NOVEL NEXT 3
As soon as he arrived at the lair, the dragon was once again engulfed in mana and forcibly summoned back to the royal palace. A cold smile played on his lips.
His golden eyes flickered silently as he cast a frosty glare at the human in the room.
Hadn’t he said to summon him only when a wish had come to mind? The dragon gazed at the prince with an indifferent expression, irritated at being recalled so soon. Noticing the dragon’s annoyance, Mikhail quickly parted his lips.
“…A wish has come to mind.”
“Oh?”
Well then. The dragon’s anger dissipated immediately. He had been the one to tell the prince to summon him when he had a wish, and the sooner he heard it and fulfilled it, the better.
He slowly reclined back onto the plush sofa. The tea he had been drinking was still sitting on the table, though it had gone cold.
With his slender index finger, the dragon lightly touched the smooth surface of the teapot. A soft whoosh followed, and steam began rising as the tea reheated, the lid of the teapot clinking slightly from the sudden warmth. He poured himself a little and brought the cup to his lips.
Mmm, delicious. The dragon smiled faintly.
“Go ahead. I’ll grant you anything.”
Since he was already here, he figured he might as well enjoy the rare occasion of being outside. If the prince had asked him to make this kingdom his own, the dragon would have handed it over without question.
But the wish Mikhail uttered was something entirely unexpected—so bizarre that even the dragon, who had granted human wishes for eons, had never heard such a request before.
“…I want to find a corpse.”
A corpse? The dragon frowned deeply, his striking features contorting in confusion, as he looked at the prince sitting across from him on the sofa, fists pressed firmly against his knees.
“What for? No, wait—I don’t actually care about the purpose.”
Hmm. The gold dragon fell silent, staring at the human before him. Mikhail, despite making such an abrupt request, merely waited calmly for the dragon’s answer.
The dragon decided that he ought to teach this young human what kind of wishes should be made to a being like him. This was a once-in-several-centuries—or perhaps even millennia—opportunity.
It would be an utter waste to use such a precious chance on a trivial errand like this. The dragon had both pride and a sense of duty regarding his power, and he knew far too well that it was completely unnecessary to wield such power for something so insignificant.
Mikhail Ruth Inehart opened his mouth again, intending to explain his wish to the gold dragon, who was looking at him with a strange expression.
“To find the body and at least give it a proper burial—”
The dragon cut him off coldly.
“I just told you—I don’t care about the purpose.”
The gold dragon’s brilliant golden eyes gleamed as he cut the prince off in an instant.
“It seems I need to remind you of the scope of the wishes I can grant. If you wish to become a Sword Master, a mere flick of my hand will elevate you to that rank. If you desire not just this kingdom but the entire continent, the same applies. I am granting you—a mere human—the golden opportunity to have anything you desire at this very moment, with just a single word from me.”
His gold-infused irises burned with an intense glow, a radiance so breathtaking that it rendered all the riches and treasures within the palace dull in comparison.
Mikhail stiffened, his body momentarily freezing at the inhuman spectacle before him as he met the gold dragon’s gaze.
“Is there someone you love? I can cast a spell so they will devote their entire life to you. Do you want wealth—the greatest fortune on this continent? Then I shall fill this very room with jewels and gold coins.”
Mikhail looked down at his clenched fists.
***
Adrian’s foolish voice echoed in his ears.
That idiot had been scouring the mountain, searching for herbs, when he suddenly called out Mikhail’s name as if he had discovered something near the edge of a cliff.
Mikhail, who had been looking elsewhere, turned his head at the sound—only to see Adrian’s body slowly tipping over the edge, falling before his very eyes.
Catch him.
Before he even realized it, Mikhail was already running toward the cliff.
Adrian, looking as foolish as ever, was clinging onto a crevice in the rock, his fingers gripping desperately as he winced. At least that was some relief.
Without a second thought, Mikhail threw himself onto the ground at the cliff’s edge, not caring that his uniform was getting filthy. He stretched out his arm as far as he could, forcing a reassuring smile onto his face as if to calm Adrian. The distance was just short of what he needed to grab him, but if Adrian could just take his hand, he could pull him up.
“Take my hand!”
Mikhail shouted, his voice urgent.
Adrian, still hanging on for dear life, simply gazed at the outstretched hand.
“Grab it, damn it!”
Mikhail gritted his teeth, his body breaking out in a cold sweat as he strained to lower his arm even further. He stretched his fingers, trying to snatch Adrian’s hand—but it was just out of reach.
Adrian Heather’s silky golden hair whipped through the air, caught in the wind. The gust revealed his smooth forehead and sharply defined nose.
His expression became clear.
He was smiling faintly as he looked at Mikhail.
At that moment, Mikhail felt his blood run ice-cold.
“…Adrian?”
Then, Adrian calmly released his grip on the cliff’s edge.
***
The dragon was a legendary being, one that only appeared in the founding myths of the Rustavaran Kingdom. Every citizen of the kingdom had grown up hearing stories about the mighty dragon that had protected their land since time immemorial.
As a member of the royal family, Mikhail had been exposed to those legends even more than most—tales both cruel and beautiful, filled with countless awe-inspiring accounts.
And yet, even as he sat rigidly in the reception room’s sofa, his clenched fists trembling atop his knees, his resolve did not waver.
His fear would not break his stubborn will.
“I don’t need it.”
Mikhail’s head snapped up sharply.
What?
Ignoring the dragon’s displeased expression, the prince answered firmly.
“I can obtain everything you just mentioned with my own power. And… I have no desire to achieve something so precious through a mere wish.”
With a clenched fist, he slammed his hand down on the table in the sitting room.
The dragon, watching him, momentarily thought, How dare this brat? But rather than getting angry immediately, he decided to listen a little longer.
“My wish is to find Adrian Heather’s body. I have no other requests.”
Hearing the prince’s specific wish, the dragon lowered his beautiful golden eyes and took a sip of tea.
The temperature was just right.
He deliberated.
If it was Adrian’s corpse Mikhail sought, then it did not exist on this continent. It was an area of impossibility—a realm the dragon had deliberately excluded from the scope of his wish-granting.
Everything that existed in this world belonged to the dragon, was under his dominion. But things that did not exist were beyond his reach.
So he could not fulfill wishes that demanded something absent from this world—such as reviving the dead, inventing a technique unknown even to a dragon, or, like now, finding the body of someone who had never died in the first place.
I wonder if the mandrake I planted in my lair has fully matured by now…
Of course, there was a loophole he could exploit.
“You’re going to regret this.”
With a sharp clink, the dragon set down his teacup on the table.
Mikhail, unfazed, raised his gaze and responded firmly. “No.”
“After his death… I searched every inch of the forest, including the cliff he fell from. I sent soldiers to comb through every rock, every tree, every blade of grass. I even brought in renowned mages skilled in tracking magic. But not a single trace of Adrian was found—not a footprint, not even a single drop of his blood. There was nothing, as if he had never existed in this world at all.”
Of course.
No human could trace a dragon’s teleportation magic.
The dragon sighed internally.
Of all the games he had played over the ages, no human had ever pursued him so blindly. The ones entangled in his amusements—humans who had lost someone because of him—had certainly grieved.
But that was all.
No matter how long they mourned, they always moved forward.
In their fleeting lifespans, the existence of a dragon became nothing more than a faint, uncertain memory.
The dragon closed his eyes and gathered a sliver of his power.
At that moment, his golden hair floated into the air as a warm wind stirred, making his clothes ripple. A shimmering, golden haze wrapped around him, swirling like a living entity.
Then—flash!
His golden eyes shone brilliantly, as if two moons had been embedded in his irises.
Raising his gaze slightly, the dragon stared into the distance, as though seeking something far beyond the room.
A soft whoosh, and his floating hair slowly settled back down. His radiant, distant gaze finally shifted back to Mikhail.
“The contract is sealed. We depart immediately.”
“…You found him?”
Mikhail spread both hands on the table and leaned forward, his body taut with anticipation.
The dragon chuckled at the prince’s eagerness.
“You’re impatient. Everything follows a process.”
That was a lie.
There was no process—just an excuse.
The truth was, he needed more time. The mandrake in his lair still had about a month before it fully matured. Until then, he planned to humor this child’s absurd little game.
“Then… where to?”
The prince murmured almost unconsciously, the words slipping from his lips as he realized he might finally get what he had been searching for.
“The cliff where that human fell.”
Mikhail’s expression hardened, as if he had already anticipated that answer.
Then, with a resolute look, he gave a firm nod.