Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: Ruler of the Skies
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Kallias and Serena emerged from the forest and walked toward the village.
The night sky was dark.
All that was visible were the village's torches, faint moonlight, and starlight.
And the sound of their footsteps.
Though she pretended to be calm, she wasn't the only one flustered.
‘Why the sudden declaration of becoming my servant?’
He was deeply perplexed.
Knowing someone was there, he had tested his newly acquired power by using Sullivian's divine spell to capture her, but what was this?
To offer herself as his servant.
He glanced back.
The elf, Serena, was walking at a respectful distance, as if she wouldn't dare tread on her master's shadow.
Kallias was dumbfounded by her lamb-like docility.
With no response to her declaration, he had simply continued toward the village...
But she seemed to take his silence as permission.
At first, he wondered if she knew his true identity.
But what reason would she have to act this way just because he was Count Carpe?
‘She must be misunderstanding something.’
He chose not to clarify.
What reason was there to refuse when a future hero offered to follow him?
It was far more convenient for her to submit than to harbor resentment.
For now, he wanted to experiment more with the fairy power he had newly obtained.
‘Who would have thought the fairies would all seep into my dantian?’
Intoxicated by the spirit fragrance, the fairies had danced around him before suddenly merging into his embrace.
They had spread through his sacred blood before seeping into his dantian, where they now slumbered.
No contract had been made.
That was the key point.
To command fairies without a contract. That was immensely significant.
They had found satisfaction in his body, and in exchange, he wielded their power.
This would prove a crucial variable, clearly supplementing his lacking strength.
His dantian felt increasingly crowded with all sorts of things, but it didn't matter.
If it were dangerous, his [Instinctive Intuition] would have rung alarm bells.
‘Of course, the fairies in my dantian aren't mine forever.’
They had merely taken up temporary residence, drunk on the pleasant fragrance.
Like travelers sheltering under an eave to escape the rain.
Yet Kallias didn't fret over when they might leave.
Low-grade fairies lacked distinct forms and self-awareness, like unformed children.
Only mid-grade ones solidified their shapes.
That was when personalities emerged.
And affinities as well.
‘Serena's fairy must be mid-grade.’
The flames that had coiled around her arrow weren't divine power. They were fairy power.
Thus, Kallias hoped.
That the fairies packed into his dantian would symbiose with him and grow.
If so, he might one day infuse his sword with a fairy like hers.
For now, it was time for growth.
“Master.”
“...What is it?”
“I believe you already know, but ominous shadows gather around the village.”
Kallias gazed beyond the village.
Even with senses nearing master level, he detected nothing.
They must be quite distant.
It seemed the elf's ears had picked it up.
“Likely the army come to subjugate the dragonkin.”
“Faster than expected.”
A casual remark.
Witnessing it, Serena hastily dropped to one knee.
“Ruler of the skies, please lend us your strength.”
Ruler of the skies.
Kallias wasn't ignorant enough to miss the implication.
‘I see.’
Elf, Serena.
She saw him as a dragon.
A request that could be seen as presumptuous.
Yet her conviction stemmed from believing him a dragon.
‘Dragon words hold no sway.’
Dragons never broke promises.
If they received 'payment' and made a 'promise,' they fulfilled it.
Such thinking likely underpinned her plea.
‘Hm.’
It didn't particularly matter.
He wanted to test his new power anyway.
‘And I owe the Empire.’
If things turned dangerous, he was confident in escaping alone.
He even had the ring of Leteti, a relic of the Bi tribe—if needed, he could simply fly away.
Above all, he had no intention of revealing his identity here, so it was inconsequential.
“To the forest.”
If battle was inevitable, better to join the dragonkin there.
“Bring Aldu.”
“Understood.”
As Kallias turned from the village, a faint thrill lit his face.
* * *
Dawn, with night dew settling.
Even moonlight dimmed now.
The princess propped her legs on a tavern table, arms crossed.
“They seem to have already fled.”
The reporting knight was Betan of the duchy.
Known as Pathfinder Betan.
“They noticed us first despite our stealthy approach and vanished. Sharper and more cunning than anticipated.”
Seated beside the princess, Duchess Rebecca nodded.
She looked somewhat satisfied.
The princess narrowed her eyes.
“You seem pleased?”
“Not at all. I'm deeply regretful at failing to capture potential criminals of the Empire and duchy.”
Hmph.
What nonsense.
“You think I don't know your heart?”
“What do you mean?”
“...Tch.”
Predictable as ever.
She'd been like this since childhood.
No secrets from her, but the duchess hated losing what was hers more than death.
She must be glad he escaped.
It irked her, but hard to reprimand.
Though subordinate, the duchess was still the duchy's lady—and one of her few friends.
Rising, the princess moved with her attending knights.
After that day.
The Empire focused on consolidation.
Success here would solidify her position.
Their original purpose was the extermination of these vermin anyway.
‘Likely tied to that lizard.’
Evacuation orders had already issued.
Loitering meant heads on pikes.
Disobeying suggested more than mere pilgrimage.
‘If entangled with them, surely...’
He'd reveal himself.
The duchess's attitude piqued her curiosity about his identity too.
“Prepare to sortie. Lizard hunt begins.”
No harm speeding things up.
A pilgrim's guise meant no master-level threat.
No need for fear.
“Woooooo!”
Knights and soldiers' roars pierced the sky.
They charged toward the forest.
An endless torchlit host advanced into the dawn swamp.
* * *
Thud!
Crack!
“Philo, chieftain!!”
Amid the elders' council dragging into dawn.
A tribesman burst into the cave, shouting.
“Ballavenu! What is this racket?”
“Disaster!”
His grave expression shifted the elders' prayers.
“No way?”
“The Empire's princess leads an army here.”
“How did they find this place...”
“Traitors among us? How does the princess know our lair?”
Then.
The tribal chieftain spoke.
Philloamatur opened his mouth.
“That's not the point. If they found and struck our base first, we must repay in kind.”
“Ooh!”
“Worthy chieftain.”
“Model for the new dragonkin.”
The elders admired his cool resolve and wisdom.
“Muster elites, block their path, dig traps, lure them in. We’re outnumbered. Show the Empire's princess the swamp's terror.”
At Philoamatur's stern command, Ballavenu and elders slammed spears into the ground.
“For lost pride.”
“Go.”
Thud!
Watching them vanish, Philoamatur's eyes glazed.
His rigid posture slackened, strength draining.
“My philosophy is to live like flowing water, die like a flickering flame...”
Why must the world be so bothersome?
Philoamatur sighed deeply.
Why crave battle?
Hiding elsewhere would be peaceful.
Such thoughts as he rose.
‘To flee, now’s the time.’
Watch the tribe die?
Drive them to death?
Ridiculous.
They drove themselves to doom—not him.
‘Forgetting the past irks me most.’
He had proud scales and two horns.
Yet compared to the tribe, he seemed more human. Limbs closer to human than draconic.
Thus, subtle ostracism in the tribe.
Thicker human blood.
Diluted shame, unworthy of pure dragon lineage.
Called a degenerate symbol over evolutionary product—his label among dragonkin.
But circumstances changed.
Successive battles felled great warriors; when Philoamatur returned stronger from pilgrimage, the tribe had regressed.
He mocked them, but they saw his power as ancestral draconic might.
Thus, naturally chieftain, burdened with leading.
“Ludicrous. I'm just a fleeing sinner.”
No qualification.
No reason.
So, dragonkin be damned.
“Perish.”
No bonds or belonging.
Neither dragonkin nor human—unaffiliated.
‘Shouldn’t have returned.’
Just adventured with those guys.
Never halted pilgrimage.
Foolishly came back.
Yes, so.
“Let’s go.”
Their fate irrelevant.
No baggage needed.
One spear sufficed.
Philoamatur exited the cave.
Resolve firm, steps light.
He could go anywhere.
“Chieftain...”
“Chieftain!”
“Chieftain, seen my dad?”
Children swarmed, chattering at his feet.
Dragonkin's future.
Soon to face cruel reality.
“Dummy, enemy army’s here.”
“What’s enemy army?”
“Dunno. Chieftain, what’s enemy army?”
“......”
“Anyway, chieftain’ll handle it. Dad said you’re greatest, strongest warrior.”
Philoamatur’s face crumpled.
“Damn it.”
Crunch.
Grip made the spear shaft scream.
“Hide.”
Thud!
Leaping, his form vanished toward swamp and forest.
Beyond human leg strength.
Spear keen enough to pierce anything.
Yet he hesitated.
As always.
“I want to run.”
Like a tail-shedding lizard.
Just flee.
A mere lizard, neither dragon nor human.
But now, choice time.
Lizard.
Or dragon.
“Want to run? Then do it.”
“......!”
Halt!
Rushing through brush, Philoamatur stopped dead.
Skreee!
Furrows gouged as he thrust spear.
Whoooosh...!
Strike pierced air.
Splat!
Rending sound as spear neared voice source.
Claaang-!!
Massive hammer blocked him.
“Philo!”
“Aldu!?”
Why here.
Confusion, then faint smile.
Aldu and Serena.
Seeing them eased tension. But not fully.
Arrogant figure loomed beside them.
‘What.’
Faint holy power.
Yet unprecedented force too.
White robe cloaked fully, but instinct screamed not weak.
“One to aid you.”
“Ally, eh.”
Aldu and Serena's grins made Philoamatur gulp.
-Roooaaar!
Boom!
Battle already raged.
“Pleased to meet. But not time for reunions.”
“Yeah, that’s why we...”
As Aldu spoke—
“Promises must be kept. Payment received.”
His hand moved.
Violet ominous aura traced elegant script in air.
“Wonder of the Three Realms. Heresy Net.”
Ruuuumble!!
Swamp drowned in violet.
Hidden swamp things emitted intense purple glow.
Uniform violet bursts wove net, blanketing all.
“Gah!”
“W-what is this!”
Empire knights flailed in swamp. Dragonkin seized chance, spears thrusting.
Stab! Stab stab!
Empire screams echoed.
“Impossible......”
Awed by spectacle, speechless Philoamatur turned to perpetrator.
“Run if you want. No danger like a vacillating ally.”
Ssshh.
Hood fell.
Purple eyes glared, freezing all.
Seeing them,
Philoamatur felt it strongly.
A desire to flee *to* him.