Chapter 56
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“Ah, no!”
Lizzy yelled, realizing she was about to queue up for the next game in frustration.
Lizzy had just scored 27 kills with top Shyvana, only to lose because of her team.
It was already her ninth match.
“Why, why?!”
Hina, who had been dozing off nearby, spoke up as she saw Lizzy log out.
“Truly, this game is as wicked as a Gold Dragon. I almost lost my mind.”
“But, I haven’t played much yet, so just a little more…”
Though almost the entire day had already passed.
For a dragon, it was indeed a short time.
But Lizzy was starting to regain her senses.
“No. No matter how much I think about it, this isn’t right. Leaving my eggs to humans alone…”
“N-no…!”
“L-let me go!”
Hina grabbed onto Lizzy’s wings and held on.
Lizzy shook her wings, tossing Hina off, and leaped out the window.
Hina hurriedly descended the magic tower.
But Lizzy had already transformed into her dragon form.
“W-wait…! You can’t do this…!”
“What’s wrong with wanting to find my eggs? They’re mine!”
“Ugh…!”
Hina tried once more to climb onto Lizzy to stop her, but it was futile.
Hina’s tiny form looked like a mere speck of dust compared to Lizzy’s massive dragon body.
“Graaaaah—!”
In the end, Lizzy took off with Hina clinging to her back.
Hina desperately held onto Lizzy’s scales.
“Hold on here! If you stay there, you’ll fall!”
Following Lizzy’s advice, Hina climbed up to Lizzy’s nape.
It was certainly more stable.
Of course, that didn’t mean the fear disappeared.
The higher they climbed, the more her legs trembled.
“S-so scary…!”
“Then why did you climb on?”
“B-but… if you burn down a human village, it’s over…!”
Hina, who had to stop Lizzy, had no choice.
If she let Lizzy go, Rai might suspend her account.
Instead, Hina directed Lizzy toward where Rai had gone.
It was better than burning down an innocent village.
“Waaaaah—!”
And so, Hina and Lizzy quickly arrived at a beach.
The coastal canyon nearby was where the Tower Masters had discovered the eggs.
“This is… near that guy’s nest.”
Approaching the sea cliff, Lizzy muttered to herself.
Near the secluded coastline lay the nest of the Ash Dragon.
Not as obnoxious as the Gold Dragon, but Lizzy found the Ash Dragon unpleasant.
It had an eerie vibe she couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“That guy?”
“Yeah. The Ash Dragon lives around here. It looks kinda like Horntail.”
“U-ugh… is that it?”
“Hm?”
When Lizzy followed the direction of Hina’s finger, she saw a massive dragon perched atop a towering cliff.
The dragon had its head buried into the ground, observing something closely.
“W-why is that guy here…!”
Seeing the actual Ash Dragon, Lizzy panicked.
As they got closer, the Ash Dragon’s eyes fixed on Lizzy.
“Urgh…”
Lizzy didn’t want to confront the Ash Dragon.
But with the eggs below, she couldn’t retreat.
“…H-hi.”
“Are those eggs below yours?”
The Ash Dragon spoke as Lizzy drew closer.
Still clinging to Lizzy, Hina looked up at the Ash Dragon.
Lizzy was already huge, but the full-sized Ash Dragon was far larger.
“S-so what! It’s normal to lose a few eggs during life.”
“You didn’t appear no matter how I called. So, this was why.”
Over the past two days, the dragons had been grumbling incessantly.
Lizzy had been absent, leaving behind the chores she usually handled.
“Y-you came down just because of that?”
“No. I only came because the flow of mana in this area has drastically shifted.
“This place should’ve been an area where humans can no longer move freely.”
The Ash Dragon looked down at the ground.
At first glance, it was just land, but beyond the illusion magic cast there, a glass window was visible.
“W-why is this…”
Hina tilted her head in confusion but soon realized what it was.
It was an entirely different kind of illusion magic.
Through the illusion, Hina also saw Rai and his group below.
“It seems to be that human’s doing.
“And that… is a very interesting spell.”
At the end of the Ash Dragon’s gaze was an artifact shaped like a maple leaf.
“…I have no reason to care about human affairs. But I will take that.”
Then, from beneath the glass window, the ‘Maple Leaf Story’ artifact floated toward the Ash Dragon.
The Ash Dragon carried the ‘Maple Leaf Story’ artifact back to its lair.
“Phew… I-I’ll call Rai.”
Relieved, Hina descended through the illusion magic.
***
“What on earth is going on?”
A scene of chaos unfolded above.
After the appearance of the gray Ash Dragon, Lizzy also showed up.
The two spoke briefly before the dragon left with the ‘Maple Leaf Story’ artifact.
It seemed unthinkable, but… surely they hadn’t come for the game, right?
As everyone was running around in confusion, Hina emerged from a hidden passageway above.
“Tower Master?”
“Raiii—”
Hina came rushing over, blubbering, as she explained the situation.
It seemed stopping Lizzy with just the game had its limits.
Luckily, the timing worked out.
“More importantly, what is this place, Tower Master?
“There’s so much illusion magic here I’ve never seen before.”
“W-well… I’m not sure either…”
Hina seemed equally clueless about the illusion magic in the area.
Since there was no immediate way to figure it out, we decided to leave this place for now.
Following Hina outside, Lizzy retrieved her eggs.
“I really found it, human. And this is…”
“Eek!”
Lizzy picked up Hetz with her fingers as she spoke.
Facing the Half-Dragon’s murderous glare, Hetz let out an unsightly scream.
“Leave that person to me. I’ll handle it properly.”
“How are you going to kill him?”
“I-it’s not about killing him. I’ll make sure this never happens again.”
“…For now, fine. I need to return the egg to the nest as soon as possible. But I’ll check to see if you handle it properly.”
“Yes, understood.”
With that, Lizzy took the egg and left. Judging by her demeanour, it seemed she was in a hurry to leave.
Thanks to that, Hetz narrowly escaped with his life.
“Let’s head back as well.”
We started our return journey.
This time, we took a slightly different route to first visit the village that Lizzy had burned with her Breath.
“This is…”
“It’s the village that the Half-Dragon destroyed in her rage. Naturally, most of the villagers died, except for a few.”
The village was shrouded in ash.
Everything—plants, buildings—was burned down to powder.
Scattered throughout the area were bones lying in various positions.
Everyone sighed deeply at the sight.
Hetz was rendered speechless by the scene.
We then reached a small town where the surviving children were.
Fortunately, the children were doing well with the food and clothes I had given them.
“These are the few surviving children.”
Hetz still couldn’t find the words to speak.
“You said you became rich by robbing the Gold Dragon’s lair. All that money will be used for these children. And for others in similar situations.”
“…What? But that’s—”
“It’s money you stole from others anyway.”
“That was money I rightfully took from the dragon—”
“Exactly. You stole it from a dragon. ‘Rightfully’ doesn’t suit that claim. Of course, it doesn’t matter to me if you die at the hands of a Half-Dragon and I end up using it.”
“……”
I was planning to use Hetz’s money to create a relief organization.
There are many children in situations like this in this world.
Not just children, but similar groups of refugees as well.
Though the world is said to be at peace after the war, it’s still dangerous compared to modern standards.
And the quality of life and awareness of humans here lag far behind modern times.
I hoped that this incident would serve as a starting point to address some of these issues.
And maybe it would also reduce the number of people who become overly immersed in games and cause such incidents.
“…Alright.”
It seemed Hetz’s thoughts had changed, as he nodded in agreement.
***
“Ugh, arghhh! So annoying!”
After retrieving the egg, Lizzy found herself dealing with an even bigger nuisance.
The dragons had started pestering her to bring them the game from the Illusion Magic Tower.
Because the Ash Dragon had started playing Maple Leaf Story, the other dragons had become interested as well.
“They should just get it themselves… I don’t have any money!”
Of course, Lizzy didn’t have human currency.
She had plenty of treasures but lacked the knowledge of how to exchange them for money.
After days of enduring this, Lizzy finally decided to return to the Illusion Magic Tower.
She also wanted to check if the previous matter had been resolved properly.
“…It won’t get stolen again, will it?”
Since the last incident, Lizzy had set up stronger protections.
She had encased the egg in walls that were impossible for humans to destroy.
After checking them multiple times, Lizzy flew toward Trinity.
“…Hmm?”
While flying over the human city, Lizzy noticed something peculiar.
Upon closer inspection, the cityscape had changed.
There were humans dressed in unusual clothing carrying out relief activities.
The more remote and underdeveloped the area, the more frequently they appeared.
Occasionally, there were buildings adorned with a red cross in larger cities that she hadn’t seen before.
Then Lizzy saw a man and stopped flapping her wings.
It was Rai and Hetz.
Rai was scolding Hetz as he diligently carried out relief work.
It seemed this was all being done with Hetz’s money.
In a world where surviving was a struggle, doing such things was almost laughable to Lizzy.
Even so, she found herself unable to look away from him.
After watching for a while, Lizzy resumed her flight to the Illusion Magic Tower.
It wasn’t far from Trinity, so it wasn’t a long distance.
“L-Lizzy!”
Hina, who had grown a bit closer to Lizzy, greeted her warmly.
Lizzy explained her situation to Hina.
“U-um! If it’s just that much, I can give it to you. A-as long as Rai approves.”
“Really? When is Rai coming back?”
“H-he should be back soon, so if you wait a bit… Until then, here…”
Hina handed COL to Lizzy.
The two spent their time playing COL together while waiting for Rai to return.
Lizzy actually regretted not taking COL with her last time.
“…What are you two doing?”
Several hours later, Rai returned and woke them up.
Hina flapped her arms as she explained the situation.
“If it’s just that much, fine. I don’t want to be attacked by dragons.”
Rai prepared a copy of the game for each dragon.
“But what’s that? The one with the red cross.”
“Oh, you noticed? With the money stolen by that egg thief, we established a relief organization. We also made an announcement urging people to stop stealing eggs or causing such incidents due to game addiction. So, from now on… those things shouldn’t happen anymore. Of course, people will still be addicted to games.”
“Hmm… Really?”
Lizzy was about to ask why he bothered with such pointless things but decided to keep quiet.
She felt like she already knew what his answer would be.
“Hmm…”
For some reason, Lizzy felt like she could understand her mother’s feelings when she made her a Half-Dragon.
***
Long before Maple Leaf Story was updated…
A user named <Ordinary Adventurer> was enjoying the world of Maple Leaf Story as usual.
“Hello there.”
At that moment, he was about to trade in the Free Market to grow stronger.
Although overly passionate, his skills were lacking.
He had money and planned to quickly level up by buying items.
Compared to famous users like <Fallen Power Warrior> and <Light of the Empire>, he was far behind.
Thus, a trade was about to be finalized.
Luckily, a user appeared who offered to sell all the items he needed.
“I’ll put them up now.”
The trading system required both parties to list their items and confirm to complete the trade.
The other user placed the items in the trade window, and <Ordinary Adventurer> added mesos worth billions.
<Ordinary Adventurer> confirmed the trade first.
“Yes, I’ll confirm too…”
The other user moved their hand toward the confirm button.
Or so it seemed.
“…?!”
In an instant, the other user withdrew the items and replaced them with random junk before confirming the trade.
It happened so fast that <Ordinary Adventurer> couldn’t cancel in time.
And so…
He had been scammed.
“Wait, stop! Stop right there!”
The scammer disappeared in the blink of an eye.
It wasn’t their first time pulling off such a trick.
“Nooo! Noooooo!!”
Furious, <Ordinary Adventurer> logged out and roared as he got up from his bed.
“Who could dare to be such a scoundrel!!!”
<Ordinary Adventurer>.
His true identity was the Emperor of the Empire.
—
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