The Dragon's Shrine Maiden
The griffin had not tasted as exquisite as Hyeonmu—its rank was simply lower—but even so, its flesh put the monsters of the gate I had come from to shame.
When I had eaten it down to the last scrap, I could feel it without doubt. The flame seated in my flesh had grown stronger.
As expected, devouring ordinary monsters did nothing of note. Devour the masters of gates, and I grew. Hyeonmu's words had been no empty boast.
I was still taking the measure of my strengthened body when I felt the gate begin to collapse. Eating a gate's master made me stronger—that much was already certain. Whether the gate itself would be absorbed along with its master was what this moment would settle.
It shuddered more and more violently as it came apart. I watched, then closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, a familiar cave met my sight.
I had returned, just as I'd expected. I went straight outside and spread my mana, widening its reach little by little so it would not brush the boundary of the space. Wherever it struck the surrounding terrain and came back, I carved the lay of the land into my mind.
So the gate is absorbed after all.
Beyond the marsh and the lake, the great rocky mountain where the griffin had dwelled now stood. The gate's interior had grown unmistakably broader, new regions added to it, and looking them over I found monsters I had never seen before.
In the marsh, creatures shaped like crocodiles and turtles had claimed the ground. On the rocky mountain, bird-type monsters far smaller than the griffin had appeared.
Up through the moment I devoured Hyeonmu, only the monsters that had already been here remained. New ones had arisen only after I ate the griffin. Did the inside of the gate change, little by little, with every gate master I consumed?
The boundary of the space had receded a long way from where it had first stood. I flew out to it, and when I arrived I had to crane my neck to take in the gate—grown so vast that even I had to look up to see it. The thought that it would only grow larger still stirred a quiet anticipation in me.
I wonder where I'll end up this time.
I stepped through without hesitation.
...What is this?
Inside, three gates of identical size stood before me. Only the one in the center was sealed by something. The other two were plainly open, ready to be passed.
The scenery beyond told me where those two led. The gate on the right opened onto Heaven Lake at Mount Baekdu, where Hyeonmu's gate had stood. The one on the left opened onto the very place where the griffin's gate had appeared only moments before.
Where to go. Another visit to Mount Baekdu already felt a little stale. Passing back through the griffin's gate and moving on to somewhere else from there seemed no worse a choice.
I put an end to the thought and threw myself into the griffin's gate.
The peculiar sensation of traveling through a gate washed over me for an instant, and I was already standing where the griffin's gate had been.
I've arrived. Now where do I go, and what am I supposed to do?
I considered roaming about and devouring gate bosses, but creatures worth my while, like Hyeonmu, were hardly common. The prospect left me flat. I had already searched the whole of Korea with my mana, and so far no gate existed that could satisfy me.
I was just sinking into the thought that I would have to cross into another country when a mana reaction flared directly ahead.
Too faint to call a gate, yet close enough in nature to catch my interest. I was studying it when humans emerged from the small opening.
All of them were women, and among every human I had met, their mana was the highest in purity and quality.
Hunters? They fall short of Hyeonmu, but they might do for a moment's amusement.
They had noticed me long before. The two women at the rear drew up their mana, looking ready to spring at any moment, but at a check from the woman in front they let it go.
"It is an honor to meet you, O Red Dragon. I am Shiraishi Tsubaki."
She bowed with careful courtesy, stole a glance at my eyes, and went on.
"I have come in order to attend you."
"The likes of you, attend me? Don't spout nonsense above your station."
"I know that I am lacking. Even so, I beg you to allow me to serve."
I had threaded a hint of mana through the words as a threat, yet she looked up at me boldly and did not look away. A small curiosity took root.
"I have no need of you. Disappear."
I kindled a weak flame along my scales and flung it at her.
"Lady Shrine Maiden...!"
"I told you this was impossible...!"
"Please. Grant me the chance to serve you."
The fire was burning her body, and still she did not so much as blink. She held both eyes open and faced me without flinching, and I found that I liked the sight of it.
The other two rushed in from behind to shield her. She thrust out a hand and stopped them, then bowed deeply once more and began to plead with everything she had.
What reason could drive her to go that far just to serve me? Curious despite myself, I drew the flame back.
"So there is some backbone in you, and a justification to match."
"...I thank you for your mercy."
She was forcing the pain down; I could tell. Endorphins, the kind a body floods itself with under severe stress, were pouring through her. She tried to hide it, but look a little closer and the trembling of her body and eyelids was plain. My curiosity only thickened.
"Speak. Why do you want me?"
"To protect you."
"Keheheh—the likes of you, protect me? Hahahaha...!!"
"I'll grant you this. Of every living thing I have ever met, you are the most absurd."
"I am sincere. I came to protect you."
"Protect? And what, exactly, do you mean to protect me from?"
Devour a gate's master and I grew overwhelmingly stronger, with no particular process required. For something like me to be protected by a frail human body—the more I turned it over, the less I could stop laughing. It was no different from an ant stepping forward and announcing it would guard a dinosaur.
"I intend to protect you from humans."
"Humans? I already know that you women rank among the stronger of your kind."
"Praise from other humans has clearly gone to your head. Know your place."
"Of course, great dragon, humans will not threaten your life."
"But human malice is a filthy power, strong enough to taint even a spirit as exalted as yours."
The sincerity in her eyes kept me from cutting her off. I let her continue.
"Even humans do not know how far human malice will reach."
"To capture you, they may try to obliterate every stretch of land your feet have touched. They may strap bombs to their own bodies and cling to you."
"Those revolting acts will repeat forever, until either you or humankind is spent."
"So I will remain at your side, and I will see to it that malice never reaches you."
When she finished, she sank to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground before me.
"I implore you once more. Please, grant me a chance."
Then, before she could even hear my answer, she lost consciousness and toppled onto her side. Even before my fire had struck her, her strength had already been scraped empty for some reason.
Her desperate appeal did not change my values. There was no bond between us worth the name of fate, and a few words from a woman I was seeing for the first time were not about to overturn a way of seeing I had lived by for decades. Even so, it had not failed to touch me entirely.
"Bring that woman, and follow."
I said it to the two who had been watching from behind, unable to commit to one course or the other, and stepped into the gate.
I brought them to my cave—the unconscious woman, and the two who followed with her carefully borne on one's back.
The exhaustion must have been considerable. A good while passed, and still she did not rise. I watched her, wondering what she would do when she woke, and with what eyes she would look at me.
The two women beside her seemed uncomfortable with the situation itself. They held their breath and did nothing but steal silent glances.
"Tsk. What a bother."
At my words they immediately drew up their mana and set hands to their weapons. I ignored them, reached out, and laid a claw upon the head of the woman lying peacefully there, pouring mana into her.
I fed it in slowly, so the sudden mana would not strain her. Little by little her body twitched, showing signs of waking.
A moment later she stirred and sat up, sleep not yet fully gone. She looked around with a vacant stare, then saw me—and her eyes flew wide as she came back to herself.
"...Ah...? Ahem. Forgive me for letting you see me in such disarray."
"It was a face worth seeing. Even a woman who carried herself so proudly cannot overcome exhaustion, it seems."
"Ahem... Then what is to be done with me?"
A soft flush rose in her cheeks as she asked after her fate.
"I don't trust you. I have, however, grown curious—just how you mean to protect me."
"I permit you to remain at my side."
At my leave she forced her body, still trembling with fatigue, to rise, bowed deeply, and offered her thanks.
"I will never give you cause to be disappointed. Upon everything I am, I will protect you."
"Don't imagine that because you're here, I'll stop killing humans. You'd be wrong."
"Yes..."
Once she had answered, the last of her tension seemed to leave her, and she sank down in a heap.
That frail, and I'm supposed to trust her?