Whooooaaaa~!
Excited out of her mind, Enya bellowed and beat her chest like a beastly primate. Her uproar surprised Jin, making him step backwards. The girlâs guardian dragon sighed.
Snatch!
Enya grabbed Jinâs two hands and bowed. With her head inches away from hitting the ground, it looked like prostration.
âItâs a great pleasure to meet you, Lord Jin! Iâm Enya!â
âOh, mhm⦠Nice to meet you too, Enya.â
âKyaaaaa~!â
âSeriously.â
Jin had never seen a situation like this in his entire life. Even the all-great-and-powerful Beradin Zipfel wouldnât get this much admiration from a single admirer.
âIs this what âadmirationâ means?â
It was akin to a follower meeting their god. Frankly, Enyaâwho was still crouched on the groundâbegan to mumble some prayers.
Jinâs chest was about to burst from embarrassment.
A girl with dreams of meeting a âdeityâ, something that Jin will never truly understand. Probably because he never experienced such excitement.
ââ¦It wasnât this bad when she became Oltaâs contractor.â
Quikantel sighed once more.
When the God of Time chose her, all Enya said was âWhoa.â And now she was jumping around like an excited dog, which disappointed Quikantel.
âThis is why I told Lord Olta about royal blood!â
A sight without any composure or self-control!
This was why Olta and the silver dragons prioritized blood class. A contractor of a god should at least be civilized.
But what could they do?
In the present, no human was more friendly and approachable than Enya, so they forced themselves to make a contract with her. Due to the irrevocable contract, Quikantel had to love and take care of Enya.
Because that was the duty of a guardian dragon.
âAhem, Enya. Thatâs enough.â
Quikantel tried to alleviate Enyaâs enthusiasm. Quikantel lightly pressed Enyaâs forehead, and finally, the girl calmed down.
Of course, her sparkling silver eyes never stopped staring at Jin.
The young Runcandel chuckled to himself.
âI wonder what Murakan would say to her.â
âOh, I mustâve gotten too excited. Seeing the real Jin Runcandel in the flesh and not in something released by the press really got me going⦠Iâm sorry!â
Enya bowed once more in apology.
A girl with a severely sociable and lively personalityâthatâs what Jin thought of her.
âNo need to apologize, Enya. I just donât know how to react to the celebratory welcome.â
âKyaaaa! Would you like some more?â
âThat would be enough.â
âMs. Quikantel! Ms. Quikantel! Can you please tell me now? The reason why Lord Jin came to our place? Did Olta respond to my prayers?â
âYou pray to Olta nightly?â
âObviously, I prayed to meet Lord Jin someday. Heehee. Anyways, today is such a great day! I was so tired at the academy.â
Quikantelâs face darkened. She knew how often Enya was discriminated against by the other students and staff.
âI canât slaughter all of those bastards eitherâ¦â
Quikantel ground her teeth as she thought of the noble scum bullying Enya. If they physically abused her, she would kill them all. But all they did was treat Enya as if she didnât exist.
Jin looked at Quikantel and felt sympathy for her pain. He knew how the academyâs nobility acted in the presence of a commoner. He nodded.
âThey would do all kinds of bad things just because sheâs a commoner. This is why I didnât talk to magicians from the academy.â
During Jinâs learning days, he encountered all kinds of magicians from the academy. To this day, he never met a group of people he hated more than them.
Moving on.
It was time to pull Enya out of the discriminatory shithole. As a Runcandel, Jin couldnât specifically help her, but their elaborate plan for relocation would be just enough.
âI just need to persuade Enya to immigrate her entire family to Tikan. And as for magic, I can just find an excellent teacher.â
Overall, the Free City of Tikan had a carefree and welcoming community. Additionally, Kashimir would take care of her, so she would experience the most extravagant life.
If she could just forfeit her homeland, then it would be a great opportunity.
âMiss Enya, the goal of my visit is to ensure your safety and take you somewhere safer.â
He straightforwardly stated the truth.
It didnât take long for him to realize that his phrasing could be misunderstood. As soon as she heard what Jin said, Enya felt like the main character in a novel.
âTo⦠take me⦠To. Take. Meeeeee!â
His words caused another chaotic mess. Enya started punching the air like a hallucinating patient, and her eyes were bloodshot.
âI goâ Iâll go! Wherever it is, Iâll go! All hail Olta!â
Thock!
Tired of the sight, Quikantel lightly hit the back of Enyaâs neck. Enyaâs body shook, then fell to the ground as she fainted. Jin chuckled at the funny sight.
âMy goodness. How did she become Oltaâs contractor?â
âWell, a child has got to be a child. Youâre a child as well. Phew, thereâs no need to persuade her. She would even follow you to the Runcandel underground prison.â
âWe do not retain an underground prison in our clan, Ms. Quikantel.â
âItâs gone? It should still be there. And probably has some dragons locked up.â
ââ¦What?â
âThatâs not important, so forget it. Okay, listen. Enya will wake up exactly ten seconds from now. Once she does, make sure to choose your words carefully, and explain the current situation to her.â
âDidnât you hit her pretty hard? Not even a trained knight can survive that blow.â
Rustle.
Ten seconds hadnât even passed, yet Enya started coming to. Goosebumps traversed Jinâs body. Modern physiology and medicine could not explain the phenomenon before him.
It was the will of a fanatic.
Still, the strike definitely had some effect. Enya seemed to have lost some of her overflowing energy.
She was also at a loss for words.
âLooooooord Jiiiiin.â
âMiss Enya, I will slowly explain the current situation.â
Enya nodded. Jin then began from Euria and her predicament, all the way to the speculations regarding Vyuretta and the Zipfels.
He couldnât say anything from his past life, but thankfully, Enya easily digested all of the content.
âMhm, since theyâre the words of Lord Jin, Iâll trust every single one. Itâs so romantic! Dragons, conflict, adventure, a boy and a girl! And Lord Jin!â
âSomething like that.â
âIâm fine as long as itâs for the benefit of me. Anyways, I must leave the Vermont Empire with my family and head to Tikan?â
âExactly.â
âAnd when should we leave?â
âThe sooner the better. Ms. Quikantel and I have some business in the empire, so itâs a good idea for you to leave first.â
Officially leaving the academy and clearing out the area was not a good idea.
The Vermont Imperial Family will not let Oltaâs contractor go so easily, and the moment they notice her intention to leave, they will chain her down at all costsâwhether it be by capturing her family as hostage or using drugs to prevent her from leaving. The Vermont Special Forces would also be assigned to monitor them.
Before that happens, secretly leaving was the most optimal choice. There would be a search and chase, but it would start in the Lutero Magic Federation instead of Tikan.
Though, it doesnât mean thereâs no danger at all.
âIt depends how much the Vermont Imperial Family cares about Oltaâs contractor.â
As Jin saw it, the Vermont Imperial Family didnât really care about Enya. If they did care, then Enya wouldnât be wearing ragged clothes.
âEither theyâre being cautious of the Zipfels or they canât give her special care because the world simply doesnât know about her yet. She isnât even being escorted by anyone.â
If the problem was the latter, then she would at least have some bodyguards around her at all times.
Even though she was a contractor, she couldnât receive special aid because of her social class. In the eyes of the rich and privileged, a poor contractor was only a nuisance.
Essentially, the Zipfels enforced their ideal through the working staffâto never aid the worthless commoner.
âSo as soon as possible. I understand, milord. I will get my family ready by tomorrow.â
Enyaâs entire family was just her 7-year-old brother and an old dog named Pupi.
âBut Jin, how are you going to transport her? You canât go through the gate, and I canât take her there myself. Everything will be put on record, so the threat of a chase is likely.â
It would be the same if they were to fly with Murakan.
However, Jin already thought of a way.
âMerchant ships from Tikan periodically dock in the capitalâs port. Just sneak on one of them.â
The Seven-Colored Peacock agents in the Vermont Empire all worked around that docking schedule. Although the empire knew the sailors worked for the intelligence agency, they couldnât do anything because the organization had valuable information about the empireâs corrupt government and high-ranking officials.
Aside from the agents that had a hold of sensitive information, lower-ranked agents could travel in and out of the Vermont Empire freely.
âAfter Enya leaves, I will proceed with a normal life and try to find an opportunity to meet Vyuretta. As for the academy, Iâll say that Enya is sick.â
The rich and nobility wouldnât give a damn about Enyaâs attendance. They would rather have her never come in for the rest of her life.
âYes, we can wrap things up with Vyuretta and return to Tikan. I hope we can resolve issues without fighting⦠but a battle is imminent.â
âAs mentioned before, Vyuretta is mine. That sleeping dog shouldnât fight him.â
Wrapping up their conversation, Jin and Quikantel simultaneously looked at the front door.
They could hear pairs of footsteps getting louder from the front yard. Thenâ¦
Knock, knock.
One of the owners of the footsteps knocked on the door.
âAnyone home? We came to ask for some kindling.â
Thereâs no way someone would come all the way to their remote location for some firewood.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
They were either the Special Forces or the Imperial Guard that came to check up on them.
âComing all the way here for some kindling? How absurd. Please wait a moment.â
And surprisingly, Quikantel didnât even doubt the uninvited guests.
âââââ
âââ
âââââ