Chapter 161

Yesterday, after I fell asleep while chatting with Hestia, I think I might've heard something in my head.

I cleaned my ears a few times, ignored what the voice said, and went back to school. The words, however, echoed in my head constantly.

It kept nagging me–they told me to find them and come to them if I had any questions. If I have questions? What kind of generic, open-ended kind of question was that?

All humans had questions since birth. Why was the sky blue, how did clouds float, how did magic work, etc. So on, so forth.

I tried to make up some gibberish. I had a feeling that the 'curiosity' part of all of this was meant for what I wanted to know about my life. Like why I remembered my past life, what this world had to do with the book, etc. The kind of questions that only catered to me.

The questions that I'd hidden deep in my mind in fear that I would be branded as insane.

"The answers to all of my questions are over there, huh."

I couldn't shrug off the voice in my head, so I built up the courage to go alone.

I could guess who would be at the location with the strange magic, so my toes were feeling a bit sweaty. I clutched my backpack straps tighter, but my hands were sweaty too.

I used a magic stone as fuel to float in the sky above the Augran Mountain.

I floated around the area where everything had been off and then gently made my way down.

There were a few trees in the area, and there was a bit of a slope in the ground because it was a mountain. Fairy tales always explained how lairs are in caves, so I looked at the wall in front of me and looked around for some kind of hole.

I think I spent almost an hour wandering around the area looking for a dragon lair.

But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see anything suspicious or lair-like. The entire area just felt creepy and dark–it wasn't tied to a specific part of the area.

"Thinking about it, lairs don't have to be caves."

The thought just popped up in my head. I had been so focused on looking for caves that I hadn't even fathomed that it didn't have to be one.

"Is this entire place with the weird magic supposed to be a lair?"

I remembered where Caradil had hid before. She had been spending her time in a pocket dimension in a magic circle. I thought about the possibility that a dragon would use this entire space to anchor a magic circle to live in a pocket dimension.

It felt like a maybe, but it felt quite possible.

Then that meant that the magic circle had to be drawn somewhere on the ground.

I raised my foot and scratched the ground. Once I had that thought in my head, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I walked around the area, scratching the ground with my feet ever so often. I thought I saw something, so I brought over a rock and began to dig. I couldn't find a magic circle, but I thought I could feel something. I began digging harder.

I began sweating slightly and my arms started aching, so I walked around and began digging other parts of the area. If I wasn't wrong, then there had to be a magic circle somewhere on the ground.

Just digging was becoming a bit boring, so I was debating whether or not I should just draw something on the ground.

"What are you doing?"

I was wiping my sweat with my shirt when I suddenly discovered someone looking at me. Their hair was darker than a shadow as they leaned on a tree with their arms crossed against their front.

A short-haired woman with piercings on her nose, lips, ears suddenly appeared. I stopped moving. I stared down at my dirty hands and wiped it on my shirt, then stared at the sky out of sheer embarrassment. I pointed at myself to check if they were talking to me.

When I looked surprised and asked, they laughed loudly but soon used a dark but familiar magic to look directly at me.

"I told you to come up, but why are you digging the ground? Shushu."

I was able to experience the particular sensation of words carrying through complete silence. I was immediately able to tell who this person was.

The woman, who was staring at my dumbfounded expression with an eerie smile, turned her back on me and moved somewhere not too far away from me. She was right next to me.

She stretched her hand through a grassy cliff and cleared it away with her hands. Behind the abundant grass on the ground was a normal-looking dragon cave lair, just like I had imagined.

The short-haired person glanced at me before going back into the cave, then left me alone.

I stared at the rock in my hand and just stood there.

"I guess not."

I had gotten the wrong idea and had just been digging holes in someone's front yard. I threw the rock I was holding behind me and stood up, scratching my head.

I soon followed the woman inside the cave.

As soon as the woman entered the cave, I shielded my eyes from the bright light streaming towards my eyes.

I squinted my eyes against the light and slowly opened them again. The cave was filled with monster cores that had been emptied and grayed, and there was a huge pillar of white magic in the middle of the space. I think I had squinted my eyes because of that pillar.

In the center of the pillar was a white egg. I wanted to get a closer look at it, so I moved closer.

The space was quiet, so the sound of my footsteps filled the air.

"It's done! It's over!"

I was getting closer to the pillar made of white magic. I was holding my breath from its incredible beauty when I heard something so loud that I thought my ears would rip in half.

When I turned around, it was the woman from earlier. Looking closer, I noticed that her eyes weren't just black–they were jewel-like like Swanhaden, but they were shining in darker colors. The ephemeral light from the white magic stone made her eyes sparkle.

The smile on her face was terrifying, though. Why was she smiling like that?

"Why are you coming just now? You knew that I was here for so long already!"

She ran towards me and gave me a hug. She seemed calm earlier, but now she looked incredibly excited. The strength behind her hug was incredible. She could probably crush a boulder with this kind of power.

I had been dumbfounded from earlier, so I was well-behaved as I was pulled into a hug. My excitement from earlier had dissipated, and I had been a bit exhausted after I had been caught digging holes outside.

I was sure.

"Oh, that's. The voice in my head, the note…. All the dreams…."

"Shushu, haha! You're so bad at explaining! You're right, that was me! You're talking about me, right? It's me, me!"

She listened to my rambles and somehow gave me the responses I needed. I was happy that she had released me from the hug, but I was feeling a bit dizzy now that she was going around me in circles.

"The fact that you're using black magic means you're the black dragon..."

"I'm Noirelle! You know that godforsaken painting in the royal palace, right? Oh, dear. I haven't any manners. Am I being rude? Do you want to eat something first?"

The person, no, the dragon who had introduced themselves as Noirelle, clapped their hands together. The clapping sound echoed before the scene in front of me seemed to get hazy. Seconds later, a giant table stood in front of me. If it had been any other day, I would've been eager to try and analyze what spell she had used just now, but my eyes were too busy staring at the awe-inspiring foods in front of me.

The table, bordered in sapphire, was generally white. I looked at one of the table legs and saw that it was encrusted with emerald monsters. The chairs were also decorated with different kinds of jewels, but the actual seat was thankfully plush.

There was a feast on the table.

Monster meat with green grease flowing from it, slime slush, a roasted Nocturn eyeball, etc., the table was covered from top to bottom with dishes.

I said that it was feast earlier, right? I'm taking it back. The table was so pretty that I had lost my senses. I frowned as I stared at the food in front of me.

"Here, take a seat. You probably won't understand anything if I'm just rambling on my own. I knew that you'd become curious and come find me one day. I didn't know why you were taking so long–were you scared of me or just satisfied with your life? If you finished saving Cory and knew that I lived on the mountain, you should've hurried up!"

I had guessed that a dragon lived here, and I had thought about doing some more research about it, but I had kept pushing it aside because I was a coward. And like a coward, I gave into Noirelle's expectant gaze and ended up eating a slime slush. It, strangely, tasted like broccoli.

"Honestly, I don't have to tell you all of this. But you went though a lot, so I felt like it was right to give you all the answers and details now that you're here, so I'll tell you everything. Ask me anything you want to know!"

She kept on telling me to ask anything, but I felt like I was being put on the spot. My mouth didn't seem to work properly. I tried to eat some of the food while covering my nose and just fiddled on the spot with a napkin. The aura coming from Noirelle was a bit too strong.

After a lengthy silence, I was able to speak up.

"You were waiting for me?"

Noirelle seemed to deflate at my question. Her eyes grew wide as she shook her hands.

"Never mind, I think I'll just explain everything from the beginning. That sounds better. To answer that question, you're half right and half wrong!"

"Huh?"

"So, listen up. I said listen, okay? You're curious, right? I'd be super curious too if I were you."

I smiled awkwardly and nodded. My eyes met with her jewel eyes. She smiled brighter and nodded excitedly.

"Anyway, Shushu, wasn't it weird how the prince and the DuBois child and the Lunaasha guild bastard all fell in love with Hestia? I mean, it was literally at first sight."

She promised to explain everything then threw a question at me. I put down the jewel-encrusted fork on the table and briefly thought about my response.

"I mean, I didn't really think it was weird. I felt like I could do the same."

"What, why her?""

"What's wrong with our Hes?!"

Noirelle slammed her hand on the table at the mention of Hestia, so I slammed my hand on the table too.

I had spent so much of my life as a pseudo-guardian for Hestia, so I unknowingly sat up straight and yelled loudly. Hestia's so pretty and lovely and cool! I didn't think it was weird if everybody in the world fell in love with her.

The room grew quiet. I, someone who had literally just yelled at a dragon, quietly dragged the chair back and took a seat. I politely grabbed a fork and grabbed the roasted eyeball. I quietly said, "This food is quite delicious." Noirelle raised an eyebrow, amused.