After taking a bath this time, I realized a lot.

First, my body cannot touch water, otherwise, I will be completely stiff and unable to do anything. Perhaps it's because of the "Magical Chaos" inherent in my body. Anyway, I must be careful not to touch water, lakes, or rivers in the future.

Second, Lucia is my childhood sweetheart. Her father is the current captain of the guard and the one who led the team that saved me. Moreover, she is not only my childhood sweetheart but also my fiancée... Although it hasn't been officially announced, it's no secret within the palace.

"Are you going out? Remember not to leave the palace, absolutely not. You must play within my sight," my mother warned me when I mentioned going out. She raised her slender index finger, tapped my forehead, and said, "You always run around without listening, so I've set a spell on the door, and I will know the instant you leave. Don't worry me, or I’ll spank you…”

Mom, I'm almost an adult, can you not threaten me with this childish tone? And, don't you think it's weird to pull down the pants of your grown child and spank them?!

Actually, I don't really want to go out, I just want a place where I can think about the current situation. I left the palace and came to the garden, sitting down under a tree, sighing and staring at the tree above me.

So much had happened in less than a day. From my death to now, just the fact that I was resurrected was shocking enough, and then I turned out to be a prince, my mother was a busty blonde Elf, and I had a cute childhood sweetheart Elf fiancée. All of this was simply unbelievable.

But perhaps because these things were so unbelievable, I silently accepted them. All of this already robbed me of my ability to think so I could only accept these facts quietly.

I reached into my pocket and suddenly felt something hard. I was wearing the same outfit as before, a vest, shirt, and long pants. It seemed that the maid who took care of my belongings carefully put all my original things in the pockets of my new clothes.

I took out the hard object, which turned out to be a scale from an earth dragon. I paused, sighed heavily, and realized there was still this matter after I arrived here. Not everything was good news, and the earth dragon issue, had nothing to do with me but weighed heavily on my mind.

It was a lie. If the earth dragons were endangering people, my mission had no meaning. On the surface, I was victorious, but the people were still being harmed, the earth dragons still killing Elves. It was an impossible lie to deceive others, but we had to do it for the sake of our reputation.

But I didn't know anything about earth dragons, nor did I have any previous memories or knowledge of them. My impression of these creatures was merely fragmentary memories of their shadows in my mind. Just how terrifying were these creatures?

"An earth dragon's scale, huh?"

A voice came from above my head, and I looked up to see Lucia sitting on a tree, looking down at me. I gave a bitter smile, as I never seemed to notice Lucia no matter where she was. Her magic was【Hiding Trace】, making it impossible to find her unless she revealed herself. She was truly an outstanding assassin.

Lucia slid down the tree gracefully, pushed my hand away, sat in my arms, and snatched the earth dragon's scale. Her previously lazy, sleepy eyes became sharp and said, "These damned earth dragons have killed too many Elves, and they're still advancing toward the royal capital. Several attempts to subdue them have failed. It seems that only deploying the army can eradicate them…"

"Why do earth dragons…"

"Don't you know? You've experienced it yourself." Lucia turned her head to look at me, placed the earth dragon scale on the lawn, closed her eyes, raised her palm, and aimed it at the scale. A small fireball gradually floated from her hand, growing from a spark to the size of a billiard ball before striking the earth dragon’s scale.

"Boom!"

Though the fireball was only the size of a billiard ball, when it hit the scale, it exploded like a bomb. The flames spread through the air, nearly burning my hair and leaving a small patch of ashes on the green lawn."Pant...pant...pant..." Just from using this kind of Magic, Lucia was already covered in sweat and breathing heavily. I desperately slapped the sparks and ashes with my hands. "Miss, can we not do this experiment on the lawn? If a fire starts, we'll all die here!"

My hand suddenly slapped a hard object, and I froze for a moment. Brushing away the dust, I saw the intact ground dragon scale glittering with a metallic sheen. Lucia's fireball had definitely hit the scale, and its power could have blown open a metal plate and left a burnt mark, but this scale remained intact. Blowing away the dust on it, even the pattern hadn't changed.

"Did you see that? Ground dragons are creatures protected by Magic; our Magic is useless against them...unless it's a high-level Magic like the one used by the High Priests, which could injure them." Lucia leaned against my chest, exhausted, and continued, "If there were only one, we could ask the High Priests to hunt it down, but we're not facing just one, we're facing a group of at least twenty! And we don't have twenty High Priests... You've also seen the fatigue after using Magic; a High Priest is simply incapable of dealing with so many ground dragons."

"So...wouldn't swords and knives work?"

"Here, take this dagger."

Lucia suddenly pulled out a slim dagger from behind her waist and handed it to me... Where did you take it out from, and why do I feel so dangerous being around you...?

I took the dagger and slashed at the dragon's scale with all my might.

"Clang!"

As soon as the crisp sound was heard, I realized that something was wrong. My slash felt like it had hit an iron plate without getting through it. I couldn't apply any force and the blade slid off the scale, causing no damage at all.

"Do you understand now? As I said, we are completely powerless against a group of ground dragons... If they destroyed our capital, I would believe it. It's miraculous that you survived among them."

Lucia gently embraced me and leaned on my shoulder, softly saying, "Please don't do anything silly anymore... A palace can be rebuilt, a capital can be relocated, but... there's only one of you."