After regaining consciousness, a landscape of eternal, ancient splendor unfolded before my eyes. It felt far too old and unfamiliar.

Elaina, the Queen of the Elves, was clutching her unconscious master, sobbing uncontrollably. She checked the back of his hand to see if his pulse had stopped, her pupils trembling with the terrifying thought that the flickering spark of life before her might fade and vanish forever. Swallowing a handful of her desolate emotions, she let out a series of faint, strained moans.

“Haa… hic… ugh…”

The state of her fallen master was far too pitiful and heart-wrenching. To think he had met such a fate because he met the wrong slave.

A girl with a parched throat called out to her weakly.

“Sister… answer me…”

Bloodshot red eyes gleamed as the girl stared at her, repeating the question. Her thin voice, sounding as if it had dried up under a scorching sun, grated even more harshly on the Elf’s sensitive ears. The Dragon pointed at the master who was pinned beneath the Elf.

“Daddy… I mean, the Captain is just sleeping. I’ve checked several times.”

The Dragon asserted that nothing was wrong. However, Elaina could not bring herself to accept those words so easily. The Elf did not believe her. Rather, it felt like pouring oil onto her already frayed nerves. She was livid, and the Dragon felt the same.

The long-lived being wearing the mask of a young girl possessed blonde hair that shimmered like gold. Had her unfocused eyes not been the color of a red rose, the Elf might not have even doubted her words. Meeting a love rival in the midst of a crisis, the Elf’s eyes flashed as she glared fiercely at the Dragon.

Then, she lowered her gaze back to where her master lay softly. Neither the Elf nor the Dragon looked at each other; the only thing reflected in their eyes was the unconscious man.

The Gold Light Dragon of the ‘Edric’ Guild had lived through eons. This was why her lair took the form of a shabby, humble ancient ruin that was thousands of years old. Mentally, she was well aware that the traces of time were deep and her age was vast.

Yet, this Gold Light Dragon called the Captain of the Edric Guild, Keyaru Klein, “Father.” Despite the passing of ages, her longing for a parent was so great that she treated him as a father—and harbored romantic feelings for him not as a daughter, but as a woman.

The Elf, knowing this, viewed her as a thorn in her side and found her disgusting. From a certain perspective, the number of people who could look upon her selfish and twisted desires with sympathy was bound to be very small. The Gold Light Dragon knew this well. On the other hand, she didn’t think much of the Elf either.

Even now, as in the past, they kept their distance as if touching would leave something loathsome on them. The Gold Light Dragon found the Elf—who thrust her large breasts toward their master—utterly obnoxious. The Elf felt nauseated by the delusional Dragon, who called their master “Father” while trying to satisfy her irrational lust.

enN1WnIzcFhHMVJuR0JvdkNPc013MkgvcExXZ1pDL2ZHMjdLYkNlSW93bmllRlBRZHZiaW15RkovYTZaTUFESWs

Darkness reigned, then suddenly, a brilliant light enveloped my vision. The Elf’s fussing had awakened me from my deep slumber. Blinking several times like someone half-asleep, I regained consciousness.

After a moment of slight hesitation and trembling, the Elf’s pupils shook. She suddenly snatched me up, wrapping her arms around my waist, and burst into tears.

‘How foolish…’

The bumbling dimwit continued to be a drain on my energy. Technically speaking, I had suffered these heavy injuries because of the Elf. I was in a sorry state. She’s the one who caused the hit, yet she’s the one crying.

The Gold Light Dragon furrowed her brows. It was she who had healed the wounds and brought the two of them here to look after them. Even if they were rivals, she had nursed the injured Elf out of pure spite-turned-attachment, purely because her own magnanimity was as vast as the ocean. Yet, the foolish dimwit before her didn’t even say a word of thanks.

The Gold Light Dragon watched her master, who was being embraced by the Elf. Just looking at him made her heart flutter. She could vividly remember that faint smile he gave when he stroked her head. It was simply painful that she couldn’t squeeze herself into that space right now.

“……..”

She hadn’t asked for forgiveness yet. That fact, naturally, occupied a large corner of her heart.

Immediately after waking up, I was led out of the lair by the Gold Light Dragon. She used to be a truly petite and small dragon, but reuniting with her now, she looked more like a lady trying to shed her girlish mask.

Her once flat chest now had some volume, and her height, which used to barely reach my waist, was now close to Elaina’s. Of course, strictly speaking, Elaina was likely still a hand’s breadth taller.

We entered the gloomy forest where the Lord of Phantoms had vanished—the place where I had rolled on the ground. The forest was snapped, the earth was gouged, and holes were poked here and there, showing the traces of the desperate resistance put up by Keyaru and Elaina.

The spirit of the Death God had perished. Charred remains were clearly visible in my sight.

“I did that.”

With clouded red eyes and a faint smile on her lower lip, her fingers were twitching.

“What do you mean—”

Suddenly, Keyaru stared intently at the charred remains once more. A faint smell of burning began to waft through the air. Whether it was scorched or seared, smoke was leaking out of the mangled skeletal remains like water from a sieve.

How many beings could do such a thing? To be able to overcome a spiritual entity with a low-tier spell cast with a flick of a finger, and to burn a weakened Death God to death in a single strike…

‘At least among mortals, wouldn’t it only be a Dragon…?’

Only then could Keyaru grasp the meaning of “I did that.” In short, it meant she took the “last hit” on something someone else had painstakingly dealt with.

“I feel quite displeased…”

“I-Is that so?”

“…I didn’t mean it in that sense. Um… I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t that the Gold Light Dragon’s actions were offensive. It’s just that one person suffered like hell on his own to barely cut it in half, while someone else incinerated it in one blow with a fireball created with a flick of a finger. Whether in modern times or the past, the world is equally unfair.

‘If it’s a fantasy, it should at least cater to a man’s romance that moves the heart… tsk tsk.’

Wouldn’t it have been better if the world had been created a bit more fairly? Suddenly, I felt a resentment toward the gods who created heaven and earth. One person throws everything they have just to shave off half the health, while another finishes the job with a single “click.”

“….I wanted to be a Dragon too…”

“Eh?”

“…It’s nothing. More importantly, the place we were at just a moment ago was indeed…”

“Yeah, it’s my lair.”

I knew it; the answer was exactly as expected. It meant she had brought the fallen Elaina and me to her home and had been nursing us with her own hands.

‘Huh?’

But this creates another contradiction. Keyaru stared at the hands of the Gold Light Dragon, Libera. No matter how you looked at them, they were delicate and thin hands. They looked like they would struggle to lift a branch, let alone two people.

“Libera, by any chance, were you the one who carried us here?”

“Yeah. Why..?”

Libera nodded emotionlessly, to the point where the one who asked the question felt embarrassed. A young girl carried two grown adults. If a girl with the physique of a high schooler at best said that, anyone would snort and laugh it off or put on a performance of pretending to be fooled. But Libera is a Dragon.

To them, the lifespan of short-lived species is but a fleeting moment that passes in a flash. Furthermore, what about a half-god, half-dragon who is over a thousand years old? Though she is a mortal being, the blood of a Transcendent is entwined within her. Libera is a being who might live forever without aging.

Even if a half-demon like me lives for 1,000 years, or an Elf like Elaina enjoys eternal youth, to her, we would look like primitive beings living transient lives before dying. Of course, Libera didn’t have such a nasty personality, but if I had to use a metaphor, it would feel like this.

“I was happy because it said ‘You have defeated it’ and I thought I had instant-killed it… but it wasn’t me.”

“Eh? Master, what did you say?”

I shook my head at Elaina’s question.

“K-Kuhm… anyway, it would have been a disaster if Libera hadn’t come. Truly, thank you, Libera.”

“…..It’s only natural to save Daddy… I mean, the Captain. I was the hero of E… Edric, wasn’t I?”

She was fidgeting restlessly, twisting her body awkwardly in embarrassment. Her eyes were clouded. There was a word she wanted to say, repeating it over and over, but she ultimately stopped.

Keyaru watched her movements with a certain look in his eyes. Since her gaze was downward and she couldn’t meet his eyes, she was extremely anxious. She was feeling guilty. Because Keyaru had come here with his sights set on salvation, he couldn’t help but be certain.

Certain of what?

That she was broken.

Stricken by guilt, she was calling herself “one who was a hero,” not “a hero of the Edric Guild.”

‘This one is the same.’

The abandoned dragon’s tail was lifeless. It was thumping against the floor, wandering as if it had lost its way. It was like looking at Elaina, who not long ago was clinging to me, crying and begging me not to abandon her.

“..Once a guild member, always a guild member. Both then and now, Libera is a precious comrade to me.”

I stroked the head of the young dragon, who had been shrinking back and fearing I would disappear again. I began to brush and comfort that golden light—a glow that held the meaning of brilliance because it had no darkness.

Her heart was in turmoil, but the light quickly accepted the darkness. Entrusting herself to the far too familiar embrace of darkness, she soon began to fall into a peaceful sleep. Closing her eyes, she laid down her anxieties to the whispers of the dark.

The salvation of the half-demon had begun.