There was a nearby stream, so while I was considering things, mom had the time to clean up we were able to get a drink. Although the dragon had no problem speaking when spoken to, he seemed just as content to watch us. I had a feeling that his awareness went far rger than what could be seen in his eyes. I also understood a bit about where he was coming from. It must be pretty bad to be stuck underground, no longer able to move under your weight.

  Certain species on earth would continue to get bigger and bigger the longer they lived. Theoretically, there was no limit to their age, but as they grew rger, they were more susceptible to predation, and what was aging if not a steady march toward a higher likelihood of dying? However, what would happen if you had the power of a dragon? You’d continue to live on and on, eventually reaching a state where your physical body could no longer sustain you. That was the state this dragon appeared to be in, a living mountain slowly reaching death.

  Yet, he had created a child, one that was at a stage of extreme vulnerability. I didn’t know how long the dragon waited there thinking about the fate of his offspring, but he did eventually decide the only option was to give the child to someone that could protect it. I didn’t know why I would be the ultimate selection, but now the offer was made, I wasn’t sure if I had the right to refuse.

  I had to say that the idea of taking care of a dragon did interest me. They were powerful allies and extremely intelligent. This dragon, even immobile as he was, kept an army of drakes and wyvern in line. A dragon was an army onto himself. He might be useless now, but in a few years, he could be the difference between life or death. By taking care of him, it was like giving myself another lifeline. However, the crux of that risk was being able to keep me and the dragon alive for those few years. I wasn’t exactly in a situation where I could just move around with a baby dragon alongside me.

  Mother was happily pying with the little dragon, but Lucil had kept her distance. Hugging herself with her arms, she seemed content remaining apart from the pair. She watched them closely out of the corner of her eyes, almost like she seemed reluctant and wanted to get closer to them. I had found out a bit about her history. I had learned that at some point she had been exposed to my blood and we had ended up carrying on a sexual retionship before we were pulled apart. Yet, it was her strange retionship with her mother that seemed to be the greater mystery there.

  “I would think that they are nothing alike,” I spoke the st of my thoughts out loud.

  “No,” She shook her head. “It’s more surprising how simir they are.”

  “Really?”

  She turned to me and let out a noise of surprise, not having intended to talk at all. However, I raised an eyebrow at her, and after a moment, she calmed down, a bitter expression appearing on her face.

  “You still pn to enter Dongeng, don’t you…” She sighed. “Sister is safe… and I will travel with you if you turn around.”

  “I need to see the situation in Dongeng,” I responded. “I believe there is something there I need to learn before I can move on.”

  I couldn’t even expin it all myself, but I knew that I was going to head into Dongeng. It didn’t just have to do with Olivia or even a morbid curiosity regarding the woman who had made me. There were various points and times where I could have fled from Duheart, but something told me that I had needed to keep going. Had I anticipated the canyon passage would have been so perilous, I still might have chosen to make that trip.

  “Dragon, how do we leave this pteau safely?” I asked.

  “Oomph… I would normally offer you a safe route among the caves and crevices that avoid wyverns and dragons. I have no patience for deception anymore, so I will tell you that if you were to take my child, he would not be able to travel such a path. I could only offer a more dangerous path for you. Have you decided to take the infant with you?”

  Mother didn’t need to turn to me and look with tearful eyes for me to make that decision. From the beginning, I had chosen to walk a difficult path. I was already betting everything every moment, so adding another challenge was only par for the course. There were just far too many potential benefits over influencing the development and growth of an ally like that. I couldn’t say no.

  “I will take your child. You’re just going to have to tell me how.”

  “My child is too rge to work his way through the cracks. Any pathways rge enough to hold a wyvern will contain a wyvern. He is also not capable of holding all of you while flying. Thus, the only pathway for you is to walk directly across the pteau. North of here is a colpsed cliff, which will offer enough angle that he should be able to climb down.”

  “Across the pteau? That’s madness!” Lucille jerked up.

  “If it was, he wouldn’t be suggesting we do it with his remaining child he seeks to protect,” I responded. “What is it that you’re pnning?”

  “I am gd you have observed this much,” The dragon said, causing Lucille to turn red. “However, it is also important to always be cautious in all things.”

  Lucille looked up again, a bit surprised that such an old and wise dragon would even bother to convert her in such away.

  “The drakes and wyvern are ravenous. They have turned this pce they call their home into a deserted nd while trapping everything of substance within their caves and services.” I carried on with the conversation.

  “You’ve noticed this as well… good. You are correct in your assessment. The drakes and the wyvern will take anything they determine is beautiful, and they ravage the very nd. There was a time when the dragons reigned supreme and we were able to control them and curve their behavior, but as my kind died off one after another, they became increasingly gluttonous. Even now, they rain tributes down on me, thinking that the reason I allow them to exist is because of this habit. They do not understand bance, they do not understand that they must curb their greed.”

  “Most living beings live the same way,” I responded.

  “However, your species are social, and social beings can be herded and lead. All it takes is a single charismatic leader, and their destructive natures can be twisted and maniputed. The wyrmkin, however, only believe in themselves. Without an overwhelming power to force their hands, there is only destruction.

  “It sounds like you have a pn.”

  “More like a musing from an old being, and a hope that one day my child will obtain that strength and restore these pteaus to the beauty they once possessed.”

  “The entire world is much like this pteau. The bance has been lost, and soon the entire world will be like this pteau.”

  “That is true. Unless someone steps up and restores the equilibrium, this entire pnet is doomed.”

  As I spoke with the dragon, Lucille’s eyes widened. She had likely believed my discussions of bance were either some maniputive words to try to get what I wanted or fanciful tales from someone who thought too highly of themselves. Even Baba didn’t convince her, although she had seemingly lost a lot of respect after reincarnating into the body of a little girl. Furthermore, she never went out of her way to expin her intentions to anybody other than me. It took hearing them from the mouth of a dragon for Lucille to realize that I was speaking the truth.

  “Is there nothing you can do?” I asked. “I can feel the immense power within you. Tossing it all away…”

  “I see, you understand my intention as well. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken to one as insightful as you, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. You were selected by him, after all.” The dragon let out a low huff from his nose, making sure to aim away from us as it created a small whirlwind that bsted through the trees. “To answer your question, the best I can offer to the future of this world is this child. Anything else I did would not have sting effects, and would only be a stop-gap for what is to come.”

  “Do you know anything about what is coming?”

  “There is always something coming, threatening to upset the bance of this world. If the world is in bance, it will preserve and shove back the threat. If it is out of bance, then the world will topple, and everything will fall with it. We are in a world that is falling apart. I do not need to know what threat is coming to know what will happen if it hits now.”

  Lucille was looking at the pair of us with a slightly confused expression. “I don’t understand. Won’t the dragon be alive for another fifty years or so? Surely, some good could be done then.”

  I gnced at her, and then looked away, biting my lip. “If it were only so easy.”

  It was ultimately the dragon who decided to answer her. “Drakes and wyvern are selfish creatures, and they only barely give pittance, as if believing that will forgive their behavior. When I die, my magic will erupt from my body like a wave. Every magic-user will be able to feel it. Those in the other content will have felt another dragon die. As for the drakes and wyvern, they will know all too well what it means.”

  “If you pass away… the drakes and wyvern will…” She gasped. “You don’t mean…”

  They will immediately charge to my mountain, and try to dismantle me and take all of my treasures. Just as my child would be in danger, so would everything else. Every pittance they left me they’d try to take back double. They will collect my bones to build their caverns, and my meat to strengthen them so they become the most powerful of their css. My death will begin a feeding frenzy.”

  Her words had gotten to mother, who wept slightly as she held onto the child. Thankfully, the child didn’t seem to understand the implications of what their parent was saying.

  “Th-then, we should be thankful there is more time…”

  “That’s the thing.” I sighed. “It’s just like with the army and horses. The only way we’ll have a chance to escape the pteau… is to give the drakes and wyverns a bigger target!”

  “Wait… you can’t mean…”

  “Right after my death, there will be a window. The magic in this pce will be in flux, and it will interfere with their ability to track. I can also release a wave of air, temporarily blocking their scent. They will be too eager to get a bite out of me, that they either won’t notice or bother with my child. That is the only way you can escape.”

  “B-but… you’re not dead yet…” Lucille argued weakly.

  “You’ll need one of us to deliver a killing blow. I’ll need to strike your reverse scale.” I responded.

  The dragon looked down at me, his head tilting up and down ever so slightly. Both mother and Lucille were crying now.

  “David… you can’t do it.” Mom cried out.

  “This isn’t my choice to make. It’s his.” I responded.

  “I have already reserved myself for this fate since long ago.” The dragon responded. “It is only proper that the old should sacrifice themselves to give the young a chance at a better tomorrow.”

  “David…” Lucille had made her way over to Mom, and the two women were holding each other now as if seeking comfort.

  “This isn’t just about us. Baba, Saria, and Ba are still trapped in the mid-cavern. After your… um… magic was released, the area outside their cave is likely crawling with wyvern and drakes, and they won’t have an opportunity to escape any time soon. They should feel the death of the dragon and understand what that means as well, especially Baba. They’ll be able to seize the opportunity to escape just as we will.”

  She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. There wasn’t much room to argue. There was no other way we were going to be able to leave with the child dragon in tow, and even fewer options for my fiancée and company to escape. The dragon had been thinking about this for far longer than we had, and unless Mom and Lucille could suddenly drop some kind of ability I’d never heard of, it had to happen this way.

  “When will we go?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow morning. The frenzy against me may take days, but your trip will take about eight hours. The longer you wait the more dangerous it will become. After getting their fill, some may decide you’re a better prey, so you must move swiftly.

  I nodded. “I will.”

  With such ugly business handled, we had nothing to do but rest for a while. We could use the night of rest after the previous day. Mother introduced both Lucille and me to the dragon. It took an immediate interest in Lucille, nuzzling against her breasts, while it only gave me a single look, sneezed, and then looked away. This guy was a pervert!

  I left the little dragon to py with the women, and instead, I sat atop a rock and spoke a bit more with the dragon. There was a lot that I wanted to know, but I didn’t want to talk too loosely about my reincarnation, god, or my ultimate mission around Lucille and Mom. That was a shame because these were the things I was concerned about most. Instead, I mostly asked some questions about the nature of this world and life in general.

  “I have noticed you gncing back toward the treasures strewn on my side a few times.” The dragon eventually spoke up, giving a low chuckle.

  I blushed slightly. Although I had thought I was being subtle, it seemed like he missed nothing, even when he wasn’t directly looking at you.

  “I was just thinking it was a shame the drakes and wyvern would take all of this. It’d be enough money to change many fates. It’s too bad that this world doesn’t have anything like storage rings.”

  “Storage rings? Is this something that came from your old world?” The dragon asked.

  “Ah! No… it’s just a fictional concept. The idea that you could store an inventory many times your weight within a small item that you could carry with ease.”

  “Hmmm… such a thing, I might have.”

  “Sir! It’s not my pce to request anything from you.”

  “Nonsense… you do not need to hide your nature. Even a dragon like me once enjoyed all of these treasures. It is only natural to desire. It is a desire that gives us the drive to be something more.” As he was speaking, he had turned back and was reaching a far distance away, likely close to where I had fallen off his body.

  He came back with an item pinched between two nails, dropping it at my feet. I kneeled and picked the item up to see that it was a rather unremarkable looking pack.”

  “A pack of holding?” I guessed

  “It does not store more than can fit within its volume, but everything inside it will have no weight.”

  “I see… then this would be very useful.”

  “Please, fill it up with as much as you want.”

  “Sir…”

  “Do it!” Its voice contained an authority that broke no-nonsense. “Besides, I would rather my death be as swift and as painless as possible. I would prefer you use a sword worthy of striking a dragon down. Any bde that fells me will be coated in my blood. It will gain properties unlike any other bde. It might as well be the best.”

  “I… I understand.”

  I returned to the area where his treasures were, and this time, I looked extremely carefully for things of value. I found a thin armored shirt that fit under my clothing. I found a decanter that was seemingly always filled with water whenever you poured, although it would only come out in drips if you kept pouring until it was empty. It took about twenty minutes to refill. I grabbed several other items until my hands fell on something that felt both different and yet familiar. It was a long bck bde, slim and elegant, but also with curved ridges that gave it a wicked feel. It seemed to give off too many shadows as if it was fighting against the light.

  “I thought you might be interested in that thing.” The dragon commented as he saw me stroking the hilt. “It is a devil sword, once known as a Masamune.”

  “I’ve heard of this sword,” I responded. “An evil bde that corrupts the mind of the wielder.”

  “It works opposite to that. It corrupts the mind of the one who is cut by it. It was infused with the blood of demons, and it is said that a single cut can cause the owner to take control of the mind of the one cut by it. It will only work on weak minds, however.”

  “Would it be okay to use this bde on you?” I asked.

  “I would not be weak-minded enough to be controlled.” Their voice held amusement.

  “Ah… that’s not what I meant.”

  “Dragons are neither good nor evil. We do not hate or fear devils any more than we hate or fear the immortals. If this is the bde the fells me, then my blood will coat this bde and make it stronger. If you soak this bde in my blood… it might even be able to kill a god!”

  AnnouncementHey Readers! I have recently done a redesign and overhaul on my website. You may prefer reading there now. At the least, check it out, and consider becoming a member. This was all done with the help of my Spanish transtor, Kokoadict. He posts many transtions, among them my work at https://gao-nn.com/. You can support him at https:///GAONN. Either way, check out my site, https://whatsawhizzerwebnovels.com/ and become a member if you're interested. Have a great day.

  If you're like to read: https://whatsawhizzerwebnovels.com/ensved/ The rest of the volume is here.