Even though Ophelia had given him permission, that didn’t mean he could run out of the Imperial Capital as if he had been waiting for permission. However, she must’ve known how he felt because she urged him to leave, saying that the longer they delayed their parting, the longer their reunion would be delayed. 

  Kim Seon-Hyeok simply expressed his regret by saying that he would come back as soon as possible. 

  “Joon-Min.”
As soon as it became daylight, Kim Seon-Hyeok immediately contacted the Warrior and explained everything he had discussed with Ophelia. 

  [If only it wasn’t the Demon Realm or whatever it is. Then, I’d be able to do it on my own.]

  It seemed like the Warrior was feeling ashamed of himself for not being able to do his part whenever an important situation came up. Although he was supposed to be the Demon King’s adversary, he hadn’t been able to deal with the previous Demon King with his own strength, and even this time, he had to get the help of Kim Seon-Hyeok again. His despondent tone wasn’t completely incomprehensible. 

  “Don’t say that. Right now, you and the Holy Sword have a big role to play.”
Right now in their current situation, none of them knew what happened to most of the Templar Knights and the priests inside the Holy Kingdom. Because of that, the existence of the Warrior and the Holy Sword was more important than ever. Even with the few lucky priests and Templar Knights who had been outside the Holy Kingdom, it was difficult to block the Wave.

  Right now, where it was assumed that the high-ranking priests were almost annihilated, the Warrior was the only one who could fight against a powerful demon. 

  “Hold on, Joon-Min.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok encouraged the now depressed Warrior.

  “Just hold on until I return.”
[I’ll hold on. Even if my level drops to 1, I will hold on.]

  Just by listening to the grimness of the Warrior’s voice, Seon-Hyeok could tell that the situation on the defense line was several times worse than what he had seen in the video.

  He wished he could fly to the Central region right now and add his strength to it. However, it would be no different to a slightly stronger superhuman joining the front line. With just that, it wouldn’t be enough to deal with the catastrophe in the Holy Kingdom. 

  That was why he could only tell the Warrior the same thing he told Ophelia, that he would return as soon as possible.

  Having ended the communication, Kim Seon-Hyeok prepared to leave for the North immediately. He didn’t need a lot of time to prepare; all he needed was a bit of food and a saddle to cinch onto Redvern. He was ready in no time at all.

  “I’ll be back soon.”
Ophelia’s expression was calm as ever as she held Victorius to see him off. However, even the iron-blooded Empress couldn’t hide her trembling eyes at this moment. 

  “Don’t worry about things here. Just please come back safely after finishing your business.”
Nevertheless, even in their last moments, she chose to see him off as an imposing monarch rather than send him off as a regular wife.

  “Ophelia…”
But her appearance only made her seem more pitiful. Kim Seon-Hyeok embraced her tightly and kissed her on the forehead before he left. 

  “Be healthy and safe until I come back. Don’t overwork yourself.”
After hugging the newborn baby who couldn’t even open his eyes, Kim Seon-Hyeok finally climbed onto Redvern. 

  “I promise. When I return, there will be no more threats to the Empire.”
He pledged to her from atop Redvern, who was flapping his wings vigorously.

  “And I will never leave you again.”
With those words, Redvern flew away with a strong gust of wind.

  “I value your safe return more than something like that.”
When Redvern finally wasn’t visible any longer as he soared high in the sky, Ophelia sighed as she tightly hugged her squirming newborn.

  “Your Imperial Majesty, the wind is cold.”
If it hadn’t been for Marquis Reinhardt, watching by her side, leading her inside, she wouldn’t have left her spot for a long time.

  ***

  [It’s been a while.]

  As soon as Kim Seon-Hyeok left the Imperial Capital, he saw a purple halation gathering. And then, it turned into a small and beautiful dragon. 

  With wings resembling that of a butterfly and a mysterious appearance, it was the Fairy Dragon. 

  He wasn’t surprised at all by the sudden appearance of Geheimnis. It was as if he had known of its existence from the beginning.

  Kim Seon-Hyeok just glanced at her wings that had gotten flashier than before as well as the new curled horns that looked like a ram’s horns. 

  “I’ve been wondering when you’d appear. It’s about time you did. I thought it was odd that you didn’t when you should’ve.”
He spoke to Geheimnis after stopping Redvern for a moment.

  “Your role is to guide me to the Dragon.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok’s attitude had changed so much from before that the Fairy Dragon hesitated before responding.

  [I will guide you to her.]

  “Of course. Because you’ve always said that that’s your only mission.”
His attitude was all business.

  [Mm…]

  Geheimnis was hesitating as if she had something to say, but Kim Seon-Hyeok had zero intentions of listening to the sly Fairy Dragon.

  “What’re you doing? Why aren’t you leading the way?”
When Kim Seon-Hyeok tipped his chin to the far north, Geheimnis hesitated again before she resumed speaking in a soft voice.

  [By the way.]

  Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned, but the Fairy Dragon continued without paying him any mind. 

  [Won’t you make a contract with me?]

  “A contract? We’ve already made a contract, haven’t we?”
His lovely wife and child were in the Imperial Capital, and the Warrior and countless soldiers were in the Central region. They were all waiting for his return. 

  There was no way he would be happy when the Fairy Dragon was wasting time with something ridiculous when he was very busy.

  [Not a fake contract like that, but a real contract.]

  “Why now?”
Geheimnis’ voice turned sweet as if it had been coated in honey when Seon-Hyeok continued to be apathetic. 

  [Truthfully, the relationship between you and me is only based on the contract between me and her. In reality, you and I have no relationship. If you were to establish a true contract with me, then I can give you many things. I am different from the other dragons who are stupid and only know how to use their strength.]

  “Is that so?”
He stroked his chin for a moment before looking at Geheimnis.

  “What can you give me that the Dragon can’t?”
The Fairy Dragon shut her mouth.

  “If not, then I really don’t want it.”
[It’s difficult right now, but as time passes…]

  Even before Geheimnis’ words full of ulterior motive could fully enter his ears, Kim Seon-Hyeok spoke with a cold expression.

  “You’ve been quiet this whole time, but now that it seems like I’ll be seeing the Dragon, you want to make a real contract with me?”
The Fairy Dragon tried to say something again, but this time, he was faster.

  “You must really think I’m a fool.”
Perhaps if it had been in the past, he would have accepted her proposal. But not now.

  “I have a rough idea of what happened from Bluegon.” 
He had spent a long time in the deep sea in order to heal his broken body. And during that time, he had been able to have many conversations with Bluegon. In all honesty, Bluegon was a terrible conversationalist who was arrogant and not very truthful. But that didn’t mean Bluegon was arrogant enough to ignore his questions.

  “I might not know what crimes you’ve all committed in the past. However…”
Bluegon might not have ignored his questions,[1] but he had still been stingy with his words when talking about the past. That seemed to be one of the punishments they received.[2] 

  “I think I know now what you were originally, and what you could gain because of me.”
The Fairy Dragon’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had occurred.[3] 

  “At first, I was a bit dubious? But seeing you come out like this, I’m convinced now.”
Staring straight at the Fairy Dragon, he continued talking.

  “All of you……”
After pausing for a bit, he finally spoke with conviction.

  “Are Dragons, right?”
At his question, the Fairy Dragon froze.

  “I thought it was weird from the beginning.”
Unless he was an idiot, there was no way he couldn’t have guessed the identities of the dragon sub-species by now. Especially since the sub-species began looking surprisingly similar to the Dragon as they slowly regained their past appearance as time went on. 

  “Both Joon-Min and Min-Young are uncommonly powerful people, but strangely enough, in my eyes, they seemed to be lacking in something.”
The Warrior’s power with his non-human-like resilience and rate of growth, and the Illusion Beast Tamer’s power with her ability to summon countless Illusion Beasts - both of them were strong enough that it’d be difficult for them to find enemies on the continent. And yet, he still didn’t feel anything special about them. 

  In fact, there was a time when he overcame a large gap between levels and brought the Warrior to his knees. That wasn’t normal.

  “But when I thought about it, it wasn’t that Joon-Min or Min-Young was weak.”
No, it wasn’t that they weren’t special.

  “I was just too strong.”
He was too special.

  He had realized this fact when he had been able to defeat the Demon King even though he hadn’t met the Dragon yet.

  “And that’s because I have a contract with more than one dragon.”
Nearly ten years had passed since he had first heard the Dragon’s voice, and now, he finally realized this fact.  

  “Of course, I would be this strong. I’ve monopolized the strength that five Dragon Riders should have.”
The dragon sub-species weren’t meant to be beings who lent him their strength until he met the Dragon. They were all Dragons who were capable of making a contract with Dragon Riders. 

  “When we first met, everyone was in such a pathetic state that I had no clue.”
Goldrake had been on the verge of starvation, Bluegon had been terrified of completely turning into a sea serpent, Redvern had been captured by a mere monster hunter, and Redwyrm had been corroded by the demonic energy and become a demonic dragon. None of them had been normal.

  Who could have imagined that such beings would be the same beings as those great Dragons?

  [I am…]

  [That is enough. The Mystery Clan is not yet qualified to tell you personally about their existence.]

  As if pressing down on Geheimnis’ thoughts, an overpowering will penetrated Kim Seon-Hyeok’s mind. It was the Dragon.

  [Companion. The only one who can tell you the truth that you want to hear, is me. So take the step you have stopped taking and come to me. If you do that, you’ll finally learn everything.]

  “Even if you hadn’t said so, I was planning on doing that. At least, that’s what I would have been doing if Geheimnis hadn’t been dragging things out with the excuse of some strange contract.”
At his rather provoking and spiteful words, his mental connection with the Dragon was cut off. Seeing how the Fairy Dragon was flinching, it seemed like they were mentally talking to each other. 

  [No one will be able to stop you any longer.]

  With those words, the Dragon stopped talking to him.

  “Guide me.”
They hadn’t been able to wrap up their conversation on the contract, but Geheimnis didn’t dare comment on it anymore. Seeing how low her head was bowed, it seemed like she had been warned by the Dragon.

  “You’re not moving?”
When Kim Seon-Hyeok urged her again, the Fairy Dragon reluctantly answered.

  [I’ll guide you.]

  As soon as she finished talking, the Fairy Dragon spread her wings wide, with her body still drooping. A mysterious purple halo spread out and created a path in the sky. 

  [You must never leave this road. You cannot get to her by simply flying fast.]

  Having said that, the Fairy Dragon got on Redvern’s back.

  “Let’s go, Redvern.”
At his master’s words, Redvern spread his wings and started moving again. 

  “Hm…”
Kim Seon-Hyeok leaned on Redvern’s saddle and then glanced at Geheimnis. He couldn’t help but feel sympathy as he looked at the beautiful Fairy Dragon slumped over. 

  However, he had no intention of accepting Geheimnis’ offer so easily. 

  Even if he accepted the contract, he would only do so after he corrected the sly Fairy Dragon’s habit. If he didn’t fix the Fairy Dragon’s habit, somewhere down the road, she might purposefully omit the truth in order to make use of him.

  After staring at the Fairy Dragon for a moment, he turned his head and looked back at the path of light that had unfolded in front of him. 

  “Now, the end is really near.”
Seeing the world moving oddly fast, Kim Seon-Hyeok had an intuition that the day he would finally meet the Dragon wasn’t far off. 

  This road made of purple light was a milestone that would put an end to his long journey. The Dragon, whom he had so desperately wanted to meet, was at the end of it.

  He calmed his breath as he felt the Dragon’s presence gradually getting clearer. 

  1. I added this part in for continuity's sake so that it would flow with the narrative from before KSH’s sentence

  2. I believe ‘that’ refers to not talking about their past.

  3. Basically, she was in shock.