Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Dragon's Nest - [3]
A scream(?) erupted from the void. At the same time, the surrounding scenery began to distort in bizarre ways.
"Oppa...?"
Serika, standing beside me, called out but froze with her mouth agape.
Her pupils didn't blink, and her fluttering hair hung motionless in the air.
'...?'
Time... had stopped.
Wooong—.
The space before me rippled like water, and a transparent blue light began to condense.
The light gradually took form. What appeared was unexpectedly... small and cute(?) in shape.
The kind of hatchling you often see in comics or anime.
Its entire body gleamed like translucent sapphire, with a vivid red mark stamped clearly in the center of its forehead.
"What... is this?"
Was it sheer astonishment? I didn't feel even a hint of fear.
The dragon glared at me while rubbing its forehead with a front paw.
"Of all times, materializing right now..."
Absurdity, anger, and utter disbelief swirled in the dragon's eyes.
"How rude, human. Attacking out of nowhere."
I reflexively raised a hand in greeting.
"Uh... um. Hello?"
At my words, the dragon snorted and thumped its tail against the air.
Whether fortunate or not, it didn't seem truly enraged.
"Ahem. Can't maintain my dignity."
The dragon cleared its throat and straightened its posture.
Floating in midair, it introduced itself in a solemnly affected voice.
"I am the residual thought of the ancient dragon slumbering here. My true body ascended long ago, leaving only this shell of a thought to guard these lands."
What in the world was happening...? I could only stare blankly and ask.
"Residual thought, you say...? Like a ghost?"
"Similar, but far superior. I straddle the boundary between the material and spiritual realms."
Spouting some utter otaku drivel. The dragon circled me once, scrutinizing me.
"Definitely an outsider..."
"What do you mean?"
"No use hiding it. I can smell it. The scent of a soul not from this world—utterly alien and unfamiliar."
The dragon sniffed the air.
"Indeed... you don't belong here. The body is native, but the essence within drifted in from another dimension entirely."
The dragon clicked its tongue.
"A child's body dead at seven from a mana curse. Another dimension's soul flowed into that empty shell and took root... What a staggering coincidence."
I was stunned into silence.
The dragon looked faintly smug at my shocked expression.
Snap.
The dragon snapped its front paw like fingers. In an instant, the pitch-black cave interior transformed.
We were in a library. One so vast it defied imagination.
A repository so immense that calling it a collection of all the world's knowledge fell short.
"This is...?"
"My mental realm. Can't mistreat a guest."
The dragon conjured a chair from thin air and sat.
(The dragon perched on the chair looked utterly comical.)
"Outsider. Do you know how this world is structured?"
"... Suddenly philosophy class? No clue how to respond."
"Listen well. The principle behind manifesting your piano lies here."
The dragon reached out, and a book floated free, pages rustling open naturally.
"This material world is merely the final, degenerated condensation of the purest 'spirit' passing through four spiritual realms."
Suddenly, the entire worldview felt rewritten.
The dragon sketched in the air, forming a tree of light.
Ten spheres linked by twenty-two paths came into view.
"... The Tree of Sephirot?"
"Oh?"
The dragon's eyes gleamed.
"You know the name? Your home world must have grasped similar truths."
"Kabbalistic perspective. Matter is just spirit's shadow."
The dragon nodded in satisfaction.
"Matter is nothing but spirit's hardened, degenerated shell. Conversely, the shell's destruction leaves the core spirit untouched."
The dragon pointed at my chest.
"Invert that, and you uncover magic's essence."
"Invert?"
"Exactly. So long as spirit endures unchanged and intensely... higher-dimensional essence can flow back into the material world and take form. It's not impossible."
The dragon's gaze grew deadly serious.
"That's why you designed a piano unknown to this world and had artisan Haruna craft it perfectly."
"..."
"That otherworldly knowledge and concept of the piano was etched so vividly, so perfectly, in your mind."
The dragon tapped its own head.
"In crossing to this world, your soul clung to that one piece of knowledge. You produced blueprints to manifest it, yes?"
I listened in a daze before asking.
"... So, long story short, you're saying I'm awesome?"
"Crude summary, but accurate."
The dragon nodded.
"... Why tell me all this?"
A hazy feeling washed over me. This had to be a dream.
"No idea... Got a favor to ask?"
"Sharp. Yes, a request."
This wasn't a dream?
"I seek your aid. To break free from this tedious boundary and reclaim my freedom."
"Freedom..."
"This residual thought is bound here. Because... the goddess holds me fast."
"Goddess?"
I'd heard that name before. Definitely.
"The goddess hasn't vanished from this world. She's merely in abeyance."
The dragon uttered the unbelievable.
"She peered into the future. And beheld an error arising far ahead."
"Error?"
"Yes. The mana curse, dubbed the gods' curse."
Probably... the reason the boy named Aiman died at seven. Piecing it from the dragon's words.
"She discovered its cause: the clash of 'divine power' and 'mana'. Her very existence reacts with mana, poisoning and slaying humans."
The dragon's voice turned bitter.
"An observed outcome is inevitable. Causality fixes the future, birthing causes in the past."
"The future's sight created the cause?"
"True greatness transcends timelines. Futures can dictate pasts."
The dragon wove its fingers into a tangled skein of threads.
"The goddess fell into dilemma. Her presence slays most humans; her absence dooms the world's balance. So she suspended herself, retreating to the world's fissures until the mana curse error resolves."
God hadn't died or departed—she'd sealed herself away in silent vigil.
"Had the goddess remained, what then?"
"Nine in ten lifeforms dead from mana curses by now. Her presence lingers even in hiding, so incidents persist."
"... Tough to follow."
"Simply put... Should someone fix this systemic mana curse flaw, the goddess returns. My binding chains shatter too."
The dragon pointed at me.
"Why me?"
"You're the variable to correct it. Your existence skyrockets the odds of resolving the mana curse."
My head spun. A goddess revival quest out of nowhere. The scale felt overwhelming.
"What if I refuse?"
"I told you: observation decrees the past. Refusal changes nothing. Self-fulfilling prophecy."
"You see the future too?"
"Not so clearly. I glimpse possibilities."
"You see the possibility of me reviving the goddess."
The dragon shrugged.
"I've prattled on. Call it a bet on your potential... Take this. Advance payment."
"Advance?"
The dragon plunged a paw into its chest, tearing something from near its heart.
Crunch.
"Ugh... Stings."
The dragon grimaced, withdrawing its paw. In its palm rested a glowing red gem shard.
So... Dragon heart fragment, huh.
"Take it. You'll need it."
The dragon grinned and added,
"When she returns, I'll petition the goddess. Acknowledge your monumental merit in her revival and free me from here."
"Freed, what then?"
"Who knows. Wander the world, perhaps."
The dragon patted my head.
"Incidentally, you can petition too. Hero who saved a god and all. Wish to go home, get rich—whatever suits."
The dragon tossed the heart shard. I caught it reflexively in both hands.
Fwoooosh—!!!
The instant it touched my palm, blinding red light flooded my vision.
Consciousness snapped back to reality.
The library vanished; the dark cave reappeared.
"...!"
I snapped my eyes open. Serika was shaking my shoulder.
"Oppa! Snap out of it! What's wrong?!"
"Hah... huff..."
I gasped raggedly, staring at my hand.
Right hand.
A small, red-glowing gem shard clutched within.
"Huh...? What's that?"
Serika gaped at my right hand.
"This..."
I clenched the gem tight.
"A souvenir."
My mind reeled.
"A very expensive one, at that."
The dragon's nest held nothing? No—it held everything.
Main quest... has it begun?