Anime: Blue-Eyes Baby Dragon, picked up by the Knight King

"Hey, you keep watching over here. Make sure to build this shed before dark."

"You, you, and you. The three of you will each lead a hundred people and build three simple shelters away from the city. This must be done quickly. This is a priority."

"Others, come with me!"

Black Jeanne d'Arc, with a very serious expression, held a pre-war meeting.

Maybe this is also part of growing up.

After that devastating defeat, she finally learned to respect her enemies and stopped being so blindly arrogant and self-righteous.

Not to mention, Black Jeanne actually knew that this time, they were the disadvantaged party, and the disadvantage was very big.

"According to the known intelligence, the enemy has a total of five heroic spirits."

"And the combat power we can offer...is actually only two and a half."

Black Joan of Arc herself is one, and the enthusiastic and proactive Elizabeth is another.

Qingji can only be considered half - she may be able to contribute, but it is absolutely impossible to expect her to fight a life-and-death battle with the enemy.

As for Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mashu... Black Jeanne never expected them to help - it was a blessing that they didn't fight back and attack her.

"And that's not even the worst of it."

"What's worse is that almost all of those Heroic Spirits have special attacks against Dragons."

As the saying goes, "restraint is more important than anything else, and special attacks are more powerful than gods."

Is it possible for a dragon-slaying hero to restrain a dragon by simply doubling the output?

"That sounds terrible."

"Why don't we run—"

This is advice from Elizabeth.

As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood - fighting one against two is already scary enough, and she doesn't want to face two heroic spirits with attributes that restrain her at the same time.

"I don't think we can win either."

“The gap is just too big.”

"But I can hold back a heroic spirit."

Qingji also expressed her opinion.

But she didn't talk about "running away" - because that's simply not her character.

This seemingly weak and quiet girl is actually more determined than those men. The word "give up" is not an option in her dictionary - it's either win or die, this is her life creed.

At this time, she probably had the idea of ​​picking an enemy to die together with.

——047 But Black Jeanne rejected this proposal.

"You can't win or anything... I don't understand!"

"You are not allowed to die, no one is allowed to die!"

"So what if there are a lot of people? Does having a lot of people make it a big deal?!"

"They came just for me... You don't have to participate in this war, just watch how I defeat them!"

Black Jeanne said confidently.

Everyone, including Shirataki, looked at her face with a puzzled expression - hoping to see a hint of "hard talk" on her face.

Everyone knows that she loves to be tough. Even if she knows she can't do it, she will never admit defeat.

But, no.

Her eyes gleamed with confidence, as if she had already seen the "impossible" victory. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly, and that confident smile spread to everyone's face in just a few seconds.

——Although no one knows where her confidence comes from, at this moment, everyone really feels that she can do what she says.

"Qingji, you can go prepare the banquet to celebrate the victory."

"What about me? What about me? Can I prepare for the victory concert?"

"Well... I allow you to hold a concert for those prisoners of war - and let you stay with them then!"

Chapter 98 Mashu: I gradually understand everything

Black Jeanne decided to deal with the invading enemies alone.

"I can win!"

She said it firmly, as if stating a fact that had already happened.

"But I need some time to prepare."

"I'll be back before the war starts... Anyway, I'll leave this city in your care."

Black Joan of Arc waved her hand, leaving only a firm and upright figure to everyone, and then gradually disappeared into the night.

"..."

The people left behind looked at each other in bewilderment. They wanted to chase after the witch and explore the secrets, but they were afraid of being chased back by Black Jeanne d'Arc, so they had to give up.

But one person is an exception.

"Whoosh-"

Just as Black Jeanne was about to disappear, a white figure quickly passed by them. Running in Black Jeanne's direction, it also disappeared into the vast night.

"They won't run away, will they?"

After a long time, the honest Elizabeth suddenly asked this question.

Qingji rolled her eyes at her and didn't answer the question. Instead, she walked towards the kitchen to prepare for the upcoming "celebration banquet".

"It's more like luring the enemy away than running away."

"It's obvious that the enemy's only target is her. As long as she is eliminated, this incident will be perfectly resolved."

Fujimaru Ritsuka answered this question for Kiyohime.

It was at this moment that she suddenly realized the following fact:

It turns out that, apart from that white dragon, Jeanne d'Arc Alter really has nothing in this world.

It can even be said that there are enemies everywhere.

……

Black Jeanne d'Arc walked towards the east.

But she didn't actually walk too far. She just walked to an abandoned pasture and stopped.

This was a place Shirataki was very familiar with—but now it had become strange.

The cattle on the ranch had long been taken away by the dragon servants, and even the haystacks had been emptied out. Now, all that remained of the ranch were some abandoned buildings and overgrown grass that hadn't been cleared.

"You followed me..."

Black Jeanne d'Arc looked at the white dragon following behind her, without any surprise, nor did she expel it.

She had known that Bailong would follow her - after all, they had an agreement that they would never leave.

"But what's the point of you following me? There's no more barbecue for you to eat."

Black Jeanne sighed and sat down on the grass.

——This is what she called "preparation".

In fact, she had nothing to prepare at all. After all, her intelligence information had already been completely exposed, and her trump card had long been played out - now she didn't even have the strength she had in her prime.

But for some reason, Black Jeanne felt that she was stronger than ever before.

"I can win!"

She kept repeating these words, as if hypnotizing herself, hoping to make this body forget the enemy's strength and create a true miracle.

But——how can I win?!

"One against five, there's no way I can think of a way to defeat them!"

"Unless I use that trick... but after that trick is used, I will disappear."

"If I were dead, there would be no need to talk about winning or losing."

"Xiaolong, I really don't want to die——"

"If I died, would you still remember me?"

Black Jeanne reached out and gently stroked the scales on the white dragon.

In the moonlight, Bai Long could clearly see that her palms were shaking uncontrollably.

She was afraid, she was terrified.

This was the first time in her short life that she felt this way.

——This is a good thing.

She is afraid of death.

This is normal. All living things fear death; it is the common "natural law" of all living things. This shows that she has finally realized that she is a real life, not a "shadow of revenge."

She was afraid of being forgotten.

This is human nature, because it often means that a person has lived in this world. If there are no such traces, then she has lived in vain.

All this is enough to prove the changes that have taken place in Black Joan of Arc.

She seemed to have become a complete human being, with a full range of emotions, joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness. It wasn't just "anger"—that was important, but it no longer constituted the whole of her life.

But this is not enough.

This level of "evolution" is not enough.

The pressure of death loomed. Under this undeniable pressure, Shirataki longed to hear a true word from Black Jeanne, a word that would prove she possessed a "human heart."

Black Jeanne d'Arc did not disappoint Shirataki.

"Mad, do it!"

"If you can't beat me, you have to fight!"

"Kill as many as you can!"

"I gave them face... Do they really think I'm easy to bully?"

"Fuck you!"

There was a large amount of vulgar language, many of which could even be described as filthy, spitting out rapidly from Black Jeanne's mouth.

Now she really looks like a village girl who has never been to school and can't read a single word, swearing at others on the edge of the field.

But it was because of this that she gradually overcame her fear of death.

——And this is precisely the most fundamental background hidden within the human race.

Death is indeed terrible.

But in order to protect what they want to protect, humans have never lacked the courage to face death.

Then, create the miracle called "living towards death".

[Ding, your approval of [Joan of Arc Alter] has reached 100.]

【You have grasped a new concept: anger.】

……

three days later.

The enemy is invading.

Black Jeanne d'Arc, who had prepared herself mentally, did as she said. She stood alone on the battlefield far away from the city, facing the pressure of five enemy heroes.

But from beginning to end, Mashu's eyes were always on the enemy leader.

"Wait a moment--"