Chapter 21
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Journey to the Human World
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21.
After the Sacred Dragon Ceremony concluded, Eirana returned to her lair and immediately began preparing for her journey.
Sturdy leather boots, well-tanned and tough.
Durable cloth garments that wouldn't tear easily.
And a cloak with a black hood attached.
At a glance, Eirana was dressed like a traveler. She fetched a leather sword case and tried to cover the scabbards of Silver Fang and Black Fang with it.
- What's this? Why are you hiding my pretty scabbard!
Silver Fang popped out and protested.
"They're too conspicuous to carry around."
Eirana knew all too well how much trouble fine items could bring. Silver Fang and Black Fang were masterpieces in their own right, called works of art just for existing, so lugging them around openly felt burdensome to her.
She had no desire to attract weirdos and deal with the hassle.
But Silver Fang clearly didn't approve of Eirana's actions and kept interfering with her preparations.
Pulling at the leather case or gnawing at it with teeth—Eirana silently watched Silver Fang disrupt her work before finally tossing its true form aside.
"Fine, you stay in the lair."
Then she took only Black Fang and headed out.
Silver Fang clung desperately to Eirana.
- No way! I want to see the outside world too! Master!
Silver Fang grabbed Eirana's hair and dangled from it.
Eirana easily subdued Silver Fang and successfully covered it with the leather case. She glanced around.
It was time to part from this place, if only for a while.
'How many years will it take?'
With that thought, Eirana smirked and stepped out of the lair.
'Let's go. To the human world.'
The world consisted of five major continents at its core.
The largest among them was called Rishan.
Rishan was one of the most distant continents from the others and could be said to be the origin of the entire world.
As such, it was also a continent where one could encounter a wide variety of races.
Elves and dwarves had settled in various mountain ranges, bordering human nations.
Humans occupied only about one-fifth of the entire Rishan continent, and even that included vast unexplored lands.
There were a total of fourteen human nations on Rishan.
Two empires, four kingdoms, and eight small kingdoms allied together.
This led to rather complicated diplomatic relations.
Eirana's territory bordered the Adea Kingdom.
It had simply been the domain of the Sacred Dragon, but compared to other dragons' territories, Eirana's was exceptionally vast.
It was large enough for two or three dragons to claim without issue, but until now, Rakan's foul temper had deterred any foolhardy dragon from encroaching.
After Eirana took over, a few dragons had considered settling nearby.
In fact, one wyrm-level dragon had attempted to build a lair, but it ended in failure.
Thanks to Elencan and Rakan.
With not one but two notoriously ill-tempered dragons causing chaos, interest in settling in Eirana's territory plummeted impressively.
Leaving such a territory behind, Eirana walked along a forest path at the edge of her domain.
Humans used this path to trade with the southern dwarf village, but there were no signs of human traffic now.
The rough terrain was secondary; the monsters emerging from the surroundings made passage extremely arduous.
Without the profits from dwarf trade, this path would have vanished long ago.
As Eirana walked silently, she felt a weight on her right shoulder.
- Master, I'm bored.
It was Silver Fang.
Silver Fang's other form was a massive tiger, but now it appeared as a cub.
Silver Fang rubbed its forepaw cutely against its eyes and whined, but it stirred no particular emotion in Eirana.
Grabbing Silver Fang by the scruff, Eirana brought it to eye level.
"Bored? Want to play fetch then?"
- Fetch?
Silver Fang's eyes widened in interest.
"Yeah. With you."
- ......
The idea of playing fetch with a cute tiger cub was grotesque in itself, but the one suggesting it was Eirana.
At those words, Silver Fang wriggled free from Eirana's grasp.
It quickly put some distance between them and eyed her warily.
Eirana watched for a moment before resuming her walk, and Silver Fang trotted after her obediently.
After walking steadily for half a day, Eirana left her territory without incident.
The human lands bordering Eirana's domain belonged to the Delpo Marquisate of the Adea Kingdom.
The marquisate had amassed wealth through trade with the dwarves, so mercenaries hunting monsters spilling from Eirana's territory enjoyed booming business.
As such, encountering outsiders wasn't difficult.
Having exited her domain, Eirana headed straight for the adjacent city.
The city guards blocked her path.
"Where are you coming from?"
"The forest."
Eirana answered honestly to the man who seemed to be the guard captain.
"Mercenary?"
"Yes."
Eirana nodded and pulled out her mercenary tag to show the captain.
He took it, glanced at Eirana, then let her pass.
Watching Eirana enter the city through the gates so easily, Silver Fang remarked in wonder.
- Feels familiar, Master.
"Does it?"
- Yeah. Like it's not your first time.
As far as Silver Fang knew, this was Eirana's first venture into the human world, and it was true.
Yet Eirana had smoothly passed inspection by taking a mercenary tag from corpses of mercenaries she found in the forest.
For Eirana, with memories of her past life, it was no big deal.
Places where people lived were all the same, so she simply acted as she had before.
Eirana smirked at Silver Fang's curious question and paused her steps.
True to its reputation as one of the kingdom's major cities, the bustle was evident just a few steps past the gates.
Some passersby eyed Eirana standing motionless in the middle of the road oddly but soon ignored her.
In a city full of mercenaries, eccentric behavior was common.
Eirana looked up at the sky.
The sun was setting, painting the heavens red.
Putting off finding lodging, Eirana headed straight to the city center.
She slowly surveyed the city like an observer before slipping into a quiet alley and climbing onto rooftops.
Moving across roofs out of sight, Eirana reached an old tower on the city's outskirts.
There were a few such towers in the city—likely watchtowers, though unused.
Atop the tower, Eirana silently overlooked the entire city.
- What's up, Master?
Black Fang, who had been quiet until then, asked curiously.
"Nothing much."
Eirana shook her head.
"It's just... very different from what I imagined."
- You've only known the human world through knowledge, Master. Of course it's different from what you pictured.
"Yeah, you're right."
Eirana agreed with Black Fang.
But what Eirana was thinking differed slightly from what Black Fang assumed.
'It's definitely different.'
Eirana was comparing this first human city to the Zhongyuan of her past life.
Compared to the Zhongyuan, Rishan's cities were truly worlds apart.
From architecture to people's appearances.
In the Zhongyuan, anything but black hair stood out, but not here in Rishan.
"......"
Eirana crouched on the tower roof, resting her chin on her hand propped on her knee.
A breeze blew, dislodging her hood.
Her silver hair fluttered in the wind.
Strands caught the sunset glow, sparkling beautifully.
"......"
Eirana blinked silently before giving a wry smile.
- Master?
Silver Fang called curiously, but Eirana didn't respond.
'What was I expecting, exactly?'
Murmuring inwardly, Eirana stood up.
Without hesitation, she leaped from the tower.
Dropping vertically, she landed lightly on the ground.
As she walked the alley, Eirana said,
"Silver Fang."
- Yeah? What?
"Don't talk to me carelessly from now on. It's distracting."
- No way.
Silver Fang rebelled immediately.
Boredom was the last thing it wanted.
"Is that so? Then back to the lair."
- Silence is the best. Long live quiet. Wow~ Gotta stay quiet.
"......"
Eirana felt a sense of alienation from this world so opposite to the Zhongyuan.
Yet, proving it was a place of human life, the market bustled like the Zhongyuan's street bazaars.
As night fell, Eirana explored the night market.
Typically one would secure lodging first, but in a city with heavy foot traffic like this, inns always had vacancies.
Aware of this dynamic, Eirana leisurely enjoyed her first taste of human city life.
Eirana was 500 years old.
Having lived far longer than in her past life, she was still utterly ignorant of the human world.
All she knew about Rishan's humans was that they spoke the continental common tongue, there were fourteen nations, and society divided into nobles, commoners, and slaves.
Wandering the night market with her hood up, midnight arrived before she knew it.
As vendors began packing up, Eirana turned to find lodging.
"Hey, miss with the hood."
At the call, Eirana turned to see an old man sitting on a mat, smiling amiably.
She pointed at herself, and he nodded.
"What is it?"
Approaching, Eirana squatted with legs spread in a roguish pose and asked.
The old man grinned widely.
"How about a fortune reading before you go?"
"Fortune?"
At the out-of-left-field offer, Eirana asked suspiciously, and the old man nodded.
"That's right. I may not look it, but I'm pretty good at it."
- Scammer?
Eirana agreed with Silver Fang's grumbling.
Nothing good came from tangling with shady types like this.
Despite her wary gaze, the old man just smiled calmly.
Something unsettling stirred in her, beyond his shabby clothes.
Staring silently, Eirana squatted before him.
"How do you read fortunes?"
As she openly showed doubt, the old man pulled a leather pouch from his bosom.
He grabbed a handful of contents and scattered them on the mat.
They were small, colorful gemstones.
Tiny as half a pinky nail, they scattered about.
Gazing silently, the old man let out admiring sighs.
"Miss, you've inherited quite noble blood."
"......"
"Interesting... cold yet warm... fierce yet restrained temperament..."
Muttering to himself softly, the old man's eyes twitched.
As Eirana narrowed her brows at his sudden change, he spoke.
"Miss, you have a fateful connection that's both arduous and extraordinary."
Her interest waned at the clichéd scam line.
As Eirana stood without hesitation, the old man chuckled.
"In the distant future, you'll travel far to your ancient homeland and settle old ties."