REFDL 12

“This way, sir.”

The village chief, sporting a bushy black beard like a bandit, led the way. As they neared the basin, a pungent stench assaulted their noses.

Kaelus scanned the partially rotted, decaying carcasses of wolves without flinching.

“They haven’t touched them.”

“Yes. Of course not…”

“I’m not talking about you.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you find it strange that monsters haven’t touched such splendid prey, lying here for all to see?”

“……!”

The village chief’s eyes changed. He turned his thick neck around. After scanning the wolves again, he let out a low, guttural groan. Kaelus watched this scene carefully…….

“Ugh! Ugh!”

“…….”

Kaelus sighed, then grabbed Nitan by the collar as he vomited in the corner and dragged him over.

“Urgh. Urgh. Captain. I’m going to throw up…….

“There are so many of them, why me of all people…….”

“Because you had to be the one. Besides, if you dirty my foot, I’ll make you lie down next to the wolves.”

“Ugh…….”

Nitan pursed his lips, trying to hold back the vomit. Unable to bear the disgusting sight any longer, Kaelus clicked his tongue and kicked the man.

“Look closely.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Rock.”

“Huh?”

“These creatures were killed by rocks. Thrown with tremendous force. And some of them…”

He flipped over one stiff corpse. The hollowed-out neck bore clear marks of beastly teeth.

“Dragon teeth marks.”

“……!!”

Nitan’s eyes changed. As if he’d never retched, he rummaged through the wolf carcass with his bare hands.

Meanwhile, Kaelus pretended not to notice and observed the village chief. His face was pale, but not because of the gruesome scene. His shoulders were hunched, unbecoming of his large frame, and his hands were clasped in front of him.

His demeanor was excessively deferential. It wasn’t hard to understand why.

The origins of ‘Forest Village’ lay with fugitives.

A settlement formed by criminals or runaway slaves seeking survival. Because of this, just a generation ago, it resembled a bandit’s lair more than a village.

‘It was this man who changed that.’

Kaelus crossed his arms.

He was trying his best to appear docile, but the aura emanating from the village chief was anything but ordinary. It was an extraordinary quality that time alone couldn’t conceal.

Kaelus tilted his head.

‘But why does his face feel familiar?’

If Nitan was the Dragon Encyclopedia, Kaelus was the Talent Encyclopedia.

Perhaps due to growing up in an environment sorely lacking in capable people, he overflowed with a talent-gathering obsession alongside the Emperor.

His hobby was rescuing slaves showing potential and earning their loyalty. His specialty was combing the entire empire to unearth golden chicks.

Even if he didn’t recruit them, he always recorded them in his personal registry. Yet, there was a hidden talent Kaelus hadn’t encountered yet?

‘…..Then there’s only one answer.’

The man whose loyalty to the empire ran as deep as his talent-gathering obsession lowered his eyes.

Nitan let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“Aaaaaah!”

“……”

Kaelus turned.

Hand on his sword hilt, he walked with a bleak gait toward Nitan. The latter hadn’t noticed. All his attention was fixed on the fragment of a corpse raised toward the sky.

“Kremlis!!”

“……What?”

“Captain! Captain, it’s a Kremlis! This bite. This bite force! It’s definitely a Kremlis hatchling!”

“…….”

Kaelus turned his gaze towards the village chief and then whacked Nitan on the top of the head with his sword hilt.

“Ow! Why again?!”

“Be quiet. Do you want to attract every monster in the area with all this noise?”

“But what… You’re the one who could wipe out any monster around here with a single finger… ”

“Enough. Get up. We’re heading back.”

“Yes.”

Nitan puffed out his cheeks sulkily but said no more, brushing himself off and standing up.

* * *

The three returned to the village.

The moment they entered the entrance, they spotted Rotol, her expression sly as she ran her hands over the knights’ armor.

“Rotol!!”

The village chief roared like a lion and charged forward.

The knights flinched at his menacing, extraordinary presence. Their hands reflexively reached for their sword hilts.

“Forgive us, my lords!”

The village chief slammed his forehead to the ground.

“I’m truly sorry. My daughter committed a great offense…!”

“Uh, ah!”

The frozen knights quickly grasped the situation.

“No, no. Your daughter is clever. Haha.”

“We were just playing with her. The captain aside, we’re commoners by birth, you see. So what I mean is, you don’t need to bow that deeply…”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The knights waved their hands, but the village chief remained in the same position. He didn’t straighten his bowed back. He didn’t remove the hand pressing down on his daughter’s head. The knights, now flustered, looked at Kaelus like chicks searching for their mother.

‘Maybe I should just come alone next time.’

“It’s fine. Take her inside.”

The village chief apologized profusely until the end, then hurriedly took his daughter inside the house.

One of the knights left behind shrugged.

“So what now, Captain?”

“Proceed as originally planned. …We’ve confirmed the variable, but it’s not a major issue.”

Nitan looked at Kaelus with an expression of disbelief. They’d found the Kremlis again, the very one they’d lost two months ago, and he was saying it was no big deal?

…But Nitan held his tongue. Because he only had one life.

“Disperse and search the surrounding area.”

The Firmus imperial family’s strongest armed force. The Dragon Knights. Among the three knight orders, they were unquestionably the strongest, the First Knight Order directly under the emperor.

Led by their captain, Kaelus, part of the First Knight Order was currently disguised as an investigation team sent to look into the strange phenomena occurring near the village.

The reason was…

“As you likely already know, examine meticulously for any traces of the Eastern Empire.”

The opposite side of the Sea of Trees bordering the village.

Intelligence had come in that the Eastern Empire, Denos, was showing unusual movements.

‘We got lucky.’

Kaelus thought.

Originally, they planned to fly by dragon to the nearest castle from here, then visit the village disguised as professional monster hunters.

After searching the forest near the village, they planned to cross the Sea of Trees to observe the Eastern Empire’s activities and return. But just then, the perfect cover walked right in.

That was the extent of Kaelus’s thoughts on the matter.

He hadn’t expected the hatchling he’d missed, the Kremlis, to be involved…

‘It doesn’t matter.’

His thoughts didn’t change much. Killing it would be the end of it.

‘Looks like the mother is dead.’

He had expected as much. At that moment, the adult Kremlis returning to the cliff was already severely wounded from somewhere.

Kaelus suddenly recalled the tiny, trembling lump in his hand. The man’s expressionless face wavered slightly.

‘……That thing.’

Even thinking about it again, that small, repulsive thing had absolutely nothing resembling a ‘Kremlis’ about it.

The ruler of the Skies.

King of Dragons.

The pinnacle of winged beasts.

The empire overflowed with ancient tales about them.

In the mythic age, they were said to be the trumpeters of the gods, swallowing twilight and spewing dawn each day.

They would scoop the moon from a lake to drink and become fairies, while in founding myths, one of them repelled the worst monster wave in history and married the first emperor.

That was why the symbol of the Firmus imperial family was also a Kremlis dragon.

It was also why Kaelus had to undertake the insane folly of wandering barehanded, with only a few subordinates, searching for the Kremlis’ nest.

‘Damn legitimacy.’

Kaelus had been skeptical of this plan from the start.

He told the Emperor it would fail.

The Emperor simply told him to go.

Kaelus said he refused. Wasting time on a hopeless endeavor was something he loathed as much as he loathed dragons.

The Emperor flopped down on the throne.

……Kaelus gritted his teeth and departed for the Sea of Trees.

‘I should have just held out until the end back then.’

He did meet the Kremlis. Only met it.

The imprinting failed, and he didn’t get his hands on it.

But how on earth could that be interpreted as ‘he almost got his hands on a Kremlis’?

Fortunately, an urgent report flew in just as the Emperor was fumbling to lie down on the floor. …Not sure if you can call that fortunate.

Anyway, Kaelus had been dispatched south. And so it was now.

‘It was just the size of a palm.’

Now it seems big enough to bite a wolf to death.

As expected of a Kremlis. Its growth was tremendous.

On the way back from the forest to the village, Nitan whispered to Kaelus that it must have grown to about the size of a Pensilta sub-adult.

Strangely, he couldn’t quite picture it.

Trembling, whimpering.

Unlike its sibling, it had always been the type to hide in a corner, and that image of a small, mouse-like creature only became clearer.

‘……?’

Something felt off.

It was a strange feeling, not quite right, but Kaelus dismissed it as nothing significant.