Chapter 56: The Catalyst
Chapter 56: The Catalyst
Gold-haired and gold-eyed, the Gold Dragons were beings of worship, revered for their wisdom and justice. Even humans, who usually avoided mentioning the Demon Race due to their strained relations, made an exception for dragons.
There was only one way to identify a Gold Dragon: one simply had to look into their eyes to see if they were golden. Golden eyes were a unique trait symbolizing the wisdom possessed by a Gold Dragon.
While a very small number of humans were born with golden eyes, there had never been a case where both eyes were golden like a Gold Dragon's.
As Nero stood there, radiating that very symbol, the room fell into a stir—except for Cuthbert, who had seen through the disguise long ago, and Jaejin, who didn't quite grasp the weight of the revelation.
Due to the gap between the knowledge he had been told and the knowledge one acquires through living in this world, Jaejin was merely surprised that the beautiful boy with blonde hair and blue eyes had transformed into a beautiful woman with blonde hair and golden eyes. To him, the change in gender was the bigger shock.
"I thought it would be more fun to keep it hidden a bit longer, but since he's the new Demon Lord, I figured I'd reveal myself while changing into a form he'd like. So, how do I look?"
Nero looked at Jaejin and gave him a bright smile. As she watched him with that innocent and energetic grin, the unfathomable maturity she had exuded previously vanished, and she now looked to be around his age.
"Uh... I think you're beautiful. Or should I say the chiton suits you well..."
The outfit she had been wearing, called a chiton, was a garment made of broad fabric loosely draped over the body—the kind of clothing one might see in an illustration of ancient Western history.
Even though her body had changed, the loose clothing adjusted perfectly to her new form, giving her the aura of an ancient Greek goddess with blonde hair and golden eyes. Had she appeared in that era with such a presence, she likely would have been worshipped as a deity.
"What? Puhaha! That's not what I meant!"
Nero, who had obviously been referring to her eyes, burst out laughing at Jaejin’s comment, which completely missed the point to praise her physical beauty instead. Jaejin didn't quite get what was so funny, but she looked good laughing and chatting so vibrantly, so he decided to let it slide.
"Gold Dragon, why did you raise your hand? If you had the mind for it, you could have taken the seat of the Demon Lord yourself."
As soon as Nero calmed down, Nia of the Fairy Tribe, who had remained silent throughout the council until now, directed a question at her.
"Hmm? Just call me Nero. Everyone here is around the same age, right? Also, could you explain what you mean in more detail?"
"Yes, Nero-ssi. Let me ask again. I didn't come here to become the Demon Lord. I came as a representative of my clan to see if Veled, the leading candidate, was fit for the position."
Nia pulled back the hood covering her head, revealing green hair entwined with vines. Perhaps because she was a wood nymph, her skin was apricot-colored, but her extremities, like her hands and feet, were tinted green as if she were wearing gloves.
"My goal was to become the Demon Lord myself if I judged Veled unfit, or to neutralize her if I failed at that. And if even that failed, my mission was to assassinate her."
Despite Nia openly stating her intent to kill her, Veled watched the conversation between the two with an indifferent expression, not even blinking. Having witnessed countless deaths by her side, she seemed utterly uninterested in such a declaration.
"But a bigger variable appeared. A human male with a peculiar ability emerged as a candidate from the Lust Demon Race, whom I expected to be quietly eliminated."
Nia looked at Jaejin. Her gaze was devoid of emotion, making her transparent green eyes seem to pierce right through him.
"Based on the information from yesterday and this morning alone, I estimated that his ability was enough to suppress Veled, and his appearance was to my taste. The problem was that he was nothing more than a puppet."
A puppet. Essentially, she wasn't wrong. Jaejin had indeed acted according to Lena's will in almost everything, and even his current physical state was entirely due to her intentions.
Nero nodded in agreement, while Wollyeon and Vivian struggled to maintain their poker faces to avoid revealing their inner thoughts.
Though no one had said it aloud, Jaejin felt a slight sense of crisis realizing they all shared similar thoughts. If things hadn't progressed so quickly, he might have been ousted immediately instead of receiving declarations of support.
"Since we don't know how the Lust Demon Race will use him—someone who is still essentially an outsider—I thought the power struggle should be maintained for the time being. So, I asked Ms. Sheryl of the Three-Eyed Tribe to declare neutrality. However..."
Everyone had been making their own moves during the time Jaejin was unaware. Just as Wollyeon had pursued Jaejin, Nia had made an effort to seek out Sheryl. But that effort had vanished like bubbles at the hands of the unpredictable candidate from the Demonic Dragon Tribe.
"I guess it's because I raised my hand? Sorry for making your hard work go to waste~"
"No, that was my failure for not grasping the situation beforehand. However, I still find it a mystery why you so readily gave up the position of Demon Lord..."
Whether that was a genuine question or a hint at another plot following the establishment of the facts, Nero didn't seem to care.
"Well, like I said, it's because this seemed more fun... but I guess you want a more serious answer? I'm a dragon, but I hated this dragon blood."
Gold Dragons are special among all dragons and are treated as objects of worship. Yet, Nero, the dragon herself, denied her own blood. It was a sentiment rarely seen in dragons, a race known for their immense pride.
"Would you believe me if I told you that spending your entire life dully passing time in a massive cave or a volcanic lake on a high mountain was everything? There's no need for a struggle for survival. From the moment you're born, you stand at the apex of all races."
The beings that appeared without fail in myths, legends, and heroic tales were truly worthy of being called the strongest.
"Splitting the earth and flying through the sky is only exciting the first few times. Because I was a Gold Dragon who knew everything, I couldn't even feel the joy of learning. My entire life was boring and tedious. But the elders who had lived for hundreds of years couldn't understand how I felt."
When one is too strong, power loses its thrill; when one is too smart, the desire for knowledge vanishes. Just as the fields and mountains all look like flat ground when looking down from too high a place, she had never felt any crisis or climax in her life, and thus, nothing brought her joy.
"The only time everything felt fun was when I used this little trick called Polymorph to disguise myself as a member of a small, weak race."
"Is that... your previous appearance?"
"Yeah. When I first went down to a human village in that form, a child living there was grieving for a younger brother who had died long ago. When I transformed into the image in the photograph, a flood of emotions I had never felt before surged from that child's eyes."
Nero wore a warm smile as she recalled the pleasant memory.
"Only then did I realize. I understood emotions with my head, but I had never felt them with my heart. When my own eyes welled up with tiny tears, moved by her emotions, I knew this was my path."
From then on, Nero began to acquire human emotions one by one. She frequently went down to villages to play with children, walked through bustling city streets to meet women, and even enrolled in small schools to take human classes.
"They might be emotions I'll forget one day, but I thought that if I piled them up one by one, they would become the memories that complete me. That's why I accepted the bothersome role of a Demon Lord candidate and came to the council to play. And that leads to this current situation."
"So, what you're saying is... you came here purely out of interest and acted accordingly?"
"Exactly."
Hearing Nero's answer, the strength seemed to drain from Nia's body. It was understandable, considering she had been agonizing over the execution of an unfit Demon Lord with her life on the line, only to hear that someone else was just here for fun.
"Shall I tell you why I specifically chose Jaejin-ssi among everyone else?"
Nero called him by his real name, even though they hadn't formally introduced themselves. She didn't seem to be trying to start a fight, but Jaejin felt a vague sense of dread at her beaming smile.
"Sure... I feel like I can handle whatever I hear at this point."
"The thing I haven't been able to learn properly yet is human sexual intercourse. I went to a hotel with a woman I met, but she was terrified because I was too big. When I used Polymorph to make it smaller, she ran away instead. I don't know why."
"That... I think any human would react that way if their partner's genitals suddenly changed size at will."
Jaejin didn't even know what he was listening to anymore. It felt like a terribly scandalous story to be telling in front of a round table where people were gathered, but since he didn't have the status or the nerve to point that out, he stayed quiet. He noticed Veled, sitting on the opposite side, also looked displeased.
If Nia hadn't stepped in to lead the conversation, Veled might have flipped the round table and gone on a rampage by now, but Nero continued the conversation, completely unbothered by such trivialities.
"I tried having relations several times after that, switching between being a man and a woman, but it wasn't as satisfying as I thought. I had no choice but to put sexual pleasure on the back burner, but then I finally met my fated partner right here."
The conversation had now drifted completely away from anything serious. Nero looked at Jaejin with eyes that were even more brilliant now that they were tinted gold, replacing the clear gaze she had when they first met.
"A womanizer who has shared his body with dozens of women! And a thick, erotic scent to match!! The man of destiny who will completely satisfy me!!! Ah~ if I had known it would be like this, I would have attended in this body from the start."
When Jaejin turned his head away from her overwhelming gaze, he was met by Lena, who greeted him with an equally overwhelming smile. When he turned the other way, there was Sheryl, unable to hide her awkwardness.
Having no choice but to look straight ahead, Jaejin saw Nero, whose innocence had vanished and was descending into madness the more she spoke. She was finally stopped by a wooden vine extended by Nia.
Nia, who had reached across the round table to tap Nero's cheek to get her attention, cleared her throat and raised her hand.
"It can't be helped. Since my original purpose has lost its meaning and things have turned out like this, I have no choice but to join in. I look forward to working with you, temporary Demon Lord."
Perhaps because things hadn't gone according to her plan at all, Nia declared her support in a voice that was somewhat prickly and sulky.
And before the meaning of Nia's words could even be fully processed, Sheryl—the blue-haired girl in a sailor suit sitting next to Jaejin who had been a mere bystander to the council until now—abruptly raised her hand.