Chapter 637 – The Story of the Past Told by Gaios -Part 1-

000

Gaius disappeared even in front of the general public in the East when the tragedy of Raksha and Nayuta occurred.

The shrine is to the child who succeeded Nayuta as the new high priestess.

And, as much as possible, matters related to the politics of the Eastern countries were left to the royal palace.

The Dark Dragon Party, which was supposed to manage the adamantite mine and could be said to be his direct subordinate, changed to the Dark Dragon Company and expanded its power.

So that only some of them could enter and exit the adamantite mine, a barrier was placed in the mine, and they were allowed to enter and exit with a sign.

Yes, actually Gaios himself must have known.

If you attach more affection than necessary to greedy mortal beings called humans, and live close to them, surely this day may come someday.

The anxiety and premonition that had been growing somewhere had come to reality in its worst form.

So, this is the end of living among humans.

For a dragon, it is to return to its original, natural form.

As an existence that governs the elements of nature while protecting the balance of this planet.

As an existence revered by humans and worshiped by spirits.

However- As long as the Eastern countries were protecting the ‘Divine Tree’, an indispensable being in their lives, and now a troublesome lump that fixes the flow of spirit veins, Gaios’ help was indispensable.

If the organs accumulating in the spirit vein are not cleansed, a great disaster will unfold in this land one day.

Life and death were reversed, and even to prevent the unfolding of a hell where the dead ruled over the living, Gaios could not completely escape from this land and people.

So, instead of having stopped appearing in front of them in human form, only during the Festival of the Five Elements every year, it flew over the temple in the form of a dragon, only repeating the process of purifying the organs of this land.

At first, there were quite a few people in the Orient who refused to admit that Gaios had left the Orient, but time solves everything.

The sand in the hourglass that flowed from top to bottom dulled that sense of loss and even the guilt of letting the dragon down.

At some point, few people remembered the fact that Gaios had been with humans, and there were some who thought that Gaios only appeared during the Festival of the Five Elements and congratulated them on their festival.

And, there were some guys who thought that Gaios had completely left the Eastern country and wanted to do whatever they wanted.

For example, the Oberti family cut down the tree that surrounded Nayuta and Raksha.

At that time, Gaios was so angry that he thought he might come to hate the human race itself for the first time in his life.

Do you dare to cut down the tree that holds the memories of your friend and the important person you couldn’t save?

She flew into the sky of Asteris with a rage like that of Sura, cut off the spirit veins at the house of the Oberti family, and poured it out on them all.

‘You who have a human appearance, a human name, and a human face, and do things inferior to those of a small creature, do not deserve to be human beings. So, you will wear a demon mask that will never fall on your face.’

Gaios himself left behind the curse and flew away, so we don’t know what happened to the Oberti family after that.

However, the family might not have been intact.

This is because the mansion has turned into a desert, and those who have been cursed have all become nobles.

Besides, just incurring the dragon’s wrath was a sufficient reason to be isolated and expelled from that society, so the descendants might be living in hiding their names somewhere.

Relationships with people who are getting more and more distant.

Time just flows.

The unresolved, pierced wounds in the chest were not easily healed, even for dragons who lived for eternity.

Even in the midst of this, the dragons were frequently unable to find their responders, and even the relatives who lived that eternity were facing eternal death one by one without a rumor.

Maybe- the existence of a dragon on this planet may no longer be necessary.

As those who claim to be the group that maintains the order of the continent, the kingdom and the church, began to greatly expand their influence, they began to think about it even more.

However, staying away from humans didn’t mean everything went in a bad direction.

At some point, there were only five left, so I spent more time with those who came to be called the Five Elementary Dragons.

In the past, they had confronted each other several times, but now, his friend, Rhetios, who has known him for the longest time, said that his expression seemed to have softened a little.

Even though she was like a wooden stone with an expressionless expression, she hadn’t changed since the first time she knew her.

Promise is always angry about something, but it’s just disingenuous.

Anatis treats such promises as fools and pretends to be cool, but changes when curiosity is triggered.

Even if he doesn’t lead the party by saying something on the outside, Rhetios supports him from behind.

And the youngest Lutios, who is the younger brother of Rhetios and is loved by the other dragons.

And yourself.

If the five of them were together like this, even if this near-infinite life someday came to an end and their bodies turned to dust, they would not wear out to the point of forgetting the day they lost them.

—Until the black nightmare comes to the continent.

To begin with, the trust in humans, which had been recovering little by little, fell to the worst level once again due to the war between the Empire and the Kingdom.

The empire that restrained Lutios, brainwashed him, and treated him as their own weapon.

And, the goal of such an empire is to use the kingdom called “Adam” As a camouflage to rewrite the order of the continent that was hidden, and to destroy the maddening machine that wants to dominate humans.

What is cause and what is justice?

In the end, I came to feel from the depths of my heart that human beings are a race that decides everything with desire, is selfish, and does not reflect.

Thanks to the activities of the golden hero, Lesia, the empire collapsed, and Lutios, who had been captured, was freed.

However, she left with Lesia, saying that she was disappointed with the other dragons who did not help the humans in time and caused great damage.

Himself – What would you like to do?

As a dragon, meddling in many things is forbidden by the clan’s oath.

Even in the East, which tried to help such an oath in a roundabout way, it created a tragedy.

Some say that beings with a body as powerful as a dragon, great magic, and deep knowledge can live more freely than anyone else.

They had obligations and restrictions commensurate with their power, magic, and knowledge.

Really, what should they do?

Even after the war ended, while repeating such advice dozens, hundreds, and thousands of times, Gaius spent three years confined to his lair with fewer and fewer encounters with other dragons.

She was—a matter of weeks for her human being.

The conclusion that Gaius reached there was that he, as a dragon, was not good enough to protect the world that Nayuta loved.

As a human being, it is enough to be the existence that protects humans by their side.

As before, it does not exist by the side as a dragon.

Erases all of her memories—and seals all records about herself—and blends in with them.

In this way, as a dragon, it would not be excessively helpful to humans, so the oath could be avoided.

Of course, it would be difficult to completely forget everything, so the clearest will was to remain even after becoming human.

It is to do everything in your power to make the people around you happy.

Based on what Gaios has experienced so far, human beings start to act out of dissatisfaction when they feel something lacking.

The action, sometimes producing positive results, sometimes produces extremely negative results.

In order to get rid of dissatisfaction, hurt others or make enemies indiscriminately.

If the cause of all the pain you felt came from such a place, you could solve the dissatisfaction on the contrary and make it a satisfactory state.

‘Huh. There is no problem in theory.’

It is said that Gaius at that time really thought so.

Maybe, she was a little tired and had problems with her hair.

Even a dragon can suffer from mental illness.

Once the plan is decided, all that remains is to execute it.

With that in mind, I filled out the checklist one by one.

Sealing the nest. Amnesia of himself from humans who knew him. From the remaining records, traces of himself were also erased.

However, since it was difficult to completely erase the video record of an elf, a sealing technique was installed.

All preparations were going smoothly, but of course, if you move like that, you will naturally come in and out of Asteris.

She transformed into a normal human being, as inconspicuous as possible, and proceeded to work while hiding among them-

“Where did you get caught?”

As soon as she got out of Asteris, looking back at her soldiers who surrounded her, Gaios murmured.

They had to wear the clothes of the Eastern countries, but beyond the helmets they wore on their faces, they looked like Kingdom people.

In other words, a spy of the kingdom who has been hiding in this country and is active-

Those who are working under an entity that tolerates such activities.

“Mr. Gaios. I’m sorry, but I want you to come with us.”

And, walking out from behind them was a man with a greasy face and a mean expression clinging to him.

Ah, if it is this face, I remember it.

This is the first time he has seen this man in person, but he has the same face as the man who has been disturbing him over and over again when he is still active in Asteris.

“Are you from the Enrai family?”

“You know me well. Haha…”

Gaios sighed as he looked at him with an unpleasant laugh.

Obviously, the reason why he kept his ancestors alive was that even though he kept sabotaging himself, they agreed that the intention was to protect the East.

And, it was because there was a request from Nayuta to forgive him with a generous heart if possible.

However, the man in front of him looked even more despicable and extravagant than his ancestors.

And without Nayuta to stop it…

“Killing one human won’t violate the oath.”

001

Soldiers stretched out after being hit by stones are lying on the ground.

He probably wouldn’t have died because he controlled his strength, but Gaius sighed as he looked around at them.

“You know who I am and you want to attack me? It’s ridiculous. What are you guys, each and every one of them is a warrior of reversal- Yes. I don’t know if it’s the hero Lesia.”

Did humans become this stupid again in these few years?

Even after hearing Gaios’ words, Enrai, who did not lose his relaxed expression, was still looking at Gaios with an eerie smile.

It was a moment when I was about to fly away because I was getting tired of this race with pale skin, whose likability was only going down even if I didn’t do anything.

Gaius could only open his eyes wide for a moment when he saw a woman standing between Enlai and himself.

“Mr. Gaios. Even if you are not a hero, it is possible to defeat a dragon. At least in that respect, I would say that this woman is even better than the hero Lecia.”

At Enrai’s words overflowing with pride, Gaios could only narrow his eyes.

White hair that was long enough to reach the ground, and clothes made of tattered, rag-like fabric and leather.

A brown scarf swaying in the wind, and the huge bow on his back was so worn that it was impossible to tell when it was made.

Can a human draw that bow? There were times when I wondered, but what stood out among her white hair, which boasted that she was one head taller than the humans around her, were her ears that were much more pointed than those of humans.

‘Elf…?’

And Gaius looked at her, thinking that this was the second time he had recently seen her pureblooded elf.

Her eyes, covered by her bangs, were glowing red with a hint of madness somewhere.

“…Dragon. Gaios. Your existence, to all other races, is a ‘catastrophe’.”

Saying that, she took something of hers out of her arms.

It was a dagger decorated with colorful jewels on the handle and blade made of gorgeous gold.

It was a dagger that was like a rich man’s bad taste, and it was obviously supposed to be an ornament, but as soon as Gaios saw it, the hair on her whole body stood upside down and she felt something violently rejecting her from the inside.

“That’s- no way.”

Each of those jewels.

The original was the same as the one hanging on her own head.

For a dragon, if there is a body part that can be said to be a soul, it is definitely the horn.

After the heart, this part with the most magical energy could be transformed into a jewel when processed.

The dagger she took out had at least four or five such jewels attached to it.

The power of the horn that was cut off might have made it possible to use the dragon’s magic, but—

Due to the fact that her kinsman’s horns were collected, while Gaios stiffened her body for a moment, she rushed at Gaios and brandished her dagger.

Truly lightning-fast.

She skillfully uses her dragon’s magical power, and the dagger she holds in her hand is a “Dragon flesh Noble Phantasm” Made so that she can forcibly use the magical power of her horn.

Chew! Thinking that he heard a voice, Gaios noticed that it was he who had been cut, and that a shallow, but diagonal cut had been made from his shoulder to his side.

“…Kuh!”

As the jewels of her horns resonate, they send images of the original owners of her horns into Gaios’s head when they were attacked.

Even if he tried to ignore it somehow, he couldn’t help but be unable to concentrate on the battle at all.

Not only that, but as if suppressing her dragon’s power, Gaios kept feeling the power draining from her body.

He felt that it was similar to the neutralization of the holy sword using the core of the sword he had heard of one day, and he learned about their weaknesses that he did not even know about.

At least, he succeeded in blocking the dagger somehow by forming a dragon scale on his skin and returning one arm to that of a dragon.

Gaius asked her a question while her head was beginning to ache.

“You… What the hell…”

“…”

Although she didn’t answer her, Gaios could easily see that the anger she was sending towards him was directed not at herself alone, but at the dragon race itself.

However, she could sense according to her instincts that it was dangerous to deal with her any longer.

Gaios would definitely be superior in terms of skills as a simple individual, but-

This woman knew

How to hunt down dragons, track them down, and kill them.

‘Should I step back from here…!’

Thinking so, Gaios snapped her fingers, and a huge hand rose from the ground to catch the elf who had run into her.

An elf who distanced herself from her by clicking her tongue and avoiding her hand at the same time.

However, in the meantime, Gaius tried to return to his original form – the form of a dragon, but the power of the processed horns suppressed it, and made it into an intermediate form.

Gaius, who had grown wings and a tail in his human form, flew up as if he couldn’t help it despite his appearance.

“Hey! Elf! Gaios is running away!”

Seeing Gaios like that, she shouted as if Enrai was impatient.

She was pretending to take her time, but when Gaios seemed to be able to get away from them safely, she became desperate.

“Don’t worry.”

And the elf’s voice dismissed Enrai’s worries.

The moment after he thought he heard the conversation from below, Gaios felt something pierce his wings.

‘Keuugh…!’

Needless to say, it was an arrow.

He must have shot himself with the huge bow he was carrying on his back.

Being able to pierce the dragon scale without any problems meant that the skill of the bow as well as the equipment was special.

‘Is it impossible to fly far away…’

In addition, the wings were gradually paralyzed, perhaps because the paralyzing poison had been applied to them.

It was unreasonable for it to fly to its own nest if it was not treated.

In fact, right after thinking so, Gaios’ body fell to the ground – crashed into a densely forested mountain.

Watching the fall of Gaios, the dragon hunter’s elf fired his bow and slowly moved his feet.

“Hey wait! I mean don’t move on your own! Damn… How the hell would Adam-sama use a guy like this…”

Enlai moved his steps waddlingly, as if he was trying to hurriedly follow the elf who was behaving unruly.

However, as if he didn’t care about Enrai, the elf slowly took something out of his pocket and kissed it.

A very old, worn, rusty little cogwheel.

“…”

She closed and opened her eyes as if to offer her prayers to it, and without looking back at Enrai, she pursued Gaios into the mountain.

003

“Ah, aren’t you nice? Don’t cry…”

A luxurious carriage was running on a mountain road.

A woman holding a newborn baby who was constantly crying, and her husband who was pacifying her baby in her carriage, and she looked at such a child with love.

The clothes they were wearing had the pattern of ‘Amryong Sanghoe’ engraved on them.

They are the head of the Dark Dragon Chamber of the time.

And, it was his wife and daughter.

Originally, she should have been born in Asteris, but she was born while her mother, who had gone into childbirth earlier than expected, was visiting another city in the Orient with her husband.

After spending an unscheduled vacation in the city for a month, the two of them finally got on the carriage back to Asteris—no, the three of them.

It was full of her hopes for how this child would grow up in the future.

And then-

Thud! And the ground shuddered loudly, and the horse howled in fright.

“Kyaaak…!”

“What’s going on?!”

After calming her down by holding her by the shoulder as she screamed, he got out of the carriage and approached the coachman.

“Mo, I don’t know. Suddenly, something fell from the sky… It’s the forest over there.”

And when the driver thus raised and pointed his finger, the head master told the driver to calm his horses, and himself walked towards the woods.

If you go through the bushes, be careful not to get caught on the branches and move through them.

“Haha…”

What caught his eyes was a female figure with a mixture of human and non-human features.

“All, you…”

However, as soon as he saw the woman, she could understand her identity.

Although, it was the first time seeing it in person.

“Earth Dragon, Gaios-sama…?”

Hearing the voice calling his name, Gaius, who had been breathing heavily, lifted his head.

That meeting was the very moment when the fates of ‘Gaios’ and ‘Herty’ began to intertwine.