The Intruder
"Lady Lea."
"What?"
"Just hypothetically. Purely hypothetically. What if I had lost?"
"?"
Nya-nya asked the question while casting the basic offensive spell Mana Wave, right after her basic defensive magic. Beside her, Haring was grunting and straining — muttering, "Why is this taking three whole minutes..." — while Ka-zen practiced farther off, though nowhere near as fast as Nya-nya.
I looked at Nya-nya, the former Magic Tower Master's staff in my hand.
"If you'd lost?"
"Would you have accepted him?"
"You didn't lose."
"But I could have. It was kind of a close call, honestly."
"It wasn't close."
If she couldn't even win that, there was no point in having trained under me. Besides, Nya-nya had Frost's End — her odds of losing weren't even a tenth of a percent. Of course, there was the remote possibility she'd been so terrified she couldn't even use the staff and lost anyway...
"Hmm... would I have?"
"Why not?"
Why not, she asked.
I'd only just met the guy, but I had plenty of reasons.
First of all—
"I'm not a babysitter."
"Ah."
"I've already got more than enough heroes — eleven of them."
"That's true."
There were so many heroes these days that it was easy to forget — back in the past, having them in double digits was almost unheard of. Eleven was a lot. Granted, two had already bailed and three were half-quitters, but even the six still training diligently were plenty. Once they finished their training and left the mountain, maybe. Until then, I had no intention of taking on more.
"I never planned on taking six in the first place..."
"How many do you usually teach?"
"Two at most. It's not like I'm the only master in this world."
There were plenty of teachers out there who could guide heroes just fine. Take Bahamart, lounging around in his villa just because he was old.
If he taught them, he'd probably do a better job than me.
Watching him preen and go on about how it was "a matter for the next generation~" was not a pleasant sight. Sure, I knew he was in that position — but this was the Goddess's business. The heroes should handle it. Don't dump it on some completely unrelated third party.
"Hmph."
"Still, I think you're the best, Lady Lea."
"Me too!!"
"Heh heh. Indeed. Lady Lea is the supreme dragon..."
"I'm not the only dragon either. There are quite a few if you look."
Ice Dragons, Earth Dragons, Water Dragons, Black Dragons... plenty if you searched. I was the only Fire Dragon, but still — go find another one and you could get meaningful instruction.
"They've all taught a hero or two at some point, so it wouldn't be a problem."
"Do those dragons all look like you, Lady Lea?"
"No? I'm probably the only one this age."
A dragon's Polymorph usually matched their actual age. Unless they deliberately transformed, you might get a young adult form — but a child form? That was just me.
There might be a newborn or two out there.
New life could have been born in the meantime, after all.
"No way!"
"...?"
Yugi, training in the clearing far off, suddenly screamed — I ignored him. This wasn't the first or second time he'd pulled that.
Nya-nya sighed.
"What a shame. To think there's only one person in the whole world as cute as you, Lady Lea."
"Don't get cheeky."
"Hehe."
I peeled Nya-nya off with magic as she tried to cling to me again. She floated in midair and drifted back to her spot.
I turned my head.
"What are you doing."
"Aww, so close."
Meanwhile, Haring — who'd been sneaking up from behind — went flying through the air and slammed face-first into the ground. She flailed with her face planted in the dirt, thrashing for a while before finally managing to free herself.
"Why me?!"
"Second offense. Aggravated punishment."
"......"
"Any other reasons?"
"You can't rely too much on your gear. That guy relied on it way too much."
Using good equipment was one of a hero's virtues, sure — but not for a mage. If you used fine weapons, fine mana stones, and fine scrolls like breathing, and then a situation came where you couldn't use them? You'd go from powerful to helpless in an instant, and even a monster far weaker than you could kill you.
"Warriors who wield weapons are fine without them. Their bodies are sturdy enough that they can manage the basics. But mages..."
"Without a staff, they're corpses."
"Exactly."
Even Nya-nya, already trying to cast five spells at once, would struggle with just two if she put down her staff. Her casting speed would drop dramatically, too. But that skull-masked hero, despite being stronger than Nya-nya, had a far worse gap.
"That guy. Without a staff, he couldn't cast a single spell."
"Hmm. It's true... heroes who cast magic without a staff are rare."
"Habits like that don't fix easily. Once you know the easy path, not many people go back to the hard one."
Sure, I could force him to fix it if I wanted — but why bother? He looked like the type who wouldn't listen, and it wasn't as if we were so short on heroes that I absolutely had to reform him.
Heroes are a dime a dozen.
The world wouldn't collapse without one more. And if there was one most important reason...
"I don't like him. He's arrogant."
"Ah."
"Coming in here and throwing a tantrum? Who does he think he is?"
I was never taking him on.
"She's never going to take me, is she."
"Not after the stunt you pulled."
"Wasn't that the natural reaction?"
"So what are you proposing we do?"
Near the Red Mountain, Heurisk's guild compound occupied roughly seven hundred square meters, with three two-story buildings arranged across the grounds. Inside the largest of them, some forty players stood waiting.
Under normal circumstances they would have been preparing for raids, grinding, running main quests or hunting hidden ones — but the guild master's summons had pulled them all into one place.
Heurisk sat in the guild-master's chair and looked over his members.
"You all watched the recording I sent, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"We saw it!"
"That was insane. Can I get my hands on that?"
"A complete newbie — barely started — is carrying a legendary weapon that has never appeared before. And she used it."
Do you understand what that means?
At Heurisk's words, the guild members who'd been sitting half-bored began to stir. A broken weapon that could reshape the terrain itself, never mind win a fight. If they got their hands on it...
"Raids would be a joke, right?"
"Exactly. No more worrying about other people while we take an ogre's head. And more importantly..."
"More importantly?"
"We can crush Cheonsang."
"Ooooooh!!!"
"Are we finally stomping Cheonsang?"
"Let's go right now! I've never liked those bastards."
"But how do we get it? The dragon doesn't seem like the type to just hand it over."
"Good question."
Heurisk nodded at the member's question.
The plan of "earn the dragon's recognition, become a disciple, and receive the weapon as a gift" had already failed. The moment Heurisk — Rank 7 mage — lost to a newbie who'd only been around for about three months, everything had gone sideways. Even if he approached now, pretending to have turned over a new leaf, the dragon wouldn't take him.
"According to our informant, the dragon has no intention of taking any more disciples. No matter how low you bow, it's not happening."
"Informant? Who?"
"There's a player running quests over there. I paid them for information."
The source hadn't managed to become a disciple, but they'd lived in the nest long enough to know the internals cold — where the treasure vault was, how it was laid out, even the dragon's behavioral patterns. With that much information, getting what they wanted was more than doable.
"While some of us draw attention, we hit the treasure vault."
"Dragon!"
"Dragon-sama!"
"Lady Lea!"
"Loyalty! Loyalty!"
"?"
It was another leisurely day of overseeing the heroes' training when a group of about seven heroes suddenly showed up at the nest. They'd even broken through the sealed entrance. At the sudden commotion, the heroes who'd been training gathered at the entrance as well.
"What is it?"
"They came again?"
"Seven this time?"
"Beginner gear, though..."
The seven heroes were wearing shabby equipment — the kind that reminded me of when I'd first met Haring. If anything, this looked even shabbier. It was almost puzzling how they'd broken through the sealed nest entrance. They didn't look particularly strong.
Was there a gap I missed?
I'd blocked everything I could see.
As I approached them, the man who seemed to be the leader dropped his forehead to the ground the moment he saw me and bellowed.
"O great and supreme Dragon!"
"?"
"Please accept us as your disciples!"
"Please accept us!"
"Please take us!"
"Loyalty! Loyalty!"
"......"
I'd rather not.
Setting aside their condition, attitude, talent, and everything else — I had no intention of taking more disciples. Honestly, six was already too many. I'd been debating whether to just kick out the three who hadn't made the cut.
Taking more is a bit much.
"That's not going to work."
"Please, just give us a chance!"
"Please! Please!"
"Loyalty! Loyalty!"
"No. I'm not taking any more, so while I'm still asking nicely—"
"But..."
"I said no."
I let out a small sigh and raised my hand. Types like these never listened when you asked nicely. Still, they weren't completely fearless — a little intimidation and they'd back off soon enough...
"......?"
"What is it, Lady Lea?"
"Intruder."
"Pardon?"
"There's an intruder."
Someone had entered the treasure vault.
