In the depths of the sea, it was difficult to gauge the passage of time, but when he checked, it was already the afternoon of the next day.
"Yeah. Go get some rest."
Heimi yawned repeatedly, then headed to the room with Baiya in her arms.
It was natural that both physical and mental strength would be considerably drained after facing an adult dragon head-on.
‘I had expected it to take three days, but things went better than I thought.’
Rune checked the signal from his avatar.
There was no particular movement or emergency, and it was confirmed to be in a sleeping state.
‘Christina’s return will be later than the scheduled date, so I can recover and train comfortably during that time.’
Rune moved to the room to retrieve his avatar.
And there, an unexpected guest was waiting.
Seeing the confusion on Rune’s face, Ferdikion spoke.
"Why is this kind of doll pretending to be you?"
At the end of his gaze was the avatar that resembled Rune, lying in bed and sleeping soundly.
Rune continued as if nothing was wrong.
"This is a doll I made. It’s my first one, and it works well."
Rune laughed harmlessly and asked.
"Why did you come here, brother?"
"Do I have to have a reason to come?"
Rune instinctively shook his head.
"That’s not it. Still, if I had known you were coming, I would have waited and welcomed you. I was just surprised to see you suddenly in my room."
Ferdikion stared intently at Rune and answered the first question.
"Since Lady Christina will be absent for a few days, I came to check if you’re training properly and not skipping it."
Rune understood the situation immediately, knowing Ferdikion’s character of subtly caring while pretending not to.
In short, he had come to take care of Rune, who was left alone.
‘Since he often comes and goes due to class and meal invitations, there’s no need to inform Christina every time.’
Rune read the suspicion in Ferdikion’s eyes regarding the doll.
"Then it’s my turn. Where have you been, leaving this doll behind? Answer truthfully."
‘This isn’t going to be easy to get past.’
Rune scratched his cheek in response to the question.
"Christina’s spirit, Rai, believed you were asleep and stayed outside the room to avoid interfering with your light. It seems he was deliberately targeting that."
Ferdikion, who had been quietly watching the sleeping avatar, crossed his arms and looked at Rune with a cold gaze.
‘Since Christina will find out anyway, it doesn’t matter.’
On the day Christina went out, Rune had made a bento and asked for high-purity water magic ingredients to be brought.
It was a measure to monitor the state of the blue dragons, regardless of whether Rune succeeded or failed.
‘I’ve already obtained the dark power I aimed for.’
He had absorbed the source of darkness, but the blue dragons, who had suffered from madness for a long time, would need Christina’s help.
"Actually… I went to where the water clan lives."
Ferdikion, who was flabbergasted, listened as Rune explained the whole story.
From the process of making a magic thread copy of the black market key for Jed to the story of learning about the blue dragons’ condition.
Ferdikion couldn’t hold back his gasps of shock in the middle of listening.
"Why are you so reckless! It’s not a reasonable thing for a hatchling who hasn’t even reached a hundred years to deal with adult dragons in a state of madness!"
"It was a power I had to take anyway. Amelia, a blue dragon hatchling, was also a pretty nice kid."
"Nice? That kid left you, who is much younger than her, to go to such a dangerous place without any preparation. She’s a disgrace to the dragon race."
Rune was indeed young, but ultimately, Amelia was also a desperate young hatchling.
However, it wasn’t wise to say this honestly, as Ferdikion’s eyes were starting to turn red.
‘First, I need to calm his intense emotions.’
Rune cleared his throat lightly and took out a red mokoji stone from his subspace pocket.
"Don’t be too angry, brother. I’m really fine and came back unharmed. Oh, I almost forgot. Take this, brother. I prepared it especially for you."
His anger hadn’t completely subsided, but seeing Rune unharmed, he looked down at the item Rune gave him.
"It’s called a mokoji stone. It’s a communication artifact made through Jed."
"Do you need a communication crystal? If you wanted one, I could have provided it long ago."
"Unlike a crystal, this can only exchange text messages."
Since dragons are a race overflowing with magic power, Ferdikion didn’t see the merit in being able to communicate with those who have almost no magic power.
However, he found it quite interesting that messages could be left for later when the recipient was absent.
"So… you can contact me directly with this, and check it later?"
Ferdikion gave off a strange sense of pressure.
‘Why does he look like a bailiff with a whip?’
Rune smiled childishly, contrary to his true feelings, and looked at him.
"Understood. I’ll respond to your messages immediately from now on. Got it?"
Avoiding the intense gaze, Rune threw out another bait.
"Since Christina is out, why don’t you come to my room and visit?"
"Uh, it’s called the Black Room. It’s a place left by my clan."
As expected, Ferdikion showed interest.
‘Of course, he’s curious about the extinct black dragons. As a future elder of the fire clan, he can’t help but be interested.’
Rune evaluated the value of his ‘Black Room.’
Although managed by Christina as a proxy, the Black Room, in a strict sense, belonged to the black dragons.
It was the only opportunity to see and touch the traces of the ‘Dark Clan,’ which he had never seen, and a place that could not be visited without the permission of Christina and Rune.
"Although it’s not a formal lair, it’s my territory, so I wanted to invite you once."
"…Who else has been invited besides me?"
"Currently, you are the first. My vassals who live in Christina’s lair often come and go, though."
Although his expression was still stiff, Rune instinctively felt that Ferdikion’s mood had lightened.
He accepted it as if he had never been angry.
"As the successor of the clan, being formally invited to the territory of the Dark Clan is a precious opportunity. Let’s go."
"I’m not letting you go to dangerous places recklessly, though. Remember that."
Rune nodded meekly at the subtle glare.
‘As expected, it worked. But I didn’t think he’d suggest going right away. He must have been quite interested in this opportunity.’
Typical of the fire clan, who have a straightforward temperament.
Ferdikion, who had forgotten his anger and was urging with his eyes, turned his back to Rune, who moved his magic power.
‘After all, he must have been curious about the Dark Clan, as the stories he heard were all he knew about them.’
Satisfied that things were going as he had predicted, Rune cast the teleportation magic to the Black Room.
Rune and Ferdikion arrived at the Black Room, filled with the scent of roses.
"It’s more comfortable than I expected."
Despite the place being imbued with the power of darkness and curses, Ferdikion responded calmly.
In fact, he was examining the legacy of the black dragons and cursed items.
"Is this your territory?"
"Yes. The items are a bit scattered. Please understand."
"This is enough. Don’t worry about it."
Rune took the opportunity to provide nutrients to the roots of the hell roses.
Seeing Dullahan rise from one side, Ferdikion showed interest.
"Oh, you haven’t met him before? My knight, Dullahan, who became a vassal recently."
"Is Dullahan the knight of the demon king that Lady Christina sealed herself?"
"Yep. But now he’s my knight. Christina gave her permission."
Ferdikion looked at Dullahan with a doubtful eye.
"Surprisingly… I don’t feel as unpleasant as I thought. Maybe it’s because I can sense a faint fire aura."
Rune was inwardly impressed by Ferdikion’s words.
‘Not bad. He’s not as good as Christina, but he seems to detect the same fire attribute well.’
The fire aura existed due to the phoenix feather embedded in Dullahan’s heart.
It was very faint, but it was enough for Ferdikion, who was still a hatchling, to detect it, thanks to his innate talent.
Unaware of Rune’s thoughts, Ferdikion put aside his suspicion of Dullahan and looked around.
"By the way, where are the other vassals?"
"Resting. They need to sleep deeply for about a day."
"Because you dealt with an adult blue dragon?"
Ferdikion’s brows furrowed immediately.
"Rune. I’ve thought this before, but you’re too