What Does That Evil Dragon Live For?

“What is that?”

 

Everyone’s eyes sparkled.

 

“I’m sure everyone has heard of treasure hunting, right? Hehe.”

 

Debbie took out a small note from her pocket and showed it to everyone.

 

“If you find this kind of paper in the forest near here, you’ll get a small prize!”

 

“Wow!”

 

The paper was red, so it seemed like it would catch the eye right away.

 

‘Did Debbie even talk about treasure hunting in her past life? I don’t know…Anyway, Baron Mason has prepared so many things for his daughter.’ 

 

Elaine was jealous of Debbie.

 

Well, she could tell how much Baron Mason cared for her daughter just by looking at the luggage she brought with her when she first entered the dormitory.

 

“It’s dangerous, so don’t go too far. And since it’s Elaine’s first time here, you’ll have to come with me.”

 

“Thank you, Debbie.”

 

Elaine held Debbie’s hand, thinking that it was completely different from her past life that Debbie, who had always been staring at her as if she was going to eat her, reached out her hand first.

 

However, unlike Elaine’s mind, Debbie’s feelings were a bit complicated.

 

‘Nothing will happen.…right?’

 

It was Lorina’s idea to become friends with Elaine and bring her to this picnic.

 

“You will take Elaine into Paddleton Forest by the shore of Cher Lake. It’s not hard, is it, Debbie?

 

“If we go inside…What next?”

 

“I’ll take care of that. You don’t have to worry.”

 

Lorina’s coldly smiling expression was somehow creepy, so it was an offer she didn’t really want to accept.

 

She didn’t dare refuse because she knew what would happen if she said no to Lorina there.

 

What was more annoying was that the more she knew about Elaine, the better she was.

 

In the meantime, she only listened to Lorina’s words and hated Elaine, 

thinking that Elaine was mean and that she was a shameless child who coveted Lorina’s fiancé, but when they became friends, Elaine never uttered a single word about Lorina or her cousin L’Arch.

 

Even better than other saints, Elaine had better academic performance, a more elegant attitude, and if she put aside her pride, she could learn a lot from Elaine.

 

‘I didn’t want to do something bad to Elaine. But I can’t tell her everything now.’ 

 

She was afraid of how Elaine would view her if she did that. 

 

In the end, Debbie, who was timid, just reassured herself that nothing would happen.

 

‘Okay, nothing much will happen. Because I’m with Elaine too.’ 

 

Debbie took a deep breath and headed deep into Paddleton Forest with Elaine.

 

“Isn’t this place too far from the lake?”

 

“Ah, my servant hid the treasure somewhere far away. I don’t want to make the other children come all the way out here…”

 

“Well, if they were a servant, they would have been an adult man, so by their own standards, they must have considered this not too far away.”

 

Debbie felt even more uncomfortable when she saw that Elaine believed her words without any doubt. 

 

She couldn’t wait to find the treasure and get out of here.

 

Just then, Elaine pointed to a patch of grass and shouted.

 

“I found the treasure!”

 

There was bright red paper stuck between the piles of green grass.

 

Elaine took Debbie’s hand and went there together and picked up the paper.

 

“Now, take it first.”

 

“No, you found it!”

 

“You were the one who asked me to come here. So you take it.”

 

Debbie became even more restless after hearing Elaine’s kind heart and her words, “You’re the one who asked me to come here,” as she handed over the paper she had found.

 

“Thank you. Let’s quickly find something else.”

 

“okay!”

 

Debbie searched harder for the paper, not because she wanted the treasure, but to quickly find the treasure and get out of there.

 

And that was when the two people were diligently rummaging through the grass.

 

[Kkueek-!] 

 

Elaine and Debbie both stiffened as they heard a strange sound coming from somewhere.

 

“Well, just now…did you hear anything strange?”

 

Debbie asked, holding Elaine tightly with her trembling hands.

 

“Yeah, I heard it too….”

 

“Uh, let’s get out of here!”

 

“Yes!”

 

The two slowly began to back away.

 

At that time, the head of a large animal suddenly rose from the far opposite side. As the beast’s red eyes stared at them, an instinctive feeling of fear seemed to grab the back of their neck.

 

[Keeek!] 

 

“Aaaah!”

 

When the beast screamed, Elaine and Debbie screamed and ran towards the lakeshore. And at the same time, the beast also started running towards Elaine and Debbie.

 

The beast ran fast compared to its big body. The sound of its paws crunching through the grass gave them goosebumps.

 

However, Debbie, who rarely runs fast, was so scared that she couldn’t see where she was going properly, and at the moment she stumbled over the grass roots and fell.

 

“Debbie! are you okay?”

 

“Elaine! What should we do? What should we do!”

 

While Elaine was trying to get Debbie up, the beast ran almost through the thicket of trees in front of them and raised its head again not far from them.

 

[Kueeek, keek!!] 

 

The horrifying howl was somehow different from that of the beasts of this world.

 

At that moment, Elaine realized its identity.

 

‘No way, monster…?’ 

 

It was a monster that had not appeared in the capital for a while.

 

It looked similar to a wild boar, but was larger, had sharper teeth, and even had scary horns that normal boars did not have.

 

“Aaaah! Mom!!”

 

As Debbie cried and screamed, the monster seemed to be even more stimulated and ran towards them again with its eyes red.

 

Debbie, whose legs had lost strength, could only struggle and couldn’t stand up, and if things continued like that, they would become the monster’s prey.

 

It was obvious that it would happen.

 

‘Lord, am I going to die like this?’

 

Even as Elaine was losing consciousness, she began to memorize prayers from the scriptures. It was a habit that came out whenever she was scared or desperate.

 

Then, like lightning, a realization passed through Elaine’s mind. 

 

The magical power given to her by Rabes, that incredible weapon, already exists within her.

 

‘Rekuro!’ 

 

As soon as she chanted the incantation, recalling Rabes intensely, a feeling of heat spread from the center of her forehead to her entire body.

 

‘Rabes! Please, give me the strength to defeat that monster!’

 

She was completely out of mind as she tried to use the power of Rabes for the first time in a panicked situation. 

 

Elaine was worried about whether she would be able to use magic properly.

 

While Elaine was gathering some kind of power at her fingertips, the monster was literally right in front of her.

 

However, there was no need for Elaine to wield Rabes’ magic.

 

The monster, which was running with great momentum while exhaling hot breath, rolled all the way to the ground, quickly stopped, and began to step backwards.

 

‘What’s wrong?’

 

Even though Elaine found the monster’s behavior strange, she did not stop praying. She was babbling without realizing it herself, but to anyone who saw it, it seemed like the monster was retreating because of the prayer.

 

[Kwik, kiik.] 

 

The monster with its tail between its legs even whined as if it were a scared puppy.

 

Elaine, who gained courage from that, shouted loudly with the intention of unleashing Rabes’ magic.

 

“In the name of the Lord Bara, I command you to leave immediately, you evil monster!”

 

At that moment, the monster let out a breathless gurgling sound and immediately retreated.

 

It was like a monster running away from its natural enemy.

 

There was silence between Elaine and Debbie for a while as the monster disappeared faster than it came rushing towards them.

 

It was Debbie who broke the silence.

 

“Just now…what happened…?”

 

Debbie, with tears streaming down her face, muttering in a dazed voice.

 

“hah, It’s okay now…”

 

Elaine could only answer in that way. In fact, she didn’t even know what was happening.

 

Elaine hesitated to answer, then helped Debbie up after she had fallen.

 

“Are you hurt?”

 

“No, I don’t know. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like there’s any major pain.  My ankle feels a little sore…No, that’s not important now. What on earth was that earlier…?”

 

“You were very surprised, right? Take a deep breath, Debbie. It will get a little better. Inhale, exhale…”

 

“uh, uhh…”

 

Debbie, who was so shocked and trembling, regained her composure by breathing in and out in accordance with Elaine’s commands.

 

And as soon as she came to her senses, she held Elaine’s hands tightly and burst into tears again.

 

“Thank you, Elaine. Thank you so much. I survived thanks to you.”

 

“Not because of me, it’s all thanks to Bara taking care of us.”

 

“Oh, right! You memorized the scripture prayers earlier, right? Was prayer really what defeated the monster?”

 

“Well, I’m not sure either. It just came out of my mouth.…”

 

Debbie seemed quite impressed by Elaine’s ability to memorize prayers perfectly and yell at the monster even in that urgent situation.

 

“I’m so sorry I’ve been so mean to you. I sincerely apologize.”

 

“Why are you doing this again? That’s all a thing of the past.”

 

“No….it’s not like that, you know the truth is, Lorina.…”

 

Debbie shed tears and confessed the circumstances that brought Elaine here. Lorina suddenly approached her and treated her kindly. She was flattered by that, and one day, Lorina’s request started with ‘If you really want to be my friend…Do my command.’

 

“I see. It’s because Lorina…”

 

“I’m so sorry, Elaine. But I swear I never thought this would happen. Really. If I had known, would I have come all this way with you? Please believe me.”

 

Debbie desperately clung to Elaine to explain, and Elaine also nodded.

 

Even to herself, it seemed like Debbie had no idea something like this would happen.

 

On the other hand, Lorina did this even though she expected that Debbie would also be in danger.

 

* * *