"Crackle."
The sound of sparks echoed unusually loudly in the dead of night.
"It's ti for the shift change."
"Has it already co to that ti?"
"Yes, get so rest. We're heading back to your holand soon, and you need to arrive in one piece."
"My holand..."
At the woman’s words, the man aimlessly poked at the campfire with the branch he was holding.
"Why that look? When people find out what you’ve accomplished, you’ll be treated as a hero."
"I didn’t do it to beco a hero. I only did it out of my own selfish desires."
"Yes, yes, whatever you say, our Dragon Slayer."
The woman plopped down next to the man, sitting beside him as she stared at his face illuminated by the flas.
His long, unkempt black hair looked ssy, but his handso face made even that seem charming.
"No matter what you think, you’re a hero to us. You saved our tribe."
"I can only be grateful that you think so."
"At first, I thought you were crazy. Do you rember when you asked if anyone would join you to hunt a dragon?"
"Of course. eting you back then was a stroke of luck."
A dragon.
Said to be the strongest beings on the continent, unmatched by any other species.
Though dragons were few in number, even those few could greatly affect the entire continent.
For example, when a red dragon, living in its volcanic lair, awoke from its long slumber, the surrounding area would be engulfed in flas, making it uninhabitable for any life.
The green dragon, known as the protector of the elves, could revitalize barren lands with a single breath.
But among all the dragons, the one with the most rumors and the worst reputation was the black dragon.
Known for having the most ferocious temperant among dragons, the black dragon actively intervened in the world, unlike others who mostly ignored the affairs of other species.
Of course, it wasn’t for good reasons—it was only ever bad.
As a result, the tribes living in the black dragon’s territory were forced to live as slaves.
Even escaping was no easy feat. If anyone was caught fleeing, not only would they suffer the dragon’s wrath, but their entire tribe would face its fury.
"I will defeat the black dragon. I need people to lend their strength!"
The man who ca to the feline beastfolk tribe, who lived in such despair, introduced himself as Edric and declared in front of everyone that he would defeat the black dragon.
Naturally, the tribespeople, fearing retribution, yelled at him to leave.
But one person—a single feline beastfolk woman who had lost her family to the black dragon—was drawn to Edric’s words as if by fate.
"It’s been a long ti. I’m not sure I have the face to et my family and friends."
"Just how amazing is your family if even a Dragon Slayer is worried about eting them?"
Mule, the feline beastfolk woman, had always been curious about Edric’s true identity.
Among their companions, Alexander, who claid to be a priest but smashed the heads of beasts with a mace, seed to know the truth but never revealed it since Edric hadn’t said anything himself.
"Though, seeing this might really hurt their hearts."
Mule lightly touched Edric’s right shoulder.
Where his arm should have been was nothing but empty space.
Edric had lost his arm while rescuing Mule during the fight against the black dragon.
Whenever Mule looked at Edric’s missing arm, she couldn’t help but bla herself.
"I told you not to worry. Once we get to the Empire, I can replace it with a golem arm."
"Can sothing like that really exist?"
Mule tilted her head in disbelief at his words.
"That’s not all. I’ll show you animations, where the pictures actually move."
"Liar! You’re just teasing because I’ve been stuck in the tribe all my life and know nothing."
"Fine, I’ll admit it. I’m also a prince of the Borus Empire."
"Really..."
Mule couldn’t help but laugh at his words.
Edric often told Mule about the Empire, where he was born and raised.
He spoke of things like fairy tales and manga, strange and wonderful creations.
Mule especially loved the fairy tales Edric told her.
She had never heard such beautiful, fantastical, and sotis tragic stories before and was captivated by them.
But that wasn’t all. Edric also ntioned animations, where pictures moved, and papers from which drawings sprang to life.
Of course, Mule thought he was making it up to tease her ignorance about the outside world.
Even now, she thought:
"A prince? That would an he’s royalty. Why would royalty co all the way to this remote region to hunt a dragon?"
Their group was full of strange people.
Alexander, the so-called priest, smashed beasts’ heads with a mace.
Harun, the alchemist who constantly boasted about being called the Alchemist of Light in the Empire.
Yustaf, who quarreled with Harun daily but wielded magic on par with a dragon.
Galland, who claid to be a prince of the elves, though it seed unlikely.
Noel, the dwarf who fearlessly swung a giant axe.
And then there was Mule herself, the feline beastfolk warrior, among this unusual band of adventurers. She doubted there was another group like theirs on the entire continent.
"When we reach the Empire..."
Their journey together would soon end.
Once they arrived in Edric’s holand, the Borus Empire, it would all be over.
Mule hated the thought of it.
She wanted to roam the continent with them forever.
But whether Edric knew her feelings or not, he continued staring wistfully into the campfire.
"Elza... It’s almost ti."
Edric murmured softly, almost to himself.
Mule watched him, her gaze tinged with the sa wistfulness.
*****
"The Heart of Steel never fails to move , no matter how many tis I watch it."
"Exactly. How did our seniors even create sothing like this?"
In the Empire Academy’s manga clubroom, two students were watching an animation projected through a film projector.
Heart of Steel.
It was a work presented at the graduation ceremony by the legendary founding mbers of the manga club, now rembered as icons.
"When I watched this as a kid, I decided I absolutely had to get into the Empire Academy."
"You too?"
"Honestly, you’d be hard-pressed to find soone in our manga club who doesn’t feel the sa way."
The two students were talented individuals who had been admitted to the Academy’s highly competitive art departnt.
"If you keep fooling around like this without making anything, you might embarrass yourselves at the next graduation ceremony."
"Professor Adrian!"
A man had suddenly appeared behind them.
It was Adrian, the prince of Sylvannia, who, after ten years, had beco a professor in the Academy’s Departnt of Administration.
"Professor, how did you co up with stories and characters like this?"
Now the advisor to the manga club, following Rupert, Adrian looked at the student who had asked the question and fell into thought.
"This wasn’t just my work."
"Of course, we know that! The legendary founding seniors!"
As the student started listing the nas of those who had worked with Adrian in the manga club, Adrian was montarily lost in mories.
There was Kyle, now the Iron-Blooded Count and lord of the northern frontier.
Alia, now the Empire’s foremost magical engineer and head of technology developnt at Sorset Workshop.
And then—
"What kind of person was the Third Prince?"
"Are you talking about Edric?"
"He worked on this with you, didn’t he?"
Interest in Edric, who had disappeared without a trace several years ago, was still high.
So claid he was a victim of royal intrigue; others speculated he had allied with shadowy forces to one day claim the throne.
"I’m going to hunt a dragon."
Adrian was one of the few who knew the real reason Edric had left.
When Edric announced his plan to hunt a dragon, Adrian had called him a lunatic and tried desperately to stop him.
But in the end, he hadn’t been able to, and there had been no news of Edric since.
"I wrote the stories, and he created the characters for them."
Whenever Edric complained that Adrian’s stories were too plain, Adrian would grumble that Edric’s pacing was all over the place.
The two had spent their Academy years bickering endlessly, but they had always trusted each other’s abilities more than anyone else.
"The characters he created were always filled with sincerity."
"Which is why the characters in Heart of Steel are so..."
Since Edric’s departure, Adrian had never created another manga.
"See you soon, partner."
But recently, Adrian had received an anonymous letter that made him feel it was ti to create sothing new.
The letter contained just one line, but Adrian knew imdiately that it was from Edric.
"I miss you, partner."
As he recalled Edric’s letter, Adrian suddenly rembered another letter he had received recently.
"Oh, co to think of it, is it already next week?"
Unable to rember the exact date, Adrian hurried back to his office and opened the drawer of his desk.
Inside was a collection of carefully preserved letters.
Among them, he pulled out one particularly ornate letter and checked its contents.
"You are invited to the wedding of Rupert Sorset, Duke of Sorset."
Adrian thought that this might be the first wedding in history to capture the attention of not just the Empire but the entire continent.
The story of Rupert and his three brides had already beco famous enough to be adapted into novels.
"There’s no way I’m missing this."
The wedding, ten years in the making, was finally approaching.
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