?


    The useless airbags puffed out of the seats and hit us as smoke rose from the hood of the car.


    [Now, three years after the incident in Pantheon where the Cosmic Dragon first appeared and was pushed back by the heroics of two students, people are waiting for the prophecy it foretold to be handled with—]


    The radio was absolutely not helping. I was almost ready to pluck it out and throw it away, but I did need the information too.


    "You ok?" I asked Albert. A car crash of this level was nothing.


    "I am good, but…" He pointed ahead and I turned my gaze to the front. On the ground beyond the other car we had just crashed into was Luka.


    That''s what he got for peering out of the hood.


    I sighed and kicked the door open. It was malfunctioning, so I had to break it down.


    We looked at the other car and found a woman with ocean-like blue hair fainted in her car. This person… she seemed familiar.


    Albert and I pulled her car open and brought her out before I used a potion on her.


    The woman was not injured anywhere, she must have fainted from the shock.


    Weid her on the ground and pulled the cars away from each other next. Albert tried his best to fix hers, he just had to punch the dents straight and fix the wiring, marons, and levitators at the back.


    Ours was boned head first though, so fixing that seemed impossible. We would just have to dip before the rental guy found it.


    "Y-you bastards, did you ignore me?" Luka hummed.


    What was new with that?


    "Speak English," I said and sshed some water on the woman. She slowly opened her eyes and shot up in a fluster. Her eyes turned all around before falling on me.


    She stared at my horns.


    I couldn''t see her face, but I could tell the sheer amount of disappointment she felt. It wasn''t my fault that people here were such huge weirdoes that horns became something you just ended up epting.


    "What happened, was there an ident?"


    "Yes, we were hit too."


    The other two with me turned snapped their heads toward me. I ignored them.


    "The driver came in between both of us, as you can see."


    I had separated the cars, it was distant enough to make it seem like there was a third.


    "By the time I and my friends came to, the guy was already leaving. I couldn''t get his license te, though. We managed to get you out since your car was smoking up. That there''s Albert tinkering with it, he studied engineering before working for Pizza Duck."


    "I-I see…" Thedy nodded, slightly overwhelmed.


    Lying truly was convenient.


    I supported her and she took a look at her car too. Apparently, it wasn''t anything that problematic, but ours was wrecked since it was in the front. Thankfully, she didn''t seem to suspect us since cars were just so heavy that even many hunters struggled.


    How did the heavy stuff float? It was what made them float that was heavy.


    "I think we should report this to the police," she said.


    I couldn''t shake off the feeling.


    That voice and and the hair reminded me of something.


    "As for till then, since both our cars are totaled would you all like a meal? It would be better than eating alone—"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    [Would you like a meal?]


    As if a dam had been opened, memories from a long time ago filled my head. It wouldn''t be that long for this world.


    But I had already spent 10 more years in the other, and if I counted the years upon years I had spent in the depths of my soul, then it added up to almost century.


    A voice, a sight, and a person I met just twice but remembered even centuriester.


    "Excuse me, mam," I spoke. "Are you by any chance, rted to Mr. Jack yton?"


    The two from my side tilted their head before Albert hopped up in realization.


    Thedy''s face sank in a low smile.


    "Do you know my father? It''s surprising to see someone talk about him after so long—"


    Unbelievable.


    A person to whom I owed my life. The man who, very dly, invited even me in the dungeon and asked me to share a meal with him.


    I used to think that it was because of a nosy person like him that I had started to feed others, but I had grown a lot since then.


    "I am an acquaintance ," I said. "That''s not the right way to put it, I-I was helped by him greatly. How is he doing? Is he alright?"


    Thedy gave me a wry smile.


    And shook her head.


    ***


    At the northwestern coasts of Scond, a bridge ran toward the Inner Hebrides Archipgo.


    The biggest amongst these group of inds was and with rugged scapes of green that stretched over it like a veil and mountainousnds that screamed of beauty in their unconformity.


    Along the coast of the inds ran indented peninss narrow lochs and beyond them was a small town.


    This ce, a five hour drive from the portal station in Edinburgh was one of the most dramatic and beautiful ces still untouched in the world.


    Though many gates had opened here too, they were weak and only added to the magic of the Isle of Skye.


    Further down north from the Isle was the Trotternish Penins, and hidden behind the rises was a ce where a circle of stones and rugged grass stood aloof since god knows when.


    Hidden deep beneath that ce…


    "…Is my father, Jack yton."


    I sat down near the circle of stones, the curves of the of the fairy glen bending around me.


    The gentle sun''s kiss fell all over thendscape, making it beautiful even in the man''s death.


    "Funny, isn''t it? You say you were saved by him, many were, but it didn''t take long for him to be painted a traitor against humanity for the greed of a few."


    My brows furrowed.


    In a ce just like this…


    I had first met Jack yton, a weak, simple, healing priest.