Keith waved at the black smoke hovering in front of his face. He coughed a few times and glanced to the side, making sure all his companions were following him. Although they hadn’t lived at the farm for that long, Keith had done some exploring—more than the rest of the mercenaries—and knew about a burrow. There weren’t any trees or plants by the burrow, so the chance of burning to death would theoretically be lower, but Keith wasn’t a scientist, so he wasn’t sure. However, he might not be a scientist, but he knew fire was hot, and trees burned when set on fire so….

“How much further!?”

Keith coughed a few times and fanned away some black smoke. Luckily, he had a good sense of direction. In fact, that was probably why he was still a valued member of the Dragon Slayers despite his annoying mouth. When it came to remembering an area and creating a mental map, it came as second nature to him. “A little more,” Keith said. “Two minutes of sprinting.”

The mercenaries followed behind Keith like a stream. Behind them, flying in the air, obscured by the smoke, there was a black dragon. It didn’t breathe down any flames. It simply watched as the humans ran from the initial fire it had started, its vision unclouded by the ashes floating upwards.

“Where is it?” Danielle asked.

“Shut up and follow me,” Keith said. “What are you going to do when I tell you the burrow’s location? Run ahead of us and get lost? Be practical!”

Danielle’s expression darkened. Was this what it felt like to be told to shut up? “I wasn’t talking about the burrow,” she said. “I was talking about the dragon. Does anyone have eyes on it? I can hear its wings beating, but I can’t see shit with all this smoke.”

“Talk less,” Joseph said. “Save your breath. Try not to make any sounds in case you draw its attention.” He increased his pace to run alongside Keith. “Do you have a method to lose these people following behind us? There’s no way the burrow can fit all of us, right?”

“Boss man,” Keith said, his voice muffled by the collar of his shirt that he was holding up to his mouth. “Even if we sacrifice them all, we’re still screwed in the end. If we leave the region of the farm, we’ll lose our souls. Once everything burns down, we’ll have no way to feed ourselves. Let’s just do our best to be good people until the end, alright?”

Joseph furrowed his brow before letting out a sigh. Although they might gain more time by leaving stray mercenaries around for the dragon to hunt, they couldn’t overcome the curse. Keith, surprisingly, was right; after all, wasn’t it better to die together than to die alone? His eyes narrowed. It was a shame the cause of this whole mess wasn’t being punished for her actions. “Where do you think Mary is?”

“Why are you bringing Mary up at a time like this?” Keith asked. “Aren’t you supposed to think about the people you care about before you die?” Keith’s eyes widened, but they squinted shut right away due to the smoke. “Don’t tell me you fell for her, boss man. She’s pretty, but aren’t you afraid of her breaking your bones with a simple touch?”

Joseph glanced at the robed woman who was running not too far behind him. For a moment, he was tempted to tell her to silence Keith. However, after thinking about it, it wasn’t a good idea to silence the person leading the way. A dark expression appeared on Joseph’s face. Where exactly had Mary gone? In Joseph’s ideal world, she would collide with Grimmoldesser right now, and the two would engage in combat that led to their mutual demises, freeing the mercenaries from both their curse and their coercive client. Joseph muttered, “I know I haven’t been very religious, but if there’s someone out there who can hear me, please, help us survive.”

***

Mary sighed. She was standing at the top of a mountain. She had fled from the holy dragon that had emerged from Grimmoldesser’s lair. It wasn’t because she was scared; it was a strategic retreat. If she wasted her energy fighting a holy dragon, wouldn’t Grimmoldesser easily swoop in at the end to defeat her? Besides, it wasn’t as if she had wanted to hunt just any dragon; she wanted to slay Grimmoldesser. Holy dragons were regarded as sacred creatures; it wouldn’t be right to harm one. Right, there were plenty of reasons why she had escaped upon seeing the holy dragon; it wasn’t because she was afraid.

That being said…, Mary wasn’t quite sure where she was. She had fled across the ocean, and ended up … somewhere. She had walked for quite a while, but she hadn’t encountered any humans or creatures that could speak. There were a few rabbits and wolves and deer, but they couldn’t communicate with her. All they could do was fill her belly.

After getting a good look at her surroundings, which were other mountain peaks covered by trees and other greenery, Mary shook her head. There weren’t any landmarks. Her usual method of getting around—walking up to the highest vantage point and finding an interesting place to go to—failed her this time. In fact, it had failed the last seven times she had tried, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying again. The ground blurred underneath her feet as she took a step. Eventually, one day, she’d find her way back to civilization, and once she found her way there, it wouldn’t be long before she found her way back home. With how big Vur and Tafel’s territory was, any old town she found would probably have a skeleton in it to point her in the right direction.