Ch.187Who Am I? (3)

Evil Dragon, Ladon.

The evil dragon that cast its shadow over the entire Kingdom of Cassel was excessively massive. Simply describing it as “enormous” couldn’t fully capture its size.

Blocking the sun, obscuring the blue sky, the evil dragon ultimately covered an entire nation with its shadow.

When that shadow fell over his head, Najin stopped midway through drawing his sword. He didn’t know what to do after unsheathing it. Of course, he had faced countless powerful opponents before, but this dragon was on a different dimension… literally, not figuratively, a different dimension.

A colossal dragon that shrouded an entire nation with its shadow.

He couldn’t imagine how to face it or where to begin cutting it. As Najin stood awkwardly, feeling overwhelmed, Merlin beside him tilted her head curiously.

“That’s strange.”

She pointed at the sky.

“This dragon called Ladon, it shouldn’t be this big originally? The Ladon I remember was nowhere near half, not even a quarter of this size…”

“Thanks for letting me know, but Merlin?”

“Hmm?”

Merlin tilted her head.

She blinked with a seemingly relaxed expression, but Najin didn’t think this was a situation to be so calm. He quickly grabbed Merlin’s arm.

“I can hear the explanation later, but for now, we need to run.”

Merlin had said before. Even though this was a constellation’s dream, death here would be no different from death in reality. That meant they were in mortal danger right now.

What if that dragon breathed fire? Or worse, what if it simply crushed them with its massive body?

‘We’d die instantly.’

Until they found a way to deal with the dragon, running was the right choice. Najin pulled Merlin’s arm to help her up and urged her.

“Let’s go. Quickly.”

“Huh? Um, yes. But you’re, you’re holding my hand?”

“We need to move fast, don’t we? Can you run? If not, I’ll carry you.”

“I can run, but I don’t think I can run as fast as you—eek!”

Najin hoisted Merlin onto his back.

As Merlin let out a shrill scream and hurriedly covered her mouth, Najin’s eyes darted around quickly.

“Hold tight. I think we should head toward the Grand Temple where the constellation is.”

“O-okay.”

Merlin carefully wrapped her arms around Najin’s neck.

As he adjusted his posture to run, Najin suddenly looked around. He felt something was off, but the oddity was simple.

Everything around them was peaceful. Excessively so.

Najin was the only one startled by the dragon’s appearance, and the only one preparing to flee somewhere urgently. The citizens briefly looked up at the sky, then turned away as if it were nothing unusual and continued with their business.

As if this were an everyday occurrence.

“What’s going on? Why are they acting like that?”

“What are you doing in the middle of the street…”

“Young people, aren’t they? How nice to see.”

They were even looking at Najin and Merlin on his back with expressions that seemed to say ‘you’re overreacting.’

‘What’s happening?’

Najin frowned.

How could everyone remain so calm when a dragon of that size appeared in the sky? Was it because this was a dream? An illusion created based on Viola Ordina’s memories?

Several speculations and questions flashed through his mind.

But Najin soon realized that all his assumptions were wrong. And he could also resolve his questions about why people were reacting that way.

Dong, the sound echoed.

A bell rang out, long and slow. Between the unusually long and slow bell rings, Najin heard the sound of someone kicking off from the ground. He looked toward the source of the sound.

The Grand Temple built on a cliff.

Viola Ordina, who had been sitting at the edge overlooking the kingdom, was leaping up, kicking off from the top of the building. Her movement was light, as if she were weightless.

Tap.

With a final kick off the castle wall, she jumped up with a sword in hand. Compared to Ladon, Viola looked like a tiny dot, but when stars began to shine in the sky, the size difference became meaningless.

Six stars shone in the sky.

The moment she saw the shining stars, Merlin let out a short gasp of “Ah.” As if she had realized something, she looked at the stars and said:

“Lonely Star.”

Lonely (遊離), to separate from something.

“I wondered which constellation it was, but it’s the Lonely Star?”

“Is it a constellation you know?”

“Not well, just heard about it secondhand. Its ability is quite unique.”

“What kind of ability?”

“You’ll see. It’s an ability that’s true to its name—to separate.”

Crash!

With the sound of breaking glass, the sky shattered into pieces.

2.

The sky shattered like breaking glass.

The fragmented sky soon returned to its original form, as if it had never broken… but Ladon and Viola did not return.

As if they had been separated from this world.

“You know that beings of transcendent level can color their surroundings with their mental imagery, right?”

He did know. When he sparred with Gerd, the Empire’s First Pillar, Najin had been caught in the mental imagery Gerd deployed.

“The ability of the constellation called Lonely Star takes a step beyond that. While most transcendent beings create their own stage ‘with one foot still in reality,’ the Lonely Star is different.”

Merlin explained.

“It doesn’t need to keep a foot in reality. It doesn’t need to create its stage in reality. It pulls its target into its own world, separated from this world… in other words, an isolated, completely different space.”

When Najin looked confused, Merlin added:

“It’s like a star’s grave.”

Najin slowly nodded.

“So what happens now?”

“She’ll fight Ladon in the world she created, I suppose?”

“By herself?”

“I think so? She jumped in alone.”

Najin looked up at the sky.

The sky, restored to its original form, looked incredibly peaceful. The sky was blue, and the sunlight shone warmly. The Ladon that had appeared earlier seemed like nothing more than a passing cloud.

“So, how about a drink today?”

“Sounds good. You’re buying the side dishes.”

“Fish for sale! Fresh fish! One silver coin…”

And the citizens seemed to view it the same way.

They didn’t even glance at the sky. Judging by their reactions, this wasn’t something that had just started happening recently.

Swoosh.

After watching the sky a bit longer, Najin lowered his stance. Since there seemed to be no need to flee anywhere, he intended to let Merlin down.

“……”

“……”

“…?”

But even after he bent his knees, Merlin didn’t get off his back. Finally, Najin turned his head to glance at Merlin who was still on his back.

“What are you doing? Get down.”

“Huh? Oh, oh!”

Belatedly understanding his meaning, Merlin hurriedly got off Najin’s back. Needlessly smoothing her clothes, Merlin glanced at Najin.

“Um, Najin?”

“What?”

“Ah, nothing. It’s nothing.”

She looked like she wanted to ask something, but Najin could guess what she wanted to ask. After spending nearly two years together, 24 hours a day, it wasn’t difficult to guess what Merlin was thinking.

“You’re heavier than I expected, Merlin.”

When Najin muttered that, Merlin’s eyes widened. She seemed quite shocked, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly. Sensing that teasing her further might lead to trouble, Najin quickly added:

“I’m joking. You were light.”

“You, you…”

Merlin kicked Najin’s shin lightly with her toe. It didn’t hurt at all. Leaving the grumbling Merlin behind, Najin glanced up at the sky.

Lonely Star, Viola Ordina. She reappeared after about half a day had passed.

She returned alone, but that didn’t mean she had vanquished Ladon. Viola came back alone, leaving Ladon trapped in the separated world. As she crossed through the center of the city toward the Grand Temple, cheers and applause never ceased.

Glory to Ordina.

Praise to the Empire’s hero.

Though praise poured down, Viola remained expressionless. She returned to the Grand Temple as if nothing had happened, looking exactly the same as before.

“……”

Najin silently watched her.

And this same event repeated over and over again.

One day, two days, three days, four days…

Every day at around the same time, bell sounds echoed throughout the Kingdom of Cassel. When the bells rang, cracks spread across the sky, and Ladon, breaking through the glass, appeared. Then Viola Ordina would trap Ladon in another glass window, and return after about three hours.

This repeated. Over and over again.

“How many times has it repeated, you ask? Well, I don’t know. It’s been happening since before I was born.”

When Najin asked a middle-aged man who looked about 40, he said it had been happening since before he was born. When Najin asked an even older man, he finally learned how long this had been repeating.

“About 67 years, I’d say.”

The old man said.

“That day, the evil dragon Ladon appeared, and Lady Viola set out. She succeeded in trapping Ladon in her glass window but ultimately couldn’t kill it. Aren’t dragons inherently immortal beings? Since she couldn’t kill it, she sealed it away.”

That seal breaks every day. Each time the seal breaks, Viola traps Ladon in a new glass window.

“It’s been 67 years of this.”

Finally, Najin understood why the streets remained so peaceful despite Ladon’s appearance. For them, this was just part of daily life.

Like the rising and setting of the sun, it had been happening since before they were born and would continue until they closed their eyes for the last time.

It’s difficult to feel surprised by something that happens routinely. They simply applauded and praised Viola when she returned after defeating Ladon.

There was no sincerity in that applause and praise.

It was mechanical, obligatory behavior.

Like saying a prayer before meals, not out of deep faith but out of habit, because it had been done for so long.

“……”

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

The bell rings. The sky breaks. Ladon appears, and Viola Ordina creates a new glass window.

With a gloomy face, wearing an expression that said she was sick and tired of it all, she repeated this routine.

The old man said this had been repeating for 67 years, but Najin knew that wasn’t right. The Kingdom of Cassel was a nation that had fallen 560 years ago. A simple calculation showed that this had been repeating for at least 600 years.

“This.”

Najin muttered.

“This isn’t a dream, is it? You said it was a star’s grave. Wasn’t it supposed to be about trapping oneself in one’s own mental imagery, escaping reality to enjoy pleasant days?”

“I told you.”

Merlin smiled bitterly.

“If there are constellations who dream pleasant dreams, there are also constellations who imprison themselves in dreams to punish themselves.”

Perhaps, she said.

“This constellation seems to be the latter.”

3.

Though he could leave this dream anytime, Najin stayed for a while. Something bothered him, though he couldn’t explain it properly. That botheration made Najin consider ‘how to break this dream.’

Najin pondered Merlin’s words.

To conquer a star’s grave, a constellation’s dream, one needs to resolve the constellation’s lingering attachment. Najin couldn’t know what Viola Ordina’s attachment was. The only thing he could guess was that it had something to do with the dragon called “Ladon.”

“But it’s risky to interfere carelessly, isn’t it?”

Najin nodded at Merlin’s words. Munching on bread at a bakery that had become their regular spot, Merlin said:

“About that dragon Ladon, it wasn’t originally that big and powerful. It wasn’t weak either, but this is a bit extreme, isn’t it?”

The dragon that breaks through the glass window every day.

Referring to Ladon, Merlin said:

“Dragons are quite simple creatures—the bigger they are, the stronger they are. They’re just strong if they’re big. And at that size…”

Hmm, with her chin resting on her hand, Merlin muttered:

“With a bit of exaggeration, it would take my true form to be a match for it.”

“Is it that powerful?”

“Yes. And from what I remember, the Lonely Star isn’t that level of constellation. Yet she’s holding Ladon captive and repeating this… it means something is wrong with this situation itself.”

Something is wrong, Merlin narrowed her eyes.

“That’s why the grave still remains.”

Thinking about it, that made sense.

A star’s grave was a place where one could obtain sacred relics and plunder the stars buried there—essentially a treasure trove. It seemed unlikely that constellations and the dead would leave such a place untouched.

Countless people must have challenged it.

Yet the grave still remained here.

The constellation had been repeating this unbroken dream for hundreds of years, guarding this place for centuries.

“They couldn’t break it.”

This also meant that the grave of “Viola Ordina” was by no means trivial.

“If we could kill that dragon Ladon, we might find a clue to break the dream, but to do that, you’d need to be a great constellation like me.”

Merlin was giving Najin a hint.

This situation was wrong, the threads were tangled. To untie the knot, they needed to approach from a different angle.

‘There’s also the option of cutting through the knot.’

But that was impossible for Najin.

As he pondered methods, Najin suddenly looked up at the sky. Despite it being daytime, the day was growing dark. As if rain would fall at any moment. And sure enough, rain began to pour.

Shaaaaa.

A downpour started. With the sudden rainfall, pedestrians entered buildings, and water flowed through the cracks between bricks. The rain continued to pour without stopping.

And the bell did not ring.

During the rain, the bell did not ring, and Ladon did not appear.

Pitter-patter.

The sound of raindrops splashing. The sound of rainwater flowing. In the city where the downpour buried all other noise, Najin suddenly heard a different sound. A very small sound echoing among the rain.

The sound of an instrument.

As if entranced, Najin walked toward the source of the sound. He arrived at a small, shabby tavern. The tavern, which seemed to have closed long ago, was filled with dust-covered instruments.

A tavern full of dusty instruments and bottles of alcohol.

But there was one instrument without dust, and a woman sat in front of it.

The woman sitting on the piano bench had white hair. With her snow-white hair tied in a single braid, she was tapping the keys lightly, as if warming up her fingers.

Soon she began to play in earnest. Her slender fingers struck the keys powerfully. The intense sound that wasn’t drowned out by the rain filled the tavern. Najin felt slightly overwhelmed.

“……”

Najin eavesdropped on the performance as if entranced.

Even to Najin, who knew nothing about music, it was a beautiful sound. By the time the performance ended, Najin found himself applauding without realizing it.

Hearing Najin’s applause, the woman at the piano turned to look at him.

“I see I have a guest.”

A woman who resembled Viola Ordina.

However, with different hair color and atmosphere, the woman smiled at Najin.