Chirping birds and a lush forest. In the mountain that surrounded Metheus, squirrels and rabbits were playing. Walking along the winding path, there were young girls in the village fetching water and children laughing while playing. In the peaceful landscape of the early morning, the sound of the men from Garbage Village hammering was constantly heard.

A flower store located to the south of the village's downtown area. At this place, a man appeared.

“Oh my, h.e.l.lo. Are you here again?” The woman currently speaking was called Eileen.

Supreme Fire Dragon was deeply in love with her. She was a NPC, not a person, but his heart was more sincere than anyone else in the world.

“Hahaha. h.e.l.lo, I've come back.”

“You are really diligent. You did so much work yesterday that I thought you wouldn't come again.”

“For a man, physical strength is important. I'm fine now. Hahaha!”

Supreme Fire Dragon c.o.c.ked his head and smiled like nothing was wrong. He had helped Eileen work all day yesterday and his entire body was actually in pain. There was a lot of work to do in the flower store. His shoulders were sore and it seemed that his thighs were going to burst, but he endured it. All of this was in order to please Eileen. It was the same today. “What can I do today?”

“You came just in time. Can you come in here?”

He followed her into a room and saw colorful wild roses. Supreme Fire Dragon shook his head at the unexpected sight. “Isn't this a rose?”

“That's right. I'm going to decorate the garden today and I think I need to cut off all the thorns on the roses.”

“Ah...” He struggled to prune the garden so much yesterday, but it wasn't the end. It felt like an extension of what happened yesterday and he couldn't help frowning. However, his expression soon cleared.

It was because Eileen turned to him. “Will you help me?”

“O-Of course!”

His heart wouldn't stop pounding. Supreme Fire Dragon couldn't even meet her eyes. This was the first time in his life he ever had such a feeling. For him, who had never been in a relations.h.i.+p, this excitement was very strange.

'Supreme Fire Dragon, stay calm. You are a man.'

Then he started removing the thorns on the roses. Eileen said that the wild roses were more toxic than expected so he had to be careful. She said to tell her immediately if he was p.r.i.c.ked. If she didn't neutralize it straight away, it could be dangerous. He concentrated on cutting off the thorns in this way for 30 minutes.

Supreme Fire Dragon wasn't skilled with the scissors and was eventually p.r.i.c.ked by a thorn. “Oh, it hurts!”

[You were p.r.i.c.ked by the thorn of a wild rose.]

[It is weak but it contains a small amount of poison.]

[0.01% health is consumed per second.]

[This effect will last for 100 seconds.]

“Oh my, what happened? Are you okay?”

Eileen looked surprised and grabbed his hand. Supreme Fire Dragon's shoulders shook because of the sudden skins.h.i.+p. The skin of his index finger was slightly torn and blood flowed.

“What should I do? Blood... wait a moment. Where is the neutralizer—ah, right.”

Eileen grabbed something on her desk and sprayed it on the wound. There were white bubbles and then a sizzling feeling. It felt like spraying alcohol to disinfect the wound. The pain was higher than he thought.

“Ugh...” He gritted his teeth.

The pain didn't last long. After approximately five seconds, the flowing blood quickly stopped. It was only then that Supreme Fire Dragon noticed it. Eileen was currently holding his hand. Eileen also noticed it and became startled. She touched her face and neatened her clothing. “I-I'm sorry.'

“It's okay. Hum hum.”

They simultaneously scratched their heads. Supreme Fire Dragon inwardly thought that he would have to p.r.i.c.k himself 100 times today.

* * *

[The other person has rejected the whisper.]

“Where is Big Brother?” One Fire, the second in command of the Fire Dragon organization, pouted and grumbled.

It was less than a day before the start of the Colosseum battle. His big brother said he was going out for some air but his whereabouts had been unknown ever since. One Fire speculated that maybe something serious had happened to his big brother. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone missing at this critical moment when the fate of their business would be determined. “You didn't get any response when you called him?”

“Yes. I think it has been blocked.”

“Umm...”

If so, there was only one method. He had to find his own big brother. One Fire called Six Fires who followed their big brother last time. “Six Fires.”

“Yes, Second Brother.” 

“Where was the last place that Big Brother went to?”

“The last time that I saw him was yesterday, when we separated at the Wolf's Plains. I didn't talk to him because he looked angry, but I think he went to slaughter monsters as usual. Big Brother told me to go back to work.”

“Um... I see.” Perhaps he went to kill monsters like Six Fires said. His big brother usually released his anger like this. It was because the loan debt was growing bigger. If he threw things in reality then it would waste money. “Everyone, get moving. To the Wolf's Plains!”

All of the Fire Dragon members, including One Fire, reached the Wolf's Plains. It took an hour to scour the place. One of the members of Fire Dragon found traces and shouted loudly, “There are signs of Big Brother here!”

One Fire ran straight toward that location. The sight that he saw were flying ashes, burnt trees, and burnt stones. He could see with one glance that a great fire had scoured the earth and the rocks. This was clearly a sign of his Big Brother. His other siblings had the same thought.

“I think it is Big Brother.”

“Only Big Brother can burn things like this.”

“Doesn't he seem very angry?”

It was the words of Two Fires, Three Fires, and Four Fires respectively. One Fire looked at them and touched the ground. There was some warmth left so it seemed it had been less than a day. The source of his brother's strength, the berserk flames, had a very high temperature and it took a while to calm down.

'Where did he go?'

Then One Fire's eyes widened. One Fire followed the traces of black ash and looked into the distance.

“This...”

It was clear. This was clearly a sign of his big brother. It was a berserk flame, like its name, and it was unknown where and for how long the fire would spread. The power was so strong that it was difficult to control and it was a characteristic of his big brother. It also wasn't easy to extinguish the fire. It was because after cooling down for a day, the berserk flames in his brother's heart might go crazy again. This was presumed to be the cause of a berserker's rampages in the past.

One Fire smiled when he saw the traces of his brother.

“We will move straight away. Look for our big brother!”

* * *

The light of the sunset dyed the sky. I had spent almost all of today with my granddaughter. Well, it wasn't a date. I was just watching as Muyeol taught her swordsmans.h.i.+p. Once her health dropped, Mido would restore her health and stamina with my dishes. Every time I saw my granddaughter happily saying it was delicious, I felt this was what young people often called the 'healing' sensation.

Yesterday, those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds had hurriedly fled and never came back. Mido had said that something urgent came up. Well, if it was me, I wouldn't be comfortable if I was. .h.i.t so many times.

In any case, the training was over now.

Park Muyeol stood firmly with eyes of a hawk and declared, “It is up to here for today.”

“Pant. Sigh. Pant... Ah, it is too hard.” The exhausted Mido stretched out on the floor.

It was understandable. He would hit my granddaughter's arms whenever he wanted to correct her posture. I wanted to kick my friend's a.s.s but every time, Mido would wave her hand and said it didn't matter.

“It is hard if you are tired from this. Mido, do you see that rock over there? Hit it 1,000 times with the wooden sword today.”

“1-1000 times? G-Grandfather Muyeol...?”

“Uhuh. Call me Teacher.”

“T-Teacher? Heart bbyong bbyong? ♡"

“It is useless to act cute.”

“Hiing.”

Mido's shoulders drooped. Even so, I couldn't say anything. It was because Park Muyeol firmly warned me before he first started training Mido. Don't hate him because the training might be harsher than I thought. If I couldn't look then go somewhere else. Thus, I endured it.

Now it was time to go back.

“Let's go, Chuntaek.” 

“Yes...”

Mido looked at me pathetically but it couldn't be helped. This was for my granddaughter and I could only endure it...

I'm sorry. I would make her a delicious late night snack later.

We walked in the direction of Metheus without speaking.

“......”

“......”

A familiar sound entered my ears as we walked—it seemed that there were crickets in this world, too.

The reason I had to go to Metheus was because Joseph had contacted me. He said there was something urgent and asked if we could meet in the village at night. I had agreed. I didn't know the reason, but I would know when we met. The reason Park Muyeol was with me was because I wanted to give him the flower store in the village as a gift. I had asked Sujeong and she said it was already built. She had currently hired a NPC to handle the finis.h.i.+ng touches.

However, I kept feeling angry as I remembered this d.a.m.n guy constantly hitting Mido.

...d.a.m.n person.

I looked at Park Muyeol's b.u.t.t and measured the timing. Then I saw a gap and kicked his a.s.s. As if he had antic.i.p.ated it, Park Muyeol quickly opened the distance. Park Muyeol's face was full of playfulness. "Kuahaha! I knew you were waiting for the chance!”

“Eeeeek! You dare to beat my Mido?! Ais.h.!.+ Die!”

We jokingly exchanged sword blows and kicks. Mudur was the only one who laughed in the fierce exchange.

[Chwik. You are funny old men.]