← The Doomed Mercenary’s Last Chance
The moment he passed through the barrier, the rain stopped. But strangely, the air was far colder and heavier than outside where the rain fell. Above all, it was so deathly quiet he wondered if he’d gone deaf.
Beneath a night sky where neither moon nor stars rose, gazing at the palace sunk in silence and darkness, Kinain suddenly thought,
Just like a tomb…
Rubbing his arms at the dreary air, he barely moved his legs — heavy as if someone were holding them — to the front gate.
“Hello. Is anyone inside?”
No answer came. After a moment’s hesitation, he laid his hand on the gate; without him applying much force, it opened silently.
Entering the palace, Kinain looked around the interior — and in an instant, his vision was swallowed by darkness. The door that had stood open had closed in the meantime.
“Ah…”
Standing in darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, his body suddenly stiffened and his heart pounded hard.
Why am I like this?
Kinain had never once feared the dark until now. But right now, like someone badly burned by fire at the sight of a spark, he was startled and terrified, unable to move. Unconsciously, he touched his eyes with trembling hands. A faint groan slipped through his lips.
At that very moment. Suddenly it brightened before his eyes, and the palace that had been sunk in darkness grew bright as day.
“This is…”
What had lit the darkness was light-dust of unknowable origin. Gazing blankly at the light-dust drifting through the air like smoke, his heart gradually began to calm.
“Where did it come from?”
Kinain soon realized this light-dust led somewhere. His deliberation was brief. He set off walking, following the light. Going any other way, he’d only get lost in the dark anyway. Above all, he had a feeling this light wouldn’t harm him.
Though he’d soon have to take that thought back.
Shiiik—
“…Surely it wasn’t a trap?”
Before the path, dozens of venomous snakes reared their heads, glaring at Kinain.
Fortunately they didn’t lunge first, but his spine chilled at the thought that if he drew closer, their sharp fangs would pierce his skin as they were.
*What to do. Should I turn back?* The natural judgment. But…
Kinain’s gaze turned to the light-dust continuing on beyond the swarm of snakes. To keep following it, he absolutely had to pass this point.
Of course, there was also the option of not following and leaving the palace just like this. Knowing the future, he could be certain. Without inviting danger, if he returned to the human world, he could live a life others would envy.
*…Worrying about being bitten to death by venomous snakes can’t be called an enviable life.* At that thought, Kinain snorted softly.
*But this is what I want.* Kinain began running toward the venomous snakes.
From meeting Cor to coming here, Kinain had at times felt a strong certainty.
Just as he’d realized the giant crow trying to kill him was named Cor, he’d also known that every question about what he’d experienced would be answered once he reached the Dragon Palace.
And in this moment, as if he’d known from the very start, another certainty welled up inside Kinain.
What he’d been searching for without knowing he searched.
What he’d wanted without knowing he wanted.
What he’d wished for without knowing he wished.
That it lay at the end of this light.
Kinain ran fast, but even so he couldn’t avoid every one of the dozens of snakes blocking the path.
The moment he felt cold snake scales against his ankle, Kinain squeezed his eyes shut.
Ugh!
But the anticipated pain never came.
Shuk! Shhik!
The venomous snakes threatened, flicking their tongues as if to bite at any moment — but when Kinain actually drew near, they quietly slithered aside, clearing a path.
“…Hmm.”
Having passed the swarm safely, Kinain stroked his chin, lost in thought. After a moment, he started walking again, following the light.
How long did he walk like that.
Clang—
This time, armors holding swords blocked his way.
Several minutes later. Having felled the armors barehanded, Kinain dusted off his hands and walked on.
Felling the armors was very easy. Despite their menacing air, their sword tips stopped at once whenever they were about to touch Kinain even slightly.
Just as I thought.
For some reason, these things only threatened — they never harmed him.
After that, obstacles kept popping up without end, but they met the same fate as the snakes and the moving armors. Kinain never stopped walking once, passing through the maze-like corridors.
At the end of a spiral staircase that seemed never to end, he finally arrived where the light pointed.
There lay a giant silver stone island — no… a silver dragon, curled up and sleeping.
His chest began pounding fiercely. Not simply because he was facing a being he’d thought existed only in legends.
I…
Soon the dragon opened its eyes, gazing at Kinain with sun-like golden eyes.
“I’ve come to meet you.” Kinain knew his name.
No — he knew not just the name, but everything.
“Asad!”
Kinain called his lover.
Then the dragon opened its mouth and swallowed Kinain in a single gulp.
“Hah!”
Kinain’s eyes flew open. At the same time, the image of a giant, cavernous mouth swallowing him flashed through his mind. Breaking into a cold sweat, he immediately checked that his limbs were all still attached.
“Didn’t eat you.”
A gruff voice came from right beside him.
Turning his head, a silver-haired man was staring at him.
Kinain’s face brightened in an instant.
“Asad!”
Kinain hugged the man before his eyes with all his might. The man went rigid for a moment, then hugged him back harder than Kinain had hugged him.
Huk!
His breath was cut off at once by the tremendous force. All the while the strength in those arms kept growing, to a degree where it wouldn’t have been strange for bones to break.
“W-wait…”
“Hm?”
At Kinain’s strained murmur, Asad tilted his head, then let him go.
Lifting his shirt at the aching pain, he saw skin reddened as though about to bruise.
“…Asad?”
“Yeah.”
Kinain felt a strange dissonance in the face staring at him.
But he was undoubtedly Asad.
In the end, Kinain opened his mouth, letting the dissonance go. He had far too many questions to fuss over such details.
“What on earth happened? I clearly died…”
Recalling the pain of his heart being torn out while he was still alive, his scalp still tingled. He remembered the world dyed in darkness, as if a stage curtain had closed.
He’d thought everything had ended like that — yet he’d opened his eyes again.
“Ah, right — I died… and came back to life.”
Perhaps because his soul hadn’t been whole, his memories of that time were a mess, like a drawing on crumpled paper.
Still, he clearly remembered making a wish at the very end.
“Surely — is this because of the wish?”
Now that he’d recovered his memories, Kinain could be certain. He had been repeating his life. The déjà vu he’d sometimes felt while living had truly been because he’d experienced it once.
But it was strange for the wish to have manifested this way.
Because his wish had been…
“But who are you?”
“…What?”
Lost in thought, Kinain felt his chest suddenly go cold.
Slowly turning his head, he saw Asad looking at him with an intrigued gaze, as if he’d discovered something fascinating.
“How did a human pierce the barrier? Even if you pierced it, it makes no sense that you avoided every trap in the palace and came to me. What are you?”
“You… don’t know me?”
“Have we met?”
Kinain froze blankly, then suddenly burst into hollow laughter.
This time, it wasn’t memory loss. *This* Asad truly didn’t know him.
Of course. In this life, the two had never once encountered each other.
Asad tilted his head. Then he abruptly tugged Kinain’s wrist toward him. Like a dog tugging at the collar of an uninterested master. But the strength was hardly a dog’s — Kinain frowned at the pain rising from his wrist.
“Well, whatever. I was planning to just keep sleeping like this. There’s nothing fun in this world, and I had no thought of making a mate or going to the divine realm. But you woke me.” Asad’s tone was innocent, like a child’s, and no hostility toward humans could be felt.
Kinain thought this Asad had probably lived a smooth life, unlike the Asad he knew.
Could the wish have manifested in this way? Or had I, pressed to the edge mentally at the time, made the wrong wish…
Kinain’s complexion darkened steadily.
“…Then why did you make it rain outside?”
“Ah, that? I like water. So I thought it’d be nice if the whole world were submerged. I wondered if it might change like that if I slept about a hundred years and woke.” Asad blinked, answering calmly.
“Hm? Why that face?”
“…I thought you were sad.”
“I’m not sad at all? Right now I’m rather happy. You appeared before me.” Asad tugged Kinain’s wrist, managing to seat him on his own lap. His eyes as he looked at Kinain sparkled like a child who’d received an unexpected gift.
“I like you. You’re an alpha? It’s fine. I can make an alpha my mate too.” He smiled, rubbing his cheek against Kinain’s.
“If you want something, you can say it. It’ll all become yours.” Asad’s gaze upon Kinain was favorable. Neither hatred nor sorrow seeped through it.
This dragon probably didn’t know such things to begin with.
Kinain stared at the unfamiliarly clear face, then spoke.
“First, let go — it hurts.”
“This? Humans are weak.”
Saying so, Asad readily released his wrist.
Yes, perhaps we could start over like this.
Without unhappiness. With not a single wound.
But…
“I’m sorry, but I can’t be your mate.”
“…Why?”
“Because I came here to find my mate.” What Kinain wanted wasn’t a beautiful, perfect dragon without a single scar.
“So now I’ll go find what’s mine.” No sooner had the words ended than the world began to crumble.
Leave a Reply