Chapter 24

Chapter 24

A heavy silence fell. No one present dared to open their mouth lightly, instead watching me and Attica in stillness.

“……”

“……”

If the giant dragon before me were to lightly swing her front paw at me or open her jaws to swallow me whole, my death would be certain.

But I was confident that this child wouldn’t do such a thing.

“It’s me. Attica.”

Speaking once more, I carefully stroked her massive front paw. Softly and gently, as though caressing a child’s hair.

My siblings who were watching this scene might have thought I’d truly gone mad, but I didn’t care.

“That crazy bastard really has a death wish, huh?”

“Little brother……”

“What are you trying to show us this time, Ran Winterbell?”

The red dragon, who had been quietly staring at me, suddenly opened her mouth. She could have spewed fire right then or bitten my body in half, but I didn’t move. I didn’t react at all.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the red dragon kept her mouth open as she looked at me, then suddenly brought her face closer and began sniffing me.

As she sniffed repeatedly, unfamiliar words flowed from her mouth.

‘Behemoth. Translate, please.’

【A human I’ve never seen before. But you smell like Dad. Are you really Dad……?】

“Yes. It’s me, Attica.”

【Why…… why did you abandon me? You said you’d come back for me. You said we’d live together when we met again. Then why……】

Her name was Attica, the Red Dragon King.

In the past, when I had still been Van Descartes, I had briefly taken care of a baby dragon. During the journey to subjugate the Demon King, I’d come across a dragon egg by chance, and under the care of Bestia and me, Attica was born.

Dragons originally had no concept of family, but the moment she hatched, the first being she recognized was me—and she affectionately called me “Dad.”

‘Never did I imagine that she would become the being known as the Mad Dragon and end up sealed in this mountain.’

I had only been able to realize her true identity because of the words “Red Dragon King.” The witch had said something just before tearing the teleportation scroll.

—The Red Dragon King is about to go berserk. It has to be now or never.

Hearing that brought back a conversation I had during my time as Van Descartes with the village chief—who was like a grandfather to me.

—Van. Dragons are born already knowing their names.

—Huh? How can they be born with a name? Don’t their parents name them?

—Dragons don’t have parents. They gain their names by the natural order, and they’re suddenly born just like that. Their name is the proof of their power.

—Then do they grow up and mature all on their own?

—Most of the time, dragons living nearby take care of the newborn. Among them, a child who inherits a king’s name is destined to be swept up in countless events from the moment they’re born.

—So sad. That means dragons have their fate decided from the moment they’re born.

—Perhaps we humans are no different, my child.

—Grandpa, have you ever seen a dragon?

—Of course. Many times. Even here, there is a dragon sleeping.

—Really? What kind of dragon?

A dragon’s name is unique. In other words, only one being in this world could possess the name of the Red Dragon King.

And that was my beloved baby dragon.

Attica.

I had no way of knowing what she had been through during the years I was gone, but I fully realized now that I was mostly responsible for her becoming known as the Mad Dragon.

“…I’m sorry. Attica.”

Your father...

“I…”

I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry.”

Drop. Drop.

Large teardrops fell from the red dragon’s eyes, dampening the ground. They carried heat, so each drop sizzled with a sharp hiss as it hit the floor.

【It really… is you… Dad…】

Attica’s massive body began to shrink, and soon she took on the form of a small girl. I caught her in my arms as she fell through the air.

A beautiful girl with crimson hair like the setting sun buried her face into my chest and began to cry.

“Hwaaaahhh! Daaaaad!!! I missed you soooo much!!! I was so scared!! Why did you leave me!!!”

I gently stroked her hair while murmuring apologies over and over.

Just as Attica had said, I had made her a promise.

That once the Demon King was defeated and the world was at peace, I would return, and we would live together.

But that promise could not be kept.

Because I had died.

And now, a hundred years later, we met again—me, as the abandoned half-crippled young master of a ducal family, and her, as the mad dragon sealed within a mountain.

The thumping of Attica’s heart echoed in my ears as she clung to my chest.

This small dragon must have waited for me all that time. But as ten years passed, then fifty, then a hundred, and still I never returned, she must have come to believe she’d been abandoned.

It had been beyond my control. Even if I’d wanted to return, I couldn’t. I was already dead. But the wound left in her heart must have been deep.

“…I never abandoned you.”

“Really? You didn’t leave me?”

“Of course not, Attica. How could I ever abandon you? You’re so precious…”

Attica’s eyes welled up again as she looked up at me, sniffling.

“You really didn’t leave me?”

“I swear. I had no choice… there were things I couldn’t control…”

“I… I thought you and Mom abandoned me… I was so lonely… I kept thinking of you two every day, and I endured it, over and over…”

Honestly, I had forgotten about Attica—so focused was I on revenge. And knowing that only made this moment all the more painful.

“But no matter how long I waited, and waited… you and Mom never came. I was scared. I didn’t want to be alone.”

“……”

“Then some strange humans came. They said they’d take me to where you and Mom were. They tried to take me away. But you said, remember? That I should never follow strangers.”

“I did.”

“And you said… I must never hurt humans.”

“……”

“So I tried not to hurt the humans… but they kept hurting me, tormenting me…”

Attica trailed off mid-sentence, and overwhelmed with emotion, burst into tears again.

I gently patted her back and whispered softly.

“It’s okay, Attica. It’s okay now.”

In dragon years, which spanned over a thousand, Attica had been no different from a toddler back then.

If she had wished, she could have wiped out a human village with ease. That was why I had taught her early on that humans were fragile beings—never to be killed under any circumstance.

It was under the guise of protecting humans, but the truth was, it had always been for Attica’s sake. I had known full well that if she killed humans and her infamy spread, she would eventually be in danger.

Dragons were powerful, yes—but they were also worth a fortune. Not a single part of a dragon’s corpse was wasted, and a dragon’s heart was so valuable that no amount of money could buy it.

If word of an evil dragon killing humans reached the ears of the imperial family, I was sure the Empire would have formed a subjugation force to hunt Attica down.

“I don’t remember anything after that. I was so scared… and so angry… I didn’t know what to do…”

But in the end, that had become poison.

My teachings had shackled her.

And the greed of humans had driven her mad.

Perhaps it had even been the Winterbell family who sealed her here.

“You don’t have to worry anymore. I’ll be by your side now, Attica.”

“Really? Really, really? You’re not going to leave me again, right?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

“But… what about Mom? Where’s Mom?”

The “Mom” Attica spoke of was Bestia. Back in the days of the hero’s party, Attica had been closest to Bestia and me. I remembered how it had taken her a long time to warm up to the rest of the companions.

The one she opened up to last had been Malero Saladin.

‘Maybe Attica had felt something off even back then.’

As I carefully considered how to respond, I chose to hold my words for now.

“Let’s talk about that later.”

“…Okay.”

Still not fully trusting the situation, Attica clung tightly to my arm, as if refusing to let go.

Looking at her, I gave a soft smile, then turned my head toward the group.

For some reason, Cecil was wiping away tears with a handkerchief, Lux Winterbell—usually the calmest—stood with his mouth slightly agape, and Lin and Marian were rubbing their eyes repeatedly.

“……”

“……”

The most composed of them all was Ron Winterbell. He was looking at me with an expression that seemed to say, ‘I knew it would turn out like this.’

“Ran. You really are something. What kind of magic did you pull off this time?”

At some point, Cecil had approached and was brushing ash from my shoulder when Attica growled at her, her eyes fixed.

“Dad! Don’t let her touch you!”

“……”

Lin Winterbell glanced at Marian Winterbell beside her and asked,

“What the hell… What did I just see? Did I really see that right? This isn’t a dream, is it?”

“Nope. It’s not a dream, unni. It’s real.”

“That tiny thing over there is really the Mad Dragon?”

“Yeah. She’s cute……”

“Cute? That? Are you crazy? That’s the same psycho dragon that was breathing fire at us! Just changed her shell, and now she’s cute?!”

Hearing that, Attica stuck out her tongue and quickly hid behind my back.

“Attica’s not crazy! You’re the ugly one! Stupid!”

“You damn lizard, you trying to die? What is this, Marian? What are you doing right now?!”

“Cute kids shouldn’t be harmed. They should be protected.”

As Lin tried to lunge forward, Marian blocked her path. Lin let out a hollow laugh, then threw her hands up and clutched her head as she screamed.

“Uaaaaaaagh!!!! Shiiiit!!!”

At this point, I was starting to wonder if she was actually more insane than Attica.

Lux Winterbell, still standing there slack-jawed, finally stepped forward and stood in front of me. He then bowed slightly to match Attica’s eye level.

“…Your name is Attica?”

Attica, looking shy, nodded with just the slightest tilt of her head. Lux smiled gently and patted her head.

“You’re adorable.”

Then he straightened his back and met my gaze.

“Little brother…”

“Yes, big brother.”

“You never stop surprising me. I really don’t know if you’re the same little brother I used to know.”

“People change, don’t they?”

“That’s true. Even I changed one day, like a completely different person… So, what exactly happened here? I saw everything with my own eyes, but I still can’t make sense of it.”

Honestly, I’d been racking my brain for a while now, but I couldn’t come up with any convincing explanation. So once again, I decided to sell out Behemoth.

Behemoth was always the easiest scapegoat when things got out of hand.

“Well, what happened is that Be—”

At that moment—

A pillar of fire surged up from the ground and engulfed my entire body.

“Little brother!”