Chapter 76

Lionel, who couldn’t relax and enjoy the hot spring due to Ariel’s sudden appearance, quickly dried himself and stepped outside.

*Thud, thud.*

As Lionel walked through the cave-like passage, something pale suddenly blocked his path.

“?”

Lionel stopped in his tracks and glared.

“How dare you block a dragon’s path? Move aside now, or I’ll teach you a lesson.”

What stood in Lionel’s way was a large rabbit.

But it wasn’t a living rabbit. It was just a fluffy rabbit doll.

Lionel thought Ariel was wearing the rabbit doll as a disguise.

First, she barged into the hot spring, and now she was trying to prank him by wearing a rabbit costume.

The rabbit doll extended its stubby arm toward Lionel, as if asking for a handshake.

“How childish.”

Lionel coldly smacked the rabbit doll’s arm away, causing it to topple over.

“?”

Lionel was baffled.

He only tapped its arm, and it fell over so pitifully? He didn’t even hit it that hard.

To make matters worse, the rabbit doll slumped its head, as if it had fainted.

“Stop messing around.”

Lionel spoke with a slightly uneasy voice.

“I know you’re faking it. Get up now.”

But the rabbit doll didn’t move an inch.

“Ugh, seriously.”

Finally, Lionel bent down to pick up the rabbit doll by its torso.

“Get up already—”

*Thud.* The rabbit doll’s head fell off.

“Gah!”

Lionel gasped in shock and collapsed to the ground. The rabbit’s head rolled away and bumped into the wall.

Lionel’s face turned pale. What kind of doll just loses its head like that?

“?”

Then, he saw the inside of the rabbit doll’s head. It was completely empty.

*Thud, thud.*

Someone walked over.

Turning his head, Lionel saw Ariel standing there, staring at him intently.

“Wait, you were there? Then what’s with this rabbit…?”

Lionel looked at the rabbit doll’s torso in his arms. He thought Ariel was wearing the costume, but she wasn’t.

So how did this rabbit doll walk around and even offer a handshake?

“Telekinesis Magic.”

Ariel spoke softly. Lionel’s face gradually turned red.

“Dammit…”

He had told a telekinetically controlled rabbit doll to move, tried to pick it up when it fell, and even got scared when its head came off…

“Want to try wearing it?”

At Ariel’s question, Lionel grimaced.

“Why would I wear this? I’m a dragon! I wouldn’t wear some lowly animal’s skin! Take it away now!”

Lionel handed the rabbit doll’s torso back to Ariel.

The torso then moved on its own, walking back toward the wall.

It picked up its fallen head and placed it back on its body.

As if it were alive, it reassembled itself.

‘She can use Telekinesis Magic that naturally…?’

Lionel was inwardly impressed.

And it looked kind of fun.

He thought he should practice it himself when Ariel wasn’t around.

“By the way, why did you barge into the hot spring earlier?”

Lionel crossed his arms and glared at Ariel.

“That’s weird. Normally, people wait outside when someone’s bathing. Isn’t that common courtesy?”

“Sorry.”

Ariel apologized again.

Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

But since she apologized, Lionel decided to let it go.

“I’ll let it slide this time. But next time, you’re really in for it.”

“Okay.”

Ariel hung her head low.

She seemed a bit down.

“……”

Lionel felt a little guilty.

This elf, after all, took good care of Rakia and even came all this way to see her. Had he been too harsh?

He was a dragon, and he had gotten so angry. She must have been scared. She was just a young elf.

‘Well… she probably didn’t mean any harm by entering the hot spring… and she left right away…’

Lionel hesitantly approached Ariel.

“Hmph, you don’t have to look so down… Wait, you’re smiling!”

Now he noticed Ariel was trying to suppress a smile. She had lowered her head to hide it.

“You! Seriously! How does an elf like you even exist?!”

Lionel was at a loss for words.

Ariel lifted her head.

“By the way, there’s a way to heal your mother.”

“What? Are you messing with me again? Even for you, this joke is too much—”

“The Saintess.”

“Huh?”

Lionel blinked.

“The Saintess…? The Saintess… Ah!”

Lionel clapped his hands.

“Mother said the human Saintess is blessed by the gods! That’s right, the human Saintess could definitely break the Dark Magic curse! Why didn’t I think of that before?”

A bright smile spread across Lionel’s face. He had finally found a way to break the Dark Magic curse on his mother.

“Thank you!”

Without thinking, Lionel hugged Ariel tightly, forgetting that she had just pranked him.

“Thank you so much! We’re saved now!”

Ariel gently patted Lionel’s broad back.

The dwarf’s beard tickled her neck, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.

*

Ariel and Lionel walked hand in hand back to where Rakia was.

Behind them, the telekinetically controlled rabbit doll followed, *thud, thud*.

When they returned to the spot, Ghost and Black were lying on either side of Rakia.

The two wolves had their heads resting on Rakia’s knees, peacefully closing their eyes.

Roo was perched on Rakia’s shoulder, chatting away.

Roo had been telling Rakia about their dungeon adventures and their visit to the Lizardman Kingdom. Rakia listened with sparkling eyes, interjecting with “As expected of Lady Ariel! Amazing!” whenever Ariel’s deeds were mentioned.

“Rakia.”

Lionel called out to her with a smile.

“You heard, right? About the way to heal Mother.”

“Yeah. We just need to bring the human Saintess here.”

“But how do we do that?”

The discussion about their next steps began.

The human Saintess was undoubtedly residing in the Cathedral in the Imperial Capital.

The Saintess was a figure as important as the Hero, so she couldn’t be approached by just anyone. She was under heavy guard.

The Cathedral where the Saintess stayed was surrounded by powerful magical barriers, and hundreds of elite Holy Knights guarded her day and night.

In some ways, she was harder to meet than the Emperor, and for good reason.

The Saintess was a miracle-worker.

From the Demon King’s Army’s perspective, she was the first target to eliminate.

Could they really bring such a person here?

“I’ll go.”

Rakia declared confidently.

“I’ll go and capture the Saintess right now. Even if it means reducing the Empire to ashes…”

“No, wait, Rakia, that’s not okay.”

Lionel quickly stopped her.

“Mother wouldn’t like that. Besides, dragons aren’t supposed to interfere in other races’ affairs.”

Dragons couldn’t interfere in other races’ matters unless they were directly threatened.

It was a rule set by the Dragon Lord to maintain the world’s balance. Without it, most other races might have been wiped out by dragons.

Dragons were the strongest beings on the planet.

Their interference could easily disrupt the world’s balance, like when a human kingdom was reduced to ashes overnight.

Of course, if the Demon King’s Army threatened the continent’s stability or if another race attacked the dragons, they could intervene.

But burning down the Imperial Capital just to bring the Saintess here?

“Mother would be furious, and the Dragon Lord would be too.”

“Hmm…”

Fortunately, Rakia understood that and quickly backed down.

“Then what do we do? Should we ask the humans? They might listen since it’s a dragon’s request. No, they *have* to listen. Those lowly creatures wouldn’t dare refuse!”

“Calm down.”

Lionel soothed Rakia.

“Peacefully asking them is probably the best option. It hurts our pride, but there’s no other way. The bigger problem is, it takes over a day to fly to the Imperial Capital, and you and I need to maintain Mother’s barrier.”

“Right.”

“We can’t go. If the barrier breaks, Mother will be in danger.”

“Ah…”

Rakia’s face darkened.

Now that she thought about it, it was true. If the barrier wasn’t maintained, the Dark Magic would spread through their mother’s body, and there would be no way to reverse it.

For now, they had to take turns maintaining the barrier.

“I’ll go.”

Ariel, who had been fiddling with the rabbit doll, spoke quietly.

“Bringing the Saintess here, right?”