bookpower Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 3. “Everyone, retreat!!”
The Dragon was a legendary creature.
A joint creation of the Goddess and the Demon God made in the beginning.
It was a lifeform created by the two gods, who each gave a part of themselves, to regulate the order of the world.
As a result, the Dragon was immensely powerful and maintained peace in the world.
However, as generations passed, it became increasingly malevolent.
The first Dragons were two.
An Evil Dragon and a Divine Dragon.
As they lived, they split their existence to give birth to offspring.
Perhaps they wanted to create a family who could understand them.
The offspring born from splitting themselves were certainly strong, but they could not inherit the blessings of the two gods.
The power to regulate the world.
The Dragons, deprived of this power, grew increasingly evil over the ages and generations.
The essence of Dragons was greed.
Once the restraints that came with the title of the world’s regulators disappeared, their true nature gradually emerged.
Dragons began to cross lines more and more.
They transcended material and mortal realms, inflicted harm on mortals, oppressed them, and demanded sacrifices.
The Goddess eventually realized the situation and sealed the Dragons, but it was already too late.
Dragons were no longer transcendent beings regulating the world but evil tyrants and monsters.
———This was the content of the myth.
Lesbeligo sighed as he read the book hidden deep within the royal library.
“......A Dragon, huh.”
He had thought it was just a myth.
But it had appeared.
Moreover, it had appeared in one of his territories, in a mountain.
Honestly, it still didn’t feel real. After all, Dragons were considered mythical beings dismissed as mere rumors even within the royal family.
However....
“...The Goddess’s Oath.”
A true vow and promise made by a hero who offered their heart to the Goddess.@@@@
Hans had earnestly appealed to the king, even offering his own heart.
What I saw was a Dragon.
If this kingdom is to avoid destruction by that Dragon, it must offer a sacrifice——
——he said.
“Damn it.”
The king bit his lip and suffered in agony.
His lip burst, and blood flowed, but there was no room to care about such things.
It was a vow made by a hero.
A vow made by offering his heart.
There could be no falsehood in that vow.
Moreover, Hans was an extremely devoted hero to the Kingdom of Trelinia.
He had saved the kingdom several times.
So, he had no choice but to believe it.
Even if it was an absurd tale.
“Bring my vassal.”
He had to make a choice.
Between the safety of the kingdom and the sacrifice.
“Prepare 50 cows, 50 pigs, and 300 chickens.”
Hopefully, the Dragon would be satisfied with this amount.
Lesbeligo earnestly hoped.
While desperately ignoring the fact that the ‘sacrifice’ demanded by the mythic Dragon included the most noble and pure maiden.
* * *
Since coming to this fantasy world.
I had many complaints.
Firstly, due to not being able to walk on two legs, I constantly had to crawl on the ground, touching the filthy floor.
The inability to talk to humans was also among them.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t speak, but most humans would freeze in terror at the sight of me.
However, my biggest complaint was....
‘It’s tasteless.’
A Dragon, really.
Was that even possible?
It was probably just some mediocre lizard that had caused a fuss.
The commander cursed Hans while dragging the livestock.
‘Thanks to that bastard, what a mess this is.’
On this hot day, he was fully armored and climbing the mountain with livestock. The sweltering heat made his anger flare, but he suppressed it as he reached the cave.
“Everyone, halt.”
The entrance to the cave was enormous.
So large that it looked like a monster with its mouth wide open.
He gulped unconsciously but soon composed himself and drove the animals into the dark, seemingly endless cave.
He thought nothing would happen.
At most, a lizard that looked like the Dragon Hans had seen would move around.
However, an anomaly occurred.
Rumble——.
The ground shook.
“C-commander!”
“What is this...!”
The tremor was overwhelming.
Was the monster Hans had seen rampaging inside?
Crash.
Nearby, giant trees snapped from the tremor, and lightning struck the sky.
Heaven and earth were in upheaval.
It felt as if.
A colossal being was enraged.
“Could the Hero’s words be true...?!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! There’s no way a Dragon exists...!”
At a knight’s muttering, Keles shouted irritably. It was absurd. If Dragons existed, how could they survive?
Rumble——.
Even at that moment, the tremor continued.
The ground shook so violently it was hard to stand, birds fled to the sky, and lightning and rain poured from above.
Keles stared blankly at the scene.
He had heard of such a sight.
When heaven and earth were in upheaval, and the world was enraged and in turmoil.
In myths.
When the divine beings he couldn’t even fathom were angry.
The world changed drastically.
Keles felt like he was living through that upheaval.
No, he couldn’t even breathe.
The enormous pressure of the heavens and earth made it hard to breathe.
“......Why.”
Was the sacrifice insufficient?
Or was it punishment for his grumbling?
Keles desperately prayed for this situation to end.
Perhaps out of pity for him?
The upheaval soon subsided, and everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
“It’s... over?”
A knight muttered.
A gigantic, being, approached.
Scales as black as night, vertical blue pupils.
A size too immense to comprehend at a glance.
Faced with that being.
Keles’s mind was filled with only death.
“What... is that.”
Finally.
As he met the blue eyes.
“Ah, aaah!! The Dragon is furious!!”
“E-everyone! Retreat!!”
Keles screamed instinctively.
A scream for survival.