Chapter 41
Revenant. To think that woman might be behind this.
Sian left the temple’s reception room ahead of the Crown Prince and Carl, postponing her answer to them.
‘Coward.’
The image of the woman holding a blood-stained blade with a sardonic smile was as vivid as if painted before her eyes. Would that Revenant be about her current age now?
‘If I were you, I wouldn’t let it go. You must always return what you’ve received.’
She was a woman without even a speck of reverence for life. That was also the decisive reason why she could become the best dragon hunter of her time.
The reason she became a dragon hunter was simply because dragons were the strongest beings in this world. Originally, she had pursued dragons wanting to become a dragon’s master, but it was the dragon who chose its master, not the person who chose.
Therefore, when Revenant realized she couldn’t become a dragon’s master, she chose a different path.
She said she felt ecstasy when she butchered and killed the continent’s greatest beings who hadn’t chosen her, as if it proved that she was the strongest and greatest in this world.
Compared to ordinary dragon hunters who chose that path out of necessity or certain circumstances, it was truly an absurd reason.
She must have enjoyed it immensely.
Elena, the Dragon King, who held the most powerful authority among dragons.
It’s unclear whether the idea to assassinate the Dragon King originated from the Marquis, the Dragon Knight, or Revenant, but the execution surely would have been Revenant’s role.
It was obvious without deep thought how intoxicated she must have been with her own strength as she carved out the bones of the Emperor’s red dragon.
“Have you finished all your business?”
Sian, who had been walking endlessly, lost in memories of Revenant, suddenly raised her head at the voice. The High Priestess who had come out to greet Sian and Carl’s group was blocking Sian’s path as if she had been waiting.
“Your companions have already finished their meals and are resting. Would you like to have your meal first, miss?”
The High Priestess asked, bowing her head respectfully as if addressing a person of high status. Her voice overflowed with kindness when addressing Sian.
It’s not like there aren’t other people in the temple, yet someone of the High Priestess’s rank came personally to guide me… It was more burdensome than gratifying.
“Did you… wait for me?”
“Indeed, I did.”
The High Priestess smiled gently, her eyes crinkling.
“For a very, very long time, I have been earnestly waiting for you to come here.”
Sian’s expression involuntarily hardened at the High Priestess’s successive words. Sian had asked if she had waited for the meeting with the prince to end, but the High Priestess’s answer wasn’t in that context.
Haah, an unconscious sigh escaped through her lips.
“…I suppose there’s no use pretending not to know? Even if you don’t interfere in imperial affairs, the temple knows everything.”
Instead of answering Sian’s resigned question, the High Priestess smiled benevolently once again.
“If you’re not in the mood for a meal, how about a cup of tea? Or would you like a tour of the temple?”
“If I avoid it, you’ll keep following me like this, won’t you?”
I’ve been quite popular with important people lately. Sian thought dryly as she asked the High Priestess. The High Priestess merely laughed softly again, but Sian knew this too was an affirmative answer.
“Alright. Please guide me. If possible, to the deepest and most secret place in this vast temple. You’ve waited a long time, so you must have a lot to say.”
“You are wise. Follow me. I’ll show you the most beautiful place in the Dragon’s Temple.”
Although the veil that reached to her toes seemed to make movement difficult, the High Priestess walked at a pace so fast that Sian struggled to keep up, as if she were used to it.
Massive pillars carved with dragon sculptures everywhere, white walls and floors, sporadic green plants.
The mystical temple, invisible even in appearance to those unauthorized, was more vast than initially gauged at the main entrance. Moreover, its neat interior consisted of similar spaces – corridors, cloisters, empty rooms of unknown use. It was perfect for getting lost and becoming a lost child if one walked without thinking.
“…Wow.”
After turning left and right through cloisters that all looked the same, going straight, and turning so many times she couldn’t remember, just when Sian was about to lose her mind, a new sight unfolded before her eyes.
The High Priestess’s promise to show her the most beautiful place wasn’t an empty one.
Pouring sunlight, the fresh scent of forest and water. The space that opened up at the end of yet another cloister was a beautiful garden unlike any Sian had seen, despite having traveled most of the empire.
“This way.”
The sound of flowing water could be heard. The High Priestess, who had gone ahead along a small path between the fully bloomed flowers, elegantly extended her hand.
There’s no need to hold hands. Sian thought briefly but obediently took the High Priestess’s hand. The High Priestess’s body temperature, felt at the fingertips, was much hotter than that of an ordinary person. Whether it was just a high body temperature or because she was a dragon priestess was unclear.
“This is a place of deep meaning. It’s a space permitted only to a very few among those who stay in the temple.”
Sian’s face flushed. She had merely meant to go somewhere without people listening, but to think it was an area prohibited to most people.
“…Is it alright to bring an outsider like me to such a place?”
“Strictly speaking, you are a first-time visitor, not an outsider.”
“…”
Sian closed her mouth, having nothing to say to the High Priestess’s words. The cool sound of water flowing from somewhere tickled her ears, and the sweet scent of flowers tickled her nose.
After crossing a trail lush with grass and flowers on both sides for some time, an open space appeared.
In the center of that open space was an enormous tree. Its trunk was so massive and thick that several adults with outstretched arms couldn’t fully embrace it, and above it, branches spread out in all directions like a sturdy ceiling.
Sian looked up at the sky, speechless. Beautiful light sparkled and poured through the gaps between the intertwined leaves. Although it was clearly a garden created inside the temple, a wind of unknown origin blew, ruffling Sian’s hair.
It was indeed a beautiful and mysterious space, as the High Priestess had said.
“Do you know what this place is?”
“…I’m not sure.”
Sian looked at the High Priestess while feeling the unidentified wind. The High Priestess smiled gently.
“This is where Yggdrasil, the empire’s founding dragon, first thrust her sword after defeating the black dragon Pegadrasil.”
“Ah…?”
“The sword that Yggdrasil thrust into the ground took root and became this beautiful and sturdy tree. The blood that the black dragon Pegadrasil shed at that time is the source of the Red River, which forms the southernmost border of the empire and extends to southern Ivarid.”
While Sian was already familiar with the legend of the Red River at the southern border of the empire, it was the first time she had heard the story of Yggdrasil’s sword becoming a tree.
Sian examined the massive tree with interest. While its scale was magnificent and beautiful, it didn’t seem particularly special otherwise.
“Did you bring me here specifically to show me this?”
The High Priestess, who had stopped walking with her hands clasped, looked at Sian.
“…It’s a process all dragon masters go through.”
Sian, who had been admiring the branches and leaves filling the sky and the scattered light pouring through, turned her head.
“Those chosen by dragons all receive certification of becoming true dragon masters under Yggdrasil’s tree.”
Soon, a bitter smile bloomed on Sian’s lips.
“You really know everything at the temple, don’t you?”
“Hence, the master of Idelin came here first. This is the only place that will believe in his innocence.”
The High Priestess smiled. Sian returned a bitter smile and gathered her hair that was fluttering in the wind.
“…Then, you must also know that I don’t want to live as a dragon master.”
That’s why she had never even thought of visiting this place. At Sian’s lowered voice, the priestess elegantly crinkled her eyes.
“Woman, man, royalty, nobility, commoner. No one chooses the life they’re born into.”
“But I decide which path to take while living.”
“A commoner cannot become royalty, and one not chosen by a dragon cannot become a dragon master. Conversely, one chosen as a dragon master cannot abandon their dragon either.”
Sian unconsciously narrowed her eyes and looked back at the High Priestess.
There was a dual meaning in the High Priestess’s words. Sian, who was chosen as a dragon master but refused to live with a dragon, and Revenant, who wanted to become a dragon master but couldn’t and became twisted as a dragon hunter.
The High Priestess also knows everything she knows. Convinced of this by the High Priestess’s ambiguous statement, Sian frowned and smiled ambiguously.
“So you also knew that Revenant was Elena’s assassin.”
“…A life that deviates from the natural order always has side effects.”
“Side effects? That’s a woefully inadequate expression for something as monumental as the assassination of the Dragon King.”
The High Priestess let out a light chuckle.
“Although we know everything, there are limits to what we can do. The great dragon Yggdrasil defeated the black dragon, thrust her sword into this spot, and chose to live among humans. She united with a human woman and bore offspring, and thus began the lineage of the imperial family where only dragon masters can sit on the throne.”
“…”
“This is the temple she created, pouring all her magic to protect the empire and the world before transforming into a human. Hence, it’s a place both connected to and separate from the empire.”
