"First, answer my question. Where is this place?"
"........"
Jasmine couldn't even remember why the young man had trapped her in the first place.
How could she? When the young man asked her this, she was busy saving her life, or rather, how to empty that young man's pockets.
'Huh... What other choice do I have! I really can't escape.'
Jasmine finally accepted reality and decided to answer the young man's question.
"...This is Gutudia Forest, a beast domain."
"Oh... A beast domain, hah," the young man murmured. His hand rose to his chin once more as he lowered his gaze and started thinking about something.
Meanwhile, the restless Jasmine pleaded again, "Um... Now that you've gotten your answer, please let me go—"
"Can I find a dragon here? A very powerful one."
"....."
Before Jasmine could finish her plea, the young man asked another question.
Jasmine fell silent. Her expression hardened into a mask of stone as she just stared at the young man.
"What happened? Why did you go silent again?"
"Nononono. I'm talking, I'm talking." Jasmine hastened to reply, forcing a strained smile with great difficulty.
"You won't find any dragon here," she replied. "Ah... Um, and as I was saying earlier, please let me—"
"Why? Didn't you say this is a beast domain. Then, why won't I find a dragon here?"
'...Huh! Just where the hell did this stupid monkey come from? Has he spent his whole life holed up in a cave or something? *Why won't I find a dragon here?* Do dragons grow on trees, you fool?! Ugrh!!!' Jasmine expressed her irritation and anger only on the inside. Ensuring that none of the curses piled up in her stomach slipped out of her mouth suddenly, was an extremely difficult task for her.
But, Jasmine forced herself to answer anyway, "...Oh, that's because this Gutudia Forest is a yellow-tier beast domain. Here, you'll only find mana beasts of level-five and below. And dragons are said level-seven mana beasts. So, there's no chance of any dragon being here. But if you really want to find a dragon, then you can try going to Arandor Wilderness which is the only red-tier beast domain on this continent and the only place where you can find level-seven mana beasts. You might find a dragon there."
"Might? What do you mean by 'might'?
Despite Jasmine's long rambling, the young man was still looking at her with curious eyes. She realized that she had to say more.
'Huh... What a headache!'
Exhausted with extreme irritation, Jasmine said, " 'Might' means, even if you go to a red-level beast domain, you may not find a dragon."
"Why?"
'Ugh!!! When will this idiot's questions ever end?!!!' Again, Jasmine only screamed on the inside.
"If you want to know 'why', then you have to know a little bit of history."
"Alright, go on."
'Bastard!'
Her cursing seemed to have no end.
.
.
.
"Actually, what I told you earlier was just an assumption. Everything people know about dragons today is entirely obtained from various ancient books and texts. From some texts that can be dated to tens of thousands of years in the past, scholars have discovered that there was a dragon of unfathomable power that existed on earth." Jasmine began to explain to the young man why he won't be able to find a dragon anywhere.
The young man listened to every word that escaped Jasmine's lips very attentively with an expressionless face.
"Not only that, but they also discovered that about five thousand years ago, Emperor James Phillip wanted to see a dragon on a whim, after learning about them through those ancient texts. So, he sent his soldiers, vassals, and powerful adventurers to all the green-tier and yellow-tier beast domains across the entire continent. They searched every beast domain thoroughly for years but didn't find any dragon.
But even then, the Emperor didn't give up. After that, his attention fell on the red-tier beast domain. Because that's the only place that humans have never been able to fully explore. Humans have only been able to explore the outer part of the red-tier beast domain. Even today, nobody knows how big the red-tier beast domain actually is, or what is at its very end.
Then, the Emperor gathered all the seventh-circle mages under him and launched an expedition, with one goal, to find a dragon and present it before the emperor. But, they never returned from that red-tier beast domain.
After that, many emperors sent their soldiers to the red-tier beast domain over the course of thousands of years to search for dragons. But just like before, they never returned from their expedition.
And so, no one has found any dragon in the last five thousand years.
There's nothing at present that can provide any actual proof of dragons' existence at all. For that reason, dragons have become purely legends. Beings of fairy tale for everyone.
So, the possibility of you finding a dragon anywhere is probably… zero."
Jasmine concluded her long explanation.
She let out a sigh of exhaustion. She was confident; she hadn't left anything out this time.
Although Jasmine wanted to add something like 'There are still fools like you who try to venture deep into the red-tier beast domain and never return. But what can anyone do about them? Fools are fools after all' in her speech, in the end she didn't.
Now, she was just waiting to be freed from that young man's grasp.
"...Oh, I see. So... you're saying that since the red-tier beast domain hasn't been fully explored yet, so there's a possibility of finding a dragon there, but going there is just a death trap, right?"
"Ye— what?"
'Is this bastard seriously thinking dragons are real even after hearing all this?!' Jasmine couldn't make out the young man's foolishness. But she couldn't care less about that.
'Hope you die soon, oh great mage~' Jasmine cursed him with extreme joy.
Meanwhile, 'So... It seems he... is in that red-tier beast domain. Given what I've heard from master and the thing about his temperament... that 'is' the only possibility,' the young man thought.
"Thank you," the young man expressed his gratitude.
"S-so... Please, let me go now."
"No," the young man replied without hesitation. His flat voice betrayed no flicker of doubt.
"...Eh?"
Jasmine froze. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Why?!" Jasmine yelled. "You promised to let me go!"
'I knew something was shady.'
"Yes, that I did. But... I forgot something."
'Huuuh! This bastard has even more questions?! I wanna strangle this swine to death so bad... Agrhhhh!'
A storm was raging in Jasmine's turbulent mind. But outwardly, her composure didn't waver. She asked while pretending to be stuttering, "...Wh-what is that?"
"Oh... I forgot that I don't know anything about this place."
"Oh, that's fine. Don't worry. I'll tell you the way to the nearest city. From here, head west—"
"There's no need for that."
Although Jasmine hurried to tell the young man the way to the nearest city, so that he could go away after releasing her and be done with it, he cut her off mid sentence.
The young man's interruption left Jasmine momentarily startled.
"...Why? Didn't you say you don't know anything here?" she asked.
"Yes. And for that reason you'll be come with me," the young man spitted out the most unreasonable nonsense that Jasmine had ever heard.
"...Eh? Me... go with... you?"
"Yes."
'I have to go... with him. He doesn't want any answers... but wants me to go... with him... Wait! What did this bastard say?!'
As realization dawned on her, Jasmine hastened to reject, "...No no no no. NO! Nev—!"
However, Jasmine's protest dissolved before it could fully form.
The young man suddenly appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye. Before Jasmine could comprehend anything, the young man gently touched her left shoulder with his right hand and immediately retracted it.
From the outside, anybody could see that the young man hadn't done much. But this matter was quite complicated.
Fear enveloped Jasmine with its icy hands once again. It was not the fear of death. But... that fear... It was no less than that.
Jasmine knew the young man would definitely do something shady. The worst case scenario was her death. But what had happened was even worse than that.
Both Jasmine's face and voice became serious. Lowering her head a bit, she said, "...W-was there any need to do this? If you wanted to know something, you could have just asked me. I would have told you anyway. Wh-why did you do this to me? Why... why did you use... the mana curse spell on me?"
"You're telling me that I should believe everything said by someone I've just met."
"......"
Jasmine couldn't say anything against the young man's words. Because she knew. She knew what the consequence was of trusting a stranger in this world. Of course she didn't trust the young man, but she somewhat hoped that he would let her go.
"You will come with me and that's final. You have no right to refuse." The young man declared.
.
.
.
Moments. Then seconds. Then minutes. They all slipped past one after another.
For Jasmine, every instant stretched into an eternity that felt like a suffocating void.
She felt utterly helpless, ensnared by the young man's mana curse spell. She could do nothing to stop him. She couldn't even register his blinding speed as he shifted positions to loom before her, his spell cast with such effortless precision that it evaded her senses until it was too late.
'Hah... What rotten luck! I guess, this is what I get for my greed. I've become the slave of the person that... I wanted to rob.'
Against the young man's overwhelming might, Jasmine was insignificant. The feeling of powerlessness gripped her from head to toe. It gnawed at her soul, devouring her insides. Frustration pricked at the corners of her eyes.
"Let's go," the young man announced abruptly.
Jasmine jolted back to reality, staring at the you man with resentment.
'What is with this bastard?! There is no shred of emotions on his face at all!'
Jasmine just couldn't understand him at all.
Nevertheless, Jasmine composed herself. '...Whatever, so what if I'm a slave now? At least I'm not dyin—'
"Finally found ya, damn thief!"
A guttural shout shattered Jasmine's inner thoughts.
Her gaze darted to her right, fixing on the crater's upper rim where three figures loomed, clad in black coats stained with dust and smears of dried blood, the fabric tattered and frayed as if they had clawed their way through a battlefield.
The man in the center — a gaunt, middle-aged figure with a wiry frame — suddenly erupted, his voice a venomous snarl that echoed like a whipcrack through the desolation, "Hand over everything, ya bitch!" He crouched aggressively, knees bent, spine rigid, his right hand gripping a dagger tightly. His angular face contorted in a mask of rage under the moon's cold scrutiny.
"~Ooo~ Never thought the thief'd turn out to be such a flower~ kekeke~" purred the shorty to his right, his voice dripping with lascivious intent as he leered at Jasmine, his perverted eyes glinting with predatory glee. His tongue flicked obscenely across the blade of the sword clutched in his right hand. Then, turning to the middle-aged man, he crooned, "Captain~ You sure you ain't made a mistake?~"
"Hell no, ya bastard!" the middle-aged man snapped back, his tone brooking no doubt, his gaunt features hardening further as he spoke, "The signal from the tracking artifact that I kept in my space storage is coming straight from that girl. I'm one hundred percent certain she's the thief."
At his words, the shorty cast another lewd glance at Jasmine, "kekeke~" his tongue darting out to lick his sword again, the gesture dripping with vile intent.
"Damn ya, bitch!" bellowed the hulking man to the captain's left, a hippo-like behemoth with a rotund, doughy frame that seemed to quake with his roar, his round face spitting a barrage of spittle like bullets from a machine gun, glistening in the moonlight as they sprayed the air. "Give me back my food, or I'll kill ya!"
"Oi fatty! All those materials got stolen, and you're whining about your food?" the shorty taunted, his eyes glinting with disdain as he sneered at the hippo.
"Shut it, shorty! Think I didn't see ya ogling that bitch?!" the hippo retorted, spittle flying everywhere.
"Oi fatty! One more word and I'll bury you before that bitch—"
"Enough, ya punks!" the captain barked, his face a stern mask of authority, silencing them instantly.
Lowering his voice to a murmur, the captain continued, "Oi, Rick, Moran, when we passed this way at dusk, was there a crater this big here?"
"...Huh? Now that you mention it captain... this crater... wasn't here," the shorty, Rick, replied as he focused on his surroundings.
"Yeah, Captain. It... wasn't," the hippo, Moran, also added.
The trio suddenly fell into a collective pause.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, the appearance of those three man grabbed the attention of both Jasmin and the young man.
Jasmine recognized those three men the moment the captain's second shout came. 'Wait... those are... the adventurers. What are they doing here?!' Jasmine was a bit surprised. But she promptly realised, '...Oh! The anesthesia elixir's effect must've worn off.'
Although, another puzzle arose in her mind soon after, '...How did they find me—'
"Are you... a thief?" the young man asked Jasmine.
Jasmine turned to the young man. 'Aaa...' her mind reeling as she stared into his eyes. 'This bastard's actually worried about that? Seriously?!' But swiftly, a chilling realization gripped her, sending a wave of fear through her core, her pulse racing as she grasped the gravity of her predicament.
"Yes, I am," Jasmine responded as plainly as possible. Yet, she was unable to hide the pride in her eyes.
The young man remained silent hearing her response. Surprise, shock, disdain, anger — his expressionless face betrayed nothing.
And right then, suddenly, Jasmine flinched. She realized... she could move her body and... her body wasn't shining golden anymore.
Jasmine tried to lift her right hand.
She succeeded.
She lowered her hand. Then turning away from the young man, she took a few steps forward as if to confirm her doubt. She felt no resistance at all.
'It's really... gone.' Jasmine was sure this time that the young man's mana telekinesis spell wasn't there anymore.
"There's no need to be so surprised. I lifted my Mana Telekinesis spell from you a moment ago," the young man remarked.
Jasmine turned to the young man. She understood what he meant: **You're already bound by my mana curse spell. What can you do even if I released my mana telekinesis spell? It's not as if you could have done anything even if you were not bound by my mana curse spell.**
Faced with this cruel reality, Jasmine's face darkened.