Seeker of First Light - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When she glanced away, Naskan calmly opened his mouth again.

“Chris, it’s been a while. right?”

“…Yes. You seem to have changed a lot.”

Naskan, who was forming a human form here as per Sedition rules, was much nicer than what she remembered. His shoulders were much wider, and the body, visible through his clothes, was thick and well-knitted with muscles.

All dragons were born beautiful, but he was especially special.

He had blue hair like the daybreak sky and golden eyes unique to the Dragon race. It was just amazing that he had grown out of what she remembered. He must have been born with high magic power, and this time, it seemed that he had accumulated knowledge of the underworld.

At a glance, it seemed that his mana had become more abundant. Twilight’s power had become more sophisticated, perhaps.

“Yes, it’s amazing that you could have grown up there.”

“You’re the same?”

“What am I…”

She was dawn, so there was nothing she could do about it.

“Still so pretty, Dawn.”

Chryselua let go of her tension and laughed.

It was a long-standing habit of Chryselua that she hadn’t abandoned since her childhood to compare herself—Dawn—with Naskan—Twilight—in everything. It was just ridiculous that he said such a nonsensical thing.

“Don’t you want to go drink now?”

“You want to drink during the day?”

“…I actually have something to say.”

Looking at him hesitating, the bottle he was holding somehow began to look like a bribe.

“What kind of accident have you had? Why aren’t you contacting Lord gain?”

“Well? Has she contacted me…?”

“Excuse me. I told you all along.”

“Ahh… Anyway, are you free today?”

‘This guy is like this again…’

Nonetheless, the problem was that Naskan wouldn’t listen to things he wasn’t interested in. At least, it was surprising that he listened to Chryselua’s words well.

Chris put her hand on her waist and scolded him.

“You made another mistake.”

“Haha.”

When Naskan had a big accident when he was young, Chryselua asked the Lord for forgiveness instead of him. Even though he was just smiling nonchalantly, judging from the way he talked, it seemed that he had something.

Naskan still laughed helplessly. With his mouth open, his expression looked so stupid.

“…Alright, so let’s talk about the details over a drink. I’ll stop by the lab for a while since I have something to give you.”

“Really? To me?”

Nasukan, who had been calm until now, showed a visibly happy expression.

‘I can see why the Lord entrusted that item to me. He’s truly helpless… a lost cause.’

When she talked about the Lord, the guy pretended not to be interested in it openly and even scratched his ears. Though when Chryselua said she would give him something, his face turned bright.

He used to be a really good guy, she didn’t know how he turned into this.

“You promised? Then, I’ll pick you up later.”

Confirming, she nodded her head, and Naskan smiled coolly.

And so, Chryselua roughly calculated her time off from work and informed him before she hurried into the lab. As she opened the door and turned around before entering, he was still looking this way.

He was really cool.

When he opened his mouth, Naskan only spoke lightly, and when he laughed, he was carefree and even looked stupid. Still, when he closed his mouth like that and smiled softly, his impression looked different, like the depth of his eyes could not be measured.

As their eyes met, she could see Naskan smiling wide and Chryselua waved her hand.

She started to wonder what brought the guy who had traveled all over the world to come all the way to Sedition.

Chryselua, who entered the laboratory, glanced at the fruit she received from the Lord while refining the medicinal materials prepared for the ceremony. While dealing with medicine, she thought she had experienced quite a bit of medicinal herbs though that was a fruit she had never seen in books.

What was that sight that passed her for a moment when she touched it…?

Black sun and rifts, and a huge explosion that devoured everything.

It resembled the rift, a disaster in this world, where the dragons of the divine world, the fairies of the spirit world, and the demons of the underworld were all trying to solve—the very reason why the three forces that were not on good terms with each other came to a truce and established Sedition, was the ‘rift.’

‘Did I look at something for no reason because I got tired…’

As she thought so, Chryselua reached her hand again for the fruit she had placed on a shelf. The moment the surface of the fruit touched her fingertips, her eyes darkened, and she saw that scenery again.

Black sun and rifts. Big explosion.

…A world that would perish in an instant with a great roar.

“Uwah!”

In the second scene, she fell back and slammed her hips on the floor. When Chryselua removed her hand from the fruit, the scene that appeared in front of her had long since disappeared.

Shaking her head for a while, she was dumbfounded.

‘…Isn’t this necessary for the rift mission?’

She had never directly participated in a rift mission. However, she did know that those dispatched to the rift always knew where and how large the rift was. Because she saw a specific place after touching it, wouldn’t it be like a milestone…?

If so, it was clear that this was originally a mission that the Lord intended to entrust to Naskan. If it was a rift mission, wasn’t it a mission he should receive?

‘Should I ask again? Still, how could I convince Naskan?’

Chryselua pondered for a long time until she heard a strange sound like something breaking next to her.

Blub, blub!

“…Hmm?”

Come to think of it, she was refining some medicinal materials. How much did she look away when she put her hand on the fruit? Chryselua, lost in other thoughts for a moment, moved her blurred gaze to the place where the ingredients were being refined.

It was then.

A flash of light popped out.

“Kyaa!”

Bang!

The next moment, hearing an explosion right in front of her, Chryselua hurriedly raised her arms to cover her face and body.

A warm breeze blew through her body.

“Ugh. What…?”

The flask suddenly exploded. In the aftermath, several materials that were being refined were not only ruined, but even the fruits given by the Lord fell on the floor and rolled around in the corner of the lab.

“Oh. no…!”

Even if she threw away all the ingredients, she had to check if the fruit the Lord gave her was safe. As she thought so, Chryselua hurriedly moved to where the fruit had rolled, and at the same time, she unknowingly took a puff of the smoke.

It was a moment of carelessness.

“Ahh…”

In an instant, all the strength in her body was relaxed. Chryselua groaned and sat down on the spot.

“Uh, huk. Huuhk…”

It was a mistake. There was an accident, but she moved without thinking. She knew, of course, that she shouldn’t though she lost her reason in panic. Soon, she began to feel numb, as if she was paralyzed all over her body.

She struggled to get her body up and found the antidote somewhere in the lab.

‘D*mn it. My medicine… I was preparing for the ceremony.’

“Ugh…”

Her body went numb, and she began to feel short of breath. What was being made for the ceremony was a mana booster. She was mixing it with various herbs to create strange effects, so she had to get an antidote before it worsened.

Chryselua managed to crawl with her powerless body to the shelf where the neutralizer ingredients were stored. However, she stumbled and hit her arm against the leg on the table.

A few vials of the ingredients tumbled to the floor.

“D*mn it.”

Nothing was working.

With her hands shaking, she first picked up the Lord’s fruit. The fruit was already damaged and gave off heavy gas. While Chryselua was searching with trembling hands for an empty flask that was intact, she could hear a noise outside.

“Dawn, you’re taking long? It’s me. I’m here to pick you up.”

“Gasp! Naskan!”

She was supposed to meet Naskan, but was she taking so long in the lab?

“I’m going in?”

No, no!

A toxic gas that was effective even for dragons was spreading inside, so it would be a big deal if Naskan came inside.

“Wait a minute!”

Chryselua got up hastily and rushed to the door at once, but her body had already stopped listening to her. With her feet twisted in haste, her body staggered.

Crash!

“Ugh!”

As she fell, Chryselua slammed her forehead against the door. Stars flashed in her hazy mind. At the same time, she missed the fruit the Lord gave her. It was again broken and rolled through the mess of materials.

“Dawn? What is that sound?”

“Wait a minute, Twilight!”

Click.

The door swung lightly.

Perhaps Naskan was worried, so he opened the door and tried to come in, but Chryselua freaked out and hurriedly locked the handle.

It was a good thing he wasn’t allowed in. The smoke, which she hadn’t managed to sort out, was getting thicker and thicker. As she moved her body, the medicine’s energy became more and more intense.

“Don’t come in!”

—