Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Heart of the Dragon
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Heart of the Dragon.
A phantom beast's sensitivity.
A fairy's affinity.
Each system of magic is formed with a specific purpose.
It was only natural. Since humans couldn't inherently use magic, they had to imitate other species.
The Draconic magic system.
The purpose of this magic system is simple.
To emulate the heart of a dragon. To possess a brilliant, gem-like heart, just like a dragon. To wield vast amounts of magic.
Back when increasing one's circles didn't expand magical power and sensory range as it does now, it was natural that there were attempts to imitate dragons, the so-called sovereigns of mana.
But in the end, the result was always the same.
Either they gave up, unable to withstand the accompanying pain as their hearts turned to stone.
Or, after succeeding in the secret art, their bodies would explode from the output of their transformed hearts.
Or, because the prepared catalysts were insufficient, their hearts would only be half-transformed.
I don't know how much time has passed.
Three days, four days?
My sense of time is fading. Allen lifted his heavy eyelids. His mind was blank. How long has it been?
I haven't been able to sleep.
I had to maintain the storm formed by the shattering of my circle.
If this storm were to dissipate, it would be the end.
“Only ten percent done?”
A hollow laugh escaped him. If he didn't curse vulgarly, he felt like he would go insane.
Allen now keenly understood why no one practiced this secret art.
They must have all died.
It feels like small insects are gnawing at my heart, one by one.
Little by little, slowly. The heart of flesh and blood is changing into something solid.
I can't eat. I can't drink, and sleep is not permitted.
I could only sit in place and wish for the pain to end.
Allen looked around, his face contorted.
When did all the dragon bones disappear?
When he came to his senses, the space within his radius was empty. The storm of magic couldn't reach anything.
So, what should I do?
“Heh... What do you mean, what should I do.”
Stupid. He pushed himself up. His entire body trembled, and he fell over several times.
It was fine. As long as he didn't give up, he could get up again and again.
Using his scabbard as a cane, he propped himself up.
One step, then another.
Crawling would be faster than this. The storm of magic, formed in sync with Allen's steps, gradually moved forward and collided with the abandoned skeletons.
CRASH!
The massive impact signaled the end for the remains, which had been left untouched for thousands of years, perhaps longer.
Unable to withstand the ravages of time, the colliding bones crumbled and were absorbed into the magical storm.
His heart was being gnawed at again.
Allen walked again.
Slowly.
* * *
“Thank you so much for your help!”
“It was nothing.”
Julius observed the girl before him. Short, shoulder-length purple hair. Pale yellow eyes and a cute face.
The girl would clearly grow up to be a beauty.
For now, though, she was just a cute girl...
“No, it's not nothing! My mother was so sick, I was worried she was going to die...”
The Sun Mage, Anya.
Julius knew.
He knew that this cute girl would one day become a powerful mage who would make a name for herself.
The color of her talent was a vibrant orange.
‘The story said she lived near the Michelant Mountains in the western kingdom around this time.’
Since she wasn't found in the northwestern region of Gabia, he had searched the southwest on a hunch and managed to find her.
The story he knew about her was quite common in this world.
Her mother dies in the near future.
Afterward, she would have lived on, forever unaware of her own talent, until she accidentally discovered that her mother's death was the work of a dark mage...
‘And she would resolve to get revenge.’
To get her revenge, she blindly headed for the free city of Perta, ruled by the Magic Towers. To a young girl, nothing was more powerful than the mages from fairy tales.
By sheer luck, she managed to reach the city unharmed in a world teeming with bandits and monsters, and was immediately spotted and taken in by a passing mage.
After becoming a proper mage, she would wander the world, slaughtering dark mages.
That was the backstory Julius knew from the original novel.
Julius casually spoke to Anya, who was looking at him with a face overflowing with gratitude.
“By the way, Anya. What are you going to do now?”
“Um... Now that Mom is better, I want to try learning magic. They say if you become a mage, you become a quasi-noble, so I want to make sure my mother never gets sick again.”
She smiled brightly, as if picturing her hopeful future.
Julius watched her, an odd expression on his face as she still wanted to become a mage despite the change in her future, and spoke enticingly.
“Then, will you come with me?”
“Huh? With you, young master?”
She tilted her head.
Julius felt the need to gather powerful allies in preparation for the future calamity.
‘If I don't start preparing now, it'll be too late.’
Wasn't that why the original story's ending was such a disaster?
“If you swear to follow me now, I'll provide you with a magical education and protect your mother in the meantime. What do you say?”
Her eyes shook violently.
Such an easy-to-read reaction. Believing she was halfway convinced, Julius added one more thing.
“Swear now, and I'll even provide a salary.”
“I'll do it! Please let me, young master!”
Julius smiled broadly.
“Then... follow me for a moment. There's something I want to show you nearby.”
He lifted his head and saw a red dot on the circular radar. It indicated that there were ruins of an ancient empire near this village.
Ancient ruins were, to put it simply, lost technology.
Places filled with the remnants of a civilization far more advanced than the present.
Steampunk, mechanical civilizations, advanced magic, world arboretums, and so on.
Places where the civilizations developed by countless races, and the essence of those civilizations, were passed down.
The reason Julius wanted to take her to the ruins was also simple.
‘I have to show her something spectacular from the start.’
What kind of adventures we'll have, what kind of journey awaits.
A mere young girl like her wouldn't be able to refuse such an offer from Julius.
Julius headed towards the ruins with confident strides.
Anya didn't doubt the young master's words for a second—he had saved her mother from illness. He was the noble who ruled this land; surely he wouldn't lie to a commoner like her.
So she followed him without a care.
“Wow... You're so pretty, big sister!”
Following behind him as he led the way, Anya chattered away at Reina.
It was a bright, sunny day.
* * *
How much time had passed?
His mind was hazy. He heard phantom noises, and his eyeballs felt like they were about to pop out. The lamp must have run out of oil, as only a chilling cold remained.
His limbs began to convulse.
He raised his head.
There are no dragon bones around. What about the giant's bones?
‘To the left.’
Then I have to go right.
The dragon bones that had been within his range to the left had long since turned to a handful of dust, absorbed by the storm. The body he supported with his sword felt unusually heavy.
Is it so bad I can't move?
‘Not yet.’
Yes, for now, it was bearable.
* * *
“Wow... Young Master. This is...”
Anya marveled at the space, filled with countless steam engines and gears. Smooth metal plates and billowing steam.
She was speechless at the magnificent sight.
How would a girl who had only ever lived in a village get to see ancient relics?
Julius ignored all of it and examined the items. There was no way to acquire the technology of the ancient empire anyway.
Not only was the technological gap too vast to imitate it, but most ruins also had security measures in place to prevent the technology from being extracted.
The reason was unknown.
It was just written that way in the novel, so he accepted it. Of course, even so, there were countless attempts to replicate the originals.
The result was always failure.
Only some dexterous dwarves or beastmen had succeeded.
For humans, who already had the substitute called magic, technology that didn't use magical power was of low importance and rarely garnered much attention.
‘...It lacks realism, but,’
to him, such reasons just seemed like settings hastily added to prevent the indiscriminate spread of technology.
“Anya, come over here.”
“Ah, yes!”
Anya, who had been admiring the ruins, headed in the direction of Julius's voice.
Julius handed Anya a transparent, rectangular glass box. As if mesmerized, she stared at the object inside.
“A little sun...?”
“Mm... yes, that's right. A small sun.”
A fuel device commonly found in steampunk-related ruins.
Since she would later be known as the Sun Mage, he thought an ancient, fire-related relic would be helpful.
“I'll give you this.”
“What!? It looks incredibly valuable...”
She said with a surprised expression, yet she clutched the glass box tightly as if she had no intention of letting go.
What should I do, should I give it back?
Watching her gaze at it with a conflicted expression was rather pitiful.
Julius casually spoke to her.
“If you sign an exclusive contract for the next five years...”
“I'll do it!”
Julius nodded, smiling with satisfaction.
‘If I keep extending the contract little by little like this...’
I should be able to keep her with me until the calamity is over.
‘The calamity isn't the end, either.’
Does it make sense to have such a betrayal at the very, very end?
The one thing that bothers me is that, unlike in the original, she lacks any malice...
‘She's the same person, so she'll do well in the end.’
She's talented, so it would be good for her to defeat the calamity and build her reputation in the future.
Julius didn't think too deeply about it. He was sure she would prefer the glamorous life of a hero to the life of a country peasant.
‘Now, should I look for the fortuitous encounter from the original story?’
Julius moved quickly through the ruins.
He needed to hurry, as the time limit on the ruin detector he received as a quest reward was about to run out.
* * *
It felt like a long time had passed.
The storm of magic had weakened.
By now, forty percent of his heart had transformed into something other than flesh and blood.
The weakened storm's power couldn't completely destroy the remains.
“Ah...”
His throat was parched, his voice turning hoarse. His salivary glands had dried up, unable to even moisten his lips.
Allen opened his eyes dazedly.
He moved his body sluggishly.
His creaking body wouldn't move as he willed. He lifted his sword to support himself, but his body swayed and crashed to the floor.
He gets up again. He raised his sword again.
This time, he managed to stand properly.
He approached the nearest dragon remains.
The remains were fragmented and broken, but not completely shattered.
He brings down the sheathed sword.
-Clang!
A jarring recoil shot through his hand. That was enough. Riddled with cracks from ages of weathering, it crumbled with a single clumsy blow.
‘Too slow.’
Allen tied his hand to the scabbard.
His arms were shaking so violently that it was difficult to grip the sword.
His inability to properly relieve himself left him with a foul stench and a sense of filth, and the thick darkness made it difficult to discern direction.
He barely managed to get his bearings from the noise of the magical storm colliding with the remains. Arriving before the skeleton with dragging feet, he lifted his sword and brought it down.
Once.
-Clang!
Twice.
-Clang!
The skeleton crumbled after two strikes.
But the recoil must have been strong, as his body collapsed.
He turned his eyes. The moment he tried to get up again, his legs gave out.
Where was I? How far did I get?
For just a moment.
He lost consciousness.
With bloodshot eyes, he pushed his upper body upright. It had been just a moment, a fleeting instant.
But what if the magical storm had dissipated in that time?
‘If I had died like that.’
Julius.
My brother.
My atonement.
An image of him surfaced in his mind. He pictured his face.
The brother who had shed his hooligan ways to walk the path of a hero, who forgave his pathetic older brother for picking fights, who was beginning to soar within the family...
No.
Was that really my brother?
Slap! He struck his own cheek. He must have scratched himself with a nail, as blood trickled from the corner of his eye. Can't I even handle something like this?
The trickling blood wet the inside of his mouth, and his senses seemed to return slightly.
‘How much is left?’
He could feel that about half of his heart had now transformed.
There were still plenty of dragon skeletons left. He would have to use the giant's bones later, in a different way.
If he only possessed the Heart of the Dragon, his body would surely explode.
Allen gripped his sword.
The sword moves without conscious thought. No, this is a little different from swordsmanship. It's not a systematic art like swordsmanship. It is merely a desperate struggle to not die.
The dragon's remains shatter.
This damn body collapses again.
Again.
“Just a little more...”
He stood up again.
Desperate hope becomes will. Manifested will becomes tenacity, and that tenacity soon turns into obsession. I have to do it. For my brother. For my brother. I have to do it.
What came first?
-Shlk.
Shedding blood felt like it was bringing his senses back.
He raises the sword again.
So far, it was okay.
‘I must.’
It had to be okay.