Chapter 321
Chapter 321
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 321
Chapter Title: Interlude - Caelus Benedictio
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“Hoo.”
Behind the stage, Oh-jin set down the microphone in his hand and smiled faintly.
‘This went even better than I thought.’
He'd been fairly confident.
While the Dragon God's soul lacked a will of its own, the power contained within it was real.
Seeing wings of fire spanning tens of meters, one couldn't help but think of the ‘Dragon God’.
‘Besides, Ha-eun is an Awakened of the Draco constellation.’
The Dragon Eye, the Draco Stigma, the Dragon's Heart from Mount Baekdu, and even the Dragon God's soul.
‘It's like a "Become the Dragon God" starter pack.’
It was as if she were collecting the limbs of Exodia; with Ha-eun possessing all these dragon-related powers, it would've been a problem if she *couldn't* fool them.
The conditions were already more than met.
Ha-eun's lacking acting skills were covered by Oh-jin imitating the Dragon God's voice, so that wasn't an issue either.
‘And I had Kellion's help.’
Thanks to him, the elder of the Dragonkin, personally stepping up to play the shill, there were hardly any suspicious glances.
With so many favorable conditions stacked up, failing would have meant he was a disgrace to con artists.
“Well, anyway, this solves everything.”
The Dragonkin have regained their hope to live.
Ha-eun has obtained the power of the Dragon God.
And that's not all.
She's gained a force of thousands, tens of thousands, who believe in and follow her. There couldn't be a more perfect ending.
‘What Ha-eun lacked was a frontline.’
With thousands of Dragonkin warriors protecting her, Ha-eun could utilize one hundred percent of her formidable firepower.
It was safe to say he'd gained far more than he'd expected.
‘All that's left is figuring out how to control the Dragonkin's mana overflow.’
Until now, she'd managed to suppress it with the Draco Stigma.
But as time passes, the number of Dragonkin unable to control their mana will increase.
‘Ha-eun's Dragon Eye should be able to solve that to some extent.’
The power of the Dragon Eye is to control draconic mana.
If it could control the Dragon God's soul, there was no way it couldn't control the mana dwelling within mere Dragonkin.
“It seems to have been resolved just as you said.”
Kellion approached Oh-jin, who was hidden behind the stage.
His eyes were troubled, as if bothered by the lie, but his expression was much brighter than before.
“Yes, the Dragonkin will now have a reason to live.”
Although they may not receive the Dragon God's direct care as they once did.
They will break free from the Dragon God's protection and live not as slaves, but as an independent race, the ‘Dragonkin’.
‘For now, it feels like Ha-eun has simply replaced the Dragon God.’
But over time, won't they change?
No, they must change.
The Demonic Realm was not a forgiving world where they could survive forever with someone else's help.
“Thinking about it now, it doesn't seem like he was wrong.”
Kellion murmured in a distant voice, looking up at the sky.
“About what?”
“Lord Kailus's prophecy.”
The prophecy that a woman with the Dragon Eye would save the Dragonkin.
Of course, the Dragon God hadn't awakened, but hadn't the prophecy he left behind come true exactly?
“It's a little different from the salvation we imagined… but seeing them smile so brightly makes me wonder if this wasn't the true salvation Lord Kailus prophesied.”
Kellion watched with a benevolent smile as the Dragonkin rushed out of the grand hall.
A race born to serve the dragons.
Now that they have broken free from the shackles of slavery and taken a step forward on their own, couldn't this be called true salvation?
Oh-jin smirked, watching the sentimental Kellion.
“Well, if you think of it that way, it does more or less fit…”
He froze.
Oh-jin's movements stopped.
‘…Huh?’
Right.
Looking at the result, his prophecy does more or less fit.
Excessively so.
Awkwardly so.
Precisely.
“Elder. What exactly was the prophecy Kailus left behind?”
“Hmm? Didn't I tell you at the beginning?”
Kellion tilted his head and continued.
“It was a prophecy that a woman with the Dragon Eye would awaken the sleeping Dragon God and save the Dragonkin.”
The only part that was wrong was ‘awakening the sleeping Dragon God’.
The rest, just as Kellion said, more or less fit.
‘Wait a minute.’
His head felt hot.
A chilling thrill ran down his spine.
“Elder… what was the reason the Dragon God fell asleep?”
“He said it was because he used too much power in the battle against the Demon Tribe.”
“And who was it that said that?”
“Lord Kailus, of course. He fought alongside the Dragon God until the very end in the final war.”
Doesn't something seem strange?
To ‘fall asleep’ from using too much power in the middle of a war.
“…Then the one who transferred the Dragon God's soul into the soul stone was also…”
“Lord Kailus, of course.”
“……”
*Click, clack.*
The sensation of misaligned gears locking into place and turning.
Oh-jin clutched his hot forehead and gritted his teeth.
Why.
Why was it that only the ‘awakening the sleeping Dragon God’ part of the prophecy was wrong?
‘What if there was never any intention of awakening the sleeping Dragon God in the first place?’
No.
What if the Dragon God ‘falling asleep’ was his intention from the start?
‘In that case, Kailus's identity is…’
Oh-jin bit his lip.
There was one more thing that bothered him.
“That human prophet's name… what did you say it was?”
“Kailus. Lord Kailus Benedictio.”
Kailus Benedictio.
“…Benedictio.”
The word felt familiar somehow.
Oh-jin shot up from his spot and rushed out of the grand hall.
He heard Kellion's flustered voice from behind.
He ignored it.
“Damn it…!”
Why hadn't he noticed sooner?
Why hadn't he realized it faster?
The place Oh-jin ran to after leaving the hall was the house where he, Ha-eun, and Isabella were staying.
One of the few houses left intact in the city ruined by the Demon Tribe's invasion.
*CRASH!*
As he violently threw the door open and entered, he saw Isabella with a surprised expression.
“W-What's going on?”
Having no particular role in this charade, she had been waiting quietly at home for Oh-jin and Ha-eun.
Oh-jin looked at Isabella, breathing heavily.
“Have you ever heard the word Benedictio?”
“Benedictio?”
“Yeah.”
If even he, who hadn't even received a proper elementary education, vaguely remembered hearing the word somewhere, then Isabella, who had received gifted education since childhood, would surely know its meaning.
“It's a word often used in Catholicism.”
“Catholicism?”
“Yes. A former Pope was named Benedict.”
Isabella nodded and wrote ‘Benedictio’ in her notebook.
“In Latin, it means ‘grace’.”
“……”
A sticky, unpleasant feeling spread down his spine.
Oh-jin clenched his fists so hard they could break and continued speaking.
“What about Kailus?”
“Hmm. If Kailus is also Latin…”
This time, she wrote the word ‘Caelus’ in her notebook.
“Ah! It means ‘sky’!”
Kailus Benedictio.
Caelus Benedictio
Sky, Grace.
Heaven's Grace.
“…Ha-eun.”
Ha.
A weary, hollow laugh escaped Oh-jin's lips.
He rested a hand on his forehead, his shoulders shaking.
“What about Unni?”
Isabella tilted her head.
She wouldn't know.
The meaning held within the name ‘Ha-eun’.
The only people in the world who knew were Oh-jin and Ha-eun.
‘No.’
There's one more.
Though he wasn't sure if you could call it ‘three people’.
“Sorry, I'll be right back.”
“Oh, Mr. Oh-jin?”
He kicked the door open and left.
He activated the Canes Venatici Stigma to find Ha-eun's location.
“Aargh! Let go! Let me go, you guys! I can work too!”
“You m-must rest, Priestess!”
Ha-eun, surrounded by Dragonkin, chattering boisterously.
Oh-jin watched her from a distance, leaning his back against a wall.
He looked up at the sky and let out a low, bitter laugh.
Heaven's Grace.
“…Did you want her to notice or something?”
Or maybe it was just for your own satisfaction.
“Why did you…”
He was about to continue the question—why did you do such a thing?—when a past memory flashed through his mind.
A rooftop where starlight poured down.
The promise he made with a girl there.
The vow etched into his heart.
-I'll protect you, Nunna.
Right.
He'd been caught up in needless sentimentality and spouted those words.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Protecting someone doesn't necessarily mean stepping in to defend them directly.
Making her stronger herself.
Creating thousands, tens of thousands of followers to serve her.
In a broader sense, these all fall under the act of ‘protecting’.
“Just how many people did you… for that!”
A lightning bolt of rage surged through him.
If he was the one who put the Dragon God to sleep a hundred years ago.
If this was all just a grand deception for Ha-eun's sake.
Then what did that make the Dragonkin, who had endured that vast expanse of time believing in a single prophecy of his return?
-The truth doesn't matter, Nunna.
The words he'd said to Ha-eun turned back on him.
What does it matter how many people you deceive?
The truth doesn't matter.
Because.
“…only what appears to be the truth matters.”
Oh-jin gritted his teeth and bit his lip.
Yes.
He could understand.
There was no way he couldn't.
Because you were me.
And I was you.
***
*Rumble, rumble.*
A black storm cloud shifts its shape like sticky tar.
A body so distorted its form is unrecognizable.
Like a child kneading mud haphazardly, the body continuously collapses and regenerates.
“Kkhh.”
The price for reversing time.
The penalty for defying the order of the stars ate away at his body like poison.
But.
Even so.
“Ha, haha.”
He let out a low laugh.
Within the black cloud that changed shape every second, a blue will-o'-the-wisp flickered.
“It… went in… well.”
He could feel that the gift he had prepared long ago had found its owner.
A dry laugh leaked out from between the black clouds.
“I… kept… my promise, right?”
But.
Who was it I made that promise to?