Garcia Empire's knight training center.
Amidst the chick-like knight cadets dueling each other to apply their learned swordsmanship, a fierce duel was taking place in one spot.
They hesitated, cautiously moving away from the area, fearing they would be caught up in it.
Sand dust rose like a storm, and the wind pressure pushed the knights' bodies as they swung their weapons.
After a five-minute intense exchange, the duel between the two stopped.
The one who fought with an overwhelming presence was the Empire's vanguard, Gorgan Garcia.
And the other was the Wild Dragon living in the Silence Tower, Phoebe Astheria Roton.
They stared at each other, breathing heavily.
Despite their fierce fight, Phoebe smiled gracefully and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"Thank you, Gorgan."
"I should be the one thanking you. I never imagined my skills would be this rusty."
Then, Phoebe waved her hand and said,
"What are you talking about~? You kept digging into areas I didn't expect, and it was really tough for me."
"Hmm..."
He tested a few moves he had thought of on Phoebe and successfully caught her off guard with unexpected attacks.
However, even his secret moves were always countered in the next duel.
'As expected of a woman with the blood of the Black Dragon.'
Her intelligence might not be great, but no one could match her combat sense.
In a short time, she regained her senses, making it hard to believe she hadn't fought for years.
Through the duel with Phoebe, Gorgan gained a lot as well.
After ending their duel, Gorgan and Phoebe approached the training captain, who was standing absentmindedly, and apologized.
"Sorry, Captain. We disturbed the other knights' training."
"No, not at all. Just witnessing the skills of the Empire's vanguard would have been a great inspiration to the knight cadets."
Inspiration?
The battle between the two half-dragons felt like a realm too far away.
If they had to fight like that, they would probably give up on their path early...
Phoebe and Gorgan washed off the dirt on their bodies with water and changed into casual clothes.
They had a leisurely tea time after the rough fight.
"You said you have a week off, right?"
"Yes. I have to return tomorrow."
"Then this afternoon will be our last duel."
Phoebe nodded her head.
"The duels end here. I have somewhere to go now."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to visit the children's graves."
"Is that so?"
"I went every year on the anniversary, but today, I could visit with all three of us, so I want to see the children."
Phoebe, who was looking up at Gorgan, turned her head with an "Ah."
There sat a half-dragon with red hair and sharp horns.
"Saul, what will you do?"
"Uh, huh? Huh?"
Saul, who had been sitting quietly, was startled and flushed.
"Ah, I, I should go, go too..."
"..."
"...Yes, sister."
It was a touching moment when his manners, once gone, returned.
Saul was completely obedient to Phoebe.
Phoebe decided to train with Gorgan for six days, but the half-dragon with the blood of the Azure Dragon, Saul, joined the training, and they ended up practicing together.
The result was always Phoebe's overwhelming victory.
The first day, they fought evenly, but as she regained her lost senses, the gap between her and Saul gradually widened, and eventually, the gap became apparent even without fighting.
Gorgan felt relieved and delighted to see Saul's change.
Phoebe clapped her hands and smiled at Saul's words.
"It'll be lovely to go as a family after such a long time. Let's buy nine chrysanthemums. You'll buy them, right, Saul?"
"Of course."
Saul hastily stood up and flew to the empire to buy the flowers Phoebe mentioned.
Watching Saul's transformation into a gentle dog, Gorgan thought once again how remarkable she was.
"You handle him just like in the old days."
"It was my job back then. You could do it too, Gorgan."
"It's impossible for anyone but you. I don't get along with that guy's personality."
"What can you do? He's family, and you have to make a choice to guide him on the right path."
Seeing Phoebe as she was in the past, Gorgan couldn't help but smile briefly.
But only for a moment, as he realized he was smiling and quickly hid it.
He glanced at her, but luckily, it seemed Phoebe didn't see his smile.
A short while later, Saul returned with the chrysanthemums.
"I bought them, sister."
"Saul, good job. Let's get going now. Gorgan doesn't have much time either."
"Right."
Phoebe, Saul, and Gorgan stood up.
The distance to the grave wasn't far, but they didn't rush either.
Phoebe led the way, humming a tune.
"You seem quite excited."
"I am. It's a family outing. I'm sure our siblings will love it too."
"As long as they don't get too excited and come back to life..."
"Saul."
"It's just a joke, sister."
Although his face was smiling, he quickly backed off as soon as he felt her killing intent.
Seeing Saul unable to use his strength, Gorgan laughed quietly.
However, that laughter was short-lived.
Upon arriving at the cemetery, Phoebe gasped.
"Ah..."
The nine beautiful chrysanthemums in her hand fell to the ground.
They were prepared to be placed on each grave.
The nine comrades who had sacrificed themselves in the nightmare of the Astheria family were all carefully buried.
But what they saw now was different.
The tombstones lay like stones on the side of the road, and the place where the peak should be was overturned with the soil inside out.
Someone had dug up the graves.
A rough word came out of Saul's mouth.
"What kind of bastard dares...!"
Just as he was about to lose control of his anger, Saul's mouth was forcibly shut.
Gorgan also couldn't breathe for a moment, as the air became heavy.
The cause was Phoebe standing right next to them.
A thick killing intent erupted, trying to wither and kill everything around.
Her round, wide eyes were distorted with anger.
***
Several unusual events happened simultaneously.
Dolores was attacked by a former president, and Phoebe witnessed someone digging up the graves where her family was buried.
It was a shocking incident.
The former president who attacked Dolores was already deceased, and the nine family members of Phoebe were already deceased as well.
'The corpses have come back to life.'
Soon, everyone will know about this.
Reed looked at Phoebe sitting on the sofa.
She had just returned from her vacation, but her face was filled with worry.
"Are you okay?"
"...Yes."
Phoebe forced a smile and nodded her head.
Of course, she wasn't okay.
There was no way she could calmly accept that someone had desecrated her family's graves after going berserk due to the death of the tower's master.
"Tower master."
She opened her trembling lips.
"Speak."
"I have a person in mind... who I suspect."
"That's right. It's enough to make it seem like that person did it."
Freesia Vulcan Darksider.
A tower master skilled in necromancy, with more ambition for corpses than anyone else.
'But it's not Freesia.'
He was certain.
In fact, she was more interested in her own death than corpses.
Reed put his hand on her shoulder as she sat and spoke.
"Let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"To the Black Sky Tower."
Although he knew it in his mind, he had to step forward.
Taking this step is what he must do for Phoebe.
