Signs of the March
It was Kim Da-jeong who caught the horn as it began to scatter like sand.
I'd been told the magic was originally meant to stop bleeding, but apparently it could be used like this too.
Tak—
"I'll begin the joining now."
Wiiiiing—
A sound like a drill filled the air, and Terra flinched hard.
"You have to stay still."
"Y-yes…"
Na Ha-rin worked the mechanical arm with intense focus, even wearing a strange pair of goggles. She was usually overflowing with mischief, yet here she was, dead serious.
"Da-jeong, please keep it from scattering. There's a hole on this side."
"Got it!"
I poured my mana into the horn, reinforcing it so it could be carved. Ha-rin carefully shaved the piece to match the shape and set it in place.
"Terra? You can solidify it again now."
"Ah—right."
Terra drew his mana back in, and the horn gradually reclaimed its original form. Ha-rin watched the join until the very end.
"Hoo—done! Clean as can be!"
"Let me see."
The solidified horn was…
"Oh…"
…even cleaner than I'd expected. Running a hand over the cut, I found it perfectly smooth—as if it had always been one piece.
"Terra, how does it feel?"
"There's no irregularity in the mana flow… Incredible."
"Thank you. As for payment… what would work?"
"Haha! Then, as expected, a scale—"
"I told you not to cross that line."
I let a slight frown settle on my face, and Ha-rin laughed awkwardly, scratching her head.
"Then it's fine! Getting this many unicorn horns is reward enough! Right, Captain Ju-seon?"
"That's right. This is more than enough."
"Hmm… Still, I want to give you something more. Without you, who else could have put this back together?"
I meant it. Only people who had achieved a particular kind of awakening could have managed this, and they'd honed their abilities to do it. They'd used that talent for Terra. Matching compensation was only fair.
To bring the weight of the favor roughly in line with what I could give…
Withdrawal: ₩30,000,000
Details: [Skill Storage] Skill Usage Fee
Tuk—
Three small golden orbs materialized in front of me. I pressed one into each of their hands.
"What is this?"
"Beads charged with my body-enhancement magic. Each one holds about ten million won's worth."
"T-ten million?!"
"I don't use this method much—it feels like leaking my mana—but if you're ever in danger, break it. The magic will activate."
Honestly, the efficiency wasn't great either. Whether it was the packaging cost or something else, the spell's performance took a hit. Still, for hunters, I figured it made a solid gift. In a bad spot, it could open a way through.
"Just so we're clear—don't even think about selling them. And don't try prying them open for fun, either."
"Ahaha… I have absolutely no desire to earn Goldy's wrath," Lee Ho-jin murmured as he accepted his orb.
"Good."
After that, I watched Terra sit on the edge of the operating table, carefully running his hands over his horn. With a quiet sigh of relief, I sank into one of the provided chairs.
"Here—have one of these."
Kim Da-jeong approached with a canned drink.
"Thanks."
"Hoo… Goldy, have you heard the rumors?"
"Hm? What rumors?"
"Apparently the Association has been gathering strong hunters from all over the world lately."
Huh?
That was news to me.
"People are calling it something like a 'muster order,' I think."
"Why all of a sudden?"
"No idea. Our party's only got two C-class hunters, so we never really got word. You're strong, though—I wondered if you'd heard anything."
She took a sip of canned coffee and went on.
"If the rumors are true… a lot of lives are about to be in danger again."
"Yeah. If they're rounding up hunters, it has to be something big."
"Ah!—That was too heavy, wasn't it?"
"Not at all. I only just returned, so I've been curious about what's going on out there."
A muster order.
Maybe I should ask that guy Kim Sang-chul. If I asked, he'd probably tell me.
"If I learn anything about what you mentioned, I'll let you know."
I was pretty sure Da-jeong had some kind of personal creed. Well, I had my own principles too—I could at least understand that much. As long as she didn't cause me any trouble.
"Goldy."
"Ah, yeah, Terra? What's wrong—does something feel off?"
"No, it's just…"
Terra edged closer, glancing around like he was gauging the room. What was he doing? I thought maybe something hurt.
"Please… give this to them…"
Something appeared in his small hands—a faintly glittering silver stone. I snorted a soft laugh.
"You give that kind of thing yourself. Hand them out and say thank you."
"M-me…?"
"Who else is supposed to thank them?"
"But…"
"Think of it as practice delivering your sincerity. These are the humans—no, the people—who helped us."
A special ore formed by condensing the mana within one's body and fusing it with metal and mineral. The most beautiful stone an Earth Dragon could create.
Yongseok.
Simply put, a dragonstone—because a dragon made it. For Earth Dragons, it was a gift forged from mana and metal nurtured over years inside the body, offered for courtship or heartfelt gratitude.
"If it's hard, I'll help. Give them out one by one. Start with this person over here."
"Th-thank you. For fixing my horn… and for easing Goldy's worries as well…"
"It's a stone Earth Dragons offer when they're truly grateful. I'd be happy if you accepted it gladly."
"Oh my—thank you. I'll treasure it."
Maybe it was because he'd been traveling with me, and because he'd grown used to Ha-eun. Dragons usually looked down on humans, yet Terra seemed thoroughly flustered. At least it meant he wasn't dismissing people outright. Or maybe, hanging around me, he'd just learned to watch my reactions…
Still, it wasn't a bad look on him. If he was going to keep traveling with me, he'd be tangled up with humans from now on anyway.
And… honestly, it was a little cute.
It might sound unexpected, but even I wasn't above ordinary feelings like that. I used to be human, after all. On top of that—I still didn't fully understand why—but when I was in human form… that is, when I polymorphed into a human woman, that tendency became a little more pronounced. Different even from the old me.
Whether that was a gender thing or a dragon thing, I still wasn't sure.
"Thank you… I would like you to accept this."
"Huk—what is this? Am I allowed to process it?"
"How do you think a kid feels when you treat his gift like raw materials?"
"Wha—! Is that permitted, then?"
"Do it and you die."
Anyway—Ha-rin was more or less handled.
"Oh, a gift?"
"Yes."
"Thanks. I didn't really do anything, though… I don't know if I should even take this."
"I heard you are their leader. Then gratitude is only natural. You are the one who led them, are you not?"
"Well, I guess that's true… Thank you."
Lee Ju-seon accepted the Yongseok with good sense and ruffled Terra's hair—carefully avoiding the horn, with a familiarity that suggested he'd done this before.
"Your hand dodges the horn pretty smoothly. You've done this a lot?"
"Ah, well…"
He hesitated a moment, then said,
"Actually, my little sibling got caught up in a Gate by accident and became a demonkin. That kid never liked having their horns touched either."
He smiled with an awkward expression as he said it.
"That's how I learned."
"Mm… Sorry to hear that."
"Haha, it's all right. They're adapting well and living their life now."
Swish-swish—
"Terra, keep that tail still. If you sweep the floor like that, you'll get dust all over it."
"…Aren't you the same, Goldy?"
"Oho—horn fixed, and now you're talking back."
Watching us, Lee Ho-jin smiled faintly.
"You know, when I heard 'dragon,' I only ever pictured something terrifying. But you, Goldy, and Terra too—you just seem like slightly unusual people."
"I don't go out of my way to look down on humans. As for him, he's under me, so that explains it."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. You should've seen him the first time we met. Absolute menace. What did he call me again—human wench—"
"G-Goldy!"
Terra yanked on my arm in a full-body panic.
"L-let's go eat!"
"Pfft—eat? Out of nowhere?"
"Unnie, what are you doing to the kid?"
"What? It's fun. This is lifetime teasing material."
"…"
Terra stuck his lip out in a pout and glared at me.
"Okay, okay. Let's go. You guys coming too?"
"Is Goldy treating?"
"Not yours."
"Eck."
Thud—
That evening, at the Hunter Association's Seoul branch.
"Th-that person…"
"Shh… keep it down."
The sudden appearance of a stranger quieted the entire floor.
Hair white as fresh snow. Blue eyes that gave nothing away. Rough leather gear, and an ornate sword slung across his back. Anyone looking would have taken him for an unusual Awakened—or a Returnee.
Ding—
The elevator delivered him straight to the office of Suppression Team 3.
Tak—
"Well now… we've been getting a lot of big shots these days," Kim Sang-chul said with a sigh the moment he saw the man.
The visitor ignored the reaction entirely and launched into what he'd come to say.
"I heard the news. There are signs a March is about to begin."
"How did you know?"
"You of all people should know a Hero's information network is not something to take lightly."
The man who called himself a Hero fixed Kim Sang-chul with a hard look.
"…I was going to issue the muster order to the hunters and call you in then as well. I didn't expect you to show up first."
Perhaps the answer sounded like an excuse. The man's brow tightened slightly as he continued.
"Knowing the signs of a March and still not calling me first… am I free to assume you lot are sliding into corruption?"
"Everything has a procedure. This isn't the world you came back from."
"Procedures, with an invasion on the horizon. How utterly lamentable."
They traded barbs for a while—until something made the man freeze.
Zzt—
He flinched as if he'd sensed something.
"This is… Hey. What's underground?"
"Underground? Hmm… at the moment, a dragon."
"A dragon? You've got one caged down there?"
"Caged? Hardly. They're just using the sparring grounds."
"A dragon using the sparring grounds? What kind of absurd nonsense is that?"
Kim Sang-chul tapped his desk with a pen and sent someone a text as he spoke.
"I say this knowing your temperament—don't pick a fight. They're friendly toward humans. And they're not someone you can handle."
But the man was already turning toward the basement.
"…Ridiculous."
After all, a dragon was always a dangerous being.