Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Impudent humans! How dare you… Do you have any idea who I am?!” A wyvern that had only ever appeared in myths of the gods, one said to be an opponent only a Paladin could possibly face, was now standing alive before them. It straightened its body, a pair of pink wings that looked exactly like roasted chicken wings aside from the color flaring out from its back, and lifted its golden eyes to stare coldly up at the humans.

“Oh? And who are you?” Ruiyin answered without even turning her head as she directed Lars in counting the valuables.

“You… foolish humans! I will teach you the price of angering a dragon!” The wyvern let out a furious dragon roar. It drew in a deep breath, its pink body swelling until it looked even more like a ball, then bellowed, “Dragon Flame!”

It opened a mouth large enough to fit a walnut! Ah, it fired! A stream of purple flame comparable to a lighter flame shot from its mouth! Ah! It… it overexerted itself and toppled dizzily onto its backside!

Galahad, who had been made to stand off to the side because his movements had been deemed too clumsy, could not help but glance at it with sympathetic understanding. He walked over and carefully picked up the dizzy, pink, ball-shaped wyvern that could no longer stand. “Are you all right? Don’t force yourself. If you’re tired from shouting, rest a bit.”

“Im… impudent! Lord Vigia is the most beautiful and powerful female in the Dragon Realm, and you actually dare… dare to violate my body like this!” Sitting on the knight’s knee, the wyvern threw back its head and howled at the heavens! But probably because it had used up too much strength just now, this time it did not breathe the Dragon Flame said to be capable of burning down an entire city. Instead, it let out a loud sneeze. Its chicken-wing-like dragon wings drooped, and the wyvern flopped face-first, powerless, against the young man.

Galahad was immediately overwhelmed by an even stronger wave of pity. He stroked the dragon’s fur… no, scales. But the wyvern called Vigia did not appreciate it in the slightest. It opened its mouth and bit down on Galahad’s finger. Amid his pained scream, it also began to sob miserably…

“Quiet, both of you.” Ruiyin finally spared them a glance. She walked over, intending to separate these two equally abnormal fellows, when something flashed before her eyes. A pink blur abandoned Galahad and pounced at her. Ruiyin frowned and stepped aside. The pink blur overshot its target and slammed face-first into the stone wall.

“Wuwu… foolish human, you dare toy with Lord Vigia like this…” The wyvern clutched its face with its claws, turned around viciously, and lunged at Ruiyin again!

This time, however, it was forced to stop in midair. Behind it, Lars was pinching its pair of wings between both hands, lifting the flailing wyvern up by them.

“Oh? You hate me that much?” Ruiyin bent down with great interest and met those furious golden eyes. Following the dragon’s gaze, the corner of her mouth curved. She untied the mirror at her waist and held it up before the wyvern.

Up!

Down!

Left!

Right!

Spin around!

Send it forward, claws out, miss!

“Oh.” After making the wyvern dangling by its wings pant its way through a full round of the Ninth Set of Radio Calisthenics along with her movements, Ruiyin straightened with a meaningful smile. “So this is what you want.”

“Give it to me!” Vigia shrieked. “That thing… that is the thing an evil dark mage used to seal me! Give it to me, and I will spare your lives… Aow! That hurts! Idiot knight, didn’t your Xisaluo teach you how to treat a lady?!”

Vigia glared back at Lars with round golden eyes. At a loss, the knight looked at it and reflexively apologized. “I’m sorry.”

“Let go, Lars,” Ruiyin said. “It won’t do anything to us. This mirror is its seal.”

Holy Archmage Lars had somehow returned to several hundred years ago, stored his treasure in this cave, and sealed a dragon here to guard it. Unless someone came here carrying the contract object, no one could touch these things.

For the first time, Ruiyin felt a slight bit of goodwill toward that rotten mage.

“Are all these things ours?” Galahad drifted over with a vacant, dreamlike expression on his face. In disbelief, he picked up a golden crown and bit it. After confirming that it was indeed real gold, he looked as though he might immediately start rolling around on the floor.

“There are indeed quite a few treasures,” Lars said. “Only, the Sword of Shadow is not among them.”

Vigia, crouched in the corner and presenting everyone with a plump backside, let out a very loud huff.

“It’s not? That really is strange. It clearly mentioned a dragon, the Sea of Roses, and the Sword of Shadow.” Ruiyin frowned. “This is troublesome.”

Vigia snorted disdainfully.

“Who cares!” Galahad’s eyes shone. “Now that we have all this, who needs the Sword of Shadow? As long as we take these things out, we can buy two continents!”

“But didn’t we come for the Sword of Shadow? If we don’t have it, how are we supposed to borrow Lord Xisaluo’s divine power to defeat the Orcs’ attack on humanity?” Lars softly recited the story he had already fully imagined.

“That’s right, we have to find it. That dragon, what exactly are you doing?” Ruiyin frowned at Vigia, who had just made the loudest huff yet. “If you keep making that noise, I am going to think you are actually an impostor pig pretending to be a dragon.”
Vigia was so furious that even the tips of its roasted-chicken wings began to tremble. “Damn humans! How dare you humiliate me like this! I was going to be merciful and tell you about that sword, but now-”

“You know about it?” Lars’s eyes widened with expectation as he looked at it. “Could you please tell us?”

“I will never tell you now!”

Ruiyin lowered her head, raised the mirror, and smacked the pink ball on the ground with it.

“Waaah, how dare you bully Lord Vigia… I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

With tears in its eyes and its mouth puckered in grievance, Vigia told Ruiyin that one year ago, a human had once endured countless trials and opened this magic array. He had broken into the Dragon’s Hoard and taken the Sword of Shadow. This human, whose combat power was absurdly high, had hair as dazzling as gold, eyes as blue as the sea, and seemed to shine all over with brilliant golden light.

“How is that possible?” Lars said, finding it hard to believe. “Other than the Paladin, how could anyone break through a dragon’s defenses and take a divine artifact?”

“Not necessarily. Don’t forget what kind of dragon was guarding the treasure.” Ruiyin nudged the little spherical dragon with the toe of her shoe, its eyes misty for some unknown reason and its whole body an eye-searing shade of pink. “And did you notice the look in its eyes? The entire dragon is radiating an aura of ‘seeking a mate, different species acceptable.'”

“You bastard!” Vigia sprang up in mortified rage. “W-where do you see that! A witch like you will never understand a maiden’s heart!”

“Did that person have any distinguishing features? Other than glowing like a holy idol,” Ruiyin asked.

Vigia thought hard for a while, then crouched down and used its sharp little claw to scratch a pattern into the ground. “There was a design like this on his armor.”

Lars glanced at it and blurted out, “The Sunan Empire!”

“You recognize it?” Ruiyin asked.

“This is the royal crest of the Sunan Empire,” Lars explained. “And judging by its rank, it’s a high-level crest that only direct members of the imperial family are allowed to use as decoration.”

“Now that you mention it, I think I’ve heard something like that,” Galahad said, lowering his head in thought as well. “The prince of the Sunan Empire is indeed supposed to be a blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty. Could the one who took the Sword of Shadow actually be the prince of the Sunan Empire?”

Before he could finish, he cried out in pain. Galahad kicked hard, but the thing clinging to his lower leg with both claws showed no intention of letting go. Vigia raised its head, its eyes sparkling with pink bubbles the same color as its body. “You know him? Where is he? I have to go find him!”

“Let go! Get off me, you stupid dragon!”

“Hmph. Tell me where he is, and I will forgive your crime of disrespecting me.”

Lars looked anxiously at Galahad, who was hopping in place with tears flying, then turned to look at the pensive Ruiyin. “Ruiyin, should we save Galahad?”

“Not for now.” Ruiyin bent down. “How are we supposed to take these things with us?”

Vigia found time to lift its head and glare at her. “Those are all mine! None of you are allowed to touch them!”

“There aren’t any spatial artifacts.” Lars scratched his head, looking troubled. “So many magical tools, and not a single spatial treasure among them. Looks like we can’t take them with us.”

“No.” Ruiyin thoughtfully stared at the stupid dragon and the idiot tangling themselves into a mess. “Since that person arranged this, there must be a way to solve it.”

“You mean… the Dragon’s Hoard?” Lars followed her gaze and also began to understand.

If all nonhumans were included, then the most noble and wealthy beings in the world were undoubtedly the Dragon Clan. They had an innate, greedy desire for things that were shiny and expensive. Their tremendous power gave them more than enough ability to seize wealth, and as if the Creator God had deliberately bestowed this nature upon them, every dragon possessed a space of its own from the moment it broke out of its shell. They could choose any cave they liked to pile up their treasure, but without question, their most precious possessions were stored in this space that belonged only to dragons. This was the place most capable of stirring an adventurer’s ambitions: the Dragon’s Hoard.

Even if this dragon was nothing more than a pink ball, as long as it was not literally only a “head,” that space had to exist.

“All right. Since we came here looking for the Sword of Shadow, these treasures can stay yours.” Ruiyin said to Vigia, “We’ll just take one thing.”

Vigia reluctantly climbed off Galahad, then gave a contemptuous, proud snort. “Fine. I, Lord Vigia, will specially permit you to choose one thing to take with you.”

Ruiyin pointed at it. “Then I’ll take you.”

Vigia nodded. “Anything you want is fine… Huh?”

Lars, Galahad: “…”

Ruiyin’s expression remained calm. “Even though you’re currently sealed by me, I can still give you two choices. First, put those things into your Dragon’s Hoard, sign a contract with us, and come along. Second, put those things into your Dragon’s Hoard, and we’ll pack you up and take you with us. Which one do you choose?”