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Chapter 235

“Wait a second.”

As the Dragon Knight gazed dazzlingly at the faintly visible sun through the drizzling rain, Yeon-woo turned to Shar and asked,

‘Are you okay, Shar? Can you come?’

[Uh, I’ll ask Mom if she has any good magic…!!]

It was such a hurried voice that you’d think you could hear the wind whooshing! At times like this, I think I should have just called, because there must have been a lot of background noise, and it probably sounded incredibly cute.

“I called the dragon I have a contract with, but it might take a little while. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine, it’s fine. We’re not short on time or anything. Besides, this world has really beautiful skies. Sit down, let’s chat until they arrive.”

“Shall we?”

Even though the Dragon Knight could easily block the rain with magic, Yeon-woo slumped down beside them and got wet.

They had blocked the sound with a barrier, but it didn’t stop the rain. The Dragon Knight smirked at that sight.

“Kid, you can read the mood a little.”

“I do have a knack for sensing things!”

“So it seems. I might have unknowingly gotten myself a good junior. So, how’s this world treating you? Is it livable?”

The gaze of the Dragon Knight asking this question, despite their vacant eyelids, was filled with deep emotions. Yeon-woo let out a short sigh at that.

“From the way you’re speaking, I can guess the circumstances.”

“Haha, saying that blows my argument out of the water. Well, I don’t know for sure, but it seems like it’s more likely to encounter treacherous beings in a world with harsh circumstances… Not that this world looks completely bright either.”

“What? Are we talking about something that sounds straight out of a game?”

“Surprisingly, yes.”

Hah, as Yeon-woo gasped, the Dragon Knight let out a dry chuckle.

“Well, it’s livable. I can’t say the situation is great though. Senpai, how many Demon Kings were in your world?”

“A Demon King? Just one. What’s up with that tone? How many are there in this world?”

“There are seven in our world, plus one in each of the two connected worlds, making a total of nine. It’s no joke, right?”

“What? Don’t mess with me. But you guys are doing just fine?”

The Dragon Knight, caught off guard, jumped up and cursed in surprise. Yeon-woo couldn’t help but burst into giggles. Of course, having only one would be the norm, right?

“Except for a few, they’re all pretty well-behaved so far. Well, it won’t last forever.”

“Heh, that’s amusing. They might have a hobby of destroying worlds… or something like that.”

“One of them is even showing a cooperative attitude towards humanity. Isn’t that interesting?”

“Which one is that? Sounds funny.”

At Yeon-woo’s words, a clear laugh escaped the Dragon Knight’s lips. The one who laughed like a child placed a hand on their ribcage, which was now just bones, and began to catch their breath.

Yeon-woo wanted to ask something to the Dragon Knight but found themselves hesitating. They were unsure if they should even ask.

Noticing that hesitation, the Dragon Knight let out a chuckle.

“The fact that my corpse is in this world means my world has been destroyed long ago, so you don’t need to worry too much about it. I worked hard to protect the world, but it simply couldn’t save itself.”

“…That’s not something you can easily say.”

“If I’m not worried about it, then you don’t need to be either. Just listen carefully. No one will remember our world anymore, so you have to remember it.”

“Wow, my senpai is asking for all kinds of things.”

“Am I not allowed to do that just because I’m your senior? Huh?”

As the Dragon Knight shot a fierce glare, Yeon-woo raised their hands in surrender.

“So, our world, huh….”

Like they were dreaming. It was as if they were gazing at stars floating beyond the clouds that covered the rain-filled sky, the Dragon Knight slowly opened their mouth.

The voice seemed filled with joy just from recalling it, and it sounded so lovely that it was almost unbearable.

Listening to that story, Yeon-woo thought.

A wandering soul with nowhere to return is discussing the love of the world they once lived in, already lost. It was, in a way, a profoundly worthless endeavor.

The destroyed world is shattered into pieces, connecting to other worlds.

There is no guarantee that it will connect to this world, and the soul will soon turn to dust and disappear, so there’s hardly a chance they’d see their world again.

Therefore, no matter how beautifully the words might describe it, it was ultimately meaningless. It was nothing more than a series of words that could bring some comfort to the heart.

Yet, even so, there was something in the Dragon Knight’s words that captivated a person’s consciousness. It was an overflowing affection.

“…Was there no ugliness at all?”

Suddenly, Yeon-woo realized they had spoken those words aloud. At that question, the Dragon Knight paused, and Yeon-woo blushed, realizing what they had just said.

A moment of silence flowed between the two, and the Dragon Knight was the first to speak up, letting out a deep sigh.

“…Ugh, don’t even mention it. There are so many bastards I want to kill, it’s insane.”

“Eh?”

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened in shock. They were talking about a paradise where all the beautiful things in the world gathered. Yet there was ugliness, too?

“Hey, hey, every place where people live is the same. I only talk about the good things, but we had our share of cesspools in our world too.”

“Really…?”

It was, after all, a common expectation. You could find at least one person, no matter where you went, who wasn’t touched by evil.

That would be no different even in other worlds, yet why had Yeon-woo come to such a conclusion…?

Coincidentally, Yeon-woo’s ability to self-reflect was relatively swift. As the answer came to mind, they couldn’t help but cover their face with their hands.

‘I really don’t love my world that much….’

That must have been a rather petty jealousy.

*

While engulfed in self-loathing, Yeon-woo hid their face in their hands, yet the Dragon Knight was simply enjoying themselves.

After getting stabbed and laid up, their eyes had closed, and when they opened them again, they found themselves in a situation where an ugly Necromancer was trying to control them.

Like a child throwing a fit in a department store for a toy, one could say they resisted for almost a month.

There was no way they could have had a cheerful conversation with the Necromancer, so the dam holding back the chatter they had endured burst open.

Amidst all that, feeling a familiar energy, the Dragon Knight turned to Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo, too, raised their head as if they had finally overcome their self-loathing.

“Is that you, Shar?”

“I’m here!! Mom taught me the magic to balance my senses!!”

Is that really something that needs magic…?

If it were a natural phenomenon, it could mostly be done with Dragon Call magic, but it seemed there were some tricks involved. Yeon-woo wasn’t at that stage yet, so they didn’t understand well.

“Oh, what a cute child. You’re the one who made a contract with my junior?”

“…Huh?”

“That’s right!! My sister is a Dragon Knight!!”

“…Eh?”

“What’s with you, junior? Stop babbling like an idiot. If you have something to say, just say it quickly.”

“Senpai, are you a woman?”

“What the hell?!”

Before they knew it, the Dragon Knight’s arm swung and struck Yeon-woo’s head hard.

“Yowch!!”

“Where’s the melodrama coming from? If it were back when I was alive, you’d be dead three times already. How dare you tarnish a senior’s face? Doesn’t your Academy teach you to treat delicate young ladies nicely?”

“How am I supposed to know if it’s a woman or a man just by looking at bones!!”

“You should’ve figured it out with some intuition, come on!! Just because you don’t know means it’s the end of your junior days!?!”

As Yeon-woo wanted to protest against the ‘delicate young lady’ comment, they fell silent. It was neither here nor there to point out whether they could recognize it or not; it was indeed true that they were frail.

“Eat a bit more; you’re looking so skinny…”

“Are you my grandmother or something, huh?”

Shar looked on at the two who started to bicker like little kids with a look of disdain. With the senior-junior dynamic, it was indeed a mirror image of one another.

Soon, both Yeon-woo and the Dragon Knight, embarrassed by Shar’s gaze, ceased their quarrel. It was now time to have a serious discussion.

“Yes, it’s about time. Alright, that thing is getting close, so let’s start the lion’s meeting.”

With the Dragon Knight’s words, a column of water shot up. The size was several times larger than when the Ghost Ship had appeared, and the crew aboard the ship, startled, immediately went into battle mode.

『Who dares to command me like that?』

“Oh dear, I apologize~. But what can I do? I’m bound by such a contract. Although it’s unfortunate for both sides, let’s just endure it. I also want to finish quickly and lie down.”

A gigantic dragon’s skeleton, which looked as if it could reach the clouds, was glaring down at them.

*

Deep in the ocean. From the deepest part of the depths of the sea, the Kraken raised its head. The most fearful creature of the sea, categorized as a mid-tier to high-tier monster, it was marked with Danger Level A once it reached its full form.

The reason the Kraken had been motionless until now was partly because it was a big deal for something to enter its territory, but also due to wounds it hadn’t healed even after decades.

A massive harpoon, stuck in its body, couldn’t be pulled out no matter how much it tried dragging itself away. It was an injury sustained while sweeping away those humans trying to make this sea its domain.

The presence of the bizarre, ominous energy surrounding the harpoon reminded the Kraken of its hatred for humans once again.

The lower beings who had dared to keep it stagnant for decades. A single tentacle could kill a person, an uncivilized species.

The Kraken, having sunk to the bottom for so long that its body had completely transformed, finally began to rise. Countless forms of life that had grown atop its body were swept away en masse and fell to the depths of the ocean.

It was a sight as if an entire underwater volcano was moving, but there was no one around to witness it.

*

『…Is that so.』

The dragon muttered in a gloomy tone. By its standards, that was a low whisper, yet the voice emitted from its colossal body reverberated all around.

The Dragon Knight was expecting this and had plugged their ears with their fingers.

“Kyiehk.”

Neither Yeon-woo nor Shar had heard that fact in advance and thus screamed. What’s going on? The world has gone silent. Is this how Beethoven felt…?

Turning their head, they found Shar tilting their head cutely as if asking what was wrong. So cute.

In the meantime, the skeletal dragon began rattling once more. Yeon-woo hurriedly pressed their hands against their ears.

『Then there’s no need to pretend to be dignified. Hah, I tried a little to protect the honor of my descendants, but it’s all meaningless.』

“Oh boy, this world, even juniors and dragons, are all so weird. Only Shar is cute.”

As the dragon suddenly spoke so flippantly, Yeon-woo frowned. Moreover, blocking their ears was just the right volume. Is this the wisdom of life?

Listening quietly to the conversation between the two skeletons, Yeon-woo cautiously raised their hand, plugging their ears with mana.

This posture of asking a question had a universal quality, whether one was a being from another world or an ancient one.

『There, you have a question.』

“May I ask what your name is?”

『I would love to say I’m the Great Dragon of Defense, Moon-Woo King… but.』

For a moment, the impressive voice returned, and the dragon twisted its body into a question mark shape. Why would it do such a thing…?

『I was originally from another world, so I don’t quite know. Well, there’s a dragon in the East Sea, so it wouldn’t be wrong to say you’re Moon-Woo King from now on~ or something like that.』

“Our neighborhood’s causality has a laid-back attitude, so it seems like this world is the same?”

Saying so, the double skeleton from another world chuckled. So I’m supposed to fight these guys in a few minutes…?

It’s going to be a ridiculously trivial fight. Yeon-woo thought so and nodded.

(Continued in the next installment)

 

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