Chapter 2

1. Dimension Wanderer

They say humans have something called a sixth sense. Sometimes it saves someone's life and prevents them from falling into danger. Some claim this originates from humans' self-preservation instinct.

"Your Highness, are you leaving now?"

"Yes."

"...Dressed like that?"

"Why? Does it look bad?"

Nain looked down to examine his appearance. It didn't seem particularly strange. At Nain's muttering, Grace stared at him for a moment before opening the wardrobe and taking out a coat.

"If you go out dressed like this in this weather, you'll freeze to death."

"Ah..."

"Even though spring has come, it's still chilly since the weather hasn't warmed up yet."

Saying this, Grace draped a white coat over Nain's shoulders. Nain turned to look at her and smiled slightly.

"Thank you, Nanny."

"And there's no need to leave in such a hurry."

"Hmm... Am I being too hasty?"

"You must be tired from traveling here, so why don't you rest for at least a day and leave tomorrow? It's not urgent anyway."

Was that so? Nain pondered briefly before shaking his head.

"No, I should still go quickly. Everyone looked so haggard because of Cheche."

"..."

Grace watched as Nain slipped his arms into the coat sleeves, then sighed and tidied his appearance. She still couldn't hide her worried expression. It was too disappointing to send Nain away so soon when he had just returned from the Academy.

Nain, who had just turned twenty this year, had grown admirably tall and now looked more like a young man than a boy, but up close, he was still her baby prince with soft downy hair on his cheeks. The growth of the crybaby who had been curious about everything and busy chirping while wandering here and there every day was particularly touching.

But Grace still felt strangely anxious when she looked at Nain, as if she had left a small child by the waterside.

"Did you bring travel money?"

"Yes."

"What about your luggage?"

"It's outside. I haven't unpacked yet, so I can just take it as is."

"...You haven't even unpacked yet?"

Then you were planning to leave from the start. Grace grumbled in a hurt tone. Nain smiled at her sheepishly and replied, "Sorry."

Was it alright to feel this attached to someone who wasn't even her own child? Well, she couldn't treat Nain like a child forever. Grace suppressed her disappointment and saw Nain off.

"Be careful of carriages on your way."

"Okay."

"Don't trip while looking around, and watch where you're stepping properly. Don't get sidetracked gawking at strange ingredients being sold on the street. Whatever they're selling on the street is all available at the apothecary anyway. It won't be too late to look later."

"Okay..."

"If the train is delayed, just wait. Don't rush to take a carriage like last time and come back with a broken leg, please come back safely. Please."

"..."

"You must come back soon. Understood?"

"Ah, I got it..."

At the countless words of concern, Nain nodded repeatedly with an embarrassed face. Even so, Grace couldn't remove the worry from her face.

Nain was no longer a child ignorant of the ways of the world, to the point where it was embarrassing to still receive such concern. He prided himself on being sharp enough to pull his weight properly now, and was evaluated as one of the top students at the Academy, yet strangely, people around him often treated Nain like an underdeveloped child.

His nanny Grace was one of those people. Including her, almost everyone had a tendency to worry about Nain excessively. And for good reason - when Nain's field of interest came up, he tended to become completely absorbed in it as if nothing else existed, not paying attention to his surroundings at all. As a result, he had been caught up in accidents and injured or nearly injured more than once or twice.

And what about his judgment of people? Strange characters particularly tended to attach themselves to Nain. Thinking of Nain smiling innocently among those monster-like things after making friends with a bunch of people dressed like back-alley thugs, Grace's head throbbed again.

They say geniuses lack 2% of something, and Grace wondered if God had given Nain academic intelligence and concentration but taken away all the survival instincts necessary for daily life. Otherwise, there was no way he would exclusively pick such dimwits for his social activities.

"...Can't you at least take one guard with you?"

She was uneasy about sending him alone after all. At Grace's suggestion, Nain firmly shook his head.

"No. The dragon doesn't like it."

"Haa... What's so special about the dragon?"

"You'll be in big trouble if you say that elsewhere. Cheche will get angry if she hears?"

"Yes, yes. I suppose so."

Grace let Nain's words go in one ear and out the other. After all, that dragon was a species that didn't particularly care whether humans cursed or praised her unless they were humans she was interested in.

"More importantly, Nanny, get treatment quickly before your shoulder gets worse."

"What?"

"You strained it again, right? Did you lift something heavy?"

"...How did you know that too?"

Grace was startled. She tilted her head while massaging her stiff shoulder from the past few days. Nain just smiled and spoke vaguely.

"Just a hunch. Nanny always endures pain until it gets worse. Your hobby is dragging out something that would heal quickly for a month."

"It's amazing how Your Highness always notices that like a ghost."

"Enough. Don't endure the pain and make sure to get examined today. Got it? I'll ask when I get back."

"I've raised a fortune teller, a fortune teller..."

Grace clicked her tongue at Nain who always uncannily noticed her condition.

Of course, Nain had his own secret. Since childhood, when a person's body deviated from a healthy state, that area would appear to have black dots or something like fog overlaid on it.

Because of this, Nain once thought he was also a mage, but the mages said there was no such magic in the world yet. They laughed, thinking Nain's words were just a child's imagination.

So Nain decided to think of it as just his own talent and minor skill. It was better than having no ability at all. In fact, it had been very helpful when he went to the hospital for medical practice...

"Your Highness, you really must be careful."

"Ah, I said I got it. How many times are you going to say it?"

"Because you come back injured every time."

"Not anymore. Am I a child?"

Nain grumbled. You are a child though... Grace muttered the words she wanted to say only to herself.

"I'll be back!"

Nain set out alone with his back to the imperial palace. His energetic steps seemed a bit excited. Grace, who was seeing him off, hesitated for a moment before lowering her voice and muttering as if to herself.

"I had a strange dream yesterday..."

She had good intuition. Today, for no particular reason, she felt especially uneasy. On days like this, some incident always occurred. If Nain were still a child, she could forcibly hold him back and prevent him from going out, but Nain was now at an age where Grace couldn't forcibly stop him.

Contrary to Grace's concerns, ironically, far from having any ominous premonitions, Nain was in particularly high spirits that day because the weather was especially nice. A pleasant breeze brought warm sunshine that tickled his cheeks. The sky was blue, and a subtle floral fragrance wafted from the flowering trees in full bloom in the garden. It was full spring.

That day was the day Nain had decided to go see the dragon after a long time.

Though the dragon's true name was unknown, the guardian dragon of the Eastern Continent had named herself 'Cheche' for humans to call her. Most dragons guarding each continent had fallen asleep during the age of war, and she was the only dragon awake in the current era.

Given the years she had lived, stories about the continent's dragon were endless. They were recorded in history and breathed life in fictional stories created by humans. Sometimes as villains, sometimes as heroes. Dragons pursued free lives without belonging to standards set by humans.

'She's such a great being, so why is she being so annoying?'

Nain muttered words he couldn't say to anyone internally as he strolled through the quiet streets. While the dragon was called the source of magic and living history, for such a great being, she was truthfully too bothersome and troublesome.

The guardian of the Eastern Continent was an oddball who sometimes, no, often enjoyed sending telepathic messages into humans' minds to startle them.

―They say the only way to kill a transcendent being is through boredom. As the guardian dragon of the Eastern Continent and a transcendent being of the world, I truthfully declare that I would gladly give my life for the dragon-slaying Elrowin family.

Though it sounded grandiose and elaborate, it basically meant she was bored to death.

Cheche had been obsessed with playing prophet since Nain's memories began. She used telepathy to randomly deliver prophecy-like words to the imperial family members. Few people wouldn't be startled when a loud voice suddenly boomed inside their heads.

The Emperor had sprayed wine through his nose at the resounding voice in his head during a meal, and his eldest brother, the Crown Prince, had been so startled during state affairs that he even cursed. Because she acted arbitrarily day and night, everyone's stress was considerable.