The dim sky was as it always was.
The towering towers and castle walls cast long shadows under the gloomy sky. The giant dragon that had been roaring before now crouched low on the ground, its immense black body adorned with flickering crimson markings that shifted between light and darkness.
The interlocking patterns looked like some sort of Magic Rune naturally born from the world's own design. As the dragon exhaled, stirring the air, the vividness of these lines changed noticeably with its breath.
"A magic life form sculpted by nature's own craftsmanship?" Ian's gaze was drawn to the mysterious runes covering the dragon's body, but before he could take a closer look, the Witch blew a gentle breath at him, flinging him against the wall—a multitude of vines suddenly burst forth from cracks in the stone, binding him tight.
"Witch's Roar?"
Teacher Morgan's expression was quite sour. She looked tiny standing next to the dragon, but the crouched dragon didn't even dare breathe too loudly. After all, the way those countless chains were biting into its neck made it clear it had already been severely punished for its earlier outburst.
"What I mean is, it's a call from Teacher's love." Ian hurriedly changed his phrasing, but even this desperate attempt at salvaging the situation didn't satisfy Witch Morgan.
"Heh."
She let out a cold laugh, and her gaze was dangerous. Ian knew that if he didn't do something fast, he'd definitely end up on the receiving end of this Legendary Witch's wrath today.
"I brought you lots of candy! So much, really!" Ian noticed the vine binding his right hand had loosened a bit, so he quickly reached into his Money Bag and dumped all the snacks out.
The Christmas candies he'd hidden in the dining hall that afternoon hadn't stayed in Ian's hands for long; all the loot Inspector Prince had worked so hard to "save" had ended up as Morgan's spoils.
Though the Legendary Witch wasn't someone who coveted sweets, and had even scolded Ian before for always carrying so many snacks, when it came to treats he offered, she never turned them down anyway.
As you can see.
The moment Ian covered the floor with "candy," Morgan's cold smirk softened a little, and the vines binding him shrank back into the cracks in the wall.
"Is this your new pet, Teacher?" Ian rubbed feeling back into his numb arms and quickly tried to change the subject, shifting his gaze to the dragon sprawled in the open area.
The Witch didn't bother pursuing the matter further; instead, she shot a look of distaste at the dragon on the ground. "It's so-called compensation from your executioner friend."
"What am I supposed to do with such a clumsy guard?" Morgan twisted her wrist slightly, and the chains biting into the dragon's flesh began to loosen bit by bit.
"Kill it and eat its meat?"
Ian swallowed a little. He still hadn't forgotten about dragon meat hotpot. The dragon, apparently able to understand human language, had eyes even larger than a Poison Horned Beast, and now they brimmed with terror.
"Human Wizard, I'm just a Dragon Soul. There's no flesh on me for you to eat…" Not only could it understand Ian, the dragon even exhaled words in a language from modern times through its nostrils.
Indeed.
Words coming from its nostrils—perhaps it was compressing air to form speech through the nose.
"It can talk?! Well, now I definitely can't eat it!" Ian's eyes went wide in shock. It was his first time hearing that a giant dragon could do something like this.
Is it because it's in a soul state?
As Ian's mind buzzed with curiosity, Witch Morgan snorted. "Looks like a lot's been lost from the ancient histories in your era."
"These beings are smarter than most humans and quite strong. If goblins can learn human languages, it's hardly a stretch for them."
Witch Morgan actually made a fair point.
Ian was just about to say something.
The dragon, sprawled on the ground, couldn't help but protest, "We are superior beings! Don't compare us with lowly goblins—at least we once ruled the Human World for many years."
Its tone was dripping with arrogance.
"Age of the Dragon Race?"
Ian thought of Ravenclaw's message in the Hogwarts Underground Palace. Honestly, he still thought stories about dragons ruling the land were a little over the top.
"Exactly! We were once the lords of land and sky!" The dragon's mood surged with excitement, its booming voice so loud that the Witch frowned and tightened the chains again.
"Rooaarrr…"
The dragon's pained cry was much softer this time; it dared not be as loud as before. Ian, seeing all this, finally understood how the earlier dragon roar had come to be.
"Did your age have the Black King and White King who used Word Spirits? Did you have the World Tree?" Ian wasn't opposed to graduating from Hogwarts and immediately switching over to magic and martial dual cultivation at Kassel Academy.
He only rarely encountered a lingering soul from the Age of the Dragon Race, and was quite curious about dragon history. This dragon was very different from the ones he'd seen in the Magic Realm.
"What are you talking about?"
The dragon's eyes filled with confusion. It understood every word Ian spoke, but when strung together, the sentence made it feel like it was listening to gibberish from another world.
"Alright, guess not." Ian finally sighed in relief; it seemed he still lived in a pure Magic World, without weird crossovers from anywhere else.