, then? Why would they be willing to sacrifice themselves in exchange for this baby's survival?'
'This is very unusual.'
Max thought so and secretly summoned his system.
"System, take a look at that baby."
"Okay, the information is being generated..."
[ Name: Emily ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Current Level: None ]
[ Age: Half a Month ]
[ Maximum Lifespan: 136]
[ Attack: 0 (Normal Human 12)]
[ Spell Strength: 34 (Normal Human 3)]
[ Defense: 1 (Normal Human 5]
[ Speed: 0 (Normal Human 8]
[ Magic: Frost Arrow, Lightning Arrow, Lightning Paralysis, Fireball, Earthen Wall, Water Ripple ]
[ Remarks: this woman is of Tahir's bloodline. Her mother is a commoner from Deer Heart Village. By using a forbidden spell, she was able to give birth to the child within half a month. This child has inherited Tahir's natural affinity for magic. ]
...