Volume 1, Prologue  

Haruga Haruomi's earliest memory was that of a "dragon."

A dragon soaring through the sky.

Its reptilian head, torso and limbs resembled those of lizards.

A snake for a tail. The pair of outspread wings resembled those of bats. Its scales were the color of steel.

The dragon leisurely stretched out its great wings and flew in the blue sky. With a body length of roughly six or seven meters, this should be quite a typical size for a lesser dragon.

—This was the earliest memory carved in the heart and mind of young Haruga Haruomi, aka Hal.

It was also one of the few memories he could recall from early childhood. But apart from Hal, there were probably many other boys and girls with similar memories.

The return of the dragons had taken place more than twenty years ago.

For those born in the ensuing generation, dragons were nothing rare. But no matter how much time passed, this type of creature still remained impressive as ever.

Be that as it may, Hal's life had always been intimately involved with these transcendent creatures.

Back when he was still a young child, Hal was already frequently playing on his father's notebook computer.

Behind the back of the father who was always immersed in his "work" materials—poring over piles of old and dust-laden books, intently reading some sort of literature—Hal was always playing on the computer by himself. He would occupy his time by visiting video websites over the internet.

All of the videos bookmarked by his father were related to dragons.

The Day Dragons Returned: depicting the spectacle of dragons awakening from the deep sea where mankind had never ventured, taking to the skies and sweeping across the entire world. Dragons Strike for the First Time: the returning dragons took decisive action and launched aerial assaults against all nations.

Most classic of all was Here Comes HANNIBAL the Red Dragon!

This was live footage of a dragon—the self-styled "King of Dragons"—that had flown to New York's Rockefeller Center and delivered a speech in perfect English(!) to propose a draft policy regarding "orderly coexistence between dragonkind and earthlings"—

Hal had grown up surrounded by this type of information.

But most frequently of all, young Hal mainly watched Japanese animation and television dramas.

His father was often traveling all over the world on "business trips." Due to frequently living in various countries, the internet became one of their few connections to their homeland of Japan.

Hal's nickname naturally arose during this period.

Even in contemporary Japan, old-fashioned names like "Haruga Haruomi" had become quite rare.

Foreigners capable of pronouncing it properly were virtually nonexistent. They all preferred to call him "Hal" directly.

As a side note, Hal once asked his father whether the double-"Haru" alliteration was intentional. His father ended up replying instantly with a completely serious expression, saying that "toying with their child's name is one of the few privileges enjoyed by parents."

This was the kind of father he grew up with, just the two of them.

No sooner had they stayed in Indonesia's Jakarta for six months when they immediately went to live in Romania's Bra?ov for a year. Then after stopping at the Kamchatka Peninsula for four months, they moved to Tskhinvali in Georgia. This time, they stayed relatively longer, for two years—This was the kind of vagabond lifestyle that Hal had always lived.

However, when Hal was twelve years old...

After a long absence, he and his father finally returned to Tokyo New Town to live at "their own home."

Unlike the past, the reason for their stay was not "work."

His father had fallen critically ill. In order to nurse his illness, the two of them had returned to Hal's birthplace. However, this period of life ended rather quickly.

Unable to recover from the severe illness, Hal's father passed away six months after returning to Tokyo.

Consequently, Hal became an orphan at the tender age of twelve.

Nevertheless, Hal abandoned the options of turning to distant relatives or orphanages for help, instead deciding to resume his vagabond lifestyle.

By this point, adjusting himself to settled life and cohabitation would be more of a bothersome challenge instead.

The inheritance from his father proved to be handy on this occasion.

But instead of money, it was knowledge. Thanks to staying by his father's side throughout the years, Hal understood his father's "work" very well. Hence he decided to inherit the family business.

Due to the uniqueness of the profession, Hal's young age fortunately did not pose any problems.

Like his father, Hal "worked" in various countries for a few years—

Then just as he was about to turn sixteen, Hal was confronted with a dilemma. Due to a certain reason, he was compelled to return to his homeland of Tokyo.