I, Viretta, Am Going to Hunt a Dragon

I didn't know where the horse had gone. I didn't know where I was.

I couldn't even tell where the dragon had fallen. The shockwave seemed to come from the right, but it could have been from the left. My mind was a mess.

"Are you okay?"

"Ugh... I'm fine."

Viretta's eyes shook violently. She almost fell into a panic but managed to hold on to her senses by worrying about Iola.

In that moment, she instinctively felt that if she let herself get overwhelmed, their chances of survival would be completely lost. The decision to not lose Iola here sharpened her focus.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes... I think I can. But, Viretta, are you... okay?"

Iola, pale as a ghost, panted as he spoke. Every time he spoke, cold sweat oozed from his forehead and neck.

Though he wasn't covered in blood, he clearly seemed badly injured. Viretta, half-risen, could guess what had happened.

Iola had been thrown from the horse and had shielded Viretta, causing significant injuries to his arms and body.

The question of how they had ended up tangled together on the horse didn’t matter. The important thing was that, due to the shockwave from the dragon crashing to the ground, they had been violently thrown and collided with the ground or trees.

"My shoulder and chest are a bit...," Iola mumbled in a low voice. As he spoke, his breathing became heavier, and his face grew paler. It seemed like at least one rib or an arm was broken.

It was frustrating enough to make him want to cry, but no tears came. Tears wouldn’t save either him or Viretta.

Viretta forced herself to rise and scan the surroundings.

They had ridden deep into the forest, and it was hard to tell the direction.

She knew that the area to the right was a complete mess with fallen trees, but whether it was east or west remained unclear.