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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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This was my first time warping in this life, but since I had done it a few times in my previous life, I was able to land relatively stably and arrive.
Eccentric whistled at me, saying I was skilled, and pointed out the direction of the Dragon’s Boundary.
“Aren’t you going back?”
“The request fee includes bringing you to Elgrid.”
Did Elise take care of that too?
Although it was an unintended companion, just the fact that he could use warping made it worthwhile to have him around.
The Gods’ Monument, standing twice as tall as me.
The monument, densely inscribed with an unknown language, was considered a rare artifact, believed to be the language of the gods, but…
After glancing at it once, I immediately headed in the direction Eccentric had pointed.
“I’m going to go a bit fast. Keep up well.”
“Ha, I may look like this, but I have solid battle muscles and do physical training every day. Don’t take me for a mage who’s just buried in research.”
Eccentric spoke sharply, but I didn’t give much of a response and immediately dashed forward.
And 5 minutes later…
“Huff, huff! Wait! W-Wait a minute! Slow down a bit!”
Eccentric was panting for breath after running so little. I frowned, thinking it would be troublesome if he was in this state after just running this much, so Eccentric eventually touched his body and manipulated mana.
“To think I’d have to use physical enhancement magic for movement.”
“If you do that, will you be okay running like before?”
“No, I think you still need to go a bit slower…”
Eccentric spoke as if whining rather than being considerate, so I got annoyed and just told him to follow at his own pace and ran ahead alone.
I could hear Eccentric shouting something absurd behind me.
“You’re making me run like this? I’m going to run off with the money!”
Go ahead and try if you can.
Not only would his reputation as a mercenary hit rock bottom, but he would also be persistently tracked by Elise.
Having already experienced how tenacious she could be, it made my teeth chatter.
As I kept running, signboards started appearing, warning not to approach as it was near the Dragon’s Boundary.
Threatening phrases stating that the kingdom could not take responsibility if the boundary was crossed.
The more warning signs I saw, the more strength I put into my legs, pushing forward even faster.
And finally, I arrived at the Dragon’s Boundary.
I had heard that neither humans nor dragonkin had good feelings towards each other, so even if they saw each other, they would just spit and ignore each other.
They were wary of each other across a high fence, not even wanting to make contact.
However, when I arrived at a section of the long stretch of fence, I could see humans and dragonkin engaged in a war of nerves across it.
There weren’t that many of them.
Three humans and two dragonkin.
The dragonkin side seemed to be simply on guard duty, but the human side was different.
Among the guardians protecting the fence, an elderly man who seemed to have a fairly high rank was banging on the iron fence and shouting.
“What the hell did you guys do to make my soldiers turn out like that!”
The man was shouting aggressively, his face turning bright red, but the dragonkin responded with a snort.
“If they became dragonkin, isn’t that a gain? For filthy and uncivilized humans like you to become dragonkin, you should be grateful from the human perspective.”
“Ugh, disgusting. For humans to become dragonkin.”
“Moreover, human, if you touch the fence one more time, my claws will be buried in your eye sockets that instant, so keep that in mind, I swear on the name of Lord Shakallim.”
“You bastards!”
The man, who seemed to be the captain of the guards, burst out in anger, but he didn’t touch the fence.
Shakallim.
Among the dragons worshipped by the dragonkin, he was known as the legendary blue dragon. For them, dragons were no different from gods, so an oath made in his name carried exceptional weight.
If he touched the fence again, the dragonkin would really cross over and gouge out the captain’s eyes.
Even if it meant his own death.
“If you guys act like this, we have no choice but to report it to the kingdom. I’m saying let’s resolve this nicely!”
This time, he tried to persuade them, but the dragonkin laughed again.
“How dare you insects talk about resolving this?”
“Try kneeling or begging, that might be a bit more entertaining to watch.”
“Grr…”
Not only the captain but also the other two guards standing behind him seemed to have a tingling sensation in the back of their heads due to anger, but they couldn’t come on stronger.
“Yeah, it wasn’t just my sister.”
I intervened after listening to the conversation from behind, and instantly, the gazes of both humans and dragonkin were drawn to me.
Among them, the captain made a peculiar expression upon seeing my face and clapped his hands, shouting.
“Diana McLean?”
“I’m her younger brother.”
“Ah! I see! You look just like her.”
But the joy was short-lived as he seemed to have guessed why I had come.
“Don’t tell me, Diana too…?”
“She’s turning into a dragonkin. She’s currently hospitalized, and I came here because it seemed the problem was being here, but it seems it’s not just my sister.”
“Ahem.”
The captain, glancing at the dragonkin, slowly took me to the back.
“That’s right. Among our guards, two of them are also turning into dragonkin. We haven’t reported it to the royal family yet, but…”
“Why?”
When I frowned and asked why they weren’t immediately reporting it to the Frisia Kingdom, the captain looked around and sighed, answering.
“It could lead to war.”
“…”
“If the story spreads that they used chemical weapons and experimented on our soldiers, the Frisia Kingdom can’t just sit still.”
If the kingdom was attacked first and did nothing, it would make the other side look down on them even more.
Regardless of their inner thoughts, they would have to react intensely on the outside.
“Are you afraid of war with the dragonkin?”
“It’s not the dragonkin, it’s war that I’m afraid of. I directly participated in the war with the Bagrid Kingdom. War… should never happen for any reason.”
I could see the wrinkles deepening around his eyes. It seemed he had his own trauma and pain, so he wanted to end it on his own terms if possible.
I also knew the cruelty of war.
I had witnessed a massacre that couldn’t even be called a war with my own eyes, experienced it with my skin, and eventually became its final victim.
I didn’t want to see such a sight either, but…
“So you’re just going to stand here and watch?”
“…”
The captain couldn’t say anything. In his mind, the weight of a war between the kingdom and the dragonkin was probably heavier than the lives of my sister and the two soldiers.
I understood.
I understood, but…
My current state wasn’t in the mood to accept that.
“Huff! Huff!”
I could see Eccentric finally catching up in the distance.
Seeing him riding a horse he had borrowed from somewhere, catching his breath, I felt a bit sorry.
‘He’ll have a hard time because of me.’
I loosened my body and walked towards the fence.
“What, is he a kid?”
“I can’t tell exactly how old humans are just by looking at them.”
Themselves…
“I heard that if you trespass, the jurisdiction over that person is transferred to the dragonkin side. Is that right?”
“Jurisdiction? I don’t know about that, but the moment you cross over, we can tear you to death, eat you, torture you, and you humans can’t say anything to us.”
“Why? Do you want to come over?”
The dragonkin giggled and laughed.
The moment one crossed the fence, the kingdom’s protection disappeared, and one became no different from a wild boar roaming the mountains in the eyes of the dragonkin.
This applied to the dragonkin as well.
If a dragonkin crossed into human territory, the captain of the guards could execute them immediately at his discretion.
Just by crossing a single fence, one’s life and death were handed over to the other race, and one became a beast without even the minimum human rights.
Watching the dragonkin giggling, I caught my breath and abruptly kicked the fence.
With a screeching sound, the fence tilted and fell over.
“Huh? Huh?”
“Crazy bastard!”
The guards were surprised and cursed, and the dragonkin nearly got crushed by the falling fence.
Not missing that opportunity, I stepped onto the dragonkin’s land and slowly drew my sword.
I had been trying hard to endure it.
When talking to Rin at the hospital.
When I met Eccentric with Elise’s help.
I realized that I had been enduring with what I thought was quite superhuman patience until now, as the floodgates of my emotions had opened.
“I have only one demand.”
This was a kind of guilt.
“My sister is turning into a dragonkin. About this…”
Perhaps sensing the thick yet chilling bloodlust contained within my calm demeanor, the dragonkin raised their spears with startled expressions.
I sincerely hoped and wished for them.
Whether the Tudogs were involved or the dragonkin had plotted something.
“You need to know everything.”
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to stop me.
***
In a small hut in Yggdrasil.
Numerous skilled elves were nursing a young girl, but to no avail.
Along with a high fever, small horns protruding from her forehead, roughening skin, and even the bones of her wings starting to protrude.
The girl, who had been playing in the forest a few days ago, suddenly collapsed and was rescued by her friends.
Since then, they had been treating her with medicine, magic, folk remedies, and more.
It was a culmination of the elves’ centuries of knowledge, but it had no effect.
Was it even correct to call this a sickness in the first place?
The girl was “changing.”
“Dragonkin, right?”
At Eris’ words, which sounded like a monologue, the Elf Queen, holding the girl’s hand, nodded slightly.
“Yes, it seems so.”
Starting from the horns on her forehead to the wings that were said to grow only on special individuals among the dragonkin, signs of their emergence began to appear on her back.
An elf turning into a dragonkin was a phenomenon that even the long-lived Elf Queen was witnessing for the first time, so she didn’t know how to deal with it.
“…”
In the end, the guardian of Yggdrasil slowly picked up her sword and staff.
Not only the Elf Queen but also Serdi, the little elf who worked as Eris’ housekeeper, was startled and looked at Eris.
But her expression and eyes already held determination.
“E-Eris?”
“Are you going?”
Serdi and the Elf Queen asked simultaneously, and Eris firmly nodded.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
To save the little girl.
The guardian of Yggdrasil began heading towards the land of dragons.
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