A gust of cold wind swept across the human palace, the sky was still dark blue where the sunlight had not yet shown itself.

The sound of fast footsteps echoed along the palace road that surrounded it, those fast footsteps came from Alex who was running around the palace, sweat poured over his entire body and the jacket he wore.

His warm breath turned into vapor in the cold air, he tried to rebuild his physical strength after only fighting for a short period of time.

His heart beat fast with every step, his skin heated up as if almost releasing steam, several times he greeted the servants who were preparing in the morning, he also sometimes crossed paths with the palace guards. They were already used to seeing Alex running around the palace in the early morning.

That day was the same as usual when he ran after several days, but something made it different, his black eyes unconsciously glanced toward the pavilion in the garden behind the palace.

There, the human king was sitting alone while drinking tea, he only looked at the garden with an empty gaze, he only wore a white shirt in the cold weather, he also still wore a hearing aid.

Alex stopped and looked at the king from afar, he tilted his head without realizing it.

"What is His Majesty doing?..." Alex whispered to himself.

He then walked closer to the pavilion where the king was sitting, of course he walked slowly which made the king notice him first.

The king smiled faintly when he realized Alex was approaching him, he saw Alex who was already sweating in the morning, he spoke when Alex was getting closer.

"You are quite diligent, aren’t you?..."

Alex chuckled, he did not sit with the king, he only stood looking at him.

"I am rebuilding the foundation of my body’s strength..."

The human king nodded, the dark lines under his eyes were clearly visible, he also yawned occasionally. Alex who saw that immediately asked out of curiosity. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"What are you doing, Your Majesty? Isn’t today the day of the leaders’ meeting?"

The human king sighed, he massaged the back of his neck that felt sore.

"That’s right....today is the day of the leaders’ meeting..."

Alex, whose expression still showed confusion, asked again to satisfy his curiosity.

"Then why is Your Majesty not resting or sleeping?..."

The human king leaned his head on his hand that touched his cheek, he smiled tiredly.

"Because of the meeting..."

Alex only stared blankly after hearing the king’s answer, Alex’s blank expression made the king chuckle, he sighed and stretched his body.

"Just come and see later if you are curious...."

Alex scratched his head that was not itchy, he nodded in understanding.

"Alright....I will come, I am curious about you, Your Majesty...."

The king nodded, while Alex excused himself from him, he returned to running around the palace, he ran several times until the dark blue sky that had become the roof of the human palace slowly turned gray, then slowly the first sunlight of the day appeared.

The servants who were previously only a few, now began to appear doing their respective tasks, busyness occurred in the palace as usual, and Alex who had finished his morning run and breakfast began to walk through the corridors of the palace.

He only saw the palace activities as usual, now he and his family had become more accustomed to the busyness of the palace.

A warm breeze hit him from the open windows in the corridor, his loose black shirt was pushed to stick to his skin, his tired expression now began to return to normal, he walked while looking outside through the open windows.

He turned left at the end of the corridor which made him lose the view outside the window, but his attention was diverted by someone.

In front of him, a girl walked wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and long black pants, her dark red hair tied in a ponytail swayed with each step.

Alex approached Katarina which made Katarina turn toward him.

"I thought you were already there? As a princess, shouldn’t you arrive earlier?"

Katarina yawned at Alex’s question, she rubbed her blue eyes that looked slightly watery.

"I just woke up....besides, what’s the point of coming in a hurry?"

One of Alex’s eyebrows rose, he tilted his head in confusion.

"Isn’t your father going to leave? The journey is quite far, right?"

Katarina chuckled, she nodded agreeing with Alex’s words, their steps were now almost at the double wooden door at the end of the corridor.

"My father and Mira will not go anywhere....so there is no need to prepare anything."

Alex’s mouth opened slightly because of Katarina’s answer, Alex’s blank expression made Katarina chuckle, they finally arrived and Katarina held the handle of the wooden door at the end of the corridor while looking at Alex.

"They technically will not go anywhere, but they will still attend that meeting..."

Katarina immediately opened the wooden door to directly show what she meant.

Alex looked at the contents of the room in one part of the palace, the room was filled with people he did not know, they were talking among themselves as if they had their own world, some were sitting on long chairs, some were standing in the corners of the room, they were scattered everywhere.

Meanwhile, the most striking was the king, he wore a magnificent red robe, his dark red hair was neatly combed, but his face showed exhaustion as if he could fall asleep at any time.

The king was surrounded by three leaders of great families, they wore their white robes.

But there was one other figure accompanying them who was carving a symbol on the back of the king’s hand, that figure wore a white robe the same as the family leaders, but above his black hair a pair of brown horns stood out.

Alex’s black eyes blinked, he had never seen a figure with horns before except demons.

Katarina who noticed Alex’s confusion only nudged him, she whispered to Alex as they stood in the corner of the room.

"That is a dragon if you are confused...."

Alex looked at Katarina in the middle of the busy room, even the presence of the princess did not distract them.

"Wow I see it for the first time..."

Katarina sighed, she leaned against the wall of the room.

"Seriously, have you never seen a dragon’s form? It should be in your smart bracelet..."

Alex shook his head with no expression.

"I never thought of checking a dragon’s form....I thought they were just big, winged, and breathe fire..."

Katarina shook her head, she almost laughed in the middle of the crowded room.

"You are indeed strange..."

Their gazes were suddenly diverted by one of the doors that opened inside the room, there Mira came out of that room, she wore a black dress with a black outer, her golden eyes showed exhaustion.

But the exhaustion in her eyes suddenly disappeared when she saw Alex and Katarina leaning against the wall.

She smiled at them both, especially at Alex, she showed the back of her hand that already had a white symbol drawn, she moved her fingers as if showing it off.

Alex and Katarina smiled seeing Mira, they moved their hands as a response to Mira who was showing the symbol on her hand.

Mira wanted to approach them but the king’s voice echoed in the room stopping her, the king’s voice also stopped the conversations of others, everyone in the room looked at the king.

"Alright...my meeting with the others will begin soon..." everyone listened to his words in silence.

"After the meeting is finished, we will begin our own meeting....so, rest first before we get stressed later..."

Everyone chuckled hearing the king’s words, but they did not refuse his request.

The king then looked at Mira which made Mira nod, she immediately went back into her room.

The king was also guided into his own room.

Alex who felt confused seeing that immediately whispered to Katarina.

"Why are they going into the room?..."

Katarina scratched her eyebrow, she whispered to Alex.

"They will fall asleep..." Alex’s black eyes widened, he became even more confused about what Katarina meant.

Meanwhile inside one of the rooms, Mira immediately lay down on the large bed in that room.

Her body that was tense because she had not slept all night immediately felt comfortable when her back touched the softness of the mattress.

Her eyes looked at the ceiling of the room, she stayed silent for a while, but soon her eyes blinked several times.

She sighed, her drowsiness could no longer be held back, she also did not try to fight it again, slowly her golden eyes disappeared covered by her eyelids.

After some time, the white symbol drawn on the back of Mira’s hand began to glow, its light made Mira’s eyebrows twitch.

She only saw endless darkness when her eyes were closed, she just floated aimlessly, but a white light suddenly appeared blinding her eyes.

Mira covered her vision with both hands, and without her realizing it the white light swallowed her, Mira could not move for a moment.

But suddenly she felt something on the soles of her feet, she felt the sensation of stepping on something. Mira immediately removed her hands that covered her face, her eyes blinked several times to see what was in front of her.

At the same time, a fresh breeze hit her followed by the chirping of birds that added to the peace.

Warm light touched Mira’s skin, she looked up to see it, there she saw the lush leaves of trees trying to cover the sunlight.

Mira immediately looked around in confusion, because she realized she had moved to a strange place from the palace room, she swallowed her saliva because she could not distinguish whether it was reality or not, because earlier she had fallen asleep.

In the middle of her confusion, a soft voice startled her from behind, she turned toward the source of the voice, there the human king walked with the same condition as before.

"Are you surprised, Mira?..."

Mira nodded quickly, while the king smiled faintly, he sighed.

"I was also surprised the first time I came here..." the king wanted to continue, but a woman’s voice interrupted him which made both of them turn toward the dense trees.

"Yes...you looked like you were about to wet yourself the first time you came." An adult woman appeared, her thick golden hair flowed to her waist, her golden tiger eyes looked at the human king and Mira, her tiger ears on top of her head twitched, while her golden tiger tail swayed behind her body, she was Saint Azara.

She wore a thin white cloth that covered part of her lower body, and the upper part of her body, her lean muscles were visible on her stomach and thighs, she also wore a red robe the same as the human king, her height of two meters made the human king and Mira have to look up slightly.

The human king clicked his tongue in response, he looked at Saint Azara from head to toe.

"Seriously? You are wearing clothes like that again for our meeting?"

Saint Azara’s face became confused, she raised both of her shoulders as if not bothered by the clothes she wore.

"What’s wrong with it? It’s up to me what I want to wear!"

The human king sighed, he massaged his forehead.

"You really are a shameless golden cat..."

Saint Azara almost got carried away by emotion, she pointed at the human king, but she stopped when she saw the hearing aid worn by the king.

"Ahh....you are a bit sensitive after being beaten by that old creature..." Saint Azara chuckled afterward as if she found something new to mock the human king.

The human king’s eyebrows twitched hearing Saint Azara’s words while he clenched his fist, the atmosphere became heavy especially for Mira who was seeing the personal interaction of the leaders for the first time.

But everything was not as she expected, her golden eyes instead saw an unexpected warmth, even after they were emotional and mocked each other, they hugged like old friends who had not met for a long time.

The human king patted Saint Azara’s shoulder, and so did she, they chuckled.

"It has been a long time, golden cat..."

Saint Azara sighed, she released her hug and smiled.

"It’s better not to meet too often, right? We will be troubled if we meet too often..."

The human king nodded and chuckled, meanwhile Saint Azara looked toward Mira who was just standing awkwardly.

Saint Azara approached her, she extended her hand and smiled.

"Welcome....Mira, the discoverer of the demon energy potion..."

Mira swallowed her saliva, she shifted her gaze because she hesitated to meet Saint Azara’s intense gaze, she felt pressure that should not belong to her.

But Saint Azara who saw Mira a bit pressured, immediately held her hand which made them shake hands, they looked at each other.

"Are you nervous?..."

Mira nodded hearing Saint Azara’s question.

Meanwhile Saint Azara nodded and patted Mira’s shoulder.

"Don’t be too nervous....no one will bite you. Instead you are the guest of honor....so just enjoy the praise and return with responsibility."

Mira swallowed her saliva, she became even more nervous after hearing the encouraging words from Saint Azara.

The human king sighed while shaking his head hearing the bad advice from Saint Azara.

He wanted to speak but the voice of an old man distracted him, as well as Saint Azara and Mira.

"You are quite relaxed for someone who lost his hearing, aren’t you...."

From within the dense trees appeared a short figure, he wore a red robe the same as Saint Azara and the human king, his green hair that had begun to turn white flowed, his beard was neatly braided down to his chest, while his brown eyes looked at the three of them, he was the dwarf king.

But another figure appeared from behind the dwarf king, she was an adult woman who wore the same red robe as the leaders, she wore a silver dress, her ears were long and pointed upward, her bright purple hair swayed as she walked, her green eyes looked at the others with a strange gaze, she was the elf queen.

Saint Azara and the human king who saw her arrival immediately turned around and ran out of the forest. Meanwhile the dwarf king who had just realized the elf queen was behind him also ran quickly with his short legs.

They left Mira who only stood still looking at the elf queen, while the elf queen shouted at them who were running away leaving her.

"Where are you going, my dears!!"

The elf queen began to chase them while Mira did not know what she should do when seeing the leaders chasing each other like children.

She only sighed and followed them slowly, but suddenly Mira felt something watching her from within the forest, she shivered without knowing what it was, and she began to run chasing the leaders.