MADWD 45

MADWD

Chapter 45

The dragon hatchling gazed at the endless sky.

It saw the white Milky Way scattered across the black night and the proud, glowing moon.

The earth stretched as endlessly as the heavens.

At first, the horizon looked like the end of the world, but the more the horses ran, the farther that boundary stretched.
It was as if new lands kept rising before their eyes.

Even when it had first opened its eyes in the cave, the sight amazed it.
But now, outside in the open world, the wonder was beyond imagination.

Watching this, Ariella murmured to herself,

‘Of course it’s all new to him.’

To her, it was just empty wasteland. But to the hatchling, every rock and cliff was fascinating.
It pricked its ears and twitched its wing tips in curiosity.
Its catlike pupils moved constantly.

“It’s so big!”

Exclamations spilled out again and again.

“And… huge!”

Its sparkling eyes suddenly met Ariella’s. She laughed.

“This is nothing, really.”

“Really?”

“You’ll see so much more until you’re sick of it. This is just a tiny part of a vast world.”

The hatchling could hardly believe it.
What she described was beyond its imagination.

“Lies.”

“Why would I lie?”

The dragon quickly believed.
Ariella had kept her promise to take it from the cave—unlike the trainers, who had tricked it countless times, promising freedom if it obeyed.

‘Ariella can be trusted.’

The gold dragon’s first lesson of trust since birth.

Just then—

‘……What?’

Ariella’s gentle expression hardened.
She sensed something pulling at the back of her mind.

Now she could not only sense mana’s direction but also distance and speed.

“They’ll catch up in five minutes.”

Fedwick’s soldiers were pursuing them.

The hatchling’s eyes turned wary. Ludwig clicked his tongue.

“Damn. Persistent pests.”

Soon, hoofbeats came from behind.
The soldiers appeared, shouting curses.

“Catch them! Catch that dragon!”

The demon soldiers aimed bows and magic tools at them.
Even if the hatchling got wounded, they’d rather risk that than lose it completely.

The hatchling recognized familiar voices and growled.

Ariella reached down and stroked its head.

“Don’t worry. That scary-looking guy running with us? He’s really strong.”

“I can hear you!” Ludwig snapped.

“Strong?” the hatchling asked.

“He’s a demon king.”

Ludwig confirmed shamelessly.

“Yes, I am a mighty demon king.”

“A strong and poor demon king,” Ariella quipped.

“I said I can hear you!”

Instead of calming down, the hatchling grew more tense.

“……A demon king?”

The word was not comforting to a dragon.

Unaware of the hatchling’s feelings, Ludwig let go of his reins.

Whoosh!

He leapt from his running horse, using only his legs and waist for power.

Tap!

Landing lightly, he stood balanced on the galloping horse’s back.

“Wow!”

Ariella couldn’t help but exclaim—it was a skill she’d never seen before.

Ludwig smirked at her reaction.

He turned, one hand facing forward, the other toward the chasing enemies.

He raised his left hand.

Whoosh!

Air gathered around his palm.

Before the soldiers’ arrows and spells could reach, Ludwig’s magic was ready.
As always, no chanting—instant casting!

The soldiers’ eyes widened at the blazing red light filling their vision.

“What is that—?”

They never finished the sentence.

BOOM!

A towering pillar of fire split the sky.

“Arghhh!”

“What the hell—!”

The ground exploded beneath them.
A wave of flame and shock roared outward.

The soldiers were hurled in every direction, bodies burning.

“Help! My body’s on fire!”

Before they could recover, Ludwig struck again.

This time—a wall of flame.

Fwoosh!

A wide barrier of fire spread across the battlefield.

The speed was overwhelming—before mounted soldiers could flee, the ground itself burned.

“Whinny!”

The heat made the horses panic.
Many riders were thrown.
Frenzied hooves trampled fallen soldiers.

“It’s over.”

Ludwig poured even more mana into his next spell.

Swoosh!

Dozens of flaming spears appeared in the air and rained down.

It was the same spell he had once used during Ariella’s staged kidnapping.

Fwooosh!

A storm of fire fell from the sky.

BOOM! BOOM!

“Aaaghhh!”

Those struck were turned to ash without even screaming.
The few who dodged fled in terror, never daring to chase again.

“Simple.”

Ludwig sniffed proudly and dropped back onto his horse as smoothly as he had leapt up.

Clap! Clap!

Ariella clapped with delight.

While Ludwig puffed his chest, Ariella recalled the scene in detail.

“That was incredible. I could never copy that.”

“Want me to teach you?”

“You said only you can do it.”

“I meant the jumping-on-the-horse part.”

“I was talking about the magic!”

Even though she studied him closely, she couldn’t imitate Ludwig’s unique magic.
His mana moved in ways unlike any other demon.

“Too bad. Even you can’t copy it if you don’t understand it yourself.”

At that moment—

“I want to do it too.”

Ariella and Ludwig both turned.

The hatchling’s eyes shone.

It had also been impressed by the fiery explosions.

“What? You?” Ludwig scoffed.

“This isn’t something you can learn.”

“But I will.”

In the hatchling’s mind, one image burned bright—the great pillar of fire Ludwig had created.
The moment it saw it, something inside stirred instinctively.

But Ludwig dismissed it as childish nonsense.

Ariella only laughed cheerfully.

“Then let’s go home.”

Carrying a human, a demon king, and a dragon, the two horses raced across the wilderness, free of pursuers.