Inside a humble wooden cabin, flames danced in the fireplace, and the burning logs crackled. A group sat around the round table in front of it, each wearing a different expression. The worst face of all belonged to the Sword Saint, who was wrapped head to toe in bandages.
“You bunch of bastards! How could you teach Little Alina so many high-level skills?”
The Sword Saint gritted his teeth as he spoke. He’d taken a serious beating today, and it was all thanks to the companions sitting right in front of him.
“You really can’t blame us for this. Little Alina’s ability to learn is terrifying. She’d practically mastered the entire magic system in just five years, and I ran out of things to teach her ages ago. Honestly, if we had a one-on-one magic duel right now, I’m not even sure I’d win.”
The Archmage sitting nearby pushed up his glasses and gave a wry smile.
“It’s that ridiculous?”
The Sword Saint was taken aback. He knew exactly how highly regarded his friend was among magic users.
“That’s how incredible she is. It only took her three years to learn everything about assassination from me.”
“She learned all the knightly virtues I could teach her in just four years.”
“Alchemy took six.”
“Healing, buffs, and all kinds of related knowledge took only two years.”
“She’d already finished the training a warrior needs ages ago.”
“About three years for archery.”
“Four years for martial arts.”
“Uh…”
Listening to his companions, the Sword Saint was completely dumbfounded. He knew Alina was a fast learner—after all, he was responsible for teaching her the Sword Practitioner curriculum. But he’d never imagined that while studying to become a Sword Practitioner, she’d also been learning so many other professions at the same time.
“Gulp.”
The Sword Saint swallowed, then cautiously addressed the village chief sitting at the head of the table. “Chief, what kind of monster did you pick up back then?”
“Huff.”
The village chief took a long pull on his pipe, then slowly blew out ring after ring of smoke.
“I have no idea either.”
At that, everyone fell silent. They considered themselves well-traveled, but they’d never seen a monster this absurd.
“No! We have to find a way to keep Alina here!”
After a long silence, the village chief finally broke the stalemate.
He tapped his empty pipe against the table, his expression serious.
“Um, with Little Alina’s current strength, I don’t think anyone out there could hurt her.”
The assassin Shadow raised her hand and spoke in a small voice.
“You think Alina is who I’m worried about?”
The village chief rolled his eyes at her, then gazed into the distance with a worried expression.
“I’m worried about the people out there.”
“Uh…”
Everyone fell silent again. If they let this little monster loose now, then…
“Hahaha! You talentless losers are the worst!”
“Why don’t you kneel before your queen?”
“Tremble, mortals!”
A ridiculously cute little demon appeared in everyone’s mind.
“No, no, no.”
The Sword Saint shook his head again and again, trying to banish the image. He was afraid that if he let it linger, it would be etched into his DNA.
“Now you understand why I’ve never let Little Alina leave, right? Before, I kept putting her off by saying she wasn’t strong enough. But now she’s beaten the Sword Saint, so she’ll definitely ask to leave tomorrow. We have to come up with something.”
At the village chief’s words, everyone fell silent once more. Judging by strength alone, the Sword Saint was already the strongest among them—aside from the village chief, who never fought.
“Well, Chief, why don’t you fight Little Alina yourself and see how it goes…?”
The Golden Alchemist’s terrible idea earned him glares from everyone. Only he could come up with the brilliant notion of making the village chief—a Demigod—fight her.
Faced with everyone’s glares, the Golden Alchemist had no choice but to wisely shut up.
“There’s only one option. We’ll have to send Little Alina to Bone Burial Snow Mountain.”
After a long pause, the village chief finally made his decision.
“But, Chief, legend says a Doragon is sealed inside that mountain.”
The High Priestess sounded worried. In this world, Doragons stood at the very pinnacle of all creatures.
“It’s fine. That Doragon is sealed, so its strength has been greatly diminished. I’ll be hiding nearby, and if she’s in real danger, I’ll save Little Alina.”
At that, no one objected. None of them had seen the Doragon on the mountain, but they had encountered Doragons elsewhere. With the village chief’s strength, it should be fine.
“Good. If no one objects, that’s what we’ll do. Meeting adjourned.”
…
Early the next morning, Alina opened her door as usual. This time, she wasn’t greeted by the High Priestess’s usual “face wash,” but by the village chief and everyone else, all wearing stern expressions.
“Little Alina, since you beat the Sword Saint yesterday, that proves you’re strong enough. But there’s one more test. If you pass, I’ll let you leave the village. If you fail, you’ll keep studying. Listen carefully—I’ll only explain this once. Go to Bone Burial Snow Mountain and defeat the Doragon there. Remember, Doragons are incredibly powerful, so be prepared. That’s all. We’re off.”
The village chief spoke incredibly fast, giving Alina no chance to say a word. As soon as he finished, he and the others bolted, without even looking back.
“Wha…”
Alina stared after the village chief and the others as they sprinted away, completely bewildered.
They’d run that fast just to stop her from refusing. She’d even planned to use her ultimate move—acting cute—to bargain with them, but it looked like that was out of the question now.
“Aaaaaah! The old really are the craftiest!”
Alina clutched her head in misery, looking utterly adorable as she fretted.
How had she not guessed the village chief would pull a stunt like this? If she’d known, she would’ve used her [Angel’s Smile] the moment she opened the door.
But there was no point fretting now. She still had to figure out how to complete the task that old geezer of a village chief had assigned her. Alina quickly got a hold of herself and recalled what he’d said.
From the way he’d put it, was he asking her to become the Dragonborn?
And if she was going to be the Dragonborn, then she’d obviously be fighting a Doragon—in other words, a dragon.
“Speaking of Doragons, I think I have a book about their kind on my bookshelf. I should go read it.”
With that, Alina hurried back to her room. As a transmigrator, she knew the saying “Know yourself and your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated” all too well.
“Ah, found it.”
It didn’t take long for Alina to find the book on her shelf.
“A Guide to Doragons? Ew, what a lame title.”
Alina looked at the book in her hands, her porcelain-doll face full of disdain.
Come to think of it, she remembered the village chief had given her this book as a birthday present. Hopefully, it’d be somewhat reliable.
“Doragons, also known as the Dragon Race, are the most mysterious and powerful species in the world. Their individual strength far surpasses that of humans, elves, beastfolk, and the dark races. However, due to their low reproductive rate, their numbers are extremely small…”
Alina quickly skipped the long, pointless preface and went straight to the section detailing the Doragons’ abilities.
“Doragons possess extremely high magic and physical resistance. Based on legends and a very limited number of related experiments, their offensive capabilities are believed to be terrifying. They have 99% magic resistance and 99% physical resistance, are immune to all soul attacks and mental control, and are unaffected by time, space, or causality. Dear reader, if you encounter one, we recommend running away. (*^_^*)”
“What the hell kind of monster is this?! Damn it!”
Seeing that smug little smile at the end, the silver-haired girl let out a furious roar in a cute, melodious voice, sounding like a man.
