Lake Inoma

"Oh, and then? We need to run quickly?" Elufiel's tone was indifferent. She stood far off to one side. This time, she clearly saw what that "corpse" looked like—it was hard all over, with the gray texture of stone.

"Did you find anything? Or was this poor human simply glanced at by Medusa and then picked up by Terrence's group?" Elufiel kicked the block of ice imprisoning Terrence, stuck out her tongue at him, and then realized that the frozen Terrence was completely unaware of the outside world. "Of course, I refuse to accept that latter explanation."

"It was an experiment," Odovish said. "Do you remember the black crystals Eugene mentioned? I saw the crystals Terrence was carrying. This man should be an experimental subject of the Holy See. A body corroded by death energy develops bluish-black spots and becomes as stiff as a corpse."

"Hm? As stiff as a corpse? You mean he isn't dead yet?" Elufiel asked in surprise.

Odovish withdrew the hand he had placed on the "corpse" to examine it. Looking at the ice that had already begun to melt, he said, "Alive in another sense, but not far from death. The Petrification was applied afterward, likely to prevent the death energy from spreading."

"I need Terrence alive. He still has other uses." Odovish looked at the elf. "Can you do it?"

"If I say no, will you kill him? Will you abandon your plan?" Elufiel countered.

The mage looked at her and smiled. "I will do as you wish."

Under Odovish's rare smile, the elf flicked her hand and turned her head away. "Take him, then. I have no interest in the life of an old man."

No one knew what the mage did, but Ice Bind was quickly undone. However, the severely injured Terrence could not move at all. He glared viciously at Odovish and Elufiel, his lips trembling as he remained silent.

Odovish summoned wind elementals. Yano formed chains out of wind and bound Terrence. The archbishop was now filthy and disheveled, with none of a cardinal's bearing left. His sinister, rage-filled twisted gaze especially ruined the image he had tried to maintain.

A box forged from mithril was found. Yano rolled it over to the mage's side with the wind. Odovish opened it, and Elufiel leaned over for a glance. Two black crystals lay quietly inside. The dense death aura emanating from the box made the elf take a step back. "Oh, such a strong Undead stench. No, I think even Undead smell better than this."

Snap— The mage shut the box. "I'm afraid we'll have to take away that 'lucky fellow Medusa favored' you mentioned."

"Don't look at me. My space can't hold people—any living creature besides mounts and pets is out of the question." Elufiel shook her head repeatedly. "Even if it could, I'd refuse."

Odovish hesitated for several seconds. "In fact, I have never tried placing a living person directly into a spatial item."

...A living person. Elufiel glanced at the unlucky man who had been petrified.

"But there's no other way." The mage's hesitation vanished quickly. He took out a poorly shaped ring and placed the stiff petrified man inside. "As for whether he can survive, that depends on whether the Goddess of Light blesses him."

"Come on, we should leave before the Holy See catches up." Odovish ordered the wind elementals to knock Terrence unconscious.

"Mm, I only have one question," Elufiel said. "Can we fly this time?"

Odovish nodded firmly. "Of course. Above the Feiyin River, since it floods every year, few people pass through here except near the docks."

"Very good." The elf was delighted by the answer.

A familiar blue dragon-like creature with an enormous wingspan appeared before the mage. Sitting on its back, the elf extended a hand toward him. "Hurry up, Spell Saint. Don't just stand there."

Behind the elf, the river surged onward. At some point, the sky had turned somewhat gloomy, as if another heavy rainstorm were brewing. For an instant, Odovish seemed to understand how his father had felt when he first saw a girl riding a Silver Dragon in the frost-covered northern lands.

Lake Inoma

The deep-blue Northwind Whelp had dazzling pale-blue patterns across its wings and body. Against the dark sky, those beautiful markings glimmered with a ghostly light.

Odovish lovingly stroked the great dragon's back beneath him. Seeing the mage's somewhat fervent gaze—an expression he rarely displayed so openly—the elf suddenly had the strange thought that Odovish might slice the Northwind Whelp apart and turn it into alchemical materials the very next second.

"Excuse me, could you please stop flirting with my dragon?" Elufiel said to the mage.

Odovish froze, then withdrew his hand, though he still seemed reluctant to do so. "Is this a lady?"

"He's still a child. A boy." Elufiel paused, then added, "You can't casually flirt with boys either."

"All right." Odovish raised both hands in a token gesture. Once, one of Pandor's defining traits had been its contracts with dragons. It was the only place on the continent that produced dragon riders and dragon mages. When Odovish was still young, his mother had also prepared a dragon egg for him. Unfortunately, perhaps because it had been damaged during Pandor's fall, that pure-black dragon egg remained an egg to this day. Odovish had long since completely given up hope that it would hatch.

According to records, aside from the former Pandor, the only place in Kanado where dragons could now be seen was east of the Aidoma Mountains, where Dragon Valley was said to lie. Legend claimed that Fallen Star Lake guided every adventurer, yet for thousands of years, no one had found that beautiful lake said to have formed from stars falling from the sky, much less the mysterious Dragon Valley.

Dragons had become a distant legend.