The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR) Vol 1 Chapter 99

He 'was' a Dragon.

The fact that he used past tense was shocking.

At least, Frey had never seen such a self-deprecating and miserable use of past tense.

Hector's bitter smile quickly disappeared.

He returned to his customary lively tone.

“Sorry for bringing up such a boring topic. So… uh. What were we talking about again?”

Frey was left speechless for a moment as he watched Hector scratch his head and apologize.

Suddenly, Beniang's words came to mind.

[The report at the time said the lair was already destroyed, and no Dragon bodies were found. The only thing that had been left in the lair was my egg.]

They hadn't even found a body.

Of course, at the time, he hadn't thought this was strange.

A Dragon's corpse had immense value.

There was the Dragon Heart, which was regarded as a supreme treasure, as well as the other parts like its teeth, bones, scales, eyes, blood and flesh.

So Frey had thought the Demigods had simply taken all the corpses after killing the Dragons.

But now that he thought about it, that was strange in itself.

Mortals were the only ones who would put a high value on the corpse of a Dragon.

For Demigods, even the Dragon Heart would not be something they really needed.

But what if the Dragon's body hadn't been their target?

What if they wanted something else, like capturing the Dragons alive to subjugate and control their powerful souls?

…If the man in front of him was truly a Dragon, then Frey's guess would no longer just be speculation.

It would mean that in the end, the Demigods managed to subjugate the soul of a Dragon and made it into their servants.

'Dog-like bastards.'

Frey forcibly suppressed his urge to curse.

Before the Demigods had revealed their horrific presence, Dragons were the only completely transcendent race on the continent.

Not only that.

They had also been the ones who realised the danger the Demigods posed first, so they supported the mortals in their bloody battle with the Demigods 4,000 years ago.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say mortals assisted the Dragons in their fight against the Demigods.

There was only one race capable of confronting the Demigods.

The Dragons.

“…”

Frey bit his lip and clenched his fist tightly.

Such revered beings were now in a more miserable state than humans.

They weren't extinct. However, their current state was much worse than that.

They were barely living while being forced to do the Demigods' bidding.

Considering this, it wasn't even enough to say that their race 'fell'.

'They wanted to see their miserable appearance up close.'

This was the reasoning Hector had just given about why they were keeping a Dragon alive.

And he was probably right.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

It wasn't unreasonable for Hector to say this.

The fact that he was a Dragon was not only known by the Demigods; some Apostles knew about it as well.

He hadn't intended to reveal it, but it was discovered anyway.

Then the Apostles, people who had betrayed their races to side with the Demigods, looked at him with eyes filled with ridicule.

They mocked the miserable fate of the ones who once ruled over the continent, who fought against the Demigods till the end.

And as they looked at him, they felt that their choice wasn't wrong.

He couldn't even laugh at the fact that they were feeling satisfied by their decisions and actions.

Since then, he'd come to accept reality.

Now, he didn't mind revealing his identity as he'd already built up a bit of tolerance.

“You…”

Frey started speaking before he stopped.

The words he was about to say got stuck in his throat, and instead, he said something entirely different.

“…are the other Dragons the same as you?”

“Some of them. Not all. Most are dead.”

“…”

“Are you sympathising with me?”

“No.”

Frey shook his head.

He didn't intend to do that.

He used to pay homage to the Dragons in the past, and even now, as he saw Hector, it was the same.

“I'm sorry if you felt that way.”

Hector was puzzled by Frey's sudden change of attitude.

It was exactly from the point when he'd revealed that he was a Dragon.

A smile forced its way onto his face. Hector chuckled and shrugged.

“Ay. Do you have any reason to apologise? Like I told you. I was a part of a race that was considered pretty powerful in the past. It's nothing now.”

Frey wanted to ask Hector about his teacher, but he couldn't.

After all, he couldn't believe everything Hector said.

To put it simply, it was impossible for Frey to know if this man was under Lord's full control or not.

Therefore, he kept all his doubts, regrets and sadness to himself and opened his mouth with a stiff expression.

“…can I have the mask?”

“Ah. Here you go.”

Frey received the mask from Hector and dusted it off a bit before saying.

“Do you stay here?”

“That's right.”

To be exact, rather than staying, he couldn't leave. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to say he was confined to this space.

Of course, he wouldn't reveal that.

“Then, please make the body of Golem that can handle a 1 million ME core that I mentioned earlier.”

Did he really have a core with so much ME?

Hector's expression became strange.

Even he was not confident in his own ability to make a core with such capacity.

And he felt the same for the Eleventh Tower Master and Akrich.

He scratched his cheek while hiding his inner thoughts.

“…Hm. Just showing me that bracelet wouldn't be enough for that. I'm a businessman after all.”

“What else do you want?”

Hector made a playful expression.

“That bracelet. Give it to me.”

“…”

He'd said this intentionally to see his reaction.

Perhaps Frey hadn't expected this as his expression changed subtly.

However, to Hector's surprise, he didn't refuse right away.

“If you promise me in Dragon Tongue, I'd be more than happy to give it.”

“…! You know about Dragon Tongue?”

No, that was a silly question.

If he didn't know about Dragon Tongue, he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

Hector sighed.

“…You seem to know a lot about Dragons.”

“Can you not do it? Is it because your body was stolen?”

“The body doesn't matter. The power of Dragon Tongue comes from our very souls. I might not have the same destructive and transcendental power, but making oaths is still possible.” (TL: Fus Ro Dah!) (YH: I don't get it : )

Hector seemed to contemplate something for a moment before he looked at Frey.

Then he spoke in the serious tone from before.

“I'll take back what I said about the bracelet. Ah. I'm not saying this because I don't want to make an oath in Dragon Tongue. It's just, I said that in the first place because I wanted to see your reaction… I apologise for that.”

“It's fine.”

“Just let me take a look. That's enough payment.”

Hector let out a laugh.

“I had nothing to do anyway. But I think I might make one that matches my taste. Would that be okay?”

His taste.

However, Frey didn't pay much attention to Hector's words, and he simply nodded.

“It doesn't matter as long as it can handle the core.”

“Great. Now, hmm. To get the supplies and craft it… should take at least 6 months. So you can come see me at that time.”

“…6 months.”

“Will that be a problem?”

Frey couldn't respond immediately.

He wasn't sure whether Riki's identity could remain hidden until then. However, he'd finally found a person who could make the Golem that even Adelia said was impossible to make.

He didn't think he'd find a better opportunity than this.

“No. I'll see you then.”

“Have a safe journey.”

Hector mumbled farewell as Frey turned and left.

“…what an impressive man.”

He wasn't sure, but Hector had a strong feeling he would have more interactions with this man in the future.

* * *

When Frey came up from the basement, Riki asked him.

“What about the mask?”

Frey showed him the mask without responding, and Riki nodded before turning around and walking away.

Frey followed him while memorising the coordinates for this place.

They soon left the dark area and once again arrived in the city proper.

The sun was about to set, but Riki never had any intention of staying in the city.

They immediately left and began walking down a road.

In the meantime, the sun set, and day turned into night.

Still, Riki didn't stop walking.

Around the time when moonlight fell gently, Riki finally opened his mouth.

“The Luanoble Kingdom. Although it's called the Country of Knights, it is the most corrupt among all the human countries I know.”

“…? I see.”

Riki seemed quite aware of the state of humanity.

Frey simply nodded.

It was the first time he was hearing this, but it would be strange if there was no corruption in a large group of humans.

As he looked at Riki's face while he said this, though, he couldn't help but be surprised.

This was because, for the first time, there was a trace of anger on Riki's face.

“…they'd rather talk and do bullshit rather than carry on that man's legacy.”

“That man?”

“Look at that mountain.”

Riki pointed to the mountain he'd led Frey to.

It was a large, dense mountain. Of course, it wasn't as large as the mountains in the Ispania mountain range, but those mountains were the largest in the continent.

“Marquis Dalaman. The oldest and ugliest among the Luanoble nobles. Trash who does anything to satisfy his own self interest.”

“What does he have to do with this mountain?”

“This is the place where Marquis Dalaman does his business.”

“…business?”

“Slave camps were secretly built all over this mountain.”

Those words shocked Frey greatly.

“Slaves? There's no slavery in the Luanoble Kingdom, is there?”

It should've been the same with the Kastkau Empire.

In Lukas' time, most countries still participated in slavery, but now, 4,000 years later, most of them had abolished slavery, except for a few barbaric ones.

Were there really slave camps in the Luanoble Kingdom, which was praised as the country of Knights?

On a mountain that wasn't far from a large city?

“You're a really strange man. You have knowledge that not even some of the wisest men on the continent would know, but you still can't see behind the thin curtain that conceals the darkness of human society?”

Riki sighed.

“Slavery still exists in the dark. The size of the slave market is growing continuously every year. In fact, the current supply cannot even keep up with the demand.”

…It wasn't a bright spot for human society.

Frey suddenly felt that Riki was extremely strange at that moment.

'Isn't he a Demigod?'

At least, in his memory, there had never been a Demigod who showed such deep interest in humans.

Only

Without responding to Frey's curious expression, Riki continued.

“You don't hesitate to kill trash-like humans.”

He was talking about the bandits back in the forest who Frey had turned to ashes.

Frey didn't deny it, though, because he wasn't wrong.

“And you have to use your divine power as much as possible for the remainder of this month.”

Riki stopped talking after saying that, but Frey understood what he wanted him to do.

Frey's eyes followed Riki's as he looked toward the mountains once again. (YH: oh shit this is cool)

Chapter end