Chapter 11
The maids’ heads clustered tightly around mine in a small circle.
On the surface of the silver goblet filled with dark red wine, an image was truly being reflected.
At first, it showed the backyard of our house. Then, as if someone were holding a camera and walking, the scene shifted smoothly and vividly.
It passed through the backyard, climbed a mountain path, crossed a few ridges, and revealed a wide clearing and a cliff.
Inside that cliff, a massive cave came into view—and the image stopped there.
Then, starting again from our backyard, the same sequence replayed, retracing the path all the way to the cave inside the cliff.
“That place is…”
It looked exactly like directions.
As if it were telling someone to follow the path it showed.
I was staring seriously at this inexplicable looping navigation video(?) when—
“Pfft! What is that?”
“Oh my. What is it? A dragon?”
“It must be a transparent dragon. Oh my goodness.”
“The transparent dragon is roaring!”
“…?”
I snapped my head up and looked at the group of maids.
Whatever they were seeing was clearly completely different from what I was seeing.
Carefully, I asked Betty, who was laughing the hardest.
“Betty, what do you see?”
“A transparent dragon is roaring. You can’t see a transparent dragon because it’s transparent, but you can tell because it’s breathing fire! Puhahaha!”
“……”
What part of that is funny?
No, setting that aside… a transparent dragon?
It sounded uncomfortably familiar.
I wanted to ignore the intuition that kept stabbing at me, but… I couldn’t avoid it anymore.
‘This feels like it’s asking me to come to the cave alone.’
Until just moments ago, I had absolutely no intention of going to that sinister-looking place by myself.
That would be the textbook “die horribly” route in a horror movie.
Isn’t that exactly what happens to side characters who do everything they’re told not to do and end up dying first?
‘But…’
Hearing the maids chatter about transparent dragons somehow drained all the tension from me.
Could it be that the author of 『The Super Ultra Strong Ultimate Imperial Magic Transparent Dragon Roared』 and the owner of this silver goblet were the same person?
‘And the transparent dragon the maids saw, too…’
Even if they weren’t the same individual, there was clearly some kind of connection.
More than anything, my curiosity was spiraling out of control.
The silver goblet… and the transparent dragon…
It felt like they were desperately calling out to me.
Sigh. I guess I have no choice.
‘At dawn tomorrow, I’ll go quickly and come back.’
Once I made up my mind, my heart felt lighter.
And so, for the first time in a while, I fell asleep peacefully.
The next day.
Wearing a stylish hooded cape Garnet had quickly sewn for me with dazzling needlework, I left the house.
The sun hadn’t fully risen yet.
Originally, I planned to move only after daybreak, but…
Thinking about it, there was no way the maids would leave me alone.
‘I did tell them I’d sleep in and not to wake me up… but if I want to avoid their fussing, I have no choice. I need to go and come back fast.’
I set off while looking at the mountains gradually glowing crimson beyond the horizon.
There was no time to waste.
On the silver goblet, the same video from yesterday continued to loop.
Even in the dark forest, the goblet emitted its own light, illuminating the ground beneath my feet like a camera flash.
As expected, it was no ordinary object.
Following the goblet’s guidance—crossing a small stream and climbing over ridges—
“Oh, is that it?”
At last, the cave from the video came into view.
Perhaps because I’d been hiking for quite a while, by the time I arrived, the sun was already hanging at the edge of the mountain ridge.
Whew. Somehow, it felt like I’d lived a very wholesome, productive life today.
‘Not bad?’
If it weren’t for this damn cursed silver goblet, that is.
I roughly wiped the sweat off with my cloak and stared at the cave ahead.
Gulp.
“Isn’t it bigger than it looked in the video?”
And dark!
Which means scary!
“I really shouldn’t have come alone…”
The cliff was higher than I expected, and the cave was far deeper than I’d imagined.
I thought it was just the back mountain, but I hadn’t expected full-on mountain climbing.
What kind of place did that grand duke even live in?
For no reason, the face of that “not-my-husband-but-someone-else’s-husband” popped into my head, making me want to throw punches at empty air.
There was no way he knew I was doing this on his estate.
Not that I wanted him to know.
“I’ve lost my mind.”
What possessed me to come here alone?
Should I turn back even now?
Just as my inner conflict deepened—
The slowly drifting clouds parted, and sunlight poured down, striking the silver goblet directly.
The intense light reflected off the goblet and shot straight into the cave like a beam.
‘What is this, a laser or something?’
It was too ridiculous to be a natural phenomenon.
‘I really should go back. I’ll come again, dragging the entire maid squad with me and stand in the middle.’
Having made up my mind, I turned to leave—
“Ack! My eyes!”
???
A thunderous voice echoed from inside the cave.
The booming sound reverberated past the cave and all the way to the edge of the cliff.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
“Who is it?! I just woke up and I can’t see anything!”
…Don’t tell me that’s because of me?
But I felt wronged, too.
I’d only followed the goblet’s guidance, and the sunlight just happened to hit it head-on.
I had absolutely no intention of flash-banging someone who’d just woken up!
It might’ve sounded like an excuse if the owner of that thunderous voice heard it, but it was true.
‘If I get caught, I’m dead.’
I held my breath and carefully set the goblet down on the ground.
I planned to slowly back away and then bolt.
Thankfully, the cave was still quiet.
All right. On three, I run.
One…
Two…
Three—
“Hey.”
“Eeeeeek!”
A voice suddenly whispered right next to my ear!
I literally jumped straight up on the spot.
“That scared me!”
“Were you the one who woke me up?”
I spun around in shock and saw a man standing there, rubbing one eye with his hand.
His outfit was completely out of place against the natural backdrop.
Like he’d just rolled out of bed, he was wearing loose silk pajamas.
Long green hair cascaded down to his waist, swaying lightly.
‘Suspicious as hell.’
A man in pajamas coming out of a cave?
‘At minimum, he’s insane.’
That’s what I thought, yet my feet wouldn’t move, as if I were being overwhelmed by something invisible.
And then—
Through the slightly parted fingers of his index and middle finger, his closed eye snapped open.
“……!”
‘His eyes…’
They gleamed like a snake’s.
Brilliant yellow irises with narrow, vertical pupils.
Unmistakably reptilian—eyes belonging to something non-human.
Looking again, his entire presence was overwhelmingly intimidating.
He was more than two heads taller than me.
Though slender, his body was laced with lean muscle and didn’t look weak at all.
His sharp jawline and thin lips twisted in irritation.
“And who are you?”
The man flicked his bangs aside and spoke crookedly, annoyance dripping from every movement.
Just his gaze alone felt sharp enough to stab someone to death.
Swallowing dryly, I asked back,
“Are you… the transparent dragon?”
But you’re green?
Do you turn transparent later?
Just as I cautiously voiced my guess—
“W-Wh-Wh-Wh-What did you just say?!”
An entirely unexpected reaction came back.
It seemed he had absolutely not anticipated those words coming out of my mouth.
The man sprang straight up like a coiled spring and grabbed at his hair.
His face, pale to the point of pallor, flushed bright red.
Gone was the thunderous roar from before; instead, a trembling, goat-like voice burst out.
“H-How do you kn-know that?!”
“Huh? Because I saw it.”
“What did you see, exactly?!”
“The book… and the silver goblet…”
As I answered hesitantly, his face turned deathly pale this time.
It literally shifted from red to blue, transparent confusion surfacing across his expression.
“Damn it! I burned all of that ages ago!”
“…Did I see something I wasn’t supposed to?”
“Yes! Damn it! That was something I wrote when I was only fifty!”
‘Only fifty…’
That alone confirmed it.
“Mm.”
The author was a dragon.
