Mistaken for a Divine Dragon
When I was young, I loved dinosaurs. It was the usual rite of passage for any boy, but my affection ran a bit deeper than most.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“A Tyrannosaurus rex!”
“...Sweetheart, dinosaurs aren’t a career.”
“Tsk tsk. This is exactly why adults are hopeless.”
Every night I would stand my T-rex doll beside my pillow before falling asleep, and in my dreams I was always the undisputed king of the Cretaceous. But a child’s faith is easily shattered.
During a kindergarten field trip to the natural history museum, the other kids stared up at the fossil skeletons and gasped in wonder. I, on the other hand, felt nothing but crushing betrayal.
It is estimated they went extinct around 66 million years ago due to an asteroid impact.
One space rock goes boom and that’s it. They couldn’t handle a single pebble from the cosmos, couldn’t adapt to environmental change, and every last one of them starved to death. Ruling the Earth? Apex predators? In the end they were just losers from a bygone era.
That very day I threw every dinosaur toy I owned into the trash.
The new tenant that moved into my newly emptied heart was the dragon. Soaring through the sky was the bare minimum. Flames roared from its maw. Its lifespan approached eternity. It kept every strength dinosaurs possessed while erasing all their weaknesses—an upgraded, superior lifeform. The ultimate creature. A supreme being. The arbiter of the world itself. That was a dragon!
A dragon would have treated an asteroid like an after-dinner snack.
“...Sigh.”
Time passed, and now here I was—neither dinosaur nor dragon, just an ordinary office worker.
I returned to my shabby one-room apartment after another grueling overtime shift, loosened my tie, and collapsed into the chair at the table. Tonight’s feast was a convenience-store stir-fried pork lunchbox. I shoveled the dry rice into my mouth while turning on my smartphone. The only escape I had left was web novels.
“Oh, a dragon!”
The protagonist had reincarnated inside a dragon’s lair. But then—
Kyaaaack! What the hell is this taste?!
Ah, you don’t know? This is called “cup ramen.”
The dragon wept emotional tears at the addictive flavor of artificial seasoning, then handed over every ancient treasure and legendary artifact in its hoard as payment.
“Are you kidding me?!”
It’s a dragon, for crying out loud! How does the ultimate lifeform sell its soul for a packet of MSG?! My rage refused to cool. If anything, it only grew hotter as every other novel I’d read flashed through my mind.
Dragons used as punching bags by hero parties.
Dragons living on the mountain behind the territory helping with urban development.
Dragons treated as convenient mounts.
There were no bigger pushovers in existence.
“...If I—”
I ground my teeth.
“If I were a dragon.”
I would reign as an absolute sovereign. I wouldn’t hand over treasures—I would seize them. I wouldn’t give anyone rides on my back—I would crush them beneath my claws. A truly fearsome dragon whose very shadow would send lowly creatures slamming their foreheads to the ground in terror.
“Why aren’t I a dragon?”
After fuming for a while, the exhaustion from overtime finally caught up with me. Desperate to flee this miserable reality, I pulled the blanket over my head and closed my eyes.
***
Consciousness floated back to the surface. The first thing I felt was suffocation. My limbs wouldn’t move properly, and every direction I stretched was blocked.
Did I wrap myself too tightly again?
I decided to kick the blanket off.
Thud.
Huh? That felt strangely solid for fabric.
I kicked again.
Crack—
A fissure formed. Blankets don’t crack.
What is this?
I took a deep breath and thrashed with every ounce of strength I possessed.
Craaaack! Crash!
Fresh air rushed in from all sides.
“Haaah…! What the—? Where am I?”
I crawled out of whatever half-destroyed thing had been trapping me. Fragments crunched beneath my feet.
“...Eggshells?”
I looked back at the place I had just emerged from. It was an egg. The shattered remains of an enormous egg lay scattered across a boulder.
“I just hatched from an egg?”
While I was still trying to process the situation, I realized my body had changed on a fundamental level.
I lifted my hand. Except it wasn’t a hand—it was a forelimb.
“Wait, what?”
I looked behind me. There was a tail. The moment I became aware of it, the thing began wagging left and right.
I checked my back. Wings—folded, but unmistakably wings.
And above my head… a hard, curved sensation.
“Hold on. This can’t be—”
Horns.
“I have horns! Actual horns!”
The symbol of a mighty dragon!
At that exact moment, a whisper echoed inside my mind.
Yumitas… this world──
Yumitas? Was that my dragon True Name?
“Hell yeah!”
That’s right—this grand self is Yumitas! A magnificent dragon who has transcended humanity and finally hatched from the egg!
I slapped the ground with my tail, savoring the joy.
Right, time to admire my new form.
I approached a clear puddle that had collected in one corner of the nest. I leaned over, eager to see my terrifying reflection…
“Huh?”
Ruby-red eyes that sparkled like gemstones. Cream-colored horns rising elegantly from my head. So far, so good.
“...Pink?”
I blinked and looked again. From the tip of my snout to the end of my tail, I was a lovely, vibrant, strawberry-milk pink.
“Wait. Wait just a second. A pink dragon?”
Red, blue, green—fine. Classic elemental colors. Gold, silver—noble and sacred metals. Excellent. Even black or white could be accepted as traditional fantasy fare.
But pink? What was I, a mascot character? A dragon meant to plunge the world into terror was the exact shade of strawberry milk!
“No, no. Calm down, Yumitas.”
The notion that pink is cute is a hopelessly human-centric prejudice. Do not measure the world by the standards of foolish mortals.
“...Right. Let’s think logically.”
Red and blue are mass-produced colors used by ordinary dragons. But pink is different. It is the color created when red blood and white bone are crushed and mixed together. It is the hue that symbolizes ultimate chaos—the shade left behind after everything has been destroyed.
“Which means I am not some common normal dragon, but the one and only SSR-grade special entity in the entire universe!”
In other words, a Chaos Dragon!
This is the Chaos Dragon, Lord Yumitas!
“Kah! As expected, this grand self was extraordinary from the moment of birth!”
So what if I’m pink? The important thing is that I have been reborn as a dragon. The time has come to fulfill the vow I made in my human days.
I will end the bloodline of pushover dragons with my generation.
I will not lose my mind over cup ramen. I will not become the hero’s experience points. I will not let anyone ride on my back. In this world, I shall reign as the most fearsome, most majestic dragon of all!
“Let’s make dragons great again!”
I will make sure that every lowly creature who sees so much as my shadow slams their head to the ground and trembles in terror.
“Groooooooooar!”
My roar shook the entire mountain range. Clouds scattered in every direction and the earth itself trembled.
“Phew. Not bad for a first roar.”
I spread my wings wide. The moment I launched from the boulder, the wind lifted me as though it were only natural. Of course it did. I was a dragon, after all.
The world that unfolded beneath me as I pierced the clouds was entirely new. An endless expanse of deep-blue primeval forest and rugged mountain ranges stretched out in every direction. The mountains were enormous. The trees were enormous. The beasts were enormous. Everything was enormous.
A pure wilderness untouched by any trace of civilization—a primitive era in its rawest form.
Grrrr—
“A land that has yet to be tamed… the perfect world for this grand self to conquer.”
While I was enjoying a leisurely flight, my dragon eyesight caught sight of a small settlement at the forest’s edge. Crude huts made of lashed logs and covered with animal hides. A rough wooden palisade encircling them. It was a village. A human village.
Humans! There are humans here!
I wagged my tail excitedly.
Humans—the most representative example of lowly creatures. But also the most useful of lowly creatures. A dragon’s greatness requires an audience. Roaring alone atop a mountain is nothing but noise. True majesty is only established when someone prostrates themselves on the ground and begs for mercy.
“Perfect timing. These humans shall be this grand self’s first slaves.”
I gradually lowered my altitude and descended toward the village. The closer I drew, however, the more I sensed something was wrong. Smoke was rising from inside the settlement that should have been peaceful, and sharp screams rode the wind.
Looking closer, I saw a pack of beasts smashing through the wooden fence and pouring inside. Magical beasts covered in multiple eyes and mouths.
“What is that disgusting ball of fur?”
The humans were fighting desperately with sharpened wooden spears and stone axes, but they couldn’t even scratch the beasts’ hides and were being flung aside like toys.
A strange irritation surged through me. Was it pity? Sympathy?
Absolutely not.
“Those lowly creatures should be trembling before this grand self!!”
I swung my wings irritably and dove.
“How dare you cut in line?!”
I opened my maw wide and unleashed the boiling breath inside me without mercy.
Kwaaaaaaaaa—!
Pink breath—no, the breath of destruction carrying the essence of ultimate chaos—swept across the front of the village. A shockwave roared outward and dust billowed into the air.
A moment later, when the light faded and the dust settled, nothing remained.
The house-sized pack of magical beasts had completely evaporated, not even a single bone fragment or strand of fur left behind.
Ooooh! It actually worked? As expected, this grand self really is the strongest dragon!
I folded my wings and landed gracefully in the open space at the village center.
Thud!
I held my tail high and lifted my horns, striking the most elegant and majestic pose I could manage.
The surviving humans stood frozen, staring up at me in blank astonishment.
Perfect. Now’s the moment!
Time to carve into their minds exactly how terrifying and cruel this grand self truly is!
Wearing the most arrogant expression I could muster, I recited the line I had prepared.
I finished with a mighty dragon roar!
A flawless dragon arrival if I ever saw one.
That was when a man staggered out from the crowd. Red hair, dressed in animal pelts and wearing a necklace of fangs. He was probably the tribe’s chief.
He walked straight up to me and immediately threw himself to the ground.
Yes, now beg for your life.
Offer all your treasures and swear that your descendants will serve me as slaves for generations! If you do, I might be generous enough to spare your lives.
“Aaaah…!”
The chief opened his mouth. Trembling in fear, he would now swear obedience…
“Aaaah! The benevolent divine dragon has descended to save us! Thank you! We will never forget this grace!”
…Huh?
“You took pity on us and came in person!”
“Behold that sacred color!”
“Please watch over our humble tribe!”
Every single person who had been standing there blankly fell to the ground at once. Some wept tears of overwhelming emotion while others clasped their hands in fervent prayer.
“.........Roar?”