Chapter 3

Baberi had no idea how many days had passed since she returned to the Kingdom of Tiris, but being transported around like a piece of luggage by the soldiers had driven her anger to its absolute limit.

“You can’t possibly be in your right mind and treat me like this!”

Baberi struggled furiously despite having her hands and feet bound.

“If you’re human, that is. Or did Glock lose more than just his hair when he went bald? Huh?”

“Are you mocking His Majesty?!”

The king’s knights glared and shouted at her, outraged that she dared say such things.

They even raised their hands as though they were about to strike her.

“So what if I am? Does it bother you?”

Baberi held her head high despite their threats.

She was so furious that she had completely lost her fear of consequences.

“Then punish me for insulting the king!”

Baberi wasn’t afraid of either the crime of insulting the king or the king’s knights.

She had been branded a traitor from birth anyway.

Adding another crime to her record wouldn’t change her situation.

“Why are you just standing there? Cut my head off for mocking the king!”

Baberi shouted with bloodshot eyes.

“You told me to kill a dragon, so I went and killed that damn thing that was nearly impossible to kill! And this is how you repay me?!”

King Glock had promised Baberi that if she successfully defeated the evil dragon, he would free her from her status as a traitor and give her gold and treasures.

Yet he had given her neither.

Instead, he had driven Baberi out of Tiris.

“Do you know Korea? Of course you don’t. I hadn’t even heard of the damn place until I was exiled there!”

Yoo Chaerin’s and Kongtteok’s faces appeared in Baberi’s muddled mind.

She told me to wake up early because we were going to the weekend farm.

She said she’d order tteokbokki when we got back.

My sister said that!

“I finally gave up and decided I could live there. And then, after throwing me out, you suddenly drag me back here and say what? Another dragon has appeared, so I have to take responsibility and kill it?”

Baberi gritted her teeth and growled.

“Isn’t this because you failed to kill the dragon properly back then, you useless wretch?”

The knight looked at Baberi contemptuously and hurled insults at her.

Baberi was so dumbfounded that her eyes widened as though they might pop out of their sockets.

No one could kill a dragon.

No weapon or magic worked against them.

The only way to kill a dragon was with a ballista, and the ballista had been passed down exclusively through the Rangs family for generations.

Everyone in the Rangs family except Baberi had been killed for their rebellion.

Therefore, Baberi was the only person capable of killing an otherwise invincible dragon.

Someone who should have been treated like royalty was being called useless.

“What about you great and mighty people, then? Why don’t you go kill the dragon yourselves!”

She had saved the life of a person who had been destined to become dragon food, only to discover that these shameless bastards existed.

Baberi’s eyes rolled with fury.

“Hang me from this cliff if you want! Torture me! I won’t kill the dragon, so do whatever you want!”

“Are you saying you will defy His Majesty’s orders?”

The knights tried to put on a threatening front, but their voices had noticeably lost their confidence.

They had assumed that if they intimidated Baberi a little, they could force her to obey.

But her resistance was much fiercer than expected.

“Get yourselves nicely roasted by its breath. That white lizard will probably drool with delight!”

Baberi noticed that they were slowly beginning to understand reality—and fear it.

So she deliberately let out a strange, cackling laugh to push their fear to its limit.

“Tell the king this. He can go feed himself to the lizard!”

“You little—!”

Just as one of the knights raised his hand to strike Baberi for shamelessly mouthing off despite having no fear, a huge shadow fell over their heads.

It wasn’t a bird.

It was closer to a cloud.

But it was moving far too quickly to be a cloud.

Sensing something strange, both the knights and Baberi looked up at the sky.

The shadow swept rapidly across the sky, accompanied by the roar of a beast.

“It’s a dragon!”

The knights completely panicked at the sight of the dragon flying over the canyon on enormous wings and fled.

“Hey! If you’re going to run away, at least untie me first!”

Her hands were bound with rope, her feet with chains heavier than the rope, and she had neither a weapon nor armor.

It was the worst possible situation for either fighting or running away.

Baberi bit down hard on her lip.

When she looked up, the dragon was circling directly above her.

“Shit. I’m screwed. I need to survive if I’m going to get revenge. At this rate, I’m going to die before the bald bastard does.”

Dragging her feet, Baberi squeezed herself between several large rocks and hid.

Soon, she heard the heavy thud of the dragon landing in the canyon.

Baberi squeezed her eyes shut.

Clomp. Clomp.

The sound of footsteps approached.

Baberi held her breath.

Then the footsteps stopped.

Good.

He can’t find me.

Just go somewhere else.

There are plenty of meaty, delicious knights around. Go eat them instead.

“Rangs. I know you’re in there, so come out.”

“XX! This is why you should never assume you’ve made it!”

Baberi immediately cursed.

The great dragon has quite the intuition.

Or maybe he can already see what I’m doing from up there.

If so, he’s got incredible eyesight too.

Truly the greatest creature on the face of the earth. Wonderful!

Baberi sarcastically praised the dragon in her head as she tried to crawl out from between the rocks.

But apparently she had forced herself into a space that was far too narrow.

Her body was wedged tightly between the rocks and wouldn’t come out.

“Rangs.”

When Baberi failed to emerge, the dragon walked over and stood directly in front of her.

Silver hair that reached down to his chest.

Blue eyes that looked as though everything in existence was beneath his notice.

There was no doubt.

It was Kure—the dragon Baberi had fought two years ago.

How is he walking around perfectly fine after I dealt him a fatal wound?

I’m seriously screwed.

Baberi inhaled deeply through her nose and exhaled through her mouth.

She had to calm down.

Even when she had been in peak condition, she had barely managed to defeat this opponent after fighting with everything she had.

Now her body was a mess, and her hands and feet were bound.

Fighting in this state would simply mean dying a pointless death.

How am I supposed to get out of this?

Come on, brain. Think.

Baberi bit down hard on her lower lip and desperately searched for a way to escape death.

“What are you doing?”

Kure asked Baberi, who still hadn’t come out from between the rocks.

“Have you decided to make yourself a new home in there? It suits you. It’s about the right size for your narrow-mindedness.”

I’d love to shoot another ballista bolt at him just for the way he talks.

Baberi’s insides boiled with anger, but she smiled.

Then she half-lidded her eyes and looked at Kure.

“Lord Kure.”

“…Why are you saying my name like that? It’s disgusting.”

Kure frowned and genuinely seemed to hate it.

Baberi ignored his wary gaze and maintained her deliberately sweet expression.

“Let’s make one request, human to dragon, Lord Kure.”

“I’m stuck.”

“What?”

“I’m stuck.”

Kure looked Baberi up and down with his eyes.

So that’s why she hadn’t come out of the rocks.

She was literally stuck.

The realization was utterly absurd.

“So this is the Dragon Slayer who defeated me? Pathetic.”

“Wow. Lord Kure, you really have such a pretty way with words.”

Baberi stared at Kure with dull eyes and replied without a trace of emotion.

“Anyway, just pull me out once. Please.”

Baberi winked at Kure.

In order to escape her predicament, she shamelessly pretended to be friendly with a dragon.

He’s not going to eat me along with the rocks, is he?

He’ll probably pull me out.

Then I’ll figure out how to run away somehow…

“It’s the favor of my lifetime, Lord Kure. We’re close enough that you can do at least that much for me, aren’t we?”

Baberi repeatedly winked while simultaneously planning her escape in her head.

But Kure coldly turned his head away.

“I’ll consider it if you promise not to do that thing.”

That thing?

I’m acting all cute with this beautiful face, and this heartless bastard still won’t give in.

Ah, right.

He’s a dragon.

So technically, he doesn’t have a human heart.

Baberi regretted wasting her effort and straightened the eye she had been forcing into a wink.

As soon as she stopped winking, Kure slowly turned his head and looked directly at her.

“Baberi Rangs.”

Kure crossed his arms and stood at a slight angle as he looked down at Baberi.

His eyes were complicated, as though he were recalling something in his mind.

“I’ve been searching for you all this time. But the human who knew your whereabouts…”

“Is this going to take long?”

Baberi interrupted when she realized Kure was about to start telling a long story.

Her arm had been pressed awkwardly against the rock for some time, cutting off its circulation.

She was beginning to lose all feeling in it.

“Can’t you pull me out first and then tell me?”

“When someone is speaking, listen first. You’ve never been very good at listening, even in the past.”

“Giving me a lecture when you’re not even human…”

Baberi muttered.

Kure shot her a sideways glance.

Baberi thought his glare was particularly fierce, perhaps because he was a reptile.

“Fine. I’ll listen. I’m listening, Lord Kure. But please keep it short.”

Baberi urged Kure to hurry.

I’m listening.

I’m paying attention.

I’m not cursing you in my head.

Really.

“I heard that even after becoming the Dragon Slayer, you received no reward. I thought humans considered you the hero of the continent, but apparently you were actually exiled?”

He’s not my stalker, so why does he know all this?

Baberi complained internally while putting on an innocent smile and nodding.

“That’s right. I was exiled to a place so far away that even a dragon couldn’t reach it by flying there.”

Because of someone.

The moment she thought of Glock, Baberi felt the blood rush to her head again.

How should I get revenge on that bald bastard?

I want to make him cry tears of blood.

And stress him out so badly that all his remaining hair falls out, making his forehead bigger and bigger.

“Baberi Rangs, you want revenge against Glock, don’t you?”

Kure slightly raised his chin and asked provocatively.

For a moment, Baberi wondered if she had accidentally said her thoughts out loud.

That must mean what Glock did to me was really horrible.

Baberi felt slightly better knowing that her desire for revenge was entirely justified.

Of course, what had happened to her was still not pleasant in the slightest.

Even so, she didn’t answer immediately.

She couldn’t figure out why the dragon was bringing this up.

She understood why he had been searching for her.

It was obvious.

She had shot him with a ballista and tried to kill him.

Naturally, he wanted revenge.

“I’m asking whether you want revenge.”

That’s what I want to ask you.

Baberi remained silent and studied Kure’s face carefully.

His jaw was clenched, making him look as though he were suppressing his anger.

“What are you going to do with the information about whether I want revenge against Glock or not?”

Baberi remained wary of Kure.

She had a feeling that he hadn’t been searching for her with good intentions.

Something about this felt suspicious.

Kure slowly opened his mouth while looking directly into Baberi’s suspicious eyes.

“Let’s form an alliance.”

“Then I’ll kill Glock for you.”