Vol 7. Chapter 20: The Greatest Contribution Was Retiring

Leon held the invitation letter in his hand, about to open it, when he heard Rosvisser say:

"A whole academy full of children."

He swallowed hard and asked:

"You’re not thinking of making me a teacher at Saint Heath Academy, are you?"

Rosvisser rested her chin on her hand, her beautiful eyes curving into crescent moons as she smiled and said:

"Exactly. If the strongest daddy thinks raising one or two kids isn’t challenging enough, then let’s have you manage a whole academy of them."

Leon’s expression darkened as he corrected her:

"Then you should also remember that the strongest daddy used to be the strongest dragonslayer, right? Sending a dragonslayer to a dragons academy as a teacher... I’m afraid that’s how you start the Third Human-Dragon War."

Rosvisser stifled a giggle behind her hand.

"Alright, I’m done teasing you. That’s not a teacher application letter."

Leon raised an eyebrow, finally feeling reassured enough to open the letter in his hand. As he opened it, he asked:

"So what is it then?"

"An invitation to apply for Vice Principal." Rosvisser enunciated every word clearly.

At that, General Leon froze mid-tear.

It took him two seconds to snap out of it.

"Huh?! An invitation to be Vice Principal?"

He thought about it for a moment, then clutched the letter with a tragic look on his face.

"Poor Principal Olette, dead before reaching a thousand years old—what a loss. I miss the days when he was our CP fandom president—"

"Enough nonsense."

Rosvisser explained:

"It’s that Principal Olette recently resigned. The position of principal is now vacant, and since Vice Principal Wilson has always been clean in both conduct and performance, the school board unanimously recommended him for the promotion. But with him moving up, that leaves the Vice Principal seat open. So the school is sending invitation letters to a few respected B-rank individuals. I received this last night. I wasn’t too interested at first, but since you said you’re looking for something meaningful and challenging..."

Rosvisser lifted her elegant chin toward the invitation in Leon’s hand.

"Doesn’t this fit the bill perfectly?"

"Vice Principal of the best academy in all of Dragonkind, huh..."

Leon looked down at the letter he had just opened and fell into thoughtful silence. It really was... a new kind of challenge.

"OK. I’m taking it," he said, and stuffed the invitation into his pocket.

Rosvisser blinked.

"Wow, that quick? You’re not even going to think about it?"

"Thinking is for the indecisive. True heroes fear no challenge."

"Wow, great line. Where’d you steal it from?"

How the Married, Unemployed Man Can Begin the Second Half of His Life.

The queen: "..."

Well played, husband.

...

...

That night, after dinner, the couple returned to their bedroom.

Rosvisser rolled out a small ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) whiteboard from the storage room, one they hadn’t used in a long time.

Leon sat obediently on the sofa like a well-behaved student. Watching her busy herself over there, he couldn’t help asking:

"Another instructional scene tonight?"

Rosvisser shot him a look and irritably tossed a whiteboard prop in his direction.

Leon leaned to the side and dodged it easily.

Thud thud—

Rosvisser knocked on the whiteboard.

"I think the moment your thoughts go there, you see these props and immediately take it there."

"But, darling, these props were made for that kind of..."

"..."

"Too much talking!"

Leon zipped his mouth shut with an imaginary zipper.

The queen snorted and continued:

"Applying for the Vice Principal role at Saint Heath Academy isn’t that easy."

"First, you need a purely draconic background—no marriages or blood ties with other races, no signs of disloyalty or detachment from dragonkind, and so on, and so forth.

The school board will thoroughly investigate all of this after you apply. If they find even the slightest trace of a problem, you’ll be disqualified.

Second, once you pass the background check, you’ll have to go through a competitive selection and rigorous assessments alongside other elite dragons—possibly even Dragon Kings. These tests examine a candidate’s overall qualities. So being good at fighting isn’t enough.

And finally, even if you manage to pass all those exams by sheer luck, you still have to endure a five-year internship before you can officially take the seat.

Got that, hubby?"

Leon scratched his nose, hesitating for a second, and then replied with a grin:

"Wife, you look so sexy when you lecture."

"Pfft—be serious. There’s less than a month until the exams. Now that you’ve decided to apply, we need to use every moment wisely."

It felt like going back ten years. General Leon sighed in his heart.

Sighed for the days gone by, for the swiftness of time. And sighed because here he was, old as he was, still needing his wife to help him study...

Oh well, it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. After all, his wife tutored him often.

Leon shook his head to clear away the nonsense and looked at the three major steps Rosvisser had written on the whiteboard:

Background Check, Assessment Test, Five-Year Internship.

"Wife, if all goes well, I’ll have Saint Heath in the bag... A purely draconic background... that means my current identity is as Leon of the Silver Dragons, but among all the dragons we know, I’m not sure any of them actually know I’m human..."

"You don’t need to worry about that," Rosvisser said. "At the academy, only Principal Olette knows your real identity."

"Right, no need to make that public. That would only bring unnecessary trouble."

"As long as your family and old allies like Odin know you’re human, that’s enough. And with all your glorious accomplishments and contributions to dragonkind, passing the background check should actually be pretty easy."

Leon pondered the phrase “contributions to dragonkind,” then asked out of nowhere,

"Wife, what do you think my greatest contribution to dragonkind is?"

Rosvisser raised an eyebrow, thought about it, and answered,

"...Stopping the spatial rift from spreading?"

Leon shook his head.

"...Defeating the ultimate fear?"

Another shake.

"...Then, pushing back the Void Sovereign?"

Still no.

General Leon gave the correct answer:

"My greatest contribution to dragonkind... was retiring from the dragon army."

"..."

Rosvisser held her forehead and sighed, "If that’s how you’re going to put it, then the guy who stabbed you in the back back then made an even greater contribution to dragonkind."

Leon smiled in satisfaction.

"My wife gets my jokes."

"Get your damn..."

Rosvisser couldn’t help letting out a curse.

She took a deep breath, adjusted her tone, and continued:

"Alright, next is the assessment test. The exam content is extremely broad and detailed—it includes dragon history, cultural knowledge, the background of Saint Heath Academy, and much more. Simply put, it tests how deeply you understand the entire dragon race. One month isn’t much, but if we work overtime and pull some all-nighters, we should make it."

"Mhm, looks like this is bringing Rosvisser back too."

"As for the internship part, we’ll worry about that after you pass the school board’s exams."

With that, Rosvisser clapped her hands, and the bedroom door opened.

Xiaoxue walked in carrying a tall stack of books.

The stack was so high it blocked her line of sight.

She finally reached the side of the bed, and Leon and Rosvisser hurried over to help her put the books down.

"Auntie, I found all the books you asked for," said Xiaoxue.

"Thank you, Xiaoxue."

"You’re welcome, Auntie. I’ll leave you and Uncle to it then, I’m heading to bed."

"Alright, don’t stay up too late."

Xiaoxue nodded and left the room.

Clack—

Rosvisser placed her hand on the stack of books and looked down at Leon.

"This is everything you need to fully absorb over the next month."

"..."

Staring at the daunting mountain of books, Leon pursed his lips.

"Wife, you’re kind of treating me like some kind of prodigy here..."

"At thirty-two, ‘child’ isn’t really a fitting word anymore, hubby. But I believe in you—you can do it."

"And if I can’t...?"

"Can’t?"

Rosvisser let out a soft chuckle. Then she slowly pulled one strap of her nightgown off her smooth shoulder. Her creamy breast peeked out, the dragon tattoo faintly shimmering.

"Then we’ll have to consider Plan B: work hard, have another baby, and keep you home raising them."

"I’m reading right now! Nobody stop me from studying hard!"