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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“I need to see you face to face.”
-You’re just curious about my condition. I don’t wish to show you my unsightly, decapitated form.
He had already seen it, but the dragon seemed to disagree.
-It’s unpleasant enough that you saw me while I was slumbering. It’s only natural that I would find it even more unpleasant to be seen in such a state while awake.
It seemed to be both offended and embarrassed.
However, he didn’t care about the dragon’s feelings.
‘It claims to be displeased, yet it doesn’t stop me. Does that mean it can only talk?’
While the dragon didn’t seem hostile, it hadn’t tried to prevent him from approaching.
Perhaps it truly was incapable of doing anything else.
-You insist on coming, despite my words.
The dragon’s corpse looked the same as before.
Despite its awakened consciousness, its dull eyes remained unfocused, and its severed head hadn’t reattached itself.
-Are you satisfied now that you’ve confirmed I haven’t changed?
“Somewhat.”
He looked into its cloudy eyes and said,
“Your soul is in your heart, so even your eyes haven’t regained their light.”
-Indeed. However, simply being attached to my body doesn’t mean I can move.
That was unexpected. He wondered why it had chosen to survive in such a state if it couldn’t move at all.
He asked the dragon directly, and it replied in an irritated tone.
-With my head severed, my heart was the only vessel left to contain my soul. I knew this would happen, but I had no choice.”
“Why did you choose to survive in such a form?”
-I still have things to do. I couldn’t simply die.
“Things to do?”
-Yes.
After a moment of silence, the dragon spoke.
-Human, can you tell me about the current state of the continent?
-As I said, I have things to do. That’s why I clung to life in this pathetic state. As the last Guardian Dragon, I must fulfill my final duty.
The dragon spoke with a mixture of resignation and urgency.
“What is this duty of yours?”
-To protect this dimension, this continent.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
-I understand your confusion. Much time has passed since I last saw the outside world. Tell me about the state of the continent.
While he didn’t understand, the dragon seemed desperate.
While the situation outside wasn’t good and he didn’t have much time, he wasn’t completely pressed, so he decided to hear the dragon out.
“Don’t just ask me to tell you about the continent. What specifically do you want to know?”
-I’d like to hear everything, but if I had to choose, I want to know about the Dragonians, the elves, the Church of Light, and the warlocks.
“Dragonians?”
He could tell the dragon about most things, but he knew very little about Dragonians…
-Do you know something?
“Ah… well, I heard something, but I’m not sure how accurate it is…”
He had heard it from his former master, but it had been a passing comment.
“The Demihuman Alliance… currently, the continent is divided into three major powers: the Holy Empire, the Demihuman Alliance, and the Six-Kingdom Alliance. I vaguely recall hearing that the leader of the Demihuman Alliance is a descendant of dragons.”
-Are the elves part of the Demihuman Alliance?
-If that’s the case, then it’s probably true. I see… they’ve established themselves as a major power.
The dragon murmured, its voice tinged with a strange wistfulness.
-Then the Holy Empire must be the Church of Light.
The dragon spoke with certainty, and he nodded.
“That’s right. And the warlocks… well, they’re practically extinct. There’s a group called the Black Star in the south, but they’re ostracized and persecuted.”
-…The Black Star still exists?
“You know about the Black Star?”
-Of course.
The dragon’s voice turned cold.
-Dogs of the demons. The worst of humanity, willing to sell out the dimension to the demon realm for their own survival. Humans once considered them useful, but after the demons began to be summoned through countless sacrifices, they abandoned them. For them to still exist… warlocks are truly tenacious.
“…I’m a warlock as well.”
-You’re different. You haven’t formed a pact with a demon, and you don’t seem corrupted by demonic energy. You’re a curious human. Your magic is similar to that of the dark elves. Was your master a dark elf?
He didn’t answer, but the dragon seemed to have already reached a conclusion.
-The dark elves have survived as well.
“They have, but they’ve lost their dark magic.”
-What?
“The Catacombs collapsed. I heard it was the elves’ doing.”
-The elves destroyed the Catacombs? Why…?
The elves and dark elves the dragon remembered hadn’t been enemies.
-How could those who once cooperated… what are the Dragonians doing?
“How would I know? Now that I’ve told you this much, shouldn’t you tell me about your final duty?”
-…I suppose I can tell you. The Black Star seems to have been abandoned, and you don’t seem to have any connection to the demons. Very well.
The dragon continued.
-To eliminate the Church of Light and the warlocks, or rather, the warlocks who have formed pacts with demons. That is my final duty.
He asked, puzzled,
“The Church of Light and the demons?”
He understood the hostility towards demons.
If the rulers of the demon realm, especially those of Demon King level, crossed over, the continent could fall into their hands.
Therefore, it was reasonable for a self-proclaimed Guardian Dragon to be wary of them.
However, the Church of Light was a different story.
“Are they a threat to the continent?”
-Indeed. They are also invaders.
“The Church of Light are invaders?”
-To be precise, the Goddess of Light is the invader. That bitch is insane.
He stared at the dragon, bewildered, and it continued.
-It’s true that the gods are more compatible with the continent than the Demon Kings. Most gods provide their followers with divine power in exchange for faith, and that’s all. Just like the spirits, they coexist with the continent. However, not all gods choose coexistence.
“So… the Goddess of Light, unlike other gods, intends to invade, conquer, and exploit the continent, just like the Demon Kings?”
“But while they were prejudiced against demihumans, they treated most humans well, except for warlocks.”
Of course, this was an objective observation, devoid of personal feelings.
While they were arrogant, self-righteous, and prejudiced, they also cherished their followers.
-Even demons are relatively kind to their contractors. The Goddess of Light is kind to her followers because it serves her purpose.
He recalled that most gods targeted humans for conversion because human faith was the most efficient.
-That crazy bitch intends to connect her territory, the Land of Light, to this continent.
The so-called ‘Heaven’ preached by the Church of Light was the Land of Light.
-Do you understand what that means? It’s the same as connecting the demon realm to the continent. Her soldiers will cross over and slaughter every living being except for her fanatics. The continent will become their colony. Is that not an invasion?
In such a world, there would be no place for him.
-That’s why the Guardian Dragons tried to eliminate them. But… we fell for their scheme, and we made a grave mistake.
“Mistake?”
-They spread false rumors that the dragons would destroy all of humanity. They disguised the priests of the Church of Light we had executed as ordinary humans and turned the dragons into humanity’s enemy.
-All of humanity united against us. At that time, humanity was experiencing its second golden age after ancient times. They occupied a significant portion of the continent, and their numbers were vast. They were brimming with confidence.
If even a dragon acknowledged it as a golden age, they must have had reason to be confident.
-They turned against us. We initially tried to reason with them, but we couldn’t distinguish friend from foe. Moreover, humans already distrusted us. Communication was impossible. So, we made a decision.
-Dragons are the strongest race. They have to be. Our duty is to protect the continent, and to do that, we needed to be strong. And because of that, we were filled with pride… and arrogance.
He could guess what the dragon was about to say.
-We decided to play into their hands. We couldn’t allow the Church of Light to spread any further. We declared all of humanity our enemy and began to attack the continent indiscriminately.
“Insane…”
-Even in their second golden age, humans were weaker than they were in ancient times. They fell before us like dominoes, and the demihumans, whom they had oppressed, rose up in rebellion.
-However, as I said, we were arrogant. We mistakenly believed that only dragons could kill dragons. Even though Dragon Slayers had existed in ancient times, we underestimated humans.
-After countless human deaths and the collapse of several kingdoms, including the empire of that era, most humans fled from us. But some continued to resist… and individuals who had grown stronger through hardship and adversity began to emerge.
Where there was surrender, there was also resistance.
-Among them were warlocks. They used countless corpses to increase their power and formed pacts with demons to oppose us. That was the beginning of the Black Star. They weren’t called the Black Star back then, but it was essentially the same. It was absurd. After the Church of Light, even the demon realm had joined the fray. We were enraged and intensified our attacks.
“…You’re proud of this?”
The dragon ignored him and continued.
-Perhaps tired of the chaos caused by the summoned demons, humans eventually abandoned the warlocks. Some clung to the perceived usefulness of the warlocks and demons, but they were the first to be eliminated. The abandoned warlocks banded together and called themselves the Black Star.
-The more desperate humans became, the more they relied on their gods. Humanity’s power waned, but the Church of Light continued to grow. Other religions also grew, but none could compare to the Church of Light. They rivaled the Earth Mother Religion, which was at its peak at the time. And then, for the first time, a dragon was hunted.
The first casualty.
-Only then did we realize that something was wrong.
“Wait a moment.”
Kayla stepped forward.
“I’ve never heard that story before. Wasn’t the empire destroyed by demihumans and natural disasters?”
-Is that how it’s recorded?
“Dragons only appear in stories and legends. If they played such a prominent role in history, there would be records of it.”
She had a point.
If they had been so involved, there would have been records.
-I am not human, and I’ve never recorded history, so I don’t know. However, I suspect it might be because of our actions afterwards.
“…Continue.”
-Very well. The first casualty was a collaboration between the priests of the Church of Light and… the warlocks.
“The Church of Light and the warlocks joined forces?”
He expressed his disbelief, and the dragon confirmed it.
-Indeed. The Church of Light and the Black Star formed an alliance. A Guardian Dragon fell into their trap and died a miserable death. We learned of this too late and later faced them armed with our comrade’s remains.
-After the first death, we realized something was wrong, but we couldn’t stop. The Church of Light crafted equipment from our fallen comrade’s body and gifted it to skilled humans. Our second comrade was slain by those armed with our comrade’s remains. Only three Guardian Dragons remained.
In other words, only five dragons had nearly devastated the continent.
-They didn’t die easily. Most of the human elite were killed by our second comrade, and fortunately, this time, we noticed the anomaly in time and retrieved his body. While we mourned his death, they had acted in secrecy.
And in the process, they had recovered a large number of artifacts.
‘Even equipped with dragon parts, it would have been difficult to defeat a dragon.’
-That’s when we established the principle of remaining hidden. Instead… we decided to use a different approach. We turned our attention to the demihumans, who were consumed by a thirst for revenge.
“…….”
-The elves, in particular, harbored a deep resentment. The World Tree had been burned by humans, and their beauty had made them targets of both admiration and persecution. We gave artifacts to our Dragonians servants and ordered them to join the elves and support them secretly.
That seemed to be the beginning of the Demihuman Alliance.
-The elves rallied the dwarves and beastmen, who had also suffered persecution, and sought the help of the dark elves, who, despite their decline, still possessed considerable power. With the dark elves joining them, they became a force to be reckoned with.
-That wasn’t the end. We turned our attention to the monsters of the Great Forest.
“The monsters of the Great Forest?”
-The Great Forest… was a place even we dragons avoided.
A place even dragons feared. Five dragons had nearly brought the continent to its knees.
What kind of place could make them hesitate?
-It was a place once occupied by invaders.
He suddenly remembered something.
“Giants…”
-Do you know of them?
“A little.”
He had heard it from Rithild, the Horned Orc.
The Red Ogres claimed to be descendants of giants.
‘And the Horned Orcs revered dragons…’
He put aside his thoughts as the dragon continued.
-Fortunately, this will be quick. Yes, that place was once occupied by giants. Countless dragons died fighting them, and the glorious ancient civilization crumbled in the aftermath of the war.
The reason there were only five Guardian Dragons at the time was because of that war.
Even after so much time, their numbers hadn’t recovered.
-Perhaps because the ground was soaked with the blood of giants and dragons, the monsters of the Great Forest were unique. Even those residing beneath the pyramids were ferocious and powerful. We sought out the Great Forest and created gates throughout the land.
-And we used those gates to summon monsters and have them attack humans.
“…You sound like demons.”
-I understand. From a human perspective, it must have seemed that way. But it was still better than letting the continent fall into the hands of the demon realm or the Goddess of Light.
An ordinary human might have been enraged by the dragon’s actions.
However, he felt no such anger.
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