[The Dragon in the Room]
“No... why the hell did you crawl out again?” I muttered toward the fusion of Aran and Kekere. The creature—whether it was Kekere, Aran, or some unholy hybrid named ‘Keran’—bristled with indignation.
“What kind of talk is that! Why did I crawl out?! Do you know how hard it was to get out of there? Is that any way to talk to a person! You bad man!”
“I’m getting a headache...”
I was genuinely dizzy. What on earth was this situation? Even Hellers was avoiding my gaze. I was so flustered by this bizarre phenomenon that I couldn’t even begin to explain it.
“Uh, hey... are you Kekere? Or are you Aran?”
“Me? I’m Kekere... well, that’s hard to say. Since a new guy got mixed in... I need a new name...”
“...The dominant personality is the Slaughter Beast, right?”
“That’s right!”
“Then just stick with Kekere. Don’t go changing your name and making things confusing.”
“Uh... okay...”
Hilde, who had been watching my conversation with Kekere with interest, spoke up as if she knew him.
“It’s been a while, cursed beast. Have you been well?”
“Uh... who...?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“Uh... I’m not sure.”
“I see... well, never mind. I’ll keep it as a memory of my own.”
“Uh... um... yes...”
Was there something between them? The Slaughter Beast didn’t seem to remember Hilde at all, yet Hilde spoke to it as if they were close. In my opinion, she was probably the former owner of the Slaughter Beast who had been consumed long ago. Hilde, who still retained the memories from the moment she was eaten, was acting familiar, while the Slaughter Beast, having changed too much since then, had simply forgotten.
“Um... Joon... what is this...”
“Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on either.”
“Really...?”
Cheshire looked tense. Mer and Palus had also approached my side. Seeing that there was no immediate sign of a fight, both of them had put away their weapons.
‘I know Hilde is the former owner of the Slaughter Beast... but why did she suddenly crawl out?’
I needed to hear the full story from this woman named Hilde, but the problem was that I couldn’t trust this ‘Demon Dragon.’ Since she was a ‘Demon’ dragon, she might be connected to the demons who were at odds with the Manma-jeon.
Just then, Indikron whispered to me.
‘Huh...? What do you mean...?’
[That... is a remnant of the old war.]
‘The old war...?’
[It’s hard to explain in detail... just know that it happened before we started playing house on this tiny planet.]
Playing house on a tiny planet... somehow, I felt that if I dug any deeper, the scale would become too massive to follow. Let’s just accept that such things happened. This is an apocalypse, not a space war.
‘So what does that have to do with... the Slaughter Beast...?’
[The Slaughter Beast is a monster that devours its master. I suspect she used that to get eaten on purpose... she hid by being consumed. Of course, I don’t know if she was waiting for the right time, or if she was simply sleepy... she’s an inscrutable wench.]
‘Uh... then... is that Demon Dragon on our side?’
[Indeed. She should be. Probably?]
“Ah, no...”
The god who always gave me definitive answers was, for some reason, giving me a vague response.
[Well, I have a rough idea of how things are going. The Slaughter Beast has devoured various masters over a long period. When you combined the flow of dragon blood into that thing... I suspect it spat out another dragon that was inside... It must have exceeded the threshold it could tolerate. It didn’t have the capacity to hold two dragons in one body.]
“Whoa...”
[For now, she’s a being that stands halfway between the Man-gwi-jeon and the Manma-jeon... but try to coax her well. She’s not a god, but it’s rare to find a dragon as devoid of greed as her. You could probably make her yours just by providing food and shelter.]
“Uh... yes...”
I roughly understood the situation. Aran, whose mental strength was weaker than the Slaughter Beast, had been absorbed by Kekere through the Fusion Vessel, and as Aran was eaten, it forced Kekere to spit out one of the past masters it had swallowed. I suspect Kekere’s attributes—‘Immortality’ and ‘Resistance’—were at play. The Fusion Vessel usually melts down combinations that exceed the capacity like water, but Kekere must have vomited out Hilde, who took up the most capacity, to avoid melting.
“Who are you talking to?”
“Huh? Oh... that’s...”
“Is it Indikron? Kashnakas is a bit of a four-dimensional, gloomy god who can’t hold a deep conversation, so it’s probably not her...”
Hilde sensed that I was communicating with Indikron mentally. She took a jab at Kashnakas for no reason. It seemed she didn’t like her very much.
“Anyway... sniff, sniff... hmm... there’s a dragon here, too.”
“Ah, that’s...”
“Furthermore... that sword reeks of that rotten stalker.”
Hilde suddenly looked at the Gwiyokdo (Ghost-Wailing Sword) tied to my waist and began to complain about a stalker. She said it was an obsessive man who followed her around... but hearing her description, there was only one person who would do such a thing.
‘A fanatical dragon-nerd who swings his sword at any dragon he sees... tracks them by the smell of their excrement... and collects shed dragon scales... and is crazy about dragon hunting?’
There was only one person I knew who engaged in such eccentric behavior. And the person who gave me this Gwiyokdo was...
“Is that... by any chance, Ziegfried?”
“Yes, that guy. He’s the one who drools and swings his greatsword the moment he sees me. I entrusted myself to the Manma-jeon because I was too lazy to fight, but he chased me to the ends of the earth, swearing he’d kill me. That creepy guy. Ugh.”
“Whoa...”
As expected... my guess was right. Hilde knew Ziegfried. And not just that... they were practically enemies. No, perhaps it was just Ziegfried’s one-sided infatuation. Maybe... his fanatical dragon hunting was an obsession directed at Hilde... Regardless, was I destined to fight Ziegfried? It seemed things had gone sideways from the moment the dragon hatched from the egg Yewon had incubated. Ziegfried... he’s a good guy, but...
For now, I needed to disperse the people gathered at the scene. Perhaps because all my strongest assets were inside the classroom, the air felt stifling.
“Uh, everyone... thanks for coming all this way for me... and since the situation is mostly resolved, I think it’s fine for you to go back to what you were doing.”
“Really...?”
“Yeah. It’s fine. Mer, Cheshire, Aila, thanks for coming too. Let’s have a drink tonight.”
“I suppose so. Hehe.”
“Then... take care?”
“Yes, everyone, go on in. Henry and Palus, thanks for protecting me!”
“Heh heh. A master doesn’t thank his subordinates for every little thing. Stand tall. We only did what was natural.”
“Haha... yes...!”
I told Aila, Mer, and Cheshire, who were still looking at me with concern, that I was fine. Once I reassured them, the three of them headed back out of the science lab. Henry and Palus also left, and Dante was huddled in a corner of the classroom. He was keeping a low profile because his actions had nearly caused a battle. In a situation like this, if he acted up for no reason, he might get beaten to death by me.
“Now, Hilde, let’s go see the baby dragon with me.”
“Hehe... that sounds good.”
“W-wait...! Master, what about me? Why am I being left behind so naturally?!”
“Uh... Kekere, you go get a health checkup from Hellers for now. Hellers, I’m counting on you.”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
“W-wait!! No!!!”
I took Hilde and hurried toward the infirmary on the second floor where Yewon was. I could hear Kekere’s screams behind me, but neither Hilde nor I paid much attention. Hilde seemed to have lost all interest in Kekere since he couldn’t remember her... and I didn’t have anything I could do for Kekere right away, so I left him to Hellers. If it was Hellers, she would be able to thoroughly investigate the physical changes in Kekere, who had absorbed a Dragon-Blood Knight.
I asked Hilde a few questions on the way to the infirmary.
“Um...”
“What is it?”
“Are you... really affiliated with the Manma-jeon...?”
“That’s right. I moved my allegiance from the Man-gwi-jeon. It doesn’t matter where I am, anyway. The Manma-jeon is freer.”
“Aha... and, are you and Ziegfried really... on such bad terms that you’d kill each other?”
“Hmm... it’s just a one-sided relationship. Ziegfried chased me around... and I avoided that stalker. He probably realizes it by now, too. The fact that I’ve returned.”
“Ah...”
Ziegfried would be coming to find her soon. Please... I hope they don’t fight in my territory. Since it’s a matter between the two of them, I hope they go somewhere far away... yes, like Europe, and smash everything to pieces while they fight. And while they’re at it, kill Nick if he gets caught in the crossfire.
“Ah! Boss!!”
As I was walking down the stairs, Ha Jin-sung came running from the end of the hallway, waving a paper full of writing. It was hard to find any trace of his past as a fighter class. He looked like a middle manager completely exhausted by life. His dark circles were no joke.
“Oh, uh. Jin-sung, later...”
“Don’t mind me, keep talking. I can feel the energy of the baby dragon over there, so I’ll go ahead.”
“Ah, wait...”
Hilde walked barefoot to the infirmary. I hope Yewon isn’t surprised...
“Uh... who is that...”
“Oh. She’s... anyway, what is it?”
“Ah, that... a unique reward came out among the achievement rewards.”
Achievement rewards. It was natural, but I wasn’t the only one who got them. Of course, I achieved an overwhelming number of achievements because I wandered around all sorts of strange places, but other Awakened also achieved them occasionally. And the most common achievement reward among them was the ‘First Kill’ achievement received when one first awakened. These rewards were zombie repellent, zombie antidote, and five inventory slots. The repellent had become virtually useless since the zombies all became intelligent evolved entities. So I told them to choose between the inventory or the antidote, whichever they liked. I was too busy to worry about the achievement rewards of regular slaves.
But sometimes, people like this achieved unique accomplishments. Ha Jin-sung reported them to me periodically. Of course, most of them were just usable items, so I usually told them to use them as they pleased or left them alone.
“It’s a guy named Oh Joon-sang who awakened this week...”
“Oh. That... what was it? The guy who awakened as some kind of fanatic?”
I had heard it in passing before. That a human had awakened as a strange job called ‘Paganus’... I remembered it was right after Sataniel’s seal was broken... thinking about it now, it seemed that guy had awakened as a class related to Sataniel.
“Yes. That’s the guy. He said he hunted a disguised peddler when he went outside this time.”
“What? Ah... that murderer...”
I remembered. Early on, when I had just made Areum and Aram my slaves, we faced a murderer disguised as a peddler. Of course, I hadn’t encountered one directly since then, so I had half-forgotten about it... but it seemed the reconnaissance team that went out for supplies had succeeded in hunting one.
“Uh... what were the achievement rewards?”
“Uh... just a moment. Let’s see... the achievement name is ‘Model Citizen,’ and the rewards are a Peddler Summoning Ticket, a Wanted Poster for the murderer... and a Ring of Income Increase.”
“Ah, that’s right...”
I had received a Peddler Summoning Ticket back then. I must have had a reason to call a peddler urgently. I probably called the peddler and... ‘I gave him the lost hiking hat...’ One by one, the memories came back. After catching the murderer, I found a hiking hat, a keepsake of some peddler who had died at his hands. And I gave it to my assigned peddler, which greatly increased his favorability. I think that was when the peddler introduced me to Ziegfried.
‘It was a kind of hidden quest...’
I asked Ha Jin-sung if the guy named Oh Joon-sang had obtained anything else separately.
“He said only the achievement popped up.”
“Really? I see...”
For better or worse, Oh Joon-sang, who wasn’t as lucky as me, didn’t seem to have found the lost hiking hat.
“Take the Ring of Income Increase as the reward and bring it to me.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Soon, Ha Jin-sung left again. ‘Come to think of it... did Aram, who raided the Black Market basement with me, get anything...?’ Those who aren’t players can’t even see the text about achieving accomplishments. They are essentially treated as NPCs. Therefore, Cheshire and Aila probably didn’t achieve any accomplishments during the Black Market raid. However, if it were Aram, who is a player like me, she might have gotten something...
‘Seeing as she hasn’t said anything, maybe she just let it slide...’
In the first place, the structure of achievements is that if there are multiple people, it goes to the person with the greatest contribution. It’s highly likely she didn’t get anything. Especially since the achievements I obtained were all things only I could get, the probability of others achieving the same ones as me was low.
“For now...”
I entered the infirmary where Yewon, Helgen, and Hilde were waiting.
“Kya-haha! This little guy! You cute thing!! Brrr-rr-rr!”
“Kuaaa!!! S-stooop!!! Mom!! Help me!!!”
“Uh...”
“Ah, Oppa. You’re here.”
“Yeah... Yewon. But what is that...”
“Uh, that’s...”
Hilde was tickling Helgen, who had grown as large as a big dog, on the infirmary bed. And Helgen was shouting at Hilde to stop, while Yewon was watching Helgen with a smile...
“Helgen can talk?”
“Yes... she started following my words a while ago... and now she can even hold a conversation.”
“Whoa... you raised her well.”
“Right...?”
“Yeah. You raised her well. You did a good job.”
“Fu-hehe...”
I left Hilde, who was having a blast playing, and Helgen, who was crying for help, and stroked Yewon, whom I hadn’t seen in a while. Yewon had a very happy smile on her face. She’s a girl who likes it even if I just acknowledge her... Yewon is just endearing to watch. She’s always getting pushed around and stepped on, so I feel sorry for her. She has a special class called ‘Unholy Queen,’ but... I wonder if there will come a day when she hits the jackpot.