[V10EX5] Twelve Years Ago at Dalsmore

A group of four was walking through the forest at the foot of the Dalsmore mountain range.

The first was Gideon Rutherford, the Smoke Mage, an elderly man with short white hair.

The second was Carla Maxwell, the Starspear Witch, a woman with casually tied reddish-brown hair, dressed in plain travel attire.

The third was Louis Miller, a boy with short chestnut-colored hair, wearing the uniform of Minerva.

And finally, there was the timid-looking man, Theodore Maxwell, a magical creature biologist.

A lost dragonling had been discovered at Minerva, and the four of them journeyed to the forests of Dalsmore in order to return him to his mother.

Despite having just entered the forest, a considerable amount of distance had opened up between the four.

Carla was a seasoned traveler, so she led the way with light steps. Following her was Rutherford, who, despite his age, boasted sturdy legs. Theodore walked a bit further behind, panting heavily since he was carrying the dragon cage.

Meanwhile, the young Louis was at the rear, grumbling at the huge load he had been burdened with.

“Damn geezer… You’d better prepare your ass… I’ll kick you off the next cliff we see…!”

The ominous threats coming from right behind Theodore made him want to cry.

Louis was more than ten years younger than Theodore, but he was just plain violent. A delinquent, undoubtedly.

His load contained not only his own luggage, but also the luggage of his master and all the tools needed to care for a dragonling. In other words, he was trekking through the forest under a weight that looked like it could crush him outright.

Theodore considered offering a hand, but unfortunately, holding the dragon cage took both of his hands. And besides, he didn’t want to get too close to the dangerous aura Louis exuded.

(He’s just too scary…)

Honestly, it felt like walking in front of a wild dog. Just talking to him came with the risk of getting bitten.

Carla and Rutherford were waiting up ahead for the two to catch up. Once they did, Rutherford glared at Louis and scoffed.

“If you have the energy to talk, walk faster, brat. Want me to add more to your load? Well? Should I ride on top of that bag too?”

“Hah! Fine by me. Go ahead and hop on, geezer… I’ll drop you in the dragon’s nest along with your luggage!”

It sounded like a conversation between alleyway thugs. Who could possibly believe that they were actually a teacher and student from the esteemed mage training institute of Minerva?

Despite already shaking in his boots, Theodore hesitantly interjected in a strained voice.

“Um… excuse me…”

Rutherford and Louis turned to Theodore at the same time.

In all likelihood, neither of them had meant to glare, but both were pretty intimidating by default. Theodore felt like a tiny lizard getting eyed by a pair of earth dragons.

The teary-eyed Theodore held the dragon cage close to his chest as he made his request.

“Greater dragons are intelligent and, um, learn human language by listening to conversations, so… if possible, I’d appreciate it if you don’t use such rough language… please…”

In response to Theodore’s request, Rutherford scratched his short hair.

“Ah, sorry about that, Mr. Biologist. Well, you heard the man. Shut up for a moment, you little brat.”

Louis stuck out his tongue and made a gesture of cutting his throat with his thumb.

This was followed by Rutherford performing a leg sweep on Louis, then delivering a punch to his stomach once he was knocked off balance.

Sure, they had gone silent as requested, but this was still not setting a good example for the baby dragon.

Theodore quickly covered the cage with his jacket. His parental instincts were telling him that this scene was too violent for children.

“Please, stop showing him such violence…! What if he starts mimicking you guys…!”

“Bro, you’re like a worrywart mother,” Carla commented.

“Carla… Why are both your master and junior disciple so violent!?”

Minerva was supposed to be the top magical training institution in the country. However, this master and disciple voiced more insults than incantations. They launched more punches than spells.

Theodore could not help but wonder how Carla turned out okay in such an environment.

However, Carla seemed unperturbed.

“Well, they’re still much better than usual…”

“What’s the usual!?” Theodore screamed back.

Noticing this exchange, Louis squinted at Theodore while holding his stomach.

“I’m in front of Carla’s brother. Of course I’d act refined, even if I have to fake it.”

“Eh? How? What about that was refined?”

Theodore’s muttering caused Louis to glare even harder.

Most people would describe this as some sort of intimidation, but apparently, the delinquent was actually holding back in front of Theodore, to some extent.

Thus, Theodore decided to make another request.

“Um, maybe it’s just that your face looks naturally scary… Oh, I know. I think it would be better if you smile a bit… Haha…”

Louis forced his mouth into a sinister smile, with one side of his cheeks clearly twitching.

Theodore responded with a vacant smile of his own.

“Wow, that’s the smile of an earth dragon three seconds before it digs into a pile of meat. How wonderful!”

Louis withdrew his smile, turning towards his senior disciple Carla.

“Hey Carla, is your brother okay in the head?”

“How rude…!” Theodore interjected. “I’m definitely the most normal out of all of us…”

“Hah?”

“I’m sorry!!!”

Theodore apologized once Louis glared at him again, followed by Rutherford poking Louis’s head.

“I told you to shut up already. You’re like a stray dog that bites at anyone who gets close.”

Rutherford then looked up at the sky. This was a relatively dry area, but today’s unusually dark clouds hinted at oncoming rain.

“Alright, break time’s over. Let’s stop yapping and get a move on. We need to get this guy to the dragon peak before the weather turns bad.”

The group resumed walking in silence.

Louis seemed to hate appearing weak, so he matched the pace of the others despite carrying the heaviest burden. What an energetic young man.

Theodore desperately moved his legs to catch up to the back of the boy ten years younger than him.

As a magical creature biologist specializing in dragon ecology, Theodore occasionally visited the dragon peaks for research.

This meant he was somewhat accustomed to traveling. Yet for some reason, he remained physically weak, making him extremely poor at outdoor activities.

After about an hour of walking, around the time when Theodore’s legs started to feel as heavy as logs, the leader Carla paused, putting a hand above her eyes to look ahead.

“Oh, a cliff.”

Theodore watched as everything unfolded before his eyes.

The second Carla voiced those words, Louis had thrown off all the baggage he was carrying, then leaped gracefully into the air. His agility was reminiscent of a wyvern diving toward its prey.

“Go to hell, old man!”

True to his earlier declaration, Louis was attempting to kick Rutherford off the cliff. However, Rutherford narrowly avoided the blow, then grabbed the hem of Louis’s robe and tossed him off the edge instead.

“Geh.”

The pitiful Louis tumbled all the way down.

Meanwhile, Rutherford pulled out a smoking pipe from his pocket, then lit it with a shortened incantation, mumbling, “The cliff isn’t that tall, so he’ll live.”

After letting out a puff of smoke, he called out toward the bottom of the cliff.

“Hey, you little brat! Better learn flight magic as if your life depends on it! Otherwise you’re climbing your way back up!”

Louis shouted back with a very child-unsafe stream of insults.

Apparently, he had indeed been acting relatively ‘refined’ until a few moments ago.

After internally comparing Louis’s ferocity with the roars of a cornered wyvern, Theodore turned to the dragonling inside the cage.

“Hey, um, make sure you don’t become as violent as them when you grow up, okay?”

In response, the dragonling tilted his head and let out a high-pitched squeal.

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