✧ Chapter 4 ✧
Legs that could walk, hands that could push open doors, and time to herself.
Everything was ready.
Then all that remained was deciding where to go.
Where should she go?
‘Hmm.’
There were many places that came to mind, but with her still clumsy way of walking, she needed to be able to return home within the one hour she had been given.
‘For now, I guess I should just stay near the house.’
That seemed like the best choice.
It was a little disappointing, but if she went too far, she might not make it back in time. There was also a chance that she could meet another dragon.
‘Of course, seeing my black hair, they probably wouldn’t carelessly try to hurt me. But you can never be too careful.’
In the world of Fantasia, hair and eye colors represented magical power, and most dragons inherited their parents’ colors from birth.
But there were some exceptions.
Knox was one of them.
Among the six attributes that existed in this world—water, fire, wind, lightning, light, and darkness—the dark attribute represented by Knox’s black color was a unique attribute of dragons. It was said to have existed only three times throughout history.
However, humans who had no magical power could also have black hair and black eyes.
Because of that, it was difficult to determine whether Rivera’s black hair meant that she had inherited Knox’s magical power or whether she was simply a human without magic.
Still, one thing was certain.
She was the only one in Somnium who had the same black hair as the Lord Dragon.
So, in a way, she definitely held half of the proof that she was his child.
Because of that, Rivera thought that no one here would dare to casually mess with her.
‘All right. Anyway, for my first outing, just one hour and only around the house……!’
Her first step into the world of dragons!
She was finally going to do it!
Filled with excitement, Rivera sat on the bed and looked toward the door with the corners of her lips slowly rising.
Her two adorably chubby feet couldn’t stay still and kept wiggling.
“Snore—Snore—”
Knox prepared to leave while looking happily at Rivera, who had fallen asleep after eating her baby food.
He took a sturdy brown basket for carrying fruit and then checked on the sleeping Rivera again before speaking.
“Really, she’s sleeping so deeply that she wouldn’t even notice if someone carried her away.”
Knox smiled with his eyes and bent down.
He gently bumped his forehead against Rivera’s forehead.
“I’ll be gone for a little while. Sleep well.”
Knox opened the bedroom door and left.
The sound of his footsteps echoed through her ears.
The footsteps gradually became quieter.
About five minutes passed.
Flash!
Rivera suddenly opened her eyes and raised her upper body.
‘Good. He’s gone.’
Then it was time to begin the operation!
Rivera had practiced climbing out of her crib many times just for this moment.
She skillfully climbed over the railing of the baby crib and came outside.
How much effort had she put into learning how to climb over this railing so freely!
‘Hup!’
Rivera slowly put her feet on the floor.
Leaving the crib behind, she moved her legs again.
Before she knew it, she had reached the bedroom door.
‘We meet again at last, you little thing.’
Back when she had tried touching it a few times before, it hadn’t moved at all.
But with her current strength—
Creak—
‘I can easily make a gap by pushing it!’
Rivera twisted her body slightly and squeezed herself through the small opening in the door.
Her body slipped outside.
For the first time, she stood on her own two feet and faced the hallway alone.
Looking up at the hallway while standing in her baby-sized body—
‘Hmm. It feels pretty big.’
But she wasn’t scared.
She bravely walked forward one step at a time.
Before long, she arrived in front of the door leading outside.
If she pushed this door open, a vast grassland and an endlessly high blue sky would appear right before her eyes.
‘The last time I saw this door was when I first came into this house. Has it really been about three months since then?’
Rivera swallowed nervously and stepped closer to open the door.
Then she brought her small hand toward the door.
Fwaa—
“!!”
Suddenly, a huge black circle burst out from the door before melting away and disappearing.
‘W-What was that just now?’
Rivera quickly stepped away from the door and examined both of her hands.
There was nothing wrong.
Her hands, arms, and legs were all fine.
‘What? Nothing happened to me. That scared me.’
Come to think of it, if it was a black circle—
‘Could Dad have put some kind of device here? Maybe some kind of barrier to stop thieves?’
Hmm. Was that really it?
But there didn’t seem to be any reaction.
‘Ah?! Could it be…… that I broke it or something?’
No.
Surely that couldn’t be possible.
There was no way she could break a barrier created by the Lord Dragon.
‘Hmm. Then what was it?’
After thinking for a while, she shook her head from side to side.
‘Ah, I don’t know. Let’s just go outside for now. I’ll worry about what happens after that when it happens.’
Right.
That wasn’t important right now.
As long as her body was fine, that was enough.
Rivera approached the door again and pushed it with all her strength.
Clunk.
The door slowly opened.
And through the opening, the sunlight outside gradually touched her face.
Finally, she saw the entire scenery outside at once.
“……”
A small sound naturally escaped from her open mouth.
Her body became completely stiff, and she could only stand there and stare endlessly at the outside world.
She looked like a wooden statue firmly planted into the ground.
“……”
Tall green wild grass.
Small jewel-like butterflies gently fluttering their wings.
The sun firmly settled in the clear blue sky.
And in between them, an aurora quietly displayed its beautiful colors.
Everything was engraved into Rivera’s eyes and refused to leave.
‘Ha…… ha.’
Sweet yet refreshing scents of flowers and grass continuously entered her nose.
The more she smelled them, the more admiration naturally rose inside her.
‘So it’s really true…… I really did come to the world where dragons live. The dragons’ sanctuary, Somnium.’
Especially that aurora floating in the blue sky, looking like a colorful scarf.
She had heard that it was a magnificent sight that could only be seen in the dragons’ sanctuary.
That made the reality of this place feel even stronger.
‘All right. Since I’m finally outside, why don’t I get some proper fresh air?’
Rivera slowly moved her legs.
Rustle. Rustle.
Every time she stepped forward, the grass touching the soles of her feet softly wrapped around them, making her feel comfortable and cozy.
The unpleasant feeling from what had happened when she opened the door was quickly forgotten.
Thanks to that, she walked forward more cheerfully and confidently than ever.
But from behind, she looked no different from a tiny duck waddling along with its chubby bottom, constantly losing its balance and looking like it could fall over at any moment.
Trees grew tall and straight like metasequoias.
Between them hung countless ripe red apples that looked delicious enough to eat just by looking at them.
Standing in front of the trees, Knox looked around repeatedly before picking out the prettiest apples with the strongest sweet scent and placing them into his basket.
“This one should be the best. It looks the most delicious.”
They were for his daughter.
He had to bring her the prettiest and best ones.
“Of course. That goes without saying.”
Among the baby food made from fruit juice, Rivera especially enjoyed apples.
She particularly liked the apples that grew on this tree, so Knox always came here to pick apples for her.
“Let’s see. One, two, three…… I picked about fifteen already. That should be enough, right?”
Knox looked happily at the ripe red apples.
“Hmm, no. Should I pick about five more?”
Recently, Rivera had been growing, and the amount she ate had also been increasing little by little.
It seemed better to bring plenty.
Knox reached toward the tree again.
At that moment, his fingertips suddenly began to tingle.
“Ugh!”
It was a signal.
Someone had touched the security barrier he had placed around the house, a barrier designed to immediately injure anyone other than himself who touched the entrance.
“……Could it be?”
The tingling had lasted for several seconds.
This wasn’t simply a sign that someone had touched the barrier.
It was a signal that the barrier had been broken!
If the barrier had remained intact, he would have only received a simple warning that someone had touched it.
“So it really happened?!”
Someone had broken the barrier?!
The barrier that he had created?!
Knox, the Lord Dragon, had never imagined that anyone would dare enter his home with the intention of harming him.
After all, being hostile toward the strongest dragon in the sanctuary was practically the same as choosing death.
Even so, he had created the barrier just in case something happened.
But now……
“Who is it? Who?!”
Only someone around the level of Mujika, who was among the strongest after Knox and the elders, should have been capable of touching the Lord Dragon’s barrier.
But it couldn’t be Mujika.
Knox hadn’t asked him to look after Rivera today.
No, even if Mujika had come to the house, he knew the barrier was there. There would be no reason for him to break it just to enter the house.
“Then……!”
There was definitely an unknown intruder inside his home!
There was no time to waste wondering who it was.
Rivera was in the house.
She was his everything.
And right now, she was alone and completely defenseless.
Knox immediately released Polymorph and returned to his enormous dragon form.
He flapped his huge wings several times, creating powerful gusts of wind, and quickly began flying toward the house.
“Baby! Just wait a little!”
And if this person had entered his home to lay a hand on his child—
His precious child—
“Even if it’s one of my own kind, I won’t let them go.”
“I’ll make you experience firsthand what extreme fear and pain truly are.”
Knox’s black eyes, shimmering with dark purple light, flashed fiercely.
He lowered his head into a position that would create the least air resistance and beat his wings harder, flying toward home even faster.
