"Are we really letting that human go?"
Samantha asked.
Garos put away the map and looked in the direction the Rogue had fled. Then he turned back and said, "Do I look like a dragon who breaks his word? I said I'd let her leave my territory, so I'll give her the chance."
Since Garos had spoken, Samantha asked no more questions.
She went to clear the battlefield, picking through every corner and gathering the adventurers' equipment, whether intact, damaged, or utterly destroyed.
"My dear brother, can I have this alchemical equipment?"
She scooped it up in her foreclaws and looked at him hopefully.
The adventurers' equipment and alchemical items were rather low-grade in Garos's eyes. Compared with the few pieces he carried, they were hardly worth mentioning.
But he did not agree at once. "What do you want them for?"
"To take them apart and melt them down," Samantha said excitedly. "I want to try using the materials to make alchemical items suited to dragonkin."
At her current level of alchemy, she was very likely to fail.
But whatever the outcome, she stood to learn a great deal from the attempt.
Garos flicked his tail. "Repair your Alchemy Workshop first. You can have the equipment to make your items, but you still need to keep refining black oil. Don't let that fall behind."
Samantha's eyes lit up.
"Oh, my dear brother, I'm sure I can make an alchemical item."
"Just wait. I'll make you proud!"
The way she said it sounded less like one dragon speaking to another of the same age and more like a child addressing an elder.
After all, Garos had once again appeared when she was out of her depth and turned the situation around. He gave Samantha a sense of safety that even the Iron Dragon Mother had never given her—though, in the Iron Dragon Mother's territory, she had never faced danger in the first place.
At first, she had submitted to him reluctantly.
Now, she had grown to depend on Garos.
Samantha was only a six-year-old Hatchling Dragon. She had the Dragon Inheritance, but her mind was still immature. In maturity, she could not compare to Garos.
She saw him as someone she could rely on, a goal to learn from and strive toward.
Whoosh!
Garos beat his wings, whipping dust, dead branches, and fallen leaves into the air.
"Where are you going?"
Samantha asked while rebuilding her "Alchemy Workshop," little more than a crude shelter of stone slabs.
"To deal with the Rogue," Garos said.
"Huh? Didn't you say you'd let her go?"
Samantha looked puzzled.
"No. I said I'd let her leave my territory," Garos corrected her.
Let her go? What a joke.
If he failed to wipe out adventurers in one stroke, they would keep coming after him unless he abandoned his territory. There were plenty of powerful adventurers, too. Letting the Rogue escape alive would put him in danger, and Garos would not allow that.
He had never intended to spare her.
He had let her run ahead not to toy with her, but to see whether any other adventurers were lying in wait to help her.
It was unlikely.
After all, to make sure a dragon hunt succeeded, they should have attacked together.
But what if they hadn't?
A little caution never hurt.
Until he had enough power to protect himself, Garos had to be careful. Hatchling Dragons who weren't careful usually ended up buried in the wilderness.
He spread his wings and soared into the sky, vanishing into the night.
"As expected of my brother. He's evil to the core. I'm still too naive. I need to learn from Garos."
With that thought, Samantha resumed repairing her little Alchemy Workshop.
Elsewhere.
Bright moonlight spilled across the wilderness, coating it in silver.
The Rogue breathed hard. Without her leather armor or alchemical items, she was nearly naked, her skin covered in tiny cuts from sharp leaves, branches, and jagged stones. She had reached the edge of the Iron Fir Hills.
In her current state, she had no companions or equipment, and she was wounded and weak.
Even if she escaped the Iron Fir Hills, getting out of the wilderness alive would be extremely difficult. Her chances were almost nonexistent.
But there was still a chance.
"Damn you. Damn you, Evil Dragon!"
"Do you think I'll die in the wilderness? Is that why you think I don't matter?"
The Rogue clenched her fists so tightly her nails nearly dug into her palms, her resolve hardening.
"I will get out of this wilderness. Then I'll come back with stronger companions and make you pay dearly for your arrogance!"
Two Hatchling Dragons.
One Red Dragonet and one even stronger hybrid Hatchling Dragon.
For adventurers, that was an irresistible prize. If she escaped the wilderness and spread the news, adventurers eager to join a dragon hunt would come in droves.
Ignoring her exhaustion, the Rogue ran as fast as she could.
First, she had to get away from the Iron Fir Hills.
After some time, the Rogue stopped to catch her breath against a slope. She looked back toward the Iron Fir Hills. The dragon had not pursued her. He had not appeared at all. It seemed he really had let her go.
Crunch.
The sound of claws treading on loose stones came from nearby.
The Rogue tensed and looked up.
A pack of Needle-Hair Wolves emerged from different directions, sniffing the scent of blood in the air. Their eyes were fixed on the Rogue.
The smell of blood excited them.
They sensed her weakness and, without bothering to test her, lunged straight at her.
The Rogue was already weak, and she had no equipment or items left.
Against the pack, she lasted less than a minute. She died angry and unwilling, becoming food for the wolves.
It would have been better to die at a dragon's claws. At least that would have been more honorable—and quicker.
That was her last thought.
Meanwhile, Garos circled high above, silently watching what happened below.
"No other adventurers."
He had followed the Rogue in secret for some time and seen no one come to meet her. He had been about to kill her himself when he noticed the wolves find her trail, so he held back and watched them tear her apart.
Soon, not even a bone remained on the ground.
The wolves moved on, disappearing elsewhere.
That was life in the wilderness, and in countless other worlds: the weak were devoured completely, never knowing if they would survive the day.
With nothing left to worry about, Garos returned to the Iron Fir Hills and studied the map again by moonlight.
The more he looked at the circled location, the more familiar it seemed. After several more minutes of careful thought, realization struck.
"The place marked here is the abandoned mine where the Rock-Crushing Worms live."
There were more abandoned mines in the Ser Wilderness than stars in the sky. When the Rogue first told him the dungeon lay beneath one of them, he had not given it much thought. Now he was surprised.
It was quite a coincidence.
On second thought, though, it made sense.
"The Worm King has an unusual mental ability. It can directly control whether the other Rock-Crushing Worms live or die. That isn't an ability a normal Worm King should have."
Garos considered this.
"Could exposure to a Legendary Realm alchemical item have caused it to develop that mental ability?"
At the thought, even Garos struggled to suppress his greed. He wanted to rush there without another thought, investigate, and claim the Legendary Realm alchemical item.
Then he would no longer need to proceed cautiously. He could climb straight to the pinnacle of dragon life and, with the Power of One Dragon, crush every creature that dared call him an Evil Dragon.
Rule the whole world!
Do whatever he wanted!
Live until the end of time!
"Stop, stop, stop!"
"Garos, stop indulging in ridiculous fantasies!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Red Iron Dragonet shook his head hard, then took several deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling until his agitation subsided. He thought of Samantha, too, using an ordinary Hatchling Dragon like her as a warning. He could not give in to the failings common to Evil Dragons, or he would end up in the same state.
Greed—second only to arrogance and conceit among the traits most likely to lead dragonkin into danger.
Before you continue