A small group was making its way through a dense forest.
At the front was a knight nearly two metres tall, clad in heavy armour. He used the longsword in his hand to cut through the vines and thorns blocking their path.
Wearing such armour in a forest was obviously inconvenient, yet the knight moved with effortless fluidity, as though the armour didn't exist at all.
Behind him followed a tall black-haired woman dressed in blue robes and carrying a staff, and a short girl with curly brown hair who held a book in her hands.
At the rear of the group walked a pale young man. He carried nothing except a shoulder bag.
Suddenly, the knight stopped. The black-haired woman behind him halted as well, planting her staff into the ground.
"What is it?" The short girl immediately sensed the change in the group's atmosphere and quickly asked.
"Someone has suddenly appeared ahead of us," the black-haired woman replied.
"An additional presence." The knight's voice followed. He called out in the direction from which the presence emanated, "We are adventurers dispatched by Duke Dibilis to slay the evil dragon Enrique. Would you please reveal yourself?"
After the knight finished speaking, the forest remained silent. The owner of that presence did not respond, but instead slowly moved closer to them.
The knight narrowed his eyes. Every muscle in his body tensed, and flames immediately ignited along the blade of his longsword.
Soon, a handsome black-haired young man dressed in black robes appeared before them.
"A human?" The knight frowned. Anyone who appeared alone in the Forest of Dragons was not someone to underestimate.
That black-haired young man was Rhys.
He stared at the group of four before him with a bewildered expression.
Could this be another trial created by the alchemical world? Why were they speaking modern English?
Ah.. that's not modern.. However, Rhys quickly realised that their language was only somewhat similar to English. It felt more like a variant of English that had evolved several centuries into the future.
'Probably some bizarre setting that Rowena inserted into this world.'
Rhys quickly pushed the feeling of incongruity out of his mind. In his opinion, the fact that people in the alchemical world also spoke English was actually a good thing. It saved him the trouble of casting translation magic.
His gaze swept over the four of them, and he was immediately rendered speechless.
Why did this four-person party composition look so familiar?
Just how much personal preference had Rowena stuffed into this world?
"I mean no harm," Rhys said calmly.
Although he carried both Rowena's mission and his own objectives, Rhys had no desire to start a conflict the moment he arrived. Of course, the strange sense of familiarity the four-person party gave him also played a small role.
To say something rather cliché, looking at them reminded Rhys of his younger self.
Rhys's voice caused the four of them to freeze.
The brown-haired girl softly remarked, "Classical Common Tongue. He might be a priest from some shrine."
"In that case, Iris, why don't you talk to him?" The black-haired woman gently pushed the brown-haired girl forward.
"O-Okay."
Iris stepped forward until she stood beside the knight, then bowed politely to Rhys.
"Honoured priest, greetings."
The language she spoke was authentic English, although her pronunciation was somewhat stiff.
"Hello."
"Forgive my impudence, but may I ask which country you come from, and which god you serve?"
"I have no faith. I don't believe in gods."
Iris: ?
What the hell?
His Classical Common Tongue was better than the Archbishop's in the royal capital, and yet he was an atheist?
At that moment, she heard a rustling sound coming from the man's robes. Then a small emerald-green snake slithered out from his sleeve.
The black-haired young man grabbed the snake by the head and smiled apologetically at Iris.
"My pet snake. I hope it didn't frighten you."
Watching him stuff the snake back into his sleeve, Iris felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
Moreover, seeing how intimate he was with the snake made her realise something.
Perhaps this man was not a good person.
According to the customs of their land, snakes were creatures of absolute evil. Only those born evil would choose snakes as their companions.
Iris raised her head and met the black-haired young man's dark, profound eyes.
She immediately felt as though she were staring into a bottomless pool. At the same time, she had the unsettling sensation that every secret she possessed had been laid bare before him.
Meanwhile, Rhys silently cursed Ravenclaw in his heart.
Damn it. Why did she have to add so much extra nonsense to the setting? What had snakes ever done to her?
Rhys decided that once he got out of here, he was going to have a proper discussion with Rowena about the logic behind "snakes are creatures of absolute evil, while eagles that prey on snakes are sacred."
"Let's introduce ourselves properly. My name is Rhys."
Just as Iris was about to say something, Rhys spoke first and introduced himself.
"Oh, right! I'm Iris, a priest. He's Joseph, our party's knight. This is Sister Alexandna, our mage. And the one standing at the back is our alchemist, Traton."
Iris introduced the members of the party one by one.
Rhys's eyebrow twitched.
This party composition...
"Weren't you saying just now that you came here to slay an evil dragon?" Rhys recalled what the knight Joseph had shouted when they first met. He had landed in a dragon's lair moments after arriving. Surely it couldn't be that much of a coincidence?
"That's right," Joseph replied. "The evil dragon Enrique has attacked nearby villages multiple times. Last month, it even burned Blackstone Castle to the ground. We must eliminate it."
Rhys paused.
"I just dealt with a dragon. Do you want to go and check whether it was this evil dragon Enrique?"
The four-person party: "???"
A few minutes later, as they stood before the dragon's corpse, which was as large as a hill, all four fell silent.
Their journey had apparently been for nothing.
The evil dragon Enrique had already been killed!
More importantly, there wasn't a single wound on Enrique's body. They had no way of determining how the young man named Rhys had killed the dragon.
'Was it some kind of curse?' they all thought simultaneously, arriving at the most plausible explanation.
At that moment, a powerful gust of wind came from deep within the cave.
Rhys's expression changed instantly.
"Huh? It's your first time seeing this, isn't it?" Iris noticed the change in Rhys's expression. Assuming he had been frightened by the phenomenon, she kindly explained, "Don't worry. This is a very common natural occurrence in the Forest of Dragons. Sometimes strong winds mysteriously blow out of caves. We call it the 'Breath of the Deep Mountains'."
Rhys: "..."
"No. Are you telling me that all these years, no one realised that this mountain is actually alive?"
The four-person party: "(⓿_⓿)Huh?"
At that moment, the ground beneath their feet suddenly began to shake violently, as though an earthquake had struck.
Rhys let out a sigh.
Now he finally understood what true malice from the world felt like.
Being assigned a starting location inside a dragon's lair had merely been the appetiser.
The main course was only just beginning.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI