Translator: Leyy3

  “W-Wait!”

  The cornered Desdemona tried to stop Kang Chul-In.

  “Stop!”

  “And if I don’t want to?

  He had a twisted smile.

  “H-Hold it in!”

  “Why do I have to?”

  “I’m too pathetic!”

  “Aren’t we enemies?”

  “That’s true, but……”

  “The loser is always pathetic.”

  Then, he revealed the meaning behind “education.”

  “Oh, and also……”

  “Yeah?”

  “Does a true dragon have a dragon heart too?”

  “Of course!”

  “Oho?”

  “How can we live without a dragon heart? Can you live without a human one? You stupid human?”

  “It’s incomparable to a dragon, no, a drake’s heart, right?”

  “Are you being serious right now?”

  Desdemona asked with bewilderment.

  “Are you comparing me to a fake like that? Does a true dragon look like a lowly lizard to you? You childish human.”

  “.……?”

  “I’m an ancient-level dragon older than seven thousand years old. To be exact, I’m 7,121.”

  It was an extremely old age. To humans, even a hundred years was long, but she had lived seven thousand years.

  That’s a ridiculously long time.

  Kang Chul-In couldn’t imagine seven thousand years.

  “It’s hurtful to my pride, but if I had to compare my heart to a drake’s, it would probably be 20 times more powerful.”

  “.……!”

  “The concentration of the mana is 30 times higher.”

  Desdemona looked proud.

  “Bring the knife.”

  Her confidence became the decisive factor for Kang Chul-In’s greed.

  “Knife? To release me?”

  “Of course not.”

  Kang Chul-In responded, smiling like a demon.

  “Then?”

  “I’m going to butcher you.”

  “B-Butcherrr!?”

  “This is an honor……”

  “.……!”

  “It’s an honor to absorb a real dragon’s heart.”

  Shock filled Desdemona’s heart. What was he talking about? Butchering her? An ancient-level dragon was going to be butchered like a cow or a pig by a mere human?

  “Hey…… you crazy bastard…… are you being serious right now?”

  “I’ll end it quickly…… hehe……”

  Kashing!

  Kang Chul-In had already changed Kaiforce into a large sword appropriate for butchering, and he was ready to lift it.

  This scumbag…… really isn’t in his right mind!

  Desdemona came to a realization after seeing him.

  The human in front of her wasn’t a normal human but rather was a crazy psycho who had lost it.

  “Become my mana.”

  Kang Chul-In was about to cut Desdemona’s neck off when……

  “Do you think you won’t regret it?”

  Shiver!

  Kang Chul-In stopped Kaiforce next to her neck after getting cold sweat.

  What is this girl doing?

  He felt like he shouldn’t cut her. No, he was sure of it. His instincts were warning him. Once he swung the sword down, Pandora’s box would be opened.

  “Seems like you understand what I’m saying.”

  Desdemona grinned.

  “What are you saying?”

  \r \r \r

  “You must’ve felt it.”

  “.……?”

  “If I really release my power, you’ll die.”

  It was the truth.

  “I don’t have to explain that your tiny kingdom will also be in a pile of ashes, right?”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  Kang Chul-In growled fiercely.

  “I’m not threatening you but telling the truth.”

  “The truth?”

  “Did you think that a true dragon’s strength was only this much?”

  Desdemona began to explain.

  “I’m seven thousand years old.”

  “So?”

  “Haaa…… you don’t know?”

  “.……?”

  “Listen, among us dragons, there’s rank based on age.”

  “Hm?”

  Kang Chul-in tilted his head, reminded of something. In the old book that he had read before, he remembered seeing something about the difference between a drake and a dragon. In the same book, it talked about the rank of dragons.

  It read as the following:

  Hatchling: A baby dragon less than 500 years old. A being that is protected by all dragons. According to an old scroll, the emperor of the Sharada Empire hunted the hatchling of an ancient-level black dragon and the empire was destroyed in a single day. This is a fact recorded in the [Library of the Old Ages].

  Dragon: At least 500 years old, and less than 2,500 years old.

  Wyrm-level dragon: At least 2,500 years old, and less than 6,000 years old.

  Ancient-level dragon: An old dragon of at least 6,000 years. A single dragon can destroy an entire empire in an instant.

  Currently, in the history of the continent, the recorded ancient-level dragons are the following:

  Ancient Red Dragon Paragon

  Ancient Black Dragon Emilia

  (Sidenote: Emilia is the one that destroyed the Sharada Empire, and the name of her hatchling is recorded to be Desdemona)

  Ancient Green Dragon Theseus

  “No way.”

  Kang Chul-In narrowed his eyes at Desdemona.

  “You were that booger-dripping dragon?”

  “Huh?”

  “You were captured by the emperor of the Sharada empire after all……”

  “Hey!”

  Desdemona screamed.

  “You never…… speak about…… that event…… again. Do you understand……?”

  Approximately 6,500 years ago was back when she was powerless as a dragon, and the kidnapping must’ve been traumatic to her because Desdemona’s reaction was out of the ordinary.

  “Oho?”

  A mischievous smile grew on Kang Chul-In’s face.

  “I see…… so you’re the dragon that was crying for your mommy after……”

  “Stop…… seriously……”

  “Is it a bad history? I suppose so…… a great true dragon has……”

  “S-Stop…… heuk……”

  Desdemona made a crying face.

  Why is this lizard girl acting like this all of the sudden?

  Kang Chul-In was surprised at Desdemona’s sudden change in attitude.

  “Don’t…… talk about that…… please…… I don’t want to hear about that or speak about it. So stop.”

  It seemed like Desdemona still couldn’t forget about the kidnapping from 6,500 years ago. After all, dragons didn’t suffer from memory loss.

  “Anyways.”

  Desdemona changed the subject.

  “Don’t threaten my life. I’ll really cause trouble then.”

  “Why?”

  “Right now, I’m……”

  “.……?”

  “I sealed my own power.”

  “How come?’

  “I have a reason.”

  “So you’re not going to tell me?”

  “Of course.”

  “.……”

  “What’s important right now is that I’m sealing my power because of my personal reasons, and I’ll have no choice but to release it if you try to kill me.”

  “So you’re saying……”

  “Let me go first.”

  Heh.

  Kang Chul-In laughed at Desdemona.

  “Hey, lizard girl.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do I look like Dor…… I mean, a pushover to you?”

  “Why would you be a pushover for letting me go?”

  “You’re asking me something so obvious that I’m speechless.”

  “Ah, is it because I might make a mess?”

  She seemed to realize why Kang Chul-In was so flabbergasted.

  “Then you can seal me.”

  “Seal?”

  “To be precise, maybe about 90% of my strength? Honestly, I can break through whatever binds you set on me. Of course, that’s only on the condition that I release my true power.”

  She didn’t seem like she was lying, so Kang Chul-In decided to listen to what she was saying.

  “So?”

  “You can put another seal on me with magic that lets me go, but controls my power like right now.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “There’s a way. You have to use sealing magic called ‘Regulator.’ If you use that, unless I release my entire power, I won’t be dangerous to you.”

  “Are you lying?”

  Desdemona’s words seemed to make sense, but it was obvious what would happen if she released her true power. If an ancient-level Black Dragon changed into their actual body for revenge, Kang Chul-In would be in a tough situation. There was no guarantee that he could win, either.

  “So you’re saying……”

  “I’ll pledge not to hurt you, your family, or your kingdom with the Dragon’s Pledge.”

  Dragon’s Pledge. There was no way to break it.

  “That’s not everything.”

  Desdemona added on.

  “I’ll give you a million gold and artifacts that work well. Also……”

  “Also?”

  “If you unite the continent and become emperor, I’ll become a protectorate dragon for your family and your empire.

  “I don’t know what kind of bullshit you’re talking about.”

  Despite the amazing conditions, Kang Chul-In couldn’t believe Desdemona. It was hard to believe her. If he were in her position, he would’ve tried to take revenge by any means.

  “I know that you can’t believe me.”

  “You know that, yet you’re……”

  “But I have something more important to do than personal revenge. I have to finish that first and to do so, I have to release my true power.”

  He would’ve considered it if she could explain it, but it was so random that he couldn’t accept it.

  “You still can’t believe me?”

  Desdemona spoke again, seeing Kang Chul-In not accepting her offer.

  “Okay, then how about this?”

  “Do you have another way?”

  “Let’s get married.”

  “.……!”

  “We can be a couple.”

  Marriage? What was she talking about?

  ***

  At the same time.

  Huh?

  Kwak Jung was confused. He remembered falling asleep because he was so tired from his work, but right now he wasn’t in his office in the Valhalla Kingdom but instead he was in some dark old ancient city.

  Shiver!

  It was a dark night. The old city was dreary. It was cold under the thick fog, and there weren’t any people under the faint moonlight. Only the sound of a wolf howling broke the silence.

  What is this?

  As Kwak Jung muttered to himself, he felt like the wind was blowing through him.

  Swish!

  Huh?

  He realized……

  Oh, is this that?

  What he was experiencing right now was the out-of-body experience he had only heard about.

  ***

  “Huk!”

  Timothy, who had entered Kwak Jung’s office to talk about war preparation, was shocked at the strange sight he saw.

  “T-Tactician Kwak!”

  Kwak Jung’s condition was quite unordinary.

  “Ahh…… uhhhh!”

  He was sitting blankly, letting out monstrous sounds, but that wasn’t all.

  Flash!

  Purple light came from his eyes.

  “Are you alright!? Tactician Kwak!”

  Timothy shouted his name, but he didn’t move.

  “Albrecht…… Vilhelm…… he…… will soon……”

  Kwak Jung murmured in a strange voice.