The Red Dragon Volcano—a mountain range famed across the continent of Astraea for its blistering heat, its swarms of Sub-dragon Species, and the red dragons that roamed there. It was said that this place had once been a vast, sprawling Forest.
At some unknown point, the temperature began to climb at a terrifying rate, igniting the trees and scorching the earth.
The rolling black smoke from that great blaze stained the sky black. Even from the most remote village on the continent, one could see a patch of the azure sky smeared gray, as conspicuous as a drop of ink spreading through water.
The flames burned for half a year. The once-emerald Forest was left with nothing but charcoal and cracked earth, along with corpses carbonized by the fire. The smell of sulfur seeped slowly out from the fissures in the ground, as if some invisible, mighty force were remaking this land, slowly and irresistibly.
The creatures that survived by sheer luck clung to life in this brutal, extreme environment, and so they evolved the ability to withstand the heat and drought. After who knew how long, red dragons—as a species—began to appear in great numbers throughout this mountain range.
Drake-type monsters emerged in the wake of their arrival. The purer a drake's bloodline, the closer its appearance and abilities came to those of a true red dragon. A small fraction of these drakes even inherited the red dragon's powers of flight and fire-breathing, lording over entire territories.
Jhin's target was the very source of all these changes—the mutated red dragon, "Letishi."
He snapped shut the copy of the Chronicles of the First Elven Continent in his hand and tucked it into his storage space. He had taken this book from Kokkoro's room before setting out; after all, with no one to serve as his guide, he needed to learn about the histories and geographies of this world on his own.
Even though his little guide lay in a coma, the books she had left behind still carried out her duties for her.
Having gathered the information he needed, Jhin took Kyaru along and began preparing for the journey to the Red Dragon Volcano. The most critical supply was drinking water—the ice and water elements there were exceedingly thin, so trying to conjure drinking water through those two schools of magic was nothing short of a pipe dream.
Food, on the other hand, was no concern. The Red Dragon Volcano was home to plenty of edible monsters. With enough strength, the place was basically one giant volcano-themed all-you-can-eat barbecue park.
Jhin had originally planned to buy drinking water, but he had no idea how much he would actually need for a stay of two-odd months there. So instead, he took Kyaru and ducked into a nearby valley, found a mountain spring, filled three cubic meters of his storage space—three tons of water—and left.
It took them four or five days to reach the small village near the Red Dragon Volcano, a settlement built specifically for adventurers who came to brave the volcano.
Their travel-worn appearance drew many curious stares, but the one who drew the most attention was Kyaru, who hung limp like a marionette. Her eyes were utterly lifeless as she let Jhin lead her along, yet she was dressed in the garb of a mage.
An all-male beastman party blocked the two of them. Wolf-headed and human-bodied, the one who looked like the leader deliberately hefted his enormous beheading blade and planted himself in front of Jhin. His brown beast eyes fixed on Kyaru behind him as he bared a crimson tongue and a row of sharp fangs. "Oi! That beastwoman behind you—why does she look so much like a woman from our tribe?"
His companions jeered along behind him. "Yeah, isn't that the daughter of that one family?"
"That's right, it's definitely her."
"You little punk—sneaking around trafficking beastfolk, are you?"
In the blink of an eye they had surrounded the pair, their gazes raking up and down even more brazenly than before.
Jhin's brow furrowed slightly, a flicker of cold light passing through his eyes. "You're a Werewolf—since when does a wolf tribe have catfolk? What, are you some kind of crossbreed?"
"Boss! He's calling you a mutt!"
"Goddammit, I understood him—I don't need you repeating it!" The wolfman snapped at his underling, a savage glint surfacing in his beast eyes. The beheading blade came down off his shoulder, its tip leveled at Jhin. "Cut the crap. I say she's from the tribe, so she's from the tribe. Hand her over, now."
Jhin glanced around through the gaps between these men. It seemed no one had any intention of stepping in to meddle. He switched the hand leading Kyaru from his right to his left, narrowed his eyes, and said coldly, "And what the fuck are you supposed to be?"
A flash of sword-light streaked past. A thin line of blood slowly appeared across the neck of the beastman surrounding them, and his head was blown off by the gush of blood like a champagne cork, tumbling to the ground—the mocking expression he'd worn before death still frozen on his face.
The wind element held back the spray of blood, and Jhin, utterly unbothered, raised his foot and kicked the wolfman's corpse aside.
Since he'd lost his head, the wolfman had no choice but to become a dead man.
Telling himself that utterly unfunny pun in his head, Jhin finally managed to force the violent emotions buried deep within him back down. At the same time, he spat on the corpse. "My mood was already shit to begin with, and you had to go scheming after my companion. If I weren't pressed for time—believe me, I'd take a page from those reincarnator senpai and slaughter your entire family."
When Kyaru heard him say the word "companion," a faint light kindled in her dull, lifeless eyes—but it vanished just as quickly.
Maybe he just hasn't broken the habit of thinking of me as a companion.
Jhin had originally planned to rest here for the night, but judging from this pack of beastman adventurers, this was no decent place either. So instead, under the terrified gaze of an ordinary merchant, he bought a few seasonings and headed straight for the Red Dragon Volcano.
The moment he stepped into the volcanic region, waves of heat—scorching enough to make his skin sting—came rolling at him one after another. Fortunately, he was an ancient mage; he simply manipulated the wind element to swirl around the two of them, carrying away most of the heat. Even so, the felt temperature was still close to thirty degrees.
After easily dealing with a few waves of monsters, Jhin frowned as he looked at Kyaru—panting hard, her clothes soaked through. "Can you handle this or not? If you can't, go back to that little village and wait for me."
He'd brought Kyaru along not only as a safeguard against any lingering trick from [What Heads Toward Death], but also with the idea of having a mage on hand to deal with special situations. But as it stood now, in a high-heat environment like the Red Dragon Volcano she was useless—sluggish movements, mistimed spellcasting, and countless other problems.
"..."
"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as agreement. Get the hell out of the Red Dragon Volcano. Right now, you're nothing but dead weight."
"I... I'm not."
"You're not what?"
"I'm not dead weight!"
Jhin seized Kyaru's chin in one hand, his sky-blue pupils meeting hers with cold, merciless indifference. "Then prove it to me. If I catch you mistiming a single spell again, you get the hell out!"
A flash of stubbornness shot through her emerald eyes. She clenched her teeth and vowed, "I won't make any mistakes!"
"Good. Starting now, let me see what you've got." Jhin pulled a waterskin from his storage space and tossed it to her. "First, drink this water and get yourself together."
At least she's responding... I have no idea how far this method can push her, but I'll just take it one step at a time.
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