Chapter 102
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: The Oath's Heavy Price
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"Mnatsil and Kirva, in the name of I, the Central Officer, I shall protect you."
"Mnatsil and Kirva, in the name of I, the Central Officer, I shall protect you."
⟨ Word of Power ⟩
In the pouring rain, everyone heard the Central Officer's declaration.
But it wasn't just a simple shout.
A Word of Power.
Like an invisible bolt of electricity surging through their entire bodies, an intensely chilling shiver struck them all.
And at the center of it stood Nathan, cradling the egg and defying the wind and rain.
Like an unshakable rock.
"My God..."
Those barely whispered words from someone captured everyone's feelings.
But soon enough,
"Cough...!"
With an ominous sound, blood erupted from Nathan's mouth.
- Thud.
He lost his balance and collapsed to the ground.
"Kyaaak!! Nathan!!"
"Central Officer!!"
Elaine, Erzena, and the Olfactory Officer screamed and rushed toward him in an instant.
"Wh-what? Why did he collapse like that!?"
"Nathan, snap out of it, Nathan!"
No matter how they grabbed and shook him, the Central Officer hung limp.
Instead, dark red blood began oozing endlessly from his mouth.
In response to their panicked cries, the Border Guard Captain—who had instantly scanned Nathan's condition through his manacore—replied.
Internal bodily damage from an unbearable unidentified energy surge.
In other words, he was paying the price for uttering the Word of Power.
Words that defy the laws of the world always come with consequences.
Yet for a powerless Central Officer, the cost was brutally severe.
"What does that mean!? How bad is the damage!?"
The Border Guard Captain fell silent for a moment at the Olfactory Officer's desperate plea—hoping against hope it wasn't serious—before delivering the most horrifying answer imaginable.
44% of Central Officer's organs have instantly necrotized.
Partial necrosis confirmed in heart, lungs, and liver.
"..."
The golem spoke its final diagnosis with excruciating slowness, as if loath to say it.
Vital signs fading.
"No, no!"
"U... uuu..."
Words tantamount to a death sentence plunged the two women into full panic.
The others froze in place, stunned by the sudden turn of events.
The first to snap out of it was the Olfactory Officer.
"Damn it, let's get him inside first! Shelter from the rain—"
As he urgently tried to hoist the Central Officer up with both arms,
- Gush.
Even more blood poured from his mouth and nose.
The Auditory Officer came to her senses and shouted.
"Blaszek, don't touch him! With organ damage like that, moving him will only make it worse!"
"Fuck, then what the hell do we do!?"
A curse born of sheer frustration.
But no one had an answer.
No one could have anticipated this situation.
No one could have foreseen this consequence, this price.
Then, the Gustatory Officer—who had cautiously checked Nathan's wrist—spoke in a trembling voice.
"O-Olfactory Officer... I can't... feel the Central Officer's pulse."
Those words finally broke even the Olfactory Officer.
"Central Officer, Central Officer! Can you hear me!? Answer me!"
Silence.
"Goddamn it, Nathan Kell! Get up!"
Silence.
Warmth slowly ebbed from the limp body.
"Damn it, damn it!"
There was nothing they could do.
The Central Officer's blood scent began to thicken, even through the downpour.
"You can't go down here."
Blaszek muttered through gritted teeth.
"Too late for a healer. In that case..."
What would the Central Officer have done? What would this man have done?
He racked his brain furiously.
'Use everything at my disposal right now.'
People, objects—it didn't matter.
That's when he realized what assets they had on hand.
"Erzena!"
At his shout, Erzena—who had been lost in shock, clutching Nathan's cooling hand—looked up.
"Y-Yes...?"
"Holy power! That's our only shot right now!"
"...!!"
Only then did she remember what her power was.
"R-Right!!!"
She quickly adjusted her posture and began to pray.
A golden glow slowly, gently enveloped Nathan's body.
Next, the Olfactory Officer bellowed.
"Border Guard Captain! Sync with the other guards near the office right now and have them grab every emergency medical supply in there! Hemostatics, spare blood—everything!"
Connected to Code Name 21-49. Orders relayed.
The captain carried out the order without missing a beat, as if it had been waiting.
'Calmly. Coldly. But fast. No hesitation.'
Gritting his teeth, the Olfactory Officer mimicked Nathan's command style to a tee.
'With the Central Officer down, I'm the only one left who can take charge.'
Duty and desperation spun his mind into overdrive.
"Princess. I'm truly sorry, but use your telekinesis to stabilize the Central Officer's body. Lock it down—no movement at all."
"U.. uuu."
Seeing Erzena pull herself together, Elaine wiped her tears and nodded fiercely.
She thrust out her hand, and in an instant, his body was rigidly fixed in place.
The Olfactory Officer didn't stop there.
"Tactile Officer. You there?"
- Yes!
"You stay put. Crisis or not, we need at least one person holding down the office."
Even in chaos, the border had to be guarded.
Blaszek hadn't forgotten that ironclad rule.
- ...Understood. Olfactory Officer, please... save the Central Officer.
The comms cut off with heartfelt words.
"Auditory—no, Sen. Magic-clean the entire area around us. Not a single bacterium gets in. Holy power or not, infection's a risk."
"Got it. Redes Madeira!"
Redes Madeira!
Her long-time partner, the Auditory Officer chanted the spell without a second's hesitation, scouring the five-meter radius clean with a gale-force wind.
Now for the last one...
"Gustatory Officer."
"Th-the Central Officer... is he... dying?"
Of all the sense officers, the Gustatory Officer—who had relied on Nathan the most—was still collapsed in shock.
At the sight, the Olfactory Officer roared.
"Snap out of it, Sita Rahim! He ain't dead yet. So quit sniveling and get your ass to that house for towels and water to wipe the blood NOW!!!"
His bellow shook even the thunder.
The Gustatory Officer leaped to her feet.
"Hik! Y-Yes!"
"I won't watch this bloody fool check out. Not like this. Not before I've paid him back."
Pulling out her old nickname after ages, he pleaded urgently.
"So... please hold on, Central Officer."
Under the Olfactory Officer's command, everyone sprang into action for on-site treatment of the Central Officer.
And Mnatsil watched it all in stunned silence, still cradling the egg.
"Mnatsil and Kirva, in the name of I, the Central Officer, I shall protect you."
"Mnatsil and Kirva, in the name of I, the Central Officer, I shall protect you."
⟨ Word of Power ⟩
An intense reverberation.
It was unmistakably a Word of Power—a declaration.
She could feel it.
Truly, her scales stood on end from the sheer force of it.
Staring blankly down at Nathan, now wrapped in golden light as he lay fallen, Mnatsil murmured.
"Why... why go this far?"
Even this much was already more than she deserved.
She would have been content if he'd just vowed to protect the egg.
She'd even planned to leave with heartfelt gratitude.
But Nathan had included even her in the Word of Power.
'Which means the backlash must have hit him twice as hard.'
A human body couldn't withstand a vow to protect even one person.
Yet two—a dragon like her, and the egg itself, a dragon incarnate.
Far too reckless. He had to know the price would be merciless.
"Nathan Kell..."
A man who spoke words no one ever had to her.
A man who championed rules and principles over fame or greed.
And... a man who declared—with a Word of Power—not just protection for the egg she'd begged for, but for her as well, shielding them both from the world itself.
Dragons are solitary creatures.
Born strong, they die strong, taking no mates, laying eggs alone.
The natural order.
An inevitable cycle, etched into dragonkind for millennia.
But Nathan had defied it head-on.
There was no flicker of doubt in his eyes. No lie, no hesitation—he'd staked his life willingly.
A human, infinitely fragile, living but a fleeting instant.
Such a being had pledged his name to the oath.
- Throb.
Mnatsil felt her heart ache with an intensity unlike any before.
Like the stab of a mithril arrow.
No. This was no mere physical pain.
- Thump, thump.
It was a fierce pounding, directed at the man who had first staked his life and name for her sake.
Feeling this unprecedented surge of emotion for the first time, she slowly turned to gaze at those encircling Nathan.
Erzena, face streaked with tears, desperately praying to her god.
Elaine beside her, clutching Nathan's hand, weeping even as she pinned his body to stabilize it.
The unshaken Olfactory Officer, and the Auditory Officer calmly sterilizing the area with precise bursts.
The Gustatory Officer, wiping blood from his mouth with towels nonstop, fighting back sobs.
Even the Border Guard Captain, shielding the rain with its massive palm while reporting Nathan's status in real time.
Beings of every race, gender, origin, and age—all moving for one man alone.
In that strange assembly, their singular wish was shared.
"Please, please come back to us...!"
"Nathan..."
That the one called Central Officer not die.
Only then did Mnatsil see it.
"...!!!"
The soul bonds, forged when the incansers pledged their trust to Nathan, knotted as firmly as unbreakable ties between them all and him.
And now... extending to her and the egg as well.
"My God..."
She finally understood.
What that strange sensation had been when she'd touched the Central Officer's arm before.
- You are brimful. That's why there's no room for mana or any other energies. You seemed like a void from having no gaps at all.
- No, rather... you overflow with enough to share among countless others.
Nathan Kell was a singular existence.
Powerless on the surface, yet unmistakably brimming with something within.
The aura she'd sensed from the Central Officer before was black.
A chaos blending all things, a hue encompassing every color.
His power didn't project outward.
Quite the opposite.
An embracing force.
A vessel that held the entire world within itself.
"You truly... are a wondrous creature. A connector of all."
Mnatsil slowly looked down at the egg.
This child now had a name.
"...Kirva."
Even that name, declared through a Word of Power, bound the child's fate to the Central Officer.
An inseparable bond.
- Wobble.
As if responding to her call, the egg trembled faintly.
"Yes. Let us stand together."
Mnatsil made her resolve.
The prayers of the faithful.
The hopes of the faithless.
Upon them, she laid the hearts of the last dragon—herself—and her successor child, Kirva.
You vowed to protect me and my egg—no, Kirva.
Then I shall protect you.
'For this man who spoke words no one else ever did, I offer my remaining days.'
So she vowed.
'I shall live with you... and die with you.'
For one man, they all poured forth their utmost.
As he had once done for them all.
And at last,
- Twitch.
Nathan's finger stirred.