Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Meeting Yeriserika
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One of the Three Divine Dragons, the guardian of the World Tree, Water Dragon Yeriserika—Piercing Pupil—that was the first time I met her. To be precise, it was a phantom.
Her true body couldn't move because it had to protect the World Tree, or so she said.
Even though it was merely a phantom, Yeriserika's eyes—with their solemn yet gentle timbre and sincere compassion—radiated an aura of wisdom too profound to even approach.
No one had ordered us to do so, but when I came to my senses, not only I but everyone else was kneeling in worship of the divine dragon.
"Arise, O Returned One. It is I, Yeriserika, who should enumerate your deeds and offer thanks."
Even after hearing those words, I couldn't bring myself to stand amid the indescribable awe.
"How did Alakish meet her end?"
At that instant, the image of Alakish turning away after entrusting Aki to me flashed in my mind, and my eyes grew hot.
"True to the lineage of the Fire Dragon... she sealed the abyss with unwavering nobility and grandeur until the very end."
The white dragons let out sighs of lamentation one by one, filling the swamp with the aching echo of sorrow.
Just then, Akireia awoke from sleep and reached out toward Yeriserika in wonder, but Yeriserika's eyes brimmed with such profound sadness that ripples of grief stirred in my heart as well.
"Come closer, child of Alakish. You've taken after your mother so perfectly—you're truly lovable."
Incredibly... Aki left my arms of her own accord for the first time and began crawling toward Yeriserika.
Or so I thought, but suddenly she turned back around, returned to me, and tugged at my pant leg with a whine, demanding to be picked up.
If I was surprised, the white dragons were even more so. Regardless of their legion affiliation, all dragonkin revered the divine dragon as their parent, so Aki's choice must have left them baffled.
"Indeed... are you already living a life befitting the name Akireia—Freedom? Do as you wish."
But Yeriserika smiled purely, as if she had foreseen this outcome.
Then a miracle occurred... Clear water filled the swamp, which had reeked of decay, and fresh green sprouts emerged here and there.
As all the mortals gaped in stunned wonder, Yeriserika began solemnly summarizing the situation.
"I shall take the beastkin with me. Humanity lacks the courage to commune with them yet, and I have foreseen a future where the land overflows with blood if they are forcibly merged with humankind."
Yeriserika's judgment was absolute. No one dared defy it, just as none would challenge the emperor.
Yeriserika guarded the World Tree while dreaming the "Pure White Dream." Within that dream, she could observe fragments of the past and glimpses of the future.
Peering into the present's constraints was originally the domain and prerogative of the Light Dragon Haraderi alone, but with the Light Dragon now sickly and dying, a void had formed in the realm of observation.
It was then that Magic Tower Seigan spoke up.
"If I may be so bold, if Your Serenity declares it so, then the beastkin must truly be innocent..."
Then what was my little brother's death for? His head was severed for treason... I was about to voice that when—
"Fear not—your blood kin lives."
Did she read even my mind? Seigan blinked in shock. Rain was just as stunned.
'Kiran...?'
'He didn't die...?'
It was hard to believe, but unlike humans, gods do not lie.
According to Yeriserika, just before the execution, a winged dragon from the white dragon legion had arrived at the Snow Wall Fortress and resolved the situation.
Yeriserika had realized the gravity of events north of the barrier the moment Alakish's presence vanished, and she had immediately peered into futures south of the barrier via the Pure White Dream and intervened.
"......?!"
That must have been around when it happened.
The flow of time suddenly grew viscous and sluggish, all sensations thinning to a dreamlike haze... and then, before my eyes, a bizarre lake unfurled.
It was a lake so clear and pure white it seemed to reveal the depths of one's soul, like gazing into countless mirrors at once—hundreds of "me"s reflected on its surface.
And at the lake's center, a goddess in azure robes welcomed me, her sleeves fluttering gracefully.
"I have invited you into my dream, Yeriserika's dream, to share a long tale. For an era has come where the Abyss's eye could lurk anywhere."
Her noble hair, chaste eyes, elegant dragon horns, and silken robes were all the hue of a clear sea. She appeared to be in her mid-sixties by human years.
"Are you Yeriserika?"
"Who else would I be?"
Yeriserika approached with a gait of perfect dignity and authority that evoked Shar'kas, scanning me from head to toe before smiling kindly.
"Indeed, the weave of your soul is truly akin. I can now somewhat comprehend what drew that one to choose you."
"Whose soul do I resemble?"
"Regrettably, your intellect seems inferior to that one's."
At that, the mirrors filling the lake's surface showed my faces reacting in diverse ways: some blinking, some tilting their heads, others questioning it.
What is this?
But the "real me" had no time for cryptic banter; there was something I'd been too flustered to ask earlier.
"Where will you take the beastkin?"
"What you should ask and worry about is not the beastkin, but your own future."
"Pardon?"
"Do you know the state of the continent now? Do you know why that one had to send you beyond the barrier?"
"Honestly... I don't."
My brief reply came with an unsteady gaze—I could feel it. Strangely, countless "me"s displayed varied reactions once more.
"In this Pure White Dream, every human aspect is laid bare. All those in this lake are you. 'You's who made different choices in life."
"......?"
"To tell one truth: I see only one of your futures. Precisely, the future where you reach the South Pole with Akireia."
What did that mean...? Just then, the faint-yet-vivid "me"s from my nightmares began vanishing one by one.
Only the real me remained...
I glanced around the lake in bewilderment, a chilling realization dawning as my limbs grew icy against my will.
"There's only one possibility... of me reaching the South Pole?"
Feeling an ill omen, I asked cautiously, and Yeriserika nodded gracefully.
"Rami Orbaden, the abyss's shadow rampaging across the continent... By my perception, it would be right to take Akireia into my legion and send her south, but that one does not wish it."
"That one... You mean Karenden? Why? If we go with the legion, it'd be instantaneous."
"Who can fathom the will of the gods? The gods impose trials upon those they love. 'Darun On Durka'—only the gods know the human path, and it seems that one intends to temper you upon it. To forge you into pure gold."
My words caught in my throat for a moment.
Temper me? How? When there's only one path to success?
If I dared speculate, it felt like even a single misstep among countless choices would spell total failure.
"I can't take Aki down that perilous path. If it were just me, maybe—but the child Alakish entrusted to me in faith... Isn't there another way?"
Yeriserika quietly shook her head at my plea.
"That one believes in you. Neither you nor even I, Yeriserika, can alter that one's will. That one adores you enough to bare a diseased body before the ancient gods for your sake."
"......!"
"You must choose, O bearer of the name Spring Breeze—Rin. Whether to run the race of life according to that one's will, or lay all down and live a meaningless existence."
Yeriserika's words resounded heavily in my chest. A race of life per Karenden's will? It was so vague I couldn't grasp it.
"Do you wish to behold the Truth?"
In that instant, the whirlwind of doubts in my mind vanished, and my limbs began to tremble faintly.
"Do you wish to reforge the chain of karma severed in your past life?"
Overwhelmed by the concise yet profound question that followed, I couldn't even breathe.
Karma from my past life?
A chain of bonds?
What exactly did that mean? Questions surged until I was breathless. As I opened my mouth to ask—
"Then go south with Alakish's avatar. On the way, first seek the little ghost."
"What do you mean by 'little ghost'?"
"You will know soon enough. That one has prepared everything for that arduous, grueling path... solely for you."
Truth... past life's bonds... Those words unleashed fierce ripples in emotions long sealed deep within me.
Frankly, I didn't understand.
Frankly, I couldn't accept it.
The reason for making Aki walk that dangerous path... Mortal perception aside, if the creator of truth claimed truth lay at its end—
"I will go."
This body had already died once, and Alakish had told me to show Aki her dream.
Not just Karenden, but Alakish too had wanted me—no one else—to take Aki...
For now, I had no choice but to follow their will.
No, it might seem reluctant, but this was my will, my choice. I yearned even more desperately to know: what was truth, and what was the chain of bonds?
"From the moment you enter the continent, the Abyss will hunt you relentlessly. Linger not—bid your blood kin a brief farewell and depart south at once."
Yeriserika gazed into the distant void for a moment, a smile of poignant regret forming on her face.
"And this too is that one's will."
Suddenly, the pure white dominating this illusory lake converged from Yeriserika's embrace into a dainty form.
It was a sleeping infant.
Younger than even Aki?
Her hair and brows were a purity of white beyond earthly imitation. A purity as cruel as a winter lake... and an existence transcending all.
"MirünGadia, my fifth child, bearer of the name 'Wisdom'—Yeriserika's."
Did she hesitate for a moment, reluctant to let go...?
Yeriserika gazed lovingly at that pure white incarnation for a long while, stroking her hair tenderly, then suddenly placed her in my arms.
I was thoroughly flustered by the abrupt action. What? Why now?
"'Drakyu Or Durben.' The age of dragons draws to a close. When all dragons are gone, the Abyss shall rampage—so this child is the one I prepared for that final era."
"......!"
"She and Alakish's child must endure that last era together... the nightmare age, as the final dragonkin."
I could not reply.
I couldn't even grasp the meaning, merely gaping at the infant and Yeriserika in turn.
Yeriserika smiled faintly, her form beginning to scatter like azure feathers of light.
"According to that one's will, I entrust her to you. Teach her, I pray. This dazzling world created by the gods, and how to love it. As you were taught."
Dream and illusion tangled chaotically once more, then the hazy sensations vanished in an instant, reality unfolding before me again.
Yet the weight pressing insistently yet fragilely on both arms remained. Cautiously lowering my gaze, there lay a dragon egg...
A pristine white shell etched with five jade-green stripes, pulsing mysteriously from within.
"Oh, man..."
In an instant, I had two children. A red one behind, a white one ahead... Was this the weight of responsibility without pleasure?
No joke could make me laugh. These children, the dragons to survive the final era—and entrusting both to me?
I didn't know Karenden's intent, but if he trusted me that much... Fine. Let's give it a shot.
"The south..."
I lifted my head to gaze across the swamp.
An endless horizon bled into deep darkness, the subtle wind slicing my skin like quivering blades, icy cold.
That marked the end of Act 1 in my century-long journey through life, and the true beginning of Act 2.