Chapter 312
Chapter 312
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 312
Chapter Title: A Faded Promise (4)
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“W-What is it? Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Ha-eun looked flustered, clearly uncomfortable with all the eyes on her.
The Dragonkin stared in awe at the Dragon Eye in her left socket.
“Ah.”
“O-O Maiden of the Dragon.”
The chained Dragonkin bowed their heads, tears streaming down their faces like believers witnessing the second coming of Christ.
“I'm telling you, I'm not a maiden. What are you even talking about…?”
“Nunna, just be quiet for a second.”
Oh-jin covered her chattering mouth with his hand, looking like he had a headache.
“What do you mean by prophecy?”
“…That is.”
The Dragonkin hesitated, glancing at one another.
“This old one shall explain.”
The voice came from a different direction than where the captured Dragonkin were gathered.
*Grrrr!*
Poppy snarled, baring its teeth and assuming a combat stance.
Atop the collapsed cliff wall, hundreds of Dragonkin had surrounded Oh-jin's party, aiming mana arrows at them.
An elderly Dragonkin at their center, leaning on a staff, approached Oh-jin's group.
“My name is Kellion. Unworthy as I may be, I lead the Dragonkin.”
The gray-haired Dragonkin finished his simple introduction in a gentle tone.
“I am Kwon Oh-jin.”
“I have heard. So you are the hero from the world beyond the Veil.”
“…Heard?”
*From whom could he have heard about me?*
“I am quite close with Baek Mu-gang.”
“Ah.”
*I never would have thought the leader of the Dragonkin had a connection to Baek Mu-gang.*
“First, let us move. A Demonkin pursuit team might have heard the commotion and could be on their way.”
“Yes.”
Oh-jin's party followed Kellion's lead deeper into the canyon.
*Whoong.*
After passing a certain area, they felt their bodies float as if passing through a gate, and the landscape before them changed.
In an instant, Oh-jin found himself transported from the narrow canyon to a wide-open clearing.
Dozens of hastily erected barracks stood in rows in the clearing, which was dotted with sparse vegetation.
*‘So they were using this place as a temporary shelter.’*
Judging by the tracks around the barracks, they seemed to have been set up only two or three days ago at most.
“You lot, stand guard around the canyon and watch for any Demonkin pursuit teams.”
“Yes, sir!”
“If you spot a pursuit team, do not attack immediately. Report back first.”
“Understood, Elder!”
The Dragonkin unit that had been bound by Isabella's chains turned and headed back toward the canyon.
“Come this way.”
Kellion led them to the central barracks and entered first.
In the center of the barracks was a wooden table that looked crudely made.
“The prophesied noble one has arrived, yet I have brought you to this shabby barracks instead of offering a grand reception. I apologize.”
Kellion bowed deeply to Ha-eun.
His attitude was incomparably more reverent than when he had spoken to Oh-jin.
“Uh… Yeah. It's, it's fine. But what's all this about a 'Maiden of the Dragon' and a 'noble one'?”
Ha-eun leaned slightly toward Oh-jin, as if Kellion's extreme reverence was more of a burden than a comfort, and asked.
“…This will be a long explanation.”
Looking at Ha-eun's bewildered expression, as if she knew nothing, Kellion let out a soft sigh.
“The Dragonkin once had a guardian deity called the 'Dragon God'.”
And so the story began.
One hundred years ago.
When the Demonkin began their massive invasion, the Draconian Kingdom, much like the Khan Kingdom, was attacked.
The assault on the Dragonkin was so powerful and meticulous that it couldn't even be compared to the one on the Khan Kingdom.
The one who fought against the Demonkin forces at that time was the Dragonkin's guardian deity, the 'Dragon God Kaleios'.
Unlike typical dragons, who enjoyed a solitary existence, he built his lair directly in the Draconian Kingdom and declared himself its guardian.
“And the hero who fought alongside Lord Kaleios against the Demonkin army during the war a hundred years ago was none other than 'Lord Kailus Benedicto'.”
Kailus Benedicto.
It was a name he'd never heard before.
“Was he a Dragonkin?”
“No.”
Kellion slowly shook his head.
“Lord Kailus… was human.”
“What?”
Oh-jin frowned.
*A human helped the Dragon God Kaleios fight the Demonkin army 100 years ago?*
*‘That doesn't make any sense.’*
Even if there's some difference in the flow of time between Earth and the Demon Realm.
Still, 100 years ago, the 'First Fissure' connecting to Earth hadn't even opened yet.
So how could a 'human,' of all beings, have helped the Dragonkin fight the Demonkin?
“Lord Kailus said he had 'drifted' into this world.”
*Drifted in, huh.*
*Does that mean a passage existed between Earth and the Demon Realm even before the First Fissure opened?*
*‘It's not impossible.’*
A massive fissure several kilometers in diameter like the current ones would have surely been discovered, but if it was a small rift only a few meters wide, like the one that first pulled Oh-jin into the Demon Realm, it could have gone unnoticed.
Humanity often deludes itself into thinking it knows everything about the Earth.
But in reality, in terms of sheer area, the regions untouched by human hands are vastly larger than those that have been explored.
“Lord Kailus was the de facto leader of the Dragonkin, and their savior.”
Kellion spoke, his voice filled with reverence.
Oh-jin frowned, unable to understand.
“…How was that possible?”
*How could a human who drifted in from another world become the savior of the Dragonkin?*
*No, forget being a savior—how could a human who wasn't even an Awakened survive in the Demon Realm in the first place?*
“Because he possessed a 'Stigma'.”
“…A Stigma?”
A short, dry laugh escaped Oh-jin's lips.
*There's no way a non-Awakened human could survive in the Demon Realm.*
The answer to that obvious question was so simple it was laughable.
*‘Awakened have existed for 100 years?’*
It felt as if all his existing knowledge was being turned upside down.
“Yes. He was an Awakened who possessed the 'Stigma of Draco'.”
The same Stigma as Ha-eun.
“Lord Kailus shared the Stigma of Draco, granted to him by his Constellation, with the Dragonkin.”
“…Shared it?”
No Awakened possessed the ability to share their Stigma with others.
*‘No, wait.’*
The Constellations of the Black Star.
The Awakened of the Black Star Society had the ability to pass their Stigmas on to others.
*‘But Draco isn't a Black Star.’*
Just as his mind grew tangled trying to figure out what was going on.
“Yes, he bestowed upon us the blessing of the stars.”
Kellion slightly lifted his worn robe, revealing his left chest.
Engraved there was a clear 'Stigma of Draco,' identical to Ha-eun's.
“At the time, the Dragonkin were gradually losing the ability to properly control the powerful mana in their blood. This was because the magic passed down by the dragons had been lost over the ages.”
In the distant past, the Dragonkin and the Dragon race were born from the same roots.
The analogy isn't perfect, but the relationship between Dragonkin and dragons was said to be similar to that of worker ants and a queen ant.
In other words, they were a race created to serve the 'dragons'.
However, the dragons did not require the help of the Dragonkin.
Each individual was far too powerful and opinionated, causing them to shun communal living.
The dragons abandoned the Dragonkin and scattered far and wide.
Until then, they had served the dragons and learned bits of their magic, but after all the dragons except the Dragon God Kaleios left the kingdom, their magic began to fade.
This was because Kaleios's magic alone was not enough to handle the diverse characteristics of their mana.
“It was then that Lord Kailus appeared in our kingdom.”
Through the Stigma of Draco, Kailus taught them how to control the powerful mana that remained in the Dragonkin's bodies.
“To us, who were dying from fevers because we couldn't properly control the mana within our bodies, he was truly a savior.”
Kellion clenched his fists tightly.
His blazing eyes and the deep reverence within them clearly showed what Kailus meant to them.
*‘Is that why they didn't show any hostility when they first saw us?’*
Since their savior, the one who rescued their dying race, was none other than a human, it was only natural their reaction would be completely different from the Beastkin's.
“So, what does that have to do with the prophecy you mentioned earlier?”
“After the war with the Demonkin, the Dragon God fell into a deep slumber. And Lord Kailus…”
Kellion's expression darkened.
“Suffered a grave wound and passed away.”
*Is he thinking of Kailus?*
His tightly clenched fists were trembling slightly.
“Kailus Benedicto… the savior of the Dragonkin and the Dragon God's dearest friend, left a prophecy before he died.”
The long story finally reached the prophecy.
“When darkness descends upon the kingdom, a woman bearing the Dragon Eye shall come.”
All eyes turned to Ha-eun.
“The Dragon's Eye shall draw the Dragon God's soul into her body and awaken the slumbering deity… That was the final prophecy Lord Kailus left behind.”
The Dragon God Kaleios.
The last dragon, who stayed behind to protect the Dragonkin who were no more than slaves.
*So the key to awakening him from the deep slumber he fell into after being wounded is the 'Dragon Eye' that Ha-eun possesses.*
“Uh… my, my eyeball is that amazing?”
Even Ha-eun tilted her head, looking bewildered.
Suddenly, the face of an old man who had shown his ugly greed in an attempt to take her 'Dragon Eye' flashed through his mind.
*‘I thought the power of the Dragon Eye was just something that made it easier to handle a dragon's mana.’*
It seemed the power dwelling in her eye far surpassed Oh-jin's imagination.
“When the Demonkin army attacked, turning our kingdom to ash and taking the lives of so many of our kin… I realized the time of the prophecy had come.”
Kellion rose from his seat and approached Ha-eun.
He knelt before her, bowing his head low like a clergyman praying to his god.
“O Maiden of the Dragon… please draw the Dragon God's soul into your body and awaken our god from his long slumber.”
As Kellion bowed his head low, his shoulders trembled faintly.