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“Sorry to keep you two waiting. Let’s move to a different spot.”
“Oh! Welcome back, Master… Wait, why all of a sudden?”

In the guild’s lobby, a spot we now regularly used for meeting up, Momo and Nova had been killing time by stacking empty ale mugs into a tower. It was hard to believe these two were supposed to be a criminal about to walk into certain death and his escort, given the complete lack of tension.

“Sigh… I’m about to train you with full intent to kill you until you’re almost dead. That’s why we’re changing locations. The training grounds here are too fragile.”
“Wasn’t there… something off about that phrasing just now?”
“Must’ve been your imagination. Besides, I’ve made contingency plans, just in case.”
“Yes, appearing right on cue, it’s your friendly Saint! I dropped everything to rush over and help my troubled little lambs.”
“Oh, Ms. Roche! Are you sure that’s okay?!”

Momo, who had been frowning at my arrival, brightened up when she saw the Saint follow in behind me. In contrast, Nova looked like he’d just swallowed a whole swarm of bitter bugs—seems like the Saint really unnerved him.

“None of it’s life-or-death stuff, so in my priorities, it ranked low. It’s just endless banquets and audiences with nobles.”
“She’s tired of seeing only the dark side of the upper echelons, so I brought her along partly to give her a break.”
“A-Are you sure about this…? I mean, do we really need Ms. Roche’s help?”
“Didn’t I say? I intend to train you with full intent to kill you two to the brink of death.”
“…U-Uh, actually, I just remembered I had something to do—”
“Not so fast, sir Nova. You shall receive your training fair and square.”
“Gwaaaaah! Let gooo!”

Just as Nova sensed what lay ahead and tried to bolt, the golem silently snuck up and restrained him in a bear hug. Even now, he was still trying to escape, so he was still no good. He’d gotten a bit better, but he still didn’t have the resolve.

“Alright, let’s move. Bring only the essentials. It’s a bit of a trek.”
“Just where are we going, exactly?”
“Outside the city. I’ve scouted a spot where we won’t cause any trouble if the terrain happens to get… altered.”

✦✧✦✧✦

“A dragon, simply put, is a living natural disaster.”

In the middle of an endless grassland, the Saint spoke as if quoting scripture.

“With every step, it causes earthquakes; with every roar, thunder. Its breath sparks massive wildfires, and they say that incurring its wrath one time can alter the surrounding terrain and weather completely.”
“Exactly. So if you can’t even handle my magecraft, you’re not ready for this conversation.”
“Hah… Hah… I’m… dying…”
“I’ll be killed… Forget atonement, I’ll die here and now!”
“Don’t worry; we’ve got a kind-hearted Saint here who can fix you right up even if you do die.”
“ “You demon!!” ”

After just a moderately intense warm-up, the two fools were already shouting curses. With time running short, their current abilities were far from sufficient to keep them alive.

“Oh my, it’s the first time anyone’s called me a demon.”
“Relax. The insults are aimed at me. Really, you two have no idea of a dragon’s terror, do you?”
“I’m an Outlander, Master! How could I understand—whoa, watch it!!”
“Oh? So you can react to this much?”

The shard of ice I launched at Momo’s forehead was intercepted just in time by her hand. Her reflexes weren’t bad, but her defenses were riddled with gaps. Unless my attacks were obvious and straightforward, she barely managed to block them.

“Let me share a story about a dragon I once encountered. It might serve as some guidance, so just listen.”
“Hey, kid, if I didn’t mishear, did you just—whoa, gah!”
“Mr. Nova, you can’t let your guard down! Master’s not holding back today!”
“Who said I’d stop? Handle the threat in front of you and listen at the same time. Parallel processing is crucial for a wizard.”

This time, I shot an even stronger, faster shard directly at Nova, hitting him squarely on the forehead. His raw power was impressive, but his defensive skills were lacking. Against a dragon’s scales, even his prized firepower would be as good as useless.

“That dragon’s name was, if I recall, Gibeon. It towered high enough to surpass Aldebaran’s city walls. Thanks to a dumbass… Excuse me, I mean, a reckless companion of mine, we provoked its fury.”
“Sounds like you’ve still got some resentment simmering there…”
“I’ll skip the details, but we ended up facing the dragon’s wrath. Its hide was as tough as layers of iron, and even a single drop of its body fluids contained an intense concentration of magic power. The true horror lies in that magic power.”

Though it happened a thousand years ago, I remembered those moments vividly. Setting aside the anger, I felt like giving my younger self a pat on the back for somehow surviving that ordeal.

“Magic that dense distorts the environment around it—it has nothing to do with the dragon’s will. Around Gibeon, raw, violent magic power continuously created countless spells that emerged naturally.”
“Specifically, what kind of effects?”
“Avalanches, scorching flames, violent storms, rivers of lava, earthquakes—every disaster imaginable merged into an endless barrage.”

There was no room for human life near Gibeon. Every conceivable catastrophe took physical form, falling relentlessly upon anything in its vicinity. And these were merely “phenomena.” They occurred simply because the dragon existed there. No amount of resilience would make them cease.

The terror of merely existing—this was Gibeon of Calamity. That was its name, when it was alive.

“I don’t know what kind of dragon lives on that mountain, but one thing won’t change—it’s beyond human comprehension. My training is not even one-hundredth of what Gibeon was, so give it a bit more effort.”
“Ms. Laika, Ms. Laika, may I have a moment?”
“Hm? What is it, Saint?”

The Saint, who had been the only one nodding along, tugged at my sleeve.

“As you can see… the two of them have already passed out.”
“What…?!”

She pointed to what was once a grassland, now pockmarked and warped beyond recognition, with my two disciples lying sprawled out on it.

Distracted by my story, I must have cast spells a bit more casually, but if they couldn’t even last a minute, we had a serious problem.

“At this rate, they’ll truly end up dead… I just want them to at least learn some unique magecraft.”

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