Seoul. The capital of South Korea. It was one of the busiest cities in the world, where ten million people lived crammed in the confines of an urban jungle. Life in this city was quite a dynamic one.
Even before the sun rose, cleaners went out to sweep the litter on the streets away. When the sun rose, salespeople rushed to their offices to close an important deal, white-collared employees hurriedly crossed the crosswalk to be at their office on time, and bus drivers drove them all to work. Taxi drivers weaved into several lanes to get a head start over the buses as fried chicken business owners watched the traffic war from afar. Students would send a text to those business owners about an interview application for part-time jobs, while the reports they submitted to their professors would be received with tongue-clicking. Delivery men, on the other hand, would receive credit cards from those professors to buy them lunch. Seoul. It was the city where everyone strove to live their best life, each in their own special way.
And now, several dimensions away, in the guest chamber of the Frontera family's manor that sat on the eastern mountain range of the Lorasian continent, was Dragon King Verkis, roughly scratching his side. Snore... Phew...
His sleeping position was impeccable. It was the perfect image of leisure and relaxation in every respect. When the morning sunlight streamed through the curtains, Verkis slowly scratched his side in an andante tempo. When the soft breeze blew, he scratched his belly in allegretto. And when the sound of servants was heard from the outside, his hand went further up to his chest and scratched flashily in prestissimo as though he was Jimi Hendrix.
However, he never ever opened his eyes throughout his entire scratching session. They were too heavy to be opened up, and it would be bothersome to allow light in them. But more than anything else, sleeping was his passion. And that was why he had been dozing off in bed for the past couple of months now. His relaxed and leisurely lifestyle was something the people of Seoul would sorely envy.
Dragon King Verkis cared about nothing at all. He never allowed himself to be awakened. No one in Frontera County could dare wake him up. Many, including the Skeleton Corps, took up the challenge and dutifully followed Lloyd's instructions to wake him up. They yelled, hit drums and zings, and partied and danced around in the room. But Dragon King Verkis never woke up. The dragon merely slept in the guest chamber like the bum he was.
And on this ordinary, sunny morning today, on behalf of those who failed to accomplish the mission for the past few months, a man with a meaningful smile on his face quietly opened the door and entered the room.
"Ha... My dragon king. He's still sleeping like a baby." Lloyd chuckled. He couldn't help it.
He looks exactly the same as when I left him to find the Jewel of Truth.
It really was. The sight was so stupendous that it was almost admirable. Lloyd soon shook off the feeling. It wasn't time to just stare at the dragon in admiration.
I have to go to Seoul to find the last key construction material.
The smile on his face was now gone. Memories of the past few days flooded back to him, the events that took place right after he won the bet against Ice Dragon Tyrannus on the Klamath Plain.
♣
"Seoul."
"Excuse me...?" Lloyd cocked his head in puzzlement when he heard the dragon's answer.
What did he just say?
Could it be that he heard him wrong? Could it be that his ears had gone mad after the pent-up tension in him disappeared? Lloyd unwittingly cast a doubtful gaze and wanted to ask Tyrannus if he could repeat himself. But it looked like the latter noticed Lloyd's shock. He gave his response once more to Lloyd's gratitude.
"I said, Seoul. Did you hear me this time?"
"Yes..." mumbled Lloyd. "I heard you."
"It's a city in a different dimension from ours. It is a bustling and luxurious capital of a country with a dense population. Have you ever heard of it?" asked Tyrannus.
"No," Lloyd immediately replied. Observing Javier quietly, Lloyd added, "I have never heard of the place. But in another dimension... What do I have to do?"
Even though Lloyd couldn't outwardly express his dismay as Javier was beside him, he felt dumbstruck.
What is happening? Why is Seoul even mentioned in this world? And how on earth am I supposed to get there?
Lloyd felt stuck. He couldn't think of any way to cross to the other dimension. In fact, he hardly wanted to go there. What if he travels and can never return to this place ever again? Tyrannus, completely unaware of Lloyd's internal conflict, flashed a meaningful smile at him.
"What should you do? Hmm. How about you follow me first?"
"By that, you mean…" Lloyd left his words hanging.
"The best course of action would be to unfreeze the flow of time first, gather the rest of the key materials you can find here, and then hear my answer to your question. Wouldn't it?"
"You're right." Lloyd nodded. The dragon was right. Now that he learned where all the key construction materials were located, with some of them stashed in the dragon's ice cave, getting his hands on them was his first priority.
"In that case, please excuse me."
Lloyd closed his eyes. He focused on his manaheart and unfroze the flow of time. The domed ice wall that covered the region vanished. The frigid air that froze the flow of time around the world also dissipated.
[Time Freeze has been deactivated.]
Ziiing… Just then, his manaheart jerked. No, technically speaking, the Heart of Winter embedded into his manaheart started to feel drastically frigid.
Argh.
It felt like his heart was stuck next to a tub of frozen ice cream. His chest jerked and flinched by reflex. The frigid air, which used to melt away in a snap, lingered inside him like a piece of ice in the corner of a freezer and stayed glued to Lloyd's heart. The frigid feeling persisted even after he employed the Asrahan Core Technique.
Tsk.
Lloyd sighed and opened his eyes. Now, it was clear to him.
The side effect Tyrannus told me about was real.
The side effect was real. Lloyd didn't need an elaborate explanation of the mechanism behind it. He could simply feel it from the frigid air flowing inside him that refused to melt away. In addition, he could also foresee that it was going to worsen every time he used the Time Freeze skill.
Tsk. For now, I should absorb some heat using the Asrahan Core Technique and suppress this particular side effect as much as possible.
The most important matter at hand was stopping the restoration of destiny from happening. Reminding himself of this, Lloyd cranked into action. He bid farewell to the centaurs and flew to the icy mountain with Yong Yong, where he could grab hold of the Taupo. The reward that came to him was as sweet as he expected.
Ding dong.
[You have attained all sixteen pieces of the Taupo, a key construction material for the Jewel of Truth.]
[You have succeeded in excavating the key material of Aotearoa that was destroyed during the mythical age.]
[This is truly an impressive excavation that will be remembered in history.]
[When the Jewel of Truth is restored, your name will be remembered in history as the excavator who found this key material for its construction.]
[For that achievement, you have been awarded a large amount of bonus RP.]
[You have acquired 2,200 RP.]
[Current RP: 3,955]
Yes!
Lloyd clenched his fists. This time, he earned 200 more RP than he expected. But Lloyd wasn't satisfied with that.
There are two more construction materials left that I can collect. So...
"Ice Dragon, I mean, Father of Great Dragon King Tyrannus?"
"Tsk... Let's go then!" urged Tyrannus right away, instantly catching what Lloyd was planning to say next.
Truly, the dragon's magic was amazing. One whisk of his finger, and everyone was teleported to another space. A pang of mild nausea hit Lloyd, and by the time he opened his eyes, he found himself in a completely different place. He was no longer standing on the icy mountain with biting winds. Instead, he was in the middle of a completely silent cave of ice where two key construction materials for the jewel were stashed.
"Do you see that?" asked Tyrannus as he pointed his finger at an area.
"Yes, I do," answered Lloyd.
There were large and beautiful chunks of stones in the deepest part of the cave. "Hauraki" and "Takapuna" were the third and fourth key construction materials for the jewel. This time, Lloyd was awarded 2,400 and 2,600 RP, respectively. In total, they added up to 5,000 RP. Thanks to that, he now held 8,955 RP in his inventory.
But Lloyd was barely satisfied. It didn't matter if he had 5,000 RP or 50,000 RP. It was useless at this point in time. Right now, there was a more urgent and pressing matter.
Of course. The last key material for construction. I have to find that.
He had the last one to find. If not, the other key construction materials would be rendered useless. The strenuous efforts he had put into unearthing all of them would go down the drain. Lloyd wanted to avoid such a disastrous turn of events. He wanted to get his hands on the last key construction material, come hell or high water.
"So," Lloyd said, "I have been thinking since a while ago... Does this mean that your son, Dragon King Verkis, can send me to Seoul..?"
"Ha. Is that what you guessed?" Tyrannus appeared to be genuinely impressed.
"Yes, since you said your son sent one of the key materials for the jewel to another dimension."
"So, you guessed that he'd be able to similarly send you off to a different dimension?"
"Yes," answered Lloyd casually.
"What a good guess. And a right one, too."
"Oh, excuse me. Then..."
"What?"
"Can he send me back to Seoul and bring me back here?"
"Hmm. Maybe?" Tyrannus shrugged. "Dimension shifting is a complicated type of magic. It's more difficult than you can possibly imagine. I can't even properly use it, but Verkis can. He was the one who discovered it in the first place."
"He did?"
"Indeed." Tyrannus nodded. "Anyway, there are only two individuals in this world who can teleport something to another dimension at the exact time period and location as they desire and bring them back to where they came from."
"There are two individuals?" Lloyd tilted his head to the side.
"Verkis and my daughter, Flores."
"Verkis and Flores..."
"That's right. My two genius children. Flores is on a trip right now, so I have no idea where she is. So, Verkis is the only one who can safely send you over to another dimension. For your information, he'd be sleeping lazily in his dragon cave in Gape-"
"No, he's at my house now."
"Eh?" Tyrannus stopped and looked at him as though he needed some elaboration. This time, Lloyd shrugged.
"He is probably relaxed in bed and asleep in my house at the moment. It's a long story."
"What happened?"
"Well, long story short..." Lloyd then went on to walk him through how he got the sponsorship from the Dragon King and how Verkis ended up in his fiefdom. The story made Tyrannus chuckle.
"Ha. Well. It's like him. Very much so. Anyway, it's time for you to go back home now, isn't it?"
"I should, My Lord," answered Lloyd, "Speaking of-"
"I'm not going," Tyrannus retorted flatly.
"But I didn't ask you to go to the Frontera Fiefdom with me yet."
"You just did now in a very sneaky way."
“...”
"Do not take my generosity for granted. It's not something you're entitled to," adamantly warned Tyrannus.
"Please forgive me." Lloyd inwardly clucked his tongue in remorse. He was about to ask Tyrannus if he could join him and convince Verkis to use his dimension-shifting magic on Lloyd. He figured things would be easier that way since Tyrannus was Verkis's father. Tyrannus was right that Lloyd secretly expected to be given his help for a second there. But when the matter was brought out open, Lloyd realized what he had to do.
I should back off.
Lloyd gleaned from Tyrannus's attitude that he might be crossing the line here, so he backed off clean and neat. But before that, he gently asked for one more favor to teleport them back to the fiefdom in one go.
And that was how Lloyd managed to arrive at the door of the guest's chamber from the ice cave in mere seconds.
And how I came to see Verkis dawdling and idling around.
Lloyd chuckled. He instantly realized from the chamber and Verkis's state that this sleepyhead had never woken up while he was away. The latter must have slept to his heart's content, skipping the call to his wife every morning.
Well, that's a good thing for me. I have something to leverage against him for cooperation.
Lloyd grinned. After clearing his throat, he softly announced, "Dragon King Verkis... I brought your wife, the Dragon Queen, here."
The moment his soft whisper traveled into Verkis's eardrum... The Dragon King's closed eyes flew open.
