Miss Black Dragon Refuses to Be a Mount

"Good daughter... did you, did you have fun?"

Even though he was already completely drunk, Wilfen still cared deeply about his daughter.

"Mm, Father, I had a wonderful time."

"That's good... Go get some rest."

"Good night, Father."

Likaro returned to her room and straightened out her clothes. She decided to wear this gorgeous outfit when seeing Little Black Dragon off, because it made the occasion feel properly solemn.

Likaro was extremely skilled at sneaking out without the servants noticing. After getting everything ready, she took out the magic crystal lamp she had prepared in advance from a drawer, opened her bedroom window, and jumped straight down.

Likaro landed in an ornamental shrub and suffered little impact, though the gardener responsible for trimming the plants would probably have a hard time.

Likaro expertly avoided the routes of the night-watch servants and soon slipped out of the manor.

Although Edafalon City had no curfew, leaving the city at night was much harder than during the day. Likaro had found a solution: she took a rope from her backpack, avoided the guards, and secretly lowered herself down Edafalon's city wall.

It was hard to imagine a little girl who had just turned nine being capable of such a thing.

The snow was still falling. After leaving the city, Likaro raced into the forest while turning on the magic crystal lamp in her hand. Its bright light illuminated the surroundings and gave her a clear view.

"Little Black Dragon, I'm here!"

Likaro's shout rang out as the light gradually drew closer. Soon, Likaro, dressed in a splendid gown, appeared in Ailolin's sight.

Ailolin stood there blankly for a moment, because this was the first time Likaro had worn this kind of outfit.

During the time they had lived in the forest together, Ailolin had always thought Likaro's family circumstances must be fairly good based on their conversations. Today confirmed it. The clothes Likaro wore were definitely not something ordinary people could afford.

Unless this world's productivity was incredibly advanced and fine fabric was dirt cheap, Likaro's outfit alone was enough to reveal her family's standing.

Thinking of the birthday banquet Likaro had mentioned before, Ailolin became even more convinced that Likaro came from a noble family.

"Do my clothes look nice?"

Likaro showed off her dress to Ailolin. After staring for a long moment, Ailolin answered, "They look nice."

"Hehe, hehehe..."

Having received praise, Likaro grinned foolishly. Once she finished laughing, though, the atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

She usually felt relaxed talking to Little Black Dragon. Perhaps because they were saying goodbye today, Likaro did not know what to say for a moment.

The magic crystal lamp was placed on the ground, brightly illuminating the area within several dozen meters. Ailolin could clearly see Likaro's expression, so she took the initiative and said what she had prepared beforehand. "Happy birthday, Likaro."

"Mm... Huh?! How do you know how to say 'happy birthday' in Human language?"

Likaro was astonished, because she had never taught Ailolin what "happy birthday" meant.

"It's a secret."

Since Xiya had said she did not want Likaro to know she existed, Ailolin did not tell her that Xiya had taught her those words.

"Tch, fine if you won't tell me." Likaro brushed her golden hair with one hand, then said somewhat bashfully, "Thank you..."

With that, she undid her backpack and took out the Recording Crystal she had prepared. "Little Black Dragon, let's leave behind some wonderful memories~"

"Hmm?" Ailolin looked at the Recording Crystal in Likaro's hand in confusion. She seemed to remember seeing this thing somewhere before.

Likaro then carefully explained the Recording Crystal's purpose to Ailolin, and Ailolin finally understood. Wasn't it just this world's version of a camera?

"Come on, stand with me. Let's record our image together~"

Likaro spent a long time finding the right pose for herself and Ailolin. Since it would become such an important keepsake, she could not afford to be careless.

After recording the image, Likaro carefully explained how to use the Recording Crystal, then tied it onto one of Ailolin's horns.

"Perfect! Whenever Little Black Dragon misses me in the future, just put your horn into water~"

"Mm."

At first, Ailolin had thought the farewell would be sad. But aside from that brief awkwardness at the beginning, being with Likaro seemed to return to how things usually were, as though there was no farewell at all.

Likaro was an optimistic girl too. Ailolin had never seen her cry, and after spending so many days together, she had come to understand Likaro's personality.

Being able to become friends with such a lively, outgoing, and sensible little girl was incredibly fortunate.

The snow seemed to be falling faster. Ailolin suddenly noticed that while Likaro's clothes were gorgeous, they did not seem very warm.

Besides, it was already deep into the night, and the temperature was even lower than during the day...

Ailolin felt it was time to say goodbye. She also wanted Likaro to return home sooner; this cold was bad for her health.

"Then I hope your future will be even more wonderful, Ailolin!" Likaro directly called Ailolin by her name, something she rarely did. "Don't forget to come back and play with me, okay?"

Ailolin had previously told Likaro that she would sometimes come back to see her, and that they could contact each other without Likaro having to wait in the forest all the time. Likaro was curious about how Ailolin intended to contact her, but Ailolin simply would not tell her.

"Mm. Hurry home. It's cold outside."

Ailolin watched Likaro's expression. Likaro was smiling, and Ailolin could not read any sadness in it. That made her feel relieved.

Though they were parting, there was no need to be sad. All they needed was to wish their good friend a wonderful future and look forward to meeting again someday.

Before beating her wings and flying into the sky, Ailolin looked at Likaro and bid her farewell with great seriousness. "Goodbye, Likaro."

"Go on already." Likaro stamped her feet from the cold. "The forest is freezing. I need to hurry home too."

"Mm."

Ailolin gave Likaro one final look, then beat her wings and flew into the distance.

Leaving at night made it less likely for her to attract attention. Xiya had previously suggested a destination for Ailolin. There were few large settlements there, but plenty of magical beasts. Perhaps she could find traces of dragons there.

If Ailolin wanted to learn more about Dragonkind, she needed to communicate with older dragons.

Watching Little Black Dragon disappear into the pitch-black night, Likaro's smile gradually faded into calmness. She picked up the magic crystal lamp from the ground and headed toward home.

But something at the corners of her eyes and on her cheeks felt wet, so she could not help wiping it away.

Maybe it was melted snow.

PS: This marks the end of the volume~

With this chapter, the prologue volume has ended. Next comes Volume One—didn't expect that, did you? I'm not satisfied with my writing or storytelling, but I've been working hard to improve. Updating 4,000 words a day is fairly diligent, right?~

There are too few people in the group, sob sob. Hint hint.

The plot follows the outline, and to prevent it from falling apart, I always keep my saved chapters equal to the number of published chapters. In other words, if this book has reached 50,000 words, then I've already written 100,000 words...

So I revise chapters every day too. I'll do my best to make the plot reasonable, and I hope everyone points out anything that does not make sense.

Secondly, and most importantly, this is not a harem story. I hope to write a wonderfully sweet girls' love story. I don't like emotional suffering.

That's all. Thank you all for your support. I'll work even harder! (Looking at the votes in your hands.)

Childhood Friend 001 Southern Wilderness

Dawn rose over the horizon. After flying all night, Ailolin finally arrived at her destination.

Along the way, she passed many human cities and villages, even seeing places that looked like fortresses. But as she got closer and closer to her destination, signs of humans gradually disappeared.

Ailolin had learned of this place from Xiya. It was called the Southern Wilderness. According to Xiya, although the Southern Wilderness was part of the Empire's territory, humans inhabited very few areas. Instead, it was the domain of magical beasts.

Therefore, even as a member of Dragonkind, Ailolin needed to remain highly vigilant in the Southern Wilderness. Xiya had also warned her that her current strength would face serious challenges to survival.

The Southern Wilderness occupied half the Empire's total land area, which showed just how vast it was. The Empire had built many large fortresses around its outer regions and stationed well-trained armies there to prevent magical beasts from raiding other parts of the Empire.

In peacetime, being stationed in the Southern Wilderness was a good way for soldiers to earn merit.

Ailolin had already flown past the human fortress cities before dawn. She flew high enough, and it was nighttime, so she had not been discovered. Now, she was already within the Southern Wilderness. There was no trace of humans to be seen; instead, she could feel the wild aura that belonged to the wilderness itself.

Though it was called the Southern Wilderness, its ecology was diverse. There were dense forests, open plains, towering mountains, and more. Yet the Empire had not developed the wilderness, because there were simply too many magical beasts within it, including many powerful ones that required great cost to subdue. It was often not worth the effort.

After arriving in the Southern Wilderness, Ailolin did not land immediately. From the air, she used her excellent vision to observe many magical beasts below that she had never seen before.

Unlike Edafalon Forest, ordinary wild animals were almost nowhere to be found here. The magical beasts replacing them were not only large, but many also looked highly aggressive.

The Southern Wilderness really was dangerous. Yet Ailolin was not afraid. Instead, she felt a little excited. Her goal had been to experience life, and having more challenges during a long journey would keep it from becoming boring.

Ailolin's current small goal was to continue hunting magical beasts in the Southern Wilderness, strengthening her combat abilities while allowing her body to keep growing.

There was one more thing: Ailolin wanted to find traces of other dragons. Since she had neither parents nor kin around after being born, and Dragonkind's inheritance was not an encyclopedia, the only way for her to further understand Dragonkind and her own body was to seek out other members of Dragonkind and ask them.

Fortunately, Dragonkind's inheritance contained a way to find other dragons. It seemed as though it had been prepared precisely for someone in Ailolin's situation.

Dragonkind itself was scarce in number, and its many clans were scattered across the world. Thus, to help dragons find the gathering places of each clan, many dragons would carve Dragon language into boulders, cliff faces, and similar places when they traveled, using it to guide other dragons.

Other than Dragonkind itself, other races were basically incapable of learning Dragon language. At most, they could learn to speak it for communication. Understanding written Dragon language or writing it themselves was impossible.

Dragonkind liked to live in remote and hidden places, preventing other races from disturbing them.

Without following the signs, the odds of finding a dragon gathering place were nearly zero.

Of course, some dragons that liked living alone were occasionally discovered. They only had themselves to blame for living so close to other races.

Morning had just arrived. Having flown all night, Ailolin had spent a great deal of energy and urgently needed to eat.

As she approached a forest, unease surged through Ailolin for the first time. She sensed danger!

So she did not land at all and immediately flew elsewhere. That was the advantage of being a flying creature: it was easier to escape when danger appeared.

Ailolin realized that her earlier reaction had been an instinctive response. Whenever she sensed a threatening presence nearby, it would issue a Warning.

She had nearly walked into danger the moment she entered the wilderness. Ailolin had no choice but to take things seriously. This was no longer Edafalon Forest. As a young dragon that had not yet reached adulthood, she could encounter life-threatening danger in this region inhabited by countless magical beasts.

"Come on, this makes things more interesting!"

Ailolin flew toward the wide-open plains. The forest was full of dense trees and extremely dangerous, so she decided to hunt in the open plains, where she could make full use of her advantages.

A region's food chain was generally stable. Where there were higher-level predators, there were naturally lower-level prey. Not all magical beasts were powerful or aggressive. Ailolin found a grass-eating plains magical beast. They were huge and delicious, and most importantly, they could not beat her.

Some large herbivores could fend off individual small predators, while Ailolin now... Calling herself a large predator seemed a little too arrogant. She was more like a medium-sized predator.

Ailolin felt these walking meals had been prepared just for her. She only needed to hunt one to eat for an entire day.

Because she was on an open plain, Ailolin could spot other dangerous magical beasts approaching early and respond accordingly. So far, she had not encountered any real danger.

Ailolin's body was still developing. As she grew larger, she could feel her strength growing as well. She believed that once she reached adulthood, she would hardly encounter any opponents as a dragon.

After eating her fill, Ailolin decided to begin scouting the Southern Wilderness. She needed to know what was worth noting in this region, while also checking whether any members of Dragonkind had left markers in Dragon language.

Although Edafalon had experienced several snowfalls, Ailolin could not see the slightest trace of snow in the Southern Wilderness.

The sky was dark and unsettled, and the air was somewhat damp. To Ailolin, it seemed more like rain was coming.

She beat her wings as she flew. The grass below gradually became sparse, and many exposed rocks appeared across the ground. Ahead, she could already see an unbroken mountain range. The tallest peaks pierced the clouds, surrounded by mist.

Ailolin could not help staring in awe. It was the first time she had ever seen scenery like this. Though she had seen such sights on a computer in her previous life, nothing compared to witnessing them with her own eyes.

She even felt like crying. In her past life, she had died young, burdened with countless regrets. Now she had been granted a new life and could see sights she had once been unable to witness herself.

As she slowly flew closer, Ailolin saw the faint outline of something at the foot of the mountains. She could hardly believe her eyes.

When she got closer still, she finally confirmed what it was—

A house standing at the foot of the mountains.

PS: I'm updating 4,000 words every day now. I can't get recommended until next week, sob sob. But let me ask in advance: when I start releasing extra chapters later, would you prefer two 2,000-word chapters or one big 4,000-word chapter?

Childhood Friend 002 Mutual Aid Contract

Ailolin could hardly believe someone lived in such a place. The house at the foot of the mountains resembled a villa from Earth. It had two stories and covered a considerable area. Flowers of every color bloomed around it, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding landscape.

One thing worth noting was that there were no signs of magical beasts having been active in a vast area around the house.

With just a little thought, it was obvious that whoever lived here could not be ordinary. They needed at least enough strength to protect themselves, or magical beasts would have eaten them long ago.

Ailolin had originally planned to fly over and take a look, but after thinking it over, she chose to continue scouting other areas first. She needed to find herself a suitable place to settle down.

Whoosh!

A sound tore through the air as an arrow streaked past Ailolin's wing.

Ailolin's heart began pounding violently. Though the arrow had looked ordinary, if it had truly struck her, she might have died on the spot.

As the arrow brushed past her body, she felt an indescribably powerful force within it.

A black-haired woman with a lazy expression leaned against the doorway, holding a short bow. She looked somewhat sleepy, but also irritated, as though she particularly disliked flying magical beasts getting close.

Which blind magical beast dared approach this place? This time was only a warning. If it dared come again, she would send it straight to hell.