Chapter 96
The two of them waited for their magic to recover.
After some time had passed—
“Shall we start now?”
Whoosh!
Flames rose from Ludwig’s fingertips.
It was a fire with almost no heat but very bright light.
Ariella, holding it in her hands, took a short breath.
It was fortunate she had studied both enchantment magic and flight magic.
“Enchant!”
She carved delicate patterns of magic into the flame.
The fire absorbed the magical circuits, shivering slightly before shining brighter in response.
Both of their faces glowed red under the light.
“It worked!”
The fire had been given the attribute of flight.
“I’ll let it go.”
Ariella carefully released it.
The flame floated in the air for a moment, as if catching its breath, then shot upward with power.
Whoosh—!
After that, Ludwig kept creating more fireballs, and Ariella enchanted each one in turn, letting them rise.
Dozens of magical lanterns drifted through the dark sky.
They twined into streams of light, spreading out like a nebula.
Bright red tails formed geometric patterns, weaving together as they flowed.
It was beautiful.
“Oh…?”
Even Ludwig, who rarely reacted to anything, had a spark in his eyes.
The flames moved with such vivid life, almost as if they were alive.
They spun in circles, crossed paths like dancers, glided smoothly one moment, then scattered into tiny dots the next.
It looked like a grand ball unfolding in the heavens.
Dancing to the melody of magic, they left behind dazzling trails in the sky.
Ariella kept pouring in magic, expanding the range of light so it could spread far away.
‘…Hmm. It really is pretty.’
Neither of them could take their eyes off the sky.
The warm night air wrapped around them.
Even the monsters that had been lurking nearby grew faint and quiet.
Though this was an emergency rescue signal, strangely, the moment felt peaceful.
As if time itself had stopped.
They didn’t say a word, yet they felt deeply connected.
How much time had passed like that?
“…”
Ludwig slowly turned his head.
In the magical light, Ariella’s side profile came into view.
Her short red hair swayed in the soft breeze, changing colors under the glow.
Her eyes sparkled with the reflection of the shining sky.
Her features looked youthful, but her expression carried firm determination.
And certainty.
Confidence in what she wanted to do and the path she was walking.
‘She’s been like that since the very first time we met.’
How could this human keep imagining things he never even thought of—then succeed at them?
The idea of treating fire as an object to enchant… Ludwig had never considered such a thing. Nor had he seen any other demon attempt it.
She broke down old limits, turning everything upside down with fresh ways of thinking.
For Ludwig, it was always shocking, always new—
—and always fascinating.
Not just her ideas, but her will to carry them out with conviction.
Thinking that far, Ludwig felt a sudden impulse rising within him.
He opened his lips, taking a short breath. Words he had never spoken before almost came out.
But Ariella was quicker.
Suddenly—
“Hey!”
She shouted, jumping up.
“Someone’s coming!”
She stretched out her arm.
Her finger pointed into the distance.
Beyond the horizon, where the enchanted flames shone, she saw a flying shape approaching.
It wasn’t her imagination.
She could already sense the familiar magic drawing near.
And then—
“ARIELLA!”
A loud cry split the night sky.
It was Pi’s voice.
“Pi!”
Ariella’s face broke into a bright smile as she waved both hands.
Behind Pi came Richmond, flying with a Lycanthrope tied up with ropes, dangling below.
Overjoyed at the reunion with her companions, Ariella bounced up and down on the spot.
Because of that, she failed to notice the fleeting expression that had passed over Ludwig’s face.
“ARIELLA!”
Pi’s wings tore through the air with force.
Thud!
Though the hatchling had already learned to land silently, right now he didn’t care about that.
Pi rushed forward in a panic.
His dragon claws left deep prints in the rocky beach, sending nearby stones flying, but he ignored it.
“Ariellaaaa! I finally found you!”
Ariella prepared to dodge in case Pi crashed into her in his excitement.
But just before that happened, Pi skidded to a stop.
The Gold Dragon bent his long neck toward Ariella.
Tears brimmed in his golden eyes.
“You’re really safe? You’re not hurt? You weren’t cold? You weren’t hungry?”
Sniffling, he sniffed her again and again, checking her scent.
Even his tail, too full of joy, dragged across the ground.
“I’m fine, Pi. See? Perfectly fine.”
Beside her, Ludwig muttered in annoyance.
“I must be invisible.”
Truly, Pi acted as though he was. He neither saw nor heard him.
His gaze was locked only on Ariella.
“I’ll never leave your side again, Ariella! I won’t let something like this happen ever again!”
Pi spread his wings as if to hug her, but then remembered his huge size and stopped.
Instead, he rubbed his soft jaw against her shoulder.
At that moment, Richmond and Ulken approached.
“Thank goodness you’re safe.”
“Seriously! Demon King, that was really close this time.”
“At least we found you faster than expected. I never thought you’d drift this far away.”
Richmond pointed at Pi.
“It was the hatchling who spotted the lights, even from a distance where I couldn’t see anything. Thanks to that, we knew which direction to fly. It was perfect timing.”
Ludwig gave a short nod.
“…Yes. Timing is everything, it seems.”
But something in his voice sounded off.
It was an unexpected reaction.
They had just reunited with their companions—he should have been happy.
There was no reason to sound unsettled.
‘Maybe it’s just his tension fading. That’s usually how his emotions come out.’
Richmond didn’t think too deeply about it.
The young Demon King had always been unusual because of how he grew up.
Once Pi was reluctantly pulled away, Ariella asked,
“I’m glad to see you all escaped safely. But what happened after we were swept away?”
She already knew from Ludwig’s earlier explanation, but she wanted to confirm it.
She had asked Richmond and Ulken, but Pi quickly answered first.
“Ariella! You see, what happened was—”
His story was almost the same as Ludwig’s.
When the tidal wave hit, Richmond and Ulken had tried to escape by flying.
But the storm was fierce, and by the time they reached the edge of the waves, they were about to fall.
Just then, Pi appeared.
“I noticed something was wrong with the weather, so I flew over right away!”
The hatchling, too, had struggled against the storm winds at the island’s center.
When he spotted them, he had been shocked.
In that moment, the vow he made to never carry anyone but Ariella vanished from his mind.
He immediately lowered his back and let Richmond and Ulken climb on.
Outside the tidal wave, the winds were weaker.
So Pi circled the storm, flying round and round.
But his eyes kept looking toward the inside.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you then, Ariella. The waves were too high—I couldn’t see you well. Just when I thought I’d found you, the current dragged you away in an instant.”
To chase after her, he would have had to drop Richmond and Ulken somewhere first.
But he couldn’t do it.
“I thought, ‘If Ariella’s voice could reach me right now, what would she say?’”
Richmond had already drained most of his magic and was exhausted.
“I knew it. You would’ve told me, ‘Before saving me, take these two somewhere safe first.’”
The Ariella Pi knew would never let her companions be abandoned for her sake.
So he endured it.
Though he desperately wanted to follow her, Pi dropped the two safely on another island before starting the search for Ariella.
But by then, she had already been swept far away.
“I see.”
Ariella smiled softly.
She patted Pi’s neck.
“You did well. Very well.”
She had often wondered if this hatchling was really growing the right way in such unusual circumstances.
But seeing him now, she realized—her way hadn’t been so wrong after all.
The hatchling had stumbled at times, but overall, he was growing along the right path.
With warmth in her heart, Ariella thought so.
Pi and Ulken admitted they hadn’t even eaten properly while searching for them.
For a hatchling who valued six meals a day as life’s most important duty, and for a Lycanthrope who lived for the joy of eating, this said everything about their state of mind.
“Pi, you’ll die like this! Starve to death!”
“Let’s fill our stomachs first!”
“Yes, I’m starving! So hungry!”
Pi and Ulken shouted together, perfectly united.
Ludwig clicked his tongue and stood, picking up his sword.
“Let’s go. This island has plenty of monsters to hunt.”
While Ariella had been unconscious, he had already explored the whole island and checked its ecosystem.
He had been preparing for survival in case the ordeal lasted long, even without Ariella.
Pi tilted his head.
“Monsters… can we eat them?”
“Of course.”
“Do they taste good?”
“…Is that really what matters?”
The Demon King frowned. Ulken also voiced doubt.
“But Demon King, some monsters might be poisonous.”
“I mastered how to tell which ones are edible when I was half this height.”
He wasn’t joking.
Under Ludwig’s command, the group quickly secured a mountain of monster meat.
With Ludwig’s experience of eating monsters during his wandering days, Ulken’s hunting instincts, and Pi’s hunger-driven energy, their hunting was unstoppable.
Before long—
“…Don’t you know the meaning of moderation?”
The bonfire, now much larger than before, looked like the Demon King’s castle kitchen.
The amount of roasted meat could have fed an entire squad of demon soldiers.
“Mmm, not bad at all.”
“It’s different from what Labo used to make, but I like the unique flavor!”
Everyone except Richmond, who didn’t need food, focused on replenishing their strength.
Reunited with their companions, they set aside their worries for a moment and enjoyed a short rest.
“Now then, with our stomachs full…”
After the meal.
The cave was piled high with monster bones.
Once everyone had recovered their strength and magic, Ariella spoke.
“Shall we have another strategy meeting?”
“Strategy meeting?”
Ariella’s smile turned sharp.
“To decide how we’ll crush that cursed sea serpent.”
