The Understated Dragon Lord novel Chapter 401

Defeated by a single country kid without him ever moving an inch—a country kid at that! This was a humiliation Soldier couldn't bear.

But he wouldn't dare lead his crew against Daniel again. He was no fool. Soldier knew full well that they could fight a hundred more times and still end up whooped. They simply couldn’t beat Daniel, the country kid.

So he needed an excuse, a story to spin.

“Lady, you can't blame me and my guys," Soldier said. "We all got badly beat by the Tiger King. We’re still licking our wounds, which is why we couldn’t take down this country kid. Give us time to heal, and it won't need to be a group thing—one of us could knock the stuffing out of him!”

He couldn’t admit defeat—that was a man's last stand of defiance.

Beauty, of course, recognized the nonsense Soldier spouted, but she didn’t call him out on it. She needed this story to set up another challenge for Daniel.

She had come to Spirit Animal Valley because the Tiger King had escaped, and it was now out of control. If the Tiger King got away, she couldn’t explain it to Kind.

After all, Beauty was the head honcho of Spirit Animal Valley.

Looking at Daniel with a mischievous smile, she said, “Being a tough guy means nothing these days. Fighting doesn’t solve anything. You might be tough, but with just a gun, I could easily take care of you.”

"Beauty, you've been talking a lot. Are you trying to challenge me? Don't hold back—I'm ready for anything."

"I’m not giving you a challenge, I’m offering you an opportunity. You want to go with Jessica to New York for my grandpa’s birthday bash, right? If you make yourself useful today, I’ll have a word with grandpa for you."

Beauty’s words sounded nice, but she definitely didn’t mean it. Speak well of this country kid to Kind? She figured not bad-mouthing him was already doing him a favor!