Chapter 149
Cataclysm (4)
‘Foo foo~’
A faint sound came from somewhere. As I listened to it, the sound was hazy, yet it grew more audible, little by little.
‘Fwoop! Fwoop!’
It was the sound of something flapping its great wings.
The way in which the wings flapped sounded very laid back yet so infinitely arrogant.
‘Aaaaahaahhhhhhhhhh!’
And in the next moment, I heard a clear cry ring out.
I opened my eyes.
I was looking at the ceiling of a barracks tent, which was shaking violently in the wind.
My eyes were now fully open. I could hear nothing – no ominous cries nor the arrogant flapping of wings.
‘Dudum~ Dudum~ Dudum~’
Nevertheless, my heart still beat like crazy.
“Ha, your Highness?” I heard a deeply concerned voice, and two blurry figures suddenly came into view. As I focused my eyes, the blurry world became a bit clearer.
Adelia, greatly upset, was looking down at me. Her gentle, honest eyes quickly became wet with tears.
“At last…”
Next to her was a face filled with an ambiguous expression, neither smiling nor crying – the face of Gunn. I looked at them quietly and then jumped up from where I lay.
My head was spinning. I closed and opened my eyes and forced myself to shake off the dizziness. I could feel that my body didn’t move so well as I left the bed. My heart still beat like crazy, and the sound of beating wings still lingered in my ears.
I endured the giddiness and headed for the flap of the tent. I lifted the thick fabric and took a step outside, looking up at the sky.
“Ah.”
There was nothing – not even a cloud in the clear, blue sky. I didn’t see anything that should make my heart thump maddeningly in my chest. Only then did I release the breath that I had been holding in. My legs buckled as I failed to grip the tent flap, and I staggered.
“Your Highness!”
The startled women rushed to me, preventing me from falling.
“Is this a dream?”
I was relieved, yet at the same time, disappointed. Then I became amazed.
What did I imagine to see that would make me feel both relief and regret?
As I thought about this, Adelia and Gunn helped me back into my bed.
“A few days have passed?” I asked.
“Ten days have passed since your Highness fainted. I didn’t know whether your Highness would wake up,” came Adelia’s reply, and she struggled to talk as she swallowed down her sobs. But soon, tears began to stream down her face. I raised my hand and tried to wipe off Adelia’s tears, but my arm was limp, listless, and I could not muster the energy.
Adelia grabbed my shaking hand and placed it back onto my chest, holding onto it. Gunn tapped her finger against the back of my hand, and when I turned to face her, I saw that she was touching her lips.
(Are You Okay)
“I lack strength, but I’ll get better once I eat some food and rest well.”
Only as I said this did Gunn smile brightly.
“But what about Bernardo and the others?” I asked.
Adelia wiped away tears with her other hand before replying.
“While your Highness was asleep, there was a great uproar! Bernardo Eli is busy trying to find out what the cause of it is.”
Adelia’s voice was rather hilarious, sounding like a child boasting of some great saga. I smiled and remained quiet as I waited for her to tell me more.
“Oh, by God, a dragon! Your Highness should have seen it!”
The smile on my lips quickly stiffened, went away.
“What?”
Adelia’s face became terrified as she heard the tone of my voice.
“Well, your Highness. Just, all of a sudden….”
“Say it again, Adelia.”
I didn’t know how my face looked like, yet my tone of voice was fierce indeed. But I could not afford to comfort Adelia.
“A dragon appeared?”
The instant that the word ‘dragon’ had left her lips, my heart had started thudding in my chest again.
“Well, your Highness… What I mean is that the dragon appeared. People say that it’s a Hwaryong… I thought that something great would happen, but it just passed over.”
Adelia gossiped on, her face seeming as if it would burst into tears at any time. The only word that truly stuck in my mind was ‘Hwaryong.’
I thought that I had been dreaming, but this was reality.
Dragons had disappeared from the world hundreds of years ago – now they were back.
And this wasn’t just a dragon, but the most powerful of their kind: A fire dragon, a Hwaryong.
Gunn touched her lips and gestured.
(Calm Down. Now Time For Absolute Peace)
But my heart could no longer be calmed, having a will of its own.
‘Kwaduk!’
I clutched at my chest, my heart hurting as if it was being torn. Agnes might have taken the burden my soul should have born upon herself, but she wasn’t able to bear the agonies that befell my body.
It was I who had to use my own mana and strength to channel a [Mythic] poem.
And as a result, my mana heart has been emptied. I didn’t even have a handful of mana, and I had to leave it that way for now.
In a single moment, I had unleashed more mana than I could handle, and my mana heart had grown hard once more. And the heart, which should be absolutely calm, was now wildly swaying and absorbing energy at random.
Would it be this painful were I to swallow a handful of scorching sand grains after being thirsty for many nights?
Would it be this painful were I to swallow a blade after starving for then days, unable to overcome my hunger?
I had to deal with a type of pain completely different than that of the flesh.
Still, somehow, I endured through the pain and becalmed my beating heart.
It was not easy to calm my heart that thumped so crazily, but I was at least able to stop it from gathering more energy.
Still, I was wracked by terrible agony.
“Woah,” I groaned, gritting my teeth as I endured the pain. If I went on like this, my heart would shatter, so I released as much energy gathered in it as I was able to.
Instead of feeling better, a terrible feeling of weakness pressed down upon me.
I endured, endured, and finally fainted once more.
* * *
When I woke up again, many people were looking down at me with anxious faces: Prince Doris, Berg Berten and his old knights, and the members of my party.
I asked how much I had slept.
“Half a day has passed. It’s night now.”
Fortunately, not much time had passed.
“Can you help me up?”
My knights supported me. When I was halfway up, Adelia swiftly shifted a pillow in behind my back. The pillow wasn’t very fluffy, but it was still comfortable to lay back upon.
“Hfoo, Hfoo,” after I lay back and breathed for a while, I asked, “What about the war?”
“We beat them back a few times, and the front is currently in a lull.”
Doris gave a brief report of everything that had occurred while I was out: Of all the enormous battles the Wyvern Knights had conducted and their subsequent surprise operations.
He also told of the chaos that had come upon the imperial forces that hid among the giant trees.
“…so, we there we were, about to fly on to completely destroy their supply depot – and then he appeared!”
The tales that Doris told continued for a long time, and he naturally started to speak about Hwaryong.
“It was terrible. In all honesty, I had figured that our Knights of the Sky would be able to deal with dragons. I really believed that – until I saw him. How arrogant and stupid I was.
Doris seemed sickened by the thought of it, yet he laughed cheerfully and said that now that the descendant of the Dragon Slayer had woken up, there was no more need to worry.
However, despite his cheerful tone, I could see the fear lurking in the depths of his eyes. Even if he pretended to be right, Doris could not hide the horror engraved upon his heart.
It was natural.
It would have been stranger if his spirit had been intact after seeing that great dragon.
When I said nothing, Doris continued his obsessive talk.
Even if he so praised the greatness of the Leonberger family, I did not honestly believe that I could win if I were to face such a monster.
As I listened to the prince chatter away, I smiled bitterly, remaining silent. Hwaryong was a monster far different than Gwangryong, the dragon which had become the lyrics of [Poetry of the True Dragon].
The most powerful dragon among the mighty dragons, the oldest being in the world – Hwaryong is the king of dragons.
I wagered that even if the entire expedition that had ascended Mount Seori had come back alive and gathered in one place, there would be no way that they could do anything against Hwaryong.
It was more of a conviction than a guess, for there have already been many failures.
Giant generals and their elite legionaries.
Warlords and berserkers of the race of greenskins.
Meisters and the iron cannons of the dwarven race.
High Elves and guardians of the faeries.
And none of those who challenged Hwaryong can be said to have been less mighty than Leonberg’s founder and his knights.
They all failed, and they failed terribly.
The fire dragon was a true monster, and such a monster had returned to this world.
Among all such misfortunes, there yet existed a single fortuitous fact: Hwaryong was an extremely arrogant being who was not very interested in the affairs of the world.
All dragons were like that, yet Hwaryong was more severe in his indifference. He even looked down upon those dragons that looked down upon lesser beings in turn.
So- He was alone, he had nothing to with anything. Hwaryong just existed.
As long as he wasn’t attacked, he wouldn’t be the first to strike.
I subtracted all the more esoteric elements from the knowledge I had gained when I had been a sword and then appropriately explained Hwaryong’s nature to the others.
“I’m glad. Honestly, I never wanted to fight him,” said Doris in great relief. Then, it seemed as if he remembered something, asking, “If dragons are such indifferent things, it doesn’t matter. But why did the Leonbergers struggle so much to go and kill the dragon in the north?”
“Why would Gwangryong be called Gwangryong? He was given that name because he truly was a mad dragon, a Gwangryong. He was far too human to be called a dragon. Gwangryong was even interested in creating his own kingdom.”
“Indeed! So that’s the reason he was called the mad dragon.”
It was obvious from the name of Gwangryong that he had been a mad dragon, but Doris was somehow surprised as if having heard a most astonishing story.
He was a prince that constantly surprised me.
Doris asked no more questions about dragons, now fixing me with a deep look.
“As a member of the Dotrin royal family and as a knight of Dotrin, I thank you for your dedication and sacrifice to our cause. Thank you so much! You have my gratitude. Through your efforts, many of our troops survived.”
Doris bowed his head to me as he politely expressed his gratitude. I replied by saying that I had only been repaying my debt, so he didn’t have to bother.
He still thanked me several times, saying that he would forever be in my debt.
If left things as they were, forcing Doris out of my tent, for otherwise, I would have been thanked all day long.
When the prince was gone, Berg Berten faltered before he spoke.
“I have heard all the stories from his Highness, Prince Doris. I heard that you are, in fact, the first prince of Leonberg, not a mercenary. I will apologize if I have erred in any way.”
“There was no rudeness, yet now, I am a mercenary. I just do what I have to do,” I said.
“Is that so?” replied Berg, then added in a cold tone, without hesitation, “I always thought that smirk of yours wasn’t that of a sellsword.”
“Shall I act as a mercenary in a foreign country, or as a prince who is mocked by an old man?”
Berg had been laughing but quickly shut his mouth.
“Well,” he muttered. The old man had held no hesitation when I had asked him to treat me like a mercenary, but he now suddenly hesitated and became anxious.
“Hey! My true title and our contract are separate things, Berg. So, don’t even think about skimping on that payoff you promised me.”
“I am Berg Berten! In my entire life, I have never broken my word.”
“Put your money where your mouth is, or are you all talk? Just like a dog that can’t shit.”
“I have said my piece, so I shall leave.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
It took only a moment for the old knights to strike their fists against their chests in a salute. Berg Berten, amazed, bowed his head to me.
“I’m sorry,” said he, “I will sincerely apologize if you felt pressured by what I said. This old man made a false statement without knowing the facts.”
I bowed my head to express my gratitude, and the old noble bowed his head in apology.
Then, I began laughing.
After my knights have driven them all out, it became Bernardo Eli’s turn to bother me.
“Why did you do it! This is not our kingdom, so why did you risk your life? Do you seek death?”
Bernardo spoke of the battle as if he had been there himself. His lips flapped so much, and he frowned so greatly that, after a while, I wanted to ask him if his facial muscles have begun to hurt. In one half of his tirade, he nagged me about walking to my death while fighting wars for other countries and the other half consisted of him saying we had to return to the kingdom because he was fed up with this place.
I made sure Bernardo was also kicked out from my tent, telling him I would think about what he said once I was well.
Gwain, Trindall, and Kampra, their faces as discontent as that of Bernardo’s, disappeared in silence, just glancing at me. No goodbye flowed from their lips.
“Even if they look so cross, Sirs Gwain, Trindall, and Kampra also came to the barracks every day to check on your Highness’s condition.
“They must have come to check if I’ve died yet.”
“No way.”
“Adelia, Adelia. The world is not a flower garden, as you might think. I know it – they know it. Adelia, only you don’t know it.”
Normally, she would have heard me speak and grown silent right away, but Adelia defended the trio of knights to the end.
A finger tapped the back of my hand.
(While You Sleep. Maniac. Idiot. Rope Bound Her)
As I saw that, I laughed until my wits deserted me.
There seemed to have been a fight due to Adelia’s traits. It seems that she had inflicted minor injuries to the other knights while I had been out for the count.
I was able to grasp the situation quickly.
“Adelia was very heartbroken. She cares so much if things like these happen,” said I, and Adelia avoided my gaze with an awkward face. Behind her, Gunn beckoned (Not Fight. More Like Battle. Not Trivial)
Sign language wasn’t enough, so Gunn croaked, “Never faint again.”
Gunn seemed to have suffered quite a bit, for she seldom expressed her emotions, yet she now had a look of irritation on her face.
I just laughed, but I couldn’t truly laugh from the bottom of my heart.
Why has Hwaryong, who disappeared after the Great War, appeared at a time such as now?
Was this also some special omen?
While thinking about it over and over again, I remembered something. So obsessed was I with Hwaryong that I had forgotten all about the total solar eclipse, which was a somewhat strange and sinister phenomenon.
Then a voice spoke up in my mind.
b It’s not just the fire dragon}
It was the voice of Agnes, who had told me to be happy last time we spoke, saying her goodbyes in such a grand manner.
“Ann?”
When I called to her with joy and a tinge of doubt, she coughed. Somehow, I could feel the meek look she gave me.
b We can only speak briefly} said she in a voice firmer than ever before.
b The world has changed. And it is changing violently even at this moment}
A change that I had failed to notice when my mana became exhausted.
b No, this is greater than mere change}
Agnes’s dry voice broke into my mind.
b It seems as if you have returned to the past}
She said that everything happening now was similar to the events of the Great War.
But there was one difference.
b Now, the rulers of the world are humans}
It was only the dominant species in the world that has changed.
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