That dragon practically showed no caution towards Kyle’s group, utterly defenseless. This was the expected reaction, you could say. The difference in strength between them and all of humanfolk was far too great. No human would be cautious of a single ant. Even if humans attempted a surprise attack, it was all for naught. This is how the dragons were thinking.

‘So it is..Listen carefully, I will only say it once. Leave this place immediately, and never return.’ The dragon warned them, clearly not up for any games.

Of course, this warning wasn’t issued because of goodwill or friendliness. When it came to humanfolk invading the dragons’ holy place, they usually would be incinerated using a flame blaze without a second of hesitation. However, no matter who it was, they were at least given one chance to peacefully leave, and never return—in the shape of a warning. If they abided, everything was just, and if they ignored that warning—they would turn into grilled meat. That was the thought process of the dragons. However, he sounded a lot more arrogant than the average member of its race, judging from Shildonia’s tone.

“Hmm, I don’t know you..and since you don’t know who I am, you must be younger than a thousand years..well, I guess it makes sense that you’d be given guard duty.” Shildonia let out an arrogant sigh.

‘..W-What did you say?’ For a moment, the dragon failed to grasp the words he was just told.

He never would have imagined a human would look down on him, not to mention during their first meeting. Right as he was about to roar in anger, Shildonia poured cold water on him.

“I have no time to waste with you. Zeurus must still be alive, no? Tell him that Shildonia is here to visit him.”

‘Wha..H-How do you know Zeurus-sama?’

The second Zeurus’ name appeared, the dragon’s attitude changed entirely.

“Something like that. I am asking for an official meeting based on the oath we share, so hurry up and tell him.”

‘A-An oath?! Impossible! He would never plead an oath with a human..!’

“This is of no concern for you. Asking questions is merely a waste of time for you. Be a proper guard, and fulfill your duty.” Shildonia looked down on the majestic dragon.

‘Grrr..’ The dragon didn’t know how to respond.

On the inside, he was fuming with anger, wondering how he should grill this puny human in front of him, but with his superior Zeurus now being named, that won’t do. He had no way of proving if Shildonia spoke the truth, so he had to temporarily return. However, this made the dragon feel like he was being ordered by a mere human, plaguing him with disgrace. He considered removing them right here and pretending like this meeting never happened, but Shildonia immediately spoke up like she had felt this thought.

“..If you don’t confirm this with Zeurus and act on your own accord, what would he do, hm? He may be fair, but very strict..so you should know what he does with people who don’t abide the rules.”

‘Urk..Y-You just wait there!’ The dragon soared into the sky, whirling up the grass and dust on the ground, and flew back towards the World Tree.

Once the dragon had disappeared into the distance, everyone but Shildonia sighed in relief.

“..Are you crazy? Showing that kind of attitude towards a dragon of all things.” Kyle let Shildonia handle everything at her request, but he was sweating profusely during the actual thing.

“The basis of a negotiation is to go head-first, brimming with confidence. If the other side is shaken, it’s easier to push them..Not to mention, I wasn’t so pushy for no reason. Many dragons are very lazy and tend to just take care of humanfolk on the spot rather than go the long route, so there was a risk of not bringing this to Zeurus himself. With this, we should be safe for now.” Shildonia explained indifferently.

After they waited for a bit, the dragon came back flying at tremendous speeds, landing in front of the group.

“You’ve been officially invited.” The dragon’s tone was filled with pain and disbelief.

“I see, good work up there..Now, take us with you.” Shildonia kept her dignified attitude, aggravating the dragon.

‘F-Follow me..’

That dragon sure is being picked on a lot..

Kyle was thinking to himself, as they tagged after the dragon.

When the group reached the base of the World Tree, they once again understood the scale of it. The trunk looked like an impregnable wall, and simply by trying to look up, it gave you a stiff neck. The leaves were colored in a strong green, and the passing dragons looked down at the group in interest and confusion.

‘Over here.’

The dragon acting as a guard was displeased by this, as he took the group through a giant hole—a small cut compared to the whole tree—and judging from his tone, he was being forced to do this.

“Hm, the inside hasn’t changed much.” Shildonia treated the dragon as some chamberlain, walking ahead with confidence as she looked around.

“So that means the dragons had always been living like this? Sure looks monotonous to me, alright.”

“Yeah, I feel like a bit of decoration wouldn’t hurt, honestly.”

Following Shildonia, now Seran and Urza began talking with a lot more composure in their voices. Just as the two had pointed out, the skin of the tree was visible as day inside the route they were passing through. There was something resembling glowing moss growing on the walls, which granted a faint amount of light, but that was about it. It felt like they were living inside a bare tree.

“The act of gathering decoration, livening up the area, would only come to you if you were actually using it as a natural shelter of rain, heat, or cold. However, dragons have no need for permanent residence. They possess enough strength to bend nature around them. The only thing this would be used for is to avoid the brightness when sleeping..In order words, dragons don’t understand the concept of decoration.” Shildonia explained, to which the others let out voices of admiration.

“Same goes for food supply. Unlike humans, dragons eat earth, stones, and everything else that could be some kind of nutrition. And despite their size, they wouldn’t even eat that much. Hence, they don’t need to cook, and they miss out on the greatness that is cooking. What poor beings,” Shildonia shook her head.

“Really? They’re missing out. The joy of eating something delicious, and the happiness of being full, I wouldn’t be able to live without it.” Lieze said with a saddened tone.

“Indeed, when I learned of this, I couldn’t help but see those dragons as pitiful. I would love to recommend them all sorts of dishes, but they would never listen..”

‘Enough with the idle talk. We will soon reach Zeurus-sama, so keep it down.’

Receiving sympathy from humans, the dragon sounded even more agitated compared to before. Lieze went silent because of that, but Shildonia didn’t look too bothered.

After walking for a while, they reached a wide-open space. In the middle of this large room that would have been impossible to build by human hand was a single dragon, rolled up and sleeping. It was around twice as large as the dragon guiding them.

‘Wait here a mo—Hey, what are you..?!’ The dragon couldn’t even finish his sentence, as Shildonia started walking ahead, unperturbed.

“So you were still alive. Even as a dragon, you have taken up quite the age, so I was worried, [Dragon King] Zeurus.” Shildonia crossed her arms as she stood in front of the dragon Zeurus, flashing an invincible smile.

‘..I was wondering who it was, but this arrogant tone..it really is you, [Magic King] Shildonia.’ Zeurus slowly opened his eyes, speaking up with a sharp but equally nostalgic tone.

“We formed an oath of equality. I do not intend on abasing myself.”

‘Hmph..I didn’t expect we’d be reunited like this, a thousand years after we went our own ways.’

“As you can see, I’m not the same as I was back then, though.” Shildonia showed a bitter smile.

The current Shildonia was nothing but a magical entity of Kyle’s sword, possessing the memories of back when she was still alive, so she was more like a replica.

‘Indeed. You are Shildonia, but not [Magic King] Shildonia. That is why I have no obligation to respond to this meeting..That should be enough, no?’ Zeurus must have seen that Shildonia was just a magical entity, and spoke with a teasing tone.

“You are too uptight of a being to break our oath because of something like this. Also, if you had no intention of listening, we wouldn’t even be here.”

‘Hmph..Arrogant as always. You are the only person to show such a tone towards me.’ Or so he said, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. ‘Irumera, good work bringing them here.’ Zeurus spoke to the dragon—Irumera—who guided them here, saying that he was fine to leave.

‘H-However, I cannot leave Zeurus-sama alone..’ He said, glaring at Kyle’s group, specifically Shildonia after she had shown such a rude attitude towards Zeurus.

‘Don’t worry. Or, do you think these people can injure me? Do you think I am too old to hold my ground?’ Zeurus seemed displeased, throwing a comment back at Irumera.

‘O-Of course not..! Humans! Don’t show any more insolence towards Zeurus-sama!’ He left behind a sharp warning, and trotted out of the room.

‘..Don’t tease the younglings too much.’ Zeurus saw right through Shildonia, who did all of that on purpose.

“You are just spoiling him too much. It’s great that he’s so diligent, but do you plan on?repeating the same thing?” Shildonia’s voice suddenly sounded worried, to which Zeurus let out a sigh.

‘It’s slow but steady..I have other younglings who are promising.’

“If you say so..”

‘..So, what brings you here today? Certainly not to dwell in old stories of the past, I presume?’

“I do quite enjoy indulging in stories of the past, but it’s a bit more important today. It’s something only you and I..as well as Kyle over here should talk about.” She was clearly stating that this wasn’t anything for the other dragons to hear.

‘Hmm..’

There, Zeurus glanced at Kyle for the first time, but he tilted his head.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Kyle Lenard.” Kyle was unable to act as imprudent as Shildonia, so he deeply lowered his head.

‘So you are the user of that sword..However, hmmm..’ Zeurus’ gaze wandered between Kyle and the sword, Shildonia’s current main body, and seemed to be grumbling about something.

“What about this sword..?” Kyle picked up on how serious things were.

‘I’m not exactly unrelated to that sword, but..It is what it is. Let us talk about your main goal why you have come here..Which means it would be best for us to go over there.’ Zeurus slowly got up from his sleeping posture, letting out some high-pitched sound like wind noise.

These whistles of sorts are used as the words of the dragons, impossible to be recreated by humans, and neither are they able to understand it. Shortly after, his entire body was covered by light, and he shrunk down to human size. Finally, the light abated, which revealed a tall elderly man with a robe covering his body, long white hair on his head with a prideful white beard.

“If I stayed in my dragon form, it would be hard to fully communicate with human words, no? And, this makes it easier for us to talk.”

“Ah, well, thank you very much.” Kyle was taken by surprise at seeing a dragon transforming into a human, but tried his best to not sound rude in the face of that.

Kyle glared over at Shildonia, asking with his gaze as to why she didn’t tell him about this beforehand, but Shildonia acted innocent.

“Follow me. Let the others wait here.” Zeurus didn’t show any signs of his old age, as he kept on walking with a straight back, Shildonia following after him.

Kyle told his friends to wait here and hurriedly tagged along. At the same time, he mentally prepared himself, knowing that this is where the real deal will begin.

“It has been a while since I’ve taken this appearance, but I still can’t get used to these..’clothes’, as you call them. Why do I have to cover myself with such fabric..”

“Don’t take it off, alright. I’d rather not see an old man naked.”

“It just does not feel right..I would love to throw them aside immediately..”

“Once again, don’t you dare. I don’t want to start our negotiations with some naked old man!”

Hearing the banter between the [Dragon King] and [Magic King], Kyle couldn’t help feeling anxious.