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Chapter 35
[Stop the monster wave, you say…? Weren’t you the one who deliberately provoked the mountains and stirred the monsters in the past? Have you changed your mind in this life?]
There was mockery in the dragon’s voice. It wasn’t wrong, so there was no reason for Ariletti to shrink back.
She straightened her back.
— Yes. My heart is different from before.
In her first life, she didn’t care what happened to this territory. She destroyed an entire land and family without a trace of guilt.
But now, she wanted to protect and save this place completely. If it was repayment, then repayment. If it was atonement, then atonement.
[The monsters of the mountain began to rage because their environment was forcibly altered. The true cause lies elsewhere. Instead of bowing to me, shouldn’t you eliminate the one who provoked them?]
Of course she knew that.
Ariletti’s eyebrow twitched.
The monsters that had not left their habitats for decades all began moving for one reason only: the snowstorm surrounding the territory had suddenly stopped.
In other words, it was because Ariletti had used her power and twisted the natural order.
An unfamiliar force had suddenly intruded into the mana that connected the Hezite territory and the Colden Mountains. To understand the situation, the higher beings had sent the lower monsters down as scouts.
If she simply returned time to how it was, the stimulus would disappear, and the worst-case scenario—the monster wave—could be prevented.
But.
‘Then everything would just return to the starting point.’
The Hezite territory would become isolated again. The agreement she barely made with the Nemar territory and the contract with the Ismail Merchant Company would all become useless.
Money would continue to leak out. The knights would waste their skills in a remote borderland. They would receive no proper treatment from the imperial family and eventually be destroyed by either the First Prince’s or Second Prince’s faction.
That was not what Ariletti wanted. Even if she couldn’t move forward, she couldn’t restore everything to how it was.
[You twist the laws of nature as you please, yet you would avoid responsibility and try to persuade me so you lose nothing and gain everything? I’m sorry, young sage, but do not believe the world will always be generous to you. Such thinking will cost you dearly.]
— I never said I wouldn’t take responsibility.
The world had never once been generous to Ariletti.
She had always been painfully lonely, empty, and hurting.
She was used to coughing up blood, used to clinging to hopes that were nothing more than mirages and being betrayed. She had gained nothing—only responsibility.
She intended to do the same this time.
— I don’t have much time left to live. I already used up the one final chance I was given. It wouldn’t be strange if I died at any moment.
[So it seems. And what does that have to do with me?]
— The Sages of the White Forest must pass on their power to a successor before they die, correct?
[Correct. If the seat of the Sage is left vacant, it means the balance of the forest has collapsed. And if the forest collapses, the world built upon it will follow the path of destruction.]
Destruction?
Ariletti was startled.
Oh. It was that serious?
No wonder Needle had been so frantic, saying she must not die like this. If the power was cut off, the forest would collapse.
That only strengthened her resolve to continue this deal.
— I will designate Lord Elardio as my successor.
The dragon blinked slowly.
Needle, who had been ticking endlessly, forgot its duty and froze.
— You will probably receive the power within a week. I don’t know the details myself, so Needle will explain instead of me—
— My master has finally gone crazy!
The hour and minute hands flew through the air and smacked Ariletti’s small cheeks in panic.
— Cancel it! Cancel it! You’re leaving me to that sly snake?!
Needle’s ear-splitting scream was drowned out by a much louder roar of laughter.
The dragon of the snowy mountains threw its head back and laughed like thunder. The shockwave shook the air and sent Ariletti tumbling backward into the snow.
‘Agh!’
[Child, you would give me the power of a time mage? Did you think that would tempt me?]
“No.”
Her connection with Needle briefly cut off, and her voice came out normally instead of telepathically.
Lying flat in the snow, she shook her head. If she stood up, she would just be blown away again, so she stayed down.
“You’re the perfect owner of this power because you won’t be tempted.”
[Oh?]
In any era, a Sage was prey for those in power—a political sacrifice.
But what if the Sage were a dragon, the strongest race on earth?
What human would dare to use a dragon like a puppet?
And dragons do not die. Elardio, the dragon of the snowy mountains, had lived in seclusion for centuries, never once recorded in human history.
Who could be more suitable to inherit this absolute power?
“And… saying you’re not tempted—that’s a lie.”
Her mouth was freezing, and her tongue twisted over her words.
“It’s a power equal to the forest… maybe even above it. You could break free from the world’s restraints….”
The one power even the strongest dragon in this world had never known.
A power never held in a thousand years.
Of course he would be curious.
[Hahahahaha!]
Elardio laughed again, as if the mountain itself would split.
[You see clearly. It is not a power of great practical use to me. But if it can shut the arrogant mouth of the forest, that alone gives it enough value!]
Was it her imagination? Needle’s hands trembled as if it had just heard something terrifying.
“But you have to stop the monster wave properly. Not just this time—keep doing it….”
Forever. So this territory would remain safe.
“And no more snowstorms….”
Though the monsters could come down occasionally. They still needed materials.
[Very well. The snowstorms and cold of this region were originally to protect my nest. I shall limit their reach to the Teberta Snowfield. In exchange…]
Elardio rose into the sky, shaking the entire mountain range.
Ariletti’s body lifted with him, then landed softly in a thick pile of snow atop a mountain peak.
Her vision filled with the dragon’s entire body, covered in dazzling silver-translucent scales.
The dragon circled in the air, scattering snow, then dove toward her as if to devour her.
Ariletti instinctively shut her eyes tight.
‘I’m going to die soon anyway. Dying a little early as dragon food—’
But the massive body did not crash down on her.
Instead, something light stepped softly on the snow. Long, smooth silver hair spilled gently over her body.
She cautiously opened her eyes—and her mouth fell open.
‘W-what…?’
Before her stood a beautiful woman tucking silky silver hair behind her ear.
White eyebrows and lashes, eyes clear as ice, pale lips—she looked as if snow and ice had been molded into human form.
The dragon Elardio, now polymorphed into an inhumanly beautiful woman, whispered gently.
[Then I shall wait for the day your breath runs out, my young contractor.]
— Who’s your contractor?! Cancel it! Cancel—!
A cool finger tapped Ariletti’s forehead.
‘That tickles….’
When Ariletti absentmindedly rubbed her forehead, the ice dragon Elardio laughed like rolling jade beads.
A contract? Even without it, the power would transfer in a few days anyway.
[You cannot know that. You are a time mage, not a prophet. Do not jump to conclusions.]
— My opinion matters! I oppose this contract! I hate that lady, Aril!
[Before your life ends, you would do well to properly train that noisy thing. If it continues to chatter like that after coming into my hands, I may feel tempted to snap it in half.]
— You think I’ll just let that happen?!
While Needle tap-danced in midair, Elardio calmly snapped her fingers. A faint blue light seeped into Ariletti’s forehead.
[When the time comes, use this mark to call me, contractor.]
