Zehar
Zehar.
"Still no manners at all, are you, Yellow Dragon."
"Yeah, you neither."
Back in the waiting room, Zehar and I were still growling at each other. Looking at it objectively, that was the natural reaction. Terra and I were the weird ones—dragons didn't usually hang around together unless there was actual business involved.
"I did not expect you to follow me all the way here."
"I didn't follow you. This was my world to begin with, okay?"
"…Had you not told me to live as quietly as possible, I would have torn you apart already, Yellow Dragon."
"Funny, considering how carefully you've been holding back this whole time. And if you're gonna talk like that, take the ice pack off your face first."
Who was supposed to be intimidated by someone pressing ice to their face while they said that?
"Haa… You ought to grab that hair of yours and say something. No manners. None."
"Your human polymorph was already a girl, and now your heart's gone soft like one too?"
"As if. And where do you think you're looking? Want me to gouge those eyes out for you?"
"…Unbelievable."
Knock, knock—
"Unnie…?"
"Ah, Ha-eun, you're here. See this guy? A dragon with an ice pack—isn't that hilarious?"
"Ahaha… Um… Hello…?"
"…A human?"
At the sight of Ha-eun, Zehar turned a strange look on me.
"Raising humans now, are we?"
"Are you insane? She's a kid I know."
"A kid?"
"I don't know what your deal is either, but you adapted to human society just fine. Why wouldn't I?"
I shrugged, and Ha-eun and Terra drifted closer. Terra, as if wary of the newcomer, hid behind my leg and started glaring at Zehar.
"And what is this one? Did you lay an egg while I wasn't looking?"
"That is sexual harassment."
Terra kept staring Zehar down without a word. Zehar let out a long sigh.
"An Earth Dragon, by the look of him. Wait a moment."
He lifted a hand slightly and compacted sand into a small stone. Fair enough—Earth Dragons and Sand Emperor Dragons were distant relatives of a sort, so making a rock wasn't that strange.
Tap—
"Deadstone. Eat it."
"…."
"It'll be fine. At the very least, he's not the type to mess around with food."
"…If Goldy-nim says so."
Munch—
"…! It's delicious…!"
"…Unnie, please tell me you don't normally feed Terra things like this."
"I don't, okay? And Earth Dragons need stones in their bodies anyway. Like chickens with grit, that kind of thing."
Anyway…
"You haven't changed a bit."
"What are you talking about."
"You're a total tsundere. There aren't many who look after other races—or young dragons—the way you do. Maybe that blue one, at most."
"It was merely a momentary amusement."
"For a 'momentary amusement,' you sure live pretty well mixed in with humans these days, don't you?"
I smirked at him. Zehar scowled right back. What an annoying guy.
"But unnie. He doesn't seem like a bad person… Why do the two of you fight so much…?"
Ha-eun tilted her head as she asked. From a third party's perspective, he and I probably looked pretty similar, so of course she was curious about our relationship.
"Well, put simply~ this guy once barged into my lair."
"What…?"
"That was because you invaded fir—"
Tap—
Withdrawal: ₩1,000,000
Details: [Dragon Eyes Opening] skill usage fee
"Enough. That story ends there. Don't bring it up again."
I opened my Dragon Eyes and fixed him with a thoroughly serious look. He clicked his tongue once, then—
"…I misspoke."
—lowered his tail first and nodded. Even the tip of his actual tail gave a little twitch; he was genuinely flustered. After a few awkward coughs, he shifted his gaze to Ha-eun.
"That aside. You are clearly human, and yet you carry something quite interesting in that body of yours."
He cupped his chin, as if trying to change the mood.
"…Right? That's how it looks to you too?"
"Huh?"
I blinked my Dragon Eyes shut as I answered. Ha-eun shrank under the attention, though.
"The texture is similar to a Demon King's."
"I already told her that part."
"…You did not subjugate her by force the way the Demon King of that place did, I trust?"
"What the hell do you take me for? I'm not that violent, okay?"
"…."
He pressed the ice pack harder against his face and stared at me.
Well. So what.
"May I take a look for a moment?"
"Y-yes…?!"
"Hey, a big guy like you walking up like that is scary."
"…My apologies. I am still unused to human society."
He was over 190 centimeters—tall enough that even I had to look up—and standing next to Ha-eun he looked like an outright giant. For a guy like that to flounder over one little girl… was he really a dragon?
"H-here…."
Nervous, Ha-eun carefully offered her hand. Zehar took it, closed his eyes, and focused. After a little while—
"The path has not properly opened yet."
"Y-yes…?"
"Your power. It has erupted once, recently."
"Uh…."
"Sand can slip through narrow gaps easily enough, but when the grains try to leave all at once, they push against each other and refuse to spill."
He summoned sand as a demonstration—grains jammed solid in a passage, refusing to fall to the floor.
"But if even a small stimulus is applied…"
He flicked a finger. A single grain of sand flew into the ones holding the balance. The equilibrium shattered, and the sand poured down through the passage.
"A Demon King's power was much the same as sand. Whether that was because he came from the desert, I do not know."
"That's…."
"This is your current state. The passage is blocked, so the power cannot be released. At most, a trickle seeps out."
Ha-eun was reeling from the sudden lecture. I walked over, slung an arm around her shoulders, and said,
"This guy used to spend his days giving advice to people who got lost in the desert or came out there to train. Looks like the habit stuck."
"And you? Have you stopped collecting shiny things?"
"No? Still collecting hard."
"Why would I be any different. Frankly, the way you chased me back then is more frightening."
"I told you, I didn't chase you."
This bastard.
I'd been so furious about the lair that I'd hunted him down for ages, and apparently the whole thing had turned into a trauma. Judging by how he kept bringing it up, anyway.
"Come to think of it, do you still have the scar from back then?"
"Tsk… Bringing up more useless talk."
"Why? It's a badge of honor at that point."
"In any case. Your power is similar to sand. You have already forced a path open once, so the trigger will be clear enough."
Ignoring me, he kept talking to Ha-eun.
"Find something that can stimulate the power. Then you will be able to grow."
"Stimulate…."
"Don't phrase it like a riddle—just tell her what it is. Why do you always have to twist it?"
"That, I do not know either."
"Huh? You've been talking this whole time like you knew everything."
"Triggers and growth differ from person to person. Those who have never felt such a thing—like you—would not understand. Do not assume everyone is like you."
Never felt it, huh…
Come to think of it, Bern had said something similar last time.
"Well. That's because I'm too strong."
"Power that has never properly experienced growth will inevitably return as poison. I will not deny that you are strong. But be careful."
"Hmm."
These types were all fine except they talked way too hard. It wasn't even a riddle, and yet.
"I'll handle my own power."
"Of course you will. It is merely advice to be cautious. I, who have experienced your power firsthand, know it well."
Well… this conversation didn't look like it was going anywhere. I still didn't know what he was trying to say.
…I'd think about it again later.
"So. Why are you even here? Like I said, this is my home dimension."
"Your power is not omnipotent either, it seems."
"What?"
"The portal you rode through. You left it behind, did you not. It remained open for quite some time."
I left it behind…?
No—interdimensional travel hadn't even been my power to begin with. It had been the status window's choice and strength.
"Wait, what do you mean…"
"What they call Gates in this place. Some among us came through them."
"Some? Which ones came through? And you're saying there's more than just Gates?"
"How would I know who. I was simply drawn out myself."
Zehar said that and looked me in the eye.
"Yellow Dragon. No—Goldy. Did you know this would happen when you did it?"
"…No."
So…
In the process of me moving between dimensions, a Gate had opened on Earth—and others had come through it.
…Things were getting seriously complicated.
"This place is already a world riddled with holes. Its destruction has entered the final countdown."
"What is that supposed to mean…?"
"Whether it is the gods' mischief or not, you feel it too, do you not. An abnormal number of things from other dimensions are gathering here."
Well… thinking about it, he wasn't wrong.
Starting with me and Zehar. Terra, a dragon from another world. Then the other races like elves and succubi, plus all kinds of monsters. And that was just what I'd seen in Korea. Worldwide, there was no telling how many more there were.
And if one of those Gates had opened because of me, and things from my world had come through…
"…This is hard."
"I think so as well. But for now, do what can be done, as you have been."
With that, he stood.
"Where are you going?"
"I do not know. There will be places my feet take me, as they did here."
"What does that even…"
"This phenomenon may even be good for you."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
He slung his glaive across his back, jammed a big black bamboo hat of unknown origin onto his head, and said,
"Treasures from every world will gather here, will they not."
"Huh."
"Do not follow me from now on, Yellow Dragon."
"I never followed you in the first place."
"…Very well. One more thing. The master of this place hides within the heart. Even your eyes may not be able to deceive it."
Under the dark brim, only a flash of golden pupils swept over me.
"And who knows. Perhaps even the eyes of that black one beneath the tree can be deceived."
With those words, he drifted leisurely out of the waiting room.
"You're just letting him go like that…?"
"He's always been like that. Says only what he wants to say and disappears."
"Even so…"
"Means his business is done. Funny thing is, for all that, when you actually try to find him, you can't spot a single scale—despite that huge body of his."
And then, in front of someone who needed him, he would appear like magic. A guy straight out of a legend.
There was probably a reason he'd shown up in front of us this time, too. Of course, that didn't mean I was happy to see him.
Thud, thud—
"You were still here?"
"Ah, Inspector Ahn."
"The match was fun. Shall we move along. It seems the other side has their eyes on you as well."
"Hmm. Shall we."
I'd learned plenty thanks to him. Next time we ran into each other, I'd ask about the things I was curious about. And throw a few more punches his way while I was at it.
"The heart, huh. Guess he never gets tired of those riddles of his."
Something as heavy as Gates and the end of the world wasn't a topic for just us to handle here. I'd have to talk it over with Farmer's Bounty… or at least with that unpleasant old man who was Ha-eun's superior.
"Alright. Let's start with what we can do right now."
First, figure out what that "heart" was supposed to be.
If Zehar himself had gone so far as to mention the Black Dragon, it definitely wasn't anything ordinary.