Chapter 41

Ignis’s majestic voice echoed through the entire cave and into Rian’s mind. It was not a simple question. It was an essential inquiry filled with the arrogance of an absolute being who had lived for millennia and the avarice of a great dragon that priced everything in the world. His golden eyes pierced deep into Rian’s soul, weighing every value he possessed.

On the treasure mountain, a small human boy stood before the face of the enormous dragon. Anyone confronted with that overwhelming presence would have been terrified and fallen to their knees.

But Rian merely snorted and smiled.

“Ignis, you’ve lived for thousands of years. You must know all the Magic and history of this world, and the treasures piled beneath your feet could fill the empire’s coffers dozens of times over.”

Rian looked around and continued.

“What meaning would it have to give you a few gold ingots or some useless magic trinkets?”

[…Arrogant brat. Speak plainly. Do not test my patience.]

Irritation colored Ignis’s voice.

“What I can give you is a ‘story’ you’ve never experienced even once, and ‘amusement’ that will make your long life somewhat enjoyable.”

[Story? Amusement?]

Disappointment and contempt flickered in Ignis’s eyes.

[Child, I heard the epic of the world’s birth myself and spent millennia watching the games of gods. Do you think some trivial tale born of your brief life could entertain me?]

“Seeing is believing.”

Instead of answering, Rian closed his eyes and drew up his mana. Controlled blue mana particles began to gather on his palm. They dispersed and coalesced repeatedly, creating a three-dimensional projection in the air.

It was on a different level from the illusions the world’s magic users produced. It reproduced light and sound and even subtle vibrations—a trailer of the ‘films’ that existed in Rian’s memory.

In the projection, massive steel ships crossed seas of stars, and knights bearing blades of light fought for the fate of planets. Unknown worlds, grotesque alien lifeforms, unimaginable technologies, and compressed sagas of love, betrayal, and sacrifice unfolded.

Ignis held his breath. His golden eyes trembled with wonder and shock. More vivid, stimulating, and captivating than any history or legend he’d seen in his long life was the few-minute projection before him.

When the projection ended, Rian spoke.

“This is just one of the tens of thousands of stories I have. It’s a tale of another world of science and the cosmos, not gods and Magic. If you wish, I can make your long slumber never dull.”

[….]

Ignis was silent for a moment. He was torn between pride built over millennia and an intellectual curiosity he had felt for the first time. This small mortal human was offering something far more valuable and enticing than his hoarded gold and jewels.

[…Khrkhk. Khahaha!]

Finally, Ignis’s massive laughter shook the cave.

[Very well, child! The bargain is struck! Your arrogance and intriguing proposal please me!]

The ancient dragon accepted the bargain with the small human.

[The ‘Ashen Worm cult’. Those vile vermin are far older than you imagine. They do not worship life but rot and the end. Their purpose is to rot everything in the world and bring their god, the ‘Ashen Worm’, down upon this land.]

Ignis’s voice sank low and serious.

[They particularly target us dragons. Our hardy bodies and immense magical power make the perfect vessels for their god’s descent. That so-called vanguard likely intended to corrupt my flesh into an ‘egg’ and slowly consume me to ‘hatch’ their god.]

“Their base or scale of power?”

[They move in a distributed network. They hide in dark, rotten places across the continents and spread their plague. There isn’t a single base to speak of, but….]

Ignis’s eyes gleamed.

[Recently, another dragon told me that a similar vile presence has been sensed in the ‘black swamp’ of the Eastern Continent. It’s very likely one of their important strongholds is there.]

The Eastern Continent—a land utterly different from the Western Continent, ruled by the laws of arms.

“Thank you, Ignis. Very useful information.”

[This is only the beginning of our bargain, child. Come wake my sleep often. I look forward to your ‘stories.’ ]

Rian nodded and walked down the treasure mountain. Just before leaving the cave, he turned back one last time.

“Ah, and one more thing.”

[What is it?]

“I will send some food made from the ‘glowing moss’ that grows only in my estate and some ‘white coal’ to your treasure pile. If you are going to watch things happen on winter nights, you’ll need a warm stove and tasty snacks.”

Rian winked once and walked out of the cave without hesitation. Left alone, Ignis stared at his retreating back for a moment, then burst into a pleasant laugh.

[Khaha! That arrogant brat….]

Ignis shifted his massive body in a delight he’d felt for the first time in millennia. Then, he suddenly remembered the day he first met that boy several years ago.

That day too he had been in a sweet nap atop the treasure mountain. At some point he sensed a very faint but alien mana wave invade his domain. Annoyed, not fully awake, he decided to drive the intruder away with the force of his presence alone. He unleashed a slight sweep of the ‘Dragon Fear’ across the cave—an aura that freezes mortals’ souls. An ordinary human or monster would have their hearts stop or flee in panic.

But the intruder was different. He did not flee; he came closer and closer. Irritated, Ignis finally lifted his heavy eyelids.

In his sight was a mere human boy of around eight, smaller than his own claw. The child showed no fear; instead he looked up with eyes filled with curiosity. More precisely, he was analyzing the space as Ignis’s ‘Dragon Fear’ spread.

‘Using a strong mana wave for mental interference. Stimulating the amygdala directly to induce primal fear, is it? Interesting.’

The boy’s thoughts flowed into Ignis’s mind. For the first time in his life, Ignis felt bewildered. A human analyzing his absolute terror as ‘interesting.’

[You… do you want to die?]

He asked irritably. But the boy, instead of answering, glanced at the cave ceiling and said calmly.

“Hey, Mr. Dragon. You must’ve been sleeping through it, but there’s a crack in the ceiling letting cold wind in. If you leave it, your heating costs this winter will be hefty. Your thermal efficiency would drop by about 30%.”

[…What did you say?]

Ignis doubted his ears for a moment. Heating costs? Thermal efficiency? Words he’d never heard in his millennia of life, incomprehensible. The boy, in a life-or-death situation, was pointing out the cave’s insulation problem.

That day Ignis spared the arrogant, incomprehensible boy and listened to his explanation. The boy outlined strange theories called ‘convection’ and ‘laws of thermodynamics,’ identified structural flaws in the cave, and proposed solutions. Thereafter the boy visited occasionally with curious tales, and Ignis tolerated the boy ‘borrowing’ a few rare minerals from his treasure pile as payment.

[Hmph, then as now you’re as insolent as ever.]

Ignis, smiling at the pleasant memory, settled comfortably back atop the treasure mountain. Yet his golden eyes did not sleep. He now found himself waiting for the next ‘story’ the small human would tell.

Rian’s steps out of the forest were light, but his mind was more complicated than ever. The ‘Ashen Worm cult’—an enemy far beyond the nobles of the capital, a colossal force threatening the entire continent.

He had to return to his estate and prepare for a new war.