35

"You're finally back," his father crossed his arms as he approached Ernesto, who was lying comfortably on his bed.

"Father, good afternoon." The child smiled brightly, and the warm light from the window made him look pure and innocent, but his father immediately frowned and held both the child's cheeks and squeezed them.

"Aren't you grounded? Do I need to spend a lot of money to buy a magic restraint for you!" He pushed all of his frustrations onto the child's cheeks, which ended up becoming bright red as he let him go.

"I was just away for an hour!" he protested while pouting.

"An hour ha! Then where did you go?"

"To save this kingdom from chaos, but of course I created a new one!" The child spread his arms as if he was too proud of whatever he was doing.

"Don't play with me!" The Marquis gives Ernesto another hard squeeze on the cheeks.

"fwaaaathherrrr etshwuurrrttss" the child whines.

"I'll be using restraint on you if you leave this room again."

"Yes, father," he said as he rubbed the pain and burning sensation on his cheeks.

"Regarding the Baron's child, he will leave this castle tomorrow, but I will lend him one knight to accompany him."

"Okay"

"Yeah, I know one is not enou— what? You're okay?"

"Yeah, it's okay now, father; if he has a knight and Lucas, there's nothing to worry about," the child said as he rolled around in his bed and smiled at his father once more.

"I'm bored. Want to play with me?" he mischievously asked his father.

The marquis never let go of his crossed arms and looked at his innocent looking child with suspicion.

[What did this child do?]

.....

One week ago...

In the forest nearby the Marquis Castle,

La ta ra ta ra La tara tara La ta

The dragon, who is in disguise as a maid, leisurely hums while walking through the forest.

She does not like resting in a closed room but instead loves places that are wide and open.

She cannot transform back to her original form because someone might discover her inside the forest, and that would create chaos in the marquis' territory.

She finally found a good spot to rest deep within the forest. Using her magic, she moves the wood to make it her bed and adds some leaves to make her bedding.

She was resting comfortably when she suddenly heard the whispers of the other realm people. She was about to silence them, but their topic created a frown on her face.

[Ladies, May I join your conversation?] The dragon interjected to the other realm people. She was speaking in the other realms' language.

[Oh, what a wonderful being! You can speak our language?] The transparent lady perked up while the one who is with her cannot see the creature of the other world, which is the dragon

[Hey, who are you talking to?] she asked her friend. The two ladies' appearances are similar to the beautiful elves' race, but she cannot confirm if the elves in the other realms are the same as in this world.

[Didn't tell you we share the same world with these people, but our space and realms are different]

[My lady, we coexist]Fetahaya added

[Yeah, right, we coexist! This otherworldly lifestyle is quite unique, so I always have fun watching them! I hope you can see them, Selena!]

Fetahaya smiled at the enthusiasm of the other realms' lady.

The Earth, where the world's most living beings coexist, there are two types of existence living on it: the simple lifer and the hard lifer.

The Simple lifers are existences with a smaller population, but they are groups of higher beings, with extraordinary strengths and higher skills and powers, with a thousand year's life span.

The Hard lifers are overpopulated with different races, but the majority are weak and have a very short lifespan.

Despite living in the same world, the two beings cannot see or feel each other, except for those who meet the Jumpers, such as the blue wolf who taught Ernesto about the simple lifer. Jumpers are mostly mischievous in nature.

The simple lifers who can see the hard lifers refer to them as "the other worlders," and the hard lifers who can see the simple lifers refer to them as "other realm people."

They both see each other half-transparently.

[Oh Taylor, I am fine with just hearing your stories. They rather frightened me. How could creatures as weak as ants be so devious and cunning.]

Of course, the ants she is referring to are the ants of other realms that have the same strength and intelligence as humans, which they consider weak.

[Come on, Selena! not all of them are not like that, right Ms.?] The lady named Taylor is looking at Fetahaya with sparkling eyes.

[Of course, ladies, people here differ. By the way, ladies, may I hear what you were talking about just a while ago?]

[Which one? Ah! That devious other-worlder! They murder and torture their own kind!

[Yes, yes, why would they do that? That's pretty bad!]

[Can you tell the story to me too?]

[hmmn. That terrifying other worlder created a village filled with research facilities, then they collected some living beings similar to them for torture, collected flesh and organs, and did some brutal experiments. I cannot even count how many beings that they have already killed!]

The ladies looked terrified and disgusted.

[A whole village filled with research facilities?] Fetahaya feels like something is connected to her; he feels like she needs to investigate more

[Ladies, I heard a while ago that the place is filled with molten liquid underground?]

[Yes! I do not know the name of the volcano since I do not know your language, but it is a village near the volcano and surrounded by huge boulders!]

The dragon thought to herself, "It's the village of McTan." The place came to her mind once she heard that huge boulders surrounded it.

[Do you know what race they are experimenting with?]

[They are conducting research on their own race! I think they call themselves humans.]

[Is there another race they are experimenting with?]

[hmn. They all look the same to me, but few of them have red skin]

[red skin? Are these red skin are females?]

[Yes! Those skin colors are good for males too!] The lady is feeling dreamy with her comment.

[Oh, they are only female races] The Dragon smiles bitterly at the other realms' people and moves to say good-bye.

[Thank you very much for sharing! I will be going now]

[Wait! Do you intend to go there?]

[That is dangerous! Those beings have strange abilities!]

[Yes! I managed to observe them because they could not see me!]

[I appreciate your concern, ladies, but I am quite strong. Anyway, take care! Good bye!]

She disappears and is teleported back to his lair.

At her lair, she picked up the one-time-use glass orb that she had been keeping inside the center of her lair. She always brings it with her every time she is about to do something bold.

"In case I get caught, you're my escape plan." She tapped the glass orb.

The glass orb is not a mana-based power but a natural power. Therefore, if ever she is trapped by a mana restraint or caught, she can use the glass orb because nothing can suppress it.

It is impossible for her to be trapped, but this is just a dragon being meticulous.

Again, she used the teleportation magic and reappeared above the McTan Village.

She expands her vision and observes the village below her while being invincible.

It's nighttime, so no one is outside their homes. Only a few guards are on duty to watch over the village.

"One. Two. Three. Four?" The dragon counts the head of the red-skinned tribe members who are in disguise as normal guards patrolling.

"They're guarding what?" Fetahaya is curious about what this being is protecting.

The dragon closed her eyes and cast a large-scale detection spell that enveloped the whole village, even its underground area.

Upon completely scanning the whole village, she crossed her arms and thought to herself,

"Let's observe this shithole first."

Six days later...

The dragon observed everything that happened inside and surrounding the village. She memorized every individual who may be involved, and she already realized the purpose of the village.

Alchemy.

The art of transformation and change.

An example of alchemy is the power to use metals such as mercury and sulfur to make interesting combinations and attempt to turn them into gold.

There is nothing wrong with practicing alchemy, but using life as a test subject for alchemy is the worst thing to do.

"Hmm. One. Two. Three. Four." She is counting the Tamahaling again, who sometimes leaves the village with the humans who order the red-skinned around

"Their health is fine! Why are they being submissive toward these weak humans?" She could see four higher beings being treated like slaves. Her question was answered after she witnessed what was happening at one of the houses below her.

"Oh? They use alchemy. Very interesting!" Fetahaya witnessed the red-skinned being supplied with artificial molten minerals as an alternative to the natural molten minerals that can be found at the volcano. "they become submissive because of their lifeline?" The dragon pitied the red-skinned and thought that if only she knew that there were still red skinned tribe members left, she could make them the land owners of the volcano again. "But I cannot take this red skin now." She flew higher and shrugged her shoulder. "Artificial sources always come with side effects. They will be a future problem if they continue to live."

She remained in the air for half an hour to re-observe the whole village, but decided to walk around the house while still invincible. She could see that each house was connected underground with one place as the center. That center area is filled with tube-like containers with bluish liquid in them. Each house seems normal, with normal humans sleeping in their own beds.

"Nothing out of ordinary except for these refrigerated body parts of humans."