It was dawn and I was riding a horse. The chillness of the spring morning made me drowsy. However, I couldn’t afford to sleep since I was on a mission with Captain Noel.

Captain Noel received a letter from a person named Flare. She said that a dragon was rampaging. One town was already attacked. Good thing that no one died but many houses were destroyed.

Dragons in this world were peaceful. They don’t usually attack towns unless they were provoked and if you left them alone, they wouldn’t bother you. However, this dragon attacked a town without warning.

“Captain Noel, are you sure that only the two of us are enough? I heard that dragons are really strong”, I asked her.

I’ve heard about adventurers who fought dragons before. In one of the history lessons that Temma taught me, there was a group of twenty skilled adventurers who faced a dragon. They were victorious in the end but fourteen of them were killed. That was how powerful dragons were. And I heard they had long lifespans.

“I don’t like fighting either and I only want to talk to her. If the town somehow offended the dragon, then we could sort it out... But if she attacked it without a reason, then we are in for a tough battle”, she answered.

She called the dragon a “she”. How did she know the dragon’s gender? I wanted to ask her but she seemed to be deep in thought. It was rare for Captain Noel to be thinking so I decided not to bother her.

We arrived at an encampment near a forest. A blonde dark-skinned girl approached us. She was wearing a blue-white outfit. A bow was slung on her back and a quiver filled with arrows was hanging on her hip. Taking a closer look at her, I noticed that she was an elf because of her pointy ears

“Flare!!” Captain Noel jumped from her horse and embraced her.

They seem to be ... very close with each other. The elf returned her hug.

“It’s been too long! How many weeks have we last seen each other?” Captain Noel asked.

“5 weeks and 3 days. I’ve been busy nowadays. How about you?”

“It’s the same as usual back in Westa.”

A phantom thief successfully stealing a precious gem and a serial killer who almost caused a bloody war was “same as usual”? What kind of place was Westa? Was it the Florida of this world?

“Who is this man? You didn’t bring Temma along?” the elf asked.

“Ah. This is Mikage Kamishiro, our new administrative officer. Mikage, this is Flare Shiranui, a ranger. She’s in charge of this area”, Captain Noel introduced her.

“I see. An administrative officer huh? I guess your unit really needs it since you don’t do paperwork. Temma’s workload must have been lightened”, Noel said.

“Hey! I do paperwork every now and then!”

“You only do it when the higher ups are demanding to have your overdue reports filed. I’m sorry for Noel’s attitude but please keep on taking good care of her”, Flare bowed.

“It’s okay. Anyways, can you tell us everything you know?” I asked.

We were led inside a tent. There were other rangers there and they acknowledged our presence. Most of the rangers were elves. I’ve heard about them before. This unit was called the Elfriends. Yeah. It was lame, I know.

Knights were in charge of protecting the peace of a city. Rangers, on the other hand, were in charge of villages, forests, and roads. Unlike knights who mostly deal in close range combat, rangers were equipped with bows. This was because their common enemies were wild beasts and monsters so they could just shoot from a distance.

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“Yesterday, a dragon attacked Pherae, a town a bit further on the south. The rangers in the area fought the dragon and managed to chase it away but the damage to the town was severe. Luckily, no lives were lost but it’s not like her to suddenly attack a town. That’s why I asked for you to come so that we can have a talk with her”, Flare said as she looked at Captain Noel.

“Wait, you know this dragon?” I asked.

“Yeah. Judging from the description, it would be none other than Coco Kiryu. She’s a young dragon who is our friend. Coco wouldn’t attack a town without a reason. In fact, this must be her first recorded attack”, Captain Noel answered.

“Is she really friendly?”

“Yes. She sometimes helps out in exterminating dangerous monsters. Coco is a dragon with a big heart. She doesn’t mind mingling with other races and is a peace-loving dragon”, Flare told me.

“Where is she now?” Captain Noel asked.

“Our rangers saw her flying to the northern mountains. They will send a message once they find her.”

Since we were waiting for the rangers to send a report, I decided to leave Captain Noel and Flare alone. They seemed to be close friends so I guess they needed some alone time. It was awkward to see them being intimate with each other. It was not like I was against same-sex couples. I was just not comfortable whenever there was a romantic atmosphere.

I decided to walk around the forest. Since I was born in a city, being in a place filled with nature was a great experience. The air was fresh and the wind felt really cool... Like placing ice cubes in front of an electric fan.

Wait a minute... It was too cold. There was something wrong. I walked in the direction where the cold air came from and saw frozen wolves. Was someone here? Judging from the puddle of water near the ice, it happened quite some time ago.

There were footprints on the ground and I decided to follow it. After a while, I arrived at a forest clearing and saw a girl. She had white hair and was quite small. Wolves surrounded her and an eerie feeling washed over me.

I immediately knew those wolves were not normal and could sense a weird energy inside them. The wolves were hostile to the girl and I knew she was in trouble. As a knight, I should help her out. I could probably face off against a few wild wolves.

But before any of us could act, ice covered the ground and froze the wolves. The girl was quite strong. Maybe I should leave her alone.

I was about to leave but I stepped on a twig. The girl looked at me and my legs were frozen. Her ice attacks were quick. I had no time to dodge at all.

“Wait wait wait! I’m not going to hurt you!” I shouted at her.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Mikage Kamishiro, a knight of Westa. Here’s my crest if you need proof”, I showed her my Knight Crest.

The girl touched my frozen legs and the ice turned into water, “I’m sorry. This area is dangerous so I had to be on guard.”

“It’s okay. Why are you here anyway?” I asked.

“My name is Artia, an ice mage. My teacher sent me here to investigate a strange force”, she introduced herself.

“Strange force?”

“Around 20 days ago, my teacher said that she sensed a foreign magic in the area near Westa. I was sent here to see what kind of magic it was. However, I found out that some monsters were affected by a mysterious energy.”

She must be talking about the weird energy I felt in the wolves.

“That energy is causing the monsters to be more aggressive. The wolves I just froze were all affected by it. That’s why I had to put them out of their misery.”

Wait a minute...

“It affects monsters... Is there a chance it could affect dragons too?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Dragons are sentient creatures unlike monsters. However, I know too little about that energy so I can’t be certain”, she answered.

Artia left after telling me to be careful. I wonder... Could the eerie feeling that I would always have could be related to that mysterious energy? And could that mysterious energy be the reason why my shadow moved during Theodore’s attack?

However, Artia said that the mysterious energy was making monsters aggressive. Maybe it had different effects on humans since I didn’t feel aggressive. But Theodore also became stronger when he had the energy inside of him. Where did he get that pill? Was there someone who could make pills that will produce that weird energy?

I arrived at the encampment while deep in thought. Maybe I should research the mysterious energy.... I might be able to find something in the Westa Central Library.

“Mikage, there you are!” Captain Noel said.

“We found Coco and we’re going to see her in a few minutes. Be prepared”, Flare told me.

I don’t know much about the mysterious energy so I pushed it at the back of my mind. For now, we have to confront a dragon.