CH 21

(Renée’s POV)

When I couldn’t answer him back, I just lowered my eyes.

“Since yesterday, you’ve been discussing death so straightforwardly that it felt so strange. Why? Did anyone ever tell you that you’re going to die?”

“No…. -uhm…”

The truth is I’m not from this world, and I’m not the Renée Blair that you know of…. How can I say those words and tell him that Renée was destined to die?

I couldn’t deny nor agree to his statement, so I hesitated, seeing my reaction he narrowed his eyes.

“Or, you can’t be……”

It irks me knowing that despite what he said meaningfully, he didn’t continue with his words. As I lost my patience, I finally urged him.

“What? What is it?”

“….. No, it was nothing. Anyway you’re not gonna die today, since it’s all over yesterday anyway.”

Huh? All over for what? He suddenly stood up after mumbling meaningless words without any further explanation.

“Don’t be stubborn and just avoid these circumstances. Defeating a half-dragon is easier than subjugating it. I know that you’re worried about other people, but……”

“…….”

“Come on.”

Eventually, I agreed. Come to think of it, Ignoring Zion’s words and staying here was more like ignoring the Dragon Slayers themselves.

I’m still wary of entering the banquet hall, but then I had no choice but to trust them. So I struggled to move my feet making sure not to fall off.

I still can’t believe that I had this unexpected mission? Questions naturally came to mind about the mission that had never appeared before. The important thing is that I will not do such a thing.

However, a penalty would definitely be received… I’ll just think about it later. And maybe it would be sweeter to accept it once I’ve confirmed that everyone is safe.

I tried to walk faster than before, when suddenly the ground shook as if there had been an earthquake.

“What’s happening…..”

Not long after, something popped right in front of my feet.

I was so surprised that I couldn’t utter a single word. All I could do was stare blankly at the black thing that kept rising up.

What the h*ll is this?

Something like a black shroud of unknown depth rose toward the sky and finally covered the sky like a dome.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

The loud laughter of that half-dragon hit my ears. But since I trusted those two, I didn’t bother to turn around to check on that stup*id half-dragon.

‘Oh my God, it’s like a wall.’

No matter how hard I pressed, it wouldn’t budge.

‘No, this can’t be…  -if this is  some sort of a barrier then I wouldn’t be able to escape.’

It’s obvious who did this. Without hiding my annoyance that rose up to the tip of my head, I looked back and saw the half-dragon crawling in a bent-position and squeaking as he kept his distance from Diwen.

“You can’t run away, can you? After killing these two, I will take you with me.”

Me? He’s going to take me away? But why?

As I opened my eyes wide at the sudden declaration,  I heard a scornful voice from the side.

“The two guys that you’re talking about, is it me and that guy?”

Diwen, with a nearly dying face, smiled as he pointed his thumb to Zion. Perhaps he was really sick, as time went on, his complexion faded.

Diwen put his sword on his shoulder and tilted his head.

“Aren’t you being too arrogant? You look like a black death dragon, did you know that among the dragons we killed, killing you was the easiest?”

Oh my gosh.

He continued to provoke that half-dragon as if he was out of his mind. As a result, a fierce aura spread throughout and my wound that was exposed pierced my skin heavily.

“You better shut up….”

“I can’t. The first thing that I used to make myself happy is this mouth.”

“Shut up!”

“The Black Death Dragon also had a good reputation. They said that I could die just by making eye contact? But, when I came across it, it took less than half the time to kill another dragon.”

“This….. I could easily throw you away…”

The half-dragon slowly exposed it’s sharp-pointed teeth in the most hideous way, and it’s black scales that covered the skin became more prominent. No, to be exact it’s a little thicker than before.

The half-dragon, who was filled with anger to the point where his body trembled, suddenly stopped moving as if struck by lightning.

At that moment, I could see the dragon’s eyes gleaming between those rough hairs. Black scales, eerie gray eyes, and infinitely dilated long pupils.

That’s when it hit me that the situation is serious. The half-dragon suddenly moves at the speed of light towards Diwen.

I couldn’t grasp the duel that follows, since both of them were moving so fast. The only thing that I can see was that Diwen avoided it unconditionally.

‘What if he gets stabbed while doing that? Just why did he provoke him?’

Zion, who was watching nearby, flinched and rushed over to the two, while I clasped both my sweat-soaked hands due to the tension.

At the same time, the half-dragon tried to stab Diwen’s chest with his sword, while Diwen flexibly avoided it like flowing water. And raised the sword upwards.

“It was nice to meet you again, but let’s not see each other again, shall we?”

Diwen’s face is pale, tired, and even sweating like crazy.

Not losing his composure until the end, he uttered words that scratched the pride of the half-dragon, and then slashed his sword.

It collided with the arm of the half-dragon while holding his thin black sword. Maybe  because of the scales, a sharp metallic sound echoed…..

Then the unfortunate thing happened, Diwen’s sword broke into two.

“Eh?”

Diwen’s hoarse voice reached my ears. That made me react the same way.

“Eh?”

At that moment, the black death dragon smiled as if his mouth was about to tear apart, twisted his body, and shouted loudly.

“I’m the last one to say goodbye, you b*stard!”

The black death dragon swung his sword directly at Diwen.

(3rd Person POV)

Ominous feeling had pierced Reden’s sixth sense, and grew stronger than before as the ground shook. And that intense energy was something that Reden knew so well.

As soon as he realized that something dangerous was happening outside the banquet hall, he stopped talking to the noblemen and went outside.

And what unfolded before his eyes was a black hemisphere spread out in the garden. As if swallowing the garden whole, the momentum of the hemisphere was ferocious.

“Hey, is this?”

One of the Knights of Hugo who came with Reden mumbled in a startled tone. Reden immediately closed the door to the banquet hall. Because he couldn’t let the public see this.

“We are in big trouble! Count Sirius….”

The man who appeared shouted eagerly, while clutching his blood-drenched arms. A knight with a small scar on his face, it was Hezzard, the knight who followed Diwen’s orders earlier and led Count Sirius out of the banquet hall.

Hezzard with a frustrated look suddenly became gibberish with a face that did not know where to begin, when he noticed Reden’s presence.

“That’s what we call a dragon subspace…..”

“I know that.”

Reden murmured lowly and casually grabbed the knight’s arm and pulled it up.

“Keep your arms raised like that so that you would not lose more blood.”

“Well, if you use healing magic then……”

“I don’t use magic recklessly. Besides, it’s not a big wound, is it?”

Reden flatly refused, and asked what had happened. Hezzard steadily raised his arms and began to explain.

“I was dragging Count Sirius to the carriage, and suddenly he ran like madman and took his cane from me.”

“Hmm….”

“And then he slowly became a half-dragon, I….. I mean a half-dragon is..”

“Do you think I’m a fool? At least I know that much.”

Reden said those words that’s unlikely than usual. After that, he looked back at the black hemisphere, thinking that what he had feared the most had finally happened.

“Where is Sir Fergus and Sir Glass?”

“I don’t know where they are.”

“Just in case, bring all of the members of the Knights of Hugo here. Without letting the others know, to avoid a commotion.”

“Yes!”

The knight who followed Reden’s instructions quickly answered and went inside. Hezzard, who had slowly lowered his arms, glanced back at Reden.

“Then what should I do?”

“What can you do, when you’re injured like that? Just keep your arms up.”

“Ah, yes….”

Hezzard followed as he raised his arms again. After Reden confirmed that the banquet hall door was firmly closed, he immediately performed a magic spell. A large blue pattern was engraved under his feet, emitting light and spinning slowly.

On top of that, Reden muttered something, and a thick black book appeared in his hand with a pop.

The wind is not even blowing, but the bookshelf flies over from the temple and then stops. Reden muttered once more while looking at the familiar bookshelf.

Then something magical happened. As soon as the spell was over, the pattern that was rotating slowly under his feet burst into particles and floated in the air.

Hezzard had never seen such amazing magic before, so he blinked his eyes continuously trying to understand what’s happening.

Blue particles steadily floated in the air for a brief moment, then soon spread out in the air like a diffusion. It was a tracking spell.

It was a high-level magic that could tell where and what was through the particles that were spread in the air. Reden focused his mind, then clicked his tongue after he tracked the surroundings.

“There are three people inside that barrier. Two of them are the Captains from the Knights of Hugo, and the other one….”

“Oh, our Captain? Then this will be over soon. Since it’s not a full fledged dragon, but a half-dragon it would be easy…..”

Reden looked ahead astounded with what he saw. He didn’t seem to understand anything that was being said by Hezzard. Simply because, he delicately manipulated the particles with incredible gestures.

Particles that were spread in the air make him sense any living things or detect where someone is, even if he can’t see it with his naked eyes. Reden closed his eyes, as he concentrated to feel the contours of another person informed by the particles through his skin.

Curly hair, a familiar body. Those two things could already determine who that other person was.

“D*mn, that’s my sister….”

It was none other than his younger sister, Renée.

As soon as he realized that fact, Reden immediately deployed another magic spell. It was teleportation magic. It was meant to teleport into the subspace and bring her younger sister out of that space.

But somehow the magic wouldn’t work. It was then that Reden remembered a piece of knowledge he had learned from the tower as a child.

Even if you try teleportation magic to get into the subspace, it wouldn’t work.

In response to that, Redden, who was impatient, quickly turned his head and looked at Hezzard. He on the other hand, who was chatting with excitement, flinched at the momentum.

“How long does it usually take for the Lords to kill a half-dragon?”

“Oh, it will not be that long. It would just…. Ah!”

Hezzard, who had responded reflexively, suddenly became worried. Reden frowned at his words.

“Come to think of it, today, the Lords….. I mean our captains didn’t bring their swords with them. To attend the banquet, both of them had to wear jewelry swords….”

“Is there a problem then?”

“It’s not okay to fight with ornaments and swords. Because those kinds of swords are easy to break….. But of course, the captains can still fight with it, it’s just that…..”

“The Lords didn’t bring their sword?”

“Oh, there’s nothing we can do about it. If they attend a banquet with their sword, it would make the guests uncomfortable… It’s not our captain’s fault as well, since I suggest it to them not to bring it… That’s fine though! Since both of them are well skilled, they are not the type of people who always depend on the weapon that they’re using, because they are geniuses!”

Hezzard was sure that they would be fine, but it’s impossible for Reden to hear such words. Because his biggest concern right now, wasn’t about how genius the two captain’s were, but on how quickly they could subdue the half-dragon.

Reden sighed, as if a headache was coming and held on to his forehead. As he finally spoke with a voice full of worry to Hezzard, who was still steadily raising his voice, and eagerly representing the Knight of Hugo’s Captain and Vice- Captain.

“Guide me to where the sword is”

‘If they don’t have a sword, then I’ll bring it to them.’