Chapter 1-53 : The Girl And The Dark Elf Are Riding The Fire Dragon
The fire dragon flapped its huge wings and soared into the sky, flying across the blue sky toward the destination, with Elle and Ingrid riding on its back.
「Whoaa! This is awesome!」(Elle)
「I’ve only ridden wyverns, so riding on a dragon’s back is a new experience to me.」(Ingrid)
「I’ve never even ridden a wyvern. This is so incredible!」(Elle)
「Haha, it’s your first time flying in the sky after all. I know you’re excited, but be careful not to fall off, okay? I’ll put a wind barrier just in case.」(Ingrid)
「Un! Thank you, Ingrid.」(Elle)
Ingrid drew an arrow that had been enhanced with a protective wind spell and activated it without firing.
An invisible wind shield then appeared in front of the two, blocking the strong wind blowing at them as they were moving forward, turning it into a breeze.
While feeling the gentle breeze caressing her cheeks, Elle looked down at the royal capital. The biggest city in the kingdom looked small from the sky.
For the first time, Elle noticed that the city was built in a perfect circular shape with tall walls surrounding it. Not only that, the buildings and the streets were built so organized that the entire city looked like a drawing of a magic circle.
Grasping the whole picture of the city, she thought that the people who constructed it must have a high level of skills in architecture.
「The royal capital looks like a giant magic circle from up here. It’s so beautiful!」(Elle)
「I know, right? I was amazed too when I first saw it from the sky.」(Ingrid)
「Do you know why the city was built that way?」(Elle)
「It’s for protection. The entire city actually is a giant magic circle. You can’t see it with your bare eyes, but this city is covered by an enormous magical barrier produced by the magic circle.」(Ingrid)
「I see, but where did they put the magic formula? A magic circle has to have a formula to be activated, right?」(Elle)
「The magic formula was painted on the walls of important buildings across the city, like the clock tower, the royal castle, the guild, and other landmarked buildings. I’m sure you have seen it.」(Ingrid)
「I see. So those weird drawings were the magic formula. I wonder who came up with this idea. Building a city in the form of a giant magic circle is not an easy thing to do.」(Elle)
「Actually, the royal capital wasn’t built like this at the beginning, but I heard that a genius sage came up with that idea. He developed a magic formula that could create an immense barrier that would protect the city, and then began the large-scale project to turn the entire city into a magic circle based on his formula.」(Ingrid)
「A genius sage…」(Elle)
Hearing those words, Elle couldn’t help but think about her late master, Moritz. She was wondering if he was involved in that project.
「…Hm?」(Elle)
While wondering, Elle followed the line on the magic-circle-shaped city below her and noticed there was a destroyed building in the northern part of the city.
「Ingrid, do you see that ruined building? It’s one of the key elements in the magic circle, right? 」(Elle)
「Oh? So you notice it. You’re impressive as always. That building indeed had a magic formula written on its walls.」(Ingrid)
「What happened to it? Has fire occurred and burned it down?」(Elle)
「Fire, yes, but it wasn’t an accident. The king destroyed that building.」(Ingrid)
「What? The king himself did?」(Elle)
「Yeah. Thanks to the foolish king, the magic circle became incomplete, and the barrier was weakened.」(Ingrid)
「Why did he do that? Didn’t he think it would endanger the safety of this city?」(Elle)
「He was mad back then. It was just a rumor, so I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that building used to be a church, and the late queen used that place to meet her former fiancé secretly without the king knowing. In other words, she used that church to commit infidelity. The king, who later found out about it, ordered his knights to demolish the property.」(Ingrid)
「The queen… and her former fiancé… Could it be…」(Elle)
After listening to Ingrid, Elle began muttering to herself and thought.
The truth about her parents was slowly revealed like a jigsaw puzzle that was gradually coming together piece by piece.
Duke Forster’s daughter had a fiancé, but they couldn’t be together because Duke Forster decided to marry her to the king instead.
After marrying the king, Duke Forster’s daughter became the queen, but even so, she didn’t stop meeting with her former fiancé. Whenever she had a chance, she would sneak out of the castle and meet him in the church.
In the Long Tail Factory, thanks to Neige’s magic stone, Elle learned that the late queen was likely her mother, and her fiancé was her father, Hugo.
Their love deepened in secret without the king’s knowledge, and eventually they had a child.
Elle wondered if she was that child.
That was probably why Hugo took her deep into the forest. He wanted to hide Elle from the king.
「……..」(Elle)
「…Elle…」(Ingrid)
Seeing Elle, who was lost in thought, Ingrid could somehow tell what she was thinking about from her expression.
She hugged Elle tighter from behind.
「I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that.」(Ingrid)
「No. I need to know it. Thank you for telling me, Ingrid.」(Elle)
Ingrid was worried, but Elle replied to her with a smile.
◇◇◇
An hour and a half had passed since they left the royal capital. Elle seemed to have been lost in thought the whole time.
Seeing Elle’s long face, Ingrid couldn’t help but worry.
「Elle, it’s lunch time. Let’s take a break and eat somewhere.」(Ingrid)
「Un…」(Elle)
Ingrid looked down at the vast forest below and found a lake, which was a perfect place to take a break.
「Mr. Fire Dragon, could you please land by the lake over there?」(Ingrid)
「Grau!」(Fire Dragon)
The fire dragon descended and landed by the lake in the middle of the forest as told.
It then took a prone position so that Elle and Ingrid could get off its back easily. However, Elle slipped when she was about to get to the ground.
「Watch out!」(Ingrid)
But luckily for her, Ingrid quickly grabbed her arm.
「Th, thank you, Ingrid.」(Elle)
「Are you alright?」(Ingrid)
「Un… I’m sorry, I’m still thinking about my parents… I tried not to think about them, but…」(Elle)
「It’s alright. I understand.」(Ingrid)
Elle’s mind was still in a state of confusion.
She left the forest and came to the royal capital to look for her father. Turns out, she discovered that her father had already left this world.
And now, she learned that she was born out of infidelity. In other words… an unwanted child.
She was so shocked that she lost the strength in her legs.
「Can you walk?」(Ingrid)
「Yeah.」(Elle)
While holding hands, Elle and Ingrid approached a nearby tree and stepped into its shade.
Ingrid then took out a mat from her bag and spread it out on the ground.
「Have a seat.」(Ingrid)
「Un.」(Elle)
Elle was thinking of making some tea, but part of her mind was still somewhere else.
Before she could take out her tea set from her magic bag, Ingrid handed her a cylindrical metal thing.
「Hm? What is this?」(Elle)
「It’s one of my creations. I call them “It Can Heat Your Food Mk. 2”!」(Ingrid)
「It Can… what?」(Elle)
「This magic tool can instantly heat the food inside it. To put it simply… Ahem! This metal can can heat your food. Do you get it?」(Ingrid)
「Can can… Pfft! I see. What a silly name.」(Elle)
Seeing Elle giggling, Ingrid couldn’t help but smile. She was glad that she could make Elle forget about her parents, even for a moment.
「Hahaha! I made it sound silly to attract buyers, you know.」(Ingrid)
「Fufu. I see. So, how do they work?」(Elle)
「They work similarly to your teapot. I’ve put dried food ingredients inside them, such as dried meat and vegetables. All you need to do is open the lid, put some water, close the lid, and activate it.」(Ingrid)
After Ingrid did exactly what she said, the metal can in her hand turned bright red, indicating the magic stone imbued in the bottom part of it had been activated and was now heating the food inside.
After waiting for about three minutes, Ingrid opened the lid, showing the delicious, steamy meat stew inside the can.
「Wow! It’s amazing!」(Elle)
「Now it’s your turn. Here’s the water.」(Ingrid)
「Thank you.」(Elle)
Elle took the water bottle from Ingrid’s hand and prepared her canned stew.
「It’s such a great magic tool!」(Elle)
「Hehe, thank you. I hated eating cold food when I was adventuring, but I didn’t want to cook every time I set up camp, so I came up with this magic tool.」(Ingrid)
「Certainly, it’s much faster and easier than cooking.」(Elle)
「Grauu…」(Fire Dragon)
While Elle and Ingrid were enjoying their canned stew, the fire dragon approached them shyly.
「Hm? Mr. Fire Dragon, are you hungry too?」(Elle)
「Oi, oi. You have eaten two bags of our cookies, you know? Hahh… Can’t be helped. You can have this meat.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid took out the chunk of meat, which was originally planned to be used as bait, but the dragon shook its head.
「Grau, grauu.」(Fire Dragon)
「Huh? You don’t want it?」(Ingrid)
「I think it wants more cookies. I’m sorry, Mr. Fire Dragon, but I’m running out of cookies. You can have some of my bread if you want.」(Elle)
「Grau!」(Fire Dragon)
The dragon nodded.
Elle then took out some loaves of bread from her magic bag and put them on the ground. The dragon then devoured them instantly with its big mouth.
「Grauuu~!」(Fire Dragon)
It looked happy.
「You prefer cookies and bread over meat, huh? You’re truly such a weird dragon…」(Ingrid)
「Fufu.」(Elle)
「Grauu!」(Fire Dragon)
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