Noah’s not coming back.
Kyle checked his watch in nervousness, unaware that he had just checked the time barely five seconds ago. It had been exactly forty-nine hours and thirty-seven minutes since Noah, along with Muell, departed from the cliff Kyle currently stood, waiting for their arrival. The date was June 6th, the day when the dealer from Yulem visited the Maobiana mine to smuggle the valuable ore. The appointment time was between six and seven o’clock at sunset. And now, the time was 6:10 p.m.
Noah hadn’t returned yet, and the time for the dealer to arrive was just around the corner. For two days, Kyle’s mind spun with immeasurable regrets. Should I have abandoned my work and followed you? he lamented.
Within forty-eight hours, Kyle led every single miner who was trapped in the cocoon out of the mine and immediately stormed into Culton’s office, arresting Donalian Culton, who was just crawling out of the closet with his hands tied behind him, and throwing him and his accomplices into a detention center at the Noviscosha Investigation Security Office. The temporary closure of the mine was a natural consequence.
Ignoring the astonishment of the branch manager who had already been briefed on his demotion, Kyle attached a transcript of all the suspected trafficking between the mine owner and Yulem, which was collected in Culton’s office, as well as testimony from the miners.
Thus, the ‘Noviscosha Miner’s Missing Case,’ which had been dedicated to him for a month and a half, finally reached an official conclusion. Of course, another case arose, bearing the title ‘Maobiana Mane Ore Smuggling Case,’ and it was classified.
Finally, after he appointed the head of the Noviscosha branch a member for the case, he returned to the cliff, but this time, through a mountain valley behind the mind, and not through the bottom of the lake. He also confirmed all the routes to Tauren, which the miners had testified to, and the temporary stations that were not in use.
It took Kye exactly forty-five hours to accomplish all those. When he arrived at the cliff that housed the dragon’s cradle, the sun was leaning completely west. But the woman with apricot waves and the dragon bearing the face of a child was yet to show up. Kyle ran his fingers through his hair, upset. I should have followed you, he thought.
Park Noah had no idea how ridiculous it was for a workaholic like him to even think of abandoning his duties to follow after a woman, wanting to take care of everything. If all his fellow investigators had heard of such a rumor, they wouldn’t be surprised. They wouldn’t believe it in the first place.
Kyle’s gaze alternately shifted from the watch on his wrist, the cliff, and the sky where Noah and the dragon disappeared two days ago. But his eyes then landed at the bottom of the mountain. Beneath, black smoke was rising among the thick bushes. It was smoke emitted by old-fashioned steam freight trains.
The dealer in Yulem had just arrived. Kyle straightened himself, frowning. The promised amount of Mane Ore to be handed over to the dealer had already been hidden under the cliff.
If things were as he planned, he would have met with Noah again and they would wait for the dealer together. However, as long as Noah and Muell were nowhere to be found, he could not move his feet away from the entrance to the cliff since he didn’t know when and how the two would return.
Frustrated, Kyle thrust his hand into his robe and reached for the holster on his waist. Without a sound, he pulled out a revolver and loaded it, and waited in silence. The black smoke was approaching, concealed by the bushes for a brief moment, and then reappeared. It takes half an hour to an hour for the train to reach its destination through the side road on the cliff, so there was still time…
A mix of anxiety and annoyance colored his voice. “Park Noah, where and what the hell are you doing?”
It was in the next moment that he felt a sense of deja vu. Kyle raised his head in reflex. In the distance, somewhere in the evening sky, slowly turning orange, a foreign black dot was drawing a circle. The dot grew bigger and bigger; as big as a fist before a few seconds had passed, and gradually revealed its shape.
A sense of relief and urgency enveloped Kyle at the same time. He glanced down at the bottom of the side road, clenching his jaw. He had seen the dealer arrive, and it would be a waste if they retreated upon seeing a dragon. Kyle clicked his tongue, gripping his revolver. The humongous black dragon hovered over the sunset in the background. However, the figure of a woman riding behind the dragon’s head was not seen yet.
However, it didn’t matter which side arrived first. Two of Yulem’s dealers didn’t intend to take care of themselves anyway. The flashing gunpoint of Kyle’s revolver aimed precisely at the steep corner of the side road. Without motion, Kyle pointed his muzzle in the air, estimating where the thighs and the knees of an average adult man could be. A faint gust of wind caused by the dragon’s wings blew off the hood of his robe. At the same time, a red mark appeared on the translucent screen that floated on his revolver.
Then, the target reached the center of the mark. As soon as a man in a black robe emerged around the corner of the cliff, Kyle pulled the trigger. Bang! Of course, his estimation proved to be correct. The man instantly collapsed to the ground with an abrupt scream, an unbearable pain on his thigh. There was a small disturbance behind the corner. The dealers that followed must be agitated to witness a colleague’s injury.
Kyle sneaked a glimpse to his side and confirmed that the dragon was slowly landing on the huge cradle above the cliff. Seeing that Muell’s condition was prime, he assumed Noah seemed to have no problem either. Only then did the nervousness that caused his heart to beat unsteady faded away.
“Come down here, Mu.”