Wolves of Hader

The ship sailed toward the continent.

Leo, clad in golden armor, boarded our ship with his warriors. He brought five warriors with him.

As the continent came into view,

I asked Leo.

"Why couldn't you find the treasure?"

"You'll know when we get there."

"What kind of monster was the demonic beast?"

"It was called the Demonic Beast of Crimson Flame."

Is it something like the Guardian on Little Devil Island?

"It must have been tough to catch."

"It was. We only managed to capture it after five attempts."

"I see."

Leo looked at me.

"I'll say this in advance. Since we took down the demonic beast, you and your group can only take a portion of the treasure."

"Is there even a treasure?"

"There's a magic array at the dragon's lair. We've tried entering several times, but haven't figured it out. My father said you would be able to open that door."

I looked at Leo.

"Let's split it evenly, half and half."

"What?"

"If it's a door only I can open, that would be fair."

"So you want a free meal?"

"If not for me, you wouldn't even get half."

"And if I don't like that?"

"Then we fight."

Leo gave a dry laugh.

"My father and Elborn the duke believed that you and I should work together. Sending you on this mission was also meant to strengthen this alliance."

"I agree."

"And yet you say we should fight? Over treasure?"

"If you don't want to fight, hand over half."

Leo's expression was priceless.

He looked at me like, 'What kind of guy is this?'

"Let's settle it after we find it."

"As you wish."

The southernmost tip of Verttern appeared.

The entire coastline was shrouded in mist.

There were no guarding battleships.

Because the ship had a shallow draught, we could approach even in shallow water. So, everyone jumped into the sea. Allen leaped over from the bow and landed on the island.

Once everyone had landed, we stood at that spot.

No one moved.

It was understandable.

The fishing village was in ruins. Nearly all the houses had burned to the ground, and only a handful of fishermen were preparing to head out to sea.

Even though the war had ended ten years ago, the area had never been restored. The few residents in sight were all severely emaciated, mostly the elderly and infirm.

"The refugees haven't returned?"

"Most either died or fled to the archipelago where we live. Colonial rule still remains, so they can't come back."

"Is the whole southern tip like this?"

"For the most part. The rulers here have neither the resources nor the funds for recovery. The residents barely survive by fishing."

The occupying Geroz Mercenary Corps had been annihilated, and the real power in these lands, the Order, had collapsed. Tern had been overwhelmed at the thought of restoring this place.

Currently, a governor installed by Tern rules here, with only a small stationed force. Since this land was taken by the Order, Tern will likely send in troops before long.

We headed to a nearby basin, not far from the shore.

As we walked, I saw that the inland areas were even worse. Large villages were completely deserted.

It seemed there had been fighting here until recently. Corpses lay rotting, abandoned. In the half-burnt buildings, embers still smoldered.

"There are resistance fighters, aren't there?"

"Those who had been living in hiding took up arms after the Geroz Mercenary Corps failed to return."

Leo pointed to a castle to the north.

"There's a governor there. There are over ten such castles in southern Verttern. Their forces number only a few hundred, and most resistance fighters are peasants, so they can't seize them."

"Are they still fighting even now?"

"Yes. Given their notorious history for oppressive colonial rule, conditions are even worse now. They are forced to surrender everything they produce."

"What if they don't?"

"They die. Though the governor will have a hard time procuring food if there are too few residents, he doesn't care. They're just waiting for Tern to annex this land."

Everyone walked in silence.

My own men had lived miserable lives as children, but at least they fared better than these people. This place was Hell itself.

"There must be a lot of refugees from here on Amir's archipelago."

"A great many. This region used to belong to Amir. Humans drove them to the islands."

"What do you want us to do?"

"We want you to deal with the governors north of the central river in the south. We can disguise you as one of us."

"Understood."

What they sought—

Was Amir's return,

And the liberation of southern Verttern.

/ / /

We entered deep beneath the basin.

Though not comparable to the palace of Asgard, the red dragon's palace here was also impressive in size.

The passageways formed a labyrinth and seemed to have been built by Dran. There were no monsters at all. The maze was so complex that we would have been wandering for ages without markings.

"Did the red dragon enslave Dran?"

"Yes. Other dragons did the same. This red dragon supposedly had a strange fascination with humans. She was the only female-type dragon among the seven."

"Do dragons have genders?"

"No. They're affected by various influences. Dragons are prone to intense obsession and attachment. Mimicking their objects of attachment is just their form of amusement."

That seemed right.

Dragons really were like psychos.

"Were the red dragon's remains found?"

"Amir recovered them a long time ago. The other dragons' remains are probably still at their lairs."

I addressed Leo.

"How did you find the orb of power?"

"So you knew."

"Was it here?"

"Yes. Don't ask me anymore. It puts me in a tough spot."

"Fair enough."

Even the demon's essence was a topic I'd rather avoid. Perhaps my father the viscount had revealed the location, or the dragons had told him.

At last, we reached the treasure chamber.

It had a layout similar to Asgard's palace underground. Evidence of intense battles scarred the place.

It was a dome-like space, its walls inscribed with more than thirty magic symbols. All of them were small and positioned low on the walls. I wondered how a gigantic dragon had used them.

"Are these symbols the magic array?"

"Yes. Magic arrays usually run on lightning attribute magic power, but these didn't respond at all. Even when we used fire-attribute magic power, since the red dragon wielded flame, nothing happened."

"Are there any other passages?"

"As you can see, absolutely none."

I approached the wall to examine the symbols.

I felt a faint divinity.

A strong remnant of flame lingered.

It probably required not just any fire magic power, but an extremely intense flame. Leo and Amir's warriors would have difficulty summoning such power.

Some of the magic arrays emitted no energy at all. It wasn't likely fake doors would've been crafted so precisely.

"Got any ideas?"

"Not at all."

"So even you're stumped."

"Are these really magic arrays?"

Allen also tried to open the doors, studying the symbols. Leo stared hard at them too. Gradually, the party began to spread out around the treasure chamber.

"Eilin."

"Yes?"

"Will you take out the holy sword?"

Eilin unwrapped the holy sword from the cloth in her backpack. When she spread out the cloth, the sword did not radiate divine light. But the symbols reacted.

"Huh? The symbols are glowing."

"Is that sword the key?"

Everyone gathered around Eilin.

I discreetly slipped away to another wall.

The divinity was simply reacting to divinity.

"Young lady, would you kindly touch the symbols with the sword?"

"All right."

As everyone focused on the holy sword,

I poured a powerful surge of magical flame into the symbols.

Right at that moment.

I passed through the thick wall.

I felt myself being sucked in.

It was startling.

The thick wall offered no resistance at all as I passed through. It definitely wasn't spatial teleportation.

The requirement was flame magic power. It had to be extremely high temperature. Divinity is not the key to open this door. It was probably meant to block devils from sneaking in through the secret door.

Where I arrived wasn't a treasure vault.

Even so, I was still shocked.

Perhaps these were more precious than treasure.

The devils had never found this place, so nothing had been taken away. The actual treasure had served as funds for the devils' army.

It was the dragon's library.

Countless books lined the shelves and were stacked here and there. More than half were damaged by decay.

Fortunately, these were not made of paper, so they didn't immediately crumble. In ancient times, there was no suitable paper, so all the books were made of parchment.

I pulled out a book and opened it.

What language was this?

I couldn't make sense of the writing. Some pages had strange symbols, others brimmed with magic power.

I took out another book.

This one was written partly in pictograms and a strange language. If it were in my tongue, I might understand the archaic forms.

Many of the books lacked titles and the languages varied. A quick glance told me there were at least twenty different languages. Only one book was labeled in my language.

I found several instruction manuals for creating magic arrays, and others that were unmistakably grimoires. There were also plenty of magic scrolls whose uses I did not know.

So, I took out my magic sack and began to pack away the scrolls bearing magic symbols, then the grimoires as well, along with the one book written in my language.

'Hey! Roger's gone! Where is he?'

'Roger! Where did you go?'

'How did you even get in there?'

They found out quickly enough.

I grabbed whatever books I could and shoved them into the magic sack, then headed to the back of the library.

It was blocked by a wall.

Did someone have to go through the treasure chamber every time they wanted to access another room? That seemed inefficient for a floor plan.

And with the dragon's huge size, why was the library so small? Even if it could manifest as a human figure, could it shrink down to fit?

Just in case, I pushed on a bookshelf.

As expected.

A small door appeared.

I went through the door and entered a long hallway. There were several rooms along it, so I opened the first door.

I was startled.

It was a girl's room.

Everything was pink.

The decorations were cute and dainty.

A delicate canopy hung over the bed, and there were dolls as well. Strangely, nothing was decomposed, nor was there any dust. Was everything preserved by magic?

The next room shocked me as well.

This time, the room was bathed in deep red, giving off a mature and sensual vibe. Again, a woman's preference.

Leo had said the red dragon was female type, and it really did seem so. Judging by these rooms, it apparently lived in a fully human form.

One room was filled with women's clothing. There was a restaurant and a kitchen too. Even the stove in the kitchen was still warm.

Food remained unspoiled, and every item was immaculately clean. It was as if the dragon still lived here. What on earth was going on?

The red dragon's soul was long gone.

There was no way the dragon itself could be here. It meant someone else had come and stayed here.

I checked the rooms along the corridor, then made my way to the two rooms at the end. In the distance, thump-thump-thump-thump—someone pounded on the wall. I turned to see what it was.

'Roger! You idiot, where did you go! Come out!'

'Hey! How about coming to some agreement!'

'Come out! What are you doing in there?'

I laughed and turned back.

That's when it happened.

Rat-a-tat-tat—

Something scurried past me.

It darted forward in a flash.

I turned to the room on the left—there were stairs.

The room on the right was a food storeroom.

Tap-tap-tap-tap—

Entering the left room, I heard the quick patter of someone running up the stairs. How did they get in here?

It was a small figure.

Dran? No. This one was fast.

I slowly climbed the stairs.

Barefoot, agile, and small-bodied. I couldn't understand how such a being could be here.

At the top of the stairs were storerooms.

The first storeroom was for weapons. Suits of armor and every kind of weapon were on display, including many magical items.

The strange being was nowhere to be seen.

There were four large storerooms. It must be hiding in one of them.

Opposite the weapon storeroom was a workshop.

There were forges and all sorts of tools and materials. And to my surprise, there was a blue flame burning in front of the forge.

It was the Eternal Flame.

Dran really had been here, then.

Inside the lamp, the blue fire still blazed—it had lived for over a thousand years. It truly was the Eternal Flame.

"Hey. Is someone in there?"

No answer.

"Are you Dran? Or a human?"

Still no reply.

"Whoever you are, I mean no harm. Why are you here alone? How did you get in?"

I heard the rustle of clothes.

It seemed someone who had been crouching now stood up.

"That's right. Don't be scared. Come on out."

Tap. Tap.

I heard the careful sound of bare feet.

Then—

Bang bang bang bang—

'What are you even doing in there!'

'Why aren't you coming out!'

"Roger! At least answer!"

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—

I heard the rapid footsteps of the small figure running barefoot. It seemed to have tried to come out, then hid again.

Thump.

It sat down.

"I'm called Roger. Who are you?"

I decided to wait for it to come out.

This was better than chasing after someone who was scared.

I waited for about three minutes.

I heard cautious footsteps.

And then, hesitantly, a small face peeked out.

It was a little girl.

With short, crimson hair.