Breath
"Hwoooom..."
It was a moment when she seriously felt like unleashing a breath attack.
They swarmed around her nest in droves, yet paradoxically did absolutely nothing. All they managed was to clamor at her doorstep, screaming for quests.
If they'd at least tried to steal something like before, she could have kicked them all out under collective responsibility.
"Should I just blast them?"
Heroes were immortal anyway — they didn't die even when they died, and they barely felt pain. A death or two wouldn't be a problem. They knew that too, which was probably why they'd piled up here in such numbers.
She wanted to transform into her dragon form and carpet-bomb the area around her nest with breath, but she held back for now.
Can't start a forest fire, though...
A forest fire would be a real pain. Putting it out was easy enough, but restoring everything to its original state afterward was tedious work. Leaving it scorched wasn't an option either — it would look terrible. She couldn't very well set fire to her own home.
"Eek..."
"Wh-what is this?"
"Whoa. Why are there so many people?"
As she sat on a rock mulling things over, her disciples drifted over one by one. Just moments ago they'd been whining about not wanting to do quests, and now they were cautiously reading her mood.
She stared at them, then had a brilliant idea.
"Want to clean them all up yourselves?"
"Pardon?"
"You said you don't want to fight a Legion Commander. So heroes should be easy enough to handle, right?"
"Uh..."
"W-well, fighting other heroes would make the Goddess extremely unhappy..."
"The old hag doesn't really mind."
The Goddess's only goal was to select strong heroes and use their power to fight the Demon King's army. Heroes brawling among themselves had never particularly concerned her, even in the old days. She'd occasionally issue a "warning" if things got too out of hand, but that was about it.
"You guys don't seem to get along with the other heroes anyway. You can do it."
"...There are good people among them, too."
"She's right. If we kill them all, public opinion would..."
"So you can kill them, then?"
"...To a certain extent? But seriously, no. I'd rather fight a Legion Commander."
Lea nodded at Haring's absolute refusal. She'd said it that way, but having her disciples kill fellow heroes was pointless anyway.
They'll just revive.
No matter how many times you killed them, the ones who wanted to come would keep coming. And there were still disciples like Nya-nya who hesitated over PvP.
"So why did this many show up?"
"Probably... because of the quests."
"Quests?"
"Yes. Word that we took down the Ogre Lord has spread far and wide."
According to Yong-ba, news of the Ogre Chief's defeat had reached everyone. Her disciples had handled it in a mere two weeks, but the Ogre Chief was a monster that even hordes of heroes had failed to bring down. Of course the existing heroes would be jealous.
On top of that, word had gotten out that Lea handed out easy quests. The promise of getting stronger with little effort had drawn heroes to her nest in droves.
"So giving out quests was the problem?"
"W-well, not exactly. It's just that you gave out so many easy ones..."
"That was the most efficient approach."
One quest to slay a powerful monster or retrieve some impossibly rare item was far less efficient than ten quests to hunt ordinary monsters or gather common herbs. Better returns for the time and resources invested.
Nya-nya nodded.
"That's true. That's why everyone came..."
"Hwooom..."
"What if you put up a barrier like before? Wouldn't they all leave?"
"Nya-nya, they're not coming in anyway."
"Anyone with a brain wouldn't illegally trespass."
"Still, you never know."
"No. Too noisy."
The barrier's soundproofing wasn't as strong as one might hope. She could make it completely silent, sure, but if people kept milling around the perimeter, the vibrations would travel through the ground and it wouldn't make much difference. A barrier was designed to block and detect external intrusion — it wasn't a soundproof booth. It was security magic, pure and simple.
Earplugs or a personal noise-cancellation spell would mean she had to put up with the inconvenience herself, and she wasn't about to do that.
The soundproof barrier is translucent pink, which is ugly.
All in all, the situation was thoroughly unsatisfying.
"...I should visit the Magic Kingdom sometime."
It had been a while since her last visit. Surely some new technology had come out by now? An eco-friendly magic barrier with zero noise, zero vibration, zero color, and zero mana signature.
"You're going?"
"Nah. In four years."
For now, she was going to sleep soundly in her nest. No one — absolutely no one — was going to interrupt her beauty rest.
But even if she killed them all and drove them out, they didn't seem like the type to give up. And if she turned hundreds of heroes into pocket monsters the way she had that one thief, the old hag would start whining...
"If I modify the barrier... the barrier?"
"?"
"Would it work? It's been ages since I last used it, though..."
"What is it?"
"You'll see."
With a flutter of wings, she returned to her dragon form and soared into the sky.
"Alright, alright! Don't push!"
"If you don't want to end up like Heurisk, show some manners!"
"Careful! Watch what you say!"
"Popcorn for sale~ Popcorn~ Ten silver~"
"She's not just gonna stay inside forever, right?"
"Please, just one quest...!"
At the entrance to Lea's nest, a massive crowd had gathered. Despite the throng, the users maintained a surprisingly orderly formation, clustered neatly around the entrance.
Under normal circumstances, the top guilds and rankers who heard the news would have locked down the mountain to keep other users from climbing up. Honey hunting grounds and hidden quests yielded better rewards when monopolized by a select few. They'd done the same thing elsewhere before, and they'd fully intended to do it again this time...
But then they remembered.
Heurisk.
Once a high-ranking player at rank seven, now a tragic figure permanently banned for trying to rob a dragon's nest. Even top rankers didn't survive crossing Lea. Immortal or not, no matter how skilled — Lea simply locked heroes away so they couldn't revive.
And once bounties had been placed on the Heurisk guild members who'd raided her nest, the rankers decided to play nice. Get locked up over some stupid fight or ruckus, and there was no way out.
"Is she actually giving out quests?"
"Doesn't she only give them to her disciples?"
"Come on. This many people showed up — she'll give us something."
"She's not gonna just kill us all... huh?"
"The sky!"
"Look at the sky, guys!"
Roughly a thousand heroes packed around the nest looked up. And that was only the ones already near the nest — even more were still climbing the mountain.
High above, a red dragon the size of a hill spread its wings. Her girl form was adorable, no question — but a dragon was a dragon, a symbol of raw power and majesty. The users who beheld her full form felt an overwhelming presence wash over them.
"Whoa..."
"That's insane."
"Ooooh..."
"Screenshot! Gotta take a screenshot!"
"Transform! Please transform!"
"Lea! Lea! Lea!"
The sky itself seemed to rumble. It wasn't quite a dragon's voice so much as a kind of telepathic transmission. The users only grew more excited as they answered.
"Huh?"
"Of course not!"
"Just give us one quest, Lea, and we'll go!"
"Facts, facts!"
"O great Dragon, I have always held you in the highest—"
A deep hum resonated through the air.
You who climbed the Red Mountain have come face to face with the Flame Dragon.
Win the Flame Dragon's interest and obtain what you desire.
Rewards increase based on your actions.
Objective:?
Notes:?
Reward:Experience 5,000
"Ooooh!"
"Holy crap!"
"Thank you, Lea-chan!"
"Lea! Lea! Lea!"
"All hail Lea~"
The users erupted in cheers at the quest window floating in midair. A hidden quest, no less. The only reward was experience, but 5,000 XP was nothing to sneeze at. That was enough to level up even around level 30 — and for low-level players, it could mean jumping several levels in one go.
"But why is the objective all question marks?"
"Yeah, seriously."
"What do you even do to increase the reward?"
"What does the ? mean?"
The fact that both the objective and the notes were marked with question marks left everyone completely in the dark. The users were still puzzling over it, about to try various approaches, when—
Tssaaaah...
A reddish barrier began spreading across the entire nest area. In under a minute, it blanketed not just the nest but the entire mountain summit.
Thud.
"Huh?"
"What the — the terrain..."
Before they knew it, they were no longer standing in a warm-looking forest of red trees, but on a crimson wasteland radiating heat. Less a mountain than a volcanic zone. Even the sky had turned red.
"It's a Domain Expansion!"
"Is this the Flame Dragon's territory?"
"Tch, so it's a barrier..."
"Ow, hot!"
"Looking at the map, it's not a teleport, but... wait?"
The users were startled by the sudden change, but still treated it as something of a joke. They'd received a quest, after all, and Lea never indiscriminately slaughtered users unless they crossed a line.
That was true enough, but then—
Kiiiiing...!
"Huh?"
The users saw it. High in the sky, red energy was condensing in Lea's open maw. The most fundamental attack of a dragon — the symbol of its power, the raw force dwelling within.
Breath.
"Breath?"
"Wait, what?"
"DODGE THE BREATH!!!"
Lea's breath incinerated half the users.