Chapter 154: Voidborn

"What is this?"

Julian blinked in surprise as he felt something hard on the little Fox’s ankle. Ah, of course, an ankle being hard because of the bone was natural, the problem was that this one was different.

’I don’t think its other ankles have anything like that.’

Julian moved the tip of his finger slightly, making sure that what he felt wasn’t a mistake.

The sensation of the touch itself felt like touching a hard, dense piece of iron there, buried deep beneath the thick fur.

A little hesitant, Julian glanced at the Fox, which looked wary, then carefully shifted the dense fur aside a little.

The little Fox twitched its ears, watching Julian’s hand with a not-so-friendly gaze.

Soon, Julian found a small bracelet clamped around the little Fox’s ankle.

"...This?"

It didn’t look like an ordinary bracelet, and the way its pattern looked made Julian frown.

There were three small, red, square-shaped lights lined up there.

Just as Julian was wondering what it was, the bracelet suddenly gave off a faint, shimmering reddish glow.

A stream of Mana spread into the air, moving so fast and blending in that Julian had trouble following where the Mana was going.

Julian lifted his head slightly, trying to follow the remnants of the Mana flow that had just been released.

"What was that?"

For some reason it felt like a bad thing.

"...A tracker."

And Felicya had taken the role of confirming what Julian was thinking.

"A tracker? A tracking device? That bracelet is used for tracking?"

Seeing Felicya nod left Julian lost in thought. His gaze fell on the Fox, which was currently trying to absorb as much of Julian’s Mana as it could.

The little Fox seemed far more interested in Julian’s Mana than in the conversation taking place.

A moment of doubt appeared in Julian’s gaze.

’Was this Fox sent to track us or what?’

Besides, why a fox? Couldn’t they just come themselves instead of using this?

It was truly baffling to think about how those Dragons worked their minds. Julian wished he could understand even a little about how they thought, but unfortunately that was impossible.

’Of course, there might be another reason, like... What if this Fox is simply on the run on its own?’

Considering that its mother was nowhere to be seen and how clumsy the instincts it had as an animal were. Wasn’t that just like an animal released into the wild for the first time?

Julian looked at the Fox again.

It was very hard to determine anything just from its appearance.

That could be the right answer too.

’Anyway, we have to move soon.’

Because if this thing had indeed sent out a signal about our location, a Dragon would surely come soon.

No matter which possibility was true, Julian felt that staying in the same place was not a good option.

So, hesitantly, Julian moved his hand for a moment, stopping the Fox.

"Wait a moment, okay?"

The little Fox raised its head, as though questioning why Julian had suddenly interrupted its mealtime.

He touched the bracelet gently, then applied a little force.

Crack—!

A sharp cracking sound rang out, making the Fox’s fur stand on end in shock.

Its small body jerked, while its nine tails moved restlessly.

Julian said nothing, he simply took the bracelet off and gave a faintly awkward smile in his mind.

’Luckily, this was easy to remove.’

There was no explosive bomb or anything that would activate once it was removed, right?

Julian felt he was worrying a little too much, but fortunately nothing like that happened.

Afterward, he tossed the bracelet into a far corner, and looked at the little Fox.

"We’ll continue later, we need to go."

His words weren’t directed only at the little Fox, which made Julian feel somewhat guilty for interrupting its pleasant lunchtime.

But also at Monk and Felicya.

"Where are we going?"

At that moment, Monk spoke, making Julian turn slightly.

"...Seriously, I’m curious, how can you actually speak in my language? It sounds like you’re not very fluent in it either."

Julian let out a small sigh. Even though he was in fact very curious, unfortunately he didn’t have much time for that.

"Anyway, we’ll avoid the Dragons’ place. There’s no reason for us to walk straight into where they live."

Of course Julian could go straight there to look for the device, but wouldn’t that be the same as asking to die?

Clearly Julian wasn’t at a level where he could fight all the Dragons in this world. Fighting a few of them at the same Rank was still possible, but how much Mana would he burn through?

And just how many is "a few" here?

Julian had no desire to test his limits just because he was overconfident.

Considering all of that, wasn’t the only path to run away?

"...Oh."

Julian raised his gaze slightly and blinked.

His gaze shifted toward the cave entrance, as though something out there had just caught his attention.

Monk noticed and tilted her head.

"Boss? What’s wrong?"

"...They’re here."

"...."

"The Dragons."

Monk showed a flat, indifferent expression, the smile on her face completely empty, but it lasted only a moment before Julian saw a drop of sweat fall from her face, and finally her whole face darkened and went pale.

It seemed Monk needed a little time to understand what Julian had just said.

"H-h-haaaaaahhh!? Th-they’re already here? Kyaak—!"

With a dramatic expression, but with genuine fear, Monk leapt from where she was in terror and ran to take shelter behind Julian’s back, looking frightened at the cave entrance over there.

Monk lowered her body, trying to make herself look as small as possible behind Julian.

Julian didn’t pay much attention to that, he didn’t need to, thinking about the Dragons out there.

With some hesitation, Julian rose from where he was.

"Boss!! Wh-wha-what do we do? They’re going to roast us now! Rabbit skewers!! Huwaaa!!"

Julian took a step, ignoring Monk’s screaming.

Julian himself didn’t know why the rabbit was already imagining herself becoming a meal before they had even seen who had come.

’...Rabbit skewers?’

Julian almost wanted to question where Monk had gotten such a thought.

But it seemed now was not the right time.

He headed out of the cave, welcomed by sunlight and the shadow of a huge dragon.

The sound of flapping wings rang out clearly, stirring the air around the cave entrance.

There was only one. And the moment Julian looked at the Dragon, he let out a small sigh.

’Rank-C, I can handle it.’

Even so, it was strange. If these Dragons were really tracking Julian, why send only a Rank-C Dragon?

And only one?

Was there some kind of trap and ambush?

Yet Julian couldn’t sense a single one of them in the surroundings at the moment.

That might lead to only one conclusion. This Dragon wasn’t sent for Julian, and its target was more...

’This Fox?’

Julian glanced slightly at the little Fox on his shoulder, then found the little Fox in a state of extreme alertness.

Its claws sharpened, a low sound came from its body, whose fur was now bristling sharply.

Julian could feel the small body going stiff on his shoulder.

But among all that, there was fear, like how its body trembled and its tails drooped slightly.

Unlike the usual wariness it showed, this time the Fox looked truly frightened.

It was clear that this Fox was not new to encountering a Dragon.

That was when the Dragon, with the sound of its wings still flapping there, raised its huge lips and spoke in a language that couldn’t be understood.

Julian listened carefully, frowning.

"What on earth is it saying?"

It was clear the Dragon wasn’t after him, and its voice just now might have been aimed at opening communication.

Right?

As Julian thought about that, Monk touched him on the back again and spoke fearfully.

"B-Boss...! Th-that Dragon says to hand over the Fox."

"....."

Julian fell silent.

His attention, which had been on the Dragon, slowly shifted to Monk.

Wait a moment.

Had Monk just shown that she could understand the Dragons’ language?