The Next Legend

“Hey, it’s okay, right, Mom?”

“Well now…”

Henrik clasped his hands as if in prayer, pleading, and his mother smiled bitterly while pretending to ponder.

Jonah watched the two with an anxious expression.

Henrik’s mother had no intention of driving Jonah away from the start; she was just amused by her son’s unusual earnestness and deliberately acting this way.

From the perspective of the serious duo, it was unbearable. Jonah and Henrik were on edge.

“…It can’t be helped. Henrik, make sure you take good care of Jonah.”

“…! O-of course! We did it, Jonah!”

“Yeah!”

At his mother’s words, Henrik and Jonah beamed brightly and high-fived each other in joy.

Seeing the two, Henrik’s mother’s face also softened into a smile.

“Then let’s have dinner right away. Henrik, Jonah, go call Grandma.”

“Got it!”

“Yes!”

Following his mother’s instructions, Jonah and Henrik headed to his grandmother’s room.

Of course, it was the old woman they had passed at the village entrance.

“Grandma, dinner!”

“Oh my, is that so?”

Henrik’s grandmother, with a smiling expression, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepening upon seeing Jonah beside him and stood up from her chair, but…

“Ah!”

Jonah instinctively rushed over and caught Henrik’s grandmother as she staggered.

“Oh my, I’m sorry.”

“N-no problem!”

Henrik’s grandmother expressed her thanks, and Jonah shook his head as if it was nothing.

Though Jonah had mastered ancient magic at age seven and trained in body control, he could not move as dexterously or quickly as a healthy person.

But this journey of over two months had grown him. Being able to reach her before she fell, and realizing his body could move this well, made Jonah loosen his mouth into a smile.

“Grandma, be careful—you’re old.”

“That’s true.”

His grandmother nodded smilingly at Henrik’s bitter smile.

The atmosphere of Henrik’s family warmed Jonah’s heart as well.

“Hey, what are you doing, Jonah? I’ll eat your share first.”

“Ah! N-no fair!”

Jonah chased after the giggling Henrik with a smile.

“Um, th-that… Henrik, can you listen without laughing…?”

“Y-yeah!? Wh-what is it?”

Bedtime arrived, and for now, Jonah, who was to sleep in the same straw bed, timidly asked Henrik while looking up at him.

Jonah was originally very well-featured and had an endearing face, so Henrik felt strange and flustered.

“Where is this place, and what country is it…?”

“Huh…?”

Henrik, not expecting to be asked something so obvious, let out a dumbfounded voice.

“Even if you don’t know the village name, you should normally know the country’s name, right? You knew it when you were in that place, didn’t you?”

“A-ahaha, yeah, that’s right…”

Pointed out by Henrik, Jonah could no longer ask anything.

Indeed, as he said, not knowing the name of the country while being in it was impossible.

“That’s right. Even if you don’t know this village is called Kelba, you should obviously know it’s the Karelia Kingdom.”

“Ah… Y-yeah! It’s obviously the Karelia Kingdom, right!”

Henrik unconsciously revealed not only the village name but that this was the Karelia Kingdom.

Thanks to that, Jonah, who now roughly understood his location, nodded repeatedly with a smile to play along.

“You’re a weird guy… Anyway, tomorrow’s early, so let’s sleep.”

“Yeah!”

Henrik extinguished the lamp, and the room grew dark.

He really wanted to check his approximate position on the map of western countries in his bag, but he couldn’t see in this darkness.

However, Jonah’s mind was full of something else right now.

After all, the Karelia Kingdom was the location of one of the legends: the ‘Turn of the White and Black Dragon Pair’.

According to the legend, the White Dragon and Black Dragon are very large and magnificent beings inhabiting Baldia Mountain at the northernmost part of the Karelia Kingdom.

However, Baldia Mountain has very high elevation and is extremely rugged, making it impossible for humans to set foot there. Thus, no one has ever seen the two dragons.

‘Ehehe, I’m looking forward to it…’

Jonah’s chest swelled with anticipation for encountering the next legend, and he loosened his cheeks under the blanket.

But.

“Grrrrrrrrrrr…!”

The evening of the next day after finishing gathering firewood in the forest, Kuu stood protectively in front of Jonah and Henrik, growling.

In front of them was.

“Good grief, this is troublesome…”

A female knight with silver hair, clad in full armor and wearing a red mantle, stood there.