Chapter 166: Departure Festival (4)
Amaruah began to speak—quietly and impassively, but the words that followed were nothing short of shocking.
“I said it was dead, but to be honest, the truth is even more horrifying.”
Lian quietly asked again.
“...You're saying the story gets worse from here?”
“Yes.”
She gave a heavy nod.
What came out of her mouth next was indeed neither an exaggeration nor bluster.
It was truly, utterly horrific.
“To be exact, it didn’t just die—it was murdered.”
“……”
For a moment, Lian couldn’t say a word, couldn’t even react.
A dragon.
Boldly put, they could be considered the strongest of all beings living on the continent.
Yet even such dragons, not being divine or immortal, were naturally subject to death.
If one were to examine the causes, it might be from old age, illness and frailty, or even by their own hand...
And of course, though rare, there were cases where they were killed by another.
After all, wasn’t Lian’s master, Windy May, a famed Dragon Slayer known for having taken down two dragons single-handedly?
Likewise, in his past life, Allen Amiel had slain a dragon and earned renown across the continent as a Dragon Slayer.
‘Yes, which means…’
In other words, slaying a dragon was a feat worthy of spreading one's name across the entire continent.
If killing a dragon were an easy task, that would never have been the case.
Even demons feared dragons, did they not?
“……”
On top of that, Amaruah had clearly stated it was a young dragon.
If it had been a fully grown adult, perhaps the reaction would’ve been different—but a young dragon, a wyrmling, was something all dragons would protect at all costs.
They were nestled deep within the innermost reaches of dragon territory, unseen even if one wished to see them.
In fact, even during the great wars of the past, demons had never dared to touch a wyrmling.
Not out of pity or compassion, but solely out of self-preservation.
Put plainly, a wyrmling was something no one—no matter who—should ever dare to touch.
And now, one such young wyrmling had been murdered, and another had gone missing...
Lian asked in a trembling voice before he could stop himself.
“...Could you please explain the situation in a little more detail?”
At Lian’s quiet request, Amaruah nodded.
She, too, seemed visibly shaken by the horrific fate that had befallen one of her kind.
“Keep in mind, I only heard this secondhand, so take it with a grain of salt… We’re not of the same clan, so I couldn’t learn the full details.”
She continued in a somber tone.
“First off, both children were from the same clan.”
“……”
That clan must have completely lost it.
Lian unconsciously closed his eyes tightly.
It was horrifying to think about, but if two children from a single family—one murdered, the other missing—had met such fates...
If something like that happened, would that family really sit still?
They’d stop at nothing to find the culprit and make them pay, and to retrieve the missing child.
And these were dragons.
There was no way to begin to predict how far-reaching the consequences would be.
“They say the disappearance happened first. The child vanished and didn’t return for several days. So the parents and the clan began searching….”
“...And that’s when the real incident occurred—in the chaos.”
“Yes, that seems to be the case.”
Amaruah nodded.
“Because of that, not just every dragon in the clan, but likely everyone with any ties to them is now on the move.”
Lian asked,
“What about the culprit? Do they know who did it?”
“No idea.”
Amaruah answered as if wondering why he was asking something so obvious.
“If they knew, wouldn’t they have already descended en masse and torn both body and soul of the culprit into ashes?”
Fair point—Lian nodded.
“So you're saying they’ve found not even the smallest clue or lead?”
“That’s what I heard. Though... I don’t know about now.”
Even as she spoke, Amaruah’s voice still lacked strength.
Lian paused, then thought aloud as if the answer had just clicked.
“That missing wyrmling...”
“……”
“Whether it’s a disappearance or an abduction... either way, the trail must’ve led here.”
Amaruah hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“At the very least, the direction points this way.”
“……”
“I don’t know what their destination is. But just like you said before, seeing how they’re steadily heading here... it seems certain.”
Then, as if remembering something she’d almost forgotten, she added,
“And that child, when they were even younger, visited the capital once or twice with their parents in human form.”
“……”
“I heard the child was so energetic that even then, they wandered off on their own, away from their parents. That’s why, at first, everyone thought the kid had just gone off exploring nearby.”
“...So that’s why they’re coming here.”
A place they’d visited in the past.
And the trail led this way.
It would’ve been stranger not to search here.
“So, what are they doing now?”
Lian quickly shook his head and revised the question.
“No, I mean—what do they intend to do?”
“……”
If dragons truly wished it, they could’ve already appeared in the skies above the capital in an instant.
Yet the fact that they were approaching slowly, carefully, without causing collateral damage—meant there was definitely intention and meaning behind their actions.
‘Of course, they may also be scouting the area for clues...’
But maybe... they hadn’t yet decided on a definitive course of action.
And as if to confirm that very thought, Amaruah spoke softly.
“They seem to still be deliberating.”
“……”
She made a sharp click as her beak struck together.
The hard, dry sound echoed unusually loudly.
“One side wants to just burn everything that gets in the way and smash it all to pieces. They say that by doing so, they’ll eventually find traces, and through those traces, they’ll find the culprit.”
Amaruah paused for a moment and looked at Lian.
“The other side, which currently has more influence… says there’s no need to act so violently. They argue that if they move too aggressively, the situation might spiral into something irreversible.”
Lian nodded.
He had just gleaned another piece of critical information from their conversation.
“So the other one isn’t dead yet.”
“……”
“...Am I wrong?”
When Lian cautiously asked again, Amaruah shook her head.
“No, you’re right. I’m just a bit surprised you figured it out without me saying it.”
You think faster than I expected.
To her muttered remark, Lian responded with a faint mumble, pretending not to hear.
“...If the other one were confirmed dead, the dragons wouldn’t be taking their time like this. They’d have charged in already, without hesitation.”
“Exactly.”
Amaruah agreed with a nod.
“Also, parents have this sense—something like intuition—that lets them know the condition of their child. Whether they’re alive or dead, injured or unharmed… even the rough direction they might be in.”
“……”
“The missing child is fine. Not injured, not mentally broken. That’s why they’re taking their time and moving slowly.”
“So that means…”
“It means they haven’t fully grasped the situation yet.”
Amaruah said.
“They don’t know if the two incidents are connected or not. Whether the missing child simply ran away or was kidnapped.”
“……”
Now finally understanding the broader picture, Lian nodded deeply.
‘…Even if they were alive, if they were injured, the dragons would’ve already gone berserk.’
But in the end, this was only a temporary reprieve.
Just like in his past life, if things dragged on, the dragons would soon appear—completely unhinged.
‘It was definitely less than a month after the Departure Festival ended.’
Which meant about a month was all the time they had left.
Lian sighed again and again.
‘...How in the world did Professor Windy May deal with this in the past?’
In his previous life, it had been entirely thanks to Windy May that the dragon invasion had been stopped.
But even she had taken a considerable amount of time to act. It was unlikely she fully grasped the situation yet in this life.
At best, she was probably aware of the dragons’ approach and preparing a response.
‘Ah.’
In that moment, Lian’s expression changed—as if a realization had struck him.
‘Why was I…’
Why had he been trying to handle all of this alone?
Lian slapped both his cheeks with loud smacks and shook his head roughly.
Amaruah stared at him, as if wondering what was wrong.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“I just realized how stupid I’ve been this whole time.”
Saying that, Lian immediately began to walk off toward somewhere.
At his sudden movement, Amaruah flapped her wings and landed on his shoulder.
“Where are you going?”
“Now that I know the problem, I have to find the solution.”
“Solution?”
Amaruah muttered incredulously.
“What exactly are you planning to do on your own? Even I, who am the same species, can’t have a proper conversation with them—they’re that agitated.”
“Of course.”
“‘Of course’? I’m telling you, if it weren’t for concern over the missing child, they might have already burned the capital to the ground.”
Click—Amaruah clacked her beak for emphasis.
Lian nodded as if he understood.
“Yes, which is why I’m going to the one person who can solve this.”
Professor Windy May.
At those words, Amaruah fell silent.
Lian spoke quietly, but with firm conviction.
“If it’s Professor, she can definitely resolve this.”
Because she had done it in the previous life too.
He held back from saying the rest out loud and continued.
“The only problem is, she probably doesn’t know the reason behind it all yet. Even you, Amaruah, didn’t know until you made contact with them.”
But if she found out the cause, then maybe...
With that thought in mind, Lian quickened his pace toward Professor Windy May.
‘...More than anything.’
The incident in the underground waterways from a few days ago.
The massive Tentacle Mass and the piles of Cocoons.
And...
‘Yuran.’
Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t shake how strange it was that Yuran—who had all but lost her reason due to the dragon’s blood—had made her way to the underground waterways.
What had she sensed down there, that no one else had detected?
“……”
Lian decided to stop thinking any further.
For now, the most urgent thing was to meet with Professor Windy May.