Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Reason for the Evil Dragon's Existence
The girl's stomach growled loudly once again.
"…Huh."
I stopped the hand that had been patting her.
It was a sound big enough to startle the rabbit nestled against her.
A brief silence flowed.
As if startled by the sudden noise,
her small shoulders flinched and instinctively huddled.
Our eyes met.
The girl's gaze looking up at me wavered.
"……."
The girl lowered her face.
Then she started trembling again.
The bonfire blazed fiercely,
and the warmth inside the cabin had grown even thicker than before.
Enough to make the chill late autumn wind feel cozy.
'And yet she's shivering like this. She must really feel the cold.'
Her small shoulders were still quivering.
What to do.
I couldn't just toss her into the fireplace.
'If she were an old human, I'd have done it right away.'
So fragile.
Modern humans.
They burn or melt at the slightest touch of fire,
and writhe in agony.
I glanced down at the girl.
'What should I do.'
I closed my eyes and calmly recalled my memories.
Even as I thought, fatigue gradually set in.
It felt like cramming in recollections I hadn't revisited in thousands of years.
'…Annoying.'
I sighed and sank into thought.
Fragments of buried memories slowly surfaced.
It was from an inn.
The season was midwinter.
Outside the window, everything had turned blinding white from a sudden blizzard.
I had been staring blankly at the scenery,
pondering where to head next,
when two travelers, their bodies covered head to toe in snow, entered the inn.
The innkeeper hurried over to them.
He handed them hot water,
seated them by the brazier,
and draped thick, fluffy blankets over them.
As color slowly returned to their faces,
they expressed their gratitude to the innkeeper and shared their tale.
"Thank you… I thought we were done for. Why'd it have to snow like that all of a sudden?"
"Of all places, on the way down from the mountains… I really thought we were goners."
"And the cold—it was brutal. We barely found a cave and huddled together to survive."
Back then, it had just seemed like idle chatter.
But since they endured even a blizzard,
maybe that's the survival method suited to modern humans.
'At least better than shoving her into the fireplace.'
I scooped the girl into my arms.
"……?!"
Her body jolted for a moment, but
she only widened her eyes and didn't struggle.
"You look cold."
The girl's rigid shoulders slowly relaxed.
Slowly, carefully,
I pulled her closer into my embrace.
"How's that? Better?"
"……."
"If you don't like it, just say so."
The girl, who had been staring at me, slowly shook her head.
That was enough.
Leaning my back against the wall, I held her close.
After holding her for a while, I felt her body leaning into mine.
Her back, stiff at first,
began to rest against my chest bit by bit,
and her huddled shoulders settled comfortably.
'Looks like it's fine.'
The small life in my arms stopped trembling.
My body heat and the fire's warmth
mixed slowly with the girl's own.
The rabbit in her arms also seemed at peace, breathing softly in sleep.
Only then did it hit me.
"…Oh, right."
"……?"
"There's nothing to feed you but that. What now."
The girl looked back and forth between me and the rabbit.
She fidgeted anxiously, then shook her head vigorously.
Her frantic movements drew a chuckle from me.
"I won't eat it. I don't like meat either."
"……."
"I was just thinking what else might be edible."
Only then did the girl let out a sigh of relief.
But—
not me.
I was deep in thought again.
Human food was already unfamiliar,
and in this deep night, in the forest, finding something edible…
"Should I feed you my tail? Old humans ate it just fine."
"……!"
"…Oh, that's meat too."
Thanks to the girl startling and clutching my clothes, I realized.
'Tricky.'
Not jewels.
Definitely not meat.
So what was left…
Grass or mushrooms.
Maybe tree fruits.
'Late autumn—probably hard to find.'
And besides—
modern humans couldn't eat many things, I'd heard.
Apparently,
they were weak to poison.
'If only they'd stayed tough. Then I wouldn't be suffering like this.'
I frowned at the bonfire.
Old humans were fine even in lava,
and could eat any random grass like elves without issue.
Why make them weaker and weaker.
"…Oh, right, that time."
As I sighed,
a deeply buried memory from long ago resurfaced.
"Rise. It's time to clean up."
The prophecy repeating once more.
I slowly opened my eyes.
The god who had awakened me
explained, as always, what had transpired while I slept.
"And this time, humanity has been given shorter lifespans and weaker endurance."
"Why?"
"It seemed like some change was needed."
Change.
What I hated most.
But
the gods were different.
They always sought novelty.
They created new things and watched their potential unfold.
If they didn't like it, they smashed it to pieces without a trace and started anew.
I knew.
That was the gods' role.
And—
my role was to clean up the world.
Chaos.
Evil.
Even the gods' failed creations.
"It's time to clean up."
That one phrase was enough.
I didn't need to ask.
Who was right, what went wrong.
No need to know,
no reason to question.
My task was set.
The final measure to tidy an imperfect world.
That was
the reason for my existence.
When the time came, I devoured chaos and evil.
Quietly,
following the ordained order.
I absorbed the remnants the gods ignored.
I swallowed everything that disrupted order.
And destroyed it all.
Someday.
The hero raised by the created beings—
until the day he pierced my heart with a holy sword.
I awaited that day.
No, I had no choice but to wait.
Only the hero
could quell the calamity that I am.
The moment the prophecy's final chapter was complete—
I
returned to the beginning and closed my eyes in peace.
Lying in my stone coffin,
I melted down all I had absorbed,
gathered the fragments that couldn't revert to order, and reset to the 'origin'.
When I opened my eyes again,
200 years had passed—a short time.
That was the extent of my role.
Once all duties ended, I was utterly free.
The gods,
the universe,
didn't interfere no matter what I did.
Until the next prophecy began.
A time of no obligations,
no interference,
free to spend as I wished.
I,
for thousands of years,
had invested that time solely in sleep.
Not venturing out,
not meeting anyone.
Just sleeping.
Doing nothing.
So—
"And this time, humanity has been given shorter lifespans and weaker endurance."
"Why?"
"It seemed like some change was needed."
At the god's words,
I narrowed my eyes for a brief moment—
"I see."
and replied indifferently.
It was natural.
It had nothing to do with me.
I turned my head away, disinterested.
Usually,
the god would sigh faintly and return to the divine realm.
But
that day, unusually, it didn't withdraw.
The god sat by the stone coffin and spoke.
"We're full of expectations too. To see what possibilities this new humanity will show."
"I see."
"So, why not come watch after so long?"
I silently regarded my old companion.
As my gaze met it,
the god continued as if waiting.
"This humanity took a lot of reference from your polymorphed form."
"Why?"
"So you could move around hiding your identity more easily."
The words were tossed lightly,
but its eyes clearly held expectation.
But—
I had no intention of fulfilling it.
"No thanks."
"…I see. Can't be helped."
"Wake me when the next prophecy starts."
"I will."
With that, the god rose quietly.
Our conversation ended there.
'That must be how modern humans came to be.'
Naturally,
after that, I
repeated the cycle of finishing prophecies and sleeping.
This was the first time I'd come out into the world
and observed modern humans up close.
'…Maybe I should have asked back then. What changed.'
It had been ages since ignorance felt this uncomfortable.
Yes.
I knew nothing.
About modern humans.
About this girl.
The fragility of human bodies felt awkward,
and I had no clue what they could eat.
New traits added,
lost abilities,
even altered emotional expressions.
All of it was unfamiliar and vague.
I looked down at the girl in my arms.
Still clutching the rabbit I'd given her tightly,
she made her belly clock chime again.
'…Still, since I picked her up, I should take responsibility.'
Chuckling, I spoke.
"Tomorrow, I should go to the village."
"……."
"You stay here. If I take you to where you lived, it might get complicated."
I pulled out a claw and sharpened my horn against it.
I fed the finely ground powder to the girl.
Bitter as it was, she grimaced but swallowed it down.
I rubbed the remaining powder on the crown of her head.
"Good girl."
"……."
"…Tomorrow, maybe I'll buy a book for once."
The girl tilted her head.
"……?"
"To learn about you, I need to study first."
The girl blinked slowly.
I couldn't tell if she understood.
But
it didn't matter.
I just needed
to understand her.
I laid the girl down comfortably.
"There. They say when you're hungry but have nothing to eat, best to just sleep."
"……."
The girl closed her eyes.
Soon, her breathing slowed.
I sat quietly beside her.
And—
for the first time in ages,
I thought about how to spend tomorrow.