Editor : Amethyst00



The place Rivein led him to was the top of the clock tower at the center of Lumeria City.

‘I never knew there was something like this inside the clock tower.’

With a look of surprise, Leo climbed the stairs.

‘So this is basically a watchtower?’

The countless spells covering the clock tower dazzled Leo’s eyes.

‘All of them are draconic magic. If a mage saw this, they’d flip their eyes.’

With interest, Leo studied the magical formulas that made up the clock tower.

Though he had grown familiar with many modern magical systems, there was still one he hadn’t fully encountered.

That was draconic magic.

Only dragons could wield draconic magic.

In that it was inaccessible to other races, it resembled Star Sorcery.

But there was a fundamental difference between the two.

Star Sorcery was optimized for elves.

As long as one had the magical sense to convert formulas designed for Elves into a human format, it could be used regardless of race. But Draconic magic was not like that.

‘Even interpreting the formulas in draconic is hard enough. And even if you decode them, the biggest problem remains.’

That problem was mana.

To activate draconic magic, one needed the mana emitted by a dragon’s heart.

Only with the unique mana traits of dragons could such formulas be invoked.

Thus, draconic magic was considered the sole domain of dragons.

Since normally no one could even approach it, every mage dreamed of studying it.

Step, step—

Climbing the stairs ahead, Rivein stopped.

A small door lay before them.

Creak—

Rivein opened it and went inside.

“Come in.”

At his words, Leo stepped into the room.

Inside, another space unfolded.

‘Spatial transfer magic.’

Leo scanned the interior.

What lay before him was a barren chamber.

A flawless crystal floor and walls caught his eye.

No furniture, no decorations, none of the usual things one would expect in a room.

Leo looked up, and his eyes widened.

The ceiling was covered in a mural of a dragon.

“Lysinas.”

“The true appearance of the Wise Queen isn’t well-known among other races, yet you recognize her right away?”

Leo turned his head.

There stood a throne.

A massive throne, the only one in that vast space.

And seated upon it was a girl of about ten years.

Her appearance was uncanny.

Her hair spilled down to the floor in tangled strands, silver locks streaked with patches of black.

She had a fair face, yet her closed left eye, surrounded by bulging veins, lent her an eerie air.

Leo instantly knew the girl before him was a dragon.

‘Not just any dragon. A high-ranking one.’

As Leo marveled at the power radiating from her, Rivein, having already bowed to her, addressed Leo.

“My Lord.”

At those words, Leo’s eyes widened.

He knew Rivein was a dragon—but he hadn’t imagined he’d be brought before the Dragon Queen herself.

Yet his surprise was brief.

Facing the Dragon Queen, Leo tapped his right chest three times, bowed his head respectfully, and bent his knees.

It was the dragons’ greeting ritual.

The reason Leo knew their etiquette so well was simple.

He had someone who’d drilled it into him until he was sick of hearing it.

‘Why do I have to hit my right chest three times?’

‘Because the dragon heart lies in the right chest. It’s a gesture of letting them hear its heartbeat.’

‘Oh, really? But why should I bother learning dragon etiquette?’

‘Because once we slay Erebos, you’ll need it often.’

‘I doubt it. And even if I did, why should I follow their customs? Shouldn’t those loafing around over there be learning ours instead?’

That was Kyle, grumbling irritably in the dead of night as he was forced to learn dragon etiquette instead of sleeping.

Leo’s expression reminded Lysinas of that scene, and her face had soured.

‘You’re second only to me in the subjugation squad. Of course you have to observe etiquette more strictly. You’ll be dealing with dragons often!’

‘Why so annoyed?’

‘Shut up! Less talk, more bowing! Bend your knees more! The angle’s wrong!’

‘For the love of—let me sleep!’

Lysinas had tormented him endlessly, insisting he learn the proper forms.

And though he’d never once used them in his lifetime—

‘Now I end up using them in the next one.’

Thanks to all her drilling, Leo’s posture was flawless.

And when the Queen and Rivein saw it, their eyes widened.

Leo gave an awkward look.

‘What? Did etiquette change over 5,000 years?’

If so, what was the point of all those sleepless nights, enduring Lysinas’s nagging?

“Pfft!”

The Queen clapped her hands over her mouth, laughing.

“Pfhaha! Pffft! Hehe—!”

“Leo Plov. Where did you learn that greeting?”

“From a book. Is it wrong?”

“Not at all. It’s perfect. But…”

“Pffft! You look like some old fogey from ages past! Ahahaha!”

Unable to hold it in, the Queen doubled over with laughter.

“That’s an ancient ritual. It was favored by the elders of long ago. Hardly anyone uses it these days. But to see you perform it—it’s fascinating.”

Seeing Rivein’s intrigued look, Leo straightened his posture.

‘So what was the point of all my effort?’

Sighing deeply, Leo watched as the Queen cleared her throat.

“A pleasure to meet you, Leo Plov. My name is Melina.”

“What reason does the Dragon Queen have for wanting to see me?”

“I wished to meet you in person.”

The mischief was gone from her expression.

Though she looked like a small girl, the one before him was the pinnacle of dragons—the Lord.

Melina gazed at Leo.

“As Sir Rivein said, it’s true.”

She nodded, then glanced at Rivein.

“You’re different from the other heroes.”

With that, she signaled to him.

Rivein left his seat.

Creak—! Thud—!

Now only Leo and Melina remained in the room.

“Leo Plov.”

“Yes.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Leo Plov, hero candidate of Lumene.”

“Heheh—my mistake. I asked the wrong question.”

Melina covered her lips, laughing softly.

“When I first heard of you, I was astonished.”

“Because of my All-Class?”

“Yes. Unprecedented. The very same ability as the legendary Hero of Beginning, Sir Kyle.”

Melina stared straight at him.

“You seem very interested in the Hero of Beginning.”

“How could I not?”

Until now, Kyle had been dismissed as a fictional figure.

Thus, unlike other great heroes, few spoke of him with honorifics.

Melina rose from her throne.

Tap, tap—

Walking barefoot to stand before Leo, she lifted her gaze to the mural above.

“I am the Dragon Queen, successor to the will of the great Wise Queen, Lysinas. That is why I hunger for knowledge and wisdom above all.”

Lysinas, who once pursued all the world’s knowledge.

Leo knew why she had been so desperate for it.

‘It was a struggle.’

A struggle to find a way to slay Erebos.

Ancient knowledge.

Divine knowledge.

She pursued it all without discrimination.

And the answer she found was despair.

Yet she never gave up.

‘And in the end, what she found was all of you.’

As Leo recalled Lysinas, Melina spoke.

“In seeking wisdom and knowledge, I became convinced the Hero of Beginning truly existed. But no proof could I find. Stories remained, yet any evidence of Sir Kyle himself vanished from this world.”

Her gaze dropped from the ceiling.

Her silver eyes, gleaming with wisdom, met Leo’s red ones.

A smile curved her lips.

“And then you appeared, Leo Plov. And you gave this world proof that Sir Kyle was no myth.”

“It was coincidence.”

“Indeed. Everything can be explained as coincidence. Being born with All-Class. Achieving feats worthy of praise. Constantly becoming entangled with the worlds of great heroes. Even finding proof that the Hero of Beginning existed. All of it could be written off as chance.”

Spreading her arms wide, Melina beamed.

As if to say such coincidences were perfectly natural.

“But how will you explain this?”

She lowered her arms and stepped back.

Then, carefully, she opened her closed left eye.

Leo’s expression changed the moment their gazes met.

Unlike her right eye, which was human, her left bore the vertical slit pupil unique to dragons.

But that wasn’t what shocked him.

The instant it opened, Melina’s aura shifted.

As if her eye was the trigger, her mana transformed.

‘Lysinas’s mana?’

“Long ago, I succeeded in conquering Lysinas’s world and retrieving her page. As a reward, I inherited a portion of her mana.”

Her voice grew solemn.

“I have long wielded Lysinas’s power with honor. But now, it no longer heeds me. As if it has met its true master.”

Kyle, last survivor of the subjugation squad, had carried the legacy of his fallen comrades.

Among them was the dragon heart left by Lysinas.

For dragons, to inherit a dragon heart was to be a ‘successor.’

Melina smiled faintly, pulling something from subspace.

It was a very old picture book.

“This is a fairy tale of the ‘Heroes of Beginning,’ from thousands of years ago. Perhaps the last of its kind in this world.”

Flip—flip—

She turned to the latter half and showed him a page.

Its contents differed from today’s stories.

The modern tales ended with all five great heroes uniting to defeat Erebos.

But the one from millennia ago was identical to real history.

Naturally so—for it was written when the Hero Records were intact.

The page Melina revealed showed none other than Lysinas, moments before closing her eyes.

“According to this book, Sir Kyle inherited Lysinas’s dragon heart.”

Gently shutting the book, Melina looked up at Leo.

“I’ll ask again.”

Her solemn eyes shone with expectation, admiration, and respect.

“Who are you?”

Leo looked down at the Dragon Queen who bore Lysinas’s power.

In her wise, gleaming eyes, he saw a glimpse of an old friend.

Silent for a moment, Leo scratched his head.

“What a sharp little kid.”

Melina’s eyes widened at his words.

“Just as you guessed.”

Leo smirked.