The Black Dragon Miss Refuses to Be a Mount

The castle had long since been looted clean. There was nothing valuable left inside.

Those people had disposed of her companions' bodies. At least they had a shred of conscience.

But that did nothing to dispel Likaro's desire for revenge.

She was now wanted by the Lumbart Kingdom. The saying that justice always stood with the victors was absolutely true.

After being smeared so thoroughly, the Crescent Moon Knights' reputation had been completely ruined.

But none of that mattered to Likaro, because she would no longer need to care about her reputation from now on.

That sort of thing was truly useless.

The abandoned fortress was remote and held no value, so the enemy had not even occupied it. They had simply looted it and left.

Likaro would rebuild this place. With her own strength, she would soon be able to gather another team.

But she knew very well that this place would never again be filled with laughter as it once was, and she would never share her dreams with anyone again.

Dreams were ultimately just dreams. They could not withstand the cruelty of reality.

Likaro returned to the room where she had once lived. It was now a complete mess and had evidently been thoroughly searched, though she had never owned many valuable possessions to begin with.

She always carried her precious belongings with her.

After taking off her heavy armor, Likaro sat beside the bed, which had been stabbed beyond recognition by swords and blades, and removed the necklace from around her neck.

The necklace did not hold some precious gem, but a somewhat dim Recording Crystal.

To Likaro now, this Recording Crystal held extraordinary meaning.

Because it symbolized her carefree childhood, filled with beautiful fantasies.

She could no longer clearly remember what Little Black Dragon looked like. Eight years had passed, and in those eight years, she had never seen Little Black Dragon, nor did she know where she was now.

Likaro had even dreamed that Little Black Dragon had met with an accident and died, but she did not want to believe it. She would rather believe in the best possibility.

No matter what, Little Black Dragon had become part of her dreamlike childhood memories.

But that was all.

She raised her hand, and the glow of magic bloomed around her. Since she could use magic, projecting the images within the Recording Crystal was very convenient.

Images from the past appeared on the wall before her. The young Likaro wore a dress for her birthday banquet, her expression so innocent and happy.

She seemed to belong to an entirely different world from the person she was now.

Tears silently slid down her face. She stared blankly at the image before her, as though she had returned to those carefree days.

She began to waver, wondering whether she should give up on her dream. As the daughter of a duke, she possessed supreme status. She did not need to suffer such humiliation at all.

If she wished, she could even use her father's influence to make the Silver Eagle Empire go to war with the Lumbart Kingdom.

The Eastern Mountains had long been opened up. For the powerful Empire, destroying the tiny Lumbart Kingdom would be as easy as turning a hand. The forces of Edafalon Province alone would be enough.

Besides, if the Empire wished to expand in the future, the Lumbart Kingdom had always been one of its planned targets.

Likaro shook her head hard. She could not allow herself to waver. She still carried hatred upon her shoulders, and she had to persist.

Even though she knew she had become somewhat extreme, even though she knew there were entirely better ways to resolve this, her stubborn nature simply would not let her do so.

She had to use her own strength to take revenge on those people, to comfort the spirits of her fallen companions.

Before long, Likaro cut off the projection and placed the necklace bearing the Recording Crystal back around her neck.

After the projection, the Recording Crystal's color had grown a little dimmer.

Recording Crystals had a lifespan. The more they were used, the shorter that lifespan became.

And so far, there was no method of transferring the images within a Recording Crystal, so she could only minimize the number of times she projected them.

Likaro still wanted to watch those images a few more times before she was laid to rest.

The feeling of having her dream shattered was unbearably painful. She wiped the corners of her eyes, but tears continued to flow.

In this empty, silent, unoccupied room, Likaro could freely reveal her fragile and sorrowful side, because no one would see it.

The room's bed had been stabbed beyond recognition by swords and blades. Those people had probably thought something valuable might be hidden inside.

But to Likaro, the most valuable things were her companions and her dreams. Money and power were worthless in her eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, she stopped crying and tried her best to calm her expression.

She had to become stronger. She had to keep the sorrow in her heart under control.

Because she was no longer living for herself. Before completing her revenge, she would not allow herself to relax in the slightest.

She believed she could endure it.

Once her revenge was complete, she could have a good cry then...

PS: Let me quietly tell you, the future Dragon Knight and dragon will meet very soon.

That Is My Horse

Ailolin had already entered the territory of the Lumbart Kingdom. To avoid being exposed because of her enormous size, after flying above the clouds for some time, she used Transformation Magic to take on a human form.

But even in human form, the wings on her back could still be useful.

So Ailolin glided through the air for a long distance before landing in an open area.

There were no human settlements nearby. Flowers and grass grew thickly, making it seem like untamed wilderness.

But sharp-eyed Ailolin spotted what appeared to be a small castle in the distance. Could it be a human military outpost? Yet the castle looked very small.

This stirred Ailolin's curiosity, so she concealed her aura and quietly sneaked toward it.

The surrounding grass and shrubs were dense. With her small body, Ailolin could easily hide among them.

Once she approached the castle, Ailolin's doubts only grew stronger.

The gates stood open, and there was no trace of any humans. The walls were battered and broken as well, as though they had experienced a battle.

Could this be an abandoned castle?

If so, Ailolin had to go inside and take a look. First, she enjoyed exploring unknown things. Second, there might be something valuable inside.

Even if the castle had been looted clean, perhaps there was some Concealment room or something similar.

Trying her luck was always worthwhile. If she truly found something, she would strike it rich.

After confirming that this really was an abandoned castle, Ailolin swaggered in through the main gate.

The atmosphere within the castle made Ailolin frown. She could sense that many people had died here, and even now, the aura of slaughter had not dispersed.

Ailolin surveyed the castle's interior. This castle was truly small. If it housed troops, it could probably hold at most a few hundred people. And it had been built in such a deserted place—what was the point?

Ailolin searched everywhere for anything valuable, but she failed to notice that someone else was still inside the castle.

At that moment, Likaro crouched halfway down on the city wall, observing the cloaked person inside the castle.

Perhaps the enemy suspected that she might be hiding here and had sent someone to investigate.

Fortunately, she had the magic item Xiya had given her to conceal her aura. Combined with her invisibility magic, it had kept that cloaked person from discovering her.

Come to think of it, that cloaked person was rather short. Could they be a dwarf?

But they seemed a little taller than a dwarf...

No matter what, Likaro would not alert the enemy. She was alone and outnumbered now, so she had to stay hidden.

Ailolin wandered around the castle, but found nothing valuable. Then she entered the castle building and found every room battered and ruined, all bearing traces of having been looted.

After wandering around for so long, she had found absolutely nothing.

Just as the disappointed Ailolin was preparing to leave, she discovered a chestnut horse in the castle stable!

There was no one in the castle, so this horse...

She tried exerting pressure on it. Under the intimidation of a high-ranking magical beast, the poor horse immediately submitted.

Ailolin found that the horse was sturdy and had tack on it, so she began considering riding it away.

After all, she would be moving around the human kingdom from now on. She could not revert to her true form and fly whenever she wished, while walking was far too slow. Riding a horse was just right.

So Ailolin untied the horse's reins, led it out of the stable, and climbed onto its back.

Having never ridden a horse before, Ailolin looked extremely inexperienced. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, so she relied on her own understanding, sitting on its back and tightly gripping the reins.

As long as I don't fall off and can sit comfortably, that should be enough, right?

She could slowly figure out the rest later. Ailolin decided to teach herself how to ride.

As for the horse, it had no idea what sort of being was riding it, but that terrifying pressure left it too scared to even let out a fart.

"Giddyup!"

Ailolin rode away from the castle, while Likaro, who had watched the scene from the shadows, clenched her fists.

That was her horse!

Although she could barely resist the urge to kill that cloaked person, she had to remain calm.

That person might very well have come deliberately to lure her out. She absolutely could not fall for it.

Watching the person ride her horse out of sight, Likaro dispelled her invisibility and angrily hammered the stone bricks of the wall with her fist.

Without her horse, there was no point in wearing her armor.

Otherwise, walking alone would be enough to exhaust her to death.

So Likaro returned to her room and pressed a Concealment mechanism by the door. A small door then appeared in the wall beside it.

The space behind the door was not large, resembling a safe. It was where Likaro usually stored her equipment.

Likaro removed her equipment piece by piece and placed it inside, including her longsword.

Then she took out a mage's robe. It was standard attire for many mages, and she chose it because the robe's hood could conceal her face.

Moreover, it was not suitable for her to carry a longsword now, so she brought a dagger with her instead.

She could no longer be considered a knight. For the sake of convenient movement and concealing her tracks, she could only temporarily pose as a mage.

Fortunately, her magical ability was also quite high.

Next, Likaro took out a badge and pinned it to her chest. It was the badge of the Mage Association, and having such a badge could spare her a great deal of trouble.

She had secretly gone to the Mage Association to obtain certification. She usually avoided using magic in front of others, so even her companions did not know that she could use magic.

Her identity as a mage could now provide her with cover. Those enemies would have a hard time suspecting a mage.

But when she thought of her beloved horse, Likaro's anger flared again.

That horse had been with her ever since she became a knight. After so much time together, they had developed a deep bond and perfect understanding. Yet it had been stolen so easily...

And why had it not resisted when that person rode it away?

That horse had an exceptionally fierce temperament. It obeyed no one except Likaro.

In the end, Likaro added this debt to her ledger as well. If she encountered the horse thief in the future, she would absolutely not forgive them.

But a moment's thought told her that this was highly unrealistic. That person had worn a cloak, so she had no idea what they looked like.

If that person sold her horse, then even if she encountered them in the future, Likaro would not recognize them.

Likaro knew that she most likely would not be able to recover her horse.

After packing up her gear, Likaro decided to temporarily leave this abandoned knights' castle.

She was alone now, and staying here was absolutely unsafe. If she had reacted a little more slowly today, that person would probably have discovered her.

She would wait until she rebuilt the knight order before reclaiming this abandoned castle.

PS: I want to see them get cuddly, hurry up!

Reproach

Ailolin rode swiftly across the wilderness. The horse's endurance and speed were excellent, and she was becoming more and more satisfied with it.

However, there was a pack tied to the horse's back. Ailolin had not noticed it earlier, but there seemed to be something inside.

After stopping beside a river, Ailolin let the horse rest and untied the pack from its back.

When she saw what was inside, she revealed a surprised expression.