Dragons and humans could not be said to be on good terms even as a joke, but surprisingly, there was a time when their relationship was amicable.
It was long ago, around the time the first Hero received the surname ‘West’ and established the ducal house. While most dragons regarded humans as insignificant or bothersome, some wanted to live in coexistence with them.
The one who turned this from imagination into action was none other than the Black Dragon. He sought out the first Hero and promised to protect his family. For him, he even carved a powerful magic circle in the underground of the Duke West castle.
But that was a story so old that even memories of it had faded. The relatively gentle relationship shattered to pieces when a ‘dragon hunting’ craze swept through humans who had become arrogant.
Incompetent yet numerous, humans swarmed in droves, making a fuss about hunting dragons. While there was a limit to what an individual human could do, when thousands and tens of thousands gathered, humans could even pull gods down from the sky, so dragons hid themselves to avoid them.
Not because they were scared, though. Because it was bothersome.
Klad was a descendant of the Black Dragon who had been friendly toward humans, and until he came out into the world, he had harbored fantasies about humans. Even though dragon hunting was in vogue, he thought it was just the story of some idiotic mercenaries, and since there were still more human-friendly dragons around him, it was a natural response.
He changed after entering the human world.
Klad no longer liked humans.
He loathed them.
If they were humans of ‘West,’ all the more so.
‘But… how did this human come to receive Klad’s protection…?’
The Green Dragon imprisoned in the underground of the Duke West castle examined Jake repeatedly with an interested look. Even looking again, it was certain. What surrounded this human was unmistakably dragon magic.
Moreover, it was protective magic carefully layered several times over as if protecting something precious. That this was none other than Klad’s magic—even seeing it, he couldn’t believe it.
If only this one weren’t ‘West,’ he would have at least pretended to believe it… Could it be that he’s not a West? But to say that, he looked exactly like the first West.
‘Human bloodlines are… remarkable.’
But more remarkable than the stubborn human bloodline was the human will that stood up despite the terror even in this situation. The human who until just moments ago could barely stand properly was now, as if he had never trembled in fear, beaming with joy.
“Do you know Klad?”
That name was mentioned from the human’s mouth. If a human who had been terrified all along rejoiced at hearing a dragon’s name, their relationship couldn’t be bad. He had thought the West bloodline had bound Klad with an unfair oath or contract and was forcibly receiving protection. Since that wasn’t the case, there was no need to trample this one to death on behalf of his friend.
A relief… Killing humans is just… distasteful.
“I’m searching for Klad’s whereabouts.”
From the moment Klad’s name was mentioned, Jake, who was excited to the point where it was hard to hide, tried to calm his heart and continued the conversation with a minimal combination of words.
If the dragon found out that he was merely an existence within fragments of memory, he couldn’t know what attitude the dragon would show. He couldn’t make such a mistake. If he planned to stay in this world for long, he had to keep such critical information strictly to himself.
[Klad’s… whereabouts.]
Jake waited for the words to follow with eyes full of anticipation.
[I… would like to know as well.]
“Ah…”
His disappointment was as great as his expectations.
At Jake’s noticeably regretful attitude, the dragon added as if doing him a favor.
[However… I can guess where he will appear…]
“…! Would you tell me where that is?”
Instead of answering, the dragon chuckled. He probably thought he was laughing quietly, but Jake’s small body swayed as if it would be blown away even by the dragon’s small breath.
[Klad is my dear friend… so he will come here to rescue me.]
A dear friend! If Klad came to this place as the dragon said, there would be no need to embark on a long journey to find him. Seeing the dragon speak so definitively, they must be quite close…
“……”
Jake’s bright face hardened in an instant.
Klad’s friend imprisoned in the Duke West castle. There was something that bothered him too much to take lightly and move on. In Jake’s head, a single sentence Klad had said before floated around.
Klad’s words that his personal grudge against the House of Duke West was because of a friend’s death.
‘Is this dragon going to die?’
Jake didn’t know in detail about the magic circle that had transported him here, but he understood the basics.
When he deduced using the knowledge he had, he thought the reason he ended up here was because the axis of time had been twisted.
The original destination of the magic circle created by Klad and Ainel was Jake’s past. Originally, the plan would have been to travel to the ‘ducal castle’ from ‘over ten years ago.’ But a problem occurred in the process of activating the magic circle, and while the ‘place’ remained the same, the ‘time’ became greatly misaligned, causing him to fall into the wrong place.
That was all Jake had deduced.
‘But that wasn’t it.’
The magic circle hadn’t thrown Jake into the wrong place. The magic circle had been faithful to its role. It meant it had succeeded in creating a world from someone’s past without any errors in place or time.
It just wasn’t Jake’s.
This was the world within Klad’s memories.
‘Which means… Klad’s range of activity during this period is inside the ducal castle?’
He couldn’t know the exact reason why he had fallen in the ducal castle rather than the place where Klad had stayed, but what was certain was that the past Klad would soon appear here. The reason, of course, would be to rescue his friend.
‘But Klad will fail to rescue his friend.’
The dragon before his eyes would die, and surely something bad would happen to Klad as well. Something bad enough to make him loathe the House of Duke West.
For example, being forced into an oath.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
He was the only one who could prevent what was about to happen because he knew the ending. The real-world Klad might be here somewhere with him, but seeing that he hadn’t come to find him all this time, he must have encountered a terrible situation where he couldn’t move. If so, he had to take a more proactive approach.
To help Klad.
‘I can do it. No, I must succeed.’
Jake clenched his fist, steeling his resolve.
The dragon watched Jake with interest, as if his constantly changing expressions were entertaining.
“I want to know how you came to be imprisoned here.”
[Oho.]
The dragon found Jake’s question unexpected.
Since he was a member of the West family that had imprisoned him here, he thought he would show one of two reactions upon learning that another dragon was coming. Either he would prepare defenses to prevent another dragon from rescuing him, or he would prepare for dragon hunting, thinking to capture that one as well.
But it was neither.
[An interesting… human.]
Though it was somewhat uncomfortable that he was of the House of Duke West bloodline, the human’s eyes held no lies. Moreover, he seemed to have a close relationship with Klad, so at this level, trusting him wouldn’t be bad.
Above all, the dragon desperately needed help now. If this thing that had come down to the underground to find him was a lifeline, he had no choice but to grab it even if it had a bit of West’s warmth on it.
[The Duke… kidnapped my child.]
“Are you saying you got captured voluntarily to save your child?”
[If not… there’s no way I’d be docilely bound by chains like these…]
Clink-clank-clank—
As the dragon half-raised his body, the chains binding him became taut as if they would break at any moment.
[I was… being chased by humans who hunt dragons… My wife… got caught up in that battle and died…]
The dragon’s voice saying this was steeped in sorrow.
[I couldn’t lose my child too… so I left briefly… The Duke West who learned of this… kidnapped my daughter.]
Crack.
The sound of the dragon grinding his teeth echoed through the underground space. The resonance of that sound was so enormous that the ceiling trembled as if it would collapse.
[To keep my child alive… I had no choice but to be captured docilely… So Klad will go to rescue my daughter first… in order to rescue me… If my daughter is rescued… it would be much easier to meet Klad, but…]
The dragon trailed off and stared down at Jake intently. As if asking, ‘You’re a member of West, so you can easily find out where my daughter is, right?’ At that desperate gaze, Jake found himself nodding without realizing it.
A huge smile spread across the dragon’s face.
“Very well. I will rescue your…”
[My name is… Nordin Wood… You may call me… Nordin.]
“…I will rescue Nordin’s daughter. What is your daughter’s name?”
If he coaxed the Duke well, he might be able to easily find where the dragon’s daughter was, but even if he found the daughter, it was obvious she would be wary of him, who was clearly a member of the House of Duke West. Jake didn’t have the ability to subdue a struggling baby dragon. So he planned to find out personal information related to her and persuade her that her father dragon had sent him to rescue her.
Whether guessing Jake’s thoughts, Nordin nodded his head slowly and answered sluggishly.
[My daughter’s name is… Neria. She is a half dragon…]
