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Red, flat feet timidly trod the dirt path. The claws were blunt, and the legs were short and petite. Each ray of sunlight filtering through the leaves made shiny scales glimmer brilliantly.

"Kuu, kuuuu..."

A dejected cry seeped into the ground. Unlike before, the creature had now grown large enough to easily carry a small child on its back.

Its identity was... unmistakably a Bloody Dragon.

Tina stopped in her tracks and looked up at the sky, bewildered.

How did it come to this? She retraced those hazy memories, revisiting the past.

This mess was clearly born of curiosity and energy that couldn\'t be contained.

About half a day after the hunting festival began, Tina had pleaded with Elphisia, holding her hand.

"Mom, can I go play in the forest too? It\'s so boring here."

"No."

"Aw... why not?"

"It\'s dangerous, and you might get lost."

As expected, Elphisia flatly refused like a responsible guardian. But Tina wasn\'t one to back down so easily.

"But... I\'m stronger than Yulian. He\'s playing over there, so I\'ll be fine too."

"That child is with adults."

"Grandpa said I\'m stronger than those adults!"

"... Haa. Father, really."

Telling Tina about racial differences could wait until later. Revealing the reality at such a young age might plant seeds of immaturity in her mind.

"Phew."

Still, even accounting for that immaturity, Tina likely wouldn\'t be in physical danger. They may have released some ferocious beasts, but to a half-dragon, they\'d be mere predators.

If worst came to worst, Harte was there, so the worst-case scenario shouldn\'t happen...

Following this line of thought, Elphisia reluctantly gave permission.

"You must return within 1 hour. If you can keep that promise, I might allow it."

"Of course! I might even come back earlier than that!"

"... Alright."

"Thank you, Mom! I love you!"

Tina threw herself into Elphisia\'s embrace.

The moment that soft, warm touch unique to children wrapped around her waist, Elphisia froze up. Without even a proper send-off, she could only stare blankly as she watched Tina leave.

"I wonder who she takes after, blurting out such embarrassing words without a filter..."

In truth, Elphisia\'s nemesis was Tina rather than Harte.

The prim and proper Yulian and the introverted Glen maintained an appropriate distance on their own. The still awkward Echo was the same. In contrast, Tina was like a puppy with a tail spinning like a storm.

The accumulated guilt tugged at Elphisia\'s neck as she tried to physically endure Tina\'s bubbly and proactive attitude.

Unaware of Elphisia\'s concerns, Tina was peacefully enjoying a walk in the hunting grounds. If she happened to find Harte, Yulian, or Glen, it might be quite fun.

But fate\'s mischief suddenly touched her.

Pushuuu...

"Uh... uh oh..."

White smoke rose from her entire body. For some reason, her center of gravity started tilting forward. Tina was all too familiar with this sensation.

"Why... why now of all times...?!"

Her questioning was brief.

Tina\'s appearance completely shed its human form and took on the shape of a dragon. However, judging by how her eye level was now higher than when she was human, she seemed to have grown quite a bit.

"Keeng... keeeng..."

Oh no... what should I do? I\'m going to get in trouble...!

She had persuaded Elphisia to trust her. Even if she called Harte in this state, the story would eventually reach Elphisia\'s ears.

She didn\'t want that. If she lost trust here, she wouldn\'t be able to play freely next time.

For now, she\'d try to endure.

It\'s not like this hadn\'t happened since her first transformation. With time, she would return to human form on her own. Today too, if she could just hold out, she\'d surely regain her human appearance before long.

Tina\'s course of action was decided, and after crawling around avoiding people\'s eyes, she had arrived at her current situation.

"Moo..."

It was sad that she couldn\'t speak human language. As she let out that sentiment in a cry.

Crack!

The bushes in front of her shook violently. Then, a black figure leaped over from beyond the green foliage.

"Grrrr..."

It was a beast of the wild boar family, with pitch-black fur standing up like a mane and bloodshot red eyes that made it look ferocious. Its hooves looked as hard as steel, and the pair of horns on its face were solid and threatening.

Thump, thump!

The creature stomped the ground with its hooves as if showing off. It seemed to have already entered a combat stance.

I can\'t lose.

The eleven-year-old half-dragon Tina resolved to show this beast its place in the pecking order.

From the start, even before being taken in by Harte, Tina had been sucking the blood of beasts as a meal substitute. A situation like this was neither funny nor scary.

"Kuu, kuuuu...!"

She glared at the beast before her with blue eyes wide open. She also put forward her blunt claws, emphasizing that her own hooves were just as solid.

"Grrrr..."

"Muuu..."

It was truly a powder keg situation. As the psychological warfare between them continued, the moment finally arrived for the hierarchy to be determined.

"Kuaaaaaang!"

"Kueeut!"

When Tina stood up on two legs like a bear and puffed up her size, the wild boar\'s eyes were consumed by fear. Then, without even time to groom its bristling fur, it turned tail and fled.

Tina\'s eyes sparkled as she watched its behavior.

The instinct of beasts to bow their heads when she\'s in dragon form. Among those, her hunting instinct had blossomed.

"Kraang!"

Stop right there!

Tina ran well on all fours, which she had grown accustomed to by now.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

The dirt path was pressed down by her weighty steps, leaving footprints. This would become the starting point of a legacy that would later be referred to as the footprints of the Divine Dragon and preserved for ages to come.

How long had she been chasing the nimble wild boar, a mere beast?

The moment she leaped out, parting the tall undergrowth, she heard a familiar voice.

"Whoa!"

"Keeng?!"

Thud!

The boy who encountered Tina\'s massive form sat down hard.

His golden hair, seemingly saturated with the morning sunlight, shook, and his eyes, which had absorbed all the greenery blooming in the hunting grounds, blinked slowly as if time had slowed down.

It was Yulian\'s appearance, just as she had seen him since this morning. He was staring at Tina, unable to hide his bewilderment.

"Wh-what...! Why are you here... No, more importantly, why have you transformed into a dragon?!"

"Kuu, kuuuu..."

"Damn, I can\'t understand a word."

"Keeng?!"

Tina thought Yulian was being too harsh. Harte understood everything, but it was vexing that her friend Yulian couldn\'t understand.

She had expected him to understand now that he was a year older...

"Muu?"

But something felt off.

Yulian, who had been with his attendants when they set out, was alone here now. Could he have gotten lost? Even the clever Yulian might find this dense forest challenging.

"Peeng, peeek? Muu, kyuuut."

"Uh... um... well..."

Tina asked why he was alone, but Yulian gave an answer that was almost irrelevant.

"... You\'ve grown a lot, Tina."

"Kuuut!"

"I don\'t know what, but I must be wrong."

Fortunately, Yulian was perceptive enough to realize that much.

Just then, the sound of horse hooves was heard nearby. Moreover, the sound of two people talking became increasingly clear.

"I heard some kind of sound around here..."

"I heard it too. It was an unusual cry, wasn\'t it?"

"Yeah. I thought I was hearing things."

In an instant, Yulian pressed down on Tina\'s neck, guiding her to lie flat. Luckily, the nearby bushes were thick and tall. If they lay flat, they could hide until the others passed by.

"Stay still until I give the signal, Tina."

"Muu..."

Perhaps due to the tension, her heart was pounding.

She didn\'t want to be caught like this. Everyone at the orphanage had accepted her as a half-dragon, but she couldn\'t guarantee others would do the same.

If rumors spread, she felt she might be ostracized.

"Hmm... Has it already run away? At this point, it should either jump out or flee if we make noise..."

"Someone might have already caught it."

"... Hey, wait...! This...?!"

Thump!

Tina and Yulian\'s backs flinched. It seemed one of them had discovered something, judging by their reaction.

"Look at these footprints... Have you ever seen anything like this?"

"What is this? I\'ve never seen this shape in all my hunting experience."

"They lead this way?"

The men dismounted and walked precisely in the direction where Tina and Yulian were hiding. Unless they were fools, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered.

No matter how clever Yulian might be, he couldn\'t perform the miracle of hiding Tina\'s enlarged body.

"... Tina. I\'m sorry, but trust me for now."

"Kyuut."

Tina nodded. Since that gesture was translatable, Yulian put his desperate measure into action.

Then, after an extremely short time had passed, the sound of the undergrowth parting gently brushed their ears.

"The footprints lead here... Hup."

"What? What\'s wrong? Let me see too... Wh-what?!"

The men who gradually parted the bushes and emerged froze in place.

And for good reason, for the sight before them was so sacred.

It was as surreal as witnessing a scene from the nation\'s founding myth.

They couldn\'t help but swallow the words that had risen to their throats.

"...... My name is Askalion Arteria. As a member of the imperial family, I hereby form a blood pact with the Divine Dragon."

"Peek."

"You shall accept me as your master."

"Kyuut."

Vivid red blood enveloped them like a Möbius strip. Then, as it tightened as if to bind them, it eventually dispersed into the air as red mist.

Next, Yulian turned his eyes to the two men witnessing the birth of a legend and spoke, sounding tired:

"Oh my... You saw it, didn\'t you?"

"Pr-Prince!"

"Th-this is... A Divine Dragon, you say...?!"

The men offered truly stereotypical responses. To this, Yulian merely muttered to himself:

"Phew, what a mess... I didn\'t want to be discovered yet."

The two men before him were sons of moderate nobles who hadn\'t yet pledged support to any imperial successor candidate. Therefore, Yulian decided to brainwash them on this occasion.

"You\'ve discovered a secret that even my own people don\'t know."

"Prince, do you mean...?"

"Are you truly saying you\'ve contracted with a Divine Dragon?"

Yulian dismissed them as if they were talking nonsense.

"If you doubt me, trust your own eyes and ears."

"Ah... Aah...!"

"This can\'t be... We might have witnessed the legend of a Sage King!"

It took less than 30 seconds for Yulian to subdue the two men and receive their oath of loyalty.

Of course, they agreed to take the scene they witnessed today to their graves, having become fanatics.

"Kyuuut..."

Are these people idiots?

Tina felt somewhat sorry for them.