Nigel descended the mountain fearlessly.

Her mind was hazy as if wandering through a dream, and her mud-covered shoes felt light as if walking on clouds rather than rocks and grass.

The fact that the priestess she had always wanted to meet again was her mother, and the steadfast love she had shown her, no matter how much she tried to compose herself, kept floating away from her hands and up into the sky.

Even if this mountain blinded her eyes and made her wander forever, she felt she could gladly accept such punishment.

‘… Is that not right?’

Nigel’s purple eyes, which had been clouded in thought, suddenly regained their sharpness.

Only now did her surroundings come into focus.

The steps she had been taking brightly, unaware that there might be a cliff just a few paces ahead, and the warmth of the egg that had disappeared from her chest.

From the dark cliff where the bottom could not be seen, the sound of cold water could be heard.

Whoosh, the sound of water surging as if to swallow everything made her arms break out in goosebumps.

If she had regained her senses even a moment later, she would have already been swept away, becoming one with those waves. Or her head would have been torn open on the cliff and rocks, providing a feast for beasts and monsters.

“……”

Nigel clenched her fists and composed herself.

Just as they say you can survive even if caught by monsters if you keep your wits about you, surely she could escape from this cursed mountain.

Having organized her thoughts, Nigel turned back without hesitation and carefully took a step.

She would try her best to find the egg, but it seemed unlikely in this dark mountain.

“… Sorry, I’m an incompetent owner.”

Nigel muttered softly.

She could clearly picture Nubilus’s face, whining and nagging.

Nigel walked on, shaking her head vigorously with an uneasy feeling.

After walking for a while, she faintly sensed the voices of several people and light in the distance.

Wondering if they might be people whose minds were bewitched like herself, Nigel quickly sprinted towards the light.

When the light was right in front of her.

“Uh……”

Allen, awkwardly bending his legs, holding both ends of the egg with his hands.

On Allen’s hands, an egg covered with leaves, strings, and the like stuck all over its surface.

Noah and Yenika, their eyes wavering like thieves caught in the act, could be seen.

“Ah, ahaha……”

Allen stood up abruptly and placed the egg, now stained and mottled from plant juices, in Nigel’s empty hands with an awkward laugh.

“What is this now……”

Nigel frowned as she looked down at the egg.

This grass was a medicinal herb that was fine when boiled but caused severe stomachache when eaten raw, and those leaves had no use at all.

‘This means they didn’t attach them for the medicinal properties of the plants…..’

As Nigel scanned the surroundings with sunken eyes, Yenika quickly confessed her guilt.

“Allen suggested it first. He said since it’s a divine beast’s egg, it must have some effect. He proposed we walk in the direction the pointed end of the egg faces when we spin it!”

“Ye-Yenika, how could you betray me like this? You agreed to my suggestion when we had no way to get out of here.”

“Ugh…!”

Yenika made a face as if caught off guard, then slowly opened her mouth.

“… It was Sir Noah who blocked the area around the egg to prevent it from hatching. He said it shouldn’t imprint on us instead of Nigel.”

“Yenika!”

“Remember, Sir Noah? I clearly tried to stop you. Even if it’s inside the egg, the divine beast would know whether a warm robe or sticky grass is more comfortable.”

Ignoring the three’s bickering, Nigel stared blankly at the egg.

‘So this was to prevent hatching.’

Nigel peeled off the crushed and sticky grass and leaves from the egg. She wiped the egg with the hem of her black robe and put it in her chest.

“By the way, what brings you here……”

Nigel closed her mouth.

How did they come, they must have followed out of worry for her or curiosity about what happened. It hurt her to press for an explanation now.

“No, never mind. Let’s go down before Professor Roneh scolds us.”

The three who had been arguing about whose fault it was all nodded in unison with their eyes wide open.

No matter how much this mountain lets you meet dead people and leads them to death, nothing is scarier to students than a professor’s wrath.

As the children followed Nigel’s brave steps, they kept returning to the same place like a loop no matter how much they walked, and they began to eye each other.

Just as the three were about to decide with their eyes who should speak to Nigel first, Nigel suddenly turned her head.

“It seems we’re lost. I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. By the way, Nigel, did you take care of your business well?”

“Seeing how we keep getting lost, it seems you met the person you wanted to see. I’m glad, Nigel.”

Allen and Noah, who had been trying to pass the buck on who should speak first just moments ago, now acted as if nothing had happened. Noah, making eye contact with Nigel, smiled brightly, unaware that he had missed the point.

Yenika burrowed into Nigel’s arms with teary eyes.

“Nigel, was it difficult?”

“No, thank you for worrying.”

As Nigel was comforting Yenika, she suddenly noticed Yenika’s bare back in just a shirt and skirt without a robe.

Nigel took off her own robe and draped it over Yenika’s back.

“Nigel…!”

As Yenika tried to quickly take off the robe to return it to Nigel, Nigel shook her head.

Noah, who had forgotten to bring his robe and had no robe to offer Nigel, looked at Yenika with envious eyes.

“… Are you jealous, Sir Noah?”

Noah was greatly affected by Yenika’s sudden remark.

“Well, you should treat her well usually so this doesn’t happen.”

Yenika, who clearly remembered that Noah was the cause of Nigel’s pain, shrugged her shoulders covered by the robe with a victorious smile.

It was then. Yenika’s robe fluttered on its own. No, to be precise, the inner pocket area where the egg had been placed was thrashing about wildly.

“What is this…!”

Allen whispered with his mouth wide open.

While everyone was frozen in confusion at the inexplicable situation, Noah quickly removed the robe from Yenika.

Freed from its confinement, the robe swam irregularly from the night sky to the ground, between trees and flowers, and finally stopped in front of Nigel.

– … Are you trying to abandon me again?

“Did you just… speak, Allen?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t hear anything.”

Allen replied, blinking his eyes.

When Nigel looked at Noah and Yenika in turn, both shook their heads.

– … You sent me to that strange talkative person before, and now you’re not paying any attention to me.

Hearing the young voice again, Nigel slowly turned her head to look at the robe floating in the air.

Then she grasped the robe tightly and hugged it close to her chest.

“… Was it you who spoke to me?”

The egg wriggled lightly in her bosom as if in response.

– I chose you, not that strange man.

The strange man must surely be Nubilus…

Nigel belatedly realized her mistake at the childlike whining.

“I’m sorry. I should have stayed with you, but I sent you to a stranger. I should have found you right away when you disappeared this time too, but I’m sorry I found you so late.”

As Nigel murmured looking down at the egg with a troubled face, the three noticed.

“… It seems the divine beast is speaking to Nigel now, doesn’t it?”

Yenika muttered dreamily.

“This is bad, Noah. How did you treat the divine beast earlier?”

“Then Allen, who tried to use the divine beast as a compass, is in the same boat.”

Though their tone was playful, neither Allen nor Noah looked particularly happy. Both looked at Nigel desperately, like defendants waiting for a verdict.

– … I’ll forgive you.

“Really?”

– But, from now on you have to always stay with me. Don’t ignore me, don’t forget me. If you do that, I’ll forgive those children’s rudeness too, and help you escape this mountain. So…

The egg’s voice gradually lost confidence and became smaller.

Nigel felt strange, as if she was looking at an orphanage sibling who was upset because she had forgotten a promise.

‘What did I do when the children were really upset?’

Nigel smiled faintly as she recalled the memory. Then she quickly pulled out the shy one hiding in the robe and hugged the egg tightly against her body, leaving no room for even a bit of air between them.

“Yes, I promise I’ll always be with you from now on.”

– … It’s a promise, human.

A light so strong it hurt her eyes shone through her closed eyelids. At the same time, the smooth surface of the egg in her arms crumbled into pieces.

When Nigel opened her eyes after the light faded.

“… A ball of fur?”

A small white ball of fur with pointed ears, two wings smaller than leaves, and what looked like three beans stuck on its face instantly changed to red and thrashed about wildly.

– What do you mean a ball of fur! I am the great dragon!

‘Hmm, let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. Let’s keep it a secret from everyone.’

It would be very troublesome if I said it out loud.

Having quickly finished her thought, Nigel stroked the ball of fur and approached her companions.

“Let’s go, it says it will guide us.”

“Wow, the egg finally hatched! What did it say?”

– Be eternally honored that the dragon himself is guiding you, humans.

To protect the sparkling eyes of the three, Nigel mixed in a little white lie.

“… It says it will guide us, so we should only trust it.”

– That’s not what I meant!

“Be quiet, I didn’t promise that.”

Nigel lightly patted the ball of fur’s head.

Thanks to the ball of fur’s guidance, Nigel and her companions safely escaped the mountain.

Next, in front of the temple where Roneh’s surveillance network might be lurking. With the help of the chief priest who happened to be on his way for morning prayers, they safely entered the temple and arrived at Sienna without incident.

As soon as Nigel unpacked her bag at the dormitory, she picked up the teleport stone.

She urgently needed Widrun’s opinion on what to do with this small ball of fur that called itself a dragon inside her robe.

“Teleport, Headmaster’s office.”

When she opened her eyes, Nigel’s gaze met Widrun’s, who had just come out of the headmaster’s office.

He slightly opened his eyes and then spoke.

“I was just about to call for you, this is perfect timing.”

“Pardon…?”

At that moment, anxiety swept over Nigel’s entire body. It was a premonition of misfortune that had never been wrong.

“An oracle has come down from the temple.”