Old Abel looked utterly bewildered.

What did this have to do with him... How could eating pine nuts lead to being shot?!

Barnett got angry, slapped the table, stood up, and stepped onto the bar stool.

"What are you laughing at! Do I look like I'm joking?"

The adventurer with a palm print on his face looked up, grinning from ear to ear.

"Then tell us what happened,"

"Yeah, tell us, I'm quite curious what a giant dragon looks like."

The people nearby started to egg him on.

Already boasting a bit, Barnett couldn't stand the crowd's urging and ended up narrating his legendary experience.

"At that time, my companions and I had just come out of the labyrinth when suddenly we heard a huge bang from the north, so we climbed up an open hill... And then guess what I saw? A giant dragon! A real giant dragon!"

"That fellow must have been twenty or thirty meters high... maybe even forty meters, anyway, its head was above the pine trees! Its wings were like the sails of a windmill! I don't know who the unlucky person was that angered it, but it was breathing fire from its mouth, its tail was lashing everywhere, several pine trees were sent flying!"

The crowd listened with rapt attention.

This guy's storytelling sounded a bit interesting; it didn't seem made up on the spot.

When Barnett finished speaking, an adventurer asked.

"So, you were quite far away?"

"Not that far... around five or six hundred meters, a spark nearly singed my hair." After downing a swig of beer, Barnett blushed, slightly embarrassed to have told a lie, and quickly glossed over it, "That's not the point! Right! I saw a person on its back! That's what I wanted to tell you about!"

The crowd gasped in astonishment.

"A person?!"

"Riding on the dragon's back?!"

"Could it be a Dragon Knight?!"

Andy, who was eavesdropping, also opened his mouth wide, not even noticing that his drummer, harpist, and piper had all stopped playing.

Barnett closed his eyes tightly, furrowing his brow as if trying hard to remember what happened, and finally spoke with certainty.

"No... no, that person was riding a big spider, it seemed like he was fighting the giant dragon! Rather than calling him a Dragon Knight... it's more like he was the legendary Dragon Hunter! He grabbed the dragon by the neck and wrestled with it for a while, it was a fierce battle, the sky and earth changed color... and then the dragon seemed to be subdued by him."

There was apparently another person there, but he couldn't see clearly, it was just a flash and even his companions didn't remember it.

But that was not the point.

The point was the fellow riding the spider, whom he definitely saw, and he seemed to be the legendary man.

Why?

No reason.

There are no wild powerhouses in this world; either you are chosen by the emperor as a noble or selected by Saint Sis as a Chosen One.

Anyway, he didn't believe any of the boozers present were Dragon Hunters, and Duke Campbell's mount was definitely not a spider from the mountains.

Considering the young appearance and the godlike agility, the recent legend in these parts could only be that guy known as the "Flame King".

Born from a land of magma eruptions, it made sense that he was immune to Dragon Breath.

And the priests in Silver Pine Town said it's true, so if this legend isn't about the Flame King, it can only be attributed to him.

After hearing the man's tale, everyone was shocked by such a legendary experience.

"Subdued the giant dragon..."

"How powerful must he be?!"

"Diamond? No... maybe he's on par with Duke Campbell!"

Barnett shook his head with a complex expression, took a sip of the beer the crowd had offered him to moisten his throat, and then continued.

"I'm not sure, but that guy was terrifyingly strong, seemed like with one slap he knocked the dragon unconscious or something... Honestly, seeing a dragon like that, my legs went soft, let alone charging at it, I really don't know how he mustered the courage."

An adventurer sitting next to him whispered.

"Maybe he's seen even more terrifying creatures than that in the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range."

"Perhaps, so I think he's got to be the Flame King," Barnett paused and then continued somewhat regretfully, "It's just that the fire was too intense there, smoke everywhere, burnt trees... and then rain started to fall, fog all over the mountain forest, I couldn't see much more."

"When we crossed the river and got near to have a proper look, a group of militia from the town had already taken control of the area. To avoid trouble, we didn't continue... Oh, and if you don't believe me, just ask someone from the security department."

His definitive tone left no room for doubt.

The crowd murmured to each other, still astonished by some of the details.

"Why would someone use a spider as a mount?"

"There are plenty of insect-type demons in the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range and labyrinth... maybe it's someone living in the mountains?"

"There is nothing in this world that Holy Light cannot enlighten, whether human or demon."

"..."

Listening to the crowd's discussion, Barnett felt a touch of pride in his heart.

Although his tale was watered down, his decision to not leave the place was genuine.

Why had the dragon suddenly descended upon Silver Pine Forest?

Why had the adventurer guild suddenly raised the commission weight level of Silver Pine Town?

There were also rumors... that the Demon King was back.

Duke Campbell was ill, a new Chosen One had just emerged in the frontier of Thunder County... His name was the Flame King.

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