Ferdikion briefly replied, looked around, and started walking somewhere.
"Bro, where are you going?"
"Since it's an outdoor class. I'm looking for a place to teach."
‘Isn’t this place good enough?’
Christina, who had been watching him for a long time, chose this place for the outdoor class, guessing that it would be suitable.
It was a suitable clearing in the valley, with large trees sparsely planted among the mountains.
Ferdikion, who had been lost in thought, suddenly noticed something and looked at Ferdikion.
His face, which he tried to read, was clouded with a gloomy expression.
At that moment, Ferdikion muttered softly.
"Why here of all places..."
Perhaps aware of his gaze, Ferdikion stopped talking and fell silent.
Imugi, who noticed his strange behavior, took out a blanket from the picnic basket and spread it on the ground.
Bakya, who had been perched on Imugi's head, nimbly jumped down and walked around on the blanket.
Since it was a flat area with grass that was neither too short nor too tough, placing a few stones at the corners of the blanket made it look comfortable to sit on.
Imugi put the picnic basket in the center and sat down, calling Ferdikion out of his reverie.
"Bro, let's sit here first."
Seeing Ferdikion sit down, Imugi naturally took out bread, cookies, and warm milk.
Bakya, who had been looking back and forth between Imugi and Ferdikion, tilted his head and then flapped his wings to fly into the basket.
The bird skillfully opened the bag of bread pieces made for him with his beak and his eyes sparkled.
Bakya hugged the bag of bread pieces as if it were a treasure.
He seemed to be basking in some happiness, perhaps trying to catch up on sleep he hadn't had, scratching the ground with his feet to find a spot in the corner of the basket.
After a few tosses and turns, Bakya's movements quieted down, leaving only his steady breathing.
Imugi shrugged and offered the milk bottle to Ferdikion.
"Do you want to drink this?"
Ferdikion nodded, and Imugi peeled off the lid and handed him the milk.
He took the bottle without any particular expression.
‘He’s completely lost in thought. I should have brought some top-grade plum wine in this situation.’
A few types of top-grade alcohol came to mind from the items that occasionally arrived on the Offering Island, but all he had in his hand was warm milk.
After confirming that Ferdikion was drinking the milk, Imugi also opened the lid of the milk he had brought for himself.
As he drank the milk, a refreshing sensation mixed with the feeling of magic seeping into his body was pleasant.
Ferdikion, who appeared to have no significant change in his expression, was actually full of vulnerabilities, unlike his usual guarded and cautious self.
‘This is a good state to open up.’
Considering that Ferdikion, who had never properly reminisced about his mother, was now in a position to share his inner thoughts, it was understandable that he was emotionally stirred.
‘Those who harbor resentment in their hearts will inevitably seek someone to confide in.’
For a long time, he had ignored, forgotten, and suppressed the unresolved issues, but now was the time to untangle them.
After a moment of contemplation, he asked lightly, trying not to break the mood but to guide the conversation.
"Have you been here before? When you were as young as me?"
"Yeah, I think it was my first outing."
Imugi imagined a young Ferdikion, holding the hand of a dragon he didn't know, coming to this place.
"Father didn't like it, but my mother, Kuzna, enjoyed singing even then. I think I used to sing along sometimes, but after she passed away... I couldn't bring myself to sing because I kept thinking about her."
It seemed that Ferdikion's reluctance to sing was partly due to Kuzna's death.
‘Father pushed him, and he didn't want to remember it himself.’
For a young dragon, the death of his parents would be something he would find hard to accept gracefully.
Especially in an environment where his father's constant nagging made it impossible to reminisce about his deceased mother.
As a hatchling, Ferdikion wouldn't have had many options.
This made him feel that Ferdikion's talent, which could have been discovered earlier, had been suppressed, which was a pity.
‘At least he’s realizing it now.’
If Kuzna, Ferdikion's mother, had known, she would have certainly thought the same.
"Hey, bro. Let's sing more from now on."
"Why? Isn't it better to forget and move on rather than sing and reminisce?"
Imugi pondered for a moment before answering the question with a wavering gaze.
"Because that song is proof that Kuzna loved you. Shouldn't you cherish it?"
"Proof that she loved me?"
The moment Ferdikion repeated Imugi's words, the darkness completely receded, and the valley was filled with sunlight.
The warmest golden light gathered, and Christina's lair took on a soft, wheat field hue.
The light that spread from the lair made even the leaves in the valley where Ferdikion and Imugi were sitting shimmer with gold.
‘Good. I’m riding this wave.’
Imugi carefully thought about what to say, maintaining the line of a child, and then smiled faintly.
"Bro, did you know? There was a big war before I was born. Everyone was exhausted and experienced hardships, and during that process, many must have been frustrated and hurt, carrying emotional scars."
It was the most empathetic thing an innocent young child could say, not knowing the full context.
Feeling a pang in his heart, Ferdikion couldn't help but listen to the much younger black dragon hatchling.
"Those who swallowed their tears and endured might have done so with the hope that there would eventually be a moment when they wouldn't have to be sad. I don't know much, but they call it 'hope' or 'happiness.'"
The child's words, spoken gently and without any intention to blame or attack, were simply a pure perspective on the pain and sadness of others.
At this moment, Ferdikion couldn't understand why he didn't feel like contradicting Imugi.
He realized that sometimes words that can't be understood by the mind can seep into the heart.
"So, bro. If the times with your mother were happy, I hope you can cherish and hold onto them. Even though we are incredibly strong, we won't always have an easy life. Sometimes we'll face things that are hard to solve with our power."
A dragon, arrogant and powerful, would never say such a thing.
For them, there were no tasks too difficult.
Just take his father, Pasyas, for example.
Whenever Ferdikion, as an elder, showed any shortcomings, Pasyas would repeatedly call him an "incompetent, un-dragon-like creature!"
‘...Don’t make me laugh. I’m not an incompetent elder. I’m the hope of the clan, meeting my father's expectations, and the son of Kuzna, who gave birth to an excellent dragon!’
Still, Ferdikion couldn't outright deny the young black dragon hatchling's words.
The grief he had swallowed for so long had risen up, making it hard to hold back.
Suddenly, the soft cloth in Imugi's hand touched Ferdikion's cheek.
Only then did he realize that he had been shedding tears without even blinking.
The heart that he had stubbornly denied had finally burst, overflowing like a flood.
Biting his lower lip with his upper teeth, trying to hold back, Ferdikion finally burst into tears like a child.
"...You've been through a lot, bro."
Imugi's words made Ferdikion's sobs grow louder.
Even though he was still a hatchling, the much younger version of himself was sobbing uncontrollably for the first time.
"Go ahead and cry. You've worked hard, bro."
Ferdikion cried for a long time until the cloth in the picnic basket was soaked.
‘Tch. He had a lot of pent-up feelings.’
Imugi looked up at the sky, thinking that Ferdikion might be embarrassed later, but he had achieved his goal.
‘He’ll probably be a bit embarrassed later, but...’
Imugi had accomplished his objective.
When Ferdikion, who had been crying for a while, started to calm down, Imugi took out another warmed milk bottle from the picnic basket.
"No, no... I don't... want to eat..."
Perhaps embarrassed by his own appearance, the young dragon's ears turned red, and he couldn't lift his head.
Imugi nodded and put the milk bottle back into the picnic basket.
‘He blew his nose a few times.’
Fortunately, there was plenty of cloth in the napkin, or Imugi might have caused a disaster with his hands.
After throwing the used cloths far away, Imugi looked at Ferdikion, who was catching his breath.
Seeing his red-rimmed eyes, Imugi felt a mix of sympathy and awkwardness, so he waited.
"Feels like a weight has been lifted."
Imugi chuckled, and Ferdikion also let out a hollow laugh, looking somewhat amused.
"I've never felt this way before."
Ferdikion looked more refreshed as he spoke.
‘When the pent-up feelings are released, that’s how it goes.’
Imugi shrugged and took out a chestnut bread.
He looked at Ferdikion, asking if he wanted to eat, and the young dragon nodded, understanding the gesture.
After taking out a new piece of bread and handing it to Ferdikion, Imugi took a big bite of his own chestnut bread.
‘Oh. It’s really delicious.’
Christina's baking skills were excellent.
Ferdikion, who had been staring at Imugi's puffed cheeks, wiped his eyes with his sleeve and finally took a bite of the bread.
"Did Christina choose this place for the class?"