Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

……

When Lu Mingfei woke up, he was sitting against the wall of the hotel corridor, with the long teeth of the hunting dog stuck straight into the floor in front of him.

He heard a flurry of footsteps, the sound of the Executive Department's standard boots clicking on the floor. The footsteps stopped as they approached the stairs, and only one person hurried towards him.

Lu Mingfei felt an extremely heavy sense of exhaustion, which he hadn't felt in a long time. He could barely make out Angers' face before falling into a deep sleep.

Angers directed the specialists from the Italian branch to bring a stretcher and personally escort Lu Mingfei to the nearest hospital, accompanied by Paci, the secretary of the Gattuso family and the secretary of the school board.

……

"His signal disappeared for a total of four hours. The Italian branch evacuated the population with a blizzard warning, and we searched hotels and almost everywhere in town." Angers sat by Lu Mingfei's bedside, talking to the vice principal via voice call.

"What's the weather like there?" the vice principal asked.

“You mean elemental turbulence?” Angers was taken aback. “The weather is a bit gloomy, at most cloudy, not like elemental turbulence.”

"What's unusual about the places where he disappeared and reappeared?"

"The corridor was sealed off immediately. The Göttingen family inspected the scene and found no alchemical items or mediums for alchemical matrices," Angers described in a deep voice.

"headmaster."

Angers suddenly turned around to look at Lu Mingfei; he had already woken up.

"How are you? Are you feeling unwell?" Angers asked softly.

“I thought you would ask what happened,” Lu Mingfei said.

“Well, I really want to know.” Angers looked him straight in the eye. “You’ve practically vanished into thin air for four hours. Unless you’re playing hide-and-seek with us using your spiritual powers, I can’t find any other explanation.”

“It’s the Dragon King,” Lu Mingfei said calmly. “Perhaps it’s the sky and the wind.”

Angers stood up, his expression serious. "Are you sure?"

"At least a first-generation species or higher. He calls himself the Sky and the Wind. Would the Dragon King lie to humans?"

Angers paced back and forth in the ward. He had considered the possibility of an attack by a Dragon King, but the attack seemed too calm. If it were the King of Bronze and Fire, it would at least have destroyed the hotel.

Chapter 97 Lu Mingfei's Conversation with Elizabeth Laurent

After Angers left, the ward door was quickly pushed open again.

A young girl walked into the dimly lit ward. She seemed to have stepped out of an oil painting from the last century, dressed as a European noblewoman, dignified and elegant.

A black veil gently draped down, obscuring her face. Beneath the veil, a pair of sapphire-blue eyes could be vaguely seen, casting a curious and scrutinizing gaze.

She wore an expensive fitted skirt suit, the hem of which swayed with her steps, and a fur vest over it, exuding an air of nobility from within.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that she was only around twenty years old, but the superior's gaze made her appear as an elder.

Lu Mingfei, dressed in a hospital gown, sat leaning against the headboard.

What caught the girl's eye was the long sword placed horizontally in front of Lu Mingfei.

After leaving Nibelungen, Lu Mingfei always felt that the hound's fangs retained a familiar scent, carrying a hint of warmth and a fresh floral fragrance.

He had sometimes caught a glimpse of this scent in the early morning when he woke up from his sleep after the campfire had died down; it was faint, like dewdrops kissed by the morning light.

He had always thought it was some kind of flower from the border region, and traces of this flower could be found from Ningmgefu to the snow-capped mountains.

“Hello, I am Elizabeth Laurent.” The girl sat down in front of the hospital bed. “Lu Mingfei, the first S-class freshman in decades at the main campus of Kassel College. I have heard many stories about you. Angers said you are a lion-like warrior, and now that I have met you, it is indeed true.”

Lu Mingfei snapped out of his reverie and stopped thinking about the hound's unusual fangs. He heard at least ten strong heartbeats outside, at the ward door, the stairwell, the elevator, and the entrance to the inpatient department.

They are all mixed-race individuals with A-grade bloodlines.

"Thank you," Lu Mingfei said.

Elizabeth was taken aback. "What did Angers say to you?"

Lu Mingfei could tell at a glance that she was overthinking it. "I meant the guards outside the door."

“Your intuition is truly remarkable,” Elizabeth said, her eyes sparkling. “It’s beyond my comprehension.”

“Many words of power can do this.”

Elizabeth gazed into Lu Mingfei's eyes. She had seen many young people of excellent lineage who, when faced with her beauty and sincere praise, would either feign humility or openly display their pride. She knew how to handle both types of people. She could see through their emotions and thoughts and easily control the pace of the conversation.

But the boy in front of her was neither of those two types. His gaze swept over her briefly and then did not linger on her. He would only make eye contact with her politely when he was listening.

He looks a bit... absent-minded?

“As far as I know, your Word of Power is Setsuna,” Elizabeth said with great interest. “But your hearing is as sharp as that of the Word of Power Weasel.”

“Miss Elizabeth, you are the sixth member of the Board of Trustees. You’ve come to me alone for a private talk. You’re not interested in my Word of Power, are you?” Lu Mingfei was still a little tired and didn’t want to continue arguing. “Let’s get down to business.”

Elizabeth regained her confidence.

She grasped Lu Mingfei's emotion: agitation. No matter how much Angers praised him, his S-class body still held the soul of a young boy; he simply didn't understand that the negotiating table, like the battlefield, was filled with the clash of swords.

“Yes, you are very smart. Your personal lineage and power of words are not important in this meeting.” Elizabeth smiled. “But you are indeed an outstanding young man. At least among the peers I have met, you are the most fascinating one. I am simply interested in you as a woman.”

"Thank you." Lu Mingfei nodded. "I already have someone I like."

“That is truly an enviable lady.” Elizabeth tactfully ended the conversation. “Now I will speak to you from the perspective of the Laurent family.”

"Your resume is impressive, with two S-level mission records and extremely high praise from the other members on those missions," Elizabeth said calmly. "I'd like to understand some minor points of doubt, not out of distrust or suspicion, but some necessary procedures require clarifying certain information. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Lu Mingfei nodded.

“You are the only commissioner who has encountered the Dragon King since the founding of Kassel College, yet your mission report doesn’t even contain any description of the Dragon King.” Elizabeth said in a low voice, “The core tenet of the Secret Society is to slay dragons, but the first generation is too mysterious. We have only studied a third-generation larva. Information on higher dragons is a valuable asset to any family.”

"Do you think I deliberately withheld information from the college and the board of directors?" Lu Mingfei asked rhetorically.

Elizabeth sighed. "I personally trust Angers, and therefore I trust the one he chose. But sometimes the so-called head of a family is not a ruler who can do whatever he wants. If I want the Laurent family to stand on your side, I must persuade the higher-ups in the family."

"I'm honored to receive your kindness," Lu Mingfei said calmly. "I'd like to ask, do you think a hybrid could contend with the Dragon King?"

As the heir to the family fortune, Elizabeth naturally had access to many top-secret files. "The power of dragons lies in the purity of their bloodline. In this respect, it is difficult for humans to compare with the Dragon King. However, there have indeed been amazing dragon-slaying geniuses in the history of hybrids. They used their mortal bodies to send the Dragon King back to its slumber. Now times have changed. Alchemy and bloodlines are no longer the only weapons of hybrids. We now have science."

"So, in everyone's eyes, the Dragon King is already a coveted prey under the butcher's knife of science?" Lu Mingfei looked directly into her eyes.

Elizabeth suddenly felt uncomfortable with her posture. She knew it was psychological, so she sat up straight without making a sound, realizing that she had misjudged her relationship with Lu Mingfei.

She felt she was playing the role of a friendly figure in a high position, engaging with young students targeted by the school board, and that she could win them over to her side simply by using her beauty and status to exude charm and goodwill.

The successor in Angers represents the power of the direct management of the Kassel College headquarters.

The Laurent family was willing to risk fighting against the Gattuso family for such a person.

But the boy in front of me was not a student; he seemed to be a confident and powerful person. He had no demands in the negotiation, so he appeared nonchalant.

The Laurent family's help was not a lifeline for him, but rather an added bonus.

Damn it, could he really be the successor of the mixed-race power that Angers secretly cultivated in China? Mixed-race families in that country certainly all have this arrogant attitude.

“Mr. Lu Mingfei, the Dragon Kings are the ultimate enemies we know of, and no one dares to underestimate them,” Elizabeth said helplessly. “But it is undeniable that all research on the history of the dragon race and its subspecies shows that the dragon bloodline contains a throne of power.”

"Distributing profits before the war even begins?" Lu Mingfei frowned. "Then I'd like to know what the Laurent family's expectations are for the future."

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, then slowly began, “When the history of the common enemy of humans and hybrids comes to an end, hybrids will inevitably emerge from the dark side of the world, and we will play the role of leaders and guardians of order.”

"Peaceful coexistence between hybrids and humans?" Lu Mingfei nodded. "You're the moderates on the board of directors, aren't you?"

“That’s right.” Elizabeth suddenly felt a little tired. “That’s why we chose Angers instead of Gattuso.”

“That’s good,” Lu Mingfei said. “Our cooperation can be carried out through Angers. When we need your help, someone will provide you with the necessary intelligence.”

“Alright.” Elizabeth felt she had done her best. “The Board of Trustees’ decision is by voting, and the Laurent family will still stand by your side.”

"Thank you," Lu Mingfei said.

Elizabeth stood up. "Then I'll take my leave. I heard you've been through another dangerous crisis. Please take care of yourself and get some rest."

"He is the king of the sky and the wind."

Elizabeth, who had reached the door, suddenly turned around. Her veil swayed violently, and a strand of her golden hair, which had been piled up, fell and draped over her dark clothes, shining like sunlight falling on a classical oil painting.

“I hope to get help from the Laurent family.” Lu Mingfei smiled at her. “You can directly contact Angers.”

“Okay.” Elizabeth nodded.

After closing the door, Elizabeth walked into the hospital ward corridor and suddenly felt as if she had returned to another world. She calmly signaled to the family guards to continue to maintain security, and then left with the butler.

The driver opened the car door for her.

As Elizabeth settled into the back seat of the silver Rolls-Royce, she gently clutched her chest, feeling her heart race.

It wasn't because of unease, but because of joy.

The person Angers chose was not a lion, but a powerful ally, an ally of the Laurent family. If he wasn't just bluffing, then the landscape of the school board would change.

Chapter 98 Meeting Held

Lu Mingfei is not worried about the accusations made by the board of directors.

Did they conceal information about the Dragon King?

The so-called concealment and accountability are based on the dereliction of duty from the bottom up in the organizational structure. Lu Mingfei was just a student at Kassel College; all he received from the Secret Service was the principal's scholarship and Norma's support.

For him, neither coercion nor enticement could have any effective influence on the Secret Society. The only thing that could gain his approval from this huge organization was its mission to slay dragons.

Unfortunately, apart from the Laurent family, no other mixed-race faction can gain his approval for their methods of achieving this goal.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind, no longer dwelling on the messy affairs of the school board, and began to carefully review his experience in that hotel. He needed to consider the enemy's identity, methods, and objectives, and also think about which parts of the Laurent family and Angers he should tell.

First of all, the other party is clearly an alchemy master who is even more outstanding than Norton. Whether it is the Nibelungen that invaded reality, the Word of Power that has been integrated with alchemy, or the dream that suddenly dragged him into it, all of them are beyond the direct power of the Dragon King himself.

The two enemies that appear one after the other, Odin and "Chu Zihang" in the dream, do not seem to be the same being. "Chu Zihang" refers to the mastermind as the sky and the wind, but it is not yet clear which of the original species he is.

Of course, she could also be an extremely outstanding dragon servant. If it weren't for the home advantage, Lu Mingfei even felt that he could suppress her with half the power of a Great Rune, about... half of Norton's?

Odin's displayed strength was almost on par with that of a complete Dragon King.

Angers stated that the Dragon King needs time to adapt to its power after awakening. Assuming the Dragon King's strength is related to the length of time it takes to awaken, then Odin is likely the Dragon King who has been lurking in human society for a long time, while "Chu Zihang" is a slightly later awakener.

Lu Mingfei has sent Su Enxi information about the two men’s weapons, clothing, and language, and is also preparing to hand over information about Odin to the Laurent family for investigation.

Hopefully, this mixed-race family can lend a hand.

……

The Splendid Hotel, formerly a solemn ancient monastery, every brick and tile exudes the vicissitudes of history. Today, it has been transformed into a luxury hotel in a harbor town.