Although Shien did have a stupid moment there, thankfully, Airi didn't bother to pursue the matter in the end.

Rather than playing around with Shien, Airi was more interested in attempting to convince the dragon to go with her.

It can't be helped. This is the first time Airi has ever seen a dragon with such great potential.

"It's already level 99 before it even humanized. By the time it does humanize and metamorphosis from demonic beast to demon, it will probably end up the strongest of the dragon race in existence aside from myself."

Such high praise shows just how much promise Airi sees in that black dragon.

Even so, the dragon was extremely stubborn. Despite it knowing full well how amazing Airi was, it stll refuses to budge. It was utterly determined to stay by Shien's side, unwilling to head to the demon world.

Even Shien found that quite unexpected, to the point where he was moved.

"I never imagined that you'd be so loyal. I didn't save you for nothing it seems."

Shien patted the dragon's body emotionally. He was practically a step away from a declaration of brotherhood.

Airi on the other hand just rolled her eyes at Shien as she spoke in a resigned tone.

"Dragons aren't some kind of super loyal existence you know. That said, every dragon has extremely high pride. The reason why it refuses to follow me is because it had already lowered its head to you and recognized you as its master, so it doesn't want to break its word."

That's right. That's the truth of it.

The black dragon refusing to leave with Airi isn't because it wasn't tempted. Rather, it had already recognized Shien as its master before Airi had reached out to it.

Add in the fact that Shien had saved its life, that it's all thanks to Shien that it was able to completely absorb the magic power and flesh of the refining demons, and that it's also all because of Shien that its level had jumped up to the point it is at now. All of that made it so that the dragon's own pride refuses to allow it to simply leave.

Thus, despite how tempting the bait that Airi as throwing out before it, the black dragon still decided to follow Shien in the end.

It's for no other reason than to repay its life dept. Thus, it had decided to take responsibility for it having acknowledged a master to the end.

"I never imagined that a demonic beast like you would have such principles."

After learning all this, Shien was even more impressed with the black dragon.

It had thrown away so much great advantages just for the sake of returning the dept it owed and having acknowledged Shien as its master. Very few people would have been able to do something like this.

"Truly, some humans are lower than demonic beasts."

Shien's way of looking at the dragon has also changed.

All other demonic beasts have gone insane under the effect of the Demon Refining ritual, but it alone stubbornly retained itself and painfully maintained its will.

After absorbing the magic power and flesh of the refining demons, the other demonic beasts have all turned into monsters, but it alone held on and rejected it all with all its might, refusing to allow itself to fall.

In the end, faced with the lures from Airi, who was basically the queen of all dragonkind, it was still able to hold out against the temptation. It had recognized Shien as its master in order to repay its depts, but it refused to turn back on that decision. Thus, it had decisively refused to bend.

This dragon really has quite the attitude. It's way too amazing.

Shien had to admit that he has stared to rather like this dragon.

Originally, Shien never really planned on keeping the dragon with him.

After all, this dragon is huge. He will need to return to the capital, so it would definitely end up causing a ton of troublesome incidents if he brought it back to the capital with him.

Way back when, did Shien not also release the griffon that had first brought him out of the Forest of Demonic beasts for basically the same reason?

Thus, although he said that he's going to be a dragon knight, in reality, Shien was prepared to release the dragon after leaving the Ataru Canyon and simply let it go back to lording over its own bit of territory.

Back when Airi started tempting the dragon, Shien similarly didn't get involved. It was because he didn't really care about that.

Thus, he wouldn't have objected even if the black dragon had taken Airi up on her offer. At most, he might have used it as an opportunity to tease Airi with.

But now, Shien has changed his mind.

"I've decided."

Shien patted the dragon's wing and, after a brief moment of though, opened his mouth again.

"From now you, you'll be called Yulin."

The [Yu] ( 尤) came from its similarity to the character for [Dragon] (龙) in the characters of his previous world.

The [Lin] came from it similarity in pronunciation to the word for [Spirit] in the language of of his previous world.

[Yulin] – The granting of such a name proved Shien's own acknowledgment of the black dragon, that Shien now truly considers it his companion.

As for why this name in particular, it's because Airi told him that this dragon is actually female.

"Here's hoping that you can reach the peak of dragonkind and become a true queen among dragons."

Shien happily said that, making Airi roll her eyes from where she is to the side.

"Roar-!!!"

The black dragon – Yulin, excitedly let out an ear-shattering roar like it was trying to answer Shien's expectations for its greatness in a show of might.

Just like that, the black dragon Yulin had become the Hero's mount and companion.

Airi watched all this without really saying anything in particular.

"Gaining the acknowledgment of a powerful dragon is also proof of his own abilities."

Airi watched as Shien patted Yulin's head, and after a bit, she ended up letting out a laugh.

"Then let me see just how far this dragon can go while at your side then."

With that, Airi switched her attention to Yulin. In the end, she was still rather regretful.

"Putting aside everything else, this dragon's status and potential really is great. The moment it becomes a demon, it will definitely be stronger than those four idiots."

If it manages to awaken a unique skill in the future, and that unique skill is relatively strong, then it won't be a dream for it to easily take the number one spot below the Demon Lords.

It really is the first time that Airi had ever seen a level 99 dragon, being only a step away from max level.

If it was the demon world, the moment any dragon reaches maturity and hit level 80, it would immediately be carefully raised by the demons to humanize as much as possible.

Of course, not all dragons are able to succeed in humanizing to become a demon.

However, any dragon that reaches level 90+ will generally be able to succeed.

Plus, for such a dragon, the moment it humanizes, it will have a very high chance of awakening a unique skill.

Two out of Airi's four great commanders are examples of this. They were only taken before Airi after reaching level 90, and from there, they succeeded in humanizing, awakening a unique skill, and thus becoming one of Airi's most capable subordinates.

Dragons truly are just far too few in numbers. Plus, given that their entire body is made of treasures, they'd often end up hunted or subjugated by others. It's thus extremely hard for one to grow to level 90+ in the wild.

At the very least, Airi had only met two in her entire life. That's proof of just how rare it is.

That said, it's also partially because dragons simply take far too long to mature.

Even if they're capable of reaching level 80 by the time they hit adulthood, dragons are a very long-lived race. It would generally take something like a thousand years for one to reach maturity.

With so much time required, most dragons will generally be killed long before they reach maturity.

Thus, dragons are rare, and adult dragons are even rarer. Dragons that grow to the point of reaching level 90+ are thus rare beyond compare.

Airi truly received quite the happy surprise at the fact that Yulin was able to reach level 99, so she ended up with great love of Yulin's talent.

After all, Airi's the true Queen of Dragon's here.

Thus, Airi decided.

"I'm staying by his side anyways, and it's not like I have much to do normally."historical

In that case, she'll help properly raise this dragon for him then.

"I'll just consider it as you owing me one."

Airi gave Shien a glance as she muttered.

Shien had no idea of any of this though.

It's also for that reason that in the future, he would end up with a great and happy surprise of his own.

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