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In an isolated forest of Northern Ishtar...
“Hmm...”
The ancient Black Dragon, Desdemona, got ready to create a composite of the criminal. Even if the face was known, the identity of the person wasn’t known, so it was unavoidable that she would have to take the trouble of looking for him, but Desdemona didn’t care. She was a dragon. All she had was time, and her time flowed over. Napping was something that dragons did in years, and looking for a single human was only a small part of her life.
“I’ll catch them no matter what… argh…!”
Desdemona ground her teeth.
“Whew…”
It was then.
“Today’s a bit tiring…”
A bush rustled and a man in loose clothing appeared. Looking at the A-frame carrier and the axe on his back, it was obvious he was a woodcutter.
“Hey.”
Desdemona needed to investigate anyway, so she spoke towards the woodcutter.
“Yes?”
“You, come here.”
“...?”
“Aren’t you coming?”
Flinch! The woodcutter trembled. He didn’t know what this cute little girl was doing deep inside of this forest, but the fear she gave off was not to be taken lightly.
“Ah, yes!”
The pale woodcutter moved frantically even though the girl was speaking rudely. His instincts were warning him that this girl was a fearsome being.
“You.”
“Yes…”
“Do you know this guy?”
Desdemona thrusted a piece of parchment in front of the woodcutter’s nose.
“Mm!”
“Do you or not?”
“I-I…”
“You do know?”
As the woodcutter hesitated, Desdemona urged him to speak with expectant eyes.
“I don’t.”
The woodcutter tilted his head as if he didn’t know anything.
“You don’t?”
“No…”
“Why don’t you know!?”
“...!”
“Look again, closely!”
“I-It’s…”
“Do you wanna die?”
“N-No!”
“Look again.”
“Okay…”
“Look closely.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The woodcutter looked even more closely at the composite on Desdemona’s orders.
“So? Do you remember…”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure you looked closely? Hm?”
“I-I really don’t know!”
“That’s strange…”
Desdemona looked at him with narrowed snake-like eyes. It was because she thought the woodcutter knew the criminal but was pretending like he didn’t.
“I really don’t know!”
The woodcutter spoke defensively, like he was wronged.
“Really?”
“Can I tell you the truth?”
“Hm? The truth?”
“Yes.”
“Go ahead.”
“That’s… if I’m being honest.. this picture… I can’t tell what it is at all.”
“R-really?”
“Even my five year old daughter could draw better… I-I apologize…”
The woodcutter lowered his head.
“Y-you really can’t tell?”
“I really can’t.”
“Hm?”
Desdemona tilted her head and snatched away the criminal’s composite from the woodcutter’s hand.
“It looks good no matter how much I look at it.”
“...”
“You’re saying this is bad?”
“...”
“You, are you lying…?”
It was then.
“Argh!”
The woodcutter expressed his anger for the first time.
“Look at this!”
“Hm?”
“Is this a person? The circle is the face, the dots are the eyes, and the long thing is the nose?”
“...”
“Please give people something that they can recognize, okay?”
There was nothing wrong with what the woodcutter said. Like what he said, the composite that Desdemona drew looked like something a young child had drawn. Actually, there was a reason why Desdemona’s drawing abilities were messy. Even though dragons were a species that were near perfect, there were things they couldn’t do. For example: architecture, sculpting, art, and music, etc.. They were weak in fields related to art. They captured dwarves to build their lairs or sirens to perform their songs.
“I-Is that so?”
“Sheesh! Look at your drawing again and ask!”
The woodcutter was scolding the ancient level Black Dragon.
“T-then what should I do?”
Desdemona was taken aback.
If it was true that her drawing abilities were bad, even though she tried her best, then she would have a hard time catching the criminal.
“Do you know what they were wearing?”
“Of course!”
Desdemona answered the woodcutter’s question confidently.
Dragons were beings that didn’t forget anything.
She could remember the ancient Black Dragon ‘Emilia’ being born from an egg thousands of years ago clearly, so remembering the face of a criminal was nothing.
“Then how about looking for a skilled artist?”
“A-artist?”
“Yes.”
The woodcutter nodded firmly.
“That’ll be more helpful for you to find the person you’re looking for…”
“Shit!”
“...!”
“Why didn’t I think of that before? Stupid Desdemona!”
Desdemona punched herself in the head.
“Hey.”
Then, she spoke as she looked back at the woodcutter.
“Yes?”
“You’re a nice guy, right?”
“...”
“For teaching me this amazing tip.”
“...?”
The woodcutter was speechless for a moment.
He had only taught her something that even a monkey would’ve known, but her reaction was extreme.
“I must give you a reward.”
“Pardon?”
“What would be fitting…”
As Desdemona muttered to herself, she opened her treasure chest that was stored in another dimension.
Plat, plat, ploop!
She tossed three tools that were supposed to be presents at the woodcutter’s feet.
“W-what is this?”
“What else would it be? It’s an axe.”
“What?”
“You’re a woodcutter, right?”
“Yes?”
“If you want to be a pro-woodcutter, you need good axes.”
“...”
“Your equipment has to be good.”
Desdemona pointed at the three axes with a grin.
“How are they? They’re pretty cool, huh? This iron axe works pretty well. It doesn’t get damaged no matter how much you chop wood. I also put a spell on it, so it’s not a bad item.”
She spoke casually about it, but it was a legendary item that was called the “Butcher’s Invariant Axe,” known for not getting any blood on its blade.
“And this…”
Desdemona pointed at the second axe.
“Isn’t this a silver axe?”
“Right.”
“Haa… Miss, I’m sorry to say this, but silver is a soft…”
“Do you think it’s just normal silver?”
“...!”
“This is pure silver. It’s a tool made completely of mithril.”
“Heok…!”
“It was an item of a dwarf I knew, but I stol… I mean, I got it as a present.”
Actually, she had taken it forcefully. This axe was a holy item of dwarves called “Dvergr” that she took from the dwarf, Rode, exactly 1783 years ago. Of course, Dvergr’s price was astronomical because it was a holy item of dwarves and also an Epic Item.
“And lastly, this…”
“It’s not made of gold, right?”
“It’s something made from the hind bones of a gold dragon.”
“...!”
“It’s made of 100% pure dragon bones, so it’ll be pretty useful.”
It wasn’t just “pretty” useful. This axe that called for storms, the “Golden Typhoon,” had magic circles that dragons casted themselves. It was better not to talk about what happened if it’s true power was released.
“This is enough, right?”
“...”
“Why, do you need more?”
“N-no! This is enough!”
The woodcutter quickly waved his hands in case Desdemona changed her mind and firmly nodded his head.
“Okay, then live happily.”
Then, Desdemona turned away.
“Oh, right!”
“Yes?”
“Where should I go to find a skilled artist?”
“Mm..”
The woodcutter looked like he was thinking for a moment and then answered.
“Wouldn’t it be best to go to Fox Valley?”
“Fox Valley? The city of demi-humans?”
“Do you know it?”
“Yeah.”
“Then look for someone called Leonardo. From what I hear, he’s the best artist in all of Ishtar.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Ke… good, I’ll go look for that Leonardo.”
Flash! Desdemona disappeared from the woodcutter’s sight. Fox Valley was a city that was thousands of years old, and its coordinates were clear in Desdemona’s head.
“Huk!”
The woodcutter gasped.
“Is this a dream…”
When he looked again, Desdemona was completely gone. All she left was the gold, silver, and iron axes.
***
“Do you really want to be by my side?” Kang Chul-In asked.
“Yes…” Skadi replied with her head low.
She never had confidence. It wasn’t that she was treated badly, but her importance in the Valhalla Kingdom neared nothing.
“I like you…”
It was a timid confession. Although it was a bit awkward to say it naked in the shower, being alone with Kang Chul-In like this might be a chance she never got again.
“Your Majesty…”
Squash!
Kang Chul-In couldn’t speak for a moment while Skadi was confessing because of a particular body part she had. Glamour. Skadi was a woman who had something that was a bit bigger than even Ninetails’.
“Mm!”
It was hard for Kang Chul-In, the man who was so stone-like that he was once thought to be a man who didn’t have what it took to be a man, to stay calm.
Fuck it!
At the same time, snip! The string of reason that was holding him together was cut off. Then... the attack began.
“Hup!”
Skadi was surprised at Kang Chul-In suddenly kissing her, but she was soon lost in his skillful tongue movement.
“Hung…”
B-but… I’m dead now…! Sisters said that they had to stay bedridden for 3 days…!
She was scared. Kang Chul-In’s ability that Ninetails and Lee Chae-Rin had spoken about was severely dangerous!
***
One week later.
“Alright everyone, work hard while I’m not here.”
Kang Chul-In, who returned after his first family vacation, walked with the eyes of sovereigns on him. He wasn’t going far. His destination was his individual training area within Laputa’s territory.
Dragon heart tastes good anytime.
Kang Chul-In smirked. It wasn’t as much as the blue dragon’s (a blue dragon was more powerful than the gold dragon that Rothschild had hunted), but a dragon heart was still a dragon heart.
Things worked out pretty well.
The time that he will spend in closed training would be useful to him, and he can consume the dragon heart while at it, too.
“I’ll see you one month later.”
Kang Chul-In waved his hands.
“Come back soon, your Majesty!”
“Don’t worry about anything!”
“I hope you see good results!”
The subordinates all said goodbye to Kang Chul-In.
Boom! The door to the training room closed.
***
It was two days after Kang Chul-In entered closed training when the alarms rang.
Wheeing! Wheeing! The siren rang.
“Emergency situation, emergency situation!”
One messenger soldier looked at the scroll that came flying and screamed.
“What is it?” Kwak Jung, who had been inspecting the messaging systems, frowned.
“What are you making a fuss about? Hm?”
“S-Sir!”
“What is it?”
“I-I…” The messenger soldier was so surprised that he couldn’t say anything.
“Ugh!” Kwak Jung grunted.
“Aren’t you gonna speak now? Huh?”
“T-That’s…”
“Do you wanna die?”
“F-Fox Valley…!”
“...?”
“Fox Valley has been taken over!”
“Huh?”
Disbelief filled Kwak Jung’s face.
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