Book 6 Chapter 7

Chapter 131

The terrible war, which had been like an unending nightmare, ended in the dawn light that broke through the fog.

The dead and the ancient ones, perhaps as a reaction to losing their powerful control, were scattered and fragmented in chaos.

Taking advantage of that moment, we gathered every single injured person and sent them south, and burned the bodies of our fallen comrades.

"Don't cry…."

Among the corpses laid on the pyre was Barzen, the war chief of the Durankus tribe.

When Kasena and I found him, he was already on his last breath, and his wounds were too deep to be healed by any healing spell.

As we bowed our heads and started to sob, Barzen chuckled, and spat out blood with a hot breath.

"The truth is… I've resented our ancestors for a while… Why on earth… did I have to fight even as I became like this…?"

"Barzen, don't speak. Your breath, your breath…"

"But, after meeting you all, I understand… I would have done the same, hehehe, you can't just leave such fools alone…"

As soon as Barzen weakly raised his trembling hand, we immediately grasped it.

"I'll go first, and boast to our ancestors. Even if not as much as you all… I, too, fought for my proud friends…."

That was Barzen's last voice we could hear.

I thought my tear ducts had already dried up, but as I watched Barzen's body get engulfed by the flames and turn into black charcoal, tears began to stream down my cheeks.

Now that their fight was over… the memorial service for the warriors ended with the final prayer.

"Ah, Au, Aba, Aba!"

And while all those things were happening, the baby dragon Akirea was always by my side. Even now, she playfully nips at my head and babbles.

Without anyone teaching her, as soon as she realized her appearance was different from mine, she transformed into a draconian (dragon-person) form.

A two- or three-year-old girl with alluringly red hair and captivating golden eyes…

If Lilian's hair color was blessed by fire, Akirea's hair color was perhaps the flame itself, just like Alakish.

"…"

Perhaps because of this, Kasena struggled with Akirea and avoided her. It was probably because Alakish came to mind. Her eyes, which had been swollen red from crying all morning, were still inflamed.

"Stop it! Stop! Tsk, I said stop!"

I tried to give a firm command.

Completely ignoring that, she kept chewing, tugging, tasting, and enjoying my scalp, so my hair had long been soaked with her slobber.

"Oh please, just listen to me once."

In the end, I decided to beg, but even that had no effect.

Beyond the baby fur clothes lent by the beast-folk, she merely wagged her short tail excitedly.

Perhaps because she wasn't an adult yet, when she took on the draconian form, her dragon scales didn't seem to form like armor, unlike Alakish.

"What on earth makes her so happy?"

In the end, I stopped thinking with a sigh of resignation.

This was the infirmary set up on the lower deck of the naval base.

Lying on that sickbed, Frisbia, who had been watching this bizarre scene with interest, hummed and stroked her chin.

"Isn't that just how living creatures are? Hmm, there is an interesting theory. That animals have cute appearances when they are young as one of their survival instincts."

"Survival instinct?"

"Having a lot of charm and a cute appearance as a baby, is a survival instinct to prevent others from easily abandoning them. Hehe, if you think of it that way, you can look at that filthy creature a bit more rationally, hehehehehe."

Watching her laugh slyly, I thought it would indeed be difficult to get close to this person.

"By the way, Frisbia, you ended up like this with your leg while trying to buy time for me…"

One of Frisbia's legs was severed. Although she was thinking of trying to attach another leg through biological transplantation, the outlook was grim.

After all, it wouldn't be her own foot, so how could she move it freely? As she was Platinum Rank 1, the blow would undoubtedly be fatal.

Frisbia, far from being gloomy about such concerns, merely laughed even more grimly than usual.

"Hmm, it's regrettable, but it's rather a good thing. This time, with the samples taken from Alakish or the primitive spiders, I might be able to craft and attach a new leg, hehe."

"I'm sorry…"

"Why are you making that face? This was a trade from the start. Do humans express gratitude just because the other party faithfully fulfills the terms of a deal?"

Since entering the infirmary, Kasena, who had been silently watching Frisbia, took out the black yang-scales that hung around her neck and placed them in Frisbia's hand.

"You said it would take 10 years until the research was finished, right? You said that at first."

"Hmm?"

"Then, in 10 years, you can return it after all the research is done."

For a moment, I couldn't believe my ears.

It seemed Frisbia felt the same, as she started scrutinizing Kasena's face with a gaze of disbelief.

"What is this? That irrational judgment? As I said before, this is a trade. Hmm, such things are common when living as an adventurer. One leg for an old god is rather cheap. I don't need cheap pity."

"It's not pity. It's just that I came to respect you. I'm entrusting it to you because I can trust you."

"Stop with your transparent flattery, hehehehe, I might genuinely blow you away."

"I'm serious too. Frisbia, you, despite your twisted personality, were exactly like the adventurers in the adventure books I read as a child… You are the very best adventurer I've ever dreamed of!"

For a moment, I could see a trace of bewilderment on Frisbia's face, which always had eyes like empty caverns. Of course, it was immediately hidden by her characteristic distorted smile.

Hmph…

When I look at Kasena, I sometimes think of Rista. Because with that gentle innocence, she often confounds many people.

"By the way, what are you going to do with that horrifying monster now?"

"What do you mean, 'do'?"

"It's a true dragon, a hatchling of a true dragon, no less. Hmm, won't those below the Wall covet that source of infinite power? There will be quite a few who try to kill you and take it away. It might even be better to leave it here."

"It doesn't matter. Rain is incredibly strong. He's probably the strongest in this world right now, isn't he? He even defeated the legendary White Young Lord."

"I didn't defeat him."

Kasena shouted bravely as if to say 'don't worry', but I could only answer that way, clutching my aching chest.

"You know, from beginning to end, it was all Alakish's doing…"

The White Young Lord, Shar'kas, only showed his true power against me twice.

When my 'Hwakyeong: Cerebral Hemorrhage' inflicted an unexpected fatal blow, exactly twice, before and after he became comatose.

Even when he reawakened by receiving Alakish's soul, he played with me beautifully. And that was despite having lost an arm in the battle with Alakish.

"When he fought me, he probably, no, certainly didn't use even half of his true power…"

The Yeouiju (Cintamani) received from Alakish just before her death, which was in a weakened state (likely 10-20% of Alakish's power), might be argued as the reason, but…

If that were the case, Shar'kas also had just awakened from his seal, so there was a high probability he couldn't fully exert his true power.

More than anything, would I be able to feel the same omnipotence as I did then? This time, because Alakish's soul remained, I was able to draw out her power to its limits, but…

"Ah, Au, Abu, Aba."

I, as Akirea kept panting on my head and playfully nipping at my scalp, could only pinch her cheek and offer a sad smile.

"Since coming here, I've only received from Alakish… So I must repay her."

"Repay her how?"

"I decided to take this one to the 'Ten Thousand Miles of Flame'. The place where the Red Dragon Legion gathers."

Frisbia raised an eyebrow at that place name, then let out a roaring laugh as if greatly amused.

"Hehe, hehehehe… The South Pole, it'll be a journey from the end of the world to the end of the world."

"Yes."

"Whether you impudent brats die from being ambushed on that path, die from exhaustion and collapse, or die from having your baby dragon stolen while you sleep, is none of my business, no, it would actually be better if you died that way, hmm…"

Frisbia, sitting up on the sickbed, extended her hand to us. Her smile, unlike her usual sly one, felt a little warm.

"I'll pray for the safety of the path you're taking. Just as a formality, of course."

Kasena and I exchanged surprised glances, then smiled, and successively clasped the hand of the world's second strongest adventurer.

It was a firm and warm hand.

As Kasena took her hand, Frisbia let out a grim laugh and nodded her head slightly.

"You're a noble, yet an oddball who admires adventurers? If you're confident you won't cry even after I hit you, then come find me when you're an adult, hehehehe."

Receiving recognition from the heroine she had admired while secluded in her room, seemed to make Kasena quite happy, so she held onto that hand for a long time.

Platinum-ranked adventurers don't just accept anyone as a member… We weren't so foolish as to not understand the weight of what Frisbia had just said.

"You should go now. Hmm, unless you want to become a stray because the Wall gate closed."

As we exited the naval base, the magnificent white land once again unfolded across our vision.

But the sky, unlike yesterday, was high and clear, and the bone-chilling blizzard of the abyss was not raging.

After everything was over, Pipi, whom I had sent towards the Wall earlier, finally returned, and landed on Akirea's scalp, who was on my head.

"How is it? Is it all clear through the Wall?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Good, then shall we go right away?"

Before leaving, we briefly headed north, towards the fossil of the true dragon that had risen overnight.

Frisbia promised to guard that seal along with the naval base. As it would be better for Frisbia if this ancient ruler remained asleep if she wanted to continue her research in this land.

On that ivory-colored skeleton, on the tomb of the benefactor to whom I owed an unpayable debt, I placed my hand, and once again, a suffocating sorrow drenched my heart.

"Alakish, we're leaving now."

As Kasena, gently stroking the skeleton, said that in a voice once again tear-laden, I was bowing deeply.

"Truly, truly… thank you."

What thoughts might she have had seeing her mother's tomb? Did she even know this was her mother's tomb?

Suddenly, Akirea, who had come down from my head, looked at the skeleton and tilted her head, then pulled an oat biscuit from her bosom and placed it on top.

Had she saved the one Frisbia's subordinates gave her without eating it…? Then she smiled brightly and patted the skeleton several times.

"Ah, Au Au, Abu!"

Although I couldn't understand what she was saying, I quickly turned my head away, and had to wipe away the hot tears welling up in my eyes.

Because it was so, so similar.

In the future Alakish had envisioned in her heart, with the image of the baby dragon simply smiling as it ate the clumsily made food she had prepared…

"Rain."

My silently trembling shoulder was carefully grasped by Kasena, as if in comfort.

"Let's go now."

"Yes…"

I, with the Yeouiju (Cintamani), a staff called Sahwanjang, embodying primeval flame in staff form, tapped the ground and moved my reluctant feet forward.

Forward, and further forward.

Towards the future (未來) created by my benefactor.

Clang, clang, clang… The four rings on the staff emitted a clear tone, as if fire was igniting, and echoed across the old snowy plain like a funeral dirge.

From the Age of Origins, for the great flame that had quietly illuminated the darkest corners of the world.

Low, profound, and wistful.

Low, cozy, and poignant….