School Beauty's Invincible Martial Expert - Chapter 37 - 0: You Are a Jerk

On the night of Xiao Ke’s thirtieth birthday, he shared a table while drinking. The person he shared the table with was a cool man who fit all of his aesthetic desires. It was practically love at first sight.

He was thirty; he had reached that age where he was no longer the awkward twenty-something youth. He would pursue the one he liked without hesitation, no questions asked.

“I want you to give me a tattoo. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

- Description from Novelupdates

What if your own father and his mistress were behind your mother’s death? What if you were about to be sold if to a scumbag?

Vainqueur Knightsbane is your average dragon: a giant, fire-breathing lizard who loves to take naps on his golden hoard, kidnap princesses for fun, and make the life of adventurers miserable. Vainqueur's only pleasure in life is to watch his treasure get bigger, one coin at a time.

So when a would-be thief turned unwilling minion tells him about "classes," "levels," and "quests," Vainqueur wonders if maybe, just maybe, he should consider a career change.

After all, why bother hunting monsters for free when you can get paid for it?

The story revolves around Charles Karino, a Levaamu Empire mercenary aerial pilot who mans the twin seater reconnaissance seaplane Santa Cruz. One day, he receives a preposterous assignment: to fly solo over 12,000 kilometers of enemy waters to protect a girl named Fana del Moral. Fana happens to be the next in line to the empire’s throne and a girl possessing beauty “equal to 5,000 beams of light.”

This is a standalone book. There’s another series under the name “To Aru Hikuushi e no Koiuta” (Love Song for a Certain Pilot) set in the same world, but in a completely different place and with different characters.

– Ulrezaj @ Mazui

Adapted to anime as “The Princess and the Pilot”