My Host Only Marries the Strong

As the first light of dawn broke, Seraphine stirred from her sleep, her drowsy eyes fixed upon the bed’s canopy. The quality of this fabric is quite poor, she thought with a trace of disdain.

In the next heartbeat, she remembered she was in the Westle Continent. Seraphine shifted languidly, turning her gaze to the side.

A woman sat by the bedside—though “sat” was not quite the right word.

She was hovering cross-legged in the air, her silver-white body shimmering with ethereal light.

Points of starlight flowed through her clothes and long hair like a celestial river.

Her skin, eyes, and lips were all a brilliant silver-white, more translucent and otherworldly than the human projections used by the Water Dragon’s Hymn. She was so beautiful it was impossible to look away.

Seraphine found herself entranced. She reached out to touch a lock of the floating hair; her pale fingers passed straight through the torrent of data, yet they did not disturb the rhythmic flow of the starlight.

Echo tilted her head, smiling at Seraphine. “You’re awake? Good morning.”

With that, she suddenly leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Seraphine’s forehead.

Her silver-white lips then moved lower, passing the bridge of Seraphine’s elegant nose to press a kiss against her lips.

Seraphine instinctively closed her eyes, a soft chuckle escaping her. “Good morning to you, too.”

Her voice, heavy with the traces of sleep, was low and languid.

Echo felt a surge of electrical currents pulse through her data core. Her silver glow intensified, sparkling like a shimmering sea of stars.

Her eyes curved into crescents of light as she watched Seraphine sit up, drifting backward to give her space.

“Have you been watching over me this whole time?” Seraphine asked, brushing back her dark hair. She glanced toward the floor.

There, curled up beneath the bed, was Error. The dragon was holding her large tail over her eyes, the tip twitching in a wave-like motion—a perfect picture of “see no evil; the dragon saw nothing.”

Seraphine’s gaze then moved to a floating chessboard nearby.

It was also made of silver-white light, with black and white pieces clearly arranged in a game of Five-in-a-Row.

“……” Seraphine was speechless.

Echo pointed a finger at a square on the grid, causing a white piece to manifest. “Of course I had to watch over you. An examinee needs proper rest.” she said.

“The Wooden Cloud Sect won’t let matters rest. Since you told me not to go looking for trouble, I’ll wait for them to come to us. But I won’t let them disturb your sleep.”

At this, Echo’s eyes lit up with curiosity. She looked at Seraphine with anticipation. “Did you dream of me?”

Seraphine’s lips curved into a smirk. “I think I did.”

“You think so?” Echo tilted her head, a golden question mark manifesting and tilting along with her. “And what did you dream I was doing?”

Seraphine paused, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I dreamed…… that you lost a game of Five-in-a-Row to Error, and you started wailing and crying for someone to comfort you. It was quite a handful.”

“Hey!”

The question mark transformed into a giant exclamation point.

Echo drifted through the air, chasing after Seraphine as she got out of bed. “Seraphine, humans say that dreams are the opposite of reality!”

There is absolutely no way Error could ever beat me at chess!

No one can!

She turned a sharp gaze toward Error.

Error perked up her ears. Hearing Seraphine move, she lifted her tail and looked toward the silver chessboard with a sigh of relief.

The tip of her tail tapped a specific spot on the board, and a black piece manifested.

Echo immediately raised her hand, pointing her index finger through the air. A white piece dropped into place, completing a row of four.

The silver-white figure drifted upward with a proud air, a speech bubble appearing above her head showing a tiny version of herself with hands on her hips.

“None can defeat me.” Echo declared.

Frustrated, Error swished her tail. She swam over to the table and breathed a small burst of fire into the tea stove.

She then curled her tail around the teacup—with Echo’s silver orb still inside—and plopped it directly onto the heat.

Fine, take a bath! Have a nice, long, hot bath!

The dragon was treating the system to a literal “hot spring” experience.

Seraphine finished washing up and walked over. With a chuckle, she swatted Error’s tail aside and rescued Echo’s orb from the fire, placing the actual teapot on the stove instead.

She said leisurely, “If I had known you’d drag Error into midnight chess matches, I wouldn’t have bothered paying for a separate room for her.”

Echo replied with a straight face, “It’s not needed now, but it will be eventually.”

Both Seraphine and Error looked at her with confusion.

Echo clasped her hands formally over her stomach and sighed with feigned depth, “No one understands me.”

“……” Seraphine seemed to catch the drift. She lifted the teapot, put Echo back toward the heat, and said with a dark expression, “Get back in your bag.”

“Okay, okay!”

Echo’s data form “whooshed” back into the small silver orb.

The sphere splashed slightly in the teacup water, using her tiny matchstick-like arms to prop herself up against the rim. “What are we doing today?” she asked curiously.

“First, we go to the Immortal Ascension Commerce Association.” Seraphine said. “City Lord Zhao won’t pass up the chance to cooperate with Luanyang Palace. I expect that matter is already settled.”

“Since the Westle Continent borders the Central Continent, and Sunset Glow City is in the west, we’ll have the Association handle the construction materials for our new city.”

Seraphine was a woman of her word. She took a communication talisman from her storage ring and began writing to the contacts at Luanyang Palace.

Meanwhile, Echo hopped out of the teacup and manifested a tiny apron, tying it around herself as she busied herself arranging breakfast for Seraphine.

By the time the letter was finished, the table was set with hot tea and freshly baked pastries.

Seraphine’s expression softened. She reached out and tapped Echo gently. “How very dutiful of you.”

Echo, still in her tiny apron, manifested a “shy” emoji above her head and hugged Seraphine’s finger affectionately.

Nearby, Error shifted into her human form and pulled out several grilled items from her own storage ring to add to the spread.

Even a dragon had to eat.

After breakfast, Seraphine tucked Echo back into the golden silk pouch and headed out with Error.

The moment they stepped out of the inn, Seraphine’s eyes narrowed into a cold smile.

“Someone is following us.” she said in a low voice.

The moment they stepped out of the inn, Seraphine let out a cold laugh and whispered, “Someone is following me.”

Hearing this, Error’s ears twitched and she sniffed the air, then said disappointedly, “Master, I didn’t sense anyone.”

“You showed your hand yesterday,” Seraphine comforted her. “The Wooden Cloud Sect knows your cultivation level now. They’re using concealment artifacts that can fool your senses, but they can’t fool mine.”

Echo also offered some “comfort” to her friend via a mental transmission: [You’ve grown a bit weak, haven’t you?]

Error let out a low, guttural growl. The sound was so intimidating that the surrounding cultivators turned pale and scrambled to get out of the way.

The space around Seraphine and Error cleared instantly, leaving them standing in a sudden void.

The hidden stalkers were startled and hurriedly ducked into better cover.

“……” Seraphine didn’t need to look to know exactly what had happened.

With a blank expression, she unhooked the golden silk pouch, tucked it safely into her sleeve, and led Error silently into the Immortal Ascension Commerce Association.

The trackers exchanged glances and nodded to one another; one of them turned and hurried away to report back.