Within the forest concealing the *Kriemhild*.
*Swish rustle~~~*
Accompanied by the sound of swaying branches and leaves, hurried and swift footsteps echoed in the quiet forest, along with intermittent crackles of thunder.
Then, from the dense woods, a figure suddenly shot out riding a lightning flash, landing heavily on the ground.
"This is the place, right? Where that shooting star fell earlier."
The figure scanned the surroundings while muttering to themselves.
"But there's nothing? I've practically combed through this entire forest, and besides the shooting star, there aren't even any Lower Dragons! Those bastards who gave me the intel, just wait until I kill them!"
Seemingly annoyed at coming all this way for nothing, the rather short figure stomped their foot irritably. Lightning crackled around them, mercilessly damaging the surrounding forest.
But the next moment, as if sensing something, the short figure looked toward a part of the forest. "Who's there? Sneaking around. Come out."
"...Still haven't gotten rid of your bad habit of randomly discharging electricity? Shorty."
Carrying a look of resignation, Ziger jumped down from a tree, silver sword in hand. "Speaking of which, you're actually alive? Haven't heard anything about you in half a year. I thought you'd finally kicked the bucket."
*Zap————!*
The moment Ziger's words fell, a bolt of lightning suddenly shot toward his forehead! The distance between them was less than ten meters. The lightning almost reached Ziger in an instant. But as if anticipating the attack, Ziger tilted his head to dodge the sneak attack, then snapped his fingers with annoyance. A cluster of flames immediately ignited, quickly transforming into a burst of explosive fire hurled forward.
*Boom!*
The flames instantly engulfed the short figure.
But before the fire could spread, a towering pillar of lightning tore through the flames. The figure now wreathed in crackling lightning glared, cursing angrily. "I'll die before you do! Damn it, didn't think I'd run into you, you dead ginger, even here. Why aren't you dead?"
"I'll die after you do—Long time no see, Kamui. Shame you're not missing any limbs. Also, even more regretfully, I didn't think waking up would mean facing your ugly mug. What a great start to the day, ending with seeing you."
"I'll return those words exactly to you! You ginger only good for boiling water!"
The youth Ziger called [Kamui] gave Ziger a middle finger with a displeased look.
Kamui—full name [Walter Kamui], one of the very few people in this world Ziger could communicate with, or perhaps the only one besides Brynhildr. But as mentioned, the relationship between Ziger and Kamui could definitely not be called [friends] or [partners]. If anything, it could only be described as a [karmic entanglement].
Their first meeting was in the summer four years ago. While chasing the same dragon, Ziger and Kamui met by chance. Then, to contest ownership of that Lower Dragon, coupled with Kamui's incredibly foul temper, the two immediately came to blows.
The result was a draw. From then on, a karmic entanglement formed between them. Even though they had met fewer than ten times over four years, every encounter ended in a fight due to various reasons.
Thanks to this, both unwillingly learned some things about each other, like their backgrounds and histories.
Just as Ziger had been losing family and shelter since childhood, Kamui also lost his family and home upon his birth. His mother died from electrocution after giving birth to him, and the people around him completely refused to accept him, an anomaly. Thus, Kamui, like Ziger, began a wandering life from a very young age.
In one sense, they were [similar].
From childhood, constantly losing things. To survive, they started killing and eating dragons. Both even, for unknown reasons, learned some special ability—there were too many similarities between them. But the difference was, Ziger actively distanced himself from people, while Kamui was half-voluntarily, half-forcedly driven away from them.
"Hmph."
Ziger snorted coldly.
"If my fire is only good for boiling water, then your lightning can't even roast meat properly. What you cooked back then was all charcoal."
"Oh? And that lukewarm fire of yours that produced half-raw, half-cooked meat is any better? I felt sick for a whole day after eating it!"
"After forcing myself to eat that charcoal of yours, didn't I also throw up all night!"
"You dead ginger dare to complain?"
"Got a problem with that, shorty? You're allowed to complain about me?"
The two glared at each other with extreme disdain and dissatisfaction. Where their gazes met, it seemed like sparks flew, and the air suddenly filled with the smell of gunpowder.
This was also part of their routine. Due to the grudge formed during their first meeting, every subsequent encounter began with an argument. Both Ziger and Kamui were uneducated, illiterate individuals. Ziger was slightly better; Kamui truly hadn't read a single word.
So their arguments were, at best, childish quarrels akin to eight or nine-year-olds. Similarly, because he was slightly inferior to Ziger in the culture department, Kamui, often running out of words, was usually the first to break.
"You and your 'short' again... I'm not short, damn ginger!"
"Also, think about who ends up on the ground first every time? You're all talk, aren't you?"
"I think you're the one who's all talk!"
"Try me!"
"Let's see you try!"
*ZzzzBOOOM————————!*
The next instant, the childish quarrel directly escalated into a meaningless fight.
Like Ziger, who could control fire, Kamui also possessed his own unique ability, manifested as the power to control lightning. In just an instant, Kamui, wrapped in lightning, appeared before Ziger, his fist carrying a lightning-fast punch!
*Thud!*
Blocking the lightning-charged punch aimed at his head with his silver sword, the Silver Qi within it instantly froze a portion of the狂暴 lightning. Raising his right fist ignited with flames, Ziger met the lightning fist with a fiery punch head-on!
*Crack————!*
The frozen lightning shattered. The scorching impact sent Kamui, who had no leverage in mid-air, flying backward!
Landing nimbly, Kamui shook his scorching hand. "You bastard... seem to have gotten a bit stronger?"
"I have no interest in losing to a shorty."
"Who the hell are you calling shorty?!"
"You blind? Can't see I'm a head taller than you?"
*ZzzzBOOM!*
*BOOOOM!*
Lightning and flames scattered in all directions.
These two anomalies who had never seen eye to eye, disregarding all else, began an absurdly childish quarrel in the depths of the remote forest.