The Foreigner on the Periphery

After some thought, Kentius concluded there was no need to prolong his conversation with this dragon.

'Talking to a crazy dragon is just a waste of time.'

Furthermore, sharing much more of his own circumstances would mean bringing up Minjun. The mental suggestion planted in his head prevented that. In the end, he decided to wrap things up right here.

"No... I... Well, let's just pretend you didn't hear that."

Even so, he added one more thing to protect his dignity.

He had no desire to demean himself as a lunatic confused about something as fundamental as his own racial identity.

"Regardless, I'm different from you. I know I'm a dragon, and I'm content with that."

"Right..."

Leo's expression fell. He muttered quietly under his breath.

A way to discard a dragon's body.

Kentius asked, looking for the right moment to excuse himself.

"It's not that you want to die, is it?"

"It might sound ridiculous, but dying scares me."

Kentius feigned deep thought before tossing out a half-hearted reply.

"A way to transfer into another body without dying, huh."

The only reason the thought even crossed his mind was that he happened to be traveling with Minjun. Under normal circumstances, he never would have considered it. The odds of success were virtually nonexistent, and suggesting such a method to a friend felt thoroughly unethical.

Yet Kentius had already lost any desire to take the conversation seriously, speaking as though tossing out whatever random thought floated to the surface.

"There is one way."

"What?"

"The Committee does something like that. To the prisoners they catch committing crimes."

"...Hm? You mean the ones sentenced to penal labor, living like slaves? Like that agent in the next room?"

"Yeah. Guess you didn't know. That human-looking body of his isn't his original form."

"...?!"

Leo's eyes snapped wide, as if hearing this for the very first time.

Being young, sheltered, and utterly indifferent to the convicts put to work by the Committee, he had never known.

Kentius shared the information he himself had only recently come to learn.

"The moment a sentence of penal labor is handed down, the Committee forcibly rips the criminal's soul from their original body. Then they select a suitable prosthetic body and bind the soul into it—much like a ghost or specter possessing a spirit-sensitive person. The difference is that the vessel doesn't require any spiritual sensitivity... and they are forcefully cramming in the living spirit of a creature that hasn't even drawn its last breath. No one outside the Committee has ever unraveled the exact mechanics. No one knows how they manufacture those prosthetic bodies, or where they obtain them. Perhaps the secret is hidden inside the vessels themselves."

"Th-Then..."

"Right. In principle, it's possible, but it's technology entirely out of our reach. I don't know why, but the Committee guards that technique with extreme discretion. There's no record of them ever using it for anything other than penal labor. Officially, at least."

Kentius spoke with a clear tone of bringing the conversation to a close.

"Come to think of it, they say the Committee never gives prisoners dragon bodies. I imagine fabricating a dragon vessel is impossible even for them. So if a dragon were to stir up enough trouble to become the Committee's slave, there is a 100 percent chance they would end up trapped inside the body of some non-dragon creature. With their memories wiped clean, no less."

His words bordered on outright sarcasm.

His intention was to push Leo into abandoning such an absurd pipe dream by pointing out that outside of such extreme circumstances, it had zero chance of ever coming true.

Knock, knock.

Just then, someone knocked on the door to the room where the two were talking.

"Come in."

The man of East Asian descent who opened the door and peered inside was Raymond's servant.

"The master is ready to receive his guests."

"Ah? Right. Let's head over."

Kentius offered Leo a cursory farewell and stepped outside, joining Minjun, who had been waiting in the hall, to go meet Raymond.

After they departed, Leo remained on the sofa, immersed in deep thought.

"..."

Kentius's words echoed like a refrain in his mind.

   *

"Welcome. We meet again so soon, both of you."

Receiving them in his office, Raymond Wong wore the face of an ordinary, moderately fleshy middle-aged human man.

Minjun knew this was a Polymorph modeled on a 3D portrait crafted by an ensemble of psychologists and other experts.

It was tailored to evoke instinctive warmth and trust from the citizens of the Guangdong Federation for deep-seated emotional and historical reasons.

That Ancient Dragon held no official title within the federal government, but his status as the de facto ruler of Hong Kong was an open secret. He understood all too well that governance was far smoother when the public regarded the federation's true authority with genuine reverence and goodwill.

"Have a seat. Thank you for responding to my sudden summons."

He once again extended his condolences to the son who had lost the Lord, and Kentius received them with a calm, impassive face.

Minjun and Kentius sat composed, as if blissfully unaware of why they had been summoned, but inside, neither lowered his guard for a second.

This was the Ancient Dragon Inais had accused of murdering the Lord. And no sooner had Minjun accepted the request than Raymond conveniently summoned them to Hong Kong.

What was he scheming?

"The reason I brought you here is simple. We are all busy individuals, so I will get straight to the point."

Raymond spoke with deliberate weight in his voice.

"The legacy the Dragon Lord left behind in the New York private vault—sell it to me."

"...?!"

Both Minjun and Kentius stiffened at the unexpected proposition.

"I've heard the rumors. Word is that you surrendered the legacy you inherited to Kentius. But hearing only that left things rather ambiguous. Did you sign it away completely in exchange for some deal, or is he merely keeping it in trust for now? Seeing the two of you traveling together made the situation even murkier. So I thought it best to invite you both here and lay everything out in the open."

Kentius furrowed his brow and spoke up.

"Wait a moment. This makes no sense. Why would an Ancient Dragon of your stature concern himself with an inheritance the Lord left to this prisoner?"

Kentius found it utterly absurd.

Most elder dragons were curious enough about what the Lord might have willed to a mere prisoner, but their curiosity was purely academic. They already possessed far too much wealth to covet such an item or scramble against the fledglings for it. Diving into a petty contest among wet-behind-the-ears youths would only tarnish their dignity. Yet here Raymond was, openly baring his greed.

Meanwhile, Minjun finally realized why Raymond's agents had been mingled among the tails tracking him back in New York.

To think he had been driven by the very same motive as the others.

Yet without even knowing what lay inside that vault... why?

Under their questioning gazes, Raymond continued.

"To save time, I might as well be completely frank. It seems you have no intention of parting with it unless you're given a convincing reason."

Kentius replied,

"Frankly, yes."

"You know your father and I were close companions, don't you?"

"...Were you?"

"We were. In fact, we met and shared a drink the very day before his tragic demise. We played a game of Go for the first time in ages, and since playing without stakes is dull, we placed a wager on it."

Minjun's eyes narrowed.

"Fortune wasn't on my side that day, and I lost. As the forfeit, I told him to pick whatever caught his eye from my treasury. Do you know what the Lord chose?"

Kentius and Minjun kept silent. Raymond gave a wry smile and continued.

"He chose an artifact crafted by the Ancient Race. I had half forgotten I even possessed such a thing in my vault. Of course, the relic itself is immensely valuable... but you know how it is. For the very reason both of you can likely deduce, I handed it over to the Lord without a second thought."

"...And then?"

"After we parted ways that evening, however, I had second thoughts. It was far too precious an object to forfeit over a casual board game. Offering it was an impulsive mistake. So I resolved to pay a fair price and buy it back, intending to reach out to the Lord the following morning. But then that tragedy struck."

Raymond wore a mournful expression. Minjun scrutinized his countenance with a razor-sharp gaze, then cut into the conversation.

"What does any of that have to do with the legacy I inherited?"

"It is directly connected. As an Ancient Dragon, I took part in cataloging the Lord's estate. We inventoried everything—the items recovered from the scene and the treasures preserved in his Lairs. Yet..."

What he said next aligned perfectly with what Inais had already confirmed.

"It wasn't anywhere! It was as though it had evaporated into thin air. The artifact I gave him had vanished without a trace!"

Minjun's thoughts whirred.

Was this all an act?

Inais suspected that Raymond was the one who had taken the artifact back—to quietly destroy incriminating evidence.

"The executors and heirs combed through the Lord's Lairs and private vaults, yet found nothing. Naturally, the other heirs don't even know the relic is missing; they have no idea he acquired such a thing right before he died. But I know, don't I?"

Raymond's gaze darkened.

"Then it occurred to me. Everyone believes they have searched every single one of the Lord's Lairs and vaults. But in reality, there remains exactly one repository that has yet to be inspected."

Minjun let out a low murmur.

"The West 34th Street Private Vault."

"Precisely."

Raymond bared his teeth in a grin.

"For a dragon of the Lord's caliber, moving a treasure into a vault on the other side of Earth is trivial work. Knowing him, he almost certainly placed another vault inside that vault. And judging by your expressions, I'd wager 100,000 Talents you haven't managed to open that inner vault yet."

Kentius pushed back.

"That is mere speculation. What if the artifact isn't among that legacy at all?"

"Once you eliminate every other possibility, that is the only place remaining. I must buy that artifact back. However I look at it, it was far too exorbitant a prize for a game of Go."

Minjun subtly transmitted a telepathic message to Kentius. Complying with the instruction, the dragon recited the exact words fed to him.

"I have already assumed ownership of the legacy left to this prisoner. And while I apologize, I cannot agree to this transaction."

Raymond's expression turned incredulous.

"Is that so? Why on earth not? You haven't even heard my terms."

"I am not at liberty to disclose the specific reasons."

They could hardly disclose that the legacy took the form of a Cube, that they had yet to open it, that appraising its value was impossible without knowing its contents, or that they still suspected Raymond of murdering the Lord.

Thus, rather than offering explanations, Kentius intended to brush the matter aside and flatly decline the deal.

They also needed time to sort through their thoughts.

'What on earth is his angle? What is his reason for specifically mentioning the existence of the Ring to us, and why is he stubbornly insisting on taking it back so openly? It sounds like nothing other than an attempt to destroy evidence after the fact.'

And if what he said was true—if the Lord had indeed secured that Ring inside the vault just before his death—then surrendering it to him was entirely out of the question. Especially if that Ring was the decisive clue to the cause of the Lord's demise.

"Hm? Is that so? What a pity."

It seemed as though he might back down without further fuss.

But then—

Vwooom!

Kentius went pale and shouted.

"What do you think you are doing?!"

The space surrounding them froze and solidified.

Total isolation from the outside world.

"The next Balaur Council is still over 90 days away. Until then, the seat of Dragon Lord remains vacant. Furthermore, this domain belongs to me."

Raymond smiled with cold arrogance.

"Proposing a trade was the utmost courtesy I could extend to the son of my late friend. To squander that courtesy so carelessly is nothing short of foolish."

"...You planned this from the very beginning!"

"I presented an amicable solution first. You are the ones who turned it down."

While the atmosphere chilled to near freezing, Minjun calmly reflected.

'Raymond Wong is a Lightning Dragon.'

Coincidentally, the very same breed as the dragon he had butchered most recently.

He instinctively mapped out a sequence of actions in his mind, vividly recalling the sensation of thrusting a tongue into the back of a dragon's head, detonating it within the skull, and pulverizing the brain to mush.

Mistaking Minjun's rigid expression for terror, the ruler of Hong Kong let out a laugh.

"I am a sensible dragon who respects the weight of the Dragonic Code and understands that antagonizing the Committee yields nothing but harm. Therefore, I have no intention of killing either of you. But I am also a practical dragon who despises taking a loss worse than death itself. So until you sign a contract accepting my terms right before my eyes, rest assured that neither of you will ever see the light of day again."

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