Red Mirror Flower

"Are you really going straight down like that?"

Duncan was still somewhat uneasy.

"Well, if they suddenly wake up, there's nothing I can do. Since the goddess has been so kind to that boy Glenn, she could look after me a little, too."

Galan slapped both cheeks, forcing himself to perk up.

He had gotten up early that morning and hadn't eaten, so it was only natural that he felt a little weak.

He tightened the belt around his waist, took a deep breath, and concealed his presence.

"What an exquisite concealment technique."

Watching Galan move down from the cliff's edge, stepping from one protrusion on the rock face to another, Duncan was still secretly astonished.

No wonder I couldn't tell where he was hiding before. For a warrior to conceal himself this well... If I couldn't see him with my own eyes, I wouldn't be able to sense his presence through his mana at all...

Duncan lowered his gaze in thought, as though something had occurred to him, but he quickly dismissed the fleeting idea.

How could those people possibly leave the empire? They value their missions more than their own lives... I must be overthinking it.

Galan spread his powerful limbs against the rock face like a spider and climbed toward the bottom of the pit, following the protrusions.

At this height, he could have jumped straight down. With his powerful physique, a drop like this wouldn't have been a problem.

But Galan was afraid the sound of his landing would be too loud, rendering his concealment technique useless.

If he woke all three Red Mirror Dragons now and faced them head-on, in his current condition he could only run away, unless he had a death wish.

Most importantly, he was afraid these three big treasures would shift their backsides around and crush all the Red Mirror Flowers to death.

Preserving their medicinal potency was already extremely difficult. If the herbs themselves were damaged, it would only make refining them even harder.

Just keep sleeping like dead pigs. Don't go playing red light, green light with me.

Galan repeated the words in his mind, praying he could finish gathering the herbs without a hitch and slip away.

Glenn, oh, Glenn, I've worried myself sick over you.

Clatter, clatter—

Loose stones slid down the rock face, clattering as they struck one another.

Galan had stepped on a rock riddled with cracks. The weather-beaten stone couldn't bear his weight and crumbled on the spot, breaking into tiny pieces that fell straight down.

The falling stones finally clattered to the ground, making a series of noises. A Red Mirror Dragon that had been lying on its belly suddenly shifted its head and let out a particularly heavy snort.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't mess with my head."

Like a "spider-man" working high up in the air and buffeted by a strong wind, Galan clung tightly to the rock face, not daring to move.

He seemed to think he wouldn't be discovered as long as he stayed like that, unaware that his black clothes stood out starkly against the yellow rock around him.

Even if he were a spider, one that big could only have been a monster.

Galan turned his head slightly and looked at the three giant dragons below.

Thank goodness, thank goodness. Aside from shifting their sleeping positions just now, they don't seem to be waking up.

Compared with Charas, who talked about wanting to be his friend while actually thinking only about how to kill him, these dragons looked cuter the more he saw them.

Thud—

Seeing that he wasn't far from the ground, he released his grip on the rock and let himself drop. After his feet touched down, he rolled forward to dissipate the force and darted behind a large boulder.

After making sure nothing was amiss, Galan bent low and crept toward the Red Mirror Flowers beside the nest.

It felt like a child tiptoeing with all his might while his parents slept soundly in bed, trying not to make a sound on the floor and wake them, then sneaking into their room to steal a phone to play with.

But Galan felt a far greater thrill than that. With every step he took, he felt cold sweat breaking out on his back, as though something terrifying were watching him all the while.

A good horse doesn't turn back to graze, and an arrow once loosed can't be called back. Now that I've come this far, I have to take something back no matter what.

A few breaths later, Galan finally reached the Red Mirror Flowers without any further mishaps.

He pressed his lips together, suppressing his wild elation at his victory so he wouldn't laugh aloud, and began picking them one by one.

After picking them all and putting them away in a specially made wooden box, he cast a simple spell to preserve the herbs' vitality. It was a skill he had secretly learned from Rock.

To pry the spell out of him, he had been forced to drink with the old drunkard until he was throwing up every step of the way. Only then had he barely managed to get the better of him.

But for a whole month afterward, he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol. The sight of it made him want to throw up.

"That's quite a lot."

He looked at the spoils in his pocket and carefully felt them a couple of times. There seemed to be six or seven plants. Even after using one to refine medicine for Glenn, he would have enough left to try out plenty of new formulas.

"Whoosh—"

Heavy breathing, carrying a wave of heat, brushed against his back, as though someone had put their head right behind him and was blowing hard.

After freezing for a moment, he gently turned his head.

Up on the cliff, Duncan was waving his wand and signaling frantically at him.

Behind him, a Red Mirror Dragon had stretched its head to within a meter of him without him noticing and was studying him closely.

Scales like heavy steel armor opened and closed in sequence from front to back with its heavy breathing, while its enormous reptilian claws, covered in bronze scales, gouged several deep furrows in the ground.

At this distance, he could even feel the scorching heat clearly on his face. It seemed the dragon might breathe fire at any moment.

It's hot.

Galan felt as though he had returned to the summers in his memory.

The chirping of cicadas—no, a mighty dragon's roar suddenly exploded beside his ears like muffled thunder.

The sound was like a solemn ancient bell being struck, deep and immensely majestic, loud enough to deafen.

After a brief standoff.

Perhaps believing its side outnumbered the enemy, the Red Mirror Dragon was driven by its ferocious nature to attack first, even though the human gave off a dangerous aura.

Higher monsters usually placed immense importance on their territory.

They would emit powerful mana or set up restrictive barriers as a deterrent, warning passing creatures not to covet it.

Any creatures that ignored the warning and entered would inevitably face the territory owner's anger and retaliation.

It was a blatant provocation against the master of this place, a declaration of war against a superior being.

The proud dragons would never tolerate creatures that trespassed on their territory. They would not stop until the intruders were dead.

"Bro, if you spotted me ages ago, don't pretend you didn't."

Galan's legs tensed in an instant, and he sprang to the side, dodging the Red Mirror Dragon's fearsome, lunging jaws before sliding underneath it.

Fierce killing intent erupted as he drew the alchemical longsword from his back and slashed viciously along its belly.