The hatchling dragon turned excitedly toward the group emerging from the trees.
Its eyes widened, its wings trembled with curiosity.
"Are you humans?" it asked in wonder.
"I've never seen humans before."
Young Wolf raised an eyebrow.
"You speak our language? Interesting."
The little dragon puffed out its chest proudly.
"I'm a dragon."
Noelle circled around it like a curious scholar.
"A dragon? Dragons are supposed to be huge and powerful creatures.
You don't look anything like the ones in the books."
Anita tilted her head.
"Yeah. You're scaly like a fish.
Are you sure you're not just a flying fish monster?"
The hatchling clapped its wings together indignantly.
"These are dragon scales!
They're just not fully grown yet because I'm only eight!"
Noelle folded her arms.
"If you're a dragon, prove it."
"How do I prove it?" the little creature asked helplessly.
"Dragons on this continent can breathe either fire or frost."
The hatchling lowered its gaze.
"I breathe… fire. Or, well…"
Anita waved impatiently.
"Okay, okay, then show us."
The little dragon took a deep breath, puffed up its cheeks, and—
"Watch this…"
burped
The sound was more adorable than intimidating.
Young Wolf massaged his forehead.
"Don't force it.
If you push that hard, you won't breathe fire — you'll breathe out your breakfast.
So… you can't use fire yet?"
The hatchling drooped.
"I… can't breathe fire yet."
Young Wolf leaned in, curious.
"At what age do dragons usually start using dragonfire?"
"From one or two years old," the hatchling replied.
"My sister could breathe fire from the moment she was born."
Young Wolf's eyes widened.
"And you're eight… and still can't?"
The little dragon nodded sadly.
"I'm clumsy.
All the other dragons make fun of me and hurt me all the time.
That's why I ran away from home."
Young Wolf's expression darkened.
"I see.
Dragons are proud creatures.
If you hadn't run away… they might have killed you for being weak."
The hatchling flinched, but didn't deny it.
It knew he was right.
The Earthstone Bear rumbled approvingly, as if agreeing with Young Wolf's assessment.
And slowly, the group realized:
This hatchling wasn't an enemy.
It was a lost, hungry, lonely little creature —
one that, for the first time in its life, had met people who didn't want to hurt it.
The hatchling's eyes widened, its wings trembling.
"They would have killed me?!"
Young Wolf nodded, his voice calm but serious.
"That's how it is among magical beasts.
The weak are devoured while they're still young.
That's how only the strongest survive."
The little dragon shivered.
"Then I'm lucky I left."
Young Wolf smiled.
"Maybe fate wanted us to meet.
Noelle and I are the best mages in the Kingdom.
And we're looking for a dragon to join our team.
If you want… you can come with us."
The hatchling's eyes lit up.
"Really?"
"We'll check why you can't use magic yet.
But first, we're feeding Ursa Laci his gingerbread."
The little dragon flapped her wings excitedly.
"Can I eat some too? That sweet treat?"
"Of course. We brought plenty," Young Wolf said.
The hatchling bit into the gingerbread, and her eyes went round.
"This is delicious!
I've never eaten anything this good!
Ursa Laci says he's very happy he can eat gingerbread again."
Young Wolf's head snapped up.
"You can talk to magical beasts?"
The hatchling puffed out her chest proudly.
"I'm a dragon.
I understand human speech and the language of magical creatures.
He says he knew you gave him a name, but he didn't understand what it meant.
Now he knows his name is Ursa Laci.
That's the name his good friends gave him."
Noelle smiled softly.
"So Ursa Laci considers us his friends."
Ironclaw thrust out her chest.
"We ARE friends!"
Andrea nodded with satisfaction.
"We have a magical beast friend.
Another thing I'm better at than Eris."
Anita rubbed her forehead.
"Are you going to compete with Eris forever?"
Andrea stared ahead with determination.
"One day, I will defeat her."
Anita sighed.
"You're supposed to defeat the Demons, not the Hero."
Andrea didn't budge.
"Then after we defeat the Demon King, I'll defeat the Hero."
The hatchling blinked in confusion at the two girls, then looked at Ursa Laci, who simply grunted as if to say:
"Humans…"
And the group still had no idea that this little dragon — who couldn't even breathe fire yet — would soon become one of the Wolves' most important members.
Once Ursa Laci had happily devoured his gingerbread, and the hatchling dragon had stuffed herself as well, it was finally time for swimming.
Ironclaw, Anita, and Andrea were already splashing in the river, cooling off and competing to see who could endure the cold water the longest.
Young Wolf and Noelle, however, stayed on the shore.
The river was tempting — but the magical potential of a dragon hatchling was far more tempting.
Meanwhile, Ursa Laci snored contentedly in the shade of the largest rock, looking like a creature completely satisfied with life.
Young Wolf crouched down in front of the little dragon.
"Let me guess — you don't have a name yet, do you?"
The hatchling shook her head.
"Not yet. Dragons receive their names from the Dragon Queen when they turn ten."
"And what's the Dragon Queen's name?" Young Wolf asked.
The hatchling answered proudly:
"Firestorm. She's my older sister.
She's already 317 years old.
My sister is the strongest Fire Dragon."
Young Wolf let out an impressed whistle.
"Firestorm, huh?
That's a pretty cool name."
The hatchling sighed.
"I want a name like hers someday."
Young Wolf narrowed his eyes.
"Did your sister hurt you too?"
"She made fun of me the most."
Young Wolf nodded, as if he had expected exactly that.
"I thought so.
For the strongest dragon, having a weak sibling is the greatest shame.
She probably would've crushed you before you ever received your name."
Noelle looked at the little creature with sadness.
"Poor little dragon…"
But Young Wolf stood up and declared firmly:
"It doesn't matter. I'll name you myself.
Since you burped instead of breathing fire… your name will be Fireburp."
Noelle burst out laughing.
"That's adorable! It suits her."
The hatchling's eyes went wide.
"Fireburp? That's my name?
Fireburp…"
Young Wolf's thoughts
"Hmm… my magic eye just displayed her name: Fireburp.
So she accepted the name I gave her.
That means dragons don't have to be named by the Fire Dragon Queen.
Anyone can name them."
This realization was far more important than it first seemed.
Young Wolf turned back to the little dragon.
"All right, Fireburp. Now that you have a name, it'll be much easier to talk to you. As a mage, I can clearly feel the dragon magic inside you. Let me guess — none of the other dragons ever taught you anything?"
Fireburp lowered her head.
"No. Dragons don't teach or help each other."
Young Wolf nodded.
"Then they learn dragon magic instinctively. But if instinct doesn't work for you…"
His voice grew firm.
"…then we'll use the method human mages rely on. Hard training."
Fireburp looked up at him, her eyes shining.
For perhaps the first time in her life, she felt that someone believed in her.