Novel Full Chapter 223: The First Telepathic Connection?
Ryan headed toward the village’s blacksmith workshop at a steady pace, leaving the vast training grounds behind. He walked flanked by the girls, with the exception of his loyal wolf assistant.
Alicia had told them she would join them shortly, staying behind to organize the new warriors.
The heat began to cut through the cold morning air as they approached the wood and stone structure.
Ryan knocked on the heavy door with his gloved knuckles, waiting for an answer.
Noticing the constant hammering inside and seeing that no one answered his call, he pushed the door open himself.
A strong wave of hot air and the smell of molten metal hit the boy’s face instantly.
’They always get so focused on their work.’ He thought, stepping into the spacious workshop followed closely by his three companions.
The interior was a visual chaos of tools, gears, and scattered scrolls. It was Mika who noticed her king’s presence right away from across the alchemy counter. The girl was holding a delicate glass flask filled with a thick red liquid.
"Your Majesty! Welcome back." She said clumsily, her face lighting up with a wide smile.
The alchemist approached with uncoordinated steps, dodging pieces of metal and rubble on the floor.
"Sorry, this place is a mess." The young alchemist said, stopping a few meters away from him.
Ryan looked toward the back of the workshop, ignoring the clutter in the scrap-filled aisles. Runa was focused on her work in front of the roaring forge. The dwarf was carving tiny magical circles into small relics with a sharp tool.
Ivis, walking behind the boy, looked around the spark-lit room with great curiosity. The dragon woman took a few steps forward, scanning the rustic anvils and worn wooden tables.
"After seeing the communication relic they managed to forge, I thought they would have a more interesting smithy. But this place is very basic."
The dragoness let out, crossing her arms under her large breasts. Her tone was laced with disappointment.
Mika stood up straight, snapping her back upright with flushed red cheeks.
"Hey! I don’t know who you are, but don’t talk about my workplace like tha..."
She said, raising her voice to defend her precious lab, but cut herself off. Looking at Ivis head-on, her brain finally processed the intruder’s inhuman features. She noticed the thick horn protruding from her forehead and the sharp, vertical pupils of a predator.
Her eyes widened in pure shock and terror, all the color draining from her face in a second.
"Dra... drag...on?" She stammered with difficulty, almost biting her own tongue from paralyzing fear.
The young alchemist’s body gave way to panic, falling backward from the shock.
The potion flasks in her hands dropped to the stone floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. The red liquid splashed over her boots and the ground, forming a bright puddle among the debris.
’I think you should have at least told her I was coming here with a dragon, Alicia.’
Ryan thought with a heavy sigh, regretting his wolf assistant’s lack of internal communication. He stepped forward immediately, closing the distance to the frightened girl.
"Calm down, this dragon is our ally." Ryan said with a soft, protective voice, holding his hand out to Mika.
"Y-Your Majesty... are you serious?" The alchemist asked timidly, trembling over the red puddle.
Mika raised her right arm slowly, taking Ryan’s gloved hand with great delicacy. Ryan nodded, confirming his words, and pulled her up in one swift motion. The boy’s brute strength got her on her feet in the blink of an eye.
"T-thank you..." Mika said, her face flushed red, not letting go of Ryan’s hand.
Her fingers clung to his glove, seeking safety and a bit of comfort after the massive scare she had just gotten.
Then Mirian inserted herself between them with a fast, aggressive movement. The yellow-haired archer grabbed both of their wrists with her slender hands and squeezed hard.
She yanked their hands apart and shot a sharp, jealous glare at Mika.
"How long were you planning to keep holding his hand?" The blonde demanded, marking her territory.
"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to." Mika answered nervously, taking a couple of instinctive steps back.
The poor alchemist ended up tripping over more iron scrap in her clumsy attempt to escape.
Irina, who had been watching the scene in silence from the entrance, began to laugh openly.
The elf princess covered her mouth with a hand, unable to contain her amusement at the situation.
"To think we were just talking about war and massacres moments ago. And now you get like this over things like this." She said between crystalline laughs that eased the heavy tension in the workshop.
"What’s all this racket?" Runa asked with a gruff voice, interrupting the elf’s laughter.
The blacksmith walked over, wiping sweat and soot from her forehead with a dirty rag.
"I can’t concentrate with all this yelling." She complained, dragging her heavy boots over the stone.
She directed her serious gaze at everyone in her workspace. She evaluated the imposing dragon woman from top to bottom without showing a single drop of fear, and then looked at Ryan.
Then she added casually, returning to her bored and tired expression.
"There’s no point being surprised with you, I’m already used to your weird harem." She said bluntly.
"Hey!" Mirian grumbled immediately, feeling attacked by the dwarf’s deduction.
"Ivis has nothing to do with Ryan, not in that way." The archer said with her fists clenched at her sides.
Then she shifted her insecure gaze toward Ryan, and then toward the horned woman. "Right?"
Runa ignored the blonde’s jealousy, trudging through the metal scrap. The blacksmith stopped right in front of Ryan, looking up at her sovereign’s face.
"Whatever, you’re here for the relic, aren’t you?" Runa added dryly, holding out her closed fist toward him.
"Don’t ignore me!" Mirian shouted, throwing a tantrum in the middle of the dirty aisle.
Ryan held out his open hand, ignoring the archer’s drama. Runa dropped a small relic directly onto the palm of his dark glove. It was a delicate silver earring, engraved with microscopic and complex magical circles on its surface.
"Charge it with mana." Runa instructed professionally, taking a step back to observe the result.
Ryan did so, injecting a thread of his immense SS-rank energy into the cold metal. The relic glowed subtly in the center of his palm, emitting a faint magical hum that vibrated in the air.
And immediately, distorted voices began to echo in the quiet workshop.
[Why is this thing glowing!]
The shout came from the small earring, startling the girls present.
"Helen?" Ryan murmured, instantly recognizing the loud and impulsive tone of his black-haired warrior.
[Idiot, don’t activate that here, turn it off!]
"And that other one is Karol’s voice." Mirian added, forgetting her anger upon hearing the spy mage through the relic.
[Eh? Ryan, it was Ryan who spoke.] Helen’s voice rang out again, sounding excited and clueless from the other side of the world.
[SMACK!]
A loud smack echoed clearly through the magical communication, like a hard slap against skin.
[Idiot, don’t say that name, his name is Krai, understand. Krai.]
Beatrice’s furious voice was heard, immediately correcting the serious security flaw of using his real name in Kallistia territory.
[Ouch! You stupid weak demon, you didn’t have to hit me.]
Helen complained through the relic, making it obvious what chaos she was already causing in the human nation.