Leaving the crying Albert behind weighed heavily on my heart.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him until the very last moment when Blanc and I teleported.
I couldn’t comfort him as he sobbed uncontrollably. My closed eyelids felt warm from the tears. I raised my wrist to wipe them away and took a deep, shaky breath.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in the Dragon’s Nest where Blanc and I said goodbye just before our ordeals began.
I noticed something being engraved on one side of the cave.
Although there were no colors, it was the same pattern that had been engraved on Blanc and me.
The cave was filled with various patterns, symbolizing the contracts and oaths between contract holders and mature dragons.
But it didn’t end there. The simple pattern that had been on my wrist had now transformed into something vibrant, like a blossoming flower.
It signified that my contract with Blanc had been successfully completed.
It finally sank in.
I had become the true contract holder of the full-fledged dragon, Blanc.
I knew Blanc must have felt it too. When I turned my head, I saw Blanc standing there, staring at me.
“Thank you for becoming my true contractor…”
Blanc said, lowering his head, perhaps due to my somber expression.
It wasn’t Blanc’s fault that I had to part ways with the young Albert, but I still felt sorry for making Blanc walk on eggshells around me.
We had to move forward, and going back to the future was something that needed to be done.
Above all, I felt guilty for not paying enough attention to Blanc, who must have gone through so many hardships just to come and meet me, especially considering the pain he must have endured to overcome the ordeal and be by my side.
I reached out to pat Blanc’s front paw and raised my voice, struggling to sound cheerful.
“I’m a bit late to express my gratitude. Thank you for coming to get me, for overcoming the ordeal well, Blanc.”
Blanc smiled warmly at my words and shook his head.
“We promised to go on an adventure together, didn’t we?”
That’s why I couldn’t let myself die.
Blanc’s soft murmur and smile reminded me of his days as a dragon cub. He had grown into a much more mature form, but deep down, Blanc was still the same. Yes, we had more time to spend together.
“Let’s go on a trip to the sea.”
Under the dazzling sunlight, watching the shimmering waves, we would be able to remember these pleasant memories even during such difficult times.
We had our memories to cherish.
With Albert, too.
I made a silent promise to myself as I sifted through the information flowing through my mind.
Now that the contract was fully completed, I could understand why we had come to this place.
The Dragon’s Nest was a bizarre space that connected all dimensions and timelines. It also served as a kind of gateway, like a door, to enter different dimensions.
In other words, to leap across time or dimensions, I would always have to pass through this place.
The fact that dragon cubs born here ended up in different worlds and that our ordeals began here had the same underlying reason.
A magic circle spontaneously appeared in my mind. Becoming a contractor brought a new flow of magic into my body.
While ordinary people couldn’t see or understand the magic circles related to time, it was a different story for me.
My world had once again turned upside down. After wiping away the dried tear marks beneath my eyes, I declared with determination.
“Let’s go back.”
While I had become a unique being capable of freely traveling between past and present, there was one period we couldn’t visit.
Blanc and I wouldn’t be able to go back to the period of time when we were absent for our ordeals. The only date I could reunite with Albert was the present day after overcoming the trials.
There was the risk of creating a time paradox, which might detrimentally twist the reality I currently lived in.
I had spent thirty days with the young Albert.
During the trial, time passed quickly, so in reality, three hundred days had elapsed.
In other words… I was missing for almost a year in terms of real-world time.
The one-month period that Albert and I had agreed on had long since passed.
Does he still love me?
Perhaps he had decided to forget me in his pain. He was human, after all. That’s why even if Albert had made such a choice, I couldn’t bring myself to blame him.
…My greatest fear was that he no longer loved me, even if circumstances had led him to make that choice.
My thoughts became even more tangled.
I took a deep breath and recited an incantation.
“Time.”
As I uttered the spell, Blanc and I were sucked into the magic circle and soon disappeared.
Finally, Blanc and I arrived at the open field where we had last concealed ourselves.
No, it would be more accurate to say we arrived at the space that should have been an open field.
What had once been a barren landscape had transformed into a bustling city filled with people.
As Blanc and I were about to descend from the sky, we panicked and quickly cast an invisibility spell.
For an enormous dragon to appear so suddenly in mid-air… Not only would that draw attention, but it would also make us the talk of the town—it’d be a lifetime of gossip for them here.
I wouldn’t want Blanc to be talked about like that.
Blanc’s shadow loomed over the town. As a full-fledged adult dragon, he easily surpassed the surrounding buildings in size.
If we landed like this, not only would we destroy the houses in the village, but there would also be casualties.
I pondered what to do when Blanc spoke up first.
“I’ll polymorph into a human.”
Leaving the crying Albert behind weighed heavily on my heart.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him until the very last moment when Blanc and I teleported.
I couldn’t comfort him as he sobbed uncontrollably. My closed eyelids felt warm from the tears. I raised my wrist to wipe them away and took a deep, shaky breath.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in the Dragon’s Nest where Blanc and I said goodbye just before our ordeals began.
I noticed something being engraved on one side of the cave.
Although there were no colors, it was the same pattern that had been engraved on Blanc and me.
The cave was filled with various patterns, symbolizing the contracts and oaths between contract holders and mature dragons.
But it didn’t end there. The simple pattern that had been on my wrist had now transformed into something vibrant, like a blossoming flower.
It signified that my contract with Blanc had been successfully completed.
It finally sank in.
I had become the true contract holder of the full-fledged dragon, Blanc.
I knew Blanc must have felt it too. When I turned my head, I saw Blanc standing there, staring at me.
“Thank you for becoming my true contractor…”
Blanc said, lowering his head, perhaps due to my somber expression.
It wasn’t Blanc’s fault that I had to part ways with the young Albert, but I still felt sorry for making Blanc walk on eggshells around me.
We had to move forward, and going back to the future was something that needed to be done.
Above all, I felt guilty for not paying enough attention to Blanc, who must have gone through so many hardships just to come and meet me, especially considering the pain he must have endured to overcome the ordeal and be by my side.
I reached out to pat Blanc’s front paw and raised my voice, struggling to sound cheerful.
“I’m a bit late to express my gratitude. Thank you for coming to get me, for overcoming the ordeal well, Blanc.”
Blanc smiled warmly at my words and shook his head.
“We promised to go on an adventure together, didn’t we?”
That’s why I couldn’t let myself die.
Blanc’s soft murmur and smile reminded me of his days as a dragon cub. He had grown into a much more mature form, but deep down, Blanc was still the same. Yes, we had more time to spend together.
“Let’s go on a trip to the sea.”
Under the dazzling sunlight, watching the shimmering waves, we would be able to remember these pleasant memories even during such difficult times.
We had our memories to cherish.
With Albert, too.
I made a silent promise to myself as I sifted through the information flowing through my mind.
Now that the contract was fully completed, I could understand why we had come to this place.
The Dragon’s Nest was a bizarre space that connected all dimensions and timelines. It also served as a kind of gateway, like a door, to enter different dimensions.
In other words, to leap across time or dimensions, I would always have to pass through this place.
The fact that dragon cubs born here ended up in different worlds and that our ordeals began here had the same underlying reason.
A magic circle spontaneously appeared in my mind. Becoming a contractor brought a new flow of magic into my body.
While ordinary people couldn’t see or understand the magic circles related to time, it was a different story for me.
My world had once again turned upside down. After wiping away the dried tear marks beneath my eyes, I declared with determination.
“Let’s go back.”
While I had become a unique being capable of freely traveling between past and present, there was one period we couldn’t visit.
Blanc and I wouldn’t be able to go back to the period of time when we were absent for our ordeals. The only date I could reunite with Albert was the present day after overcoming the trials.
There was the risk of creating a time paradox, which might detrimentally twist the reality I currently lived in.
I had spent thirty days with the young Albert.
During the trial, time passed quickly, so in reality, three hundred days had elapsed.
In other words… I was missing for almost a year in terms of real-world time.
The one-month period that Albert and I had agreed on had long since passed.
Does he still love me?
Perhaps he had decided to forget me in his pain. He was human, after all. That’s why even if Albert had made such a choice, I couldn’t bring myself to blame him.
…My greatest fear was that he no longer loved me, even if circumstances had led him to make that choice.
My thoughts became even more tangled.
I took a deep breath and recited an incantation.
“Time.”
As I uttered the spell, Blanc and I were sucked into the magic circle and soon disappeared.
Finally, Blanc and I arrived at the open field where we had last concealed ourselves.
No, it would be more accurate to say we arrived at the space that should have been an open field.
What had once been a barren landscape had transformed into a bustling city filled with people.
As Blanc and I were about to descend from the sky, we panicked and quickly cast an invisibility spell.
For an enormous dragon to appear so suddenly in mid-air… Not only would that draw attention, but it would also make us the talk of the town—it’d be a lifetime of gossip for them here.
I wouldn’t want Blanc to be talked about like that.
Blanc’s shadow loomed over the town. As a full-fledged adult dragon, he easily surpassed the surrounding buildings in size.
If we landed like this, not only would we destroy the houses in the village, but there would also be casualties.
I pondered what to do when Blanc spoke up first.
“I’ll polymorph into a human.”
