Muriel and Lilith bid farewell to the dwarves of Listerok and exited through the Door of Histories outside. On Lilith’s back, Dragon Candle and Freeflame were securely fastened with cloth to prevent them from falling. Meanwhile, Muriel gazed up at the sky, feeling the increasing strength of the southern winds, which might help them fly back to Senwara more quickly.

“Are you ready to fly, Lilith?” Muriel asked as she spread the wings she had just grown from her back. Simultaneously, she walked over to Lilith and wrapped her tail around the girl’s waist.

“Ready, Lady Muriel! With your speed, we’ll reach Senwara in under an hour, so let’s go!” Lilith replied enthusiastically.

“Ah… no, probably more like a day, and a half,” Muriel said, glancing upward before taking off with a powerful beat of her wings, carrying Lilith into the sky.

“Eh—Whoa!!” Lilith’s attempt to respond was cut short as they soared into the air.

“A day? But it only took us about an hour to fly here, didn’t it?” Lilith questioned.

“That’s because I used magic to fly at four times the speed of sound back then,” Muriel explained. “But now that I’ve lost so much blood, my magical energy reserves haven’t recovered enough for me to use that skill yet.”

“And I can’t use magic to create an air bubble around us. I’ll be fine flying seven kilometers above the ground, but you’d freeze solid like a slime in ice water, Lilith. That’s why we have to fly lower this time.”

Muriel adjusted her altitude, soaring over the mountains around them before descending to about 200 meters above ground level. Her wings caught the southern winds as they glided along. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her eyelids, nearly causing them to close. What kept her awake was the constant movement of Lilith, who curiously looked around at the ground below.

“Let me… nap for a while…” Muriel thought to herself, occasionally closing her eyes mid-flight. “I should’ve eaten more at Listerok, couldn’t even enjoy some dwarven beer. When we get back to Senwara, I’ll definitely have to sit down for a drink… Surely there’s some light ale suitable for kids, too.”

Lilith glanced up and noticed Muriel’s drowsy state, muttering a quiet prayer. “May Syra protect me from Lady Muriel crashing into a tree…” Despite her fear of Muriel, Lilith knew better than to disturb a dragon while it wanted to rest. Especially Muriel. She continued to pray softly.

“Strange, though. I used so much magic earlier, but ever since I got close to Lady Muriel when we entered the city, I don’t feel drained at all,” Lilith murmured, looking at her hands as she clenched and unclenched them.

“Could it be… that my magic is truly unlimited! —”

Before Lilith could finish her fantasy of her magic rivaling that of legendary mages like Melania, reality struck hard. Muriel had fallen asleep mid-flight, and her skill, [Dragon Lord’s Promise], expired. Lilith immediately felt an overwhelming depletion of magical energy, hitting her like a blow to the chest, leaving her breathless. The sudden dizziness and nausea followed, knocking her unconscious just as Muriel succumbed to slumber.

Muriel and Lilith were unconscious for over six hours. If Muriel had been flying at her maximum speed, she could have circled the globe, reaching the southern continent and looping back to the northern edge of the eastern continent by now. But today, they had only managed to travel from Listerok to the border between Veridia and Alderia.

Muriel slowly opened her eyes, letting out a wide yawn as she surveyed the ground below. It was as if she were instinctively hunting for the first thing to catch her gaze. Then she spotted them—horses. No, a carriage being pulled by two horses, with four more escorting it on the sides.

“Lady… Muriel,” Lilith stirred awake around the same time as Muriel, her magical reserves replenished enough for her to regain consciousness.

“Oh, Lilith, good to see you awake. I hope you like horse meat; I see six of them running in the same direction,” Muriel greeted the goat-like girl she held tightly with her tail under her body.

“Wha—horses?” Lilith replied groggily, still trying to make sense of her surroundings. The first thing she heard upon waking was Muriel casually suggesting they feast on horse meat. She looked down at the ground below and saw the carriage Muriel mentioned.

However, Lilith felt uneasy. Her skin prickled, her chest tightened, and a wave of nausea surged through her as she fixed her gaze on the carriage. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary long transport carriage, but Lilith couldn’t forget the shape of such a carriage—the same kind she had once ridden in.

“Slaves...”

“Wuh?”

“That’s a slave transport carriage. I’m sure of it…”

“...”

“Got it.”

Muriel blinked once, her gaze locking onto the carriage below. She blinked again, then responded to Lilith with just a few words before swiftly diving ahead of the procession. She plummeted to the ground at such speed that the road in front of the carriage shattered upon her landing. The escorting horses came to an abrupt halt, their riders yanking the reins so hard one horse fell, crushing its rider beneath it.

Lilith’s heart pounded wildly. The sheer speed of Muriel’s actions left her unable to process the situation unfolding around her. Muriel slowly unwrapped her tail from Lilith and began walking toward the carriage.

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Muriel’s posture exuded calmness, but her eyes burned with silent rage. The air grew heavy, making even Lilith, who stood behind her, feel as though the very atmosphere was pressing down on her.

“What the hell is that thing? Suddenly flying down and stopping right in front of the carriage like this,” the coachman exclaimed, yanking the reins to bring the two horses pulling the carriage to an abrupt halt.

“Whew… alright,” Muriel took a deep breath before shouting at the top of her lungs:

“I am Muriel the Black Calamity! First of my name, the Black Dragon Demon Lord and the one true Demon Lord of the Western Continent! By my name and title, I command you all to kneel before me!” However, Muriel’s mana hadn’t fully returned yet. She was still in need of nourishment and could only rely on her voice rather than using her demon lord skills to compel those before her to kneel.

“What’s with this kid? What kind of freak is this?” One of the mercenaries on horseback rode forward to get a closer look at the small figure dressed in a black princess gown standing before them.

“I’m so fucking sick of not being able to use magic...” Muriel muttered under her breath before darting toward the man. She grabbed his leg, yanked him off his horse with brutal force, and hurled him into another mounted mercenary, knocking them both to the ground. The startled horses bolted into the forest.

“Why is this kid so str—AGH!”

“Hey, hey! Stay back! Don’t come any closer, I’m warning you! AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Another mercenary, trapped under his horse with his legs pinned, screamed in terror as Muriel approached him silently. When she grabbed his back and her fingers suddenly were like sharp, knife-like talons that pierced into his spine, his terrified screams turned to cries of agony. She then ripped his body apart and flung the pieces into a third mercenary, who was paralyzed with fear. The impact sent the mercenary tumbling from his horse, which promptly ran off in fright.

“Why do these slaver scumbags always prefer violence,” Muriel said, her tone cold and detached.

She strode toward the carriage driver, who scrambled to escape toward the back of the carriage in a panicked frenzy. Muriel followed him leisurely, while Lilith, who had been trailing behind, surveyed the scene. The four mercenaries lay motionless on the ground, their horses ran off into the wilderness except one.

When Lilith finally reached the back of the carriage, she found Muriel staring into its interior. The driver, now pressed against the side of the carriage, was attempting to crawl underneath it to hide. Muriel paid him no attention.

Before her were a group of people chained together with iron collars, their necks linked by chains that fastened them to the wooden ceiling of the carriage. The sight was revolting. Muriel couldn’t believe her eyes—humans being transported like livestock. They gazed at her with fear, the sounds of the earlier screams leading them to believe the convoy had been attacked by forest monsters.

But when they saw it was a small woman in a black princess gown with golden eyes, their fear deepened. Muriel slowly lowered her gaze to the driver, who now crawled pathetically on the ground beneath her.

“Where were you planning to take them?” Muriel asked, her tail emerging from beneath her dress and wrapping around the man’s leg. She dragged him out from under the carriage with a sharp tug, leaving him sprawled before her.

"We– we were just transporting these slaves to the company's office in Oviliea! Please, let me go, I beg you!"

"Oviliea… I've never heard of that city before. Lilith?" Muriel listened to him but couldn't recognize the name. Not surprising, given she had just awoken from a slumber of over 500 years. She turned to Lilith for an answer.

"My apologies, Lady Muriel, I don’t... Oviliea…?"

Lilith remembered. How could she possibly forget?

"Oviliea is… a slave-trading city. About a day’s journey north of Senwara." Lilith glanced at the man trembling on the ground, paralyzed by fear.

"Fucking Disgusting," Muriel muttered softly. Slowly, she clenched her fist and raised it.

"Wait! Don’t hurt me!! These slaves—they sold themselves to the company! We have full legal authorization! I’m just an employee of the compa—"

Before he could finish, Muriel’s fist came down, smashing his skull into a crimson mist of blood, bone, and brain matter. She didn’t care to hear his excuses. In the end, nothing he said could have stopped her. The small explosion of gore sent the slaves in the carriage into a frenzy of terror. They screamed as they watched the man's head obliterated by Muriel’s hand.

To them, Muriel was nothing short of a monster, a being of unfathomable power and fear. Their dread multiplied when Muriel, silent and emotionless, climbed into the back of the carriage. They shouted and scrambled to escape, but the chains binding their necks left them helpless.

Then, to their astonishment, Muriel began breaking the slave collars and chains as if they were mere strands of tall grass. One by one, she freed them all. When her work was done, she leapt off the back of the carriage and addressed them.

"From this day forth, you are free. No matter how dire your poverty, selling yourselves into slavery is never the answer. Take this carriage and return to where you came from, or go to Alderia and start new lives. The choice is yours."

Muriel pointed a finger at the newly freed slaves as she spoke, granting them freedom without a shred of care for anything else. She despised that they had been forced to such desperation, and the very idea of slavery repulsed her.

"Now, someone take the reins of this carriage and leave," she said, her tone carrying the weight of a command and with that, Muriel walked around the side of the carriage, distancing herself from the freed slaves.

"Lady Muriel…?" Lilith called out hesitantly.

Lilith could only watch silently, unsure of what she should say. Muriel’s words felt like thorns digging into old wounds. Lilith picked up the Dragon Candle staff and searched the ground for a large stone. She found one not much bigger than her fist and pointed the staff at it, channeling the magical energy from both the staff and her own body. It worked—she managed to transform the rock into a lump of silver ore. Though her own magical reserves were meager, the power of the staff made the task possible, even if the silver lacked any remarkable beauty.

"She… she’s the Dragon of Freedom, returned to liberate us!" Lilith tried to speak, but even she didn’t know enough about Muriel to make sense of the contradictions between her words and actions. As the freed slaves shifted into place to take control of the carriage, Lilith, feeling overwhelmed by her own thoughts, began to ramble about Muriel. She used magic to place the lump of silver into the back of the carriage.

"The Dragon of Freedom, huh?" The slaves found it hard to believe that a legend passed down through generations could be real.

"Yes! All slaves in Veridia shall be freed, and Lady Muriel will be the one to do it!" Lilith continued her enthusiastic rambling, letting her emotions guide her words.

"Lilith! Come here!" Muriel’s voice rang out from the front. Lilith jumped in surprise and hurried toward her. Before leaving, she glanced back at the slaves in the carriage.

"Use this silver to start a new life," she said softly.

"Lilith, what were you rambling about earlier?" Muriel asked, her voice calm yet firm. She was eating the horse that had broken its leg earlier. Now, fully cooked by Muriel’s fire, it lay lifeless as she tore into it.

"My apologies, Lady Muriel. I just… I just wanted to speak on your behalf…"

"There’s no need for that. Those people were so scared of me they wet themselves. Come, you’re hungry too, aren’t you?" Muriel gestured to a spot beside her, inviting Lilith to sit and eat.

"No… no, thank you. I’m not hungry," Lilith replied hesitantly.

"Being picky isn’t good for a child. But either way, I know they fear me. I could see it in their eyes, I could smell it in the air. Don’t bother trying to make them think better of me—I’m used to it." Muriel continued eating.

"Understood…" Lilith lowered her head, glancing at her own clothes now stained with the blood of the man she couldn’t even remember the face of. She slowly sat beside Muriel. As she did, she noticed the carriage turning back quietly. There wasn’t a single word of thanks.

"So, where to next, Lilith? Oviliea is on the way to Senwara. Should we stop for the night and grab something to eat?" Muriel turned toward Lilith.

"Lady Muriel… are you planning to destroy that city?"

"I was thinking of letting the slaves we free decide whether it should be destroyed. Either way, it’s probably just as filthy as Senwara."

"If that’s what Lady Muriel decides, then I’ll follow you. But… is it okay? Weren’t you in a hurry to return to Senwara?"

"I told you, it’s just on the way."

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