Wolves of Hader

The red-haired girl.

At first, I thought she was Amir's girl.

But she wasn't.

Only her hair was red.

She was a human child.

And a very cute one, at that.

She looked about ten years old.

With a frightened face, she peeked her head out to look at me, and that sight was so adorable.

She held a dagger tightly with both hands, and the clothes she wore were a one-piece pajama. Clearly a person—how could a young girl be all alone in a place like this?

As soon as I looked at her, the girl quickly pulled her head back.

I spoke while sitting down.

"Who are you?"

No answer.

"Why are you here? Where are your parents?"

Only then did the girl slowly show her head again.

Her eyes were a deep black with a hint of red. Her appearance and skin tone looked like a child from the southern part of Verttern.

"I won't hurt you. I'm just curious why a child like you is here. Are your parents with you, by chance?"

She shook her head.

She understands our language.

"So you've been here all alone?"

She nodded.

"Why were you alone? Weren't you scared?"

Her expression looked like she was about to cry.

As if to say it was truly scary.

"Where are your parents?"

She looked at me quietly and said,

"T-they're dead."

Even her voice was cute.

"Then who took care of you?"

Her face clouded again.

"No one did, huh? Then, how long have you been alone here?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know how long you've been here?"

She nodded again.

"When did your parents pass away?"

"A while ago."

"I see. I'm sorry. So—were you unable to leave here? Or did you just not want to go out?"

"This is my home."

Had the refugees lived hidden here?

"How did you get in here?"

She couldn't answer.

After a moment of contemplation—

"I was born here."

So refugees really had been hiding out here? If a refugee came in 10 years ago and gave birth to a child, she'd be just about the girl's age—around ten.

"What's your name?"

"Yuri."

"Yuri?"

It was a rather familiar name to me.

It also suited her appearance.

"Just Yuri?"

"Yuriena Astelver."

"Your parents called you Yuri, huh."

"Yeah."

But there was something else strange.

"You seem to have lived here alone. How did you get food? It looks like you cleaned daily, too."

"I did it."

"You? Where did you get ingredients for cooking?"

"I stole them."

"From where?"

She pointed up.

She meant she'd been up to the surface.

Did that even make sense?

"So, you went above ground, stole food ingredients, cooked for yourself, and even did all the cleaning?"

"Yeah."

Can a ten-year-old girl do all that?

And the surface had no food supplies at all now.

But that wasn't even the issue.

"To come in here, you'd need fire magic—how did you get back in?"

"I can make fire."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

She showed me her hand.

Amazingly, her hand caught fire.

I was truly shocked.

"Isn't it hot?"

"No, it's not."

She was now standing in the corridor before I knew it.

Maybe thanks to the conversation, she'd let down her guard. In fact, she seemed to be having fun meeting me.

I felt a deep curiosity about this girl's true identity.

She couldn't be a mage. She didn't seem to be an esper either. Nor did she feel like Amir's girl.

"You said you were born here, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why don't you know how long you've lived here? If you're ten, you've lived here for ten years."

She shook her head.

"I'm not ten."

"Then how old are you?"

"I don't know after I wake up."

What was that supposed to mean?

"How long did you sleep?"

"For a really long time."

"How long is really long?"

"Hmm. After I woke up, my bed was filthy. So I went outside, brought back new clothes and a new blanket, and changed them out. I also cleaned."

"It was clean before you slept?"

"Yeah, but there was just too much dust."

"Your parents weren't here then?"

"They were outside. I called for my mom but she wouldn't come, so I kept crying and waiting. Suddenly, devils showed up and attacked my mom. So my mom fought them and died."

"That was recently?"

"Yeah."

Did the child think the Guardian was her mother?

That couldn't be. The Guardian here was of Flame...

Wait a minute!

She woke up and her mother was outside.

The devils came and attacked her mother.

A fire attribute like the Guardian.

"Could it be...is your mother a dragon?"

The girl nodded.

Unbelievable.

"Your mother is the Red Dragon. So you're the daughter of a dragon? And you're not human either?"

The girl nodded again—with an innocent smile.

I let out a dry laugh.

So the child of the Red Dragon, who was trapped here, fell asleep for a very long time and finally awoke.

When she woke up, her mother, the dragon, was outside and the devils killed her mother. This kid had mistaken the Guardian of Crimson Flame for her mother, because they shared a fire attribute.

"Did your mother put you to sleep?"

"Yeah. When the devils attacked, my mom hid me here. Then she put me to sleep."

"Is this your original appearance?"

"No. I'm really big. But my mom and I always lived like this—in this form. It was uncomfortable staying big."

So that's how it was.

Dragons and dragon children lived in human form. This girl probably didn't have an actual gender, either.

"Can you change back to your original form?"

She shook her head.

"Why? You don't know that kind of magic?"

"No. But I know other magic. I read books every day while I was here."

"You can read the books here?"

"I can read them. Not all of them, though."

She was smiling now.

It seemed all her wariness was gone.

"You're young, but you can cook, do laundry, and clean."

"I learned from my mom."

"Do you want to leave this place?"

She hesitated.

Outside, there came another round of loud banging.

'Hey! Are you dead? Or alive?'

'Roger! If you're stuck in there, at least answer!'

The girl seemed frightened.

I smiled and said,

"You thought those people were devils, huh."

"Aren't they?"

"They're not the ones who killed your mother. They killed the monster that hurt your mother and took over this place. Look at me—we look similar, don't we?"

"They're people?"

"That's right. You're a person, too."

The girl came closer.

She examined my face and body from all angles. Then, she touched her own arms and face.

"So this is a person..."

"Yuri."

"Hm?"

"Living here is nice, but living out in the world is even better. I'll protect you. If I'm with you, nobody will hurt you."

"Really?"

"Of course. Food you get out there tastes way better than what you cook alone. If you go out, you'll have many friends, and kind big brothers and unnies."

Yuri fell into thought.

This place was her home.

She was currently the only dragon alive.

She didn't know restoration magic now, so she only had the appearance of a young girl, but she could one day regain her true form. She could become even stronger.

She was a girl who fell asleep before her knowledge and thinking fully matured, only to awaken a thousand years later. She hadn't really learned anything after waking, either.

Even so, she'd probably grow quickly once she started learning about the world. It had been that way with Bellen and Lok. And in any case, I couldn't just leave her alone in a place like this.

"There's a pretty unni waiting outside."

"She's a girl, like me?"

"Yeah. She'll take good care of you."

"Hmm."

The girl touched her lips with her finger, falling into deep thought. It seemed the part about an unni taking care of her was more appealing than a grown man like me.

I thought she wouldn't have a gender, but perhaps not. Her femininity seemed rather strong. Maybe it was because she missed her mother so much.

Finally, the girl made her decision.

Her eyes sparkled.

"I want to go out."

"Good."

"But I want to come back here someday."

"Of course. We'll come back together later. For now, get your belongings together—we'll go soon."

"Okay."

She dashed downstairs.

She had no interest at all in the treasure, just rushed straight to her room. Her "luggage" would probably just be clothes and dolls.

I headed right for the treasure vault.

Unlike other places, there were no piles of gold coins—everything was stacked as gold bars. There were jars of gems, too.

I packed only a few jars of gems and boxes of gold coins into a magic sack. Everything else, I shrank separately with shrinking magic stones. Only these, I planned to split with Leo.

For now, I needed to keep this space hidden. There were too many items, like books and magical tools, to move the treasure for now—plus, it was Yuri's home.

Across from the treasure vault was a magic array room—I planned to study it at a later time. It seemed different from Dran's magic array.

So I only took what I needed for now.

The Eternal Flame and magical tools. A few magic materials that looked rare.

"All packed?"

"Yeah."

I laughed when I saw her.

She had a tiny backpack, wore a white dress, long boots, and a wide-brimmed hat.

She looked like she was going on a picnic.

She smiled brightly—it was endearing.

Maybe this child would be my "healing."

/ / /

The party stared wide-eyed.

Because this strange girl had appeared suddenly out of nowhere. Needless to say, everyone was speechless.

"Say hello, Yuri."

"Hi."

Yuri waved a bit nervously. The only ones who greeted her were Eilin and Donnie. Allen approached first.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Yuri."

"I meant—not your name, but, uh, how should I say..."

I gently stopped Allen and introduced Eilin to Yuri. Seeing Eilin, Yuri smiled brightly.

"You're that unni, huh?"

"Yuri, right? I'm Eilin."

"Hello, Eilin unni."

Yuri shyly took Eilin's hand.

As if she was used to holding her mom's hand.

Eilin smiled, not the least bit flustered.

"You're so pretty."

"You too, unni."

"Let's go now."

As I sent Eilin a look, she took Yuri's hand and led her toward the corridor. The rest of the party looked on, completely at a loss.

"What are you all doing? Let's go."

"What even happened in there?"

"A refugee was hiding inside. She said her parents died. I'll explain it all in detail later."

"How'd a refugee get in there?"

"There was another exit above. I haven't checked where it leads yet."

"What about the treasure?"

"I got it. There was the same magic symbol in the treasure room. The kid's family didn't even know there was treasure."

Leo looked at me, skeptical.

What I say goes, that's all.

I told him,

"Split it evenly in half."

"Is there enough to split?"

"Even half is enough to rebuild the entire south of Verttern. It's more than enough to fund Amir's army."

"Is that so?"

Leo had never seen treasure in a dragon's lair. He didn't know how much there was—so he wouldn't suspect I'd kept any for myself.

/ / /

Ships were crowding in along the shore.

There were nearly a hundred ships. Amir's warriors were landing and preparing to march. Many volunteers for liberation were refugees, too.

There was chaos at the castle in the distance.

Because Amir's forces had invaded so suddenly.

I stood on the deck of the largest ship.

All the warriors and sailors had been sent off, and only Leo's direct subordinates were left on the ship.

"You're prepared for war with Tern?"

"Of course. Once they see us occupy this place, they'll give up the south. Even if they send troops, we'll have to stop them."

"The distance will make it a hard war."

"My father and Duke Elborn were of the same opinion. When you destroyed the Order and Geroz Mercenary Corps, they knew this would happen."

That was one reason they'd been waiting for me.

My timing to go to Hairopro and the situation in the southern Verttern matched perfectly. And we needed to recover the treasure, too.

"When will you come back?"

"Around next spring."

"I might go visit my sibling before then."

"That'd be good, too."

"Tell me honestly—how much did you squirrel away?"

"Not much."

"I figured as much. Hey, Roger."

"Hm?"

Leo grinned.

"Let's have a real duel someday."

"Any time."

I said, and leapt off the ship.

I headed straight for the waiting party.

We restored the treasures I shrank in the cargo hold of the big ship. The weight was so much, the ship almost sank under it. We then split the treasure evenly.

Seeing the volume, leo agreed without a word. It would have seemed more shameless to keep it all for themselves, perhaps.

He then asked how we'd carry the split treasure; I just stuffed it into a magic sack. Leo just stared at me in disbelief.

What else could I do?

There was no other way to take the treasure.

I went to join the waiting party.

Everyone was already on horseback.

Yuri was riding in front of Eilin.

Now we head north by land.

Having obtained the Eternal Flame, I no longer need to visit Jonju. Nor Robe. Eilin was needed here.

The plan is to purify the Forest of Death on Verttern's western coast as we move north. That way, we'll run into the divine beast in the region, too. It's likely a winged lion.

And before that—

We'll search for the King's Tomb.

Who knows what we'll find there.