“Huuu.”
Jake exhaled as if calming his mind. He didn’t know why his heart was trembling so much just from going outside the castle.
It’s okay. This isn’t about leaving Duke’s castle, but about entering it again. Jake repeated this to himself and placed his hand on his chest to calm his heart that was beating faster than usual.
‘Let’s focus.’
Remembering a path seen only once wasn’t easy. Moreover, finding a path he’d wandered through in a state so unsound that even following behind Klad had been difficult was more than twice as hard.
Jake closed his eyes and recalled the memory from that time. First, it would be good to find the old inn on the outskirts of the capital that he’d gone to with Klad. Fortunately, remembering the inn’s location wasn’t difficult. He just had to walk straight along the most remote road connected to the castle gate.
Unfortunately, there was no inn at the place he’d painstakingly found. Well, thinking about it, it was natural. This place was 750 years before that time. Except for the Imperial Palace and Duke’s castle, it was difficult for specific buildings to remain in the same place for hundreds of years.
But what was important now wasn’t the presence or absence of the inn, but finding the path. Jake retraced his memories and followed the path he’d walked with Klad in the opposite direction.
‘This way… no, is it this way?’
After wandering for a long while, Jake found the place from his memory. He’d been greatly worried about what would happen if a building that didn’t exist in the future was built there, but fortunately the area was empty.
He couldn’t sense the presence of anyone other than himself either.
Just like that day when he’d been with Klad.
‘…Is it Dragon magic?’
In the past, he would have thought he was lucky to be able to sneak into the secret passage without being noticed, but now he could clearly know the cause of this phenomenon. The reason there were no people here wasn’t because it was late at night when everyone was asleep, or because Jake was lucky.
A barrier had been set up in this place where the passage leading to Duke’s castle was located. A barrier that could never be found unless one was a Dragon.
‘I was able to enter here thanks to Klad’s magic.’
While walking along the path, the moment he passed through a specific area, one of the protection magics layered over his skin faintly reacted, so it was certain. He had penetrated the barrier with protection magic. The fact that not even a single bird chirp could be heard from the surroundings also started from exactly that point.
‘Thanks to that, I don’t need to worry about being caught sneaking into the castle.’
The secret passage leading to the underground of Duke’s castle was set up to be easily found once one entered inside the barrier. Jake parted the grass around it and entered the passage.
Gooooooo.
The sound of wind howling echoed from inside the long cave-shaped passage.
At the end of this path was a Dragon. Thinking that, his heart beat rapidly.
Thump, thump.
The fear and intimidation he’d felt when first encountering the Dragon came back to him, and his hands began to tremble with tension.
‘Calm down. Calm…’
Why on earth had he thought of meeting a dangerous life form like a Dragon? Was it because Klad was the only Dragon he’d met in his life, so he thought others would be gentle and reasonable too?
If so, it was a foolish thought.
Originally, Dragons were known to be beings who regarded humans as insignificant. It was just that Klad’s attitude toward him had been special.
‘It’s okay. Let’s be calm.’
If the Dragon had the power to kill him, he would have done so when he’d visited the underground with the Duke. There must be a reason why, despite being caught and confined by a mere human, he hadn’t tried to kill them. If so, there was a high possibility he wouldn’t attack this time either.
Even if he did attack, it would be okay. Because he was protected by Klad’s magic. He didn’t know if it could properly defend against another Dragon’s attack, but he could avoid dying instantly the moment he was attacked. If he ran away in that gap, his survival rate would greatly increase.
Of course, the safest method would be to not even think about meeting the Dragon and just obediently return and sleep stretched out… but his lingering attachment toward Klad didn’t easily disappear.
‘Alright. Let’s move.’
If there was something one wished for, it was natural for a corresponding price to follow. If the price for meeting Klad again was merely gathering courage, he could do it as much as needed.
“Huuu.”
Jake steadied his breathing and entered inside the passage.
Trudge.
Each time he moved his feet, the sound of his footsteps echoed and spread. Jake moved a bit more carefully and walked along the dark passage.
Trudge, trudge.
As he proceeded while holding his breath, he saw light faintly at the end of the darkness. Only when the light pouring from the inner space reached his feet did Jake stop.
His heart began to beat a little harder.
Calm down. Jake spoke to himself inwardly and slowly raised his head. What was before his eyes was a being he couldn’t see properly without raising his head to the fullest.
As expected, there was a Dragon there.
Enormous, dignified, and majestic.
A gigantic green Dragon.
Kugugugugugugung—
As if he’d already noticed an unwelcome guest approaching, the Dragon turned his head toward Jake. Despite it being a trivial action, the entire underground shook as if it would collapse.
At the intimidation emanating from the being called Dragon, Jake involuntarily stepped back.
“Heu…!”
What allowed him to endure at all was because the Dragon’s eyes didn’t contain ‘Fear’ that dyed the opponent in terror. If the opponent had no intention of threatening him, it meant there was room for dialogue.
This is an opportunity. Jake gritted his teeth and forcibly dragged his trembling legs.
The place where he was standing now was in darkness. No matter how much Dragons could see clearly through the darkness, hiding one’s appearance while conversing wasn’t courteous. Jake walked under the light brightly shining from the magic lamp.
‘I must not show a frightened appearance.’
Though fear wasn’t something that could be controlled as one willed, Jake clenched both fists tightly and met eyes with the Dragon.
[Hmm…]
Instead of roaring threateningly as when they’d first met, the Dragon looked past Jake’s back.
[To think there was… a secret passage in such a place. Surprising…]
The Dragon had merely spoken, yet the body he’d barely calmed began to tremble again.
‘Calm… I need to calm down.’
While Jake was struggling to settle his trembling, the Dragon thrust his head toward Jake.
[West…]
When the Dragon spoke from a distance where their noses would touch if he moved, the enormous resonance stirred inside his head with a buzz.
[How did you find… a path even I didn’t notice?]
Judging by his reaction, the Dragon seemed unaware of the secret passage’s existence. Then this passage wasn’t something even a Dragon could easily discover… but how had Klad found it?
He was curious, but that wasn’t what was important now. Jake forcibly opened his reluctant mouth and barely answered the Dragon’s question.
“I… already knew of it.”
[Hmm…]
The Dragon’s attitude showed he wasn’t pleased with that answer at all. But what could be done? He couldn’t explain as it was that he’d merely applied knowledge discovered in the future.
Cha-ra-rak—
When the Dragon extended his front leg, the chains binding him made a rough friction sound. Though bound, the Dragon was at a distance where he could flatten Jake by pressing down with his front leg if he so wished.
Thud.
The Dragon lightly touched Jake’s torso with the blunt part at the tip of his claw. But that ‘lightly’ was by the Dragon’s standards. Jake, so frail that he’d be pushed back even if another human tapped him, was helplessly pushed by the Dragon’s gesture and tumbled across the floor.
“Euhuk…!”
The protection magic didn’t activate. He couldn’t tell whether it was because the attacker was a Dragon like Klad, or because the magic didn’t recognize the opponent’s action as an attack.
“Heu…”
His hands and feet trembled. He wanted to run away. Was this the Dragon’s Fear? No, it probably wasn’t. The emotion Jake was feeling now was far closer to instinct than fear from Fear.
The primal emotion humans feel when facing death. Jake trembled in the terror that death loomed over his head.
Perhaps out of consideration for such a Jake, the Dragon withdrew his front leg and waited until Jake calmed enough to converse.
“…Keu, huuu…”
When Jake raised his body, the Dragon attempted conversation once more. This time a bit more carefully. So that the weak human wouldn’t pass out from his breathing.
[Why…?]
At the Dragon’s sudden question, Jake blinked. ‘Why’? He couldn’t determine exactly what was being asked.
Why did you come here? Or… why did you lie?
Though he didn’t know the exact intent of the question, since he’d gained the right to speak, this was an opportunity. He had to ask if he knew the Dragon called Klad. If he was rebuked for not answering the question properly, it would be an opportunity to answer that he’d mistaken the question and thought he was being asked the reason for his visit.
“By any chance, Kla…”
[Why, from you…]
While he hesitated, the Dragon continued his question.
He’d thought ‘why’ was the entire question, but it was just that his manner of speaking was leisurely. Jake decided to aim for the next opportunity and calmly waited for the Dragon to finish speaking.
However, after hearing the words that followed, Jake couldn’t maintain his composure.
[Why, from you… can I sense Klad’s presence…?]
