Chapter 167: Departure Festival (5)
Lian crossed the corridor at a near-running pace.
Sitting silently on his shoulder was Amaruah.
She repeatedly clacked her beak, clearly expressing her displeasure.
“...Do we really have to go to that woman?”
Eventually, unable to hold back, she asked in a reluctant tone, accompanied by a sharp clack.
Lian answered quietly.
“Yes. She’s the one with the highest chance of resolving this situation.”
“Hmph.”
Amaruah snorted briefly through her nose.
It seemed she didn’t like his answer at all.
Or perhaps it was the very idea of having to meet Windy May that she disliked.
“……”
Lian easily figured out the reason for her reaction.
No, even without trying, anyone could have guessed—after all, one of Windy May’s nicknames was Dragon Slayer.
There was no way someone called a Dragon Slayer would be seen favorably from a dragon’s perspective.
Hadn’t Airos also shown blatant annoyance and picked a fight when they met Windy May?
‘Well, I guess…’
Lian, too, wouldn’t look kindly on an elf or orc nicknamed Human Slayer.
He simply hoped, given the situation, that Amaruah and Windy May wouldn’t clash.
‘…I hope nothing happens.’
But when they finally reached Windy May’s location, Amaruah once again spoke up, grumbling.
“I’m not going in.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t want to face that woman. She’s an unbearably uncomfortable presence.”
“But…”
Her firm refusal made Lian pull a troubled face.
“She won’t believe me easily if I go alone to talk about something this serious, will she?”
“That’s your problem.”
“I’ll handle the talking. I just need you to say a word or two from the side.”
“I don’t even want to do that.”
Frustrated by her uncooperative attitude, Lian let out a short sigh.
Then, as if muttering to himself, he spoke toward her.
“…If you were going to act like this, why did you even accept the brooch?”
“…!”
“You said it was a symbol of our promise, didn’t you? You guaranteed you’d help me in exchange for it.”
At Lian’s words, Amaruah flinched hard.
Then, she turned her head and stared at him silently.
There was no way to read emotions in a bird’s eyes, yet Lian somehow understood that she was taken aback.
After a brief silence, she reluctantly nodded her head.
“…What a nuisance.”
It was practically a sign of acceptance.
“But I really will keep my mouth shut as much as possible, so be aware of that. Like I said before, Lian Gwendil, you have to do all the explaining.”
“You don’t need to worry.”
Suppressing a sigh of relief, Lian gently knocked on the door with the back of his hand.
“Professor, this is Lian Gwendil. I came because I have something to speak with you about.”
After some rustling sounds from inside, Windy May’s voice responded.
“Come in.”
Lian cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.
Unusually, Windy May was seated and scribbling something nonstop.
He glanced sideways at it, but even though it was clearly written in the Imperial tongue, he couldn’t make sense of what it meant.
“What brings you here all of a sudden?”
“Well…”
Lian began summarizing the story he’d heard from Amaruah.
The reason the dragons were approaching.
The death of a wyrmling, and a disappearance.
Their current situation…
“……”
Windy May listened in silence throughout.
The usual playful glint in her eyes was gone, replaced by a deep, calm light.
She stared at Lian for a moment, then murmured in a low voice.
“Hm… I see. So that’s the reason.”
Windy May accepted Lian’s explanation far too easily, as if she’d expected him to come and saw no need to doubt his words.
Surprisingly, it was Lian who felt thrown off by her reaction.
“Uh… Professor?”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Isn’t it a bit too easy for you to believe me?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, what if I were lying or spouting nonsense…”
At that, Windy May blinked and tilted her head.
She looked at him in surprise, blinking her eyes.
“…Don’t tell me what you just said was all a lie and completely made up?”
“No, not at all. That’s not what I meant…”
“Oh, then are you saying, ‘Why did you believe me so easily’? That kind of thing?”
“…Yes.”
At Lian’s frustrated response, Windy May gave him a what’s-the-problem look.
“Well… that’s only natural, isn’t it? It’s you speaking, Lian. Of course I’d believe you.”
“……”
Seeing him momentarily stunned by her unexpected trust, Windy May shrugged.
“The Lian I’ve seen so far is more than trustworthy. At the very least, you’re not someone who’d say something nonsensical in a situation like this.”
Then, as if she’d almost forgotten, she added,
“Oh, Cecilia and Mercedes too. Same goes for them.”
“……”
Lian silently stared at Professor Windy May.
Her words of unexpected trust left a ticklish warmth in a corner of his heart.
He soon collected himself and began explaining to his professor—no, his master—everything he hadn’t mentioned earlier, the things he’d heard from Amaruah.
“They say the murdered wyrmling and the missing one are from the same kin. So now the entire kin is moving, and even other dragons connected to them are involved. From what I’ve heard, unless you’re directly related, they’re rejecting even other dragons. And…”
Lian went on to explain:
That even among the dragons, opinions were divided.
That there was a conflict between hardliners and moderates.
And finally, that the trail of the missing wyrmling led in the direction of the capital.
He explained everything in detail.
“……”
Once again, Windy May nodded as she listened attentively to Lian’s story.
During that time, her gaze occasionally drifted to Amaruah, who sat motionless on his shoulder.
Once Lian finished his explanation, Windy May suddenly looked straight at Amaruah and spoke.
“So, that bird sitting on your shoulder is actually the dragon who brought this information. Ahem.”
She abruptly cleared her throat.
“Hellooo~?”
“……”
Windy May greeted her cheerfully, waving her hand like a child, but Amaruah merely stared back coldly.
Then, Amaruah whispered to Lian.
“Tell her not to act friendly with me.”
“Pardon?”
“Hurry.”
Lian looked at Windy May with an awkward expression and said,
“…Professor, she asks you not to act familiar with her.”
“Aww, that’s a shame. The basics of social interaction start with greetings, you know. Could you tell her that?”
“Professor…”
“Go on.”
At that, Amaruah’s eyes grew sharper as she listened to their exchange.
“Tell her if she keeps twisting words like that, I’ll be done with this.”
“Ha…”
Lian sighed.
Meanwhile, Windy May only smacked her lips quietly, as if disappointed.
“Alright, then I suppose I’ll give up on us becoming friends.”
“……”
“Then I’ll ask a few serious questions instead. Of course, they’re for that bird—no, the dragon—so please make sure you relay them accurately.”
With that, Windy May began asking several specific questions through Lian.
Things like the name of the kin, their characteristics, any notable signs near where the missing wyrmling was last seen, and the types of traces they were tracking.
Among them were phrases that sounded like broken glass—completely unintelligible to Lian.
Still, Amaruah answered all of Windy May’s questions sincerely, though still speaking through Lian.
After a while, once all the questions and answers had been exchanged, Windy May’s expression turned noticeably grave.
She let out a small sigh and murmured,
“This could’ve turned into something seriously dangerous if we weren’t careful…”
She looked at Lian and spoke with genuine sincerity.
“Lian, you’ve done something truly important.”
Windy May gave a quiet nod.
“Thanks to you, we avoided pouring our time and efforts into something entirely off track. Of course, we’ll have to completely rebuild our original plans and strategies… but in the end, we’ve bought ourselves incredibly valuable time.”
Despite her words, Lian hesitated for a moment.
Then, cautiously, he spoke up.
“Professor, there’s one more thing that’s been bothering me.”
“What is it? Go ahead.”
Lian recalled what had happened in the underground waterway a few days ago.
The massive Tentacle Mass and the pile of mysterious cocoons.
The Cultists of the Evil God and demons.
And at the center of it all—Yuran.
“It’s about Yuran.”
“The one from Garusol?”
“Yes.”
Lian began calmly laying out his thoughts.
“At the time, Yuran had nearly lost her reason. So how was she able to find them—those who were hiding deep within the underground waterways? Even the priests of the Holy Sun Church couldn’t detect them.”
Windy May’s gaze turned sharp.
“So… you’re saying she didn’t find them, but they may have lured her instead?”
“That’s what I think.”
More than anything, they had openly craved Yuran—more precisely, the dragon’s blood in her.
Lian nodded, half-confident.
“And at that time, she was half out of her mind… In other words, she could only move according to instinct.”
The instinct that had taken hold of her was none other than the dragon’s blood.
Windy May rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought.
“Instinct… Instinct, huh. Something that could stir a dragon’s instincts. Yet something ordinary detection methods wouldn’t pick up…”
Lian cautiously added,
“Could it be connected to what’s happening now?”
“This incident?”
“Yes. As you know, Professor, half of Yuran’s blood is from a dragon. If whatever was in the underground was somehow related to dragons… then maybe, in her half-conscious state, she was instinctively drawn to it.”
“Hmm…”
Windy May didn’t respond for a while.
The room fell into a heavy silence.
Amaruah, still on Lian’s shoulder, simply listened quietly to their conversation.
“…Interesting.”
At last, Windy May slowly opened her mouth.
Her eyes glinted with curiosity, mixed with a trace of caution.
“It’s a rather aggressive take… but definitely worth investigating.”
Windy May nodded slowly.
And when Lian blinked once—she had become two.
“Lian.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve done enough. Now it’s time for you to return.”
Lian flinched for a moment at her words.
But soon, he nodded in agreement.
“That’s a relief.”
Windy May shrugged.
“If you’d said you were coming with me, I was planning to knock you out and drag you back.”
“…What?”
“Ah. Just a joke, a joke.”
…It didn’t sound like a joke at all.
At any rate, Windy May waved her hand lightly.
“Thanks to you, I think I’ll be able to resolve this more smoothly. So… leave the rest to me and try to relax a little.”
“…Yes.”
Before he realized it, she had approached and tapped Lian’s forehead.
“Go enjoy the festival.”
Then…
With those final words, Windy May melted away and vanished in an instant.
Lian stood there dazed for a moment, then finally looked visibly relieved.
Then, he suddenly thought of Cecilia and Allen, who were probably waiting for him.
‘…They’re probably waiting.’
For now, he’d done everything he could. All that remained was to wait for the results.
Thinking so, he opened the door and stepped outside…
“……”
“……”
Someone was standing outside, waiting for him.
It was none other than Jeil Enbarso.