<153. There Are No Bad Dragons (25)>
The lungs of the Earth were ablaze.
It looked like a volcanic eruption. The villagers near the jungle watched in terror as the flames spread. The tropical rainforest, which should have been drenched with moisture, was helplessly engulfed in fire. The crackling of the burning vegetation was drowned out by the flames, and massive waves of fire consumed the vast landscape. The intense heat caused the air to shimmer. Thick smoke spread ominously, crushing everything beneath it, and the scorching wind howled violently.
At the center of this inferno was the place that once served as the lair of the poison dragon.
The barrier that made up the transparent dome had already shattered and melted away. Those who created this hellish scene were pleased with the result, even exchanging amused thoughts through their telepathic waves.
=As expected,= one said.
=Of course, a mother protecting her eggs would resist arrest. She's not even putting up much of a fight,= another added, their eyes narrowing with malice and a cruel smile forming on their lips. Some among them had fought and survived the old wars against the dragons. Although the lifespans of ancient races weren't usually this long, much had changed since the First War.
Veterans of that war remembered the fierce battles. Although they had won, the sacrifices made by the Committee were not insignificant. They recalled their fallen comrades, and in those grim memories, dragons were enemies whose skulls deserved to be crushed. Even after the war, their hatred for dragons persisted.
=Once we kill that dragon and release the spatial condensation, everything hidden in the subspace will spill out. Just like that big one a few days ago,= someone remarked.
The poison dragon had attempted to counter with magic but was overpowered. The Tods had anticipated that she wouldn't be able to use her primary weapon, poison, effectively. The egg she carried hadn't yet developed complete immunity to extreme toxins. It hadn't gone through the process of embedding various poisonous plants into its body and adapting to them.
As a result, Inais couldn't release deadly poisons that could penetrate the shell. Her response exceeded their expectations.
Now, she was crouched in the midst of the flames.
Questions swirled chaotically in her mind.
'How did they find out?!'
No matter how powerful the Committee was, they couldn't monitor every conversation and transaction of a dragon in a remote dimension. If they had such omniscient abilities, the dragon race would have been extinct long ago.
The only conclusion she could draw was that she had been specifically targeted for a thorough investigation. Inais realized she was the focus of the Committee's attention—a targeted investigation.
But why?
Whoosh!
The flames intensified. The magic-infused fire slowly eroded her protective barrier. The poisonous plants that had covered her outer layer instead of scales were already reduced to ashes. For the first time since her hatchling days, the poison dragon exposed her bare skin to the outside. And not just in any environment—she was now exposed to the merciless flames.
It looked like the horrifying sight of skin being burned off, leaving behind raw, scorched flesh.
'I must protect my egg!'
As time passed, the dragon's thoughts grew simpler. Desperation filled her mind.
Inais thought of an old dragon who was no longer with her—someone she could have relied on in a moment like this.
'Lord!'
A Lord was someone who gathered the will of dragons for the protection of their species. Without a Lord, dragons couldn't function fully as a group. Only self-serving individuals would remain.
Inais had a foreboding feeling. Beyond mere inaction, some might even welcome her and her child's disappearance, knowing it would reduce the number of heirs to share the inheritance.
---!
From within the egg, a chaotic telepathic wave escaped. The embryo inside was sensing danger. The signals were too jumbled for Inais to decipher, but she responded as if to soothe it.
'It's okay, I'll protect you.'
Inais began thinking of someone else she could ask for help. Although she couldn't send a message due to the spatial condensation, the burning jungle would have alerted the outside world.
Would anyone come to her aid?
She had no choice but to hold on and endure until help arrived.
'It's okay, don't worry.'
She whispered to the egg, focusing most of her protective barrier around it. The egg was kept at a safe temperature, contrasting with the excruciating heat and flames that scoured Inais's back.
The dragon, stripped of her protective shell, curled up even tighter to protect the egg's shell.
The Spirit Summoner, Lakefield, suddenly felt as if he was being distanced from everything.
He looked around in confusion, but the scene inside the bookstore remained unchanged. However, his senses detected a clear shift.
Before long, he realized the connection between himself and the spirits had been severed.
'Spatial condensation!'
The goblin, Dongchul, was staring out the door, but for a different reason. He sensed a presence.
"Uh? Boss… Customers…"
Dongchul took a few steps toward the door.
"Uh… Uh…?"
Thud.
He collapsed to the ground.
Those approaching the bookstore located in the middle of a busy neighborhood all appeared human.
But Dongchul knew. They were not human.
Those… could not be human.
Shivering uncontrollably, Dongchul remembered encountering a young dragon named Edelinez not long ago. At the time, she had disguised herself as a human, and Dongchul hadn't realized her true nature until she unleashed her draconic fear.
That had been Dongchul's first encounter with dragon fear. The overwhelming terror had awakened something dormant within him. Since then, his senses had become remarkably sharp.
Although he had never let on, Dongchul now knew that the 'master' who owned this shopping complex was not an ordinary quarter-elf. Just as the short-haired female customer who visited once wasn't a regular human either. Even the visitor currently on the second floor was a dragon, though he had never displayed dragon fear.
Right now, a dragon was literally 'above his head,' but he didn't panic like before. He had a feeling that this dragon wasn't dangerous.
But these approaching beings?
"Aah… Aah…"
His mind burned with fear. The terror he felt now surpassed what he experienced when first encountering dragon fear. It felt as though all the practice and effort he had put into overcoming his phobia had been in vain.
There were creatures in this world even more terrifying than dragons. Something deep within him warned him of this.
The goblin was overwhelmed with intense revulsion and fear.
-Zap!
A presence suddenly appeared, blocking the goblin's view of the intruders.
It was Minjun, standing with his back to Dongchul.
"…What?"
He had just sensed the spatial condensation. Minjun could see the intruders' souls. They were similar to humans but different in some way. He could tell they were another species but wasn't sure of their exact identity.
As he observed their guarded expressions, one of the intruders smiled and spoke in a low voice.
At that moment, Lakefield, with his keen elven hearing, caught a word he never expected to hear in this place.
"Ashif-666."
Gedwick felt his heart race.
What did the primordial races eat?
"We believed that if we imitated their diet, we too could achieve perfect immortality. What do you think? Isn't that a marvelous story?"
"Yes, I'm truly impressed," Gedwick replied, genuinely excited. Unbeknownst to him, his elders had been planning and executing this all along.
"If they were created as perfect beings, there would be no need for them to consume anything else. We could assume they were born with the seed of immortality within them. But we discovered that they had a staple diet, and that eating was an immensely important act in their culture. It was so significant that those who prepared the meat and blood they consumed were regarded as a noble class."
"Aah!"
"There can only be one reason for that. It was an essential part of their immortality. For them, a butcher was a benefactor who guaranteed eternal life."
"If that's true... that makes sense!"
Gedwick repeated to himself.
'Meat' and 'blood'?
Both are components of living beings.
He waited for the High Commissioner to utter the decisive word.
So, what exactly was this animal that promised eternal life?
"By the way."
Contrary to expectations, the High Commissioner suddenly changed the subject.
"How is the tax investigation on Asiph-666 progressing?"
Gedwick was puzzled. Why would the topic suddenly shift to that in the middle of discussing butchers?
But he answered without delay, wanting to get back to the original topic as quickly as possible.
"They are a very secretive organization, so they don't share much information... But a Toad I know leaked some details. They've uncovered something substantial."
"Substantial enough? Enough to add another 20 million talents to his severance package?"
Upon hearing this, Gedwick was even more certain.
The superior did not want Asiph-666 to be eliminated. Quite the opposite, he wanted him around.
He wanted that convict to remain eternally bound in the shackles that the Committee had placed on him.
"Yes, I believe... there will be some action soon."
"Good, very good."
It was only after confirming this that the High Commissioner spoke.
"You've always wondered, haven't you? Why I'm so deeply interested in Asiph-666."
"And you explained to me that it was because of his crimes. Because he was the creator of Asiph-1, the worst terrorist in the history of the universe."
He was a practitioner of dark magic, but he wasn't convicted just for that.
However, creating Asiph-1 was reason enough to impose a severance package of over 5 million talents.
The difference lay in the purpose of what was created. Asiph-1 was created to bring down the Committee and was the worst criminal, acting solely towards that goal.
"But that alone isn't reason enough not to eliminate Asiph-666. Have you thought about that?"
"Yes."
Gedwick, of course, had given it thought.
"Since he's the creator of Asiph-1, he might know how to collect the scattered fragments of Asiph-1's soul spread across the frontier. Those who removed his memories were the Endelion. They're hypocrites, reckless idealists with a deeper interest in Asiph-1 than any other race. When they performed that operation, they might have planted an additional suggestion. So that he would be drawn to the fragments of the criminal he created or automatically attracted to them while traveling through the frontier dimensions..."
"Then, why would we, the Carbites, want Asiph-1? Even to the extent of pretending not to be interested."
"I'm not sure, but I presume it would be for a different purpose than the Endelion."
"Correct, it's entirely different from what they want."
The High Commissioner was about to share an even more dangerous secret.
"Asiph-666 and the Asiph-1 fragments he collects are key to our plan. They are the stepping stones to our ultimate destination."
The plan to achieve perfect immortality.
The High Commissioner spoke in a soft tone.
"The primordial race ate dragons."
He mentioned it so casually that Gedwick wondered if he had misheard.
"...Pardon?"
"The staple food that granted immortality to the primordial race was dragons."
Gedwick was confused.
Was that some kind of homonym?
Was there another creature called a dragon?
But the next words left no room for misunderstanding.
"Dragons. The dragon race. The monsters we know all too well. The ones who were finally subdued through two wars, our primary enemies."
"...My God!"
Gedwick's exclamation, almost a scream, was a mix of joy and shock.
He was elated to realize that the plan would ultimately lead to the destruction of these monsters. On the other hand, he felt overwhelmed by the knowledge that a race had once consumed these monsters as food... and that the Carbites were planning to follow that path.
"So the plan is ultimately..."
"Those beasts have roamed this world for far too long. They've enjoyed more freedom than they deserve."
The High Commissioner whispered.
"We intend to follow the path of the primordial race, guided by Asiph-666. But for us to reset our relationship with the dragons, the Carbites must also change. We must surpass our current limits. We can't do it in our present state. But there's no need to worry. We have the talents."
Gedwick thought about how their bodies reacted to dragon blood.
And what could be done with talents.
He also considered the phenomenon where a convict's mind, forcibly altered, would eventually shatter, collapse, and descend into madness. Not as quickly as when possessed by a dragon, but ultimately ending in ruin.
'Perhaps the reason we agreed to the convict system proposed by the Endelion... was that we saw it as a sort of experiment?'
The High Commissioner continued speaking.
"And the dragons must change too. To that end, we are conducting many secret operations in the frontier dimensions. Some of these experiments are even being carried out with the help of dragons. Changing the dragon's flesh, altering its soul, swapping them out, or mixing them together. They would never imagine. They don't realize the fate they are bringing upon their race. They're unwittingly contributing to the downfall of their own kind. They have no idea that all of this is part of our experiments to ensure that the Carbites can own dragons in as many forms as possible."
"In various... forms?"
"Yes. Beasts should remain beasts. Restoring them to that state is our hope. We will keep the good blood and weed out the bad, transforming them into forms that are easier to raise. And we will diversify them according to purpose and function."
The High Commissioner emphasized.
"Livestock, treated as livestock."
Only then did Gedwick fully understand.
The High Commissioner was now talking about a plan to re-domesticate the dragons.