“When I escaped from my kingdom, I was at a loss. Then, master helped me. By chance, he was in the area. If I had continued wandering alone as I were, I would’ve been eaten by a monster and died.”

“…”

“I was lucky. I was picked up and brought to the master’s place. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to repay my debt.”

“U, uhh…”

“Wha, hey, Liliana?”

Grave noticed me crying and hurriedly called my name.

While he was talking, he reminisced about the past without looking at my expression.

I myself didn’t mean to cry.

I didn’t want to worry or annoy him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“I’m worried about you. I shouldn’t have told you my story.”

“No, thank you for telling me…”

“Liliana…”

I hurriedly wiped away my tears.

I didn’t only cry because his past was pitiful, but because it was also heavier than expected.

He said that our situations were similar, but they wasn’t.

His family was killed right in front of him. Even though he was still young, he lost everything.

Compared to him, mine was nothing.

“I’m sorry. I’m alright, already…”

“Really?”

“Yes. Grave is truly strong.”

“Not really. It’s because of everyone’s kindness that I managed to regain my heart.”

“I see, Grave has become stronger.”

“Yes, I think so, too.”

Grave spoke with a gentle voice.

I shall never forget the tears I shed when I heard about Grave’s past that day.

***

As the blizzard subsided, we continued for the summit.

The road became steeper as we went up, and the cold got stronger.

However, I didn’t complain.

After talking to Grave, I learned of the strength of his hear. I didn’t want to lose.

We braved the cold wind and rushed over the snowy ground and through the clouds.

Despite the steepness, we continued without stopping.

Grave was kind.  He cared for me the entire time he walked forward.

He’d reach out or beckon to me.

His actions encouraged me and refreshed my strength.

Thus—

“Huff, huff…”

“Thank you for your hard work. We’ve arrived.”

“Yup!”

We finally reached the summit.

The top of the mountain had a crater at its center with lumps of ice were rolling down it.

“One of those is a fake ice stone.”

“We need to further inspect them.”

“Wait.”

When I tried to approach the crater, Grave grabbed my hand.

“Before anything else, we need to get rid of that.”

“That?”

Grave looked up.

I also raised my head and unintentionally screamed.

“A dragon!?”

“This is my first time reaching the summit. The rumors seem to have been true.”

A dragon with pure white wings was flying above us.

Overwhelmed, I stayed rooted in my place.

“It’s alright.”

“Grave?”

He gently held my hand before pulling me back.

“Get back. This is my job.”

I nodded and kept my distance so as to not get in his way.

Grave waited until I left and stepped forward.

“Is your nest here? Come down!”

When Grave provoked it, the dragon spread its wings and roared.

With just its scream, the air shook. My body stiffened.

Even though I was faraway, I felt indescribable fear.

Nevertheless, Grave unsheathed the sword on his waist with his usual calm.

“Don’t roar. Come at me.”

The dragon lunged towards Grave at tremendous speed.

A gust of wind rose from the impact, and various rolling ice cubes scattered.

“Be careful, Grave! If the impact is too strong, the fake ice stone will break!”

“Is that so?”

Grave was distracted by my voice.

The dragon performed a tail attack.

“Oops, how dangerous! Can you refrain from going wild? It doesn’t make sense to rampage if you can’t hit your target.”

Grave kicked off the ground and jumped out of the crater.

As it was, he descended right in front of me and taunted the dragon.

“It’s a hassle to prolong the fight. I will show you my best.”

Grave positioned his sword right before himself.

“Burn!”

“The blade is—”

Did he ignite it?

The dragon flew.

Its jaw was wide open and cold air gathered inside it.

“A breath attack? Except, I’m faster.”

Grave jumped with his flaming sword.

He looked like a meteor falling across the night sky—

“The Sword of Fire!”

The fiery slash tore through the dragon’s neck.

As he shook the bloody sword, both fire and blood fell.

The dragon’s remains fell first, and Grave landed afterwards.

He looked back and said with the same gentle smile as usual.

“I won.”

“Yup!”

From the bottom of my heart, I thought he was cool.

---

***T/N: Slowly but surely, why do I feel like Liliana’s vocabulary is starting to consist of only “Alright”, “Okay”, and “Grave”?

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