As Loren finished preparing breakfast, Lapis and Gula crawled out of their sleeping bags. The cocoon containing the baby dragons around them had already been collected by Emery – none of them was left.
As Loren handed the girls the breakfast he had prepared, he told them about the path to the crater that Emery had told him about.
“If it’s the path that Mother used, it should be fine.”
Lapis responded, even though she did feel a little embarrassed when told that the Demon King had used the path for mischief.
Although he still felt a little uneasy, Loren decided to take the path leading from the nest to the crater Emery had told him about, as he thought it would be safer than going outside.
“I’M NOT GOING TO ACCOMPANY YOU FROM HERE ON. I PRAY FOR YOUR SAFETY, BUT I CAN’T HELP YOU ANY FURTHER.”
Emery said to Loren and the other two as they finished their breakfast and announced their departure.
From Loren’s point of view, just her lending them a safe place to spend the night was enough of a favor. He thanked Emery for letting them borrow a part of the nest as politely as possible before leaving.
“Demon King’s daughter, I suggest you leave the gold coins in your pocket behind. Also, that strange blonde over there, give me the thing in your backpack. Then I’ll let you off.”
“Damn… As expected of an Ancient Dragon…”
“You’ve seen through our bad habits, haven’t you?”
“You two… Well, just like demons and evil gods…”
Loren still felt dumbfounded, even after dropping his fists on the girls’ heads.
And so, they left Emery’s nest behind, relatively free of trouble.
“Did you properly return everything?”
“I don’t want to be burned in the back with a <<Breath>>.”
“Neither do I… I don’t think it’s worth it.”
“Would be nice if we can take something out. But we can’t.”
Loren was not without greed. Seeing all the treasure Emery had under her belly, it was hard not to want to take some of it with him.
However, his fear of a being chased by an Ancient Dragon overcame his greed.
Loren could not do something that he knew would surely kill him if he did, at least not when it came to money.
“In that sense, you guys, who actually did it, are amazing.”
“No, I don’t think I can take it out. I just wanted to at least try.”
Lapis answered with a very honest expression. In other words, she was using herself as a test subject to see if she could actually do it or not.
Now that she had mentioned it, there were plenty of other items of value, but the only thing Lapis tried to take out was a pocketful of gold coins. As someone who could appraise items, it would be easy for her to choose something smaller and more valuable. Loren had thought that her action was strange, but now it made sense.
“You won’t have enough lives for your antics.”
“I thought she’d let you off the hook once, Loren.”
Lapis smiled at him without any sign of embarrassment, and unable to find the words to reply, Loren just shrugged. It was obvious that Emery liked him to some extent, and he could understand her expecting it to work once because of that. But if he was asked if he could actually do it, he could only say no.
He wondered if Lapis being able to take a step forward in a situation where one wrong move could cost you your life was because she was a demon.
“I thought I could make it, but…”
“You were overly optimistic.”
After landing a resounding fist on the back of Gula’s head, Loren decided to focus on walking.
Emery had told them about the path to the crater.
The path to the crater was one where weather and encounters with enemies were almost non-existent. Distance was the only factor that remained uncontrollable.
They had to walk to reach the destination, and since the path was inside the mountain was without any change in scenery, it was quite a depressing walk with only the light of the lantern to guide them.
“It’s good that it’s easier to walk. That’s just like Mother.”
“I wonder what the heck your mother was doing, going all the way into a dragon’s den.”
“Eh? Isn’t it to maintain the road?”
Lapis declared that her mother’s work was extremely helpful to those who had business with the crater. But Loren thought that the road they were currently walking on couldn’t possibly be used by anyone else besides the Demon King.
After all, the only entrances of this path were the crater and the dragon’s nest. Regardless of which one you used, you were bound to come face to face with an Ancient Dragon at least once, and you would definitely have to go through the dragon’s nest. Loren thought that this was not a path that an ordinary being could safely use, but Lapis seemed to disagree.
“People can just sneak through the nest though?”
“If you fail, you’ll be burnt to ashes.”
“It’ll be a little difficult because Emery’s detection abilities are quite good… But if you prepare well in advance, you can manage it…”
Lapis muttered to herself, and Loren just left her to it. If she just thought about it and didn’t put it into action, it was harmless. And they had already left Emery’s nest. There would be a problem if Lapis came to the conclusion that they should experiment on the way back, but it wouldn’t be too late to worry about that after they finished their business at the crater.
They continued on, taking several short breaks along the way, and eventually reached a point where they could see the light outside.
Loren thought that even the possibility that something was waiting for them outside was low, it still existed, so he stopped Lapis and Gula, turned off the lantern, and peeked out from near the exit by himself.
Having been in the dark for a long time, Loren’s eyes were hurt by the outside light, and it took some time for his vision to adjust to the brightness. Thinking that it would be dangerous if he were to be attacked during this time, he looked outside without pulling his body out of the exit while letting his eyes adjust.
The only thing he could see was a landscape of rocks.
The slope seemed to indicate that they would have to climb a little higher to reach the top of the mountain. But as Loren craned his neck and looked up the slope, he could see that the mountain face would end after a short climb, and he assumed that would be where the summit was.
“How does it look, Loren?”
“There’s nothing around. The summit is a short distance away.”
Loren could see no other beings that seemed to be moving besides them. Still, he checked their surroundings a few more times to make sure everything was okay before slowly walking out.
“My eyes hurt.”
Gula’s eyes, having been accustomed to the dark, seemed to be in pain from being out in the light, just as Loren’s had been. She whined and covered her eyes with her hands.
“I guess I should be a little grateful that I have prosthetic eyes in this case.”
On the other hand, Lapis’ eyes are magical prostheses, and brightness or darkness seems to have little effect on them, so she could look around without temporarily losing her vision or experiencing pain.
“Hey, are you sure the real ones work better?”
“The eyes? Yes, of course. Definitely not comparable.”
Loren sometimes wondered how come Lapis’s artificial eyes, which seemed to be very efficient, were inferior to the real thing. As she confirmed it herself, he decided to accept it to be so. And even if that wasn’t the case, it was understandable that a pair of real eyes would be better than a pair of artificial ones.
“Well, our destination is just right there. Let’s hurry up.”
“No, I think it’s going to take a little longer.”
Loren urged everyone to hurry up, but what Lapis said caught his attention. He wondered what she meant, but was soon made to understand.
“It’s still a long way to the crater…”
After climbing up to the top, they came to a mortar-shaped crater. The mountain itself was huge, and so was the mortar. It was extremely difficult to climb down the gouged-out-like slope. If they made a mistake and slipped, they would have to be lucky to get caught somewhere, otherwise they would fall straight into the bright red hole a long way down.
“If we throw it from here, it won’t reach.”
There was no reason to go near the crater, though. All they had to do was to throw the black helmet they brought into the hole they saw, which probably was filled with lava. Loren thought that they could do it from a distance, but Lapis, who had been staring at the crater and its surroundings for a while, shook her head.
“It’s not within throwing distance, and the slope around that hole is gentle, so there’s little chance of it rolling down on its own.”
“What a perfectly annoying situation.”
“If we get close enough to throw it, the slope in the surrounding area is so steep that it’ll be difficult to make a proper throw… In addition, once we get past this point, the Efreet that Emery mentioned will probably attack us.”
“Ah, there’s that too…”
It wasn’t that Loren had forgotten about it – it was just something he didn’t want to think about. But now he was once again confronted with what he had been keeping out of his thoughts, and he made a disgusted face. The idea of being attacked by an enraged spirit of fire while having a bad foothold was horrifying, but there was no way to avoid it.
“I’m sorry, but we have to finish this somehow.”
“It’s my Mother’s fault. I’ll do my best.”
Lapis held her, clenched his fists against her chest. It was a rather cute and energetic gesture, but the meaning behind it was very disturbing, something that would blast away words like ‘cute’ and ‘energetic’.
“It can’t be helped. I’ll take the lead, and you can cover me.”
They could not afford to go slowly down the slightly steep incline: they would be a good target for the efreet’s attack if they did. So Loren decided that he would take the lead and run down the steep slope to confront the efreet, even if it meant taking some risks.
“Then first, some defensive magic… Gula, please.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll cast some powerful ones. And if Loren is attacked by an efreet, I can just strangle it.”
It seemed that compared to Lapis’, Gula’s abilities as a magician were somewhat superior. The proof of this was that Lapis asked Gula to cast defensive magic on Loren. Not knowing much about magic, Loren slowly pulled out his greatsword as he watched Gula prepare to use various kinds of magic.