It was as if the scenario quest had never existed, vanishing from the sky, leaving only the blue expanse.

If Yong-yong hadn’t been beside me, I might have mistaken this for a dream.

“Kyuwung.”

As I handed Yong-yong a mana stone and enjoyed the peaceful moment, a sense of foreboding washed over me.

Was this the intuition of a woman...?

No way, right? What could possibly happen?

However, at that moment, I had no idea.

That this was a cliché.

***

It was a gathering of the entire Frey Guild for the first time in a while, enjoying a meal together.

Amid the lively atmosphere, while I filled my stomach with steak cut by Leah, Shasha, with her animal ears perked up, spoke to me.

“Hey, little one! By the way, did you hear? Something has been appearing at night lately?”
“Really? What’s appearing?”
“A dragon!”

I nearly choked on my food at those words.

Glancing at Yong-yong, nestled in my arms, I saw his expression was one of grievance.

“That can’t be, right?”
“Kyuwung!”

I vowed with all my honor that it absolutely wasn’t, but wait a second. Why was I placing my honor on the line...?

“Yong-yong isn’t it! The users have seen him several times! They say the dragon that’s appeared is different!” 

Then she showed me a YouTube video, and sure enough, it was a dragon.

Yong-yong began to thrash around in a panic upon seeing it.

“Kyuwung!”

He declared that if given a day, he would take responsibility and bring back the dragon, but calming him down was quite a struggle.

Finally soothed with a mana stone, I checked the YouTube video, but something felt off.

“This doesn’t seem quite right for a dragon.”
“Right? It looks kind of like a dragon.”

The creature was closer to a dragon than a true dragon, and while I pondered this, a thought crossed my mind.

Wasn’t there a dragon I didn’t know about?

I was certain it was connected to the Dragon King, but I couldn’t figure out its identity.

The last time I met him was a year ago.

Well, I’d think about it later; I took a piece of steak piled high on my plate into my mouth just at that moment.

‘Beep!!’

An alarm went off, causing chaos.

“Emergency situation! Guests, please evacuate safely!”

After telling the staff that I was fine, I stepped outside the restaurant, and a massive dragon figure appeared in the sky.

“It definitely isn’t Yong-yong. He’s right next to me.”
“Kyuwung!?”

As Yong-yong looked at me with incredulous eyes, I watched the dragon figure, noticing something strange.

It felt as if it was asking for help.

“It seems like it’s asking for help?”
“Huh? How do you know that?”
“I don’t know. I just feel it.”

I couldn’t explain it, but I could just tell.

As I asked Yong-yong to help me and we flew up to approach slowly, the dragon looked in serious condition.

But was it just my imagination, or was it familiar?

At that moment, our eyes met, and it spoke to me.

[Help me.]

With those words, the transformation wore off, and I barely managed to catch the black-haired woman as she fell to the ground.

Upon closer inspection, I realized I had seen this face somewhere before.

Ah, it was the face I saw at the evaluation committee.

In her naked state, I hurriedly pulled a blanket from my pocket dimension to cover her and opened a gate to return to the hideout, where the Enho Twins, Rang and Lan, looked at me with wide eyes.

“You’re back already? More importantly, who is that?”
“Is she a new member of the harem?”

With those words, Lan, who had a bump on her head, began to whine, and I helped lay the woman on the bed.

“She seems to be in bad shape; please call a doctor.”
“Understood.”

With that, they disappeared, and after a short wait, a doctor arrived and began treatment.

“All wounds have been treated, but her mana is completely depleted.”

I thought a Dragon Heart generated infinite mana...?

“It’s surprising that she’s alive. She seems like a being that has died once and come back to life.”
“Kyuwung.”

At those words, Yong-yong recalled who she was and told me.

The fallen woman was the one and only daughter of the Dragon King.

The Dragon King had a daughter!?

My head began to ache as all these unknown facts rushed in.

As I sat in the chair beside her, I noticed her eyelids fluttering.

At that moment, her eyes opened, and she looked around dazed before meeting mine.

“Hello?”
“......”

She said nothing.

But then tears began to well in her eyes and flow down her cheeks.

I quickly took out a handkerchief from my pocket dimension and wiped her tears away, only to see a picturesque smile form at the corners of her mouth.

“You’re always so kind, Yuna.”
“But we only saw each other at the evaluation committee, right?”
“Right. Before that, I ran away and didn’t even get to greet you.”

Now she introduced herself.

She was the one and only daughter of the Dragon King, and the last surviving member of her family.

Wait a minute. The last surviving member...?

“What about the Dragon King, Ernia...?”
“My mother...”

She couldn’t continue her sentence, and I had no idea what had happened during that time.

After a while, it seemed she calmed down enough to speak again. No, “Arnia.”

As the Arcana Continent merged with Earth, Ernia, known as the protector of the middle realm, had stood against a great power, but it was all in vain.

She spoke of how she had managed to escape and that her mother couldn’t come with her.

“I want to believe she’s alive, but the last state...”
“......”

What could I possibly say to her here?

Nothing. I could only hold her tightly.

After sobbing in my embrace for a while, she finally calmed down, her face turning red as she stepped back.

“I-I’m sorry...”
“It’s okay. It’s only natural to help each other in tough times. And I have some good news.”

I pulled an item from my pocket dimension.

【Dragon King's Necklace】
Increases the stats of summoned creatures significantly when equipped.

A necklace given to Ernia as a gift for her coming-of-age ceremony.
If this necklace is detected by Ernia, the relationship turns hostile, and she will pursue until she retrieves her necklace.
If equipped and Ernia is killed, the necklace will disappear, and all stats will drop by 50% due to Ernia's curse.

Wearing this necklace will turn the relationship hostile with Ernia.

As I donned the necklace, it glowed red, signifying that she was still alive.

“How about that? It should give you some faith, right?”
After a while of silence, Arnia murmured her thanks, and after she wept until exhausted, she collapsed, and I covered her with a blanket before leaving the room.

As I gazed blankly at the sky, I couldn’t shake the feeling of something lurking behind it, but one thing was certain.

“How dare they make my friend cry? I won’t let that slide.”
“Kyuwung!”

So, I need to investigate this being known as “the Beginning,” but it seemed like the Judge, Nia, hadn’t crossed over yet, as I couldn’t see her.

So who should I ask?

Maybe the World Tree would know?

It’s the oldest being in the middle realm, so it must have some knowledge.

“I need to visit the Arcana Continent.”
“Kyuwung!”

Yong-yong created a gate right in front of me.

As I passed through the gate, I found myself in a dense forest, the very forest where the forest tribe lived.

And in the distance, I could see the enormous World Tree, so I headed that way when I heard a voice.

“Stop! Take one more step, and I won’t let you through!”

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw an elf aiming a bow from atop a tree. It was Melin.

“Melin!”
“Oh? Yuna!? What brings you here at this hour!?”
“I need to see the World Tree!”

As she lowered her bow, she welcomed me and said she would guide me to the World Tree.

Thus, while we talked about what had happened recently, we made our way to the World Tree.

In the dark night sky, two blazing figures appeared, shining like flames.

“What’s that!?”
“Oh, those are the phoenixes that have been appearing lately.”

With their massive fiery wings fluttering, they flew towards us in the middle of the forest, and interestingly, they didn’t catch fire despite being surrounded by flames.

As the two phoenixes greeted us,

“Piiik!”
“Piiik! Piiik!”

They chirped like little chicks.

Wait a minute, chicks...? I felt like I had seen them somewhere, but my memory was fuzzy.

I was sure I had seen those chicks when I first visited the forest tribe, protected by that suspicious cult... No, it was the demon who had guarded me!?

“That chick from back then!?”