"Empty......" Ed sighed with regret.

He knew this, but that didn't stop him from sincerely expressing regret once again. When his fingertips unconsciously touched the cold surface of the sarcophagus, he noticed the growing helplessness in Scott's silent gaze.

He withdrew his hand, tucked it into his sleeve, smiled at Scott, and secretly cursed his curiosity that had awakened at an inopportune time, but also realized with melancholy that this was the life he had ever wanted—to be in a secret place that no one knew, to face the history lost in time, to decipher the forgotten and hidden truth...... What a wonderful, thrilling adventure it would have been if he hadn't gotten caught up in the chaos and danger that "reality" had brought about, as if he had naively looked forward to it with his friends a few years ago.

He still couldn't take his eyes off the sarcophagus. The intricate runes were like some strange pattern, clear as if they had been completely eroded by time, shallow carved into the glimmering black rock—it was obsidian, formed when the scorching magma cooled suddenly, with a lustre as soft as water, but rarely carved something of this magnitude. Tucked away in the mountains of the inaccessible northwest coast, there are two volcanoes, a luxury that only kings can enjoy. And those runes, Ed can recognize extremely limited, but for some reason they feel a little familiar.

A hand broke into his sight, pressed against the sarcophagus, muscles tensed, as if trying to push the lid open.

"If you have to look at it......"

There was a calmness in Scott's voice after giving up the tangle.

"Uh, no...... There's no need!"

Ed waved his hands in a panic, embarrassed.

Scott looked at him, unexpectedly not angry at all, but with a faint smile in his eyes.

Ed stared at him for some reason, his face getting a little hot. He tried his best to press the little man who was still beating with excitement in a corner in his heart, but he could no longer return to the nervousness and solemnity when he first entered here.

The air that had seemed dull and gloomy seemed to have lost its unsettling magic unconsciously, and Scott's expression no longer looked as heavy as if he was trying to tell him bad news.

"You don't quite look like the Crissian family. He spoke.

Ed grinned in cooperation - he had already given up on the feeble retort of "my surname is Singel". He had the blood of Vala Chrisses...... He will always be proud of it.

"The Criess are too stubborn. Scott's voice lowered, "They chose one path, and they couldn't see the other way." ”

- Stubborn as a donkey.

The phrase popped out of my head uncontrollably. Ed glanced at Scott quickly, inexplicably a little worried that he would hear.

"Stubborn as a donkey. Scott said.

Ed's face turned white, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat.

"Karen always scolds me like that. ”

Ed swallowed his heart back silently.

"But you're different. Scott smiled at him, and he quickly smiled back, thinking that Scott was complimenting him, but he didn't quite understand what he was trying to compliment him.

"Maybe you'll find another way......" Scott whispered, looking up.

Ed looked up blankly, but there was only darkness above him.

He couldn't see the top—Ed suddenly realized. Maybe it's because the space is too high, or maybe it's because it's ...... There is no top here at all.

He licked his dry lips, feeling the shadows on all sides again, and there was an indescribable panic in his heart.

He felt in a trance that this was probably another world at all.

"This place...... It's another world. "It's connected to the world in some way, but it doesn't exist beneath Rockburg, or Stonebuch, and it's not just a tomb," Scott told him...... or a labyrinth. ”

Ed was dumbfounded, but not entirely because of how incredible "another world" sounded. He was a little surprised, but not "that" surprised. Almost two years ago he had heard a similar "world" from Is, a small world created by an ancient dragon with good hopes, opened with a cane...... A cane that he had forgotten in Christenburg.

If you hide in that world, probably no one will find it...... He thought nonchalantly.

Maybe when will it be used......

"That's why I brought you here. Scott said, "What I want to tell you, can't be ...... Others heard. ”

He had a strange hesitation when he spoke of "the others", and what made Ed even more unsettling was the strange synchronisation between them - Scott didn't seem to know what he was thinking, but what he said was always related to a thought that crossed Ed's head...... Was he overthinking? This had never happened before.

"You asked me the name of that flame dragon. Scott still seemed hesitant to say the words at a much slower pace than usual, but when the last syllable landed, his gaze calmed: "Why?"

Ed opened his mouth and closed it again, opening and closing like a fish out of water, his mind spinning through countless possibilities...... I still chose to tell the truth.

He described to Scott the old ballads sung by the young men in the red robes, the memories that the broken fragments evoked in his mind, about the cursed Ancrane and his evil ally, a proud and powerful flame dragon that had disappeared silently, and...... The roar that nearly shattered his soul.

"Blazing Wings. Scott whispered the name, and Ed shuddered involuntarily.

Scott's expression was so complicated that he couldn't see anything, only stared at him in a daze, and waited quietly in a long silence.

"That's not its real name. Scott finally spoke, "Neither is Estanari. It's like Is's mother wasn't really called Angramaras?...... A name they use to refer to themselves, a name is usually just a nickname, and the dragon's true name is known only to them. Even Iss won't tell me...... He won't tell anyone. ”

He looked directly at Ed, and his blue eyes were once again scorching:

"And what I'm going to tell you now, not even Iss will know - Ed, you have inherited the blood and power of the Chrysers, and there are things I must tell you, but you have to swear to me...... In your mother's name, Ed Singh, you must swear never to tell anyone again, not Nor Narya, nor Is...... Especially Is. ”

(To be continued.) )