"Six months left? What… what does that mean? What will happen in six months?" Leon asked, his voice edged with worry.

A bad feeling crept up his spine. 

This feeling wasn’t just because of Aurora’s mention of "six months left," but also because he still hadn’t seen Rosvisser, Noa, or Moon since waking up.

And the ruined state of the Silver Dragon Temple behind him—it looked like it had been through a brutal battle.

"From now, six months later, I need to complete my research—or rather, I *must* complete it," Aurora said. "But since the moment you disappeared, everything will change in six months."

Leon sat up straight, feeling tense. He pressed on, "Does it have to do with your mother and your sisters? Where are they now? Are they—"

Are they still alive?

He couldn’t bring himself to ask the final question out loud.

Compared to the mystery of why he had drifted outside of time for twenty years, Leon cared far more about his wife and daughters.

Twenty years was more than enough time for the unimaginable to happen.

Aurora smiled faintly. "They're still alive."

Those simple four words allowed Leon to release a long-held breath.

His tense body relaxed.

"And where are they now?" Leon asked, this time less urgently.

"Well... if I just told you, it might be hard to understand. So—"

Aurora stood up and stepped into a clearing.

Leon stared at her, unsure of what she was about to do.

Then, the next moment, Aurora's actions left her father completely stunned.

She tilted her head slightly, and in an instant, a pair of dragon wings unfurled from her back.

The wings folded around her, enveloping her body.

Moments later, the wings spread open again, revealing a silver dragon standing in front of Leon.

Leon was utterly dumbfounded. The skewer he had been holding fell to the ground unnoticed.

He stared at the silver dragon in front of him, and though Aurora’s dragon form was much smaller than Rosvisser's, it still left Leon speechless.

It was like leaving your daughter at home, going off to work for a couple of years, and returning to find that instead of playing games like hide and seek, your daughter hands you an AK-47 and says, "Dad, let’s storm point A."

Emmm...

Utter madness!

Thud—thud—

The silver dragon gracefully walked over to her shell-shocked father and nudged him gently with her head.

"Why haven’t you transformed into a dragon yet?"

Leon snapped out of his daze. "Huh? Me?"

"Yes, hurry and transform so we can go find my sister."

What? Transforming wasn’t exactly something you could do at the snap of a finger!

What do you think I am, some magical girl?

Leon awkwardly scratched the side of his head. He realized Rosvisser had kept her word—never exposing his secret. She’d hidden it even from their daughters for twenty years.

Since that was the case, Leon couldn’t let the act slip now. He had to keep the secret going.

"Uh, well, Dad just got out of the rift, and my body’s not in the best shape yet, so I can’t transform right now."

"Oh~~ So it’s because your body’s not in good shape~~" Aurora dragged out her words, clearly teasing, as if she knew more than she was letting on. "Well, I guess I’ll just have to carry you, then."

"Uh, yeah, I guess that’s the only option."

Once, in ancient times, there was a legend of crows returning favors to their parents. Today, there’s Aurora, carrying her dad on her back—truly an example of fatherly love and filial piety.

Aurora lowered herself, letting Leon climb onto her back.

"Are you settled?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Alright then—off we go."

The silver dragon beat her wings, extinguishing the campfire in the process, and shot into the sky, a sonic boom trailing behind her as she disappeared into the night.

"You said we’re going to find Noa? She’s not with Mom and Moon?" Leon asked.

"No, she’s somewhere far away... waiting for you."

"Waiting... for me?"

"Mm-hmm."

Leon opened his mouth to ask more questions.

But seeing how Aurora wasn’t eager to provide more information right now, he figured she didn’t want to explain everything at once.

Reading the atmosphere, Leon decided not to press further.

He sat cross-legged on Aurora’s back, the sensation exactly like it had been when he used to ride on Rosvisser.

The wind roared in his ears, the unique high-speed flight of the Silver Dragon clan—everything was so familiar.

Truth be told, Leon never expected to survive after stepping into the spatial rift.

Yet here he was, alive, even though a thousand questions were now swirling in his head.

But that was still better than being forever separated from his family, right?

Still—

Leon let out a heavy sigh, glancing down at the land beneath them.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he no longer belonged to this world, twenty years after he had left it.

Was it the disconnect between what he remembered and what he now faced?

Or was it something else...?

He couldn’t figure it out.

All he wanted now was to see his wife and daughters as soon as possible.

"You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your dragon form before," Aurora said, breaking his thoughts.

Leon cleared his throat, "Ah, well... when Dad’s body recovers, I’ll show you, for sure."

"Alright. But... it seems like your body hasn’t been in good shape for a long time, right?"

Aurora said, "I remember when you were sick with a cold once, and I made you a potion—‘Dragon Vitality’—and you were bouncing around by the next day. Should I make you another one? It might help you recover faster."

"No, no, no, that stuff has side effects if you use it too much. It’s not suitable for regular consumption."

Mostly, it’s hard on the kidneys.

"Really? Well, okay then."

Leon might not have realized it, but he had just been making up nonsense about the effects of ‘Dragon Vitality’ in front of a dragon scholar who had spent twenty years studying magic.

He did this because, in his mind, he still saw the dragon beneath him as the little girl who had once trailed after him, asking endless questions.

And yet, Aurora had played along without calling him out.

Was she sparing her father’s pride, or was it something else?

Hard to say, really.

...

After a few hours of flight, the father-daughter duo reached the border between dragon and human territories.

Leon recognized the place.

He also guessed where Noa was waiting for him.

Somewhere behind a waterfall, in a cave he knew well.

But before Leon could feel excitement at the thought of seeing his eldest daughter again, a sudden realization hit him.

If Noa was indeed here, did that mean she already knew her father was human?

After all, the cave behind the waterfall was known only to him, Rosvisser, his master, and Rebecca.

Earlier, Leon had carefully avoided mentioning his master or Rebecca, worried that it might raise Aurora’s suspicions.

But then again, if Aurora already knew about his identity as a human, why had she asked him to transform into his dragon form earlier?

Thinking it over, Leon decided it was best to remain silent for now.

As he had thought earlier, twenty years was enough time for the unexpected to happen.

Until he fully understood the situation, staying quiet seemed like the best course of action.