A Shared Goal

After Gorn left, the parlor remained quiet for a good while.

Blake was the first to break the silence. “Why didn't you just agree to his request? He didn't ask us to fight, just to state our stance. What is there to hesitate about?”

“Because stating a stance is a position in itself,” Leopold said, turning around. “If I say ‘we support you, but we won't take action,’ it means we are condoning this war. If anything goes wrong in the future, we'll share the blame.”

“Then how do you plan to reply to him?” Isabella asked.

Leopold walked over to the wall, bent down to pick up a broken piece of porcelain, and tossed it in his hand. “I was thinking... Gorn wanting to unify the tribes is actually a good thing for us as well.”

“A good thing?” Blake raised an eyebrow.

“Blake, have you ever thought about where we'll go after our contract expires?”

“...After it expires?” Blake pondered for a moment. “I want to travel the world, get stronger, and kill every angel I see.”

“What about you, Isabella?”

When asked, Isabella was crouching by the wall, gathering the broken porcelain pieces into a pile. She paused her movements, her ice-blue eyes fixing on Leopold's black hair.

She opened her mouth, but swallowed the words she had originally intended to say.

“...I want to go back and see the dragon nests.”

“Back to the dragon nests?” Blake frowned. “Those places have been ransacked by the angels and the allied forces countless times. What's the point of going back?”

“I don't know,” Isabella said honestly. “But it's my homeland. The ridges, the stone pillars, the dragon runes carved into the rock walls in my inherited memories... I want to see them with my own eyes, even if they are nothing but ruins.”

Leopold smiled after hearing their thoughts. He turned to look at Blake. “You want to kill angels. How many? And what after you're done killing them?”

Blake opened his mouth but found no words.

“Isabella wants to return to the dragon nests,” Leopold turned to her again. “And after that? What if there's nothing left? What do you plan to do?”

Both dragons fell silent.

Leopold stepped forward, taking Isabella's fingertips with his left hand and grabbing Blake's large hand with his right.

Blake's shoulders instantly stiffened.

“Leopold, what... what are you doing?” Blake's voice sounded awkward, mixed with a hint of embarrassed anger. “If you have something to say, just say it! Why are you holding my hand?”

“It's just holding hands, it's not going to kill you,” Leopold said helplessly to Blake.

To the side, Isabella lowered her head slightly, carefully wrapping her hand around Leopold's.

“I think I understand what Leo means...” Isabella spoke softly. “The three of us need to stay together and revive the dragon clan!”

Leopold's palm was warm and dry, and Isabella's fingertips curled slightly. But Blake immediately pulled his hand away from Leopold's.

“...Revive the dragon clan,” Blake finally said, his voice much quieter than before. “You make it sound so easy. Just the three of us?”

“You're making the revival of the dragon clan sound far too simple.” Blake turned his face away. “After thirteen hundred years of decline, the three of us haven't even stepped foot outside this mountain range yet. How can we talk about revival?”

“I'm not saying we can do it right now,” Leopold didn't argue with him. “I'm saying—this is our shared direction.”

“You want to travel the world and kill angels. Is that not carrying the dragon clan's hatred?”

Blake shut his mouth, turning his head slightly in silent agreement.

“Isabella,” Leopold suddenly turned to look at Isabella beside him, startling her into quickly releasing his hand.

“You want to return to the dragon nests, but what you're actually looking for—or rather, questioning—is whether the dragon clan can ever have a home again.”

Isabella looked at Leopold, opening her mouth and then closing it again. She lowered her head, her white hair falling forward to cover most of her face.

But her gaze could no longer hide her feelings. She watched Leopold as he turned around and walked away. Isabella gently bit her lip.

“That's why I said we have a shared direction.”

Blake didn't argue further. Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave a low grunt of assent.

“I can get behind this direction.”

“Then let the three of us dragons travel the world together and slaughter every last angel!” Blake jumped up, his tone filled with a satisfying sense of release. Clearly, he had worked himself up into a passionate frenzy.

Ugh...

Leopold and Isabella covered their heads and shook them almost simultaneously.

“Blake, don't get ahead of yourself,” Leopold rubbed his temples. “The path to reviving the dragon clan is a long-term plan...”

“Since we've set our direction, we must first deal with the matters at hand.” He walked back to the window, resting his hands on the stone windowsill.

“I will follow Leo's lead,” Isabella said without a second thought.

“Then let's first deal with those self-proclaimed Dragon Slayers...” Leopold narrowed his eyes. “The dignity of the dragon clan shall not be violated by any race!”

Night fell over the capital. The light of the massive fluorite gradually dimmed, simulating dusk on the surface.

In Gorn's office, an ore lantern hung above the stone table.

“These are all the clues we've gathered over the past three months.” His secretary, Mia, handed Gorn a document.

Gorn took the document and opened it.

Mia added from the side, “Three months ago, an attack occurred in the North District's third mine shaft. A team of seven miners was wiped out.”

“Any progress from the Magic Department?”

Mia hesitated for a moment before bowing deeply to Gorn.

“My deepest apologies, Chief Gorn,” Mia said as she straightened up. “After all these years, we goblins still have no way of learning any form of magic...”

Gorn didn't look surprised. He simply sighed and flipped to the next page of the document.

“Then purchase more magic equipment from the dwarves. Continue with the mine shaft incident.”

Mia nodded and drew a badge with a sharp sword drawn on it from her sleeve. When Gorn clearly saw the emblem on the badge, he couldn't help but gasp.

“The Dragon Slayers...”

Gorn flipped the badge over. A line of tiny, dense script was carved on the back in the Ancient Common Tongue. The writing was somewhat worn and blurry, but still legible.

(—Everything for the race)

“Where was this found?” Gorn looked up, his grayish-green eyes appearing exceptionally sharp under the lamplight.

Mia took a deep breath, as if choosing her words carefully. “It wasn't found, Chief. Someone delivered it.”

“Delivered? By whom?”

“Last night, a patrol guard found a wooden box on the steps of the castle's north gate. Inside the box was this badge, along with a note.”

As she spoke, she drew a second item from her sleeve—a neatly folded piece of parchment. Gorn took it and unfolded it. There were only two lines of text on it.

［The miners in the North District's third mine shaft were just a greeting gift.］

［In seven days, we will bring an even bigger gift to pay you a visit...］

“A storm targeting those three dragons is coming...” Gorn rubbed the space between his eyebrows.