Chapter 36
Atram looked at the approaching carriage and gave a bitter smile.
“It was never something that could be done.”
With a man like Yoon Sang-hyuk, there had been a sliver of hope that the long-cherished wish of those trapped in the Exile Land might finally come true. No, perhaps he had known from the moment he asked that it was impossible.
“Even I couldn’t do anything about the Guardian Magic Dragons before I lost my power.”
The carriage drawing near was the same one Yoon Sang-hyuk had arrived in. It had been quite some time since he left the Gray Wasteland, but not nearly enough time to have visited all the Magic Dragons.
“He worked hard for our sake, so I should prepare some tea. Regardless of whether he succeeds, he is our hero.”
Just as Atram was about to turn away from the window to boil water, he suddenly shuddered and looked back at the carriage.
“What in the world is this power?”
At first, he had thought it was Yoon Sang-hyuk’s presence, but there were not one or two strong auras. There were exactly six. The six presences were all slightly different. Three were similar, and two of the remaining three were a little weaker. Even those two had a noticeable gap between them.
And then there was the last one.
“Who on earth is that?”
It resembled the power he had sensed from Yoon Sang-hyuk before, yet it was different. It was unmistakably the same power that had been so restrained when he first met Yoon Sang-hyuk. But now that power had become fiercer. And then fiercer still.
“That’s impossible.”
If this power truly belonged to Yoon Sang-hyuk...
The carriage stopped, and those inside began to step down. The first to emerge was Ibrahmut, whom Atram had met more often than anyone else among Yoon Sang-hyuk’s companions. Right after him came Valender von Graus, whose strength was hard to believe belonged to a Death Knight.
“Ah... so it really was him.”
The owner of that terrifyingly intense presence was indeed Yoon Sang-hyuk. The moment he stepped down from the carriage, he looked up at the window where Atram stood. His face was hidden behind a mask, unlike before, but Atram recognized him at a glance.
He felt a shiver run through his entire body.
Then, the instant he saw the others who followed Yoon Sang-hyuk down from the carriage, Atram realized he was no longer even breathing. The shock was so overwhelming that he had forgotten to inhale.
“Ma, Magic Dragons.”
That was right.
The ones who had stepped down from the carriage with Yoon Sang-hyuk were none other than the guardian Magic Dragons of the Demon Realm, the very beings who had placed restrictions upon him and the divine race.
“I-I don’t believe it.”
* * *
“With this, the contract between us and your divine race can no longer bind you.”
The moment Abalatron finished speaking, a sinister aura spread throughout the entire Gray Wasteland. The contract had been broken, but nothing seemed to have changed at first glance. Still, Atram could feel it. The invisible chains that had been binding him were gone.
Overcome by boundless joy, he shed tears despite the fact that he was a god. The Magic Dragons glanced at the silently weeping Atram, then spoke to Yoon Sang-hyuk.
“It seems our business is done.”
“You’ve worked hard. It’s a shame to just let you go, but... consider yourselves lucky. Understand?”
He was looking at Zigritria as he said it. Zigritria flinched for a moment, then turned his face away from Yoon Sang-hyuk’s gaze.
“We will be leaving now.”
With those words, the figures of the three Magic Dragons vanished.
Yoon Sang-hyuk silently watched Atram, who was still crying. A moment later, Atram wiped his tears and gave an awkward smile.
“I’ve shown you an ugly sight.”
“If shedding tears of joy is ugly, then this world is full of ugly things.”
“Heh. True enough. I don’t know what I should say, or how I should express my gratitude.”
“This wasn’t something I did for nothing. I kept my promise, so now it’s your turn to keep yours, Atram.”
Atram nodded slightly.
“Of course I will keep my promise. But the promise between you and me is... far too small compared to what you have done for us.”
“I think it’s enough. That was the reason I came here, after all.”
“That you say so... I’m deeply grateful.”
Atram turned his palm upward and spread his fingers. A bright light rose in his hand.
“A sacred stigmata.”
This was the stigmata he had agreed to give in exchange for breaking the contract with the Magic Dragons. The stigmata, a fragment of the Star of the goddess Idea, continued to glow beautifully.
“It is yours now.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk shook his head.
“Now that you’re free from the contract, you’ll be leaving soon, won’t you?”
“That I will.”
“Then I’ll take it then. Until that day comes, this place should remain intact, shouldn’t it?”
“Though I was bound by a contract and forced to remain in a place I did not wish to be, I have spent so many long years here that there is much to prepare. Thank you for giving me time. I will make the arrangements as quickly as possible.”
* * *
Near the border of the Gray Wasteland, Yoon Sang-hyuk’s party had set up camp.
The Ariane clan was preparing dinner as usual, but the mood at the campsite was far from ordinary.
“You could at least have let us know.”
At Zephyr’s words, the siblings all looked in one direction. Their attention was drawn to the man seated in a chair, drinking coffee with eyes widened in surprise.
“My brother.”
Zeronia called out to him.
“Ah, sorry. But this coffee really is good. The aroma, too. It looks so dark, yet how does it taste this good?”
“Jerome, that’s not what matters right now.”
“Hah, haha. Sorry.”
The man drinking coffee was Jerome, Zephyr’s younger brother and Zeronia’s older brother.
“Why in the world did you become Abalatron’s guardian?”
Zeronia asked sharply.
“Hmm. If you ask why, how should I answer?”
Jerome set down his cup and looked up at the gray-tinted sky. Then, as if speaking to himself, he said, “Because I wanted to get stronger.”
“...”
The siblings said nothing and stared at Jerome. Any being born in the Demon Realm would naturally pursue strength. In the Demon Realm, power was the very measure of status.
“While guiding the Demon Lord to the Gray Wasteland, I had a lot of thoughts. That place...”
Jerome pointed deeper into the Gray Wasteland.
“Every time I came here, I could see them struggling to survive in a place so completely different from where they’d once lived. Before, I used to wonder why they went that far. But on my last visit, I saw something different. They had a clear goal. They wanted to return to where they came from. I asked the divine race I’d grown close to how one could return to the divine realm, and why they had remained here for so many years even though they knew the method.”
Jerome tossed a few branches into the campfire.
“And then I learned about the contract between the guardian Magic Dragons and the divine race. But everyone knows that’s impossible, don’t they? Who in the Demon Realm could possibly stand against the guardian Magic Dragons? Of course, I knew by then that there was an extraordinary person out there, but before that, I couldn’t even imagine it.”
The siblings all nodded in agreement.
“To me, the divine race looked like they were running toward something impossible. In other words, they seemed reckless. But that reckless effort looked good to me. At first, even I wondered what was wrong with me. But the more I watched them strive toward an impossible goal, the happier they seemed.”
Jerome looked at Zeronia.
“We concentrated our dark power into you so that one of our brothers or sisters might become a Demon Lord. And before I left, you already had more than enough power. You just hadn’t made it fully your own yet. It may sound cruel, but I thought that was as far as I could help you. No, I told myself it was already enough. I know it was selfish. But that was how I felt then. After speaking with the divine race, I made up my mind.”
Jerome shook his empty cup.
“Sorry, but could I have another cup of coffee? This stuff is seriously addictive.”
“If you drink too much, you won’t sleep well.”
“I don’t sleep much anyway.”
He accepted the steaming coffee with a blissful expression.
“I decided to start over, too. That was what I resolved. So I left this place and went to Abalatron’s domain. As you know, among the three guardian Magic Dragons, he’s the most rational one. I didn’t know if he’d accept me, but if I could stay at his side and work myself to the bone there, I thought I might grow stronger. And maybe, as a bonus, I could help with the contract involving the divine race. Anyway, that was what I was thinking at the time.”
“So, did you achieve your goal?”
When Zeronia asked if he had become stronger, Jerome wore a strange little smile. He quietly sipped his coffee, then finished the newly poured cup and set it down.
“Zeronia. You’ve gotten quite strong. More than I ever imagined. You must have worked yourself to the bone. But what surprised me even more was Zephyr. How did you get so strong?”
“Thanks to Lord Sang-hyuk.”
“Ah.”
Jerome let out nothing more than an admiring sound, and did not ask how.
It was Yoon Sang-hyuk, the man who had defeated all three guardian Magic Dragons at once. Jerome did not know him well, but if he was that kind of man, then even the impossible might become possible.
“Haha, I guess I should make a good impression too.”
“More importantly, things are definitely settled with Abalatron, right?”
“Lord Sang-hyuk... he helped me. I just said a few words, and he let me out of being his guardian. Anyway, he really does seem like an incredible man.”
Jerome had only discovered that he had been Abalatron’s guardian by pure chance. After the duel, Yoon Sang-hyuk had spoken briefly with the guardian Magic Dragons. He had shared a drink with them, even though they still refused to accept their defeat.
At that time, Abalatron had looked at Zephyr and his siblings, who were tending to him, and said something like this:
- Are those dark elf slaves? Dark elves really are quick on their feet. I have a dark elf among my guardians, too.
Hearing that, Zeronia had asked what the dark elf’s name was. Normally she would have exploded in anger, saying, “How dare some dark elf...” but with Yoon Sang-hyuk beside him, Abalatron held back his temper and told them the guardian’s name readily enough.
That guardian had turned out to be Jerome.
“So how strong have you become, brother?”
Just by looking at him, there was no way to tell how strong Jerome was. One of the things Yoon Sang-hyuk had said during the journey had been, “You can’t always tell who’s truly strong just by looking at them.”
She had started to suspect that, as Yoon Sang-hyuk said, Jerome might be so strong that she simply could not properly gauge his presence.
Just as Jerome was about to answer with a faint smile, someone else spoke in his place.
“Stronger than all of you put together.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk, Valender von Graus, and Ibrahmut were approaching. Yoon Sang-hyuk smiled faintly as he spoke.
“Nice to have an older brother like that, isn’t it?”