By Zephyria 
Divine Object… lost rank….
I didn’t understand all of it, but it certainly seemed to be the clue I had been looking for all along. I was embarrassed and agitated because I never thought she would simply hold that clue.
“And it is said that the Divine Object is hidden in the Dragonkin’s nest. If you want, it would be good to go and ask them. What was his name again? Don’t you have a Dragonkin half among your classmates?”
“…Couldn’t you have told me that in advance?”
“Not to reveal the existence of God carelessly. That’s our duty.”
I couldn’t help but sigh.
How stubborn can they be? Of course, from their point of view, they were just protecting what they had to protect… but there was no reason for me to understand even that.
Anyway, now that I knew an important clue, there was only one thing I had to do.
“Don’t you know where the Dragonkin’s nest is? If you’re talking about a classmate, you must mean Newt, but I can’t contact her right now.”
“It’s okay. Once intertwined, fate accelerates.”
Then, she told me to quickly return to the library because there was nothing more to tell me, so I returned to the library for now.
“Haa.”
I leaned against the library door and let out a small sigh. I had found out that I could go to the Dragonkin’s nest, but I was still back to square one.
‘I need to know where it is to go.’
Where should I look for information again?
Should I wait until the vacation is over and Newt returns?
Until then… can I stay alive?
Feeling frustrated with the reality that I couldn’t act immediately, I suddenly heard someone loudly coming up the hallway. The undisguised presence was approaching the entrance of the Longcrew Library, so I turned away from the door and looked back.
A moment later, the library door burst open.
“Raymond!”
I was really surprised.
Not only did she rudely barge into the library, where silence is essential, but she also called out my name in a voice that echoed loudly, and it was none other than Newt Alkabas.
Why is this girl here?
While that question dominated my mind.
Newt, who had suddenly shouted my name, widened her eyes when she saw me standing in front of her without having to go far. She smiled as if it was a good thing and shouted confidently.
“Oh, I knew you’d be here. Come on! Let’s go together.”
“What?”
“To the canyon of the Blade Mountain Range.”
She said something incomprehensible and suddenly grabbed me. I could have resisted, but since she was the one I was going to meet anyway, I quietly followed her and asked.
“Where is that? Explain properly.”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know. The canyon of the Blade Mountain Range is my home. So, the Dragonkin’s home? I’m busy, so I’ll explain in detail on the way. Old Dragon told me to bring you quickly.”
The Dragonkin’s home….
I felt strange at the perfectly timed moment. And at the same time, Sigras’s meaningful words from earlier came to mind. Perhaps she sensed that I would come, just as she was aware that Newt was returning to the academy.
“Get on my back! I’ll fly in one go.”
Newt, who had transformed into a Dragonkin in a wide area outside the campus, looked back at me. She told me to get on her back in a cheerful voice, but her red and huge body, sharp and hard-looking fangs… it was a appearance that didn’t match her voice at all.
But it seemed rude to say that out loud, so I swallowed it inside and jumped on her back.
A moment later, Newt flapped her wings greatly and leaped up into the air in one go. It was fortunate that there were almost no onlookers on campus, or it would have been a disaster if someone else had seen this.
“…Weren’t you supposed to have gone back for the vacation?”
“I did go back. I went back and came back again.”
Come to think of it, Old Dragon told her to come and get me. It seems that she had returned to the nest and came back to find me after hearing his story.
I repeated what Newt had said and asked her again.
“Who is Old Dragon?”
“He’s the oldest of our Dragonkin who are currently left. The previous Old Dragons have already passed away, but… the current Old Dragon has been alive since before I was born. He doesn’t even remember how old he is. He must be at least 600 years old.”
More than 600 years.
Isn’t that much longer than when I was alive as ‘Mephisto’? I vaguely imagined a time that was hard to fathom, and then Newt exclaimed as if she had just remembered something.
“Ah! I just remembered, did you know that Ardian came to our house a while ago? I don’t know how that guy found our house. I’m not very close to him, so I didn’t say hello, but… he was talking to Old Dragon in a serious atmosphere.”
…Ardian?
I thought he hadn’t shown his face for a while, but he was in such a place. It’s strange that he suddenly went there. And how did he know the location of the nest that couldn’t be found even after searching the entire Longcrew Library?
It was difficult to guess the reason for his actions.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“Really? I thought you knew since you seem close.”
…Actually, when I think about it, I didn’t know that much about him. That would be true not only for me but also for Ardian. Because I have a lot that I haven’t said either.
In the end, he and I were nothing to each other.
“Hold on tight so you don’t fall.”
At that moment, Newt quickly soared up, straightening her body vertically. After holding on to her mane for a while, I broke through the sky and the scenery above the clouds unfolded at a glance. It was an amazing sight. Newt, who started flying leisurely above it, reopened the conversation that had been interrupted for a while.
“Anyway. When I was telling Old Dragon about you, the story about your body condition came up, and he said he could help, so he told me to come and get you, didn’t he? That’s why I came running to find you like this.”
“Hmm.”
“Be a little happier! I came running to you in one breath.”
“I’m happy. Thank you.”
“It doesn’t feel sincere at all.”
She came to me when I couldn’t find a way on my own. One way or another, I was indebted to this girl. So, I said it with sincerity, but Newt grumbled like a child.
After thinking carefully, I cautiously brought it up.
“I’ll buy you a Parfait later.”
“I want to eat a Triple Explosion Rainbow Parfait!”
She flapped her short front legs as if she had been waiting for it, so I didn’t know what it was, but I said I understood for now.
How long did we fly while having such trivial conversations?
Newt goes down below the cloud layer. The place she arrived with was an area where visibility was almost impossible due to the thick fog.
She flew through the mist-shrouded rocky cliffs with practiced ease. After a while, as the mist cleared, a massive pit surrounded by rocky cliffs appeared. It seemed to be the inside of an eroded, sunken rocky cliff.
Dragons that looked like Newit were flying around casually, and caves of uniform size were carved into the cliffs.
It was obviously a dragon’s nest.
“There are so many dragons…”
“Fascinating, isn’t it? It’s a place untouched by outside hands, where nature is preserved as it is. It’s a beautiful place because of that.”
Newit said with a proud voice, looking down at their nest. Afterward, he descended toward the bottom of the sunken cliff. Because the rocky cliff itself had such a vast width, sunlight that wasn’t completely blocked by the cliff was seeping in even down here.
“Old Dragon is down here.”
Not long after Newit explained that, he landed lightly on the ground below the cliff and then returned to his human form.
“Come on! This way, this way.”
Newit, gesturing toward me, moved toward the cave-like opening below the cliff. As we got closer to the cave, shadows fell and a cool air touched my skin. But the air that made my spine chill didn’t seem to be just because of the shade.
“……”
I wet my lips once at the enormous energy felt from inside the cave. The fact that he had lived for over 600 years didn’t seem like an exaggeration at all; the power possessed by the being inside the cave was so immense that it couldn’t be completely concealed, naturally flowing out.
“I brought him, Grandpa!”
Perhaps Newit, acting so presumptuously in front of such a being, should be considered remarkable in some way.
I, who had slowly followed behind, raised my head. As if responding to Newit’s voice, large, blue-tinged eyes half-opened and appeared from within the dark cave.
“…You’ve come.”
There, Old Dragon, whose red scales had all turned white due to long years, was lying prostrate.