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The entrance of that house had no signs of being cleaned for at least a few months. There was various garbage spilling out from the trash can outside and there was also an exhibition of alcohol bottles.

It seemed that the owner at least had enough sanity remaining to take the trash outside, but he had no willpower or self-respect to throw them out.

When Tim started knocking on the door, it took three knocks for the owner to finally show up.

“Y-Yea, what is it…? I should’ve paid for the alcohol already… right? I think I did……”

It was an unshaven, completely withered man. The man who looked both middle-aged and old looked timidly at Tim with unfocused eyes and sighed a breath reeking of alcohol.

“Are you Doctor Charles Reiner?”
“Please don’t call me doctor. I’ve had enough of it. I’m not qualified for that…”

Charles looked away as if avoiding something awful smelling and waved his hand as if swatting a bug.

But Tim and the other four (or maybe three and one animal? Kafal was together so she came too) didn’t move.

“What do you want? Just go back already. I won’t examine anyone anymore.”
“Do you remember the manager that worked with the party Seventh Dice?”

His reaction was dramatic.

Despite his drunk and hazy state, his eyes shot wide open on the verge of popping out of his thin face, then collapsed and started shouting while plucking his white-streaked hair.

“E-Eeek! Aaaaaaagh!!”
“What’s the matter?!”
“Hey, calm down!!”

Tim practically seized him to lift him up as he writhed.

“Do you know what happened?!”
“I…I… I’m practically the one who killed him!”
“Calm down. Calm down and explain everything. We’re searching for him.”

Charles still had unfocused eyes, but he started speaking as if a dam had broken by water.

“He… used to live with a girl —maybe sister, maybe girlfriend— called Giselle. Giselle was my patient. She suffered from a continuous curse… and the only thing I could do was to extend her life slightly and relieve her pain… When it reached the point of hopelessness… he came to me and asked… if there was a way to heal Giselle. And then… ahh… ahhhh……”

Charles’ voice was mixed with regret so deep it seemed to reach the depth of the earth.

“And then I said it… that a medicine made from a dragon’s egg may be able to save her…! That guy definitely entered Moun Kuguse after that!! I’m a murderer!!”

Dragon’s egg.

“Ah…”

A voice leaked from Lucella’s mouth. An egg before a new dragon would be born from it. It was the most condensed life force in the world. It was said that eating it would even bring someone from the brink of death.

But it was nigh impossible to obtain a dragon’s egg.

As if to compensate for their longevity and mighty power, dragons rarely raised their young, so attempting to steal their eggs would be equal to provoking the wrath of the frightening and powerful dragons.

But now, the red dragon of Mount Kuguse was incubating an egg.

Given that she lived alone, perhaps it was possible to do it without being seen.

——“Huuh? On Mount Kuguse? What business do you have there…”——

He knew. Gemel was a man not worth trusting. So he carefully avoided talking about his objective. He even kept the information regarding the location of the dragon’s nest which cost him a lot to himself without sharing it.

——“Okay, got it. Let’s go with that. Whatever we obtain is all ours. You’ll buy the thing you need for a reasonable price. It comes with a guiding fee, though. Can you afford it? Oh well… prepare yourself to work your a̲s̲s̲ off for free for the rest of your life. If you run away, I’ll catch you for sure and sell you off to a slave merchant or something, you got it?”——

He didn’t care. If he could save Giselle, he didn’t care what came after. No… if he could only save her, he didn’t care even if he had to offer up his life for it.

“I remembered…”

And then. Finally, seeing the broken egg, Lucella silently understood it.

——I see, so it has ended.

For some reason, he was convinced of it.

“Lucella?!”

Lucella turned his body around and broke into a run. He knew the location. He knew the path. He remembered the place where he used to live with her! He remembered it!

——Giselle!

Lucella dashed through the city like a crimson gale.

He jumped over the buildings that were in the way like a dragon flying above them, shocking the passersby along the way.

——How could I ever forget you, Giselle!!

Lucella pressed forward, urged by the months of impatience swooping down on him in one go.

It was one of the old apartment buildings that overlooked the canal. A rectangular building stained dark by raindrop marks. It had a narrow hallway with mailboxes standing in a row.

There was an item of artwork on the ceiling which apparently served as a magic lamp thirty years back. The stairs were dark as if sooty. And the door of room 202 which was left half-open.

“Giselle…!”

A wind filled with moisture blew through. It blew inside as Lucella opened the door, rustling the window curtains inside.

There was no furniture. Nor the window-side bed. Neither the chair before the hearth. The room was miserably empty of everything.

Seeing how there was a single broom there, it seemed to be in the middle of a clearing.

“What are you doing, missy? There’s no one in that room.”

The manager appeared behind Lucella holding a dust cloth and a bucket.

“T-There used to live someone named Giselle here, didn’t she?!”
“Oh, are you her acquaintance?”

The old woman opened her eyes wide, finding the situation quite rare. And then continued.

“She died. Quite a while ago too.”