What Does That Evil Dragon Live For?

The saints who enter, please circle around the relic.”

 

The priest who led them gave instructions in a stern voice. The fifteen saints stood in a large circle around the small relic.

 

Then, the priest started a blessing ceremony by reciting prayers, and the saints knelt on the floor and made their own wishes as they had practiced in advance.

 

And Rabes took advantage of that gap to approach the urn beyond the glass screen.

 

‘Lancer, is that you?’

 

Rabes quietly placed his trembling paw on the urn.

 

He hoped that he could feel even a little bit of his magical energy and the energy of the Lancer.

 

However, even if he tried to concentrate until the saints got up from their seats, he could not feel anything in the urn.

 

No, actually, he knew from the moment he first touched the urn. These were not Lancer’ remains.

 

Because a dragon can feel even a very small amount of the crumbs of its magical power.

 

‘Shit! Shit!’

 

Despite Elaine’s warning that it could be fake, it was only for a moment that the expectations that had been gradually inflated were overturned by feelings of disappointment and anger.

 

Rabes gritted his teeth.

 

‘I felt like I was being ridiculed by humans once again.’

 

‘I wanted to break this urn right now.’

 

It was protected by several layers of divine power, but he could easily destroy it if he wanted to.

 

‘Disgusting humans! ‘Liars!’

 

As Rabes’s eyes glowed blue, the urn and glass box, which had been wrapped in several layers of divine power barriers, began to rattle.

 

“uh? Why is it like that?”

 

The priest who was conducting the ritual of blessing the relics was confused and approached the urn.

 

Hearing the sound, the saints also noticed that the urn was strange.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Is it a miracle?”

 

Eyes filled with a mixture of confusion, fear, and anticipation were focused on the urn.

 

But there was nothing to see in Rabes’s eyes.

 

‘I was disgusted by everything that happened in this temple, and I was angry that Lancers’ name was written on it.’

 

‘I will destroy everything!’

 

It was at that time that Rabes was about to break the last divine power barrier surrounding the urn.

 

‘Rekuro! Rekuro, Rabes!’

 

He heard Elaine calling.

 

Only then did Rabes come to his senses.

 

There was nothing wrong with breaking the urn, after all.

 

It was a fake urn, after all, and he could have thought he was saving the humans from being played by the corrupt High Priest.

 

But then Elaine called.

 

Elaine, his contractor who proved the existence of the Lancer more clearly than the urn, ordered him to endure.

 

Compassion for the contractor 500 years ago, anger against humans, and Elaine’s call.

 

It was clear which of them should be prioritized.

 

[Ughhh….]

 

Rabes, who was clutching the urn with his angry claws, lifted his trembling paw from the urn.

 

The layer of divine power barrier that glowed faintly and protected the urn was truly ridiculous, but he endured it in the end.

 

He exhaled hot breath and turned around to see Elaine looking at him with pleading eyes.

 

[Do you know that the Recuro spell is the spell that summons me? You call me like a shitty dog.]

 

Rabes swallowed the anger welling up in his throat and grumbled like a child on purpose.

 

It was obvious that Elaine was relieved to see that Rabes was no different from usual.

 

When the shaking urn and glass box calmed down again, the priest looked around at the saints and brought the situation under control.

 

“Ah, there is a big sewer pipe that passes under here, so it sometimes shakes. It’s not an unusual phenomenon, so please don’t go out and spread rumors.”

 

Everyone nodded in disappointment at his explanation.

 

Then the priest hurriedly finished the blessing ceremony.

 

After completing the short ceremony, the saints left the hall in the same line as they had entered, and Elaine sat under the large tree in the cemetery with Rabes on her shoulder.

 

“It was a fake….right?

 

[Yeah…]

 

“That’s what I expected.”

 

[That doesn’t mean I’m not angry. It has become more clear that these guys are committing fraud in the name of Lancers!]

 

Rabes snorted hotly, as if he was angry again.

 

“It is true that the High Priest is bad, but…Umm…I don’t think it’s something that would offend Rabes, right?”

 

[what?]

 

“I thought you hated that great wizard?”

 

Elaine finally brought up an issue that had been a bit of a concern since last time.

 

The reason she returned to this situation in the first place was because of Rabes’s revenge on humans, and Rabes’s desire for revenge was caused by the great wizard Lancer Aquinal who betrayed him.

 

She only knew that, but the more she talked to Rabes about Lancer, the more she got the impression that Rabes was protecting Lancer.

 

‘I couldn’t get a clue what Rabes thought of Lancer.’

 

[Ah, no, getting hit in the back by Lancer was a hit, and I’m angry at the people who use that guy. It’s natural to get angry at these impure people!]

 

“I don’t know if this is very rude, but I never thought that Rabes came to bring justice to the human world.”

 

[…I’ve noticed from the beginning, you’re surprisingly good at arguing.]

 

“What? I’m not trying to fight with you, Rabes.”

 

[I know, and that’s what’s scary about you.]

 

Rabes shakes his head at Elaine’s tongue-in-cheek remark, which left the other person speechless with an innocent face.

 

However, it was not like he didn’t know what Elaine was saying or asking.

 

Although it was embarrassing, Rabes accepted it obediently.

 

[I know what you’re saying. But to be honest, my feelings about Lancer are a bit complicated.]

 

“how?”

 

[I hate him. After all I’ve done for him, he betray me? Of course I hate him!]

 

Elaine nodded with a shocked expression, as if she had heard something obvious.

 

Rabes, who had been staring at Elaine for a long time with his teeth clenched, opened his mouth with difficulty.

 

[but…That human was the only one I had. and I cared for him, and that’s why I couldn’t kill him, because the time I spent with him was my whole life. If it were you, do you think you could just hate such a being?]

 

“Rabes,…”

 

[But I was betrayed by the person I really cared about. I can’t just smile and forget that! therefore…therefore…!]

 

Rabes spoke as if venting out long-held emotions.

 

[I do not know either! I’ll avenge what he did to me somehow, but I don’t want my memories with him to be tainted by it!]

 

It was quite difficult to speak, as Rabes’s small body was shaking with heavy breathing.

 

[Is it pathetic that a dragon named the big dragon doesn’t even know how he feels, right?]

 

“no. Absolutely not.”

 

Elaine looked at Rabes’s eyes, which looked moister than usual, and gently hugged him.

 

“There are many situations where you cannot choose one or the other. I completely understand. I didn’t blame Rabes.”

 

Rabes caught his breath in Elaine’s arms and made no reply.

 

Perhaps because his magical power was imbued with the Recuro spell, Elaine thought that the confusion that Rabes felt was being transmitted to her. And the strongest emotion he felt was sadness.

 

‘You really loved the great wizard.’

 

Although she couldn’t accurately gauge the type of attachment being as strong as he had, there was nothing she couldn’t understand.

 

‘It breaks my heart when my dog or cat dies, but how much more heartbreaking it would be if it were a contractor who had been with him all his life.’

 

‘You love the great wizard so much that even the grudges you’ve sealed for five hundred years can’t shake you, and you hate this empire so much that you’re willing to destroy it….’

 

She read it once.

 

Love and hate are emotions that are like two sides of a coin, so it is very common for love to become hate and hate to become love.

 

Rabes would have thrown the two-sided coin of love and hate into the sky several times a day, going back and forth between the two emotions.

 

Rabes’ feelings were understandable.

 

What Elaine could no longer understand was her own feelings.

 

‘Why am I feeling so bad?’

 

There was nothing that made her feel bad.

 

Now that Lancer’ urn has been checked, the work that needs to be done at the temple has been completed.

 

But when she looked down at Rabes, who was still burying his head in her arms, she felt sick to his stomach.

 

‘I can never be Rabes’s first, right?’

 

It was a ridiculous thought, even for her, and she wondered why she should think about such an obvious fact.

 

At that time, Rabes raised his head and scratched his cheek.

 

[that…I’m okay now. I’m sorry for looking ugly.]

 

Rabes awkwardly took a step back and escaped Elaine’s arms.

 

If it were a person, his face would probably be bright red.

 

“You’re always so gorgeous.”

 

[…]

 

Elaine looked at Rabes and smiled brightly as always, but inside she was shaking like a ship caught in a storm.

 

‘I envy that great wizard.’

 

Elaine felt jealousy for the first time in her life.

 

Even when she saw Lorina, who was married to L’Arch, he never felt anything like that.

 

Before we knew it, Rabes had become an inseparable figure to Elaine.

 

‘At first, I just thought I would raise Rabes into a good dragon and then set off to find freedom, but now I was afraid that I would part ways with him one day…’

 

Because of that, she was able to understand to some extent the feelings that Rabes had for Lancer.

 

‘The recognition and affection I gained for the first time was sweeter and warmer than anything else in the world, and even if my contract with Rabes was suddenly broken, I felt like I would never forget this feeling.’

 

And as soon as she realized more deeply about Rabes’ protection and affection, Elaine couldn’t help but sigh.

 

‘Now I thought I’d be jealous of the contractors after myself…’

 

‘huft…I was proud that I had never been greedy in my life, but it wasn’t that I didn’t have greed, it was just that I couldn’t.’

 

Elaine smiled bitterly as she returned to the room with Rabes on her shoulder.

 

* * *