Chapter 26
Just before Garri was about to crash into the ground, he barely managed to flap his wings and lift back into the air, yelling furiously at the Grand Duke.
“How dare you try to slam me into the ground?”
“You’ve got wings anyway.”
“Y-you insolent…!”
Garri’s body trembled for a moment, then in an instant, he transformed into the massive form of an adult dragon.
With blazing blue eyes, Garri roared his anger at the Grand Duke.
“I’ve had enough! What did I ever do to you that you’re so desperate to kill me every chance you get?”
“Well, maybe I just don’t like your very existence.”
“Shut your mouth!”
In his adult form, Garri swung his enormous tail with deadly force. The Grand Duke rolled aside to dodge the attack and drew his sword.
“Don’t forget, little wyrm—you attacked first. Don’t come crying later when you’re hurt, because I won’t care.”
“Look who’s talking! The fight we didn’t finish at sea—we’ll settle it here and now!”
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
As the Grand Duke swung his sword gracefully through the air, a brilliant blue blade of energy shot forth.
Garri soared skyward at tremendous speed, easily dodging the strike.
The wind from the dragon’s wings swept across the lake, whipping the once-placid waters into towering waves that crashed with a great roar toward the Grand Duke.
But he stood firmly, planting his feet, taking the full brunt of the storm as he said calmly:
“Your attacks no longer work on me. I’ve memorized every clumsy pattern of yours.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
With a mocking laugh, Garri suddenly darted toward the Mage Tower.
The Grand Duke unleashed more sword aura after him, but Garri twisted and bent his body midair, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, dodging them all.
“Those pathetic strikes won’t hit me, no matter if you throw a hundred of them—”
Garri froze mid-taunt.
The Grand Duke was unleashing aura blades recklessly, as if staking his very life, sending ten, twenty, endlessly streaking toward him.
Garri managed to dodge them with near-acrobatic contortions, but the ceaseless barrage forced him back, farther and farther.
When he tried to evade the last strike, his massive body slammed hard into the Mage Tower.
The impact was so powerful that the entire tower shook from the collision.
“Ugh!”
Garri groaned in pain, but there was no time to recover.
The final sword aura whizzed past his nose and struck the tower’s roof.
With a slicing sound, the roof was neatly cut away, like a piece of radish chopped in half.
‘Oh no! What do I do?!’
Despite the pain wracking his body, Garri felt dizzy and panicked.
‘The tower’s broken! If the Creator sees this, I’ll never hear the end of it! What should I do?’
As Garri stared blankly at the ruined roof—
Grand Duke Lupellen sheathed his sword, then gripped the hilt tightly and slowly closed his eyes.
Blue energy began to surge and ripple across his entire body.
“You—you…!”
“This is the end. One strike. Farewell.”
Though his voice sounded faint and distant, Garri heard it as though it were whispered right into his ear.
‘He’s preparing to risk his life on a final blow… Does he mean to take us both down?!’
Even during their battle aboard the Velletin, the Grand Duke hadn’t attempted something of this magnitude.
Had he unleashed such power at sea, the ship would have been cleaved in two instantly.
Panicking, Garri shouted desperately:
“Y-you bastard! Stop at once!”
And then—
The front doors of the Mage Tower burst open with a loud bang, and out stormed an enraged Jiana, hands planted firmly on her hips.
***
“You two have completely lost your minds!”
I shouted so hard that my stomach muscles tensed, and I saw the Tower Master beside me quietly covering his ears.
I gave him an apologetic look, then raised my voice again.
“Stop it right this instant!”
The giant dragon circling the skies above the tower instantly shrank back down into the size of a palm-sized hatchling.
He tried to perch on my shoulder with a show of cuteness, but I wasn’t in the mood to indulge Garri.
“You! Do you have any idea how much that roof cost? You’re going to pay for it! Do you expect me to rack up debt to the Mage Tower all the way out here in Tiaan Kingdom?”
“That… that wasn’t really my fault though…”
Even as the Tower Master quickly climbed aboard the prepared boat, my scolding went on.
“How old are you now, still playing around like this? Huh? You’re a dragon, he’s a human! Couldn’t you show some dignity and let it go? A mere human taunts you a little and you lose your cool, start brawling?!”
“I-I was wrong… I’m sorry, Creator…”
“I heard something like that earlier. Are you truly this dragon’s Creator?”
The Tower Master, intrigued by Garri’s words, turned to me curiously.
“You created a dragon? How?”
“W-well, I gave him his name! That moment gave him meaning, you might say. Haha.”
Unable to reveal the truth about the original story, I gave a vague explanation instead.
The Tower Master looked a little suspicious but didn’t press further.
As soon as the boat reached shore, I turned my ire toward the Grand Duke.
“Unbelievable! You blasted off someone else’s roof? With me inside it? Were you trying to kill me in the middle of some foreign lake?!”
“As if you’d die from just a bit of roof coming off…”
“And what if I had been under that roof? Did you even think about that before firing away? And really, unleashing aura blades against a five-year-old dragon just because he whined a little? Were you seriously trying to kill a child?!”
“J-Jiana…”
“Tower Master! Bill the damages to Duke Nox Lupellen. That includes roof repairs, any hidden cracks in the tower caused by the collision, and compensation for the psychological trauma of fearing the tower might collapse!”
“The tower wouldn’t crack from such a trifling impact. You underestimate the strength of my barrier. As for the roof, it was already old and due for replacement. Honestly, this neat cut saved me the trouble of demolition, so it’s actually quite—”
“Bill him anyway.”
I cut him off mid-explanation.
“And don’t forget the price of the shattered black bell too.”
I slipped in the bell casually on top. The Grand Duke gave me a look of pure disbelief, but I couldn’t care less.
“Garri, you’re grounded for a week. You’ll stay at the inn. I’m not taking you anywhere.”
“Waaah!”
“As for you, Grand Duke—you’ll get no salt in your food for a week! Season it yourself, got it?”
“No… no seasoning?”
“Both of you are being punished for causing chaos at the Mage Tower!”
Leaving the two thoroughly deflated men behind, I turned to the Tower Master with a bow.
“My apologies, and thank you again. I’ll see you soon at the palace.”
“Ah, truly fascinating. I look forward to it.”
Smiling broadly, the Tower Master returned to his tower.
Dragging along the two sulking men, I departed from the scene.
***
Victor Collins, master of the Collins Trading Company and commander of the Collins Mercenary Corps, was training hard that day with a heavy heart.
“If this was how it was going to be, why did you even hire me, Jiana?”
He had lost count of how many days it had been since he last saw her.
When he reunited with his childhood friend and first love, Jiana, he had been so overjoyed he nearly fainted. She had sworn never to leave the Isles of Jjoksem, and yet here she was in the Tiaan Kingdom!
And to be hired as her mercenary? That meant he could see her every day—what better chance could there be?
“But that damn Grand Duke stole you away.”
Victor’s arms tensed, his sword swings growing sharper.
When he heard that Duke Nox Lupellen of the Asteria Empire had whisked Jiana away to the Dragon Sea aboard the Velletin, it had crushed him.
Victor knew all too well how savage that dragon was. Terrified for her life, he nearly set sail to chase the ship down himself.
If Jiana died… what hope would he have left?
“But you didn’t die.”
In fact, she had survived—and emerged as a hero who slew the dragon. Her name was now known throughout Tiaan Kingdom.
She had even written him a letter, assuring him she had dealt with Karun as well, so he needn’t worry.
And that was the last he heard from her. She was far too busy now, living the life of a hero.
Victor sighed deeply, sheathed his sword, and ended his training for the day.
After washing up, he dropped by the King’s Guild out of habit—only to be shocked at the sight of a woman speaking with the guild manager.
“Jiana…? Why are you here?”
