Dragon’s Holy Maiden.

Reviver of Magic.

When you and the guardian appear, the world of magic shall return.

But Holy Maiden, beware of the guardian.

The guardian is the ruler of mana.

Like a merciless god of magic…

– From ancient texts found in an abandoned temple –

***

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

A luxurious carriage, escorted by several knights, crossed the countryside road.

A pale-faced beauty sitting inside the carriage looked outside.

“Is that it?”

“A bit further, my lady.”

The woman called ‘lady’ leaned against the window with her white face.

“Ugh, please tell me we’re there. I feel like I’m dying…”

“My lady, no one dies from motion sickness. Please endure it a little longer.”

“No, I really think I might die…cough.”

Despite her playful tone, her frail body trembled even with a small cough. The court physician quickly offered her a medicinal candy.

Her fair and bright face with the candy in her mouth, her fairy-like platinum blonde hair even when disheveled, and her sparkling blue eyes made her look purely beautiful without any trace of illness at first glance.

However, the court physician worriedly watched over the lady he served.

Lady Leah Piert, the only daughter of House Piert, one of only three ducal families in the kingdom, possessed unparalleled beauty and was known as the Lily of Peiren in social circles, always followed by admirers.

She should have lived the life of a golden spoon celebrity with everything – bloodline, beauty, and popularity… but Lady Leah had one fatal deficiency.

Health.

The lady was the weakest of the weak.

People in social circles would say about her: how pure she looked sitting with her pale face at parties, how she resembled a delicate flower swaying in the wind when she occasionally coughed.

In reality, Leah despised such comments.

‘Stop making such ominous comparisons to flowers! Flowers fall when shaken by the wind! I’m already terrified of dying from pneumonia every time I cough!’

Her health was that serious.

Born weak, with thin blood vessels, medicine would only occasionally improve her condition. If it weren’t for House Piert’s constant supply of medicinal herbs and Leah’s stubborn determination to endure her long illness, she would have been gone long ago.

Now, she was nineteen years old. Even after barely raising her to adulthood, the lady was still sickly, so the worried court physician prescribed a drastic measure.

‘This won’t do. You must recuperate somewhere beneficial.’

‘Will I get better if I recuperate somewhere nice?’

‘If you don’t get better, you’ll die!’

So, throwing aside the social season and everything else, they came to Helkan in the north, known for having the best water and air in the Kingdom of Peiren.

Leah muttered while looking outside.

“Now that we’ve come all this way, I should get healthier…”

“My lady, you must have the will to recover.”

“That’s why I came all the way to the north. Cough!”

The court physician encouraged her earnestly.

“Please stay strong. Aren’t you the lady who endured twelve years of illness? They say the spiritual energy of the Hel Mountains is extraordinary, so there must be a way.”

“Spiritual energy.”

Leah looked at the Hel Mountain visible through the window. Even from afar, it looked mystical.

“It would be nice if a miracle really happened in the Hel Mountains.”

***

The carriage carrying Leah arrived at the villa late in the afternoon.

“The lady has arrived!”

When her escort knights announced, the large main gate opened.

“…Why is it so far from the main gate to the mansion?”

“I heard they made the garden spacious for you to take walks during your recuperation, my lady.”

Leah held her head, feeling a headache coming on. She had specifically asked for a modest villa for recuperation, but the ducal family’s people had spent money extravagantly again as they pleased.

Knights and numerous employees were busily moving about the spacious and luxurious villa.

“…I underestimated the ducal family’s scale again.”

The scale of born golden spoons was truly impossible to keep up with.

She got out of the carriage while grumbling internally and looked around the villa. More than the well-maintained garden, the Hel Mountain right behind it caught her eye.

“I wanted to recuperate somewhere cozier, but it can’t be helped. At least the air should be good since we’re right in front of the mountain.”

As Leah was trying to focus on the positive aspects, someone spoke to her.

“The Hel Mountains are deep. There are quieter and cozier places too.”

“Who are you?”

An outsider in the ducal villa’s garden? She asked coldly with suspicion as a middle-aged woman bowed.

“I’m an herb gatherer who searches the Hel Mountains. I heard the lady was coming and came to offer my assistance.”

Leah looked the herb gatherer up and down.

Her movements were too refined for an herb gatherer, and the way she approached suddenly was suspicious. Reading her gaze, the herb gatherer showed an innocent smile.

“I’m sure you’ll like it.”

“…Alright.”

Leah nodded agreeably.

Though her sudden appearance was suspicious, a local herb gatherer could be a valuable asset. Since she searches the Hel Mountains, she might know more about the mystical herbs.

“Let’s see your skills…Cough!”

“Oh my.”

The herb gatherer clicked her tongue slightly.

“The northern air is cold. They must be lighting fires in the mansion, so why don’t you come with me to the hot springs, my lady?”

“Hot springs?”

“If you go up the trail behind the mansion a little way, there’s a maple tree with silver leaves. Near there, there’s a truly mystical hot spring hidden away.”

Leah was intrigued.

With travel fatigue making her body shiver, an outdoor hot spring bath would be perfect.

“Then I should call the guards…”

“My lady, the villa is right at the foot of Hel Mountain.”

The herb gatherer whispered to her.

“A quick breath of fresh air should be fine.”

Normally, she wouldn’t have listened to such words.

But Leah followed the herb gatherer as if she was enchanted.

“This way, come this way.”

Past the mansion, through the back door of the villa and up the trail, they saw a lone maple tree gleaming silver, just as the herb gatherer had said.

The leaves really are silver.

Leah approached the fascinating maple tree.

“I don’t see any hot springs around here?”

Leah looked back.

“Herb gatherer?”

The herb gatherer who had led her here was nowhere to be seen.

Whoosh.

The wind blew across the empty mountain.

Looking back at the mountainside, there was only Leah and the silver maple tree.

Whooosh.

She blinked through her hair blowing in the wind. It felt like being bewitched by a ghost.

“What? Herb gatherer? Where did you go?”

Leah, suddenly frightened, approached the maple tree.

Surely the tree won’t disappear too?

The moment she reached out to check.

“Huh?”

Her body tilted without any support.

“Kyaa!”

Thud!

“Ow ow ow…”

Leah groaned, holding her ankle after falling.

It seemed she had twisted it when she fell just now.

“What is this?”

She quickly raised her head to look around.

“A cave?”

I definitely touched the silver maple tree, so why did I move to a place like this?

Leah looked around from where she sat.

It was an artificial cave.

A soft light emanated from the stone walls, and large transparent pillars here and there glowed blue as they caught the light.

“Huh?”

And in the center of the cave stood a man.

A man who looked like a sculpture with his long silver hair scattered and eyes wide open.

Leah asked the man.

“Excuse me?”

The man didn’t answer.

She stumbled to her feet and approached the man. Her twisted ankle hurt.

“Can you hear me?”

The man still showed no reaction.

As Leah got closer, she noticed something strange about the man.

His wide-eyed expression didn’t change, and his body remained motionless like a statue. Though there was no wind, his hair was scattered in all directions.

It was as if the man had been frozen in a moment of anger.

‘Wow.’

Leah couldn’t help but admire.

Between the fluttering old-fashioned clothes, his stretched body was clearly firm even at a glance.

His tightly built body and broad shoulders were slender yet somehow wild, and his mysterious long silver hair flowed down softly, framing his refined features. A prominent nose and chiseled jaw, cold gray eyes set in deep eye sockets… the man exuded a noble aura from his entire being.

‘What is this?’

She felt a bit tense at the man’s unrealistically beautiful appearance.

Why was a man who looked like a legendary elf king playing freeze tag in a place like this?

‘Could it be a trap or a demon? Like if I touch him, my soul will be bound…’

No, no.

Leah shook her head, thinking she’d gone too far.

Though he was suspiciously handsome and in this state, if he was someone here, wouldn’t he know the way out?

‘I’ll just poke him once and back away.’

Poke.

She pressed the man’s arm like pushing a button.

“Excuse me?”

“…”

Leah swallowed hard.

Somehow feeling tense, she slowly backed away.

Grab.

A firm arm caught her.

***

Leah held her breath for a moment.

The cold face looking down at her was like a mask. His glass-like gray eyes moved like a creaking doll, slowly focusing.

“…Was it you who awakened me?”

“What?”

Leah’s expression turned dubious.

What’s with this natural old man’s way of speaking?

The disconnect with his face was enormous.

“I asked if you awakened me.”

Leah frowned at his natural informal speech. Speaking informally to a stranger right off the bat?

Well then, she’d respond in kind.

She shook her arm that was in his grip.

“How about letting go of this first…?”

“You might run away.”

Leah looked over his sturdy body.

“I don’t think you’d have trouble catching me if I ran?”

With that build, he looked like he could catch ten people like Leah.

The man spoke stiffly.

“You entered a dragon’s lair, you can’t be an ordinary person.”

“Dragon’s lair? Here?”

The man’s expression hardened further at Leah’s question.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know?”

“I don’t.”

“That can’t be…”

He looked down at Leah suspiciously, exuding coldness.

“What happened to the dragons?”

Why are all his questions like this?

Awakening him, dragons. This isn’t some legend or Zen riddle.

Though bewildered, she answered properly.

“Weren’t dragons extinct long ago?”

At Leah’s answer, the man glared at her.