Chapter 103: 103

Su-hyeun flipped through the pages .

Just what could he be thinking of?

Malcolm kept his mouth shut and observed Su-hyeun . However, there wasn’t even a hint of change in the latter’s eyes as he continued to peruse the contents of the book .

“How did you…find that tome?” Malcolm asked .

“Miru brought it to my attention . ”

“Your Miru did?” Malcolm released a long sigh at Su-hyeun’s reply . “A red dragon is a formidable creature, indeed . Just what kind of godly powers does it possess… . ”

“A red dragon? What do you mean?” Su-hyeun closed the book and shifted his gaze over to Malcolm who was busy shaking his head in resignation .

“That’s not really the important point at this moment, is it?”

“If that’s not it, then what is?”

“Ouroboros . I’m the…”

“Oh, that . Well, we can talk about that later . ”

Honestly speaking, it didn’t really matter to Su-hyeun who had summoned Ouroboros .

This trial wasn’t about discovering the culprit behind the summoning of that gigantic monster snake . Of course, he didn’t believe for one second that him running into Malcolm like this was purely a coincidence .

Even the so-called divine beast expert Song Hyeong-gi had no idea what kind of creature Miru was . Su-hyeun might not get another chance to acquire solid info on Miru if he missed this one . So, information related to his dragon was top priority that lorded over everything else .

“What a strange man you are . No, wait . Could it be because you don’t know what kind of an existence Ouroboros is?”

Malcolm could only smile bitterly while looking at Su-hyeun .

The latter smiled awkwardly and placed the book back in its original spot . “Whatever the case may be, I’d like to apologize for stealing a glance at the book without your permission . I’ll make sure to never do it again in the future . ”

“No, it’s fine . There are so many books here, so if none of them had caught your eye, that would have been even more strange . In any case, let’s discuss that later and follow me for the time being . ”

Malcolm led Su-hyeun out of the basement . After leaving the book-and-dust filled study, they stepped back into the spotless living room .

Malcolm brought out a boiling pot of tea . Su-hyeun lifted up the teacup and took a small sip . The tea tasted pretty good .

“…You’re a strange fellow, indeed,” Malcolm murmured .

“Regarding what, exactly?”

“Maybe you don’t know anything about dark magicians? Or, maybe you’re slightly challenged in the head? No, wait . You don’t look like such a person, so…”

“Are you trying to say something like ‘I might have mixed in some poison in your tea?’”

“That’s right . Exactly that . ”

“You don’t seem to be that sort of a person, sir . Besides, I’m certain that you wouldn’t resort to such a petty trick, either . ”

“A trick?”

Su-hyeun didn’t believe that one of the problems he’d face during the 30th floor’s trial would be a mere poison-laced teacup . Of course, he was confident of detoxifying himself if there really was poison involved, and besides, he was immune to most poisons, anyway .

“Well, there are some things like that . I think I need to say this out loud before we start… . ” Su-hyeun put the teacup down for a bit and spoke up . “I’m not a prejudiced person that thinks of every dark magician I see as a villain, so you don’t have to be so wary of me . Sir, you’re the master of this house, after all . ”

He didn’t seem to be on his guard .

Malcolm had been somewhat mindful of the overall mood until then, but what Su-hyeun said must’ve settled his nerves a little, because he picked up his own teacup and sat down on the couch opposite to his guest .

“I’m grateful for you saying that . ”

The old man took a sip of the tea he had brewed . He felt his mind mellowing a little as the slightly bitter taste circulated within his mouth . Malcolm then put the teacup down and pushed forward the book he brought out from the basement study . “This here is the book related to your Miru . ”

Gya-ong—?

Miru stared at the giant dragon on the book’s cover and tilted its head as if to ask, “Is that guy me?”

“What book is this, exactly?”

Besides it being a book about dragons, nothing else could be gleaned from its cover .

Malcolm heard Su-hyeun’s question and began flipping the book’s pages one by one . “It’s a tome about different colors of dragons . ”

“Colors?”

“Dragons are commonly known as the creatures at the very top of all divine beasts . But the truth is, they are also divided into different classes . This tome explains that difference via their coloring . ”

The different classes of dragons . For sure, Su-hyeun was quite curious about this subject . Back then, the blue dragon Song Hyeong-gi summoned bowed its head to the newly-hatched Miru, didn’t it?

“If you use the coloring to denote different classes, what would the class of a blue dragon be?” Su-hyeun asked while thinking about Song Hyeong-gi’s blue dragon .

Malcolm opened the front half of the book after hearing that question . “A blue dragon . It’s a class just above the bottom-most color, purple . And it’s also the color with the highest number of individuals among dragons, too . According to the tome, that is . ”

“The purple color is at the bottom?”

It was the complete opposite to the dungeon’s classification . Unlike how the highest-difficulty dungeon was purple in color, the purple dragons belonged to the lowest class .

In that case…

“Could it be that the red dragon belongs to the highest class?”

“Indeed . ”

Malcolm went to the last pages of the book . Unlike how it was with other dragon colors, the recorded descriptions for red dragons only amounted to a handful of pages .

“The red dragon . Estimated to be the highest class of dragons . ”

“Estimated?”

“It says even this author, who dedicated his entire life to researching dragons, had not heard about the discovery of a red dragon nor a record of its sightings . However, by looking at the coloring of the dragons discovered so far, ‘red’ is estimated to be the highest class . Or so it says . ”

It was fairly easy to see why the written records were so scant . It couldn’t be helped as red dragons hadn’t even been discovered until now .

“Well, that’s as far as I can tell you regarding this subject . If you wish, you can take this tome with you . ”

Malcolm pushed the book towards Su-hyeun . He must’ve figured that Su-hyeun needed this book of dragons far more than himself .

Su-hyeun hurriedly waved his hands and replied . “No . Thank you for the offer, but I’m fine . ”

“Really? Aren’t you interested?”

“It’s not that, but… . ”

If he wanted to take the book away, he needed the Property of Dimension order form . He might have already stashed a handful away just in case, but he didn’t think there was a pressing need to bring the book out of here .

“It’ll be fine for me to read it during what I believe will be a brief stay here, sir . I should be conscious of how much I’m inconveniencing you, after all . ”

“Is that so?”

Malcolm chuckled and stood back up while straightening his bent back .

“You can use any one of the unused rooms found on the second floor . Oh, and the rooms should be quite clean, too . I’ll have the bed installed by this evening . ”

“Sir . ”

“Mm?” Malcolm turned around at Su-hyeun’s call .

Still sitting on the couch while lifting up his teacup, Su-hyeun asked, “May I ask why you’re being so nice to me?”

Malcolm remained silent for a long while after hearing the question . But then, he bit down on his parched lip couple of times and turned around to leave while finally breaking the silence . “…You should rest up . I’m also feeling exhausted . ”

Malcolm’s footsteps rang hollowly within the large living room .

Su-hyeun sipped on the rest of his tea while observing the back of the old man climbing up the staircase .

Growl, gururung—

He then addressed the oblivious-to-everything Miru sitting on top of his head growling away in happiness .

“Pretty suspicious . Right?”

Gurung—

Unsurprisingly, there was no answer .

Su-hyeun quickly took away the teacups, and picked up the book Malcolm left behind on the table .

The time period was one month . He had quite a lot of time left to kill . He thought that more than likely, his stay here wouldn’t be boring at all .

The house Malcolm lived in all by himself was quite large in size .

Su-hyeun chose one of the unoccupied rooms to stay in . For the next two days, he didn’t go outside the residence and simply focused himself on reading books .

Although he had never seen the language before, comprehending it didn’t prove to be a challenge . It seemed that Su-hyeun had been perceived as a resident of this world, and all the issues related to language, such as communication, were taken care of in that manner .

Knock, knock—

“It’s time to eat . ”

Malcolm’s voice came from outside the door .

Su-hyeun closed the book . He had been reading non-stop for the past two days . It was the first time in this life not moving his body to such an extent .

Creaaak—

He opened the door and exited to find Malcolm waiting for him .

The two men wordlessly headed to the dining room . Miru flapped its wings and followed after Su-hyeun . Bowls of soups and freshly-baked bread were waiting for them in the dining room .

“Have you finished reading?” When Su-hyeun didn’t bring a book with him, Malcolm asked out of curiosity .

In the last two days, Su-hyeun even read the book during the mealtimes . But seeing how he didn’t bring it with him, Malcolm assumed that the former had finished the book .

“Yes . I’ll put the book back in the study . ”

“Don’t worry about it . I’ll take care of that . ”

Malcolm lightly waved his hand and dipped the bread in the soup . Su-hyeun stared at the old man before digging into his own meal .

For the past two days, Malcolm treated him so well that it came across as a bit excessive .

“…I’m planning to go outside today and meet with other dark magicians . ”

Clink—

Su-hyeun’s words caused Malcolm’s spoon to make a sharp noise as it collided with the bowl .

The old man raised his head and looked at Su-hyeun . The latter continued to speak while getting through his share of the soup . “I’ve grown rather curious about the people of this city, you see . ”

“But why does it have to be the dark magicians?”

“For the past two days, I… . ” Su-hyeun hesitated slightly, before continuing on . “I’ve also read the book related to Ouroboros in the study as well . ”

With that, he put the spoon down on the bowl .

Malcolm’s lips were trembling greatly . In the end, he dropped the spoon and stood up from the chair . He then covered his mouth as if to hold back the urge to vomit, and turned around . “That was my fault . ”

“Your fault, is it?” Su-hyeun closed his eyes .

With this, he was sure of it now . It felt like the question stuck in the corner of his mind was beginning to get untangled just a little .

“Once I’m finished with my meal, I’ll directly head over there . ”

“Do you have to meet with them?”

“Yes . It’s a must . ”

It didn’t feel good to reject a favor from Malcolm, a man who had been very hospitable to him until now .

“My apologies . ”

“Regarding what?”

“Actually, I was suspicious of your hospitality, sir . That’s why I had to read the book in secret . ” Su-hyeun deeply bowed his head towards Malcolm . “I’m truly sorry . ”

“You won’t listen to me even if I try to stop you, yes?”

“Correct, sir . ”

Malcolm quietly stared at Su-hyeun for a little while, then replied as he left the dining room . “No . It is I who should apologize . ”

Clack—

He was now left alone in the large dining room to finish his meal . But the rage in his heart continued to boil over .

Squeeze—

The spoon gripped in Su-hyeun’s hand was then bent out of shape .

Act 8

Su-hyeun had finally left the residence after two days of stay and hurriedly walked on the streets .

His sense of direction was considered to be pretty good, but he still struggled to locate the dark magicians . From the get-go, the number of dark magicians residing in Moros was far lower than regular magicians .

After wandering around the city for two solid hours, Su-hyeun finally located the small “village” where the dark magicians were residing . This was the result of wandering around blindly, trying to latch onto the traces left behind the dark magicians’ magical energy .

“Hey, Miru . ”

Gya-ong—?

Miru tilted its head seemingly out of puzzlement when Su-hyeun’s walking speed grew faster and faster . His voice calling out to the dragon sounded ominous as well .

“What did daddy say about dealing with bad people?”

Gya-ong, gya-oh-ong—!

“That’s right . I said that for bad people…”

Smack—!

When his fist smacked into the open palm of his other hand, a crisp sound resounded out .

“…A medicine called a beatdown is the best cure . ”

Gya-ong—!

Miru energetically replied and nodded its head several times before shutting its mouth tightly to look as heroically solemn as possible .

Su-hyeun continued to walk according to the directions a passing-by magician taught him and finally reached a village emitting a gloomy atmosphere . Even at a casual glance, it looked exactly like the type of place that dark magicians would call home .

“Let’s go, MIru . ”

Su-hyeun strode towards the village of dark magicians with even faster steps .

“Time to discipline some bad guys . ”