Chapter 302 : The First Flame

Looking at the red mist that surrounded me.

I had a thought.

I wanted to go back.

It was the little Ashuban who had been beaten to a pulp and rolled in the mud, but strangely, the grown-up Ashuban was also quite tired.

It seemed I was more mentally tired than physically.

The storm of time and space, whatever.

The child of prophecy, whatever.

To hell with it all, my honest feeling was that I wanted to go back to the Sherwood hideout where the guys were and sleep to my heart's content.

"Haa..."

But life was not so easy.

It was the kind of thing that would throw an endless sea in front of a person who had just crossed a big mountain.

Suddenly, I remembered what the old king of Blake had said to me.

—When I heard the voice of God... it seemed that the trials that would befall you were not just this one.

Hmm.

—This will only be the beginning. From now on, trials will rise like waves and continue to try to swallow you.

...Now that I think about it, he was a very wise old man in many ways.

"That old man's words were not wrong at all."

I grumbled, looking at the red mist that still surrounded me.

"It's just one thing after another."

I quietly looked back on the past days.

After a difficult journey, I rode the teleportation magic circle of the Blake royal family,

After a difficult hardship, as soon as I returned to Maia, I was faced with the news of the mercenary corps' dissolution,

The welcome of the magical beasts, the re-establishment of the mercenary corps, the sudden appearance of the Dark Heaven Society,

Saying hello to the A-rank magical beast, Hydra,

Beating up the members who wouldn't listen and making them rejoin,

The worst monster wave in history,

Beating up the S-rank special individual and the king of the magical beasts, the Snowman,

Going to the Holy Empire to save Siri and having a big fight with the Hero of Light who changed night into day and split the sky...

And now, I was in the middle of carrying out the special designated commission of the Red Witch.

I was in the middle of writing a thrilling time travel story where the world would be destroyed if I failed.

The first time travel was successful in its own way.

But in the second time period, I really almost destroyed the world.

Looking back, it was really close.

If the past Scarlet hadn't used some trick to return the necklace, if Tina hadn't been so damn kind as to even take care of the traitor.

I would never have been able to return to my original time.

"..."

I felt like this trial was getting bigger and bigger.

While changing the direction of the incoming wave in various ways.

Damn it. What kind of shitty time period will I be sent to this time?

And what kind of shitty mission will they throw at me?

I'm so excited I could die.

"Hooo..."

I glared at the red mist and calmed my mind.

No matter what happens, I will not be shaken this time.

No matter what trial comes, I will split it in half and go back right away. With that mindset, I glared at the red mist of time and space that had not yet cleared.

"..."

[It's taking a particularly long time.]

"That's what I'm saying."

How far back in the past was I going?

I was staring at the mist as if I could split it with my gaze alone for a while.

And the mist slowly began to clear.

"Alright. Trial or whatever. Come at me. I'll split you in half."

The old king's request echoed faintly in my ears like the afterglow of an echo.

—Please keep your current heart well. You should not live as cowardly as I did.

'Yes. I shouldn't live cowardly.'

As I recalled the old king's request, I took a step out of the mist that was slowly beginning to clear.

"The invincible Ashuban is coming!"

Did you see that?

This is my beginning.

[Tsk, tsk... when will you become a person.]

I could hear the Heavenly Demon clicking his tongue softly.

The red mist cleared.

And the first thing that came into my sight was.

A black sky.

"...Huh?"

As I was looking up at it quietly.

I realized one strange thing.

The stars and the moon were not visible.

It was just as black as looking into an abyss.

"What on earth..."

Just then.

「...Finally.」

A voice that seemed to pierce my head directly, not through my ears.

I was startled by the voice whose direction I couldn't gauge and became wary of my surroundings.

But the surroundings were also completely dark, as if they had been swallowed by the darkness.

「I have waited a long time.」

With the successive words.

Fwoosh—

A flame appeared in front of my eyes.

The flickering flame faintly illuminated the surroundings.

And there, a huge monster was looking down at me quietly.

"...!"

The flickering flame illuminated the monster's huge body.

Its body was so huge that I couldn't take it all in at a glance, and on its head, which was hanging high in the night sky like a full moon, two green eyes were shining like stars.

My resolve to split any mission in half withered like a candle in the wind.

Far from splitting it, I had to be careful not to be trampled to death.

The feeling of being overwhelmed by it.

It felt like I was facing a huge natural landscape, like a waterfall or a cliff, or an endless sea, rather than a living creature.

Was this what a mouse felt in front of an S-rank magical beast?

Cold sweat trickled down.

My mouth was dry.

My head was spinning, crushed by the pressure, and it was repeating an idle rotation.

My hand was instinctively on the hilt of my sword, but I couldn't bring myself to draw it.

Because I doubted whether this toothpick could do any damage to that monster.

I thought I would be lucky if I could just scrape the dirt under its claws with this.

[Hoo...]

What's with the 'hoo'?

Even in this situation, the Heavenly Demon was exclaiming in admiration, as if he found something so interesting.

[Disciple.]

"Master. I don't think this is the time for small talk. My life is on the line here."

[Don't worry. If that guy had wanted to, you would already be dead.]

"...Thank you for the encouragement. If I charge at it now, I might be able to scratch the dirt under that monster's claws. I'm thinking of trying to win its favor with that, what do you think?"

[Stop talking nonsense. Just give me your body. I have finally met an opponent that I don't have to hold back against.]

"...Pardon?"

What's wrong with this master?

A man who had been quietly fishing by the lake like an old man who had reached enlightenment in all things.

I could feel the Heavenly Demon's fighting spirit burning like a conflagration.

Was it after he had beaten the Knight of Frost to a pulp?

He had said that he would never take over my body again, so I shouldn't hope for a fluke.

This was the first time he had directly asked for my body.

Did it mean that the being in front of me was that huge?

To the point where the Heavenly Demon recognized it as his rival.

...Gulp.

I swallowed dryly and carefully examined the strange creature that was spread out before me.

In other words, it meant that a monster that exuded this much presence had to be the Heavenly Demon's rival.

[It's not your opponent. I don't know for sure, but that thing has no intention of harming you.]

"...Really?"

[If you don't believe me, try attacking it.]

I quickly rolled my head.

Surely, my mission this time wasn't to hunt that monster, was it?

If so, it was a situation where I really had to borrow the Heavenly Demon's hand.

I don't even know what time period I've fallen into.

Even if I spread my senses and groped around, I couldn't feel anything.

It was so huge and its presence was so clear, but I couldn't feel anything, so it was creepy.

'And, I think it spoke to me.'

What did it say?

Did it say it was waiting for me?

Screech—

I slowly drew my Night Sky Sword.

The monster's green eyes flashed from above, as if it were interested.

And then, that voice pierced my mind again.

「Come. Time traveler.」

Grip!

My hand on the hilt tightened.

Trrrk!

The black blade froze white.

Fwoosh!

I brought my left hand, which was engulfed in the Blue Flame, and ran it from the bottom to the top of the frozen blade.

Swoosh!

A blue snake wrapped around a white branch.

Snow Branch Blue Flame.

"Uryaaaaaah!"

I threw my best move at the nameless monster.

Ting!

"Ugh."

Crash!

The result was disastrous.

Before I could even reach its main body, I was hit by something that had popped out and rolled on the ground.

"Cough, cough."

I quickly got up, inhaling a lot of dust.

As I got up, covering my nose and mouth with my sleeve, a familiar but unfamiliar smell brushed past my nose.

Pause.

'This is...'

It wasn't just dust.

The smell of a bonfire that had burned all night.

The smell of something that had finally been oxidized into dust.

I scooped up a handful of sand from the floor and held it up to the light.

It was gray ash.

Swoosh—

I looked at the ash that was flowing through my fingers and then raised my head.

There, the monster had stealthily extended its front paw, which was covered in red scales.

And there, there were vicious claws.

"Ah."

So I had been hit by that monster's finger flick and had rolled so pathetically.

The Heavenly Demon laughed slowly.

[Didn't I say it wasn't your opponent?]

Where was this, and what was that monster?

The voice came into my head again.

「Do not be afraid. I have remained here to meet you.」

Fwoosh!

Several flames erupted in the air at the same time, and the surroundings became as bright as day.

As the darkness that had been covering its huge body like a thick coat retreated.

The full form of 'it' was revealed.

When I saw the complete form of the monster.

I was completely dumbfounded.

Because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

「Welcome. Child of Fate.」

'It' was a mythical being that I had only seen in pictures in fairy tales, a dragon.

* * *

The dragon waited quietly for me to recover from the shock.

I stared at the mythical being that had suddenly appeared in front of me and tried to understand the situation.

Just then, I heard the Heavenly Demon clicking his tongue, "Tsk—".

[The excitement is gone.]

"Suddenly?"

[I have no hobby of tormenting the sick.]

"...Sick?"

I focused my inner energy on my eyes and examined it closely.

And then, I began to see things that I hadn't seen before.

A torn wing.

Scales that were scratched and torn here and there.

A large scar that was drawn diagonally on its chest.

A tail that was half cut off.

The red dragon in front of me was a complete mess, covered in wounds.

Looking at it again, it seemed to be quite weak.

[I thought I could finally loosen up a bit.]

The Heavenly Demon muttered in dissatisfaction and then, as if he had lost interest, he took his fishing rod and left.

"No, Master. Where are you going?"

[It seems he has a lot to say to you before he falls into a long sleep, so just listen.]

"And you, Master? Aren't you going to listen?"

[You listen.]

Wasn't the mythical being in front of him strange to the Heavenly Demon?

Instead of a physical conversation where blood splattered and heads were smashed, he showed a willingness to have a conversation with words like a polite, civilized person, and then he immediately turned his back.

"Well, I'll be."

Just then, the dragon slowly lowered its huge head.

「Are you ready to talk?」

I looked at the wounded dragon head that had come right in front of me, and the sharp green eyes that were split vertically like a snake's, and I nodded dazedly.

Since it seemed I had no choice.

"I think so."

「Good. Wait a moment.」

The red dragon pulled its head back and then muttered a spell softly.

「Polymorph.」

Fwoosh!

A flame like a conflagration erupted and swallowed the dragon's huge body whole.

"Keuk!"

The heat was so intense that I had to take a few steps back, even with several layers of the Snow White Ice Curtain.

After a while.

The flame that had covered the dragon's huge body gradually grew smaller.

And soon, it became the size of a person.

And the one who came out of the flame was someone I had seen a lot somewhere.

"...Huh?"

Fiery red hair.

Green eyes that seemed to suck you in.

"Big Sister?"

But instead of her characteristic, languid atmosphere, her complexion was very tired.

And instead of the smell of tobacco, the smell of burnt ash felt unfamiliar.

The being that had been a dragon walked awkwardly...

"Ugh."

Thump.

Her legs got tangled and she fell.

"..."

"It's hard to get used to this."

I stared blankly at the great being who was walking slowly, as if learning to walk like a child.

Soon, the great being reached me and met my eyes, and then opened her mouth awkwardly.

"Ah. Ah. Can you hear me? Hmm... the human way of conversation is still awkward. Even though I have practiced steadily for this day."

"Uh... yes. I can hear you well."

At that, she nodded as if she were satisfied.

"Hmm. Then is my conversation clearly understood without any wavering?"

"Uh... more or less?"

"Language also wears down as time passes. This is a relief."

She moved her tongue and the muscles around her lower jaw here and there, as if to loosen her mouth.

And then, as if she had noticed my staring gaze, she said.

"Do you have a question that requires an answer?"

Just then, I had been looking at her features one by one and had come to the conclusion that she was not Scarlet.

She looked very similar, but somehow, the feeling was different.

"Who are you?"

She looked at me straight and answered.

"Primus Ignis Istradel. I am the dragon that holds the first flame."

(End of Chapter)