Mutated plants, like most dragons, are typically quite stingy. Even if their fruits ripen and fall to the ground, if they don’t want to share, nobody can easily take them.
So it’s even more unlikely that they would carelessly drop such high-quality mutated fruits on the ground.
Then… were these things intentionally left by the mutated plant?
But how could that be possible?
Ruan Shu wrinkled her little nose and murmured, “It smells so good.”
Many fruits from mutated plants are edible and highly nutritious; some can even be used to make potions.
One of the primary ingredients for the potion that can barely suppress Jingshen from spiraling out of control is the fruit of a certain mutated plant.
Other medicines also primarily derive from mutated plants.
So, mutated plants are valuable to them. However, wild mutated plants are ferocious, and that danger only raises their value. Thus, a profession evolved around this need—the mercenary.
These people, gathered together for various reasons, take on tasks to find the mutated plants and hunt down exotic beasts that employers require.
“Go ahead and eat.”
Regardless of why these berries ended up here, after confirming that there was nothing wrong with them, Almer handed the fruit to her.
Ruan Shu took the blackberries and, like a little tail, trailed closely behind Almer.
Perhaps because of the fright she experienced earlier, Ruan Shu now felt a sense of reliance on him.
The blackberries were delicious, plump, and juicy, without seeds—each bite was incredibly satisfying.
Watching the little creature by his side, Almer’s lips curled up as he swiftly prepared the meat from his freshly caught prey for grilling.
He even took some seasonings out from his ring’s spatial storage.
Though Ruan Shu obediently sat nearby, her eyes flicked toward his hands a few times. Every time he produced something from thin air, she looked fascinated.
But she didn’t say anything or ask.
Almer, however, directly took off a ring embedded with a black gemstone from his finger and placed it in her hand.
“This is a spatial ring. I keep pearls and gemstones and other little treasures in it. Go ahead and play with it. Oh, and you need to use your Jingshen to scan inside to take things out.”
Holding the ring, Ruan Shu looked at him in bewilderment. This ring looked incredibly valuable—why would he give it to her?
“Feel free to play with it. If there’s something inside you like, you can take it. This ring, though, I can’t give you permanently. When we get back, I’ll see if I have a new one to give you.”
Ruan Shu shook her head and waved her hands in a small panic. “No, I don’t want it.”
Gripping the ring, she looked at him, puzzled, and then timidly voiced the question that had been nagging at her.
“Why are you so kind to me?”
It’s not that she didn’t appreciate it; it’s just… it all felt too much like a dream.
She lacked love; even the slightest bit of kindness from others made her want to reciprocate with all her heart.
With her father and brother, the bond of blood made it easy to accept their kindness, and she reminded herself to be equally good to them.
However, Almer…
Ruan Shu pursed her lips. He was an emperor, after all, someone with such high status, yet he was so kind to someone as insignificant as her. It felt so unreal.
This made her feel incredibly conflicted.
Because of her conflicted feelings, Ruan Shu’s delicate little face scrunched up a bit.
But the way her eyebrows and nose crinkled didn’t take away from her cuteness at all.
Almer placed his palm on the little one’s head, pressing gently.
“Just think of it as me wanting to keep a lucky mascot around. And with such a soft little mascot, I certainly don’t lose out.”
Ruan Shu’s face immediately flushed bright red, and she turned her little head away, slightly puffed up. “I… I am not a mascot!”
With a smile in his eyes, Almer continued to carefully control the fire as he grilled the meat, talking to her as he worked.
“I told you, didn’t I? I’m a pretty unlucky guy.”
Ruan Shu’s gaze was glued to the meat, which was already releasing a delicious aroma, and she nodded.
“The first day I met you, I was in the hospital. Want to know why I was there?”
Ruan Shu shook her head honestly.
“Sigh… well, I was out and about when, just my luck, my hovercraft exploded. But since I’m tough-skinned, I wasn’t hurt. Still, I had things to do, so I went over to the starport to catch a starship to Planet XX. But on the way, the starship malfunctioned and had to make an emergency landing. Just as we stopped, we ran into the notorious Ghost Phantom pirates. I had to fight them, and luckily, I won—still without a scratch.”
There was even a hint of pride in his tone.
Ruan Shu: “…………”
So, was he the unlucky one here, or was it the pirates?
Almer took out a delicate porcelain plate, its edges inlaid with sparkling diamonds.
Ruan Shu: Of course, that’s so Almer. She wasn’t surprised at all.
The grilled meat, golden and coated with blackberry juice, released an irresistible aroma. Ruan Shu’s bright eyes were fixed on it, but she kept her ears pricked, still listening to Almer’s story.
With the plate and fork in hand, Almer didn’t eat himself. Instead, he fed the little hungry cat first.
“Unfortunately, on the way back, my luck was bad again. We ran into some asteroids that had drifted off course and were heading straight for our starship. So I had to go out and move them myself. But I wasn’t careful enough, and one of those asteroids hit me.”
Ruan Shu’s eyes went wide with shock, her mouth full of meat.
An asteroid?!
He got hit by an asteroid?!
Almer couldn’t help but pinch her chubby little cheeks. Having such a little mascot was truly nice.
Too bad she belonged to someone else.
Thinking of this, Almer’s mood soured a bit.
“Are you… okay now?”
But those were asteroids! Maybe they seemed trivial compared to a whole planet, but they could easily damage a starship!
“No big deal, just a bit of internal injury; I was fine in three days,” he said casually.
Ruan Shu swallowed, her tiny self utterly stunned.
A bit of internal injury?
And it healed in… three days?
How strong was this guy’s body, anyway?!
The dragon clan—absolutely terrifying!
“Do you want more?” Almer asked.
Ruan Shu looked down and realized that, without noticing, she had eaten everything on the plate.
Her little face flushed red with embarrassment.
Almer had worked so hard to hunt and grill this meal, yet she ended up eating it all.
“I… I don’t need any more,” she mumbled, fiddling with her fingers.
Almer chuckled, making her cheeks go even redder as she tried to offer help.
“Sit and eat. I need to keep an eye on the fire.”
Ruan Shu could only sit beside him, holding a berry, quietly serving as a pretty but useless little mascot.
Even though Almer ate his own share of meat afterward, he kept sneaking pieces to her now and then.
In the end, Ruan Shu felt a little too full and quietly pressed her hand against her stomach, gazing longingly at the rain outside.
She wondered when it would finally stop.
Suddenly, Almer spoke up, “Little mascot, do you know why it’s raining?”
Ruan Shu instinctively shook her head, only realizing several seconds later that he’d called her “little mascot.”
She pouted in protest. “I… I’m not a mascot.”
Her voice was soft and a little whiny—not intimidating at all. Who could possibly be scared of that?