Chapter 18

"Ahh~ Sir wizard~"

With a ground-shaking boom, the drake revealed its massive body.

The people of the Rabbit Foot Company instinctively froze upon facing the drake.

They knew that wizard Ian had disappeared with the drake, but they feared that something had gone wrong.

What if this drake was not under the wizard's control?

Well, what can they do?

Just desperately run away.

If they can't escape, they die.

But fortunately, the drake was with the wizard.

And he was riding on the drake's back.

'...Awesome!'

Rick stared up at the wizard riding the drake with fervent admiration.

What kind of trick had he pulled off last night, for the drake to offer its back to him?

The wizard, riding on the drake's back with a nonchalant expression (actually, it was an expression of someone dying from exhaustion), had something that stimulated a man's fantasy.

'Indeed, a wizard is a wizard!'

The drake lowered its head to make it easier for Ian to dismount.

"Rick. There were people running away in that direction earlier. Who are they?"

"Ah! Those bastards! They're really bad people! Despicable human traffickers!"

"Human traffickers?"

Rick babbled about what had happened.

The traffickers had come looking for Cassie, and luckily, she wasn't there so she was safe.

"Ah! Cassie! That's really fortunate!"

Rick sighed in relief upon seeing Cassie (Lucy) with Ian.

"Isn't it too much? We're all followers of the same Heaven's Faith!"

Feeling wronged, Rick grumbled.

In this medieval fantasy world, 'Heaven's Faith' was a major religion that had firmly established itself as a spiritual pillar.

Like other religions, Heaven's Faith preached 'the way to live rightly in this filthy world,' remembered through commandments that essentially said, 'do not do such things.'

There was a commandment in Heaven's Faith that said, 'Do not enslave followers of Heaven's Faith.'

While most Heaven's Faith followers strictly followed this commandment, human traffickers and slave traders often ignored it due to the nature of their occupations.

That's why they were despised by Heaven's Faith followers as 'filthy slave traders.'

"All slave traders are the same."

"Right? Ptooey! May they receive divine punishment!"

Rick, holding a grudge, continued to swear, cursing the 'human traffickers.'

Hearing the curses, Lucy's expression soured.

It wasn't good news for Ian either.

'They saw a wizard and a drake and they're not giving up?'

The tenacity of the human traffickers, no, Lucy's pursuers, was admirable.

At this point, it was curious what Baron Jin had promised in exchange for capturing Lucy.

'This won't do.'

If they let the pursuers go, they would be followed 100%.

Not confident in escaping with pursuers hanging onto him, Ian decided to act.

"[Longtail. Can you do me a favor?]"

[Of course. Don't hesitate to ask. Friend.]

"[I would like you to drive some people away. If necessary, kill them.]"

Mentioning murder made Ian's heart a bit uneasy.

But it was a necessary choice.

The opponents already had a history of killing mercenaries.

They mercilessly killed the mercenaries, so would they have spared Ian?

If the drake hadn't appeared, Ian too would have likely been killed.

This place was a medieval fantasy world where killing and being killed were a part of daily life.

To survive as a resident of such a barbaric world, one needed to become accustomed to murder. Only then could killing be chosen as an efficient option when appropriate.

[Ah. Those humans from earlier.]

"[Do you know where they are?]"

[Of course. You want some of them killed and the rest driven away, right?]

"[Please do that.]"

Longtail readily agreed to Ian's request.

[If it's a friend's request. Gladly.]

Following Ian's request, Longtail set out to eliminate the pursuers.

A wizard commanding a drake with just a few words.

The company workers admired the wizard's miraculous skills.

'Wow... Did you see?'

'He's commanding the drake like his own limbs?'

'Such an incredible wizard!'

All Ian did was ask the drake for a favor, but to ordinary people, it seemed as though Ian had performed a great magic.

How could it not be amazing to see someone talking to and commanding a drake as big as a house?

"Ian!"

Ian staggered after finishing his conversation with Longtail.

He had overused the Maronius Language.

Lucy rushed to support Ian.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

Seeing this, Rick nodded.

'They look close. They must be dating.'

Rick also knew to some extent that Lucy was no ordinary woman.

He had no idea, however, that her true identity was that of a noblewoman on the run.

With the help of the company workers, Ian slowly descended the mountain.

Though he was riding in a cart, no one pointed it out.

During the descent, Ian learned that the drake had been diligently hunting down the humans.

It was the power of the Summoning skill.

'So far, eleven...'

The number of pursuers identified so far was fourteen.

Eleven of them had lost their lives to the drake before even a day had passed.

Despite its house-sized bulk, the drake was incredibly fast. Lacking wings, the drake could instead sprint at an astonishing speed of up to 60 km/h in bursts.

Moreover, this was the drake's home ground.

There's a saying that even a mongrel acts boldly in its own house.

Much more so for 'Longtail the House Owner,' for whom the Earth Dragon Mountain was nothing more than a playground slide, equipped with a Banpo Xi* nest.

[A/N: Banpo Xi is a landmark known for its luxury apartments in Banpo-dong, Seoul, South Korea]

Thus, a one-sided massacre ensued.

The drake had intended to 'moderately' kill, but humans were so weak that he couldn't control his strength.

He ended up killing them all.

'Killed another one.'

The status window popped up just when he was about to forget about it.

The summoning skill continuously reported the drake's status and actions to Ian.

Moreover, if Ian wished, he could convey his will over any distance, thanks to the summoning skill.

However, it wasn't like in RPG games where you could shout, 'Yap! Summon Drake!' and the drake would suddenly pop up in front of you.

This was inevitable because summoning originally referred to the act of calling something forth.

It wasn't up to the summoner to decide how the summoned entity would arrive.

For instance, if you summon a ghost, the ghost comes on its own, not brought directly by the summoner.

If Ian were to summon the drake?

Longtail would have to walk.

If urgent, he could run.

This was the limit of the Skill: Summoning.

If Ian had made a contract with a formless being or one that traversed dimensions, it would automatically come to where Ian called...

But for a physical monster like a drake, combining summoning with spatial teleportation magic was necessary to perform summoning like in RPG games.

'It can't be helped.'

Unless Ian learned spatial teleportation magic from a space-time wizard, summoning the drake in the middle of a city was impossible.

But Ian wasn't particularly disappointed.

While the drake was a powerful force, it wasn't something to be carried around.

Longtail himself was busy bringing over a girlfriend who had been stolen by NTR.

And how was he supposed to feed and take care of such a huge body?

Unless supported by a great noble, he wasn't suitable as a companion for a journey in search of mysteries.

"Wizard sir, we're just a little further from the village."

[Ian. I've driven away all the humans.]

"[Thanks, Longtail. You've saved me a lot of trouble.]"

[Hehe. It's good to have a friend.]

In fact, there were only one or two humans driven away.

The rest were all killed.

Anyway, the pursuers sent by Baron Jin were all repelled.

Even if additional pursuers were dispatched, they wouldn't dare to cross Earth Dragon Mountain.

"[It's time for us to part.]"

[Though our meeting was brief, it was fun, and I'm grateful, friend.]

"[I hope you meet a slender, scaled drake.]"

At the edge of the mountain, Ian bid farewell to the drake.

Though their meeting started by chance, it ended with gaining a good friend. This too was a joy of the journey.

[Ian. You must be very interested in the mysteries of the world, right?]

"[Eh?]"

Although the drake couldn't follow him beyond the mountain range, it provided Ian, who was traveling alone, with a piece of simple information.

[Somewhere in the northern ice mountains, there's a tale of a Frost Phoenix living there.]

Frost Phoenix.

The phoenix was a type of monster, literally an 'undying bird' that, upon nearing death, would transform into an egg to be reborn.

However, contrary to common belief, not all phoenixes were made of flames.

Ice Phoenix, Wind Phoenix, Rock Phoenix, and so on...

Phoenixes had quite a flexible biology, altering their physical structure depending on their living environment.

After all, the 'fire' in 'phoenix' refers not to flames but to undying.

[I've heard many wizards seek phoenixes... If you're interested, why not look for one?]

The drake didn't understand why wizards were hunting for the Frost Phoenix.

It had merely heard from other drakes that many human wizards were doing so.

However, since Ian was also a human wizard, the drake passed on the information...

The problem was that Ian himself didn't quite understand the value of a Frost Phoenix.

'Could I make it a summoned beast?'

But having advanced his summoning skill to level 3, he thought it would be nice to persuade it to become his summoned beast.

Or, just experiencing the mystery and earning bonus skill points would be fine too.

"[Thanks. I'll definitely go look for it.]"

[In the Ice Mountains lives my friend, Whitefang. Ask for help from him. Mention my name, and he'll treat you kindly.]

"[Whitefang. I've remembered it.]"

Ian and his party were now walking on smooth plains.

They had crossed the Earth Dragon Mountain.

While Ian was lost in the afterglow of farewell, a sharp smack sounded from somewhere.

Based on his experience with dramas, this was the sound of someone slapping another person.

By the time Ian looked up, the company workers were rushing towards the source of the noise.

"Stop it!"

"What are you doing!"

The source of the noise was none other than two women.

And there were only two women: Emily and Lucy.

Both women, with disheveled hair, were glaring and fuming at each other.

"You filthy whore!"

Emily shouted at Lucy with a glare.

Lucy retorted without backing down.

"The whore is you!"

"You...! What did you say! b*tch!"

Shockingly, it was a fact.

Emily was a prostitute who sold her body for money.

She was of a lowly status that couldn't even speak to nobles like Lucy.

But Lucy was strong-willed.

Her full name was Lucy Talian.

It could be said that 'Lucy was hiding her status.'

Emily, knowing nothing, insulted Lucy as she pleased.

However, Lucy was in a dilemma, as revealing her true identity could entangle her in troublesome affairs.

Thus, a match that should never have happened, happened.

"Why are they like this?"

As Ian appeared, Emily clung to him with a whining voice.

Seeing her movement of clinging to a man without hesitation, a professional prostitute was indeed different.

"Sir Wizard~ That woman keeps picking fights with me~"

"...You started the fight in the first place!"

Lucy cried out in injustice.

Her words were true.

Since Lucy returned with Ian, Emily kept nitpicking Lucy over trivial matters.

The reason Emily disliked Lucy was out of jealousy.

Throughout the journey, Emily had been tending to the wizard.

Whenever she had the chance, she flirted with the wizard, hoping to gain his favor.

Then, like a thieving cat, Lucy swooped in and took everything, which infuriated Emily.

"Sir Wizard~ She's the one in the wrong, right~?"

"Ian. Who do you think is right?"

Faced with the glares of both Lucy and Emily, Ian sighed deeply.

'Why are they asking me this nonsense?'

In truth, the company workers already knew whose side Ian would take.

No matter how pretty, a prostitute who sells her body to mercenaries vs. a lady with an elegant aura.

'Haah. Know your place.'

'As usual. Women are desperate to latch onto someone higher up.'

Emily knew the company workers looked at her unfavorably, but...

There are times when a woman, despite knowing her chances were slim, must not back down!

That's when aiming for a rise in status!

Somehow managing to become the wizard's wife would be a massive turnaround in her life.

Wizard Ian might be the highest-ranking person Emily would ever meet in her life.

"What kind of nonsensical thing are you fighting over? Are you both three-year-olds?"

"Ian."

Lucy pointed to her swollen, red cheek with a sullen expression.

It was a wound from being hit by Emily.

'Haah.'

Ian was Lucy's escort.

Though it might seem strange for a wizard to take on such a role, Lucy had requested it, so he was indeed her escort.

Annoying as it was, he had to fulfill his duty as an escort.

"Emily. Apologize to Lucy. And don't bother her again."

"...Sir Wizard!"

When Ian made his decision, Emily's face turned to one of shock.

The workers nodded, knowing this would be the outcome.

Everyone except Emily had expected this.

"I, I was just trying to do my best for Sir Wizard! But that woman dares to talk back! Ah! Sir Wizard, don't tell me... You like someone with a rude attitude...? Ah!"

"???"

"Emily, you bastard!"

Before Emily could finish her sentence, the company workers swarmed her, covering her mouth.

"Hey, you crazy woman! If you want to die, die alone!"

"Mmph! I know men well... Mmph! Sir Wizard likes it when you're rough with him...! Mmph!"

"Just shut up, will you!"

While Emily was ranting, Lucy stealthily moved closer to Ian and linked arms with him.

It was so natural that Ian didn't even realize his arm had been taken.

"Why did she suddenly act like that?"

When Ian asked, Lucy responded with a beaming smile.

"I don't know. Maybe she caught syphilis."