Chapter 191: The Adolescent Dark Dragon (4) Fwoosh.
The black flames that swept over the plaza in front of Kaysus Cathedral blazed higher and higher.
"Kyaaah!"
"Don't ever try to fight it! Everyone, run! Hurry!"
Screams and shouts echoed from all directions, and the clergy ran about in a panic, desperately evacuating the terrified believers.
"...."
Evelyn, the one who had spread fear and chaos through the once-peaceful Kaysus Cathedral, stood alone in the middle of the black flames.
"The order… it still hasn't disappeared."
Evelyn narrowed her eyes as she recalled what had happened before she was sealed.
Only a little over a month had passed since she woke from the deep sleep called sealing.
Measured by human standards, she still hadn't fully shaken off that groggy state, so whenever she tried to dredge up her memories, all that returned were the same hazy recollections, as if thick fog had settled over her mind.
In that situation, the method Evelyn chose to regain her memories was to wander places where Charlotte's presence still lingered—the one she had spent the longest time with.
Fortunately for humans, most of the places she had gone with Charlotte were soaked in happy memories, so she merely appeared and disappeared again and again without causing any particular incidents.
And the last place Evelyn arrived at while roaming the continent and slowly recovering fragments of the past was Kaysus Cathedral.
"The order that persecuted me..."
The moment she saw the clergy's vestments as they passed in front of the cathedral, her expressionless face twisted for the first time. As Evelyn stood at the cathedral entrance, the dark emotions she had buried deep in her chest began to seep up, little by little.
Long ago, the Verfalt Order—once second only to the Heirem Order in influence—was a group obsessed with the dogma that only their religion was the truth, and all other religions were lies.
The Verfalt Order pushed extreme policies that turned countless people into enemies, and when the continent gradually turned its back on them and their footing shrank, they made a reckless move that plunged their fate into the abyss.
They tried to kidnap Evelyn, a dragon.
They had been insane for a long time—insane enough to actually attempt the shallow plan of seizing her while she was still young by dragon standards and forcing the dragons' cooperation.
But the people of the Verfalt Order were human in the end. No matter how young she was, a dragon was still a dragon. There was no chance they could ever be a match for Evelyn.
As a result, the Verfalt Order—which had driven Evelyn into madness—was annihilated, its lineage completely severed until it became nothing more than a name found in history books.
However, Evelyn—still not fully free of that madness—mistook the Heirem Order for the Verfalt Order.
"And you… a lowly creature that stands in my way..."
"Ugh...."
Blood trickled down from Fedora Artran's lips.
With the sudden appearance of Evelyn, the Dark Dragon, there were many injured. Fedora healed them together with the other priests, but when she realized this would never end, she decided she had to stop the black flames—the source of the disaster.
After ordering the others to evacuate, Fedora stayed behind alone, using holy power to cover the entire plaza and keep the black flames from spreading further. But she had already reached her limit, physically and mentally, long ago.
"Great being… we have not done you any harm. Then why… cough!"
Coughing up blood, she finally dropped to one knee and bent forward.
"The order… must disappear."
Evelyn began walking slowly toward Fedora.
Wheeeooo—!
A whirlwind tore through the air, and the black flames that covered the plaza began to gather around Evelyn, the Dark Dragon.
She clenched the condensed black flames in her right hand, then slowly reached it toward Fedora.
Sensing what fate awaited her, Fedora slowly closed her eyes.
Screeeech!
Just before Evelyn's right hand could reach Fedora, a food truck came rushing in at full speed and slammed on the brakes, cutting in between Evelyn and Fedora.
"Evelyn, you again—."
"Charlotte… Aunt?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Over this way."
Evelyn drew back the right hand that held the black flames and lifted her head toward the sky.
Charlotte, who had flown over in haste with flight magic, leaned her neck back and placed her right hand against her forehead.
"You mixed it up again. Haa..."
Charlotte shook her head with a sigh as she faced her niece, soaked in madness.
"I think you're still not fully awake, but get a grip already. There's a limit to how much trouble you can cause—seriously, what is this? Listen carefully. This isn't that damn Ver-falt Order. This is a cathedral of the He-i-rem Order."
She enunciated each syllable, pointing out that the target Evelyn was spewing her rage at was not the Verfalt Order.
Evelyn glared at Charlotte with only her right eye wide open.
"The Heirem Order… blocked me too."
"Hey, they stepped in because you kept raising hell. If they didn't, they were all going to die—do you think they'd just sit there and take your breath? Of course they'd move. And if you already wiped out the Verfalt Order's main base with your own hands, that should've been the end of it. Why drag other humans into it too? That was already over hundreds of years ago."
Charlotte barked at her stubborn niece, clenching and unclenching her fists over and over.
If it were up to me, I'd change back right now and blast her with breath first.
But other lowly creatures could get caught up in it too, so I planned to talk Evelyn down first, then move locations.
"Your Eminence! Are you alright?!"
"I-I'm… fine."
Fedora, helped to her feet by Lee Jinseo, trembled like an aspen, fear fully gripping her.
"Get in, now!"
Lee Jinseo grabbed Fedora's right hand tightly, hauled her up, and hurriedly shoved her into the passenger seat.
"Leave this to me and you lowly creatures, get back. This isn't something you have the power to handle."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Lee Jinseo climbed into the driver's seat and sped the food truck out of the cathedral grounds.
"And you—let's talk here."
Fwoosh.
Charlotte pointed at the ground with her right hand and swung it in a wide arc, and flames surged up from the earth, blocking Evelyn's path.
"Aunt… why are you taking the humans' side?"
"Because those humans didn't do anything to us! How many times do I have to say what happened hundreds of years ago—hey?"
Flash!
Evelyn reverted to her original form—a massive Dark Dragon—and began to rise slowly as she beat her wings.
"I can't leave the lowly creature that blocked me alive..."
Floating in midair, Evelyn opened her mouth wide and unleashed her breath.
Straight at the food truck that was fleeing with Lee Jinseo and Fedora inside.
"Hey! Evelyn! You—seriously!"
Lee Jinseo fled in a hurry with Fedora in the food truck. After receiving a warning from AI that a powerful attack would soon blanket the area, he turned on the Nitro Booster.
Even so, the breath unleashed by Evelyn, the Dark Dragon, swallowed the food truck, and at the same time his vision was suddenly drowned in darkness, forcing Lee Jinseo to slam on the brakes.
At that moment, light burst out from the food truck and washed his vision in white, and Lee Jinseo lost consciousness.
How much time had passed after that?
When Lee Jinseo came to, he looked around.
The food truck wasn't in the brush near Kaysus Cathedral where Evelyn's attack had struck. It was on the shoulder beside a highway.
"…Did I live?"
Lee Jinseo brought both hands—still gripping the steering wheel—up in front of his face.
Cold sweat pooled on his palms and ran down his wrists.
AI, what happened? The breath definitely covered the food truck.
{—I determined that the Mobile Cooking Facility would be unable to endure the attack from an unknown being. Considering the emergency, I carried out spatial transfer at my own discretion without the consent of the owner, Mr. Lee Jinseo.—}
I see… you did great. We almost could've both been in danger—me and Cardinal Fedora. Thank god.
Lee Jinseo wiped the sweat off his hands with wet wipes and let out a long breath of relief.
He had faced crises multiple times in this other world, but this was the first time he truly thought he might die, and his heart was still pounding.
"Your Eminence, it looks like we ended up in Korea unintentionally. First, we should—Your Eminence? Your Eminence!"
Only then did Lee Jinseo check Fedora's condition and panic.
Blood from her head had run down, staining her shoulders and the area around her neck red.
"Your Eminence! Can you hear me? Your Eminence!"
Lee Jinseo grabbed Fedora's shoulders and shook her, but there was no response at all.
She was breathing, but just from how pale her face was, she didn't look okay in the slightest.
What do I do? The nearest hospital from here is—ah! I have that!
Lee Jinseo hurriedly tore off the thumb-sized hip flask hanging above the driver's seat and popped the cap.
AI, explain this to me again.
{—Name: Dwarf's Mini Hip Flask Made for a True Friend.Effect: When installed on the Mobile Cooking Facility, it protects the Mobile Cooking Facility from powerful external attacks.If you consume the 'Essence of Beer' inside, it instantly restores a damaged body in exchange for temporarily forgetting a certain period of memories.—}
Just like I remembered. Okay.
That side effect at the end bothered him, but saving Fedora came first, so Lee Jinseo didn't hesitate. He poured the Essence of Beer from the mini hip flask into Fedora's mouth.
Flash!
A gentle light wrapped around Fedora's body, and the blood that had flowed from her head vanished into the air, exactly like when a priest's healing manifested.
AI, Cardinal Fedora is going to be okay, right?
{—All physical damage has been completely restored.—}
Fedora's pale complexion returned to normal, and after AI confirmed she was safe, Lee Jinseo let out another breath of relief.
"First, let's go home."
Lee Jinseo pushed the passenger seat back, then started the food truck.
After returning home, Lee Jinseo laid Fedora—whom he had carried on his back—down on the sofa.
Nero and Owl floated in midair, looking around in every direction as if Lee Jinseo's room was fascinating since it was their first time seeing it.
"Haa… we made it back somehow, but..."
This wasn't the first time he had brought someone from this other world to Korea, so he already knew from experience how to handle it.
He just had to provide all kinds of food and entertainment so they wouldn't leave the room, and wait until the food truck's spatial transfer function recovered.
The problem was that this wasn't an optimistic situation like before.
{—Due to the attack received from an unknown being, a severe error has occurred in the dimensional transfer magic circle installed on the Mobile Cooking Facility. We inform you that the Mobile Cooking Facility's functions will be restricted while the error is corrected.—}
When will self-repair be finished?
{—In the current situation, it cannot be calculated. I will inform you when calculation becomes possible later.—}
Unlike Craid's group, who could return to the Francia Continent after only a week, Fedora was in a situation where there was no telling when she could go back.
Still, compared to when her head and clothes had been soaked in blood, this was far better, so Lee Jinseo decided to wait for her to wake and think through what to do afterward.
Fedora lay on the sofa with a peaceful face, unconscious.
Even if she looked fine on the outside, he wanted to call an ambulance just in case, but taking a person from another world to a hospital would obviously make things far more complicated, so he couldn't.
Fortunately, AI's diagnosis said there was nothing wrong with her body, so he sat down and decided to wait for her to wake up.
Grrrkk.
"…Even in a situation like this, I'm hungry."
When the growling sound kept coming from his stomach, Lee Jinseo went to the kitchen and took out a cup of ramen from the cupboard.
After waiting exactly three minutes, he opened the lid and stirred the noodles in the broth with his chopsticks.
At that moment, Fedora twitched, sniffed the air, and her body jerked.
"This smell is… huh? This is… where?"
Lying on the sofa, she blinked her half-open eyes.
"I was definitely riding the food truck to the Holy Land, but this is an unfamiliar ceiling… I can't make sense of it."
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