Natsu stirred.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, lashes trembling as consciousness crept back in. A quiet yawn slipped past her lips, soft and unguarded.
"…Mm…"
For a moment, she didn't move, didn't think.
Just… existed.
Then awareness returned.
Her gaze shifted upward—and paused.
"…Huh?"
Above her was a structure. A simple one, crudely assembled — but effective. Wooden supports, angled just enough to block the harsh sunlight, casting a patch of cool shade over where she had fallen asleep.
"…Another one of Nathan's ridiculously weird magic…" she murmured under her breath.
Her fingers brushed lightly against the ground as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, ears twitching faintly.
The events from earlier came back.
The argument.
The gunshot.
The first aid treatment.
The food.
The collar—
Her hand instinctively went to her neck.
Nothing there.
No weigh, pressure, nor pain.
Just skin.
Bare and undeniably free.
Her fingers lingered there for a moment longer.
"…I'm really free…" she whispered.
A strange warmth spread through her chest.
After everything—
After years of chains, one sided commands, pain—
Nathan touched it briefly and it was just… gone.
Just like that.
Natsu lowered her hand slowly, her expression softening.
"…What a weird human…" she muttered, but there was no bite in her words.
Only quiet disbelief.
And something else… something gentler.
After talking to Nathan — really talking — she understood.
He didn't have bad intentions.
Not once.
Even when she had treated him like an enemy… even when how stubbornly she'd refused to listen… even when she forced him into a corner—
He still tried.
He could've hurt her far worse; he could've killed her.
But instead, he held back amd chose restraint — patience.
Even if his methods were… a bit questionable.
Natsu let out a small breath.
"…He even told me I was wrong… without hesitation," she murmured.
Most humans she'd met wouldn't bother.
They wouldn't explain, while justifying their cruel actions toward her kin as 'natural'.
They would never treat beast-kin like her as an equal.
And yet — Nathan had.
Bluntly.
And brutally honest, too.
Even when it made things harder.
Her gaze drifted slightly, unfocused, as memories she didn't want resurfaced anyway.
It's not her intention to doubt humans as a whole. But how could she not?
After all, humans had captured her after killing her mother right in front of her when she was still young, and during her time as a slave, she was treated poorly — no, horribly — because of how humans naturally looked down on beast-kin as if they were filth.
In the middle of that miserable existence, she was at least grateful that she had altered her appearance to look like a man before lost her ability to use mana due to the slave collar.
She had seen firsthand how 'badly' female beast-kin slaves were treated by their traders or owners, and she had no intention of experiencing that herself.
Even then, her life wasn't any kinder.
She was bought and sold from one trader to another like a commodity — which, she bitterly admitted, slaves technically were — until eventually, her last owner purchased her after noticing her potential in swordsmanship… and her cheap price.
Her last owner trained her to become his personal bodyguard — and, oddly enough, his personal butler as well, largely because of her 'handsome' appearance.
But the training was relentless. She barely had time to sleep, was given 'enough' food to stay alive, and her owner seemed to take a disturbing amount of enjoyment in watching her struggle through hunger while mocking her for being a 'filthy beast-kin.' To this day, Natsu still didn't understand it — why keep her so close, rely on her so much, and yet hate her so deeply? Were humans all that twisted?
Then, a few days ago, during one of her owner's routine trips to another town for restocking goods, everything changed.
A group of bandits ambushed their caravan.
Chaos broke out so quickly, her owner along his other bodyguards were killed before he could even issue a proper command for her to protect him.
Natsu escaped in the confusion, slipping away from the bandits unnoticed — and as she ran, the only thought in her mind had been a quiet, almost guilty relief.
Good riddance, she had thought.
Now—
Natsu pushed herself to her feet and stepped out from under the shade Nathan had created.
The sunlight hit her immediately, bright and unforgiving, forcing her to raise a hand to shield her eyes. The heat still lingered in the air, even though the sun had already begun its slow descent.
"…Where is he?" she murmured, glancing around.
Nathan was nowhere to be seen inside the enclosure, but she'd found a polish looking sword beside her, very different from the one she had.
"Is this… his doing too? …Well, considering how he could create things out of thin air, this wasn't that strange at all."
Frowning slightly, she picked up the sword, bent her knees, and jumped, catching the top of the three-meter wall with ease before pulling herself up in one smooth motion. From that vantage point, she scanned the surrounding area — and then paused.
"…Was the clearing always this big?" she muttered.
It wasn't.
She was sure of it.
Then she saw him.
At the edge of the clearing, Nathan moved casually from tree to tree — and with a simple touch, each one vanished.
Natsu's eyes widened.
"What—?!" she gasped, panic rising instantly. "How did he do that?!"
No, no, no — this is bad, she thought.
"I have to stop him!"
She dropped down and sprinted toward him, her speed blurring across the ground as she closed the distance in seconds.
"Nathan!" she shouted, skidding to a halt in front of him. "What are you doing?!"
Nathan glanced at her, completely unfazed.
"Oh. Natsu. You're awake." He gestured lazily to the empty space around him. "As you can see… I'm felling trees. How's your leg, though?"
Natsu stared at him — ignoring the question — then at the missing trees, then back at him.
"…Who fells trees without leaving any trees behind—?! No, that's not the point!" she snapped, cutting herself off. "You need to stop… whatever it is you're doing!"
Nathan blinked. "…Why?"
She stared at him for a long second, then sighed in disbelief.
"So your amnesia really does erase even the most basic knowledge…" she muttered, rubbing her temple. "Listen. This place is called the Supreme Dragon Valley. You can probably guess why."
"…Because a dragon lives here?" Nathan guessed.
"Yes," Natsu said immediately. "And not just any dragon — the Supreme Dragon. The strongest dragon in existence. Its power is rumored to rival even the gods themselves."
Nathan nodded slowly. "Okay, I'm actually quite exited about the dragon… but what does that have to do with me cutting trees?"
Natsu's eye twitched.
"Because the Supreme Dragon hates it when someone messes with her territory!" she snapped. "She once destroyed a small kingdom that religiously worshipped her — just because some of them got greedy and sold some of the Ironwood from this valley to outside merchants!"
Nathan's expression shifted slightly. "…That's a bit… extreme."
"That's why I ran here in the first place." Natsu continued, gesturing around sharply. "Humans are too afraid of her to come anywhere near this valley because it's under the Supreme Dragon's protection — it's dangerous, sure, but thanks to that, it's also the safest place for to hide from humans."
"Umm…" Nathan hesitated.
Natsu narrowed her eyes. "…What?"
Nathan scratched his cheek awkwardly. "…I may or may not have cut down some trees called Ironwood…"
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then—
"What?!" Natsu's voice jumped an octave. "Are you kidding me?!"
Nathan frowned. "Why are you panicking? I only cut down one or two… It think? It's not that big of a deal—"
"It is a big deal!" she snapped. "Ironwood trees create a rich mana environment — something a dragon highly values! Even cutting one down can disrupt the balance, and a dragon like the Supreme Dragon can immediately sense even the slightest change in the atmosphere! Do you understand that?!"
She clutched her head in distress, pacing in place.
"Now we are… now we are…"
"Cooked," Nathan finished casually.
Natsu froze for half a second — then pointed at him in agreement.
"Now we're cooked!"