I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The wind from the North carried snowflakes, which rustled softly against the golden dragon's scales.

Xiao Hua lay on the edge of the temporary camp, her golden vertical pupils half-closed, her gaze passing over the campfire in the center of the camp and landing on a figure who was bending down to wipe his staff.

Mia.

She was wearing a full set of silver-white armor, sitting on a rock by the fire, carefully wiping the magic crystal at the tip of her staff with a soft cloth.

The firelight danced on her face, casting her silhouette in shifting light and shadow.

Little Flower stared at her for a long time, so long that Mia seemed to notice something, looked up at it, smiled, and then lowered her head to continue wiping her staff.

Xiaohua looked away and turned her head to the other side.

It wondered when it had met Mia.

It must have been a long time ago, though it couldn't quite remember exactly how long. After all, dragons live much longer than humans, and those memories from only a few decades ago were like looking through a thin mist in its mind, requiring conscious effort to recall them clearly.

But it remembers one thing—Mia was very small back then, small enough to be stuffed into a wooden cabinet.

And that was indeed the case; her parents stuffed her into a wooden cabinet.

It was flying over a human village, intending to return to its nest to sleep, when it looked down and saw the firelight.

The entire village was shrouded in thick smoke and firelight. Human corpses were scattered throughout the streets and alleys. Several gray-black figures were moving through the ruins, dragging those who had not yet escaped from the houses and tearing them apart.

werewolf.

The little flower circled once in the sky, confirming that no other rescue forces were on their way to the area, and the metal dragon's kindness prompted it to take action.

It swooped down and opened its mouth as it approached the ground.

Dragon flames poured out.

The werewolves didn't even have time to look up before they were swallowed up by the intense heat, without even having a chance to scream.

The burning village gradually quieted down in the firelight, leaving only the sound of breaking wood and the howling wind through the ruins.

When the little flower fell to the ground, most of the houses had already collapsed, with only a few remaining walls still emitting wisps of smoke.

This can be considered a way of letting these humans return to dust and ashes.

Just as it was about to leave, it suddenly heard an extremely faint sound.

It was the sound of crying.

It followed the sound to a half-collapsed wooden hut. The door was mostly charred, and there was a wooden cabinet in the corner with its door tightly closed. The sound was coming from inside the cabinet.

It hooked the edge of the cabinet door with its claws and gently pulled it open.

There were several neatly folded clothes piled up in the closet, and curled up among them was a very small baby, wrapped in a small blanket that didn't fit him well. He was crying with his mouth wide open, his face red and his eyes full of tears.

Xiao Hua tilted her head and stared at her for a long time.

It is indeed rare for dragons to see such a small cub. It is not even as big as one of its claws, its whole body is wrinkled, and its eyes are not even fully open yet.

It certainly knew what this was, but had absolutely no idea how to deal with it.

It hesitated for about half a cup of tea's time before finally making a decision:

Let's get them away from here first.

It carefully pried up the wooden cabinet with its claws, carrying the cabinet and the baby inside in its mouth, and flew into the air, heading north.

Finally, it came to the vicinity of a village with cooking smoke and fields.

It placed the wooden cabinet under an old locust tree at the village entrance, stepped back a few paces, confirmed that the baby was still inside the cabinet, and although the crying had weakened, it was still intermittent, before flying away.

After all, he was just a dragon and couldn't take care of a baby, nor was he too lazy to meddle in other people's business.

Well, it still got in the way of others.

It had been watching over the matter quietly before it fell into a deep sleep. A childless couple in the village adopted the baby and raised her as their own daughter.

It thought it was reasonable, so it didn't interfere any further.

Later, Jinlong fell into a deep sleep, and when he woke up again, many years had passed.

Its long slumber made it unbearably hungry, so it frantically searched for food around its territory, and the pressure it released caused nearby monsters to instinctively flee.

The monsters charged out of the mountains and into human villages and towns, causing a monster uprising that occurs roughly every twenty years.

The Adventurers' Guild quickly issued a mission, and a large number of adventurers rushed to clear out the monsters.

Jinlong didn't care about this at all and continued to look for food to fill his stomach.

It was not until it caught a familiar scent, a scent it had smelled before but had never deliberately tried to identify its source.

It followed the scent through the dense forest, parted the bushes, and saw the girl confronting the leader of the demon wolves.

His body was covered in dust and blood, and the magic crystal embedded at the top of his staff gleamed dimly in the twilight. The spells he cast were all dodged by the wolf leader, who was nearly ten feet tall.

Let humans worry about their own affairs; these adventurers are really into collecting magic crystals anyway.

Thinking this, it prepared to turn and leave, but just then, the girl's spell seemed to have gone wrong. Flames exploded at the tip of the staff, and the backlash pushed her back several steps.

The wolf leader seized the opportunity and pounced.

In that instant, the girl swung her staff and struck the wolf on the head. Then she pulled out a dagger from her waist, the blade wedged between the bones. With a twist of her wrist, she used the wolf's momentum to veer off course, and then raised her knee to slam it hard into its jaw.

The wolf leader's four legs twitched a few times, then finally stopped moving.

...So she's a battle mage after all, but why does her scent seem a little familiar?

……

"Xiaohua, we're about to set off."

The golden dragon's thoughts were pulled back by Mia's voice. It raised its head, glanced at the strangers in the camp who were organizing their equipment, and snorted a stream of air carrying sparks.

"Seriously, I didn't expect that it would take a whole month just to gather enough people for a large-scale S-class mission."

Mia walked to its side and gently comforted it:

"There's no other way. There are only thirteen S-class adventurers in the world right now, and it's already quite difficult to gather five of them."

Sitting opposite the campfire was a tall, muscular man, around forty years old, with broad shoulders and a wide, palm-sized broadsword hanging at his waist, its hilt wrapped in old, dark gray cloth.

He glanced at the people present and spoke calmly, "My name is Ian. I was called the 'Magic Swordsman' when I was A-rank, and I haven't changed my title since I became S-rank. You can call me whatever you want. I was the one who led the organization of this mission, and all the intelligence, routes, and logistics have been confirmed."

He didn't explain anything further after he finished speaking. He reached out and poked at the firewood in the fire, sending up a few sparks that quickly went out.

Sitting to Ian's left was a slender man with short, light brown hair that was ruffled by the night wind, and the lenses of his round-framed glasses reflected the firelight.

He was looking down at a thick leather notebook, and only looked up when Ian finished speaking, his tone gentle:

"Evan. Alchemist, can also handle some miscellaneous tasks related to potions and runes. What you usually refer to as the Adventurers' Guild's 'logistical support' probably refers to me."

As soon as she finished speaking, a woman came up to Mia and greeted her.

"I am Amy, the Elementalist. You're the Dragon Knight Mia? I've finally met you in person! I saw your mission log at the Association headquarters—twenty S-rank missions, and most of them were completed independently. That's amazing!"

Mia was caught off guard by her sudden enthusiasm, instinctively shrinking back, her voice becoming muffled: "Th-thank you for the compliment... I'm fine..."

"Amy, don't scare him."

He nodded slightly to Mia: "Dean, a healer, also capable of some close combat. If anyone gets injured during the mission, I'll take care of it."

"My name is Mia, I am an S-class adventurer, and I am good at... good at working with Xiaohua to complete missions."

Xiao Hua snorted, but did not refute.

"Is Little Flower that golden dragon?" Amy's voice was filled with undisguised curiosity. "It looks so big!"

Evan closed his notebook. "It is indeed very large. According to the records I've consulted, the dragon that can match this golden dragon in size and scale color must have lived for at least 1,500 years. If it is willing to cooperate, the safety of this mission should be greatly improved."

Ian poked the fire with a stick, sending sparks flying.

"Now that the introduction is over, everyone get ready. The mysterious door is deep within the Flower Sea Mountains. According to reports, the entrance is covered by vines, and there are unusual magical fluctuations around it. It requires power close to the level of a forbidden spell to open. What lies behind the door is unknown. Our next task is to go there and find out."