Five days. As soon as the policy was set, it took me no time at all to dash out of Randell and step into the Dragonkin Gorge.
The only ones who made it here with the speed I prioritized were Eleonora and Lavina. Plona, who couldn’t move during the day, would be contacting the Suwong Kingdom or the Empire.
“Eleonora, is this really okay?”
“Yes, Master. After all, it’s better for a Dragonkin like me to go meet the Dragonkin.”
Her firm response indicated that there was still a chance to back out.
This place is not only the hometown where Eleonora was born, but it’s also where she was banished with her father at a young age.
If the Dragonkin hadn’t exiled Eleonora and her father from the tribe, she wouldn’t have lost her father at such a young age and become a slave to humans.
In that sense, the Dragonkin are almost her enemies.
Half of me felt worried about meeting such people, and the other half felt guilty that we were not going to condemn the Dragonkin, but rather persuade them.
“Honestly, I have no memory of being exiled since I was too young. By the time I came to understand my situation, I was already wandering around the land of humans with my father. It’s true that I loathe the Dragonkin who caused my father’s death… but if I hadn’t been exiled, I wouldn’t have met you, Master.”
Eleonora poured out her words, which was rare for her.
“…And since you’re willing to forgive the Empire, I want to follow that intention as well. I can endure anything for survival.”
After speaking, Eleonora seemed a bit embarrassed and deftly twirled her tail to cover her mouth.
Seeing that, my hand instinctively went to her head. The pleasant texture of her smooth black hair brushed against my palm, and Eleonora subtly stood on her toes, leaning her head closer to my hand.
“Wow, it really feels like Eleonora has grown up. You’re really all grown up now.”
“…It’s been almost a year since I became an adult.”
Eleonora puffed her cheeks slightly. It was a subtle change in expression that would go unnoticed unless one looked carefully, but it made me feel she was still like a child.
“Ariana, aren’t you worried about me?”
“Nope. Let’s go now.”
“…I feel like I’m being treated pretty harshly.”
Seeing Lavina casually pick up an angle ruler, I snapped back to reality and hurried our pace.
How could I worry about a two-hundred-year-old elf when I’m not even thirty in this life or the last? If we’re being picky, I should actually be the one receiving care due to the age difference.
Moreover, Lavina doesn’t joke around when it comes to serious matters. Her exaggerated antics suggested she still had room to spare.
And sure enough, Lavina grumbled but moved her legs obediently.
The Dragonkin Gorge is known as one of the most hazardous natural formations on the Terra continent.
What is called the gorge is essentially a path carved not between roads but between two towering cliffs that reach towards the sky; the only way up is to climb up the sheer cliffs. Thus, even if what looks like a path catches your eye, it is meaningless.
When we reach the top of these cliffs, it is said that another impossibly tall mountain or cliff awaits, but to be precise, the most perilous region known as the Magical Abyss in Terra isn’t the gorge itself, but the space above it.
It’s an impregnable sanctuary, like a natural object from a giant’s realm suddenly dropped into the human world. It belongs to a mythical realm that is part of the earth yet above it.
That peak is said to be the nest of Yustelein, the Elder Dragon, the progenitor of Dragonkin and the first of all living beings. However, our current goal is not that mythical Magical Abyss but the Dragonkin village that should be nestled somewhere within the gorge.
“Ariana. But this place is more amazing than I thought… Can we really find it in time?”
Lavina asked with a stunned expression at the massive scale of the gorge.
We have a mere 11 days left. Depending on how much energy Luminous expended in the previous battle, there might be a bit more leeway, but we can’t rely on uncertainties.
Still, there was a breakthrough in this impossible task, akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
“It’s okay. I can smell something faintly.”
Once we got deeper into the gorge, I could tell.
If it had been the first time smelling it, I might have missed it, but there are faint remnants of a scent similar to Eleonora’s scattered throughout the gorge. Even if it’s a closed-off race, it seems the Dragonkin come out here occasionally.
Thank goodness my sense of smell fully recovered in just a few days.
I had to binge-eat so much before our departure that my stomach was about to burst, but holding back my nausea while drinking blood allowed me to roughly regain my previous level of strength and senses, so it didn’t cost too much.
If I had still been struggling due to the aftereffects of nearly dying at Luminous’s hands, finding the Dragonkin village or climbing this cliff would have felt hopeless.
Three hours later.
As we tied strings around our waists and climbed up the cracks in the cliffs, I felt a stronger tug pulling me down and looked below.
The dizzying scenery was enough to trigger a fear of heights that hadn’t existed before, and I saw the rope extending from my waist tautly pulled.
Shifting my gaze to the end, I saw Lavina, half-hanging precariously, shaking like a newborn fawn, having wedged her foot into a crack in the cliff.
“Ugh, A-Ariana. Are we there yet?”
“The smell’s definitely gotten stronger, so I think we’re getting close.”
I noticed it last time when we hiked for our meeting with the Suwong Kingdom, but Lavina doesn’t have as much stamina as she looks. Of course, it might be understandable when compared to Dragonkin and Vampires.
Noticing the thoughts reflected on my face, Lavina looked up at me, pouting her lips.
“I know what you’re thinking, but climbing trees and climbing cliffs are two different things, you know? Plus, isn’t it a bit strange that my legs aren’t loosening after climbing for three hours?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just hold on for a sec.”
With Lavina still hanging, I climbed up about two hundred meters again.
‘We should be around here somewhere.’
The distinct scent of living beings became increasingly stronger. The intertwined warmth of multiple Dragonkin indicated that they had probably been around here quite recently, but the information gained through sight wasn’t matching that obtained through smell.
Cliff, cliff, and more cliff.
All I could see was sheer cliffs extending endlessly above, making it hard to understand who could be passing through them.
Can a wingless race even survive here? Just as reasonable doubts about whether my sense of smell hadn’t fully returned began to arise, my hand gripped something enormous that was different from what I had encountered before.
“A path…?”
I put strength into my arms and pulled myself up.
It wasn’t until my eyes rose above my supporting hand that I realized my guess was not incorrect.
“I found it.”
There were no handrails, and the narrow and dizzyingly steep path was barely thirty centimeters wide, but it was undoubtedly a path that someone had made artificially against the exceedingly high cliffs.
I boldly stepped out over the cliff’s edge and, while taking a breather at the end, glanced at Eleonora, who was perched there, and hoisted up the dangling Lavina.
“…Honestly, this was one of the scariest experiences of my life.”
“Good job. But from now on, stay alert.”
Lavina’s droopy expression changed instantly to that of a cold, forest hunter.
Adjusting the string tied to her back so that her bow could be easily retrieved, Lavina cautiously surveyed the surroundings.
“Finding this path is good, but… Is this really the right place?”
“Probably.”
Following the smell of blood, we slowly began to walk along the narrow path.
How on earth do the Dragonkin live in a place like this? No matter how resilient a race they might be, they surely wouldn’t just hang sleeping bags here in the rain, drinking dew; perhaps there’s a cave entrance somewhere in the cliffs?
‘That would make more sense.’
After carefully feeling our way along the wall for about ten minutes, we finally discovered a narrow opening in the rock face.
“There! Over there!”
It was a sentence without a subject, but no one in the vicinity misunderstood its meaning.
Exchanging tense looks without words, we squeezed our bodies into the narrow space one after another.
I almost got stuck, but luckily, the narrowness was only at the entrance. I forced myself through, rubbed my reconstituted chest, and looked around.
It felt less like a cave and more like a passageway. Just a few dozen meters ahead, I sensed a presence that was uncomparable to the passage’s width within an extensive area.
“They noticed us too.”
Several presences approached from that side. Deciding it was better to exit the passage before running into the Dragonkin, we shot forward.
A small light, just visible in the distance, grew larger, finally revealing the exit.
“This is… amazing.”
“No wonder no one can find this.”
What we faced beyond the cliffs was, unexpectedly, an open sky.
It wasn’t a gigantic cave, but a basin. Whether it was natural or artificial, a massive piece of land surrounded again by towering cliffs lay before us.
And I could finally see the creatures approaching from this side with my own eyes.
A pair of horns rising from their heads and a thick tail.
Dragonkin. There was no doubt; they were indeed Dragonkin.
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