“Compass, ready!”

“Directional disc, ready!”

“Spyglass, ready!”

“And a silver coin for making decisions—ready!”

In the bedroom, Rosvisser watched as Leon hurriedly stuffed all those messy odds and ends into his backpack. She couldn’t help asking, puzzled:

“What are you preparing all this for?”

Zipping up the pack, Leon replied with full confidence,

“Once we’re packed like this, we won’t have to worry about getting lost in the Cold Mist Forest.”

Cold Mist Forest was the place where Vida and Cecilia had once found the relics of Mevis.

Later, according to what Poseidon said, the area was inhabited by large numbers of slimes, but there had been no sign of descendants of Mevis or the deity themself.

The information Leon’s group currently had about Mevis was extremely limited. Aside from a single strand of long hair obtained during investigations into related divine relics, there were virtually no usable clues. Their only option was to head to the site where the relics had been preserved and try their luck.

However, the internal structure of Cold Mist Forest was notoriously complex. Once inside, one could quickly become lost in the dense fog, eventually freezing or starving to death with no hope of rescue.

The queen raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you think you’re preparing a bit too thoroughly? I understand the compass, disc, and spyglass—but what’s the coin for?”

Leon took the coin out of his pack, pinched it between his fingers, and said solemnly:

“When we reach a fork in the road and don’t know which way to choose, we can flip a coin to decide. What do you think, wife? Pretty clever, right?”

“……”

Rosvisser pressed a hand to her forehead.

“And what if the fork has more than two paths? Does your coin have more than two sides?”

Leon froze. “Uh… that… no problem! We’ll just bring more coins!”

Rosvisser silently shook her head.

“Leon, have you ever considered the possibility that the forest’s complexity is only an issue for ground-bound races?”

Leon blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I can fly, sweetheart. Do you understand what ‘fly’ means? This world isn’t just two-dimensional. There’s a third dimension—up.”

She hadn’t expected that one day she’d have to teach basic spatial concepts to the former greatest dragon slayer in the world.

“If we really get lost, I’ll just fly you straight out.”

Leon fell silent for a moment, then suddenly realized.

“Wow—my wife really is smart. You thought of something I never even considered.”

Rosvisser rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t ‘not think of it.’ You were never taking this seriously to begin with.”

Leon set the coin down and walked slowly toward her.

Their eyes met. Seeing Leon grow serious, Rosvisser dropped her teasing tone and asked softly:

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re right, wife. I haven’t been very serious about this trip to Cold Mist Forest.”

Leon spoke slowly.

“My mother said that only harmless slimes live there, so I thought we could use this chance to investigate Mevis’s relics and also relax for a few days.”

As he spoke, Leon raised his hand and gently tucked a strand of hair behind Rosvisser’s ear.

When his fingertips brushed her skin, he felt the warmth of her ear.

“You’ve been running all over with me lately—first the Sea Dragon Clan, then the Empire, and now another long trip to Cold Mist Forest. On top of that, you still have to manage the internal affairs of the Silver Dragon Clan. You’ve really worked hard.”

Leon continued:

“I actually planned to leave you at home this time so you could rest properly. But you’re as stubborn as my old Aju and insisted on coming with me. So all I could do was try to make this trip a little less serious.”

Rosvisser laughed softly and tapped his chest.

“Idiot. Who describes their wife like that?”

Before she could pull back, Leon wrapped her into his arms.

Her balance tipped, and she had no choice but to lean against his chest.

Their foreheads touched. Their breaths mingled. The tips of their noses brushed lightly.

Rosvisser lifted her arms and looped them around Leon’s neck.

“So if I’ve worked this hard, how do you plan to reward me? Hmm?”

As she spoke, her warm red lips brushed teasingly against the corner of Leon’s mouth.

Leon responded subtly, tilting his head to meet her lips, savoring the softness and warmth between them, the gentle glide of their tongues.

“I have the whole night to reward you, Your Majesty.”

“Hmph… I’ve been holding back for quite a while. Satisfying me won’t be easy.”

A faint purple glow slowly lit up between their tightly pressed bodies.

Rosvisser lifted her long, graceful tail and drew the bed curtains closed.

On the wide, soft bed, the beauty shed her clothes. Her slender figure was like a dangerously alluring serpent.

She coiled around the man beneath her, freely releasing the desire she had suppressed for far too long.

…

…

Saint Heath Academy, Vice Principal’s Office.

The assistant, Samantha, pushed the door open and entered.

“Vice Principal Claudia, a message has arrived.”

As she spoke, Samantha placed a rather crude-looking envelope on Claudia’s desk.

Claudia, who was reviewing documents, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ didn’t look up.

“From whom?”

“There’s no name. It just says: ‘Letter from Cold Mist Forest to Saint Heath Academy.’”

At the words “Cold Mist Forest,” Claudia suddenly stopped working. She set the papers aside and took the envelope.

After checking carefully, there was indeed no sender listed.

“Vice Principal… Cold Mist Forest is…?” Samantha asked, assuming it might be another allied tribe.

Claudia frowned slightly and replied slowly:

“A place that contains slumbering divine relics.”

Those who knew about the relics had never disclosed details to outsiders.

The power of divine relics was far too great, and everyone feared that spreading the information would attract ill-intentioned individuals.

Claudia opened the letter. The writing inside was extremely irregular.

“This doesn’t look like something written by the guards my father stationed there…”

After the battle with Atos, Poseidon and the others had returned the recovered divine relics to their original locations.

Mevis’s relics had also been returned to Cold Mist Forest.

Since there were no descendants of Mevis in the forest—only a group of mindless slimes—Poseidon had stationed only a small unit of Sea Dragon soldiers around the forest perimeter.

Over the years, everything there had remained calm.

Yet today, such a letter had arrived.

Claudia read the contents.

The handwriting was messy and fragmented, and the paper bore strange stains.

As if some kind of liquid had dried on it.

But the message was barely legible:

“Please… help us. Someone… came… to steal… the bracelet.”

Claudia’s brows knit tightly.

“This is bad…”

“What’s wrong, Vice Principal?” Samantha asked.

Claudia put the letter away, placed it into a desk drawer, and gave instructions.

“Immediately draft a mission briefing for the Adult Dragon Division.
Mission difficulty: A.
Destination: Cold Mist Forest. Objective: recover an item.
Number of participants: ten to fifteen.”

Samantha nodded without asking questions.

“Yes, Vice Principal. I’ll arrange it right away.”

“Wait.”

Claudia stopped her, thought for a moment, then added:

“Have Noa come to my office. Tell her I have a special mission for her.”