Chapter 1

"Monster! Get out! Get out of here, this is no place for you!"

"Go back to your dirty, rotten black streets! That's where you belong, bastard!"

Rotten vegetable leaves, stinky eggs, and even excrement were hurled through the air.

They were all thrown at Nina, who could only cower behind a dilapidated wall, shivering.

Even if they didn't hit her, the stench lingered, but she... she had no choice.

Nina's eyes were almost closed, but they couldn't hide their peculiar nature.

She was a dragon descendant with almost no dragon blood.

But her prominent obsidian-like vertical dragon pupils caused her trouble in life.

Especially in this city, which had recently been ravaged by a fire dragon, humans with obvious dragon features were always unwelcome.

Of course, this list of unwelcome individuals did not include powerful dragon-descended warriors, mages, or sorcerers, or adventurers of that sort.

Nor did it include nobles who openly kept dragon-descended maids.

For example, dragon-descended maids with white dragon blood were relatively popular in the perpetually hot Karandu, as their bodies were always cool, like hugging a block of ice, but not cold.

Moreover, it was said that the experience was even more wonderful, though only those noble lords who had personally experienced it knew the details.

So, the only ones they could bully were weak and defenseless individuals like little Nina.

The residents' threats and intimidations didn't instill fear in Nina; she was already accustomed to them.

But what worried her was that she would go hungry again today.

If this city, known as the City of Freedom, didn't exist, she would have been driven out of the city and into the wilderness long ago.

The wilderness was not a good place; goblinoids, goblins, and gnomes were as common as rats in the sewers.

It was said that every year, the adventurers of the Karandu Adventurers' Guild brought back so many goblin, goblinoid, and gnome ears that they could fill the arena.

Nina hadn't been to the arena, but she had seen it from a distance while scavenging in the kitchen waste behind the Iron Furnace Tavern.

The walls were hundreds of feet high, taller than many Ninas combined.

One could imagine how terrifying the number of monsters must be to fill the arena with ears.

She leaned against the wall, waiting for the abusive residents to leave. Nina touched her slightly sunken stomach under her linen shirt, which was now growling in protest.

"Rumble~"

A not-so-pleasant sound, one that Nina hated to hear.

But when she peeked out, she saw idle children at the door, staring at her.

She could only turn her back to them and quickly slip away before the stones they threw reached her.

Nina didn't have to worry about them chasing her; the black streets were notorious even to the children from the countryside.

Since she couldn't enter the civilian area, she could only go home and think of a plan.

After all, in the black streets, a female creature wandering around without any protection would become prey to others.

Although Nina had already cut her silver hair with a stone, making it a short bob, and covered her fair face with mud and grime.

Her exposed arms, legs, and neck were also smeared with various dirt, making her look like a sickly, pale little boy.

Even so, Nina was still in danger.

After all, some people didn't mind little boys.

So, applying a new disguise before going out was a necessary task for her.

Otherwise, if the gangs in the black streets knew her true identity, she wouldn't be able to hide, no matter how well she tried.

Nina skillfully navigated through several courtyards, avoiding the areas where gangsters, thieves, or "golden fingers" often gathered.

Although the straight path home took no more than ten minutes, Nina, for safety, always took a more secluded route.

In Karandu, a defenseless girl under ten years old walking the black streets had a high chance of being caught in the crossfire.

Others didn't care about her condition; if she got in their way, they would simply cut her down.

The weak could only suffer.

Nina had seen all of this firsthand in the black streets.

Over the past year, she had seen many more things and learned from them.

She was a good student, as both Grandma Olana and Sister Celia had said.

But Grandma Olana had passed away, and the orphanage that had taken her in was demolished by a noble lord, who planned to turn it into a shop for the city's civilians to do business.

Sister Celia had left the orphanage when Nina was seven, adopted by a kind couple.

From a clumsy novice, Nina had become as agile as a rat in the black streets.

Soon, she returned to her home, a manhole cover that was long gone, leaving only a dark opening.

This was the only way home.

Karandu's sewers were vast and interconnected, like an underground city.

But the sewers were also home to many monsters, including common ratmen, swamp frogs, and sewer mud monsters.

It was said that these mud monsters were magical creatures formed from the accumulation of discarded materials by mages, and they were terrifying.

Even the toughest gangsters in the black streets would flee at the sight of one.

However, the darkness of the sewers was like daylight to Nina, thanks to her dragon-descended blood, which granted her night vision.

This allowed her to navigate the pitch-black sewers, avoiding the monsters and finding a safe spot, free from rats and cockroaches.

An abandoned sewer pipe, that was Nina's home.

It seemed to have been long neglected and unused, with no drainage or waste for a long time.

Nina had been living there for months, and nothing had come down the pipe.

Nina was back to sleep, as the civilian area closed off the tunnels to the black streets at night with iron-wood boards to prevent theft and robbery.

The tunnels would only open in the early morning, so she returned to sleep and prepare for the next day, when she would enter the civilian area and scavenge for food behind the Iron Furnace Tavern.

Thinking about her plan for the next day, Nina couldn't help but swallow her saliva. She skillfully navigated the maze-like sewers, avoiding areas with monster activity, though not entirely.

She chose to pass through the mud monster's territory, as these magical creatures were not aggressive towards humans unless provoked.

With her night vision, the chances of encountering one were minimal, and Nina was cautious.

After about seven or eight minutes, Nina passed through a corridor and a few turns.

She arrived at a regular pipe and skillfully climbed up.

The pipe was not large but could accommodate Nina's small frame with room to spare.

Once up, she skillfully retrieved her two "furniture" items from the pipe's corner: a blanket and a "pillow."

The blanket was found in a dry part of the sewer, brought back, and dried for many days to remove the smell of dead rats.

Nina sometimes wondered if the smell attracted the little creatures, who greeted her affectionately every morning.

As for the "pillow," it was actually an egg, larger than Nina's head.

Nina found this egg when she discovered the sewer entrance, initially thinking it might be edible.

But after several failed attempts to break it, and noticing the slight warmth it emitted, she found it very comfortable to hold.

So, she started sleeping with the egg.

It made her sleep better, kept her warm, and reminded her of the days in the orphanage when she would hug a large pillow and listen to Grandma Olana's stories.

It was said that such large eggs were dragon eggs.

But this egg had been away from its mother for a long time and could not hatch, as Grandma Olana had explained.

Dragon eggs needed a dragon mother to care for them to hatch.

However, today, when Nina held the egg, she noticed something was different.

The black-gray egg with flame patterns was trembling, as if something was inside.

The tremors were not large, like a heartbeat, but they made it difficult for Nina to sleep, causing her anxiety.

She couldn't sleep holding the egg, so for the sake of tomorrow's food, she had to give up her plan and lie flat on the slightly curved cement ground.

But soon, just as she was about to fall into a light sleep, she heard a sound, not a tremor but a cracking sound, like the walls of the orphanage being torn down, which she remembered clearly.

She suddenly woke up from her half-sleep and saw something unforgettable.

The black-gray egg, which had been motionless for many nights, now had cracks on its surface.

The cracks increased with the cracking sound.

Yes, cracks!

Then, under her night vision, the egg, larger than her head, cracked open.

A black head emerged from the egg.

It seemed to have come out too quickly, and a piece of eggshell still covered its dark golden vertical pupils, making the large head look somewhat cute.

But when Nina saw the dark golden vertical pupils, her heart felt as if it was being squeezed.

Adrenaline surged, and fear grew.

She couldn't hear her own breathing, as if she had stopped breathing.

This was...

A black dragon?