DBOFS 111🔐

Chapter 111

I hesitated for a moment.

“No… who is this person? Why do I have to meet them?”

The story had come so abruptly that I didn’t even have a chance to properly check the stone attached to my necklace—Adrian.

But before I could ask,

“Jade!”

Harris called out to me from a distance.

“Who’s that beside you? Come here.”

The situation with the Guide Guild hadn’t been properly resolved yet.

The furrowed brows of his expression seemed to reflect both caution and worry, as if he were expecting an enemy to appear from somewhere and attack me again.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Camillo’s hand grasped mine with some force.

It was unusual for her to hurry me like this, so without thinking further, I replied:

“I-I just went to ask for directions to the restroom! I’ll be back in a moment!”

Then I turned around and ran. I no longer heard any attempt to stop me.

“No wonder it’s hard to look Harris in the eye.”

It hit me sharply. There were so many things I hadn’t told him—not just that I wasn’t a guide.

“It’s lucky I bought some time.”

For example, Camillo at my side.

Thanks to being mistaken for having guided Alucas during the previous Godwin incident, I knew perfectly well that Harris was extremely wary of other ability users and didn’t want them near me.

“But I haven’t told him.”

I hadn’t said that I met an ability user like Camillo, that I was carrying out a secret jade-stealing project with her, or that I had once summoned my imprinted guardian, Adrian, during the process.

“I also didn’t tell him that it wasn’t my power that woke Harris when he lost consciousness…”

I realized it anew.

I wasn’t exactly an honest person with Harris, and from his perspective, it could easily look like deception.

“There’s too much to confess.”

I smiled bitterly. I hadn’t intended to deceive, but somehow I had increasingly started hiding things.

“Jade.”

Camillo, walking as if escorting me, transformed into another form in an instant and whispered:

“The matter is urgent, so I’ll report quickly.”

“Report?”

“You asked for an investigation regarding the fairies before, right?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

I had completely forgotten.

Camillo, as the head of the Information Guild, couldn’t leave the guild unattended for long and had left for the capital before me.

In the meantime, huge events had exploded one after another—Unknown Dungeon, the Duke’s shattered head, the mad dragon… Now that I think about it, it’s been three months since I last saw Camillo.

“I had some information myself, but to ensure the investigation was thorough, I recently infiltrated the Mage Tower.”

“…….”

Our Camillo really goes all out. She even dared to infiltrate the Mage Tower?

“Come to think of it, the first time we met was for her to secure information about me.”

A woman bold in front of information—truly deserving to be head of the Information Guild.

“Thanks to that, I also learned about the top-level secrets controlled by the Mage Tower master.”

Camillo stopped abruptly, turned to me, and said firmly:

“The fairies, that ancient race, are the origin of the Guides.”

“The origin of the Guides?”

Jade, bewildered, repeated the words without even looking at Camillo’s expression.

“What does that mean… Are you saying the fairies were the first Guides?”

“Similar, but not exactly.”

Camillo raised her hand, signaling silently that questions could wait, and continued:

“It’s more accurate to say they possessed power related to the Guides. According to the Mage Tower master’s research, Guides are frequently found among mixed-blood fairies.”

“…!”

Jade immediately thought of Adrian—the representative half-fairy Guide.

Also, when she had been falsely accused and the substitute Guides arrived in droves, their hair had been in all sorts of colors.

‘The characteristic of half-fairy blood is beautiful features and multicolored hair.’

How many experiments must the Mage Tower master have conducted to reach this conclusion? Jade felt a chill run down her spine.

“The 100% figure isn’t possible because fairy blood has already spread widely among humans,” Camillo continued.

“…So the blood is diluted?”

“Yes, it could be seen that way. You could even call it a sort of inheritance.”

She added that just as the fairy’s power passed to humans and manifested in Guides, the power of dragons, another ancient race, had passed down to humans as abilities, creating ability users.

“But unlike dragons, ability users, being limited by human bodies, seemed to need Guides even more desperately…”

“Wait a second.”

Overwhelmed by the flood of information, Jade pressed her temple and asked:

“So, fairies are the origin of Guides, dragons are the source of ability users. Does that mean dragons needed fairies like ability users need Guides?”

“Yes, though to a different degree.”

Even the mightiest dragon couldn’t be perfect as a hatchling or in its egg. Its physical body was fragile, but its power was overwhelming. The imbalance often caused hatchlings to be injured or killed.

“So, fairies would act like caregivers, watching over eggs or hatchlings and calming the imperfect power of dragons,” Camillo said gently.

“Just like the current relationship between ability users and Guides.”

“…!”

Jade opened her mouth in astonishment.

“So, fairies were essentially Guides for dragons?”

“Yes.”

Camillo nodded and added:

“But dragons, once grown, could control their power, so the relationship wasn’t as inseparable as between ability users and Guides. Still, considering past and future bonds, dragons maintained friendships with fairies.”

Jade groaned, recalling tales of dragons granting fairies access to their lairs and sharing treasures, never refusing their help.

“Ugh… my head hurts.”

The first thing that came to mind when thinking of dragons was the Unknown Dungeon incident.

‘Fairies are dragons’ trusted friends.’

No wonder they were said to be so.

“Additionally, fairies weren’t merely supportive like Guides; they also had significant offensive abilities to protect hatchlings. Mostly magical, but some had high physical strength too…”

“…!”

So that’s why Adrian could shoot so well! Jade marveled at the perfectly fitting details.

‘I really am a dual-core.’

Born with both offensive and calming powers, though the calming power was limited to dragons…

‘Hmm?’

The ruined form of dragons resembled Harris’ ability, the Void.

‘Maybe the Void was born from the corpses and lingering wills of dragons.’

The timing fits. Ancient beasts called the Void appeared only after dragons went extinct.

‘That might also explain why Harris possesses ancient magic.’

The puzzle pieces in her mind were falling into place.

If all of this was correct, then the fact that an imperfect Guide like me repeatedly calmed Harris could mean…

“Hello, Jade.”

“!”

Before she could think further, her waist was grabbed.

Looking up, Jade’s eyes widened.

Sun-kissed dark skin, large glossy chest muscles, golden ornaments emphasizing his form—a wild, strikingly handsome man was in front of her.

“Ah, Alucas?!”

By the time Jade regained composure, she was sitting on his solid thigh, looking up into his yellow eyes curved with satisfaction.

“Long time no see. Miss me?”

“W-What is this…!”

The person she was supposed to meet turned out to be Alucas.

Trembling with an illicit thrill, Jade’s hand was placed on his chest muscle, and he whispered:

“I missed you.”

“….”

Jade was speechless beneath the thumping power of his chest.

Well… she did kind of want to see him.

The Guide Guild was in chaos.

A scandalous mess involving the Godwin minor duke’s Guide, manipulations by the Guide Guild, and the princess’ misdeeds.

Since Dmiuard was young and others lacked authority, only Harris could manage it.

‘What a pain.’

Harris irritably took command. Predictable, yet still unpleasant.

‘The chances of a trick being played are high. If anything happens, it won’t be Harris, it’ll be me.’

‘I’m the best target anyway,’ Jade added with a casual smile.

‘Well, if it comes to that, let’s just take over the Guide Guild!’

‘Take over?’

‘Yes. Capture the relevant personnel and put our people in their place.’

‘Our people…’

“This is the Guide Guild…!”

Anella and Nate, summoned by Harris, looked around in surprise.

Having developed sedative potions, they had conflicts of interest with the Guide Guild, but now, by chance, they infiltrated the enemy’s base.

‘Not our people, but yours,’ Harris thought, assisting Jade’s plan.

Because of this incident, the Guide Guild could no longer block the trade of sedative potions.

Perhaps Jade could even become a major client within the guild.

In other words, it was beneficial to her. Harris’ hostile gaze softened.

It was no surprise that Jade had faced the insane princess today and fired her gun without fear.

Even in her utterly powerless days as a slave, she had defied authority and spoken freely before the previous duke.

‘She has that kind of nature.’

Then why did this same Jade become pale and silent in front of the manipulated Guide inspection?

As if something pierced her conscience.