What Does That Evil Dragon Live For?

And there was another puzzling part.

 

「When the evil dragon’s evil reached its peak, Emperor Rafel Aspen asked Lancers how to defeat the dragon, and Lancers found a solution by appeasing the dragon, saying that humans cannot harm the dragon, which is a divine beast. 

 

In 822, Lancers summoned the evil dragon to the cave and sealed it, but no one knows his whereabouts since then. Peace came to the Empire, and Emperor Rafel Aspen commemorated the achievements of Lancers Aquinal….」 

 

Elaine reread that part a couple of times. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.

 

‘Lancers, who protected Rabes as a divine beast, suddenly sealed him? So suddenly? There has to be a reason!’ 

 

Even if he disappeared from the world after that, wouldn’t it be natural for there to be some event that would cause such a change of heart?

 

‘I feel like there’s a lot missing.’ 

 

Elaine, who was confused, looked up the author of the book and nodded.

 

The author was, of course, a historian belonging to the imperial family.

 

He would have had no choice but to write in a favorable light, and he would not have been able to include in his history the parts of the book that the imperial family had ordered to be kept secret.

 

This time, Elaine opened “The Dragon Tale of the Calais Empire” to find a part about Rabes.

 

The last illustration of Rabes appeared was different from the real Rabes, perhaps because it was drawn from imagination.

 

‘Rabes didn’t look this vicious!’ 

 

Sharp raised eyes, large nostrils, teeth sticking out of the mouth, monstrous claws, and horns along the spine.…

 

None of them resembled Rabes.

 

「The last dragon of the empire, Rabes, was unfortunately an evil dragon. Unlike the dragons that appeared earlier, which were generally friendly to humans, Rabes brought disaster to the empire.」 

 

Elaine frowned at the very beginning of the introduction and then began reading the next line to see what had gone so wrong that Rabes had been labeled as an evil dragon.

 

「That wasn’t all. He burned down entire wheat fields that were about to be harvested, and also killed poor farmers. He caused a tsunami in the sea, causing enormous damage to the port city of Varen, and even killed the imperial knights for fun. also…」

 

 If she looks at the content alone, it is true that Rabes is an evil dragon. 

 

From a human standpoint.

 

‘Did he do these things simply for fun? I’ll have to ask him when I get back today.’ 

 

Elaine read through the entire book, until she reached the end of Divine Power and Magic, and left the library around dinnertime.

 

When she returned to the room, she found that Debbie had gone down for dinner.

 

“Rabes!”

 

[Yes, are you here?] 

 

Rabes was lying down on Elaine’s bed and resting when he greeted Elaine.

 

Since the last time he had used his magic and suffered, he had been lying down like that to recuperate.

 

Sleeping was the best way to recover the magic core, but it had the disadvantage of not being able to hear Elaine’s Rekuro spell if he fell asleep. 

 

Because of this, Rabes was recovering his magic core in a semi-asleep state.

 

‘If she found out that I still use small magic sometimes, she would be angry.’ 

 

Rabes did not bother to tell her what a coincidence it was that Debbie was not there every time Elaine returned to the room. 

 

The reason he caused Debbie to come home late to her room was because of his own desire to have a comfortable conversation with Elaine.

 

He had to be careful not to cross the divine barrier, which slowed down his recovery of the magic core, but he didn’t mind.

 

“I have something I want to ask Rabes today.”

 

[What?] 

 

“I read a book about Rabes at the library today.”

 

[There’s a book about me? What was written?] 

 

Rabes looked at Elaine with somewhat expectant eyes.

 

However, Elaine’s subsequent answer shattered those expectations.

 

“It says you were an evil dragon even a hundred years ago. You burned fields ahead of harvest, killed poor farmers and innocent imperial knights, and caused a tsunami to damage port cities.….”

 

[what?] 

 

Rabes opened his eyes wide and jumped up.

 

[You damn bastards! what the hell they say that?]

 

“Are you sure it’s not true?”

 

[No, if you look at the results alone, it is true. But that’s all they asked me to do!.…Except for the imperial knights.] 

 

“Wait, what do you mean, they asked you to do it? Do you mean, Emperor Rafel asked you to do it?”

 

[Yes, that was the name. the bastard. It was all the things he asked me to do through Lancers.] 

 

Rabes gritted his teeth as if the emperor’s face was flashing before his eyes.

 

[The reason the field was burned was because the pests and diseases were severe at the time. The grain was inedible even after harvesting anyway, and he asked me to burn it to prevent further spread of pests and diseases. Because I was able to identify all the fields with pests and diseases.] 

 

‘It was very annoying at the time, but when Lancers asked me to help prevent the pests and diseases from spreading further, I picked out the fields that had diseases or bugs and burned them cleanly.’

 

[The same goes for farmers. Wasn’t there any talk of bandits there?] 

 

“Bandits? No, there wasn’t one.”

 

[They were bandits who pretended to be farmers and preyed on humans passing through the mountain paths. Everyone, commoner or noble, suffered, so they asked me to solve the problem and get rid of all of them, and what? I killed the poor farmers?] 

 

“Then what does it mean by causing a tsunami?”

 

[A sea monster appeared. As I defeated that monster, a tsunami inevitably formed. But if that monster had been left alone, not only the port city would have been damaged, but The entire area around there must have been devastated.] 

 

Elaine was surprised, but also relieved.

 

‘As expected, Rabes was a good dragon!’ 

 

A good dragon who was only hurt by humans, and now he’s just a little pissed off because of it.

 

Elaine vowed once again that she would appease this dragon to ensure the safety of the empire and her own happiness.

 

But Rabes, who had been fussing just a moment ago, glanced at Elaine and muttered.

 

[But killing the imperial army wasn’t something anyone asked for…] 

 

“What happened?”

 

[The emperor tried to completely demolish the poor districts. It is said that witches and their descendants live in hiding there.] 

 

“So?”

 

[Lancers was against it, but the Emperor pushed for it. Even though he was distressed, he didn’t ask me to stop it, so….] 

 

Rabes said while scratching his cheek.

 

[I took care of it for him.] 

 

“Did you stop the imperial knights from attacking the poor district?”

 

[Yeah…] 

 

Rabes was concerned that Elaine would be disappointed, but Elaine instead smiled brightly.

 

“I feel a little sorry for the knights who died then, but in my personal opinion, I think Rabes was right.”

 

[really? You hate killing people.] 

 

“If Rabes had not stopped the imperial knights, those poor, helpless people would have been massacred.”

 

Rabes nodded quickly.

 

[Actually, I didn’t even intend to kill the imperial knights. I just flicked a few of them with my hand to tell them not to come…. and they died, and once a few of them were dead, the others didn’t come any closer.] 

 

“What did Lancers say?”

 

[He just said…… thanks]

 

 “Why did the Lancers oppose the destruction of the poor districts? And why didn’t he actively stop it?”

 

[He had some reason for that.] 

 

Rabes thought of Lancers, who could not reveal that he was a witch.

 

Lancers, who cursed the fate of having lived a life of persecution because he was born with the blood of a witch, denied his gender and origin and chose to live as a male wizard.

 

However, since Lancers was actually a witch, he was ultimately unable to ignore the situation of other witches.

 

‘The reason he became an imperial wizard was to save witches.’ 

 

Whenever he performed magic at the emperor’s request, he set conditions for the witches. 

 

Start with small things at first and then gradually move to big ones.

 

Not only that, he also hired witches as his assistants, saying they were just like wizards, and together with them he solved problems of the empire.

 

He created a story with a witch as the main character and spread it throughout the empire.

 

Thanks to this, people’s view of witches as unconditional servants of the devil has gradually changed.

 

However, during the slum eradication incident, it was an awkward time to actively stand on the side of the witches.

 

If he sided with the witches for no reason and even Lancers ended up being treated as the devil’s servant, the plan to save all the witches might have gone awry.

 

‘That guy must have been planning to reveal that he was a witch in the end. He directly proved that even though he is a witch, he can receive the title of great wizard.’ 

 

If that were the case, the perception of witches would have changed tremendously.

 

Before that, there was a sealing incident, and it seems like his whereabouts have become unknown since then.

 

“I also read a book about Lancers. There were a lot of strange parts.”

 

[What? Which one?] 

 

“It feels like there are a lot of holes here and there? The strangest thing was when he sealed Rabes. Why did Lancers, who until then was a defender of Rabes, suddenly decide to seal you away?”

 

That was something Rabes was also curious about.

 

‘It was even more frustrating not being able to ask questions even though the person who could answer was right in front of me.’

 

[at that time…he was a bit weird.] 

 

“What? how?”

 

[He avoided me and couldn’t look me in the eye properly. It felt like he was hiding something from me.] 

 

Even as he thought about it again, he felt a tightness in his chest. He couldn’t even tell if he felt bad or sad.

 

[I thought something was going on with him, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with me, because there was no way anything could go wrong between us.] 

 

Far from going wrong, the relationship between Lancers and Rabes at the time was so good. 

 

To the extent that Rabes feels sad every day as Lancers get older and closer to death.

 

* * *