The Rumored Black Dragon (6)
“Haaah…”
Having finished her conversation with Fenril, the long-awaited boss of the Red Fangs, Freya sat in her office and let out a sigh even heavier with worry than the one she had drawn before setting out.
The debt itself had been pure fraud from the start, yet the Evergarden Count family still had to clear every scrap of interest that had piled up by the end of this very month. Only after settling that interest could they move forward with the rest of their plans—or raise the capital those plans required. The quickest way to solve both problems at once was to sell the expensive stolen goods currently cluttering the mansion to the Red Fangs.
The Evergarden territory had no independent trade routes of its own, and no major merchant guild large enough to absorb merchandise of that scale. The only organization with the networks to move such goods was the Red Fangs. That was how the meeting with their boss had come about. At first the talks had seemed to flow smoothly… until a certain word derailed everything.
“A dragon… a dragon… You’re saying such a thing actually exists…?”
The sudden appearance of a dragon had made the deal impossible.
There was only one road left into the Evergarden territory. In the past, several well-maintained routes had brought a steady stream of visitors. But roads demand constant care. Year after year the budget for upkeep had shrunk, and once Darian became head of the house the paths had been left to rot. Had the territory sat on a vital trade artery, merchants would have paid to keep the roads open themselves. Instead it was remote, produced nothing special, and levied ruinous taxes. The merchants simply left.
Now the sole remaining approach was a single mountain path that was still barely passable. Rumors of a dragon on that path—and actual reports of caravans being attacked—had sealed even the Red Fangs’ secret routes. Until they could leave the territory, none of their hidden roads or connections to other lands were of any use. Fenril was just as frustrated as Freya.
Whether a real dragon had appeared was still murky. Damage had been done, yet casualties were almost nonexistent; the only losses were food. Was it truly a dragon? Bandits? And if bandits, why steal only food? Fenril had sent scouts skilled in intelligence and reconnaissance combing the mountains. They found not so much as a single scale. Agents disguised as merchants and hidden inside carriages never drew an attack either. Rumors spread, damage continued, and the culprit remained invisible. Even Fenril was grinding her teeth every day.
In a fit of rage she had even considered leading every subordinate she had into a full-scale dragon hunt—only to realize that rival organizations would seize the headquarters the moment she left, and that, more importantly, how exactly did one defeat a dragon? So when Freya offered the goods, Fenril’s refusal had not been born of greed or dislike. It was simply: “We’re up to our necks right now. We can’t help.”
“Gordon, what do you make of it?”
“My lady, the dragon rumors truly are spreading like wildfire throughout the territory. Every merchant and mercenary who claims to have been attacked swears they saw a dragon with their own eyes.”
“If a real dragon is out there, can we subjugate it?”
“Impossible. Even if every remaining Sword Master in the Empire, the Academy’s headmaster and Archmage, and the Pope of the Goddess Church all took the field together, victory could not be guaranteed.”
“This is quite the headache…”
According to Han-hee, dragons aren’t supposed to appear for years yet. So a real dragon is out of the question. Then how do I explain this chaos?
Felix, who knew every plot point of Starlight of Dawn, had told her there were two dragons of real importance in the story. One was the White Dragon, Lux Dies—the founding myth of the Empire and the guardian of the current imperial house. The other was her polar opposite: the savage destroyer who scattered eternal black flame, the Black Dragon Tenebrix Nox. At this point in the timeline Lux Dies should still be sleeping beneath the Imperial Palace, which left only Tenebrix Nox. But if that ferocious dragon had truly appeared, why was it merely robbing passing caravans of their food? The premise itself was wrong, so no clear answer could exist—yet that wrong premise kept blocking every one of Freya’s goals, and the frustration was mounting.
“…Gordon. The report that not a single person has been injured or killed so far—that is certain?”
“Yes, my lady. However… my lady, are you perhaps—?!”
“Yes. Exactly. We cannot simply sit here any longer.”
After long, grinding deliberation, Freya rose from her chair and spoke to Gordon. Her grandfather, founder of the Hanil Group, had always given her advice. One piece in particular: when no clear method presents itself, cling to a single principle.
“We’ll take the direct approach.”
Charge straight in. Sometimes the simplest path is the cleanest answer.
“Gather the soldiers at once. At this point we will turn the entire mountain upside down if we must—”
Just as Freya declared her intention to confront the unknown head-on, a knock sounded at the office door.
Knock-knock—knock-knock—!
“…Come in.”
She stopped mid-sentence and granted entry.
“M-My lady…!”
“You are… the maid assigned to my daughter Rosaria, are you not?”
“I-I am…! B-Bennet…! My name is Bennet…!”
The maid who burst in, pale as death and dropping straight to her knees, was one Freya recognized. Bennet hurriedly gave her name.
“What is the matter? Why is your face that color, and why have you come so suddenly—”
“Young Miss! The Young Miss has disappeared!!!”
“…What?”
“And Young Master as well…! We’ve searched the entire mansion and—”
“……”
“Eek?!”
Bennet, still gasping for breath after reporting that both Rosaria, whom she personally served, and Felix had vanished without a word, looked up by accident. The moment her eyes met Freya’s, her face went from ashen to pure white.
“…Gordon?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Can you prepare for an outing immediately?”
“At once.”
“It seems a little discipline is in order after all this time. Heh heh.”
Freya smiled as she announced her departure to Gordon. Her eyes, however, were not smiling at all.
“Hey, you crazy bitch! How far are you planning to go? Let’s turn back right now!!”
“I said no! You’re the one who followed me of your own free will, so what’s your problem?!”
At that very moment, far from the Evergarden mansion where Freya’s fury was reaching the heavens, a carriage rattled noisily along the road outside the territory, filled with equally noisy bickering.
“In the first place, that novel of yours, that plot outline—you said it yourself! No dragons yet, right?!”
“Exactly! Tenebrix Nox shouldn’t appear at this point in the story, yet the rumors of a dragon keep coming! Something is definitely going on!”
The sequence of events had been as follows.
Felix, a devoted fan of Starlight of Dawn who knew every twist by heart, had heard that a dragon had appeared in the Evergarden territory—at a point in the story that had barely left the prologue (technically the transition into Chapter One). At first he dismissed it as idle gossip. But as more people claimed to have seen the dragon with their own eyes, and even the household servants began repeating the tales, the unease of facing information he did not know, mixed with bottomless curiosity, finally won. He decided to investigate the rumored road himself and carefully planned an escape.
His method: use mana manipulation to leap the high walls of the mansion in secret. He was not yet skilled enough for free flight magic, but simply lifting his own body and setting it down gently was well within his ability. Early that morning, while avoiding Darian’s daily exercise routine and the servants, he made for the outer wall.
Rosaria, still not fully free of her soldier’s habits, had woken early, glanced out the window, and spotted him. Wondering what her little brother was up to this time, she threw on clothes and sprinted after him. She reached the high wall just in time to see Felix floating serenely into the empty air. Still unused to magic, she was so startled she never even thought “magic”—she simply grabbed for him. Somehow she ended up floating too, and before either of them could stop it they had both cleared the wall.
Rosaria stared blankly at the stone wall she had just crossed. Then she saw Felix already racing off toward his goal and had no choice but to chase after him. That was how they had arrived at their present predicament.
“Good thing I packed two robes just in case. We almost got caught. Black hair is rare enough around here as it is.”
“Oh sure, like white hair is common?”
“It’s better than black.”
“Why sneak out at all? You’re not a kid anymore. Just ask to go!”
“Mom might have allowed it, but Dad never would. He’d say it’s too dangerous.”
“And knowing that, you still… Ugh… Hey, cut the crap and let’s go back already.”
“I said no! If you want to go back so badly, go by yourself!”
“Are you insane? If I go back alone, Mom and Dad will still tear into me! How am I supposed to leave you?!”
“Because you’re the older brother who just stood there watching your little sibling do something stupid! Remember when I set off those fireworks and you got chewed out just as hard for being the ‘responsible older brother’?!”
“Older brother, my ass… Right now I’m the older brother.”
“You little—!”
Knock-knock—
“We’ve arrived.”
Just as the anxious Rosaria and the determined Felix were about to start a full-blown fight inside the carriage, the vehicle slowed with a jolt. The coachman rapped on the wall and called out.
“This here’s the road where the dragon’s supposed to show. I’ll only take you this far… but going on shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Is that so?”
“Aye. Ever since the dragon rumors started, plenty of folks just like you have come wanting a look. Most of ’em never see a dragon—just end up cursing the whole way home after a miserable trek.”
“Then why did the rumor spread in the first place?”
“Beats me. It’s an eerie business, but the rumor’s been good for business, so I wouldn’t mind if it sticks around a while.”
“…Hmm.”
“I’ll be back in half a day.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“You’re really going? You’re actually going out there?”
“Be quiet!”
“Heh heh… Quite the close couple— Wait, not a couple?! …Ahem. Anyway, you two get along well. See you later.”
The coachman exchanged a few more words with Felix, then, looking slightly fed up, cracked the reins and drove off until the carriage shrank to a distant speck.
“So what now?”
“What do you mean, what now? We search every inch of this place.”
“…Hey, even when I was hunting spent casings I never had to search somewhere this big, and that still took forever.”
“A dragon and a bullet are the same size to you? The scale is completely different.”
“…Haaah.”
With their only ride gone, Rosaria asked about the plan in a tone of pure resignation. The answer only made her face fall further.
“Hey, what’s that?”
“This? We didn’t even eat breakfast. I figured something like this might happen, so I grabbed plenty of food from the kitchen before we left.”
“That’s a relief. I’m starving. Nothing we can do about it now, so let’s eat first.”
When Rosaria asked about the basket in Felix’s hand and learned he had even packed a full lunch, she managed a small smile and clutched her empty stomach.
“Shall we? Let’s just sit in the bushes and eat. Feels kind of like a picnic—fun, right?”
“If only it really were a picnic… You should’ve just said we were going on a picnic.”
“Ah.”
“How the hell did you even get into a Seoul university?”
Felix’s complete failure to invent any excuse for leaving the mansion left Rosaria wondering how someone like him had ever been accepted to Seoul National University. He had inherited Freya’s brilliant mind, yet he had also inherited Darian’s complete denseness in every other area.
“Ah… I don’t know! I don’t know! Just eat already!!”
“Sigh…”
Felix brushed the problems aside, spread out a mat, and Rosaria began setting out the food from the basket.
“Huh? Why is this still piping hot?”
“Oh, that? Heh heh. It’s a long story, but I invented a kind of heat-retention magic. You wrap a layer of mana around an air pocket to form an invisible wall, then trap the faint heat that appears just before flame magic activates inside that wall, and—”
“That’s enough. Ooh… hot sandwiches. I said I wanted these.”
“Right. Breakfast has been way too heavy lately. I liked them too.”
“Whatever. All the nobles here are Westerners. Who eats roast turkey for breakfast? Anyway, eat first, talk later.”
Rosaria and Felix each took a hot sandwich still warm from Felix’s magic.
““Thanks for the food!!””
They opened their mouths wide, ready for the first bite—
BOOM—
“Kyaa?!”
“Wha—?!”
Their bodies floated lightly into the air as a deafening roar that threatened to burst their eardrums enveloped them.
“Wh-wh-wh-what the hell?!”
“An earthquake? Why would there suddenly be—”
Startled and confused, the siblings whipped their heads around trying to understand what was happening.
“…Hic.”
“Eh, ah, wha, ehk…?!”
It was as if someone had painted the entire sky black. A body so massive it could casually step over modern skyscrapers. Claws thick and hard enough to serve as pile bunkers. Fangs sharp enough to grind stone to sugar dust. Black wings that beat the air with a fierce whoosh, proclaiming their owner the true sovereign of the skies.
“Y-y-y-you… That’s a real dragon!!!!!!”
“No way… I-it’s really Tenebrix Nox…?”
A maw more savage and hideous than a shark’s yawned open, and the sound that poured out made the ground tremble and the earth shake. Confronted with an actual dragon, Rosaria—whether from lack of reality or from seeing dragons so often in media—felt more shock and fear than pure panic. She grabbed Felix’s clothes and shouted while he sat frozen. Felix himself was equally stunned that Tenebrix Nox had appeared and the plot had already gone off the rails.
If you flee now, I shall spare your lives!
Insignificant creatures are no more than flies—killing you would bring me no amusement.
“Hey, hey! She says she’ll let us live if we run! Let’s get out of here! Now!”
Rosaria listened carefully to the Black Dragon’s words and yanked on Felix with even greater force, but he remained rooted to the spot. Then a strange light began to gleam in the eyes of the boy who had been staring blankly at the dragon.
“U-um… Lady Tenebrix Nox! Wh-why are you staying in a place like this?!”
[…What?]
“You crazy idiot! She’s letting us go! Just run already!”
“B-but that doesn’t make sense! Someone who grew tired of her own overwhelming power and sought mighty opponents through war, slaughter, and massacre—why would she be here…?!”
Instead of fleeing, Felix began firing questions back at Tenebrix Nox. Rosaria’s mind filled with a single thought: This crazy bitch has finally lost it. We’re dead. Mom, Dad, I’m sorry.
Did I not tell you to flee!! You insignificant mortals!!
I… I’ll just kill you!! Huh?!
“Please tell me! Why are you here?! According to the plot you should still be in deep slumber…”
[Y-you… insignificant mortal!!!!]
Rumble—rumble-rumble—rumble-rumble-rumble—
“Kyaaaaa!!!”
“Uwaaah! Mom! Dad!!! I’m sorry!! This worthless son is going first!!! See you in hell, you crazy bitch!!!!”
While Tenebrix Nox kept shouting for them to leave and Felix kept asking questions, the dragon finally raised one massive hand high. A thunderous crash like a lightning bolt striking right beside them exploded outward. Felix and Rosaria clung to each other and screamed at the top of their lungs.
“…Kkh…! Hic…!”
“Uuuu…! Ugh…!”
[…………………]
“…Huh?”
“…Huh?”
They had been certain they were about to die. After roughly two minutes of trembling, nothing had happened. Cautiously, the siblings cracked open their tightly shut eyes.
And then—
Um…
“…Yes?”
I-I’m really, really hungry, so… could I maybe have some of that food…?
With a vicious, razor-sharp claw, Tenebrix Nox pointed at the sandwiches still rolling around on the picnic mat.