The mage’s intuition told Mira that something was definitely wrong.

She turned her head to look at Lance, and the young mage wore the same expression.

Mira instantly understood that Lance shared the same thought as her— as a mage, controlling the thirst for knowledge was nearly impossible.

“Should we follow them?” Mira asked Lance. If she were alone at this moment, the answer would be certain.

But now she had to consider Lance.

Mira’s gaze fell on his legs. He was injured and unable to move easily.

No one could have anticipated this accident.

“Let’s first go into the village and understand the situation,” Lance turned to Mira. While he was just as curious, he was more rational than the eager young girl.

Although mages didn’t require weapons like swordsmen or knights, they were generally weaker. And between the two of them, the weaker one referred specifically to Mira.

He was a dragon. Although injured, he was certainly not someone that ordinary humans could harm.

He was right. Mira realized her rashness. While curiosity was a good thing, curiosity that ignored one’s safety could become a dangerous stepping stone.

Lance stretched out his hand, and a ball of blue magical energy appeared in his palm, transforming into a fluffy, soft little ball.

“Go.” Lance commanded the blue ball, which immediately made a series of squelching sounds before rolling toward the direction where the soldiers had gone.

Mira stared at Lance in surprise.

She knew that was a scouting spell. She had cast a similar one herself. Ordinary scouting magic usually produced something resembling an eyeball, a physical manifestation of the magic.

But this deep blue fuzzy ball was something she had never seen before. This magical form was based on the caster’s preference.

“You like fluffy things?” Mira asked, surprised.

Lance, who stood at nearly 1.9 meters tall with powerful muscles and strikingly handsome features, had just conjured a fluffy little ball.

He liked fluffy balls.

“My mother liked these little things,” Lance turned his head awkwardly.

When he lived alone before, he never cared about such things. Fluffy, small, how cute. The fluffy ball was like that, and so were the stars.

Mira shook her head. Didn’t human girls like cute, small things?

“Oh,” Mira nodded, understanding.

The fluffy ball sent a signal, saying that the group had already left the village.

Mira helped Lance as they walked into the town.

Wailing, growling, and soft sobs filled the air.

Mira and Lance walked slowly. The last time she walked out of the alley, she had stumbled upon a lively morning market.

Now, it was the same. With Lance beside her, the streets were no longer bustling. There were no fragrant smells, no stalls.

Things were scattered on the ground: goods, baskets.

The elderly and women were silently crying, while the children thought this was a new game. They played near their grandmothers and mothers, kicking the baskets scattered on the ground, watching them roll far away.

They even began to compete to see who could kick the baskets the furthest.

Mira frowned as she observed the scene.

She turned to Lance, and the blue dragon understood her silent question. He leaned against the wall to support his body, releasing Mira’s hand so she could approach and inquire about the situation.

Mira bent down and gathered the scattered tools, picking them up one by one and handing them to the elderly woman who was hunched over.

She was the only woman here who wasn’t crying. Behind her, under the eaves of the house, sat a middle-aged man who had lost a leg, so he hadn’t been taken.

The elderly woman took the things Mira handed her and looked her up and down. Seeing a face she had never seen before, she immediately grew cautious, thinking that the robbers from earlier had not yet left.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

However...

The elderly woman kept her gaze on Mira for a moment longer. The girl didn’t seem like a bandit.

“We’re outsiders,” Mira noticed the old woman’s change in expression. “We got separated from a caravan. My husband was injured, and we finally made it here, just in time to see a group of people leaving the village... so we wanted to ask what happened.”

Mira observed the elderly woman and spoke quietly.

“Or... do you happen to know where the inn is? We’ll stay there for now.”

“The innkeeper was taken,” the middle-aged man behind the elderly woman spoke up. His gaze moved between Mira and Lance. “Did you come here with the caravan?”

Mira turned to look at him.

He was a man with a fierce look in his eyes. He appeared to be in his forties, with somewhat long hair, dark eyes, a high and straight nose, but his face was wrinkled, and he had a large beard around his mouth.

Lance’s gaze fixed on the middle-aged man.

When the dragon’s eyes focused on him, Lance immediately realized that the man was a warrior. However, he was already old and had been injured in battles with monsters.

The town beneath the tower was a gathering place for the descendants of warriors. Occasionally, two or three active warriors could be found here, along with retired warriors who had been wounded.

Mira nodded. The mage’s intuition told her that this middle-aged man had killed before, more than once.

She was a little frightened but knew she couldn’t show fear. That would reveal her identity.

The warrior saw through her lie but didn’t expose it.

The girl was still too young, but the injured man gave him a feeling that he couldn’t quite grasp.

The middle-aged man had once been a famous warrior. Although he didn’t have the title of dragon slayer, he had killed many monsters and completed countless adventures over nearly thirty years.

The pairing of a girl and a mysterious man was rare among adventurers.

They didn’t carry swords; they seemed more like spellcasters.

The man tilted his head and looked toward the mountain.

At the top of the mountain tower lived the terrifying black dragon, a tale of terror known by every child in the kingdom.

“Grandma,” the middle-aged man said to the elderly woman, “Let them come inside. Make some hot tea.”

The elderly woman glanced at him.

Making tea was their secret signal. It meant the person in front of them was someone to be wary of.

The elderly woman slowly left to boil water at the stove behind the house.

The middle-aged man stood with the aid of a cane, lifted the curtain, and invited Lance and Mira inside.

“Travelers who have come from afar, come in and sit. I will answer your questions.”

Mira glanced at Lance, and the blue dragon nodded at her. The girl quickly walked over to support Lance and helped him into the house.

The house was dimly lit, with only a single candle burning quietly.

The middle-aged man put down his cane and sat on the floor, raising his chin and gesturing for Lance and Mira to sit on the relatively clean straw mat opposite him.

Mira observed the room.

The furnishings were simple: an old wooden bed, an old cabinet, an old table. On the raised platform was a square table. The man sat on the inner side, and the clean straw mat was on the outer side.

If there was anything special about the room, it was the distinct herbal scent that filled the air as soon as Mira entered.

She clearly remembered the innkeeper mentioning that the herbal shop was on another street, and she had visited that shop.

Mira helped Lance sit down and then sat next to him.

The middle-aged man waited until they were settled before speaking. “Your leg is injured.” His gaze moved from Lance’s legs to his own missing leg. “I’m the same.”

The middle-aged man’s injury looked like it had been there for a long time. His pants were tied up at the empty leg, casually hanging on the floor.

Mira clenched her hands. She could sense that this middle-aged man was not simple.

“A warrior,” Lance spoke up, his dragon’s eyes detecting that the man knew swordsmanship. Lance had a collection of many swords, but none of them seemed to match this man’s style.

He hadn’t challenged the dragon yet, and his injury had come from other adventures.

“Are you here to challenge the dragon?” the middle-aged man looked at Lance. “Not a good time. The king just sent the princess to the dragon. I think he’s busy being the groom and has no time to deal with your challenge.”

Mira turned her head, a little embarrassed.

The dragon probably wasn’t busy being a groom—she, the dragon’s bride, was sitting right in front of him.

The middle-aged man didn’t notice the girl’s actions. He knew the real threat was the injured, mysterious man.

Lance didn’t want to bring up anything related to dragons. He looked at the middle-aged man. “Only warriors like to challenge dragons.”

“That’s true,” the middle-aged man sneered. “Anyway, you’re out of luck. The town is in chaos right now, as you can see. Just earlier, they took the young people from here.”

“Why are they taking young people?” Mira quickly asked. “I saw soldiers earlier. Is it a kingdom draft?” She pretended to be ignorant, since local drafts didn’t work like kidnapping people.

“Of course not, little girl. Those people are just wearing soldier uniforms,” the middle-aged man glanced back at her.

The girl’s appearance was very deceptive, and Mira showed a puzzled expression. “Then why are they wearing soldier uniforms?”

“They killed the soldiers nearby,” the middle-aged man said with some impatience, as if it were an obvious answer.

“They killed the soldiers, stripped them of their uniforms, took their weapons and orders, and came into the town pretending to be recruits, but in reality, they’re taking the young adults from the town. Who knows where those poor kids will end up?” he said.

He had once been a warrior, and if he hadn’t been injured, he might have gotten involved. But, like they said, crippled and useless.

He was just another useless person, trying to live out his years among the descendants of warriors, and he ran into this situation.

People pretending to be soldiers, kidnapping people in the town beneath the dragon tower.

“They claim the dragon told them to do this, that the dragon wants to build a crystal palace for its bride,” the middle-aged man stared at Mira. “You girls, don’t you like things like that?”

Mira’s lips curled into a smile. “The dragon is so evil! Is this the first time it’s taken people from the town?”

“Don’t know,” the middle-aged man didn’t want to answer the girl’s question. He was more interested in hearing the blue-haired man speak.

“Enough questions, Mira,” Lance turned his head and called her name. The dragon’s reputation was bad enough, and much of it came from the black dragon’s actions, but this dragon was not the same as the black dragon.

“Hmm?” Mira turned her head.

“He clearly doesn’t want to answer our questions.”

Lance looked at the middle-aged man, his eyes cold as he spoke with a polite tone, but there was no trace of gratitude.

“Thank you, Mr. Warrior. Spellcasters don’t like to slay dragons, but now I’m suddenly a little interested.”