‘I never imagined that I would die like this…’
In the middle of a large cave with a hole in the ceiling, Elaine smiled bitterly.
White and red silk for the offering ceremony was hung on all sides of the cave, and all sorts of jewels Elaine had never seen in her life were stacked on top of the altar.
Tied tightly to a rock near the altar, Elaine stared at them with disinterest.
The priests who had tied her there ran away after having a quick ceremony like stir-frying beans with lightning, fearing that the protagonist of the offering ceremony would appear, and now only Elaine was alive and breathing here.
She will die soon.
‘An evil dragon appeared a week before I left the temple… Was it my fate that I couldn’t get out of the Newt family and the temple after all?’
Saint Elaine, who was tied up in this bleak cave without being able to escape from her family and temple, was a human sacrifice offered to Rabes, the evil dragon who had descended into the empire.
Three days ago, Rabes, who was sealed by the great wizard 500 years ago, woke up and announced that he would destroy the empire.
Although the dynasty changed several times in the middle, no one expected a sudden end to an empire that lasted nearly 10,000 years under the name of Calais.
The empire fell into chaos, and the imperial palace and temple, trying to escape this terrible situation at all costs, came up with a barbaric method of human sacrifice.
‘I thought the human sacrifice was just for history books. I never thought that would be the reason for my death.’
Of course, since Rabes had threatened to destroy the empire, there would be more than a few people who would die, and she didn’t feel bad about being the first.
What she does regret is that she never had a moment of “complete freedom” in her life.
‘I wanted to live outside the temple even if I will die.’
Having been called a “Newt stain” since birth, she hadn’t had much luck in her life, but this was definitely the worst.
‘A week later, I finished my volunteer work for more than 10 years and finally, I was able to leave the boring temple.’
For that day, he collected a small amount of money for self-reliance and also sought a specific way to become a tutor for a wealthy commoner.
If she imagined that moment when she would pack up a small number of things, return the saint’s shield, and leave the temple gate, Elaine could endure any hardship.
However, as if God had not allowed her freedom, she could not stand it for a few days and allowed the evil dragon to return.
If it was someone else, there would have been loud crying and making a fuss, but Elaine just let out a disappointed smile at the sound of thunder from the sky saying that she had been chosen as a sacrifice.
She knew very well that no one would save her if she cried, and giving up was so familiar to her life.
‘However, the short life that was never mine was just sad.’
‘If I had known I would die like this, I wouldn’t have endured it so much. What on earth have I endured all this time for?’
In a life without anything to be happy about, even she pushed herself too hard. She believed that if she endured it, someday good days would come, that if she was good, the gods would reward her.
That’s what the priests at the temple taught, and that’s what the scriptures, the written word of the gods, taught.
But in this situation, it was nothing more than brainwashing for the rulers.
‘Well, who cares about that now?’
Elaine hunched her withered shoulders in self-pity.
Her teeth clenched, not from fear, but from the cold in her body.
Perhaps it was because they thought she was going to die soon, or the dragon would not be uncomfortable chewing on it, the temple did not bring a coat for her in this cold winter.
I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t hear the crunching, but it didn’t do it didn’t help much other than hurt my Jaw.
‘When will the dragon come? How long do I have to wait?’
It was about the time when the coldness that permeated her bones was so painful that she wished that the dragon would come quickly and finish it off.
As if it had listened to her wishes, a strange sound came from afar.
[Krawrr!]
It was the roar of a dragon that shook the heavens and the earth.
And soon after, a strong wind blew in the cave, and the silks hanging all over the place fluttered. It must have been the wind caused by the wings of the dragon.
Only then Elaine’s heart starts beating fast.
‘Mom!’
‘Please take me painlessly! Please…’
If it wasn’t for the ropes that bound her whole body, Elaine would have run away from the cave immediately, no matter what it was, ‘A noble sacrifice for the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor.’
And despite being so tightly bound, her body trembled like an aspen tree. The wind gusted stronger and stronger, blowing her hair and hitting her cheek, but Elaine froze, unaware of the pain.
This is because black shadows began to cover her head.
* * *
[Krawrr...]
The black dragon, which flew just above the cave, made a strange sound that was hard to know how to express in human letters.
It seemed that it would be better for the cave to collapse under the wings of the dragon and die under it, but unlike the vibrations of flying, Rabes landed very calmly and slowly in front of me.
‘It’s so big!’
My breath was choked by the intimidation of the big dragon. Its large wings, which unfolded and folded toward its body, were thicker than buffalo’s skin, and the claws stuck in the cave floor seemed impossible to scratch with anything.
What about the scales that cover the whole body? It looked so hard to be called scales at all, and some of the scales stood sharply along the spine.
Just looking at it made me feel numb, so I couldn’t even look up at the dragon’s head.
The idea that I would have gotten away if I hadn’t been tied to the ropes was an arrogant delusion. Even if I had been free, I would not have been able to escape.
[Hmm…] The snort exhaled by the dragon swept around Elaine warmly.
It was indeed a fire-breathing dragon, but unlike the breath of other animals, it did not feel damp at all. The huge dragon lowered its head towards Elaine.
‘Eat me…!’
Elaine was unconsciously closing her eyes and tightening her whole body, but she heard an unexpected voice overhead.
[Ha, really. I have lived long, and I’m going to see such a thing happens.]
It seemed like the dragon was talking to me.
‘If you’re too scared, you’ll even hear hallucinations.’
I was trembling, but at the same time thinking that way, it was kind of funny. But the god of fate is a prankster.
The dragon wasn’t talking to her.
[Hey, you.]
“Yes…? Me?”
[We’ve met before, right?]
Curiosity overcame fear.
Despite her pale face, Elaine slowly raised her head towards Rabes, who were called evil dragons.
* * *
The day Elaine was sacrificed was no different than usual. The weather was exceptionally clear, at the point she wondered if it was a little special.
At the imperial palace, nobles were gathering and discussing the construction of a new bridge with the emperor, indoor tea parties and embroidery gatherings were being held in some noble residences, and the shopping district was busy preparing for the New Year’s event.
In particular, in the temples celebrating the ‘Service Day’, they were busy making pickles to distribute to the needy, holding classes to teach commoners children letters, and washing the blankets of the saints and priests.
At the entrance of the slum kitchen, where the work is said to be the most difficult, a male priest raised his voice and looked for someone.
“Saint Elaine! Saint Elaine!”
However, it was not easy to quickly find a single person in a slum kitchen so full that there was not a single empty place to be seen.
“Saint Elaine! Ha, where are you really going?”
Just as he was about to get annoyed, a small head popped up in the distance.
“I’m here!”
the slum kitchen in the temple, which is held once every two weeks, was busy every time. Elaine’s face was already covered in sweat as she was serving food there today.
Even after seeing her face, the priest beckoned and called her. But Elaine rolled her eyes and shouted.
“I’m serving now! The priest needs to come over here!”
The aristocratic man who had just become a priest did not want to go one step further into the slum kitchen full of poor people.
In his eyes, all the skinny and filthy poor looked nothing but a plague. He raised his voice again.
“Saint Elaine! Come over here for a second!”
However, Elaine didn’t even look at him and was absorbed in serving food.
If the food is cut off in the middle, there will be an uproar among the poor who have been waiting with bowls.
‘Besides, he must have come to talk nonsense.’
Elaine clenched her molars in a stubborn expression.
The priest, who had been stamping his feet at the entrance of the slum kitchen, eventually approached Elaine with a distorted face.
At the same time, he was not like a priest at all to take care of himself for fear of reaching the poor even a little
And, as Elaine had predicted, his reason for coming was ridiculous.
* * *
