Dragon Kingdom, reception hall.
Unlike its usual quiet atmosphere, the place was now filled with people.
Humans, lizardmen, minotaurs, orcs, and many other races had gathered here.
Although they came from different races, they all shared one thing in common.
Without exception, they were all half-breeds.
This could be seen from the scales exposed on their skin and the small horns on their heads.
Each of them carried some degree of dragon blood in their veins.
At a glance, most of them were around level 25.
Those above level 29 who had stepped into the Hero realm were rare, but occasionally two or three could be seen.
Some of them were born this way, like the Dragon Princess.
Others, like the former Beastman King, had awakened their ancestral bloodline by accident.
And the source of it all was obvious.
The Brightness Dragon Lord.
As a True Dragon Lord who loved to reproduce, these were undoubtedly his descendants.
If the Sorcerer Kingdom had attracted thirty percent of the dragonkin across the continent because of Naohara, then the remaining seventy percent had followed the pull of their bloodline and gathered in the Dragon Kingdom.
All of them hoped to reconnect with their ancestry.
Unfortunately, their hopes were destined to fail.
For descendants who had not inherited Wild Magic, the Brightness Dragon Lord could not even be bothered to meet them.
...
"There are really a lot of people here."
"Brightness, looks like you worked quite hard back then."
Hidden under the magic [Perfect Unknowable], Naohara looked around before turning to the Brightness Dragon Lord beside him with a teasing tone.
Humans and minotaurs were one thing.
But he had even gone after orcs.
Naohara even saw... a tree?
Good grief. He did not even spare trees.
The Brightness Dragon Lord really had no standards when it came to reproduction.
No wonder he was known among dragonkind as a famous pervert.
"Ahem... you flatter me."
"I only did it to restore Wild Magic. A little hardship is only natural."
The Brightness Dragon Lord coughed twice, his tone somewhat awkward.
Inside, he kept comforting himself.
This was all for the future of the dragon race.
At most, there was a tiny bit of personal interest mixed in.
Yes, he was acting for the greater good.
While thinking this, the Brightness Dragon Lord shot a glare at the Dragon Princess beside him.
It was as if he were asking why these people were still in the Dragon Kingdom.
"I already told them, but what can I do if they refuse to listen..."
Noticing her grandfather's gaze, the Dragon Princess pouted and muttered softly.
She had already conveyed the Brightness Dragon Lord's intentions in a tactful way.
But that still had not dampened their enthusiasm.
The Dragon Kingdom simply did not have the strength to drive away so many half-breeds, and since the Brightness Dragon Lord himself did not care, there was little she could do.
In the end, the Dragon Princess simply let them be and chose to ignore them.
If they wanted to wait, they could keep waiting.
She did not have much affection for these so-called blood relatives anyway.
Giving them a warning was already more than enough.
After all, when the Dragon Kingdom had once faced a crisis, none of them had come to help.
"In this matter, Brightness, you really did handle things poorly."
"The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it."
"Since they came here because of you, then you should be the one to deal with them."
"You know Draudillon's strength. Unless she uses Wild Magic, she has no way to suppress this group of your descendants."
Naohara shook his head as he looked at the Brightness Dragon Lord, who somehow seemed oddly proud of himself.
You could fool other people if you wanted, but fooling yourself was a bit much.
It was true that there had been some practical considerations behind it.
But the actual proportions were probably the other way around.
Brightness Dragon Lord.
Just hearing that title was enough to tell anyone this guy was incredibly lustful.
"I understand."
The Brightness Dragon Lord nodded.
Now that he thought about it, he really had handled things somewhat poorly.
Still, it was not entirely his fault.
For a True Dragon Lord like him, this kind of thing felt no more serious than child's play.
He genuinely could not bring himself to care much about it.
And after living alone for so long, it was only natural that he would overlook details like these without even realizing it.
Naohara did not say anything more after that and simply started walking.
The Brightness Dragon Lord and the Dragon Princess quickly followed behind him.
To be fair, the half-breeds in the reception hall were behaving quite well.
There was no showing off, no arguing, and no noisy disputes. Most of them carried themselves with restraint, giving off the imposing atmosphere of powerful individuals gathered in one place.
But thinking about it, that made sense.
Leaving aside the fact that they were all relatives in one way or another, anyone with even a little sense would know better than to cause trouble here.
After all, if someone did start something, the others would probably move immediately to subdue them.
That would be a perfect way to win the Dragon Princess's favor.
So even the most arrogant among them became well-behaved here, creating a strange sort of balance.
Of course, none of the three had any interest in that sort of silent scheming.
Just like that, they crossed half the hall.
Then Naohara suddenly stopped.
"Found her."
A flash of red entered his sight.
People in the hall wore all kinds of clothes in all kinds of colors, yet Naohara noticed that familiar red at a glance.
"My King, is that the person you came looking for?"
The Brightness Dragon Lord looked at the masked girl in red not far away, then at the faint smile tugging at Naohara's lips.
Then, as if he had suddenly realized something, a glint flashed through his eyes.
So this was the type his king liked?
With that thought in mind, the Brightness Dragon Lord gave the Dragon Princess beside him a rather meaningful look.
Seeing her grandfather's expression, a question mark practically appeared over the Dragon Princess's head.
"Yes. It's been a while."
From several platforms away, the girl in front of him overlapped perfectly with the figure in his memories.
Looking at Evileye, whose aura was completely different from before, Naohara felt a little nostalgic.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Evileye was speaking with a human attendant.
"My request still hasn't been approved?"
"I'm sorry. A great many people have come to seek an audience with His Majesty lately, so things have inevitably been delayed."
"Please wait a little longer. The moment there's any news, we'll inform you immediately."
"Mm... thank you for your trouble."
Evileye gave a slight nod.
Then, under the attendant's gaze, she turned and walked out the door.
This was already her tenth day in the Dragon Kingdom.
And yet, she still had not made any real progress.
"The longer this drags on, the more troublesome it'll become. Looks like I need to act as soon as possible."
"That idiot captain. What did she even come to the Dragon Kingdom for?"
"Some nonsense about a new Thirteen Heroes, some burden of saving the world..."
"I told her already not to get involved in things that have nothing to do with her. Wouldn't it be better to just live quietly as an adventurer?"
Evileye muttered to herself as she walked.
Thinking back to the message she had received through magic before, she still ground her teeth in irritation even now.
Her captain was good in every way, except that sometimes she would suddenly get fired up for no reason at all, catching everyone off guard.
If she had not been busy at the time, she definitely would have replied immediately and stopped that crazy idea the moment she received the message.
Sure enough, things turned out exactly the way she feared.
Something had happened to Blue Roses.
No matter how frantically she tried to contact them, there was no response at all.
Left with no other choice, she could only follow the clues from the earlier message and come to the Dragon Kingdom to search for them.
And that search had already gone on for nearly half a month.
(PS: The captain of Blue Roses contacted Evileye and wanted to bring her along, but only mentioned that they were heading to the Dragon Kingdom without explaining the details.)
"But that bastard isn't in the Dragon Kingdom either. So the information really was fake. It was probably just a cover."
(PS: It was mentioned earlier that the Dragon Kingdom occasionally spreads information about the protagonist's three adventurer identities.)
Evileye could not help thinking of another figure and let out a sigh.
It had already been so long, and he still had not come to find her.
She had no idea what that mysterious man was doing now.
She removed her mask, revealing crimson eyes that glowed faintly, brighter than before.
Then she took out a bottle of dragon blood and took a small sip.
If a vampire did not drink blood, they would gradually lose their mind.
Fortunately, that bastard had given her a bottle of dragon blood before they parted.
Just one small sip was enough to satisfy her for several days.
That was much better than relying on her own blood to suppress it.
Evileye had no desire to attack other people.
"Talking behind someone's back isn't a very good habit, you know."
A soft laugh sounded right beside her ear.
Evileye froze in the middle of drinking. The small bottle slipped from her hand and fell straight to the ground.
Her lips tightened, but before she could turn around, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Long time no see. Did you miss me?"