When that man killed the innkeeper couple moments ago, an overwhelming pressure descended upon him like being crushed.

A few renowned mercenaries at the next table rose with their hands on their waists, but that was all. Everyone else collapsed like him.

Then the men in black who followed the man cut down the inn’s people like harvesting crops.

“Just what…”

What are you?

With emotions that couldn’t form into words, his eyes widened at the black-haired man.

The man looked back with a composed face and made a gesture with his chin.

Swoosh.

The mercenary collapsed from the sword swung behind him. The swordsman in black wiped the blood from his blade and reported.

“All have been dealt with, Your Highness.”

His tone was indifferent, as if this was routine.

“All?”

The black-haired man, Prince Archaik Oken, who had been standing with his eyes closed, asked as he opened them. A golden energy briefly flickered in his black eyes.

“One remains.”

He strode toward the kitchen.

Crash!

“Hii, hiik!”

The man hiding in the large wine jar in the kitchen was grabbed by his hair.

“P-please spare me! Please spare me!”

Prince Archaik stared intently at the repeatedly begging man’s face.

“Your face resembles the Emperor’s.”

“What? I-I’m honored…!”

Shunk.

The prince’s sword severed the man’s neck.

Looking down emotionlessly at the collapsing corpse, he turned to his subordinates.

One subordinate handed him a handkerchief. Prince Archaik wiped the blood splattered on his face and asked.

“How long ago did the mage seem to leave?”

“At least an hour has passed. The carriage, horses, and what appeared to be their attendants have all vanished without a trace.”

The prince clicked his tongue.

“Unnecessarily quick to act.”

He had only leaked a bit of dominance using Dragon’s mana when they briefly met, yet the mage fled without looking back.

‘It was the same when I met her mental form in the dream.’

The prince muttered.

“She’s no ordinary one.”

“As the first mage, she wouldn’t be ordinary.”

An old man in a hood approached from among the swordsmen in black. It was Viscount Paipers, the Magic Scholar.

“What will you do now? We’ve killed everyone who saw you and the mage, but…”

“The mage and her party remain.”

Viscount Paipers nodded.

“Yes.”

Mage.

Magic had been the dream of the Oken Emperors since previous generations.

And now Prince Archaik had obtained Dragon’s cooperation to create magic users, and he had even found not just a partial magic user but a complete mage.

The viscount bowed respectfully toward the prince.

“If you capture this first mage created with Dragon’s mana, Your Highness will surely be appointed as Crown Prince.”

Prince Archaik knew this fact well.

“Of course.”

However, the prince’s face wasn’t bright as he spoke of the brilliant future. A dark madness flickered in his black eyes.

‘How dare she…’

He clenched his fist until veins stood out.

The mana filling her was clearly his own.

‘She became a mage with my mana, yet she dares reject me?’

Wasn’t this utterly outrageous?

The mana was his possession. Therefore, the mage should rightfully be his as well.

Yet she had rejected him and fled.

“Your Highness, shall we track them?”

A subordinate carefully asked.

“…”

Archaik stopped himself just as he was about to order it.

The impulse to destroy and kill everything, mage or not.

His mouth went dry as that blood-boiling impulse and the tense urgency to possess her arose simultaneously.

The mage.

The man beside her.

The others with her.

The prince narrowed his eyes as he looked outside.

He said, “Eliminate them all.”

“What?”

Viscount Paipers asked in surprise.

“Your Highness, if you kill the mage, your appointment as Crown Prince…!”

“It’s my position anyway.”

Prince Archaik said arrogantly and coldly.

“It’s more important to cut off dangerous elements now.”

“By dangerous elements, you mean?”

“That woman has already grown considerably as a mage. She resisted my dominance.”

Viscount Paipers unconsciously moistened his lips with his tongue.

“Th-then her leaving now wasn’t by chance but…”

“She sensed me as a threat and tried to escape.”

“This can’t be.”

The viscount broke into a sweat.

“How is this possible? Since Your Highness gained resonance with the Dragon, all magic users have sworn loyalty upon seeing Your Highness’s golden eyes.”

At Viscount Paipers’s words, Prince Archaik frowned. Come to think of it, the man who stood to protect the mage was also a magic user.

‘He didn’t submit to me either.’

Prince Archaik thought he knew why.

‘That silver-haired bastard…’

That insolent man who spoke impudently to him was ruining what was his.

“It must be because of those beside her.”

Prince Archaik said ominously.

“For some reason, there’s even a Sword Master by the mage’s side.”

“S-Sword Master?”

Viscount Paipers’s face turned pale.

“What bothers me most is another one. He had a different form of mana, not Dragon’s mana. It was identical to the energy I’ve been sensing from the northwest.”

That person’s mana was mixing with his own mana inside the ‘mage’.

‘She’s mine.’

Prince Archaik’s face turned cold.

Both the man who dared touch what was his, and the mage who accepted different mana and rejected him despite being his mage.

“It would be better to eliminate them completely. Raven!”

One of the subordinates in black quickly ran to him.

“You said there are no other villages or inns nearby?”

“Yes.”

Looking at the darkening mountain shadows in the distance, the subordinate continued.

“If they left here, they would have no choice but to camp.”

“Camping, is it. This works out better.”

The prince smiled.

“Follow them and deal with it.”

***

At the foot of a nearby mountain.

The Piert Ducal Family’s party had barely set up camp in a clearing among the forest and were sleeping.

Rustle rustle.

Whoosh.

Though the wind swept through the trees and night birds suddenly took flight, the campsite was quiet.

“Mmm…”

Leah burrowed into her blanket in her sleep.

A strange voice was heard nearby.

[Wake up.]

Was it a dream?

In her hazy state, the whisper became wind tickling her ears.

[Wake up.]

That wind surged from within her chest and enveloped her.

[I said wake up!]

“Huh?”

Suddenly she became fully alert.

She sat up abruptly.

“Who’s there?”

The blanket slipped from her shoulders at her vigilant movement. Janet had wrapped her in several layers since it would be cold in the mountains on an autumn night.

Yet she wasn’t cold at all even with the blanket falling off.

Rather, she felt hot.

‘Hot?’

Having been sick and weak for long, she was very sensitive to cold.

Usually she would sneeze right away if exposed to the night wind without covers in weather like this.

But this heat now.

‘Like there’s a fire nearby… fire?’

Leah jumped up.

‘What is this!’

The surroundings were bright.

Red and yellow light devoured the forest shadows and soared to the sky.

She was stunned for a moment before turning her head.

The entire area around the campsite was a sea of fire.

“Janet!”

Leah shook Janet who was sleeping beside her.

Janet, who would wake at the slightest sound while working as her dedicated maid.

Yet now she didn’t move at all.

‘Her chest is rising and falling so she’s breathing?’

Growing anxious, Leah checked Janet’s breathing by placing her hand near her nose, then patted her arm rapidly.

“Janet! Wake up, Janet!”

But it was no use.

“Is anyone there?”

Leah stood up and looked around.

This was strange.

With a fire this big, those more sensitive to movement than her should have woken first.

The knight on watch duty, the maids and servants, the coachman – all were unresponsive as if unconscious.

“Brother!”

Leah spotted Ruyan sitting against a tree near her headrest.

Ruyan Piert, who was superhuman in his sensitivity to movement.

Even he was sleeping while hugging his greatsword.

Leah muttered.

“Little brother… falling asleep during watch duty?”

That couldn’t be.

And there was no way he wouldn’t wake up with this fire.

She lifted her dress skirt and started running toward where the rest of the party was sleeping.

“Helix!”

Leah shouted.

“Helix! Karai!”

Since she had woken up, maybe at least those two would wake.

“Helix! Kyaa!”

“Leah.”

Helix caught Leah as she was about to fall on top of him and stood up.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re awake? You’re really awake?”

“Leah, calm down and tell me.”

“There’s a fire but no one’s waking up!”

At Leah’s words, Helix looked around with a face cleared of sleep.

In the increasingly bright campsite, the ducal party was sleeping peacefully.

“…It’s a sleep spell.”

“Sleep spell?”

“Someone cast a sleep spell and set the fire.”

Leah’s face turned pale.

It would be difficult enough for just Helix and her to rescue this many people, but with a sleep spell cast, it seemed even more impossible.

“Who would do this?”

“…That’s what I’d like to know.”

Helix looked around searching for someone.

“A sleep spell this natural could only be cast by an archmage or Dragon-level being… Karai!”

Helix found Karai and shook him.

“Karai! Karai, wake up!”

Even while being shaken like a doll in his grip, Karai didn’t wake.

Leah shook him too.

“Karai! Wake up! We need your barrier to protect everyone from the fire!”

“It seems useless, Leah.”

Helix said.

“If Karai, a magic user, is this deeply affected, the one who cast the spell must be a Dragon.”

“What?”

Leah’s eyes went wide.

“Dragons are supposed to be extinct so why do they only appear around me?!”

“…I’m sorry. It might be my fault.”

“What are you sorry for! That’s not it!”

Leah, who had shouted sharply, anxiously bit her lip.

The flames were approaching by the second, but with just the two of them, there was no way to save all these people.

‘If only I had water magic instead of fire magic!’

Wait.

Leah raised her head.

“Helix, are magic users weak to Dragon magic?”

“Yes. Whether magic users or mages, those who received Dragon’s mana are bound to be weak against Dragon magic.”

Then why hadn’t the sleep spell worked on her?

Whooosh…

As if answering her thoughts, the wind swirled around Leah.

Helix furrowed his brow.

“This wind…”