Chapter 10 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Dragons.

Such creatures had not been sighted in the mortal world in ages. In fact, to the intelligent beings that inhabited the continent of Loren, dragons were considered to be a beast that existed between the planes of legend and reality. Granted, they were certain that this powerful creature existed, yet no one had actually seen a real one in their lifetime.

The only exception was the secretive and longevous elves who lived in the south. Their long lives made them great historical witnesses, and in the lengthy history of the Elven Empire, their chronicles had actually detailed one or two encounters with dragons.

The elegant but powerful creature, with its deep blue scales and humongous wings, flew across the sky as it breathed lethal fire below. The flames were so hot that they burned white, imbued with magic of the ancients—they were not simply flames. Where the column of fire swept, the earth billowed with huge flames, burning and spreading even without needing any fuel. With a few hot puffs from the dragon, the entire land was completely engulfed in an inferno.

After completing its deed, the brobdingnagian dragon circled around the area for a while, as though inspecting its work, before beating its wings and flying upwards, disappearing into the slowly brightening clouds.

Gawain heard a few deep exhales nearby, including those of Herti. It was only now that everyone dared to breathe freely—if that dragon had hung around any longer, he did not know who was going to pass out and die first.

“D-Dragons… D-Dragons…” Rebecca gripped her staff as she muttered incessantly, “Ancestor, I saw a dragon…”

Gawain cleared his throat. “Ahem, ahem. Tell me about it; I observed it right here.”

It was only then that Rebecca came to her senses. She looked at Gawain awkwardly, before casting an uncertain glance towards the Cecil’s land.

After being ravaged by the tide of monsters, it had been thoroughly incinerated by a dragon. This land was practically useless now.

And those monsters… Though they were clumsy as they went after the ill-equipped soldiers, they were only shapeshifters of the lowest levels. Under the dragon’s incinerating breath, they practically vaporised into ashes, and even if some of them survived, their disintegration would begin sooner or later from the dramatic change in their surroundings.

“I thought dragons were a thing of legends,” Knight Byron, who had been taciturn, could not help but remark. The three soldiers by his side were still struggling to get to their feet, but the usually strict knight did not even chastise them, but only frowned. “My lord, have you met a dragon before?”

“No.” Gawain shook his head. “Dragons are a really mysterious breed. Even when half of Loren had been turned upside down seven hundred years ago, they never interfered in worldly matters.”

Though he said this, Gawain was not that surprised by the sight of those huge creatures, for he had seen dragons before, albeit from a different perspective—that when he had hung in the sky, where he had seen these creatures appearing on the continent more than once. However, dragons were indeed mysterious, and even when Gawain had floated in the sky for an eternity, his dragon-sightings were limited. Coupled with the messy trivialities of the images he had seen, he was not able to piece together many characteristics of the dragons.

At this moment, the shadow beside Gawain suddenly shivered twice. He turned around to look, and sure enough, Amber was standing behind him, her elven face still expressing shock.

“I’ve seen a dragon!” Amber shouted noisily. “My mom wouldn’t believe that I’ve seen a dragon! And one that’s sooooo big at that!”

“Alright, alright. We all saw it.” Gawain glared at this cowardly yet clamorous thief. “Where did you go earlier?”

“Inside the crack of a nearby rock,” Amber said as she puffed her chest out proudly. “My escape skills are superb!”

Gawain held his forehead and sighed. “You’re indeed a master when it comes to shadow manipulation, but your combat skills are worse than a goose’s, and nothing to brag about.”

He then shook his head. “It wouldn’t be advantageous to stay here. Let’s hurry up and leave.”

He started down the hill. Even though the dragon had already left, Heavens knew what other strange things would materialize, making leaving this place as soon as possible the topmost priority. However, Herti’s gaze was complicated as she looked at the family’s estate. “Ancestor… that dragon burnt our land.”

“What it had razed was the ruins of our land. Strictly speaking, he had only set fire to the monsters.” Gawain glanced at Herti. Earlier, when the gigantic dragon had spewed its flames, he had carefully observed that it had done so where the monsters were the densest. Even though some of the fire was misdirected, it was obvious where they were intended to be. “The Cecil estate had been no more before the dragon appeared.”

“But…”

“You want to seek justice from the dragon?” Gawain shrugged. “Be practical. If you want to do something, you should get back to civilization and report the news of the monsters and dragon.”

Unable to retort, Herti could only nod. “Understood.”

Actually, Gawain knew how Herti was feeling. The Cecil estate had been her home, the place where she grew up in. Even though her hometown had been razed to the ground, she would not be able to forget it easily—she would at least feel a little uncomfortable about the dragon incinerating what was essentially ruins, even if it had done so to eliminate the monsters.

After all, it could be considered as desecrating the dead.

However, even though he understood her feelings, Gawain felt it difficult to feel this way—after all, he was not even the Cecil Clan’s ancestor, Gawain Cecil, before he climbed out of the coffin…