The Truth I Longed So Desperately to Know
"You... are the Azure Dragon?"
- Yes.
What on earth is going on...
I thought I was dead, and now, of all times, I've met the Azure Dragon. What am I supposed to do about that?
- I'm sorry. That, too, was beyond my control.
...?
Did she just read my mind?
- If a parent cannot read their child's heart, then they would hardly deserve to be called a parent, would they?
...So it was real.
Then I don't have to speak out loud, do I...? Would that be rude?
- You may continue speaking through your thoughts if you wish. I can hear every word. Do as you please.
...Well, no reason to refuse, then.
For now, I'll just talk through my thoughts—
- First, I would like to apologize.
Sorry...? About what?
- Because it was I who invited you to this Hung Continent.
What...?
- And your parents... it was as good as if I had killed them myself.
...
My eyes, fixed on her, became the very opposite of what they had been moments ago.
A wave of betrayal surged through me at the realization that everything—the suffering I had endured all this time, the horror of the situation I had been thrust into—traced back to the Azure Dragon.
- But please... would you not grant me the chance to explain? I beg of you...
The Azure Dragon knelt before me and bowed her head.
Her posture was that of one pleading for forgiveness.
"Why did you kill my parents?"
My voice, thick with fury, filled the empty air.
- ...It was not by my own hand... but it may as well have been.
At that unintelligible answer, I screamed.
"Damn it, give me a straight answer, what are you saying?!!"
I lunged forward, seized her by the collar, and hauled her up.
At my actions, the blue-haired figures behind her moved to block me.
- Enough. Everyone, back to your positions.
- But—!
- Would you ignore the word of the First Azure Dragon, Fifth Successor?
The ones who had tried to stop me were all those who had once attempted to purify the world with the Azure Dragon's power.
The blue-haired man with the close-cropped hair, once called the Fifth Azure Dragon, twisted his face in disgust, but he could not override her command.
- I understand your rage. They were your parents, after all.
"That's right. Then I'm sure you understand why I'm doing this to you."
As I growled and tightened my grip on her collar, the Azure Dragon continued.
- No. What I mean is that they were not your birth parents.
What? That's absurd.
I was at an orphanage, clearly—!
- Then do you remember the name of that orphanage?
...Of course!
Wait... why can't I remember...?
No, I was just a child. Of course I wouldn't remember the name!
- Then what about your friends' names? Or, at the very least—do you know what your favorite toy was?
...I wanted so badly to prove her wrong.
But I couldn't remember.
Not the exact name of the orphanage. Not the name of my closest friend. Not even the toy I'd played with every day—none of it existed in my memory.
Hold on. Why should I believe you didn't erase my memories yourself?
At that thought, she said:
- Then let me swear it upon a Dragon Oath.
- I have never once laid a hand upon your memories, and I swear upon the Dragon Oath that I have told no lies to you—the Seventh Successor of the Azure Dragon, who now stands before me.
- Should I break this oath, I will relinquish my seat as First of the Divine Beasts and retire, and the authority of the First Azure Dragon shall pass to the Fifth Azure Dragon.
- First—!
The blue-haired ones tried to restrain her, but—
- You stand before the child of the Second and Third. Do not act recklessly.
With a Dragon Oath invoked, there was no reason not to believe her.
A Dragon Oath was that heavy, that sacred. It was mana invested into words, granting them an effect that no living being could escape.
- Yes, precisely. Even if it were the Creator God who made this world itself.
She nodded, affirming my own thought as if she had plucked it from my head.
- Then... will you believe what I am about to tell you?
So everything from this point on is the truth, then...
Then I should ask.
"Am I really... not an orphan?"
The First Azure Dragon nodded at my question.
- Yes. You are not an orphan.
I had been certain her power would pass to the Fifth Azure Dragon.
But the First Azure Dragon... remained exactly where she stood.
...So they really were my birth parents...?
- Yes. Though I had my reasons for distorting your memories.
- Let me tell you an old story.
Just like that?
She shatters my mind and then just launches into a history lesson?
I don't think I can trust anything anymore. Why... why me of all people...!
Then the woman standing before me radiated a brilliant white aura that washed over me, soothing my emotions.
This power... the Authority of Purification...
Having steadied my heart with her divine authority, the First Azure Dragon began her tale.
- Long ago, not long after the world was created, I and the other First Divine Beasts ascended to the heavens, and interference with the world became entirely impossible for us.
- But the Four Perils sealed their own bodies before their ascension, exposing their power to the world and creating beings birthed from their own demonic mana.
- Those are the beings you know as demons—the ones who have pressed down upon you, tormented you, and driven humanity to its death.
- Naturally, those who received the gods' power, and the humans who accepted it, slaughtered and brutally violated the people of the world.
- Unable to withstand their might, humanity was driven steadily to the brink, until at last they prayed to us.
- And so we bestowed our power upon those capable of bearing it. Those beings... are you.
- The ones called Successors.
- I'm sure you already know all of this. After all, it was all part of the lore of that game called Four Pillars.
- That game was, in effect, an encyclopedia I gave you—so that you could learn this world's culture and its rules, and survive.
- If you had fallen into this other world unprepared, the odds of your death were far too high.
Which means... everything I played... was actually going to happen?
- To be precise, it was more like an illusion I showed you of the events most likely to occur. But had you never fallen into this world,
- your beloved Alice would very likely have met exactly that fate.
Whew... so much information is flooding in that I can't tell what's what anymore.
I can't even grasp what this world actually... is.
- In the words of your Earth, you would call it a 'parallel world.'
- If we wished to advance this world rapidly, our only option was to borrow the systems of that place called Earth.
- Otherwise, the number of people dying as the demons pressed in would only continue to climb.
- Even without Successors yet, we had to teach people to protect themselves.
Really...?
That's insane... no wonder, then—the clothes are modern, but the buildings are medieval. That never made sense.
- The people of this world could not have adapted if we had copied Earth's culture all at once.
So they copied only parts of Earth's systems... built up infrastructure so people could live together in communities,
and taught them how to defend themselves until Successors appeared. Is that it?
- Exactly.
- The 'Azure Dragon Sword Style' and the 'magic' you use were the methods of self-protection we passed down.
Which eventually evolved into what's now called the Imperial Sword Style, huh...
Haah... there's evidence, but it's so hard to believe...
- In the midst of all this, we at last found those capable of receiving our power: the Successors of the Second Divine Beasts.
- For you, the Second Azure Dragon's Successor would be your father.
...?
Wait—the Second Azure Dragon was my father?
- Yes. Even now, your body hasn't changed in the slightest, has it.
...No, what is even happening.
- The Successors of the Second Divine Beasts fought with the power we granted them, but they failed to annihilate the demons.
- Their ascension to the divine throne came first, in fact.
- And so the Second Successors, having failed as well, chose their own Successors to inherit their power.
- Those who followed in their footsteps came to be called the Third Successors.
- But there was one rule we imposed upon them. They were never, under any circumstances, to let personal feelings enter the choice.
- Following that rule, the Successors of the White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise each selected their own candidates...
- But your father made his lover the Successor.
He broke the rule?
My father?
- Yes. By the time I discovered it, it was already too late.
- The power of a Successor is not something that can be taken lightly.
- One wrong step, and she could have become like the Successors of the Four Perils.
- And so I, who had chosen to simply watch, was forced to witness her ascension.
- She was the Third Azure Dragon. Your mother.
No... this is insane...
Haah... I can't even figure out where to start picking this apart.
- The moment your mother ascended to the divine throne, your father held their wedding.
...Was there just the faintest sigh at the end of that sentence?
Well, I suppose it's only natural.
He made a rule forbidding exactly that, then went and made his girlfriend the Successor anyway—and then the girlfriend ascended and he married her. Seriously?
What even is this family...
- How refreshingly level-headed, unlike your parents. I'm relieved. I'm glad you take after neither of them.
Was that... an insult?
That was an insult, right?
Ignoring me, the Azure Dragon continued.
- And so a child was conceived between them. That child is you, Lee Hyeon.
...Wait. Then how old am I, exactly?
- Dragonkin live long lives by nature. Converting your dragon age into human years, you would be around two hundred.
...??????
I was an old man?!
- Born of dragon and dragon—how could you possibly be human? You are dragonkin, after all.
...Maybe I shouldn't have said what I said to Ipos.
No, wait. When I fell into this continent, I was fifteen, wasn't I?
- Two hundred dragon years is roughly fifteen to twenty-three in human terms.
- 'Causality,' who examined your species and your age, restored you to an appropriate, easily adaptable age.
- Dragonkin grow explosively until adulthood within their first year, so the body you have now is very close to your true one.
So that's why my body grew so explosively.
Muscle really did come on way too easily.
- Let us set the questions aside for now, and I will tell you the truth.
- Your parents did not wish to show you this world.
- They said they could not bear to gift you a dark world where neither despair nor hope could be found.
- And so they made a request of me: that they might go to a place called Earth and give their child the gift of peace.
- I accepted, and I granted it.
- Had I known that the malice of the Four Perils would reach even Earth, I would have refused—even knowing they would hate me for it.
So, basically... they filed for a vacation... and a terrorist latched onto them. I guess that's how I should understand it.
As if to confirm my words, the First Azure Dragon closed her eyes and gave a small, slow nod.
- And so they gave birth to you on Earth and lived there a long while. Years passed; they registered your birth, sent you to school...
- But the ones who had to blow all those happy memories away were the demons.
- The ones called the Seven Deadly Sins invaded your family's home.
- However, on Earth, their connection to me was weak, so they could not even draw out half of their true power.
So in the end, fleeing was the best option.
They ran while protecting a baby—me.
- Baal, ranked first among the Seven Deadly Sins, lost your trail but pursued your parents relentlessly.
- Because of that, they were forced to move again and again. I did everything I could to shield them, but it was not enough.
- Your parents feared that as you grew, the demons would read your joyful memories and use them to find you—so they distorted your memories.
- As a side effect of that, even your personality changed.
- But even as they carved out their own hearts, they felt that same anguish—the pain of having to warp their own child's happy memories.
- When they had no choice but to twist your memories, and saw how your personality had suddenly changed, they must have felt a grief beyond imagining.
They felt it...?
The way the First Azure Dragon just read my thoughts...?
- Yes, exactly. Their emotions are, in essence, mine. But even though our connection was incredibly faint, I shed tears—so I can only assume they suffered a sorrow beyond measure.
- Still, they carried it out, believing it was better than losing you to the demons.
- Time flowed on and on, your little sister was born, and just as you were settling into your new life...
- they found your parents' location.
- Fortunately, your parents sensed the threat. They sent you to that place called school, and kept your sister far away from them as well.
- But between the sheer number of Sins and their diminished power, by the time I realized our connection had been severed and looked upon it... it was already too late.
...
I couldn't say a word.
Dad... Mom...
I'm sorry. I didn't know any of it, and now I'm dead and—
I thought I'd already shed every tear I had.
I was wrong.
The grief came pouring out until I could hardly breathe, my chest clenched tight with it.
Watching me, the First Azure Dragon went on.
- The place that should have been your sanctuary was burned to ash by Mammon, ranked seventh among them.
- And having lost both your sister and your parents, you, of course, lived on hollowed out and withered.
- Watching you was agony for me as well.
- The Second and Third Azure Dragons... they were such precious children to me... Even maddened by hatred, I began the only thing I could do.
- To protect you—both of you—the last trace those two left in this world.
- I did everything in my power to shield you from the demons.
- But it was obvious that as long as things remained as they were, you both would be in danger. And so I devised an absurd plan.
- To summon you into this other world.
- Through the form of a game, I taught you everything of this world's knowledge.
- And then I called you into this world.
- But Cumul Alice... that was truly a coincidence.
- At this point, one could only call it fate.
...And yet one of us still died.
Ellie must be crying her eyes out by now...
I'm sorry...
- As an apology to you, I have prepared three gifts.
- Carry that guilt of yours, exactly as it is, and deliver them to her.
"...Huh?"
The words left my mouth aloud before I knew it.
- Dragonkin are famous for their tenacious life force. It is true that your stamina has run dry and you linger at death's door, and it is true that without treatment, you will truly die.
- But I shall bestow the Authority of Life upon your soul, and through that authority, your body will be restored.
The First Azure Dragon added that this was the first gift.
- The second is the revival of someone precious to you.
- I have granted the Authority of Life to the soul of a woman named Yeon. When you open your eyes, she too will be revived, whole and unharmed.
- And finally—
- Seul. Come out.
A woman stepped out slowly from between the two blue-haired figures, a man and a woman.
"You...? Seul?"
It was none other than my little sister, Lee Seul—the one I had believed dead.
- I barely managed to protect her, and succeeded in bringing her to this world.
- But she is not accustomed to this world as you are, so I ask that you help her adjust.
"...Um, ma'am? If you phrase it like that, my brother's going to get the wrong idea."
- ...Ma'am... I see...
That cheek—I'm starting to think she really is my sister.
"I thought you were dead."
As I approached her, Seul answered.
"I thought you were dead too, oppa. I got home and the house was on fire, you were gone, and Dad and Mom were lying there burned black."
"Do you know how terrifying that was?... I thought I was all alone in the world."
And so, meeting each other after so many years, we wept in front of one another, too overcome to care how we looked.
- It is time for you to return.
- It would be most unfortunate if your soul lingered apart from your body too long.
...Thank you.
And I want to apologize for how I treated you earlier.
- It is quite all right. Children grow by clashing with their parents at least once.
- Now, awaken. Successor of the Seventh Azure Dragon. Lee Hyeon.
But how do I actually get back...?
- Simply close your eyes, and open them again.
And so I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, dawn was breaking—a sky where black and blue coexisted.
Ellie lay collapsed beside me.
She must have fainted from crying.
The moment I poured the Authority of Life into her, Ellie opened her eyes—hollow, empty pupils staring at nothing.
But the instant those vacant eyes met mine, color flooded back into them, and she pulled me into her embrace.
"Sob...! Why did you do that! Why did you DO that?!"
I had nothing to say.
In trying to protect someone precious to me, I had sacrificed myself—and in doing so, I had instead robbed Ellie of the person most precious to her.
Stroking her back and her hair, I looked off to the side.
Yeon's stomach, which had been torn open, had somehow regenerated.
She was breathing peacefully—so she hadn't woken yet.
"So. Care to explain what's going on here, oppa? I'm waiting."
"......Uh."
"What do you mean 'uh'? Hurry up and explain the situation."
A pair of black eyes identical to mine looked down at me.
"Wh... who are you?"
"Me? That guy's little sister."
And I found myself at a complete loss as to how I was supposed to explain this scene.
After Hyeon had returned.
The First Azure Dragon remained standing where she was, and had to endure the agony.
- Haahk...!! Aaagh!
- Lady Azure Dragon!
Worried for her, the Fifth and Sixth Azure Dragons rushed to her side and supported her.
- Why, then, did you push yourself so far...?
The First Azure Dragon had poured out power to the very brink of her own sealing, restoring everything to Hyeon.
But she had no regrets.
Rather, she spoke to the Fifth and Sixth Azure Dragons as if refreshed.
- ...They were my ailing children. Beings I could do nothing for—ones I could only worry over.
- Now that they are slowly finding their rightful places, how could I possibly not rejoice?
- ...I beg of you. This time, may they bring peace to this world.
And so speaking, the First Azure Dragon was forced to draw strength from the Fifth and Sixth Azure Dragons to recover her own.
But she would come to think, in time, that this act had been the best possible choice—one of the handful of decisions she could count on her fingers across the countless ages she was destined to live.
Neither Hyeon nor the First Azure Dragon knew that truth yet.