—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Aslan froze.
His breath caught in his throat, his eyes fixed on the window that had appeared before him.
Twelve years was not a short time.
Aslan’s twelve years had been far from easy, and even if it represented less than half a human lifespan, the suffering he had endured couldn’t be dismissed.
The mere act of reflecting on those twelve years was painful, and he couldn’t comprehend the sudden appearance of a main quest.
Who was Angela Tail?
And why had the main quest appeared now?
Aslan couldn’t understand.
His sluggish mind slowly registered that his first main quest had appeared in the prison city of Olpasbet.
This wasn’t his first time visiting Olpasbet.
Previous visits hadn’t triggered any main quests.
The difference between those past visits and now…
Aslan’s train of thought was interrupted as he focused on the girl, just as she clashed with the men.
–Crack!
Or rather, the rock in her hand cracked against something hard.
Despite her small stature, the girl had swung with all her might, the rock connecting squarely with the man’s head.
The man, about to lunge at her, clutched his head where the rock had struck his temple.
He staggered but didn’t fall. Gritting his teeth, he charged.
“You little bitch!”
He cursed as he lunged, easily grabbing the girl’s wrist.
In her fury, she hadn’t noticed how thin and frail her arms were.
‘There’s no way she can break free.’
Aslan thought, about to step forward. Considering what was about to happen, now was his chance.
But contrary to his expectations, the girl moved.
Seeing the man raising his fist, she threw herself forward.
–Crunch!
She bit down on the arm holding her wrist.
A dirty tactic, but remarkably effective. The girl squeezed her eyes shut as she bit down, drawing blood.
“Aagh! Get off! Get off me!”
The man screamed, swinging his fist. It connected with the girl’s head.
Each blow landed with a sickening thud against her fiery red hair, but the girl held on, her eyes squeezed shut, refusing to let go.
“Ugh! Agh!”
Finally, the man released her wrist. The girl brought her knee up, slamming it into his groin.
“Gah!”
The man collapsed with a choked cry, and the girl grinned from beneath her tangled hair. The crowd roared with laughter, mocking the fallen man.
Only the Dragonkin remained.
But the Dragonkin simply folded his arms, observing the girl with an air of calm detachment. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry.
Aslan sensed two things from the Dragonkin’s relaxed demeanor.
One, his confidence.
And two, his discerning eye.
The Dragonkin wasn’t just a large reptilian; he was a warrior.
A warrior with enough experience to gauge the strength of his opponent and predict the outcome of a fight.
And he seemed to see no reason to rush.
The girl had managed to take down his subordinates with luck and dirty tricks, but against a Dragonkin over two meters tall, she had no chance of winning. It was obvious.
The girl seemed to realize this too. Her fierce grin slowly faded.
The Dragonkin, reading her change in expression, spoke.
“Angela Tail. Is my offer so displeasing to you?”
The girl didn’t reply. She picked up another rock from the ground. Despite the weapon in her hand, the Dragonkin didn’t seem particularly alarmed.
Instead, he looked down at her with a haughty gaze.
“I offered to take you under my protection, a commoner who should be grateful. Is that so offensive?”
A flicker of contempt and rage flashed across the girl’s face at his words and tone. Her free hand trembled as she shouted.
“Wouldn’t it be offensive, you goddamn lizard?!”
She hurled the rock at him, her fury fueling the throw.
The rock whizzed through the air with a sharp whistle. The Dragonkin caught it easily.
It landed in his large palm with a soft thud, then rolled to the ground.
The Dragonkin sighed.
“Angela Tail, must you really make this difficult…”
He stopped mid-sentence.
The girl had vanished.
The crowd was looking past him, and the Dragonkin, realizing what had happened, spun around.
The girl had used the distraction to escape. She was running, not too far away.
The Dragonkin’s brow furrowed in annoyance, and he started to give chase. The crowd jeered, shouting meaningless comments at the fleeing girl and the pursuing Dragonkin.
Amidst the chaos, Aslan’s eyes followed the girl’s escape route, then he slipped into a nearby alleyway.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Gasp… gasp…”
The girl ran.
Behind her, the Dragonkin, who towered over her by at least three heads, pursued relentlessly.
His thick tail provided balance as he leaned forward, gaining speed.
The girl shoved aside anyone in her path. Those she pushed scrambled to avoid being trampled by the Dragonkin.
She managed to create a small gap between them.
‘He’s… he’s catching up!’
The girl was a commoner.
Born and raised in Belus Alpen, the city of the Dragonkin.
She didn’t know who her parents were or how she came to be. She had lived in the slums of Belus Alpen since she was a child.
Her surname, as was the norm, was Tail.
The city of the Dragonkin was built upon the bones of a colossal ancient dragon, and the city was divided into sections based on the dragon’s anatomy, each section designating a social class.
The most wretched and lowly lived in the slums clustered around the tail.
They were all Tails.
All Tails were human.
Humans who weren’t large, didn’t have tails, and didn’t possess any exceptional physical abilities.
Considering the city’s aristocracy was entirely Dragonkin, this wasn’t unusual.
The girl hated the Dragonkin.
While the Tails constantly fought and bickered amongst themselves for scraps of food, she hated the Dragonkin more.
Their haughty gazes, the way they looked down on the commoners.
The girl loathed it.
She hated the way they avoided her as if she were filth.
She hated how they treated the Tails like livestock, managing them as they saw fit.
It was only natural that she would rebel against a Dragonkin who demanded she submit to him.
Aside from her personal dislike, the inherent inequality disgusted her.
“Huff… huff…”
So she rebelled. She fought. Even if it was futile.
The girl choked back her breaths, pushing her legs to their limit. She sprinted through the crimson-lit streets, turning a corner.
–Trip.
“Ugh!”
She stumbled over a loose stone, falling hard.
The impact sent a jolt through her body, turning her choked breaths into nausea. She covered her mouth, coughing.
The Dragonkin’s footsteps grew closer. The girl gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut.
And just as the sound of his pursuit reached her…
“Huh?!”
Someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her away. She stumbled, dragged helplessly into a back alley.
The person clamped a hand over her mouth and pushed her against the wall. Her eyes flew open in surprise.
“Shh.”
She saw a man.
A man with striking teal eyes and dark hair, towering over her by two heads.
He had a tired, almost melancholic expression. He held a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
A wave of resentment welled up inside her, but…
“Damn it… I lost her.”
The Dragonkin’s voice echoed nearby, cutting off her protest before it could begin.
The girl, understanding the situation, suppressed her resentment and frowned.
‘Did he help me?’
Only after the Dragonkin’s footsteps faded did the man release her wrist and remove his hand from her mouth.
“That was close.”
He was right. She had been a hair’s breadth away from being caught.
She wasn’t sure what would have happened if she had been caught, but she knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.
Though she should have been grateful, she frowned at the man, suspicion flickering in her golden eyes.
“Who are you?”
She didn’t recognize him. She couldn’t.
It hadn’t been long since she was imprisoned, and she didn’t know anyone here.
The only people she knew were the other commoners from Belus Alpen who had been hired alongside her.
Most of them were dead, along with their employer, so it was unlikely this man was someone she knew.
She hadn’t been in this city long, but she knew there weren’t many honest people here. Perhaps no one was honest at all.
“Why did you help me?”
She assumed he had an ulterior motive. That he would demand something in return.
“You looked like you were in danger.”
He answered immediately.
And then he fell silent.
His closed lips seemed to indicate that was all there was to it.
The girl’s eyebrows twitched in confusion. The man added, as if reading her thoughts,
“I was watching. You fighting that Dragonkin’s subordinate.”
The girl’s confusion deepened.
Throughout her escape, she hadn’t seen anyone else pursuing her.
If he had been ahead of her and the Dragonkin, waiting in the alley, he would have had to run at an incredible speed.
As if sensing her question, the man nodded towards the back of the alley.
The alley stretched on, ending abruptly at a jagged wall.
It wasn’t very high. With a good grip, it looked climbable.
As the girl looked at the wall, then back at him, the man explained.
“From the way you were running, I figured you’d come this way. I just cut straight through. Nothing surprising.”
The girl frowned.
She wasn’t sure if that was even possible.
But he seemed to think no further explanation was necessary. He took a step back from her.
“Even if it was a fight, I didn’t want to see a group of men attack one girl.”
It was a reason she couldn’t understand. She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again.
–Growl.
Her own body betrayed her.
Her stomach rumbled loudly. She pressed her lips together, her gaze falling to the ground.
“…Hungry, huh?”
The man seemed to understand. He nodded slightly.
“Want something to eat?”
He watched the girl silently, thinking to himself.
‘I won’t miss this chance. My first main quest.’
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
