Far North of the First Continent
The sound of dragon wings echoed across the icy plains as a golden dragon with crimson eyes descended gently onto the snow.
The mont it landed, its form began to shrink until it took the shape of a stunning young woman with blonde hair and red eyes.
"Been a while since I flew," Nathira muttered, activating a clothing rune that wrapped her in warm, thick garnts.
She exhaled sharply, her breath turning into mist. ’Arthur...’
The draconic woman shook her head. ’No, think of sothing else.’
After waking in this new reality, after the world had abruptly gone black, the first thing she had done was search through her mories to ensure they were intact. But, just as she had expected, they weren’t.
"I guess I’m getting old."
As much as she disliked admitting it, she was a Greater Dragon, one of the three children of the First Dragon, the original being blessed with energy.
And that was precisely why she had co here.
The Northern Territory had been the domain granted to the First Dragon, just as the Elves and Fairies were given the East, the Dwarves and Barbarians the South, the Demons and Unholy Titians the Underworld, the Angels and Phoenixes the Upper World, the Beastn and Mana Beasts the West, and the Humans the Center.
However, beyond that point, her recollections beca hazy.
Who had ruled as god back then?
Had there even been a god?
Why had the races scattered from their assigned lands?
Where were the Angels, Unholy Titians and Phoenixes now?
These questions were the reason she had returned to the place where Sylvia had once sealed her, though Sylvia herself barely rembered performing the seal.
Nathira stood before the cliff.
The shortest ti it would take to revisit her mories and return would be a year.
"I didn’t even tell Arthur."
She smirked to herself.
The reason she hadn’t told Arthur was simple.
Her fragnted mories were the only thing keeping her from vaporizing every woman around him, and she was certain Arthur was sharp enough to deduce that.
It was exactly why she had kept her distance since their return from Falmouth.
She touched her face as a sudden wave of emotion surged through her.
"I hope you grow stronger before I return, Art. Because if you don’t... I don’t think the won around you will survive."
Nathira had only one wish as she stared into the abyss below:
"Arthur, I want you to be all mine. So get stronger, strong enough to protect your other wives from ."
------
Back at the Academy
"Thanks for coming." The familiar voice of the convenience store owner rang out as Arthur and Eliya stepped out of the shop.
With one hand in his pocket, Arthur shifted the bag toward Eliya so she could take an ice cream.
Silence lingered between them as she slowly licked the ice cream she took.
Arthur took a quick glance at his beautiful teacher.
She wore a large white hoodie and nothing else, her hair down, her skin fresh like she had just co out of the bath.
After a mont, she turned and locked eyes with him, then nudged him gently. "It’s sweet..." She lowered her gaze. "... And cold too."
Arthur smiled. "Right..."
They continued in silence as the moonlight gently bathed their skin.
After a minute of walking, Eliya, whose legs were still unsteady, pointed at a bench beneath a streetlamp. "Can we sit there?"
’It seems it was too much for her.’
Unlike the last ti they had sex, this ti Eliya had managed to remain semi-conscious, and they went on for three more hours without a break.
Afterward, they bathed together in her room, and that was how they ended up here.
Arthur nodded as they sat on the bench, fireflies hovering around them and the still-magical streetlight.
The white-haired elf scooted closer and rested against his arm. ’So warm...’
They didn’t speak for thirty long minutes, simply watching the half-moon while slowly enjoying their ice cream.
"Master..." she called softly, prompting Arthur to tilt his head slightly.
Noticing she had caught his attention, she continued. "... Do you know that I’m from the Northern Elf noble family?"
Arthur already knew.
Even if he hadn’t heard it during his previous awakening ceremony, he still rembered the Vantress family from the ga.
An ancient bloodline that had once served the Elf God and first king.
They were a family of high elves, but after an unknown incident, they disappeared from the world, only to later return as nobles in the Northern Elf Kingdom.
That was why Arthur had been slightly startled by her surna. But even more shocking was the fact that she was a high elf, believed to be extinct even in the ga.
Regardless, he shook his head. "No."
She forced a smile, leaning even closer to him. "Well, to start with... I’m a high elf. Can’t believe it, right?"
Her tone was a little heavy, as if she carried pain far deeper than she let on.
Arthur let her take her ti.
"My family is from the Vantress branch line, but when they found out I had the potential to beco a high elf, they tried to make their servant. That’s how I ran away from the clan."
Arthur took a mont to respond, trying to ease the tension a bit. "Then..." he teased. "Aren’t you dumb for not changing your na?"
Eliya chuckled. "Yeah... that was dumb of ."
Her eyes, which had darkened monts ago, softened. "But I didn’t awaken the high elf blood on my own you know. So when they finally found and I explained everything, they let go. Of course, they took the thod too. Hahaha."
"And what was the result?" he asked with interest.
"Well..." She gripped the ice cream pack a little tighter before relaxing.
"They failed. But since they had sworn on the na of the World Tree to let go if I told them everything, they couldn’t approach or kidnap again."
Arthur leaned down and took a bite of her ice cream.
Her eyes shot up to him. "Why did you do that?"
He grinned. "Our flavors are different."
She stared at him, then chuckled and tugged his cheeks. "So cute."
Arthur let her tug his cheeks without protest.
After she stopped, he asked, "So what’s the thod?" He then clarified, "The one you used to awaken, I an."
Her grip on the ice cream tightened briefly, then eased. "You might not believe , but I t an ancient dragon. Not just any, the first dragon."
Arthur’s eyes widened. ’The first dragon.’
According to the lore of Magic Academy’s Genius Scholars, the first dragon was the first being able to wield energy.
Primordial energy, mana, force—you na it.
But aside from that, little was known about her. Even Nathira, her daughter, didn’t know much about her own mother.
There wasn’t a single record of her in Arthur’s family history, even though she was the mother of their ancestor, Echidna Val Arcain.
Yet Eliya knew about her.
Ding!
『 #Scenario 28 Reward Has Been Delivered Indirectly 』
『 Another Reward In Progress 』
’So that was the reward the system spoke of,’ Arthur mused, still dazed by Eliya’s words.
Eliya sat up, turning fully to face him. "Master, I think the reason the first dragon t , and why I got ti abilities, was to help you."
It was a theory even he could believe.
The ancient races, the forgotten mories and histories, gods that didn’t seem to match up, and then the strange prophecy spoken about him—it all felt too calculated, like soone had planned it.
But what was the goal?
What did the first dragon have to do with it?
And what did it have to do with him?
Arthur closed his eyes and exhaled. "Eliya..."
She looked up and t his gaze.
"..." He hesitated.
He had been trying to avoid getting involved in the world.
But it seed he’d been fighting a pointless battle.
From the very beginning, his fate was to change everything.
After a pause, he asked in a serious tone:
"Where exactly did you et him?"
It was about ti he started digging into ancient history.
He couldn’t keep waiting for problems to co knocking on his door while he sat idle like a fool.
And to begin that journey, he needed to pay his mother-in-law a visit.
─── ✦ End of Chapter ✦ ───
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