Translator: AnubisTL
Before anyone knew it, the year had become New Era 275.
The Frontierlands—the border between the Sierre Wilderness and the Permafrost Tundra.
This land, once dotted with sparse greenery, had been reshaped by the frigid currents unleashed during the final battle of two legendary kings, as well as the ecological changes brought about by the Great Dragon War.
The howling wind, carrying a never-ending snowfall of goose-feather flakes, acted like countless invisible ice blades, continuously carving away at the exposed rock and frozen soil.
As far as the eye could see, only a chaotic whiteness remained between heaven and earth. The thick snow greedily devoured every undulation and angle of the surface, nearly assimilating the entire Frontierlands into a ruthless extension of the Permafrost Tundra.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The roar of the wind and snow was the only, eternal background noise here.
Yet, amidst the silver-shrouded land, Red Maple Valley seemed completely isolated from the world.
Though the wind and snow raged outside, freezing a thousand miles of land, the valley within brimmed with the warmth and vibrant life of late spring and early summer.
The towering maples were ablaze with color—crimson, golden-yellow, orange-brown... countless burning hues wove together into a magnificent canopy. The stream murmured, reflecting the fiery maple shadows from above, shattering into a river of shimmering, flowing starlight.
Within this tranquil valley, where warm hues flowed and life teemed in every corner.
A slender, swift figure darted through the trees, a shimmering wisp of light.
It was Deborah, the Red-Silver Dragon, who had awakened from her dragon sleep and entered her young stage, now fully mastering the transformation magic that allowed her to take human form.
She appeared as a human girl of about eighteen, her figure slender and graceful, yet possessing a lithe, athletic strength.
Her waist-length hair was not merely red copper or silver-white, but a masterpiece of molten liquid gold and flowing mithril mercury, their colors blended with the most exquisite of strokes. With every light leap and agile turn, it trailed a dazzling, mesmerizing stream of light through the shifting shadows.
Her skin was impossibly smooth, glowing with the soft, pearlescent luster of the finest mother-of-pearl, beneath which lay the warm, gentle radiance of the most precious jade.
But it was her eyes that left the deepest impression.
Her pupils were pure, brilliant, and seemed to contain the dust of stars—a mithril starlight. Surrounding them, extending to the edges of her eyelids, was a deep, warm hue, like the finest amber honey.
Taken as a whole, her eyes seemed to hold a deep autumn lake studded with stars, profound and spirited, reflecting the entire world's splendor.
At this moment.
The beautiful red-silver dragon girl, her flawless jade-like feet bare, leaped and ran lightly across the smooth, damp bluestone by the stream.
Her target was a magic butterfly, its wings shimmering with a rainbow-like, iridescent glow.
"Got you!"
Deborah let out a series of crisp, melodious laughs as she sprang high into the air, her slender hand reaching for the butterfly's fluttering shadow.
As if it had foreseen her move, the magic butterfly flapped its wings rapidly.
Buzz!
In an instant, light and shadow shifted, and a multitude of illusions erupted. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of identical magic butterflies appeared out of thin air, scattering in all directions like a burst of colorful fireworks.
Yet, Deborah's gaze never wavered.
Her eyes remained locked on a single butterfly amidst the sea of phantoms. Without a moment's hesitation, her hand shot forward, piercing through the layers of false light like a bolt of lightning.
Snap!
She had captured the real magic butterfly securely and precisely in her palm.
"Ah!"
With a short cry and a flicker of unstable magical light, the butterfly in Deborah's hand vanished.
In its place was a fairy dragon—Vera—who was now being held in her grasp, flapping her wings in frustration, her tail drooping.
To pass the long, tedious hours waiting for Garos to awaken in Red Maple Valley...
Deborah had specially brought this mischievous little creature back from the tribe to keep her company and stave off boredom.
Vera furiously thrashed her tail, her eyes filled with confusion and frustration. "Why?! Why do you always catch me?! My illusion magic was perfect! Lifelike!"
Deborah tilted her chin up slightly in triumph, her lips curving into a cunningly beautiful smile. A mischievous glint sparkled in her honey-silver eyes.
"It's a secret!"
She would never tell the fairy dragon that she had cheated all along!
Before the game even began, she had silently placed an extremely subtle, nearly undetectable magical mark on Vera. No matter how the fairy dragon's illusions shifted or how indistinguishable they were from reality, the mark always guided Deborah straight to her true form.
After their contest of illusions and pursuit, the dragon and the fairy, still eager for more, made their way to a calm bend downstream to hold a fishing competition.
Vera clearly remembered the painful experience of her first attempt at fishing, where she tried to act as live bait and ended up being swallowed whole by a fierce, large fish.
This time, she had learned her lesson. She carefully coiled her flexible tail around a slender twig to use as a fishing rod, her entire focus fixed on the float bobbing on the water's surface.
Deborah, meanwhile, had simply reverted to her original form as a Red-Silver Dragon.
Her elegant, massive dragon body stretched lazily along the stream bank, her long tail dipped contentedly into the cool water.
She wasn't using a fishing rod. Instead, she used the tip of her tail, gently swaying it beneath the surface to mimic the movement of aquatic grass or a worm, fishing in her own familiar way.
Not long after...
Splash!
Water sprayed everywhere!
Deborah's long, crimson-silver-scaled dragon tail whipped upward with a sudden jerk.
A plump, fat fish with scales shimmering silver in the sunlight was flung onto the grassy bank, where it thrashed and flopped with vigorous energy.
"Another one!"
Deborah's tone was light and cheerful.
She was just about to dip her tail back into the depths of the stream to seek out her next unlucky target when—
Suddenly!
Vrrr...!
The previously mirror-still water's surface erupted into a series of violently expanding ripples without warning. The solid ground beneath their feet trembled with a distinct, palpable shudder, as if a giant beast were tossing and turning underground!
"Whoa!!!"
Fairy Dragon Vera's eyes instantly widened, erupting with a burst of excitement.
"My fishing rod is shaking! Oh my god! Lady Vera is about to catch an unprecedentedly huge fish! It might even be bigger than a dragon! Deborah, hurry up and get ready to help me hold it down! Don't let it get away!!"
(End of the Chapter)
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