“Phew….”
Miryeong let out a short breath and returned to the room where Bido was.
Then she opened the door.
“Ah, Lady Miryeong.”
Bido was sitting propped up on the bed,
his mouth stuffed full of bread as he chewed, looking up at Miryeong.
The medical officer stood beside him, watching Bido with a somewhat flustered expression.
Miryeong raised one eyebrow slightly.
“You… are you all right?”
Bido quickly chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth,
then spoke with a somewhat sheepish look.
“Ah… I was just so hungry…”
Beside the bed were bread that had been brought in haste, warm soup,
and sliced fruit.
Raen was also sitting in the chair beside him, crunching on a piece of fruit as she kept watch at Bido’s side.
Miryeong looked at the scene for a moment,
then suddenly shifted her gaze to Tiamar’s sword placed in one corner of the room.
After staring at it briefly as if to confirm it was there,
she spoke to Bido again.
“Once you finish eating, want to step outside with me for a bit?”
Bido blinked.
“Outside?”
“Yeah.”
Miryeong gave a short nod.
“We’ll be staying here in Velosa for the time being.”
“If that’s the case, you should see what kind of place it is with your own eyes.”
Then she turned her head toward Ed, who had followed her in.
“Hey, Ed. You stay here. Make sure no one touches that sword.”
For a moment, Ed looked as if he was about to say something,
but after seeing Miryeong’s eyes, he shut his mouth.
In the end, he nodded reluctantly.
“Yes… Well, have a good trip.”
At that, Raen’s eyes quickly began to sparkle.
“Me too! Bido, I’ll help support you!”
Bido gave a faint smile at those words as well.
“All right. Thanks, Raen.”
Miryeong smiled briefly as she watched the two of them.
“But slowly. If you collapse again, I’m dragging you straight back in.”
Bido gave a small laugh and nodded.
A different air from moments ago lingered in the room.
The wounds were still there, and even inside Velosa, they could not let down their guard.
Even so, at least for this moment,
something like preparation for taking the next step was quietly coming together.
Supported by Raen and Miryeong, Bido slowly walked outside.
After leaving the room, passing through the long corridor, and stepping out of the building,
the sunlight, just beginning to rise, shone warmly on Bido’s face.
To a body that had spent days in forests, on dirt roads,
and inside unfamiliar inns, even that light felt somewhat strange.
And immediately after,
an entirely different air wrapped around Bido.
The wind was damp and cool.
It carried a scent of water stronger than the smell of earth, mixed with a faint salty tang.
From far away came the sound of something steadily surging in and breaking apart.
At first, he thought it was the sound of the wind,
but as he listened quietly, it seemed more like the sound of something far larger and slower breathing over and over again.
Bido stopped walking without realizing it.
Before his eyes, blue stretched out endlessly.
At first, he thought it was a lake.
But it was far too vast to be called a lake.
The color of the water did not sit still in a single shade.
Near him, it was a clear blue,
and farther out, it sank into a deep navy.
Sunlight shattered finely over the waves, sparkling like thousands of silver fragments,
and farther still, even the boundary between sky and water seemed to blur.
Bido stared blankly at the scene and murmured.
“The lake… is incredibly big…”
At those words, Miryeong chuckled beside him.
“That’s not a lake. It’s the sea.”
Bido’s eyes widened even more.
“The sea…?”
“Yeah.”
Miryeong lightly extended an arm and pointed beyond.
“Velosa is a city built along the coastline.”
“If all you’ve seen are forests and riversides, I can see why it would look that way all of a sudden.”
For a while, Bido could not say anything.
The wide, blue expanse of waves, the white seabirds gliding over it,
the warehouses and docks lined along the coast, the ropes and masts swaying in the wind.
It was a sight as if the end of the world had opened up.
Bido spoke in a very small voice.
“It’s… my first time seeing the sea.”
The words were closer to a confession than surprise.
“I’ve read about it in books…”
Without taking his eyes away, Bido continued.
“That beyond the sea… lies the land of dragons.”
Miryeong looked at the horizon for a moment.
Seen from afar, the sea appeared calm,
but up close, it was endlessly breaking and moving.
“Is that so?”
She replied briefly.
Raen, too, was now looking out at the sea with them.
Then, suddenly, at the far end of the coastline,
where the dock met the rocks, she spotted a familiar silhouette and widened her eyes.
“Uh… Maho…?”
At Raen’s voice, Bido and Miryeong also turned their gazes that way.
Even from afar, the red hair and the way he stood were recognizable at once.
And beside him stood another person, quietly gazing at the surface of the water,
without so much as a single hem of clothing disturbed by the sea breeze.
The moment Bido recognized that silhouette, he drew in the faintest breath.
“…Lady Nereia.”
—
Nereia and Maho stood side by side, gazing at the horizon.
The sea appeared calm on the surface,
but up close, it was constantly surging in and breaking apart.
The air flowing between the two of them was similar.
Quiet, but not at all still.
It was Nereia who spoke first.
“So, Ignis.”
Maho’s eyebrow twitched at once.
“I told you not to call me by that name.”
Without even turning her gaze, Nereia said,
“A dragon cannot abandon its name.”
Her voice was calm,
without the slightest tremor.
“Even if you live by a human name,”
“the dragon Ignis still remains within you.”
Maho clicked his tongue briefly.
“He’s gone now. I ate him.”
He added with a sneer,
“Now I’m just Maho. The rules of dragons are none of my concern.”
The sea breeze swept between the two of them.
After a beat, Nereia opened her mouth.
“Do not involve yourself too deeply in the affairs of mortals anymore.”
Maho immediately shot back.
“You’re one to talk.”
Only then did Nereia slowly turn her head.
Her deep, tranquil gaze fell on Maho.
“I am only an adviser and a mediator.”
She continued in a low voice.
“A dragon must not take life carelessly.”
The corner of Maho’s mouth twisted.
“I told you already. I have no intention of following the rules of you dragons.”
When those words ended, Nereia’s voice grew a little firmer for the first time.
“That is not a mere rule.”
A short silence passed.
“It is the order that holds this world together.”
Maho’s expression stiffened faintly.
Without withdrawing her gaze, Nereia said,
“If you continue to take lives so lightly, you will eventually become Ignis again.”
This time, Maho could not answer right away.
He simply stood facing the sea, a shadow briefly passing over his face.
But it did not last long.
Soon, Maho opened his mouth lightly—far too lightly.
“…I just have to kill him.”
Those words sounded like both a vow and an excuse.
Nereia said nothing.
At that moment,
very slow footsteps came from behind them.
Someone was approaching carefully,
supported by others.
Maho turned around.
The first thing that entered his eyes was Raen.
And soon, beside her,
he saw Bido slowly walking toward them, leaning against Miryeong at his side.
Once they had come somewhat closer, Raen spoke first.
“Maho. What are you doing here?”
Bido also looked cautiously at Maho and said,
“Lord Maho… thank you for saving me last time.”
But Maho did not answer.
For a while, he only stared silently at Bido.
As always, it was a gaze that seemed to pierce straight into the depths of the soul.
Bido was still uncomfortable under that stare.
Even so, this time he did not avoid it and met Maho’s eyes for a moment.
And at last, Maho opened his mouth.
“So you finally found it.”
For a moment, Bido did not understand what he meant and asked back,
“Yes…?”
Then Nereia spoke quietly from beside him.
“Entrust it to that child.”
Maho started to turn his gaze toward Nereia for a moment, then stopped,
and looked back at Bido.
The sea breeze passed by, stirring his hair for an instant.
“Yeah, Bido.”
Maho’s voice was lower than usual.
“I don’t want to burden you for no reason.”
After taking a short breath, he continued.
“But one thing is certain.”
Bido’s eyes hardened slightly.
Looking straight at Bido, Maho said clearly,
“You are the only one who can save Roan.”
The moment those words fell,
the first one to stiffen was Maho himself.
As if he had unconsciously let slip words he should never have spoken aloud,
his expression wavered for the briefest instant.
Raen was the same.
Her eyes widened as she looked up at Maho.
“Maho… save Roan?”
Maho could not answer right away.
Nereia quietly filled that brief gap.
“It will be possible.”
Her gaze brushed past the sea beyond, then returned to Maho.
“Dragon of Fire.”
Maho glared at Nereia, as if he had realized those words had been thrown out deliberately.
But Nereia continued speaking with a face that showed not the slightest concern.
“It will surely turn out that way.”
A wave broke loudly.
Crash.
The moment that sound rang out,
Nereia’s figure wavered as if seeping into the sea mist.
The hem of her clothing faded first,
and then, as if she had been a being mixed among the waves from the very beginning, she vanished without a trace.
All that remained was the sound of the breaking waves,
and a silence in which no one could easily continue speaking.