“You’re right, Mr. Crawford!” replied Zelig as he instantly began tending to his earlier wounds. Once he was done, he then set off together with Gerald and Nori. Thankfully, the subsequent people they bumped into were rather weak, so in no time at all, the trio managed to gather the remaining eight divine stones… With that done, they quickly rushed back to the exit to get themselves authenticated. Once that was successfully done, they then left the illusory space. Upon returning to the real world, they were each given a wooden token. The tokens were proof that they had passed the challenge and served as ‘passes’ of sorts that granted them entry into the Leicom Continent. Naturally, this meant that people who didn’t own the wooden tokens wouldn’t be allowed access into the other world. Regardless, since they had been waiting to enter the Leicom Continent for quite a while now, the trio then—rather impatiently—went through the initial portal… Shielding their eyes from bright
Regardless, after waiting a short while, Gerald and the other two finally got their chance to reveal their auction item to the appraiser. Upon revealing the jade charm to him, the trio watched as the appraiser’s eyes momentarily widened in shock. After carefully observing it for a while, the appraiser then said, “…Come with me! All three of you!” Hearing that, the trio then followed him deeper into the Aurum Auction House… Once inside, they were soon greeted by the sight of an old man who had a golden crown on his head. After the appraiser handed the jade charm to the old man, he then whispered something into his ear, prompting the elderly man to appear slightly surprised. Staring at Gerald for a while, the old man then asked, “How did you obtain the jade charm of the green dragon?” While slightly hesitant to reveal the information, Gerald eventually replied, “I obtained it after I slaughtered a green dragon that I came across during the Challenge of the Fairyland!” Upo
“We’ll begin the bid at a hundred thousand gold coins! As a reminder, each bid’s increment has to exceed fifty thousand gold coins!” explained the crowned old man. Now that the bidding process had officially begun, the crowd instantly went into an uproar! “Two hundred thousand gold coins!” shouted a wealthy-looking man. Since he had increased the bid by a hundred thousand gold coins right off the bat, it was only fair to assume that he was filthy rich. However, right after that, a fat man—who was sitting opposite of the previous bidder—stood up before shouting, “Three hundred thousand gold coins!” Truth be told, Gerald and the other two felt that the old hand fan wasn’t really worth that much. Even so, who were they to judge? These people were filthy rich, so they could do anything they wanted with their money. Eventually, the hand fan was sold—to the businessman from before who had started the bid—for a whopping six hundred thousand gold coins! Following that, it took abou
Eventually snapping out of it, Nori then turned to look at Gerald before asking, “…That’s… quite a lot. How on earth are we going to carry all this around, Gerald…?” Though it was true that there were three chests and the trio could technically carry one each, it was going to be far too much of a hassle in the long term. What more, once people saw all that gold, they would surely be tempted to rob them… Realizing that Gerald was stressed over how to bring all that money around, the crowned old man then handed a small ring to him. Slightly startled to suddenly be given a ring, Gerald couldn’t help but ask, “…I’m sorry, but what’s this ring about…?” “It’s a storage ring with a particularly huge storage space! You can keep your gold in that so you won’t have to fret about carrying it about!” explained the old man with an amiable smile. “That… I can’t just accept something like this for free! How about this? I’ll buy this ring off you for a million gold coins! Is that acceptable
Nodding in response, Gerald then replied, “That’s right. My companions and I came from Jaellatra, you see, and since we had no money, I decided to sell the jade charm!” “…You… Do you not know how precious the jade charm of the green dragon is…?” muttered the confused Prince Severin. Gerald, for one, honestly had no clue. Truth be told, was he not in dire need of money, he wouldn’t have sold off the jade charm. After all, he hadn’t even studied it yet. Even so, Prince Severin’s tone alone was enough to tell Gerald how extraordinary a treasure the jade charm actually was… Now getting increasingly curious, Gerald shook his head before asking, “I’m afraid I’m clueless, Prince Severin. Do enlighten me!” “…Very well! You see, the jade charm you sold me is the symbol of the green dragon, and the person who owns it will be granted the powers of the green dragon! In case you didn’t know, among the four Divine Beasts, the green dragon is the strongest among them!” explained Severin.
Just as she was about to touch it, however, the baby dragon instantly responded with a tiny roar! Though the small dragon was even bearing its two tiny fangs, its actions only made Nori’s heart melt even further. “Oh…? Are you being mean to me even though I’m treating you so kindly, little fella?” scowled Nori in a playful tone. Seemingly understanding that it was being scolded, the baby dragon quickly curled up into a ball… Seeing that, Gerald couldn’t help but smile. Reaching out his arm, Gerald then lifted the baby dragon before placing it in his palm… Contrary to its initial reaction toward Nori, the dragon appeared to trust Gerald completely, and this was made evident by how much it kept rubbing its cheek against his palm. Seeing how comfortable the dragon was around Gerald, Nori added in a cheerful tone, “It seems that the little fella trusts you a lot! It didn’t even attempt to be mean to you when you first touched it!” The truth was, the baby was only behaving this
With that deduced, all three of them found themselves looking upward… and to their amazement, they saw countless fruits emitting dazzling pink glows growing on the tree! “My god! Those fruits look so beautiful and juicy! What kind of fruit even is that?” exclaimed Nori in her awe. By no means was she exaggerating when she described how stunning the fruits looked. From the looks of it, the fruit was native only to the Leicom Continent… Upon picking one of the fruits, Gerald could instantly feel a strange energy being emitted from it. How mysterious… Barely a second later, the trio snapped out of their awe when two women—each wearing long white robes—with white wings growing on their backs suddenly descended from the sky! “Who are you people? How dare you barge in here and steal our holy fruit!” shouted one of the women as she pointed angrily at Gerald. “These women are strong, brother Gerald!” warned Zelig upon seeing how strange the two women were. From what he could tell,
“Well, for one, this particular fruit is a holy fruit known as Heaven’s apple!” explained the crowned woman. As she went on, Gerald came to learn that the Heaven’s apple only matured once every hundred years. Since the fruit was capable of replenishing energy and mending wounds, it was a fundamental pharmaceutical ingredient in the Leicom Continent. “…Alright, but… That doesn’t explain why the dragon’s so interested in the Heaven’s apples. Just so you know, I even fed it meat earlier, but it barely showed any interest!” replied the confused Gerald. Chuckling in response, the crowned woman then said, “Since that’s the case, I’m now surer than ever that the green dragon is one of the Divine Beasts of the Leicom Continent. I’m assuming you found it while taking on the Challenge of the Fairyland? Regardless, just know that the dragon will only feed on Heaven’s apples!” Seeing that Gerald registered her words, the crowned woman then cleared her throat before adding in a more serious