chapter_0216

217 – Brave-nim?

217 – Brave-nim?

There was nothing special about the place where the Dragon was first sighted.

Just an ordinary forest covered in ice and snow.

In the barren ice forest, traces of human habitation were sparsely visible.

Markings left by hunters, simple traps, traces of their base camps where they had briefly stayed.

It was evident that people frequented this place quite often.

“It’s a complete hunting ground.”

“Are there many animals to hunt here?”

Yuris asked, looking around as if surprised.

“Probably a lot. The Ice Mountain Range is known to be barren, but it still has a well-established ecosystem. Goats and deer that can live in ice-filled mountains, and even ice rabbits, inhabit this place.”

At my words, Yuris looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Max, you know a lot.”

“To create an Illusion, you need to know everything about the area.”

“Is it really because of the Illusion magic?”

At my words, Yuris fidgeted with my hand she was holding.

The sensation of her fingers gently scratching the back of my hand made me flinch involuntarily.

“A magician needs to know a lot.”

“I see.”

Yuris smiled at me deliberately.

She must have noticed.

That I flinched at the movement of her fingers.

“Hehehe.”

A shy smile followed by an awkward silence.

I looked at Yuris.

She had confidently taken my hand, but couldn’t bring herself to get any closer.

Whether it was because of the cold or because she was embarrassed, her cheeks and ears were flushed red.

Yuris glanced at me briefly and then lowered her head again.

Then, she hummed a tune as if trying not to be awkward.

The imposing figure who had pressured Nikki this morning was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a shy girl.

A teenage girl embarrassed by her first date.

A girl who made my heart flutter with the simple act of scratching my hand, despite the awkwardness.

I intertwined my fingers with Yuris’s and gently pulled her arm.

Naturally, our shoulders brushed slightly.

“Huh?”

As if this wasn’t in the script, Yuris looked at me with a flustered expression.

“M, Max?”

“If you’re going to hold on, you should hold on properly.”

“Ah, uhm… that’s…”

Yuris stammered, seemingly flustered.

She didn’t know what to do and was embarrassed.

“J, just a moment, this feels too fast…”

Too fast?

She was trying to get closer just a moment ago.

Now that I’ve actually gotten closer, she seems embarrassed.

Yuris suddenly closed her eyes.

As if I were about to kiss her right now.

I gently touched Yuris’s forehead.

“What are you thinking about? If something happens, it’s better to be together so we don’t get hurt as much.”

“Uhm…”

Yuris bit her lip at my gentle push.

“T, that’s true.”

Yuris let out a breath as if disappointed.

“Aren’t we looking for the Dragon?”

“I’m looking.”

To say we’re looking…

We were just walking around the sighting area, holding hands tightly.

Who would call this a search?

If someone else saw us, they would think we were a couple taking a walk on a date.

“There’s a way to know without having to search every nook and cranny.”

Perhaps noticing my gaze, Yuris said calmly.

And at that moment, thread-like Mana emanated from around her.

Yuris’s clear Mana touched the surroundings.

Searching for traces of the Dragon or traces of Mana left behind by the Dragon.

It was a precise movement that didn’t require her to move her body.

‘Wow, is all of this possible?’

What profession puts the most effort into using Mana?

It was the magician.

The Spiritualist borrowed the power of spirits rather than their own, so the connection with the spirits was important.

Priests and Paladins used divine power gifted by the goddess rather than Mana, so their usage wasn’t as refined as others.

Knights used as much Mana as magicians, and used it frequently, but their training focused on how to maximize the destructive power of Mana.

On the other hand, magicians knew that the nature of Mana differed depending on the type of Magic they used, and they used all sorts of methods to utilize it.

In the end, their knowledge of how to use Mana and its precision were far superior to other professions.

Even among those magicians with outstanding skills, few could manipulate Mana as precisely as Yuris.

Yuris used Mana as if it were her own hands and feet.

Her Mana control was so precise that even I, who had seen all kinds of Magic, was impressed.

I blankly admired the skill she was displaying.

“There aren’t any traces…”

Yuris, who had been examining the surroundings using Mana, sighed softly.

That’s when it happened.

“Huh?”

“Did you find something?”

Yuris’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Yuris frowned slightly and bit her lip as if deep in thought.

“Yuris?”

“U, uhm?”

“Did you find anything?”

“Ah, that’s…”

“If you found something, we should return immediately to share the situation and investigate properly…”

Yuris interrupted me, cutting me off.

“I don’t think so.”

“…Huh?”

“I did find something, but I don’t think it’s Dragon traces.”

“Not Dragon traces?”

“Yeah. It feels strange, but it seems to be from a different monster than a Dragon.”

“What is it?”

At my question, Yuris made a face as if she was putting in some effort.

Guwoong.

“Follow me.”

I followed her to the place Yuris guided me to, and there.

“A trace of being struck with a huge blunt weapon…”

There was a sunken mark in the snow.

As if a giant monster like a troll had swung it.

It was an artificial trace.

The snow was sunken, and fragments of soil and snow were scattered around.

As if it had just happened.

The small vibration I felt when Yuris put in effort just now, could it be…?

“Trolls are nothing compared to Dragons, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

Is it really a troll?

That sound just now…

I couldn’t bring myself to say those words.

Because of the desperate look in Yuris’s eyes as she looked at me.

-If we go as it is now, we’ll have to go back right away.

I could see Yuris’s thoughts in her eyes.

“Are you sure there’s nothing there?”

“O, of course! I think it’s a troll?”

“So you’re saying a troll with white skin and red eyes suddenly appeared?”

“A, maybe? Could it have been a troll covered in white snow?”

It was an obvious lie, but I decided to play along.

‘It doesn’t seem like the traces have completely disappeared.’

It seemed like they were hiding the Dragon’s traces with artificially created traces.

“Then let’s search a little more. To move efficiently now, we need to hold…”

Yuris immediately grabbed my hand as I was about to let go.

“Just a little more.”

Yuris looked up at me with a pleading expression.

“Let’s just stay like this a little longer.”

“Alright.”

“But you know.”

Yuris took another step closer to me and asked.

“What kind of Illusion magic did you show Nikki last night?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

“I know. I asked on purpose.”

“Huh?”

“I want to see an Illusion magic too. Max, I want to buy your time.”

A sweet and sticky voice.

She spoke in a whisper, her voice full of moisture.

“…Here?”

“Yes.”

Her eyes sparkled.

“Is it not allowed?”

How many people could refuse a request from Yuris, one of the most beautiful women in the Empire, as she looked up at me with an expression she wouldn’t show to others?

“A Dragon might suddenly appear.”

“It won’t come. I haven’t sensed it at all with my five senses.”

“Then let’s do it somewhere else later…”

“I like it here.”

Yuris said firmly, hugging my neck.

“Then let’s just do it simply.”

I couldn’t refuse.

“Fuhehehe.”

Monica, the only Dragon left on this continent and the noble White Dragon, was giggling as she watched a video created with Illusion magic inside her Lair.

In the form of a human girl, she chuckled and focused on the video.

-So you’ve finally come this far.

-Yes. It’s time to end this cursed relationship. The time has come to sever this terrible connection between you and me, the Demon King and the Hero.

She quietly watched the video created with Illusion magic.

The video was being played on a flat wall that couldn’t have been created naturally.

A beam projector that directly projected the Illusion magic created by Monica.

It was a tool that visualized the Illusion magic that Monica had created herself.

The tool that allowed her to enjoy the Illusion magic without having to enter it herself was her favorite invention.

Thanks to this, Monica had never felt bored even when she was alone in her Lair.

And the reason why she could stay alone in her Lair like this.

It was a book that had inspired her to create this Illusion magic.

-The Brave Chronicles.

A novel about the story of a Hero.

A novel that was popular among humans in the past.

A novel she had found when she accidentally went to the human world when she was younger.

It was so interesting that she decided to make it into a video.

“Cool…”

She looked at Brave, the brown-haired Hero who was the protagonist of this video.

Brown hair and a muscular body.

And a kind-looking face, but his appearance was so sharp that he even looked like a villain when his expression hardened, making him a charming man.

He was her favorite celebrity.

An existence sculpted with Illusion magic.

A fictional Hero who didn’t exist in reality.

He always defeated all enemies, crushed monsters, and saved the world.

“Humans are amazing. How can they create such wonderful characters and stories?”

There were many other novels in the human world besides The Brave Chronicles.

Romance, adventure, detective stories, horror, fantasy, and so on.

Monica, who had realized the fun of novels, collected all kinds of genres without discrimination.

And she visualized each of the collected works into videos using Illusion magic and stored them in a machine.

A movie was completed just for her.

If humans had seen what she had created, their perception that Illusion magic only showed illusions would have changed.

Current video technology was all about filming and showing existing things.

Monica’s technology was the first to create videos from scratch using Illusion magic.

While she was admiring it, the highlight of this work was played.

-We won’t fall!!

The scene where Brave defeats the Demon King.

The most elaborate part of the novel, and her favorite scene.

The sight of him wielding his sword and defeating the final Demon King was truly heroic.

Her heart had pounded so much when she saw this scene.

“Ah, Brave-nim…”

Monica completely showed the heart-fluttering feelings of a fan.

She watched the video over and over again, holding her breath and smiling.

“Fuhehehe, good.”

No matter how many times she watched it, she never got tired of it.

That’s when it happened.

Uwoooong!

-Warning, high concentrations of Mana movement detected in a nearby location.

The defense system installed in the Lair alerted her.

Mana movement occurred?

“Could it be… a member of my race?”

Monica was surprised and stood up on the spot.

Ttang.

“Ayaya!”

Monica, who hadn’t realized that there was a decorative stand above her head because she was too focused, rubbed her head and wiped away her tears.

“S, surely a guest isn’t coming to my house, right?”

She carefully shared her vision through a familiar located in the place where the Mana was moving.

And there.

A brown-haired man was standing there with a blonde woman, holding hands.

Not a member of her race, but a human.

Monica, seeing this, muttered with a surprised face.

“Brave-nim?”