West Sea Dragon King (4)
West Sea Dragon King (4)
"Was it too gloomy a story?"
"No. Not at all."
Unlike me, who did nothing but eat and sleep every day, the life of the Dragon King, who lived his entire life for the sake of others, was not a story that could be dismissed as merely gloomy.
More than that, what I was curious about right now was something else.
"Why am I the last hope?"
"That is... do you remember when I said I had sealed my granddaughter away?"
"Yeah. Since you said it just a moment ago."
"It is because I intend to entrust my granddaughter to you."
"What?"
I was dumbfounded by the sudden statement that he was entrusting his granddaughter to me out of nowhere.
Who said they'd take her?
And why entrust her to me?
If he's regained his senses, he should live with her himself.
"I would like to do so as well. However, I am already a being who has accepted the fate of destruction."
"You look fine right now, though."
"That is thanks to a technique I prepared in advance. This, too, is only temporary."
"No. Even so, would you entrust your precious granddaughter to a Dragon you've just met for the first time?"
"Heh heh. Just seeing how you've listened to my words in silence until now proves you are a Dragon worthy of being entrusted with my granddaughter."
Oh boy.
It looks like I'm about to get completely hooked.
At this rate, I'll end up being burdened with responsibility without any of the pleasure.
I put on a deliberate, solemn expression.
"Do I look so easygoing that I'd take her just because you asked?"
"Of course, I am not asking you to take her for nothing. If you take my granddaughter and raise her until she can stand on her own, I will give you all the treasures I have collected until now."
"Ahem. Shall we see those treasures first before we talk again?"
Treasures collected by a Dragon who has lived for over thousands of years?
I can't pass this up.
As for raising a Dragon, I can just feed her good things and have the others look after her, just like how I've grown up until now.
"Then, before we go to see the treasures I've collected."
"Before?"
"Those two humans are indeed your only companions, correct?"
"Yeah, but why?"
"Ah. It is because uninvited guests have arrived."
The Dragon King moved the water once again to reflect another location.
The place reflected in the water this time was the entrance to the palace we had entered through.
At the entrance, a veil of water that wasn't there when we entered had been created, blocking anyone from entering or leaving, and people dressed in black were launching all sorts of attacks to break that veil.
I realized as soon as I saw them that they were Fiends.
Because they were wearing the same gloomy black clothes that those Fiend bastards always wear.
Behind the Fiends pounding on the entrance, one Fiend who seemed to be controlling them, like Sahwi, stood with his hands behind his back.
"They're Fiends."
"Do you call those things Fiends?"
"Then what do you call them?"
"Remnants of destruction. Or I call them Monsters."
"Well... whatever the title, they aren't part of our group."
"Is that so."
The Dragon King's eyes shone coldly as he gave a short reply, and a twisted smile hung on his lips.
He reached out his hand toward the Fiends reflected in the water.
"Are you planning to deal with them?"
"Yes. There is no need to leave those disgusting things alive just by looking at them."
"Then leave that one guy in the back alive."
"Why should I do that?"
"I'm planning to extract some information."
"Very well. Since it is your request, I shall leave that one alive, though it is revolting."
The Dragon King clenched his outstretched hand.
A simple motion.
However, the result was not simple at all.
A massive amount of water surged from beneath the Fiends, and that water began to rotate faster and faster while trapping the Fiends inside.
Kwaaaa!!
The water rotating at an incredible speed ground up all the Fiends inside like a blender, and dozens of Fiends became finely shredded chunks of meat in an instant without even being able to scream.
The Fiend standing with his hands behind his back was flustered by the sudden event, but the Dragon King's hand moved faster.
When he opened his clenched hand again, this time, a high-pressure stream of water erupting from beneath the Fiend severed his arms and legs.
Having cleared away the Fiends in an instant with just a slight flick of his hand, he dusted off his hands and said.
"I have left him alive as promised."
"Fiends, no. Should I call them Monsters? You have a lot of pent-up feelings toward them."
"Well, you will understand once you lose everything precious to you."
The Dragon King had a relieved expression, as if he had just cleared out a pile of trash for the first time in a long while.
Well, since he lost his people, subordinates, and even his family, it's understandable he'd act like that.
"Now, since the filthy things have been cleared, follow me. I shall show you my ultimate treasures."
I followed the Dragon King as he led the way with excited footsteps.
He tapped here and there on one wall of the audience chamber, and then the wall opened to reveal a staircase leading down.
The stairs, so deep that the end couldn't be seen, were connected to the basement of the palace.
Arriving at the end of the stairs, the Dragon King clapped his hands.
Jjak-jjak!
Then the lights turned on and illuminated the area.
In the lit basement, gold and silver treasures were piled up like mountains, and jewels sparkled brilliantly as they reflected the light.
However, my eyes looking at such gold and silver treasures were only bleak.
If the treasures the Dragon King had collected his whole life were merely gold and silver, I'd be disappointed.
"Surely this isn't all?"
"Of course not. These things here are nothing more than junk. The real ones are hidden further inside."
Answering confidently, the Dragon King passed the mountain of treasure and went deeper, where there was a massive door made of jade.
And in the very center of that door, a golden bead about the size of a fist was embedded, and a mysterious power could be felt from the bead.
"That is?"
"Heh heh heh. As expected, you show interest in that first."
A voice different from before flowed from the Dragon King's mouth as he placed his hand toward the bead.
『The time of the promise has come, so return to your master.』
Woong-woong-woong—
The bead began to emit a powerful light.
The bead, which showed a slight trembling and a pulse like a heart, detached from the door and returned to the Dragon King's hand.
"You've worked hard until now... This is the second most precious treasure I possess, the Wish-fulfilling Jewel."
"The second?"
"The first is, of course, my granddaughter."
"Ah, I see."
He really is a total fool for his granddaughter.
The Dragon King, who was stroking the Wish-fulfilling Jewel as tenderly as if it were a living being, soon handed it to me.
"It is the first gift I give to you."
However, I hesitated to take the Wish-fulfilling Jewel.
It wasn't because I didn't like the Wish-fulfilling Jewel.
It was because I could see the connection between the Wish-fulfilling Jewel and the Dragon King.
"That Wish-fulfilling Jewel. It looks like it's connected to your soul. Is it okay to give it to me like this?"
"I understand what you are worried about, but it is a power that I, who have fallen, can no longer use. Look."
The Dragon King held the Wish-fulfilling Jewel closer to show me.
Pajijeuk—
Faint sparks flew as the black energy rising from the Dragon King's hand and the golden energy flowing from the Wish-fulfilling Jewel collided.
I understood why the Dragon King said that upon seeing the collision of powers that were practically polar opposites.
"I am afraid that if I hold it any longer, even the Wish-fulfilling Jewel will be contaminated. Please take it."
"Alright. No asking for it back later."
"Hahaha. There is no way I would act like such a cheapskate. In the first place, I am in a state where living long is out of the question."
I took the Wish-fulfilling Jewel the Dragon King held out.
Then, the connection between the Wish-fulfilling Jewel and the Dragon King was severed, and as he said, I could feel the Dragon King's body collapsing from the inside.
"Now there really isn't much time left, so let us hurry."
The Dragon King hurriedly opened the jade door from which the Wish-fulfilling Jewel had detached and went inside.
Inside the door was a cozy room.
A room decorated mainly with blue colors like the sea.
On the walls, there were various mysterious objects kept in glass cases like an exhibition, and in the middle of the room was a wide bed.
And a girl who looked to be about 10 years old lying on the bed.
Judging by the deer-like horns on her head, is that child the Dragon King's granddaughter?
"Is she not cute?"
"She is cute."
The sight of her sleeping soundly on the bed, dressed in an outfit like a princess, was quite cute.
The Dragon King, who cautiously approached his granddaughter, reached out his hand toward her but withdrew it with a bitter smile at the repulsive force that sparked between them before he could even touch her.
A girl of pure Azure Dragon lineage and the Dragon King who had accepted the power of destruction.
The two could no longer even touch each other.
"...I expected it to be like this, but now that it has actually happened, it is disappointing and heart-wrenching."
"Still, you saved your granddaughter thanks to that choice."
"That is true. Therefore, though I may be disappointed, I do not regret it."
The Dragon King had a determined face.
"I would like to explain my treasures to you in detail, but since there is no time, I shall substitute it with this."
The Dragon King raised his index finger and pointed it toward his forehead.
Something translucent was pulled out, fluttering along the finger that touched his forehead.
He handed it to me.
"What is this?"
"It is a technique to transfer knowledge."
"There's such a thing?"
It seems the world of magic is capable of more diverse things than I thought.
"If you are curious, would you like to learn it as well?"
"Can I learn it too?"
"Of course. You are a Dragon as well, so why wouldn't it be possible?"
"Ooh."
Am I finally escaping the fate of fighting while relying only on physical strength and poison?
The Dragon King, who chuckled, once again brought his finger to his forehead and used the technique to pull out something additional.
That must be the knowledge about the technique.
A lump of knowledge gathered in one place.
The Dragon King shoved it into my mouth.
Hmm.
It feels like chewing air.
It has no taste, but I feel an unknown sense of fullness.
"They say knowledge is food for the soul."
"Aha. So that's why I feel full."
"How is it?"
"Wait a second."
When I closed my eyes and recalled it, the knowledge the Dragon King gave me became one naturally, as if it had been my knowledge from the beginning.
But there's something strange?
Granddaughter has a hobby of collecting pretty shells.
Granddaughter likes to be given piggyback rides.
Granddaughter is a picky eater.
Granddaughter is...
Granddaughter is...
Vast knowledge about treasures and techniques.
In between, it even included knowledge about what his granddaughter likes and dislikes.
"No, this crazy granddaughter-fool."
"You may think of it as the unsightly behavior of an old man sending away his last remaining family member."
When I opened my eyes and looked again, the Dragon King was grinning as if everything had gone according to plan.