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"Are you saying my body isn't good enough to achieve my goals?"
"Well... you could say that. But this is just the current card. The body can always be trained. The future card is more important. How about... taking a look at the future card?"
"Isn't that why I'm sitting here?"
"Heh heh. I suppose so. Alright. Let's see..."
The old woman chose the last card more carefully and slowly than when she drew the current card.
The future card slowly turned over.
Davian frowned.
"Oh dear..."
The future card depicted a corpse with its body in pieces.
Blood was pooling on the floor, and knights and mages were watching the scene.
The old woman looked flustered, and Davian regretted sitting down.
"Well... the future card doesn't look too good either."
"Past and future, both death, how can this be...? Ah, no. I'm just talking to myself."
It was obvious she wanted to be heard.
"...Davian is named."
While Davian was wondering, 'Did I tell her my last name too?'
The old woman's fingertip pointed to the corpse's right hand.
"Do you know the name of this flower in its hand?"
Following the old woman's finger, they saw the corpse's right hand holding a purple flower.
"I'm not sure."
"It's called a Rudere flower. Its meaning is hope."
"It's hard to see any hope for a corpse that's already been dismembered."
The old woman's dark eyes stared into Davian's.
"The answer lies within yourself."
"What's with the sudden answer?"
"Heh heh heh. You'll know in time."
The old woman gathered the cards with her wrinkled hands and put them back into the leather pouch.
"Davian is named. Remember this card well. Until the last moment. Heh heh heh."
The old woman stood up and tapped the table with her fingertip.
The wooden table, which had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, vanished in an instant.
Since the chair he was sitting on disappeared as well, Davian almost fell backward on his bottom.
"Heh heh heh."
The hunched-over old woman disappeared into the crowd.
'The last moment...'
Just then, Latia approached, taking her newly purchased ring on and off her finger.
"What are you staring at with such a blank look?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Did you buy a ring? Do you like it?"
"Yeah. It's much better than the ones they sell in Elton. And cheaper too."
Before long, Bonita and Nubes joined them after looking at weapons.
An hour later.
The Gray Bear expedition, finally reunited, set off toward the mining area.
Deep in the Perum Mountains.
"According to the letter we received from the informant yesterday, they will find the fifth trace in earnest today or tomorrow."
Bonita asked.
"Then should we let them find it and then take it all at once?"
Davian shook his head.
"There's no need to. If we steal the 4th trace, they won't be able to get the traces here."
"I guess so. Stopping the other expedition team is the priority."
"That's right."
Velum stretched as he walked.
"Ugh, boring. We've been climbing mountains for hours. Hey, Chatterbox, tell us something. What kind of traces of the Archmage are there in this mining area?"
"What? Velum. You know it all, don't you? You and I wrote the complete script together."
Libere cherished the script before most of it was cut by Davian, calling it the 'complete version.'
He said it was his debut as a playwright.
"Hey, I just wrote the lines to fit the moment. And you're the one who remembers all that stuff. I've already forgotten it all."
"Really? Then since everyone else is here, shall I tell you what happened in these Perum Mountains?"
Luna skipped over.
"Yeah! That sounds fun."
Davian looked at Luna.
Normally, she would have been exhausted and on the verge of giving up on the hike.
But she had already taken four hydra regeneration tonics, so her stamina was 1.5 times higher than usual.
Davian paused for a moment and looked over the group climbing the mountain.
Nubes, Velum, and Bonita, who were in the swordsmanship department, already had good stamina, and they were taking the tonics, so there was nothing to worry about.
Libere was also surprisingly light on his feet.
There was only one person he was worried about.
Latia Meridiem.
True to her personality, she hadn't complained or shown any signs of distress, but she was already pouring with sweat.
He didn't know what kind of battle would break out when they met the Leonel Specula-led expedition, so he couldn't just let such an important force become exhausted.
Davian approached Latia.
"Latia."
"...What? Hah."
Even answering a single word made her breathe harder.
Yet she silently kept looking forward and climbing.
She was tough, that's for sure.
"Want a piggyback?"
Latia barely raised her arm and waved it in the air before answering.
"Hah, hah. If you're going to say...nonsense, get lost... I'm already... exhausted."
"Why, it's not like it's your first time getting a piggyback ride. Don't you remember when we went to get the Stone of Enlightenment?"
"G-g-get lost... That was... then. Hah. Hah."
"I heard from Libere that people from the Specula family aren't good at using magic."
"..."
She didn't even bother answering anymore.
She was trying to look annoyed, but in reality, she was just too tired.
It was clear that her breathing had become even more labored after those few words.
"Libere, see? He doesn't have any talent for magic. That's how everyone in that family is."
"..."
"So what would they have done? They wouldn't have formed an expedition team without a mage."
"Hah. Hah... What nonsense are you talking about?"
"There are many skilled warriors in the mercenary guild, but there aren't many decent mages. They must have paid the Magic Tower to hire a mage."
"..."
"Don't you want to fight one? A real mage from the Magic Tower, I mean. You're not going to wear the title of 'genius girl limited to the academy' forever, are you? You should fight a real mage, too."
Latia stopped walking.
Latia looked intently at Davian, barely raising her head.
"..."
"But can you even put up a proper fight in this state?"
Latia's back rose and fell sharply.
"Hoo... Hoo..."
Latia forcefully calmed her breathing.
"...Give me a piggyback ride."
"What? I can't hear you."
"Ugh. Then just give me a piggyback ride. But... instead..."
Davian turned his back to Latia.
Having been piggybacked twice before, Latia naturally wrapped her arms around Davian's neck.
"...Instead. If there's a Magic Tower mage, you have to let me have them. I'll fight them."
"Alright."
A small voice, like a mosquito buzzing, was heard from behind his back.
"...Thank you, Davian."
"What?"
"It's nothing. Just go."
Davian strode forward and joined the group.
As soon as they saw Davian and Latia, Velum made a fuss.
"Oh? What's this? You two? When did you become like that?"
"What are you talking about? 'Like what'? Latia's stamina is no different from a regular person."
Only then did Velum notice Latia's face and hair, drenched in sweat.
Her blonde hair, which always flowed smoothly, was completely soaked as if she had just taken a shower.
"Ah... That's right. We weren't paying attention. Sorry, Latia."
Then he came to Davian's side and nudged Davian's side with his elbow.
"Oh... Davian. You had this side to you? What's with the consideration."
"I just didn't want to waste a key force on something like hiking."
"Oh... Davian. What an excuse."
"Get lost."
"Oh... Davian. What power. Hahahaha."
Velum quickly stepped back to avoid Davian's swinging fist.
If he really wanted to hit him, he could have swung it so he couldn't dodge it.
But the goal was just to chase him away before he said any more nonsense, so he achieved his purpose.
And.
Luna Pueri was staring at the scene quietly.
This time, she lowered her head and looked at her own perfectly fine legs.
Luna's shoulders slumped helplessly.
"Tsk..."
After the piggyback ride situation had calmed down, Libere started the story again.
"Okay, okay. Listen again. So the place where the Archmage Fabian Hendricks met the Mad Dragon Insanis was here in the Perum Mountains."
Nubes asked in surprise.
"The Mad Dragon Insanis? That legendary crazy dragon?"
"Yeah. That crazy dragon that appears in one out of every ten dragons."
Dragons live lives close to infinite.
In fact, dragon lives are not infinite, but to a human living only one hundred years, it seems so.
During that long life, dragons encounter information, gain experience, and improve their wisdom.
Also, in that process, they experience countless deaths.
Whether it's death they caused, or death they tried to prevent, the weight continues to accumulate.
After more than a thousand years, a dragon eventually goes crazy, about one in ten.
Even that is thanks to the dragon's powerful mental strength.
If humans were to live such a life, by the end of their lives, almost all of them, instead of only one in ten, would go crazy.
Mad Dragon.
When news of the appearance of a mad dragon arrives, the other dragons gather their strength and come to deal with the mad dragon themselves.
However.
The time of dragons flows differently than the time of humans.
After the appearance of a mad dragon, humans cannot know if it will take 1 year, 10 years, or 100 years for the other dragons to unite and come to deal with the mad dragon.
They simply record that time in history books as a terrible disaster.
"At this time, Fabian Hendricks, who was already the Archmage of Alcancia, led an army and advanced into the Perum Mountains. The goal was to temporarily seal the Mad Dragon Insanis. Despite the deployment of Alcancia's main army and the strongest Archmage, the goal was only temporary sealing, not elimination. That's how tremendous the power of a dragon is."
Before long, the Gray Bear expedition was deeply engrossed in Libere's story.
Davian, who had seen Fabian's autographed autobiography, was the same.
There were things in Libere's story that Davian didn't even know.
Velum asked.
"Temporary seal? Then what happens if the seal is released again?"
"There's no choice. Anyway, they had to minimize the damage until the other dragons arrived. If they stood idly by, half of the life on the continent might be wiped out. A mad dragon is nothing less than a natural disaster-level monster."
"So. So what happened? Did they win? Did they lose?"
"They won. The Archmage's army was victorious. It was a battle that lasted for a full 200 days. It is said that Archmage Fabian Hendricks had outstanding insight not only in magic but also in tactics. They avoided head-on battles and divided the army, harassing the Mad Dragon Insanis without rest for 200 days. Little by little, exhausting it."
This time Bonita asked.
"They fought a dragon for 200 days? An army? What about supplies? Isn't that too glorified? That's what history is like. Maybe there was no Mad Dragon in the first place."
Davian turned to look at Bonita.
Bonita was wrong.
Of course, the fact that the human army fought a dragon for 200 days might be an exaggeration.
But at least, there was a Mad Dragon from the start.
The Mad Dragon Insanis was a real dragon.
It is buried in stone in these Perum Mountains even now.
That is where.
The fifth of the Archmage's twelve traces is located.
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