Chapter 319
Chapter 319
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 319
Chapter Title: Faded Promise (11)
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“…You want me to become a god? What kind of nonsense is that?”
Ha-eun furrowed her brow and tilted her head.
“You said the Dragonians need a god to believe in and follow.”
So.
“You just need to become that god for them.”
“Hey, this isn’t some career day survey. You think I can just become one because I want to?”
Telling her to just become a god out of the blue.
What kind of ridiculous suggestion was that?
“You can.”
Oh-jin continued, his voice unwavering.
“You have the soul of the Dragon God Kaleios within you, don't you?”
“I told you. Even if it’s a soul, I don’t hear any voices or anything like that.”
Even though she had absorbed the Dragon God’s soul, as long as it held no will, it was nothing more than a pure mass of power.
To put it bluntly, the Dragon God’s soul was nothing more or less than a beneficial tonic for her body.
However.
“The Dragonians don’t know that.”
The only one who knew the Dragon God’s soul held no will was Ha-eun herself.
The Dragonians had no way of knowing whether the soul residing within her had a will or not.
“So right now… you’re suggesting we con the Dragonians?”
Ha-eun’s jaw dropped at the unexpected method.
“We’re giving them what they need most.”
“…Is a lie what they need most?”
“No.”
What they needed was.
“Hope.”
The hope that the Dragon God they believed in and followed was still alive.
Not that he had melted in flames and died, not that he would never open his eyes again.
But that he ‘existed’ in some form.
That would be the one and only hope left for the Dragonians, who were currently being crushed by despair and dying.
“…But.”
Ha-eun bit her lip.
She could understand Oh-jin’s intention.
However.
Wasn’t that ultimately a deception of their faith?
“The truth doesn’t matter, Ha-eun.”
Not even once.
Had it ever mattered.
“Only what appears to be true matters.”
Oh-jin’s low voice echoed in her ear.
“……”
Her clenched fist trembled.
As Ha-eun continued to ponder, the faces of the Dragonians flashed through her mind.
The Dragonians, sitting collapsed like soulless specters.
Was what they needed the truth that the Dragon God would never return, or the lie that his will still remained somewhere?
“Really… can this actually save the Dragonians?”
It wasn’t that she had any special affection for the Dragonians she had only just met.
Nor was she some kind of philanthropist who grieved for the sorrows of everyone in the world.
However.
‘I’m the one who absorbed the Dragon God’s soul.’
Whether she intended to or not.
She had snatched up the power that was supposed to awaken the slumbering Dragon God.
She had received something far too great without paying any price to claim she bore no responsibility.
A price.
Yes, perhaps this was the price for devouring the Dragon God’s power without any effort.
Just as winning the lottery out of sheer luck didn’t exempt one from the obligation to pay taxes.
She, too, had an obligation to save the despairing Dragonians.
‘No, forget all this complicated talk of prices and obligations.’
Every time she saw the Dragonians, so deep in despair they were considering extreme measures, a part of her chest ached.
She might not be a philanthropist who grieved for the sorrows of the world, but she wasn’t so cold-blooded that she could casually ignore the suffering right in front of her.
“Alright. What the hell, I’ll give it a shot.”
This being called a ‘god.’
“Good choice.”
Oh-jin nodded with a faint smile.
“But what exactly do I have to do?”
“I’ll tell you that later.”
The method itself wasn’t very complicated.
More important than how to act like the ‘Dragon God’ was.
“We need to find an ally.”
Oh-jin’s eyes glinted as he looked back at Kellion, who was bustling about, trying to encourage the grieving Dragonians.
* * *
“So…”
A low, subdued voice echoed inside the shabby house.
The old Dragonian with a white beard twisted his wrinkled eyes and glared sharply at Oh-jin.
“Are you telling me to deceive my own kin?”
“That’s right.”
Oh-jin nodded without hesitation.
Ha-eun, sitting next to him, hesitantly opened her mouth.
“Well… it’s not necessarily about deceiving them.”
“If that isn’t deceiving them, then what is?”
Kellion didn’t hide his displeasure.
To save the Dragonians, she was to pretend the already dead Dragon God was alive.
As one of the Dragonians who had eagerly awaited the Dragon God’s awakening, it was a difficult proposal to accept.
“I cannot accept that proposal…”
“Then do you plan to just leave things as they are?”
Oh-jin stared into Kellion’s eyes with his own deep, sunken ones.
“Just today, three Dragonians took extreme measures. Yesterday, and the day before, two took their own lives.”
“That’s…”
“Do you think this is the end of it?”
Emotion is a poison.
Despair would continue to consume them.
“The number of Dragonians taking such measures will only continue to increase.”
“The Dragonians are not so weak.”
“To prove that they are not so weak, how many more must die?”
A chain of despair with no end in sight.
Should he simply watch, believing they could overcome it?
“We…!”
“I saw a child crying on my way here today.”
“…A child?”
“The child’s mother was said to have been killed by a beast during the luring operation.”
They had minimized the casualties as much as possible.
But it wasn’t as if no one had died.
“The child said that before their mother died, she told them that even if she didn’t return, the Dragon God would look after them.”
“……”
“What happens to that child, who has lost both the parent who would protect them and the god they believed in?”
“That is…”
“Must they overcome their sorrow and stand on their own? That child, who has nothing left?”
Cold eyes were fixed on Kellion.
Kellion bit his wrinkled lip and clenched his fists.
“A false god cannot look after that child.”
“But it can give them hope.”
“What meaning is there in a hope that cannot be fulfilled!”
Thump!
Kellion slammed his hand on the table and rose from his seat.
“What was the reason the Dragonians were able to endure for the past hundred years?”
“…We.”
“Wasn’t it because of the hope that the Dragon God would one day open his eyes again?”
With the hope that the slumbering Dragon God would awaken.
With the faith that the awakened Dragon God would save them.
They were able to endure the long century.
“You ask what meaning there is in a hope that cannot be fulfilled?”
Oh-jin looked up at Kellion and let out a short, sharp laugh.
“Weren’t the Dragonians the ones who proved that even such a hope has meaning?”
“……”
Kellion’s expression hardened.
He sat back down with a stiff face and lowered his head.
“Truly… according to you, can the Dragonians be saved?”
“No, they cannot be saved.”
No matter how perfectly Ha-eun played the part of the Dragon God.
The fact that the Dragon God was dead would not change.
It was impossible for her to perfectly replace him.
However.
“What the Dragonians need right now isn’t salvation. It’s a small stepping stone to stand on.”
And the hope that the Dragon God’s will had not vanished but existed somewhere.
That would become an excellent stepping stone for them to stand on their own.
“How long will you wait for someone else to save you?”
“……”
“It is time for the Dragonians to stand on their own.”
A resolute will kindled in Kellion’s eyes.
“…What must I do?”
At his response, Oh-jin smiled faintly.
“The method itself is simple. When she acts as the Dragon God, you just need to play along accordingly.”
“Play along?”
“Yes. A sort of shill, you could say.”
In a scam targeting a crowd, nothing was more important than a shill.
Emotions, after all, were contagious.
If someone played along with Ha-eun’s words, even an absurd lie like ‘the Dragon God isn’t dead but lives on in a human woman’s body’ could become believable.
‘And if that shill is the elder who has led the Dragonians until now.’
The effect would be even greater.
“Besides that, if you could tell us about Kaleios’s tone and habits from when he was alive, and memories the Dragonians can relate to, it would make things much easier.”
“I understand.”
Kellion nodded gravely.
“Then… I will tell you everything I know about the Dragon God.”
Kellion’s story continued for several hours.
How the Dragon God cared for the Dragonians, treating them not as slaves but as his own children, and how, despite his warning to flee before the final battle, he had smiled benevolently and headed to the battlefield.
The sorrow-laced story continued without end.
“This should be enough.”
He had gathered more than enough information about the Dragon God’s personality, manner of speaking, and his deeds.
“Then please gather the Dragonians at the Grand Banquet Hall tomorrow.”
For reference, the Grand Banquet Hall was the massive, circular structure where the Dragonians had been held captive.
The Dragonians apparently gathered there every year for a festival to awaken the Dragon God.
“…I thought it was a place we would never use again.”
Kellion nodded with a bitter smile.
“Let’s go, Ha-eun.”
Ha-eun also had a few things to prepare.
“Oh? Uh, yeah. Okay.”
Ha-eun, who had barely participated in the conversation, stood up with an awkward smile.
“So, um… it’ll be okay, Gramps. Don’t worry too much.”
Ha-eun offered a small encouragement, seemingly worried about Kellion’s dark expression.
Kellion nodded with a faint smile.
“I will place my faith in the Maiden of the Dragon.”
“Yeah! See you tomorrow, then!”
Ha-eun waved with a determined expression.
After leaving Kellion’s house, Ha-eun followed Oh-jin with a complicated look on her face.
“Oh-jin, um…”
“Hm?”
“The child you mentioned earlier, where did you see them?”
The child left all alone after losing their mother.
The heavy responsibility of having to become that child’s ‘hope’ for living weighed down on her shoulders.
“Nowhere.”
“Huh? Nowhere?”
“I never saw a child like that.”
“……”
Oh-jin walked on, leaving Ha-eun frozen in a daze.
He turned his head to speak to her, who had stopped in her tracks.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
The truth doesn’t matter.
Only what appears to be true matters.