Vol 6 Chapter 7

『 You... may... not... know, but... I... became... the... dragon... race's... representative... who... can... intervene... in... the... world's... balance, succeeding... the... black... dragon... who... lost... that... qualification... after... the... demon... god's... sealing. Lately, I've... been... sensing... strange... energies... and... observing... humans, but... to... meet... a... being... from... the... past... related... to... all... of... this... like... this, I... feel... this... situation... is... not... mere... coincidence. 』

At the dragon's suddenly serious words, Kapros became alert again.

The strange energy that had been continuously felt lately... Could it be...?

"What do you mean?"

Superior's voice also changed to an unusual tone.

『 Because... the... energy... I... detected... is... a... dark... energy... closely... related... to... you... as... well. 』

'As I thought...'

Almost simultaneously with Kapros receiving the Lord Superior quest, seven people on this continent had received the Legendary Seven Heroes quest and the Knight of the Demon God quest. It was just recently that Caesar, who had received the Knight of the Demon God quest, had shown remarkably fast quest progress among them and had already caused a commotion by gathering his comrades.

Kapros could finally feel that he was getting close to the focal point of the quest story he had been pursuing so far.

"You're not saying that the demon god's energy is rising again, are you?"

However, Superior, who wasn't a carefree user like Kapros who could obtain information from outside, shouted urgently as if it was something he hadn't expected at all. His trembling voice, as if he couldn't believe it, suggested Superior's shock.

『 That... is... exactly... it. You, the... first... 9th... circle... master... mage... of... the... continent... and... the... sealer... of... the... demon... god, meeting... me... at... such... a... time... is... clearly... not... a... coincidence. At... first... I... thought... I... had... sensed... wrong, but... I've... felt... the... dark... energy... growing... stronger... lately. 』

"That's impossible. Such a thing can't happen. What I sealed was..."

Superior, who had been speaking in bewilderment, suddenly closed his mouth. The stick at Kapros's waist began to glow red hot again. Superior seemed to be shaken, as if he had received a great shock.

[ That's... not possible. It can't be. There's no way. Surely... surely it couldn't be... ]

While Kapros was listening to Superior's voice muttering in his mind, forgetting even to speak through Kapros's mouth, the dragon asked curiously.

『 Do... you... have... some... idea? 』

"I'm not sure exactly. But a very... frightening assumption has occurred to me."

It seemed Kapros wasn't the only one surprised by the word 'frightening' coming from Superior's mouth, who had been acting as if nothing in the world scared him until now.

『 Frightening? 』

"It can't be. But... but I can't be certain until I confirm it. Kor. May I ask one thing?"

『 Ask. 』

"Can you tell me about the time when you met 'me' before and about that meeting?"

The dragon, lying like an immovable mountain, was silent for a moment at those words. When the enormous pressure that had been felt every time the dragon spoke disappeared, the cave felt emptily hollow. After a while, the dragon slowly answered.

『 If... that... is... necessary... 』

According to Kor's explanation, he met Superior again on a day long after 10 years had passed since the end of the war.

Kor, chosen as the new representative in place of the black dragon who had lost his qualification as the dragon race's representative after the demon god's sealing, felt the need to move his true body to a large mountain range. However, moving his enormous true body without causing significant damage to humans who were still in the midst of recovering from the war's wounds was a very cumbersome task. Superior, who suddenly appeared before him one day as he was unable to find a suitable place, surprised the dragon with his much-changed appearance.

Superior mainly talked about the past he had shared with the dragon, but he didn't speak about what he had done during the time they had lost contact after the war. The only thing he mentioned in passing was that before coming to Kor, he had met the daughter of the forest, an elf maiden.

Superior heard the story of the Dark Knight, which he hadn't known yet, and while he was very saddened by it, he was also grateful. Perhaps because of this, when he later learned of Kor's situation, he proposed to gift Kor a new home as a token of gratitude for sharing the past.

When Kor agreed, Superior single-handedly entered the eastern mountain range and performed the great feat of piercing the middle of the mountain and creating a space inside. From Kor's perspective, it didn't matter much whether it was the eastern or northern mountain range, but the north, where he could overlook the entire continent at once, was a slightly more advantageous position for carrying out his duties as a representative.

To Kor's question of whether he had just made the home without even asking about the desired location, Superior answered with a smile. "You'll be grateful to have lived here when more time passes."

After that, Superior said he had accomplished his purpose for coming to see Kor and left, saying they would meet again someday. To Kor, who replied that human life was not short, he left one last remark that was unclear whether it was a joke or serious.

『 He... said... he... could... come... to... play... even... until... the... end... of... the... world... if... he... wished. Because... he... didn't... come... for... over... 400... years... after... that, I... thought... he... had... already... died... and... returned... to... the... earth, but... given... what... happened... today, I... think... that... remark... was... probably... about... the... avatar... he... left... behind. 』

"That could be the case, but..."

The one who spoke was, of course, not Kapros but Superior.

"It doesn't sit right with me. 'I' wouldn't speak in such a roundabout way. It's not in my nature to speak so cryptically. Something's off."

"I don't know what you find strange, but I'd appreciate it if you could speak moderately and come to a conclusion."

At Kapros's words, Superior, who had been anxiously moving Kapros's right hand regardless of his will, finally seemed to organize his thoughts and opened his mouth.