Chapter 56 - I Wanted to Tell You First, Oppa

“I was just about to contact you. I have news for you.”

“What a coincidence. I came because I have something to ask you, Lord Rokan.”

We were both surprised by the coincidence.

“Please, you go first. I’ll tell you what I came about afterward.”

“No. I think it would be better to hear you out first.”

“If you’d prefer it that way, of course.”

Once we had settled in, I summarized the problem I wanted Rokan’s advice on. I had stayed independent rather than joining a guild because I thought it would be better for honing my dragon power, but now it seemed difficult to raid gates in practice. I had come up with a possible solution, but I wasn’t sure how realistic it was.

When I finished, Rokan nodded. He said it was a reasonable concern.

“You’re right. Focusing solely on training and neglecting actual combat isn’t a good choice either.”

“That’s why I hurried here to seek your wisdom.”

“I’ll have to give it some thought myself. Now, let me tell you what I wanted to say.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was rare for Rokan to contact me because he had something important to tell me. Judging by the mood just now, I had a feeling he was about to make a major announcement. He wasn’t the sort to act this solemn over nothing.

“The renovations to the Garden of the Dragon Sword are complete.”

“You mean...”

“The training ground made exclusively for you is finally ready.”

“...!”

Rokan had mentioned the plan once before. But he hadn’t said when it would be finished, so I’d assumed it would take months at the very least. I never expected it to be ready so soon.

For one thing, the dungeon called the Garden of the Dragon Sword belonged to the Maple Guild. I’d thought buying it alone would take quite a while. Renovating a dungeon couldn’t be simple, either, so I’d expected that to take a long time too.

How on earth had they finished so quickly?

Seeing my disbelief, Rokan answered the question as if he’d read my mind.

“We finalized the dungeon purchase that same day. There were a few unforeseen complications during the renovations, but fortunately Shasha helped, so we finished sooner than I expected.”

“Sia helped renovate the dungeon?”

That was news to me. She had never mentioned the renovations, so I’d vaguely assumed Rokan was handling them alone.

Then again, if I were in Sia’s position, I probably would have helped Rokan whenever I had time. It was her grandfather’s project, and more importantly, the person going into the dungeon was me.

“Yes. She told me she couldn’t just stand by when it concerned you and asked to help whenever she had the chance. Thanks to her, I was able to finish quickly.”

I’d have to thank Sia when we spoke tomorrow.

“We finished earlier today, so I was going to tell you the news and suggest we go there together tomorrow to train, if you have no other plans. It’s rather late to go today. What do you say?”

“That sounds great. I don’t have any plans, so just call me whenever it’s convenient for you.”

“Good, good.”

An entire dungeon, completely overhauled as a training ground just for me. How many hunters in the world enjoyed a luxury like that?

‘I can’t wait to see it.’

I was already curious to see what Rokan and Sia had made. Knowing it was a place just for me made it all the more exciting.

The next day, before meeting Rokan, I turned my phone back on to call Sia. I wanted to give her my usual morning call and thank her for helping with the renovations.

Sure enough, a substantial pile of missed calls and texts awaited me. I felt bad for the people who’d called, but I was glad I’d switched it off. Otherwise, I might have spent the whole evening answering calls until I passed out.

After skimming the messages, I called Sia.

[“Good morning, Oppa! Have you eaten?”]

“I was just about to. I thought I’d call before breakfast.”

[“Even if breakfast feels like a hassle, make sure you eat something.”]

“I’ve been eating breakfast lately, actually.”

I rarely used to, but for the past month and a half or so—since Sia returned—I’d hardly missed a morning meal.

“Oh, Sia. Your grandfather told me yesterday. You helped him renovate the dungeon?”

[“... Huh?”]

But when I brought it up, she sounded a little deflated, to my surprise.

[“I wanted to tell you first, but Grandpa beat me to it...”]

I’d brought it up thinking she might proudly tell me stories about the renovations. Instead, it seemed she’d planned a little surprise and was terribly disappointed that it hadn’t gone as intended. From her reaction, she’d probably been looking forward to telling me herself before I called today.

... I’d spoiled her fun without meaning to.

“Thank you, Sia. Really.”

[“You don’t have to thank me. You’re working hard for me too, Oppa. Of course I should do whatever I can for you.”]

“What you’ve already done for me is more than enough.”

[“I told you not to think like that. We’re both doing our best in our own ways, aren’t we? That’s what matters.”]

After that sweet exchange warmed my heart first thing in the morning, I told her I’d call again once I’d seen the training ground, and we hung up.

After a quick breakfast, I headed straight to Rokan’s lair.

“Good morning, Lord Rokan.”

“Good morning. Minjun, did you happen to speak to Shasha a little while ago?”

“Yes.”

From his reaction, it seemed Sia had contacted him right after our call.

“Before you arrived, Shasha called and asked why I’d told you first. She said she’d deliberately kept it secret all this time because she wanted to be the one to tell you.”

The fact that she’d called to complain to him so adorably suggested she’d had this in mind ever since she started helping with the renovations.

“Anyway, I’ve just apologized to her.”

“Ah.”

I gave an awkward laugh. As I’d often thought, Rokan was a dragon who absolutely doted on his granddaughter.

“Now, let’s go see your new training ground.”

Rokan gestured for me to give him my hand, and I reached out. I thought he would take it and teleport us as usual. Instead, he slipped the ring off my finger, infused it with mana, and handed it back.

“I’ve inscribed the training ground’s coordinates on it. Use it if you need to go there alone later.”

He made it look effortless, but inscribing spatial coordinates on an artifact was an extraordinary feat. Dragons really were something else.

“Thank you.”

“Come, then.”

As soon as I put the ring back on, Rokan took my hand and brought us straight to the dungeon gate.

Perhaps because the dungeon had changed hands, I noticed a few differences. Most were minor, but the most striking was a magic circle unlike any I’d seen before at the entrance to the dungeon gate.

“Lord Rokan, what’s that?”

“Think of it as a magic lock. It’s a precaution in case some brazen intruder turns up. Your ring is the key. To enter, press the hand wearing it against the circle.”

I did as he said. The circle changed from red to blue, and Rokan motioned for me to go in. With the lock released, I stepped through the dungeon entrance.

The moment I entered, I could tell the interior had changed. The dungeon still had its distinctive air of mystery, and the statue of the dragon-blessed sword connected to the tomb was still there. But one thing was unmistakably different.

“All those swords are gone?”

Originally, dozens of swords had stood embedded around the statue in the Garden of the Dragon Sword, endlessly spawning Sword Wraiths. Surviving their assault for three hours had been the dungeon’s original clear condition. Now the swords that had made the garden so distinctive had vanished without a trace.

“I removed them all. They were used to train D-rank hunters, so you don’t need them now. Besides, they were an eyesore.”

Those weren’t ordinary swords. They housed remnants of consciousness. An ordinary human couldn’t have pulled them out so easily. Rokan, being a dragon, had probably yanked them out like radishes.

“I’m thinking of putting in a small vegetable patch there, or perhaps making something else. Anyway...”

At his gesture, I followed him toward the tomb entrance.

The entrance leading down into the tomb stood open. Rokan must have arranged things so we wouldn’t have to use the dragon-blessed sword to open and close it every time. Near it, a portal glowed faintly blue. He had probably installed it because descending all the way to the bottom floor would be a nuisance.

Rokan went through first, and I followed. A moment later, we arrived at the training ground, and my jaw dropped.

The last time I’d seen this place, it had been bizarre and eerie. Now its atmosphere had changed so completely that I could hardly believe it had looked like that until recently.

It resembled a level stretch halfway up a great mountain. More precisely, it felt like a nature-friendly sports field made by shaving away all the little hills on a mountainside. Trees were planted here and there, and benches, tables, and a small cabin lent the place a certain charm. With a cool breeze blowing through, it was hard to believe the space was artificial.

Apart from the slightly unsettling fact that it was connected to the imperial tomb, it was beautiful beyond compare.

“It’s so beautiful I’d like to come here with Sia sometime. Did you do all this yourself, Lord Rokan?”

“As I told you yesterday, Shasha helped. Renovating an entire gate wasn’t easy, even for me.”

That made sense. Hadn’t he told me before that even he, a dragon, hadn’t completely analyzed the mysterious phenomenon of gates? That was why, when I’d been trapped in this gate, even Rokan hadn’t been able to force its entrance open and come in.

... Or did dragons have a different standard from humans for what counted as “completely analyzed”? Because to my eyes, anyone who could overhaul a gate this thoroughly seemed to have it pretty well figured out.

“By the way, the view you’re seeing now is the one from the front yard of the lair where Shasha used to live. She said that if we were redecorating, she wanted it to look like this.”

“Then I definitely need to come here with Sia.”

She’d probably wanted to show me some of the beautiful scenery she’d seen in that other world. We’d planned our date over the phone yesterday, but the sight made me wonder if we should change those plans.

“Have you finished looking around?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s begin your training in earnest.”