Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: What Kind of Existence is Judak?
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What kind of existence is Judak?
Pellisi rested her chin on her hand atop the highest floor of the magic tower, gazing down at Kellierton while lost in thought.
“The Gallery’s owner...”
To be precise, he was the Gallery’s administrator, but to Pellisi, there was no difference.
The Gallery itself was something that transcended mortals, an entity that shouldn’t even exist in the first place.
Thus, the one wielding it, Judak, had to be no ordinary being.
That only made her all the more curious.
“Judak, what is it you desire?”
He had single-handedly repelled the threat from ‘outside,’ twisting the predetermined path to destruction.
He scattered tools beyond imagination across the world, reshaping every civilization.
And yet, all he did was chat with the common races, collect memes, and fool around in the Gallery?
Pellisi couldn’t believe it.
A being of that caliber surely had some hidden agenda.
“If you desire anything, I hope it’s to be a benevolent one.”
Pellisi stared intently at the teacup.
The unique tea leaves Judak had sent her.
They all made for excellent desserts.
Judak had already woven himself into Pellisi’s daily life.
She could only hope he harbored no dark intentions.
“...!”
In that instant, the world tore open.
Her once-quiet mind shook violently, sounding an alarm in Pellisi’s head.
“This is...!”
Something that should never happen in this world.
Her dragon senses, awakening amid a crisis that could slay even a dragon, issued the warning.
-Crash!
The cup she held slipped from her grasp and shattered.
But before she could even care, her pupils split vertically, transcending thought in that moment.
Doom appeared before her eyes.
A red inferno devoured the land, everything rising slowly toward the sky.
It reduced all civilizations to dust, shattering every life in an instant they couldn’t even perceive.
“Ah, aah.”
The world was dyed entirely crimson.
It spared neither friend nor foe.
Be they beasts, humans, or animals, all would crumble—skin, muscle, bone, and form alike—into powder and vanish.
In a chilling silence, everything scattered into dust.
The aftermath of annihilation crept slowly toward Pellisi, who watched from afar.
-Boom!!!
And in the moment the eardrum-shattering explosion reached her!
“Huhk!”
Pellisi jolted awake from the dream.
When she regained her senses, crimson wings had sprouted from her shoulder blades.
Her hands had transformed into dragon claws, and the fallout had torn half the top floor of the magic tower apart.
“My precious magic tower that I worked so hard to build!”
Ignoring the flustered Ground Explosion Mage rushing up, Pellisi hurriedly logged into the Gallery.
For the first time in her life, Pellisi felt fear.
The fear that she herself might die.
And to the only being who could touch this, Judak, she left frantic messages.
Dragon Will Die: (Stop! Dragon con)
Dragon Will Die: No! Stop it!!!
*
A new Nukes category had appeared in the shop.
If it was the system I knew, there was no way it would release something like this carelessly.
With that thought, I accessed the category.
And received Pellisi’s urgent messages.
Dragon Will Die: I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but whatever it is, please stop.
Dragon Will Die: There’s nothing good that comes from that future coming to pass!
Judak*: Yeah?
Dragon Will Die: So, all this amusement you enjoy—do you want civilizations to vanish in an instant?
She added quite a bit of urgency to it.
“No, how did she know?”
I instinctively sensed that Pellisi was referring to the nukes.
But regardless of her worries, I had zero—no, not even 0.1%—intention of using them.
Why hadn’t modern war hawks used nukes despite having them?
“Because they couldn’t handle the consequences.”
The nuke button was a suicide button.
Even chemical weapons were mishandled, turning beasts and whole regions to ash.
So why would I go and use a nuke?
[Shop/Nukes]
[Little Boy]
1. 99,999,999p
2. Conditions Not Met
3. Conditions Not Met
[Fat Man]
1. 99,999,999p
2. Conditions Not Met
3. Conditions Not Met
.
.
Proven its existence in a single strike.
Even in retirement, this old soldier’s might remains undiminished.
“Wow, the price is insane.”
And I couldn’t buy it anyway.
Even if I suddenly grew a mustache and decided to go mad, I couldn’t use it.
100 million points—how was anyone supposed to gather that?
And even if I bought the weapon, there’d be nowhere to store it.
Buying that was less appealing than buying 100 million tuna cans, in my book.
“And I still couldn’t buy it anyway.”
Plus, every type of nuke had something in common.
Two conditions marked as “Not Met.”
I didn’t even know what they were.
Judak*: I get what you’re trying to say,
Judak*: but I have zero plans to use it, so don’t worry.
I sent Pellisi a message to reassure her, but the reply was lukewarm.
Dragon Will Die: Sorry, but I find it hard to believe.
Dragon Will Die: I witnessed the future your choice could bring.
Dragon Will Die: I’m terrified it might become reality.
In short, she didn’t buy it.
Just telling her not to worry wouldn’t cut it; Pellisi had evidently felt the nuke’s power to some degree.
It’d be hard to relax on words alone.
“Then I just need to give her some assurance...”
How to provide that assurance?
I couldn’t swear on a contract like those cultists who claimed to trust me before.
I didn’t have even a speck of mana.
Nor was I thrilled about some life-binding contract on a whim.
“Is this what it means to have influence?”
That’s when Pellisi made the first proposal.
Dragon Will Die: Then give me a scrap of your clothing.
She was asking for a piece of my clothes.
Naturally, I wasn’t about to rip my shirt off happily... so I asked why.
Judak*: Why?
This isekai was vast, and there was so much I didn’t know.
What if handing over a mere scrap allowed Pellisi to track my location?
She called herself the Dragon Queen.
She was capable enough to sense crisis and foresee the future just from browsing nukes.
“What if she outright tries to kill me?”
Even a scrap felt iffy to hand over.
Sure, Pellisi was my blue slave, Paradak, and we had some rapport.
But just as she didn’t trust my nuke button, I wasn’t thrilled about threats from the real world beyond the Gallery.
We weren’t at a level where we’d stake our lives on mutual trust.
Judak*: No thanks, don’t.
Dragon Will Die: I don’t quite get what you mean, but it’s unpleasant.
Dragon Will Die: Hear me out first, then decide.
Judak*: Ok.
Dragon Will Die: We dragons can read others’ emotions.
Dragon Will Die: We may not know detailed thoughts, but we can sense their mental state.
For example, dragons couldn’t read exactly what a mortal gazing at them was thinking.
But they could tell if the mortal was trying to deceive them, feared them, or respected them.
Because they could sense the traces of a person’s life and thoughts as colors and scents.
Judak*: So, you’ll sniff my scent and see my colors.
Dragon Will Die: (Disgusted Dragon con)
Dragon Will Die: What?! I have no interest in that sort of thing!
Dragon Will Die: Argh, whatever. Just hand over the scrap already!
Pellisi was desperate to gain assurance from me.
And if she’d truly sensed the nukes and glimpsed their aftermath...
Of course she’d want reassurance. Anyone would.
Moreover, Pellisi was sincere.
[‘Dragon Will Die’ has proposed a Dragon Scale Contract!]
Dragon Will Die: If you can’t trust it, read this.
A thick something arrived from Pellisi.
It was none other than one of Pellisi’s dragon scales, massive like a stone tablet, inscribed with unreadable script—a contract etched directly onto the scale.
[Dragon Scale Contract]
A contract made to ensure promises between dragons are kept.
Crafted from the scale of the dragons’ queen, Pellisi.
Violating its terms demands one’s life as payment.
Dragon Will Die: Witnessing that scene filled me with terror for the first time in my life.
I want it to remain just a thought.
“Hmm...”
The Gallery system didn’t lie.
If it didn’t know, it would say so.
After some deliberation, I snipped a small piece from the hem of my clothing.
And sent it straight to Pellisi.
Judak*: Ok, sent. Check it.
Dragon Will Die: Thank you for trusting me :)
“Does just sending this really work?”
It felt awkward relying on a scrap for assurance, but dragons wouldn’t lie.
Besides, there wasn’t much she could do with a cloth scrap.
About an hour after sending it to Pellisi.
Dragon Will Die: Oh my.
Dragon Will Die: What... are you?
A reply came from Pellisi.
In a tone that was a little—no, very—dumbfounded.
*
Pellisi picked up the white cloth scrap.
“This is Judak’s...”
A being who’d never shown their face, not even once, whose gender was unknown.
In the Gallery, rumors swirled that they were some mythical ghost-like entity.
To Pellisi, they were an inscrutable existence with the power to realize hell.
And yet...
“Such ordinary cloth.”
Plain fabric clothing.
Sure, its quality made one question if it was truly ordinary, but that wasn’t the point.
“I thought you’d be something more inscrutable.”
Like some being that transcended the material world.
Or a demigod reduced to pure consciousness.
Or something like that.
She’d called it a “scrap,” but she half-expected something special she couldn’t comprehend.
But it was just ordinary clothing.
“Hmm, it’s refreshing. Unique. Intriguing.”
That very fact dispelled Pellisi’s boredom and piqued her curiosity.
For some inexplicable reason, it felt familiar, bringing a smile to her eyes as she quietly brought the scrap to her nose.
And in the moment she gathered all her thoughts, focusing intently to inhale.
“!”
She realized it.
Judak—the Gallery’s administrator—was an unknown entity from beyond this world.
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