The Foreigner on the Periphery

The lungs of the Earth were burning.

It looked as if a volcano had erupted. Residents in the villages bordering the jungle stared in that direction in terror.

The tropical rainforest, which should have been saturated with water, was helplessly engulfed in flames. The crackling screams of the vegetation were drowned out by the roar of the fire. Mountainous flames devoured the vast landscape. The intense heat distorted the air itself. Above it all, thick smoke spread oppressively, crushing everything beneath it as fierce, scorching winds raged.

And at the center of it all lay what had once been the Lair of the Poison Dragon.

The barrier that once formed a transparent dome had already shattered and melted away. The architects of this blazing hell were deeply satisfied with their handiwork, snickering among themselves through mental waves.

"Just as expected."

"It was obvious she'd resist if we tried to haul away a mother brooding her egg. Even though she can't even fight properly."

Their eyes grew fierce, cruel smiles playing on their lips. The squad included veterans who had fought and survived the ancient war against the dragons. Originally, the lifespan of the Ancient Race was not particularly long, but much had changed after the first war.

The veterans remembered the fierce battles. Though they had won, the Committee had suffered heavy casualties. Memories of their dying kin resurfaced. In those grim recollections, dragons were enemies whose skulls deserved to be crushed. Long after the war, their hatred for dragons endured.

The Poison Dragon tried to counter with Magic, but it wasn't enough. The Todds had anticipated that she wouldn't be able to properly wield her main weapon: poison. Her unhatched egg lacked total immunity to her lethal toxins, as it hadn't yet gone through the process of adapting to the various poisonous plants implanted in its body.

Therefore, Inais couldn't release toxic substances that might seep through the shell. The results exceeded the Todds' expectations.

Right now, she was huddled tightly amid the flames.

A chaotic flurry of questions kept surfacing in her mind.

'How in the world was I discovered?!'

No matter how powerful the Committee was, they couldn't possibly monitor every conversation and transaction of a dragon in a distant frontier dimension. If they possessed such omniscience, the Dragon Race would have been wiped out long ago.

No matter how she looked at it, this was the result of someone actively digging up dirt on her. Inais realized she had become the Committee's target. A targeted investigation.

But why?

Fwoosh!

The flames grew fiercer. The magic-infused fire gradually ate away at her shield. The various poisonous plants that had covered her outer skin in place of scales were already reduced to ashes. For the first time since she was a Hatchling, the Poison Dragon had exposed her bare skin—and not to a normal environment, but to relentless flames.

It was a gruesome sight, like someone being burned alive with their skin flayed off.

'I have to protect my egg!'

As time passed, the dragon's thoughts narrowed. Desperation filled her mind.

And Inais thought of an Ancient Dragon who was no longer by her side—the one dragon she could have relied on at a time like this.

'Rod!'

Rod was the one who united the will of the dragons to protect their race. Without Rod, the dragons couldn't function as a true collective. They were reduced to individuals chasing their own selfish desires.

Inais felt an ominous premonition. Beyond simply refusing to get involved, some of them might actually welcome this. If she and her child disappeared, there would be one less heir to share the legacy.

Thrum!

Roughly woven psychic waves leaked out from inside the egg. The embryo was anxious. The waves were too tangled and complex for Inais to understand their exact meaning, but she replied to soothe the egg.

'It's okay, I will protect you.'

Instead of Rod, Inais thought of someone else she could ask for help. She couldn't send a message due to the Spatial Condensation, but the burning jungle must have been noticed outside.

Would they really step forward to help her?

But she had nowhere else to pin her hopes.

She had to hold on until a helping hand reached her.

'It's okay, don't worry.'

Whispering to the egg, she concentrated most of her shield around it. Not a single degree above her natural body heat was transmitted to the egg she incubated. In stark contrast, the excruciating pain of supernatural superheat and flames tore across Inais's back.

The dragon, having lost her own protective shell, curled her body even tighter to protect the shell of her egg.

*

The spirit summoner, Lakefield, suddenly felt a sensation of detaching from everything around him.

He looked around in bewilderment, but the bookstore remained unchanged. His senses as a spirit summoner, however, caught a clear shift.

Soon, he realized that the link connecting him to the spirits had been severed.

'Spatial Condensation!'

The goblin, Dong-cheol, looked out the door for a completely different reason than Lakefield. He had sensed a presence.

"Uh? Boss... a customer..."

Dong-cheol took a few steps toward the entrance, then stopped.

"Uh... huh...?"

Thud.

He slumped to the floor right where he stood.

The individuals approaching the commercial building and the bookstore—located right in the middle of a neighborhood with heavy foot traffic—all looked like humans.

But Dong-cheol could tell. They were not human.

Things like that... couldn't possibly be human.

Tremble, tremble.

Not long ago, the goblin had encountered a young dragon named Edelinis. At the time, he hadn't guessed her true identity at all until the human-polymorphed dragon unleashed her Dragon Fear.

In truth, it was the first time in Dong-cheol's life experiencing Dragon Fear. The desperate terror he felt back then seemed to have awakened something dormant inside him. Ever since, his senses had grown incredibly sharp.

Though he had never let it show, Dong-cheol knew the truth now. He knew that the "Master" who owned this building was no ordinary quarter-elf, just as the short-haired female customer who visited him one day was no ordinary human. He could simply tell that the person currently visiting the second floor was actually a dragon, even without them leaking any Dragon Fear.

Right at this moment, a dragon was literally right "above his head," but he didn't make a fuss like before. He sensed that this dragon wasn't dangerous. He just had a feeling.

But what about those things approaching right now?

"Ah, ah...!"

His mind burned. Dong-cheol was engulfed in a terror that surpassed the day he first faced Dragon Fear. It felt as if all the effort he had put into overcoming his dragon phobia had been in vain.

Because there existed creatures in this world even more terrifying than dragons. Something deep within him, something he hadn't even realized was there, warned him.

The goblin felt extreme disgust and revulsion.

Whoosh!

A suddenly appearing figure blocked the goblin's view of the uninvited guests.

It was Minjun, standing with his back to Dong-cheol.

"What the...?"

He had sensed the Spatial Condensation moments ago. Minjun could see their souls. He could tell they possessed a status similar to humans, yet fundamentally different. They were of a different race, though their exact identity remained unclear.

Staring at Minjun's guarded face, the uninvited guest smiled. And then they spoke in a low voice.

At that moment, with his sensitive elf ears, Lakefield heard a word he never imagined would be spoken in this place.

"Asif-666."

*

Gadwick felt his heart pounding.

What did the primordial race eat?

"We reasoned that if we mimicked their diet, we could similarly obtain perfect eternal life. Well? Isn't it a truly wonderful tale?"

"Yes, I can hardly contain my awe."

Gadwick was genuinely thrilled. Without his knowledge, the elders of his race had already made these arrangements and were executing their grand plan.

"If they were perfect beings from the moment of creation, they wouldn't have needed to consume anything else. One could assume they were born holding the seeds of eternal life within themselves. But we discovered something. They had a staple food. The act of eating was an incredibly important ritual in their culture. So much so that those who prepared the meat and blood they consumed were considered a noble class."

"Ah!"

"There could only be one reason for that. It was an indispensable element for their eternal life. To them, butchers were benefactors who guaranteed their everlasting existence."

"If that's true... it makes perfect sense!"

Gadwick repeated to himself.

'Meat' and 'blood'?

Both came from living creatures.

He waited for the High Commissioner to utter the decisive word.

So, what on earth was the identity of the creature that promised eternal life?

"By the way."

Contrary to his expectations, the High Commissioner suddenly changed the subject.

"How is the tax investigation into Asif-666 going?"

Gadwick couldn't understand. Why suddenly jump from butchers to that topic?

But he wanted the answer to his burning question, so he answered without delay, hoping they would quickly return to the original topic.

"That department is extremely secretive by nature, so they rarely share information, but... a Todd I know slipped me a hint. They've hooked something pretty substantial, it seems."

"Substantial enough? Enough to seamlessly slap another twenty million Talents onto his severance debt?"

Hearing those words, Gadwick was certain once again.

His superior did not want Asif-666 eliminated. Rather, he hoped for the exact opposite.

He wanted that prisoner to operate forever, shackled by the chains fastened by the Committee.

"Yes, probably... They will make a move soon."

"Good, very good."

Only after confirming that did the High Commissioner continue.

"You have always wondered, haven't you? Why I take such a deep interest in Asif-666."

"And you explained the reason to me, High Commissioner. You said it was because of his crime. Because he is the creator of the worst terrorist in cosmic history, Asiph-1."

He was a master of Dark Magic, but he hadn't become a prisoner simply for creating Dark Magic.

However, the act of creating Asiph-1 served as the grounds for burdening him with a severance debt exceeding five million Talents.

This distinction stemmed from the purpose behind the creation. Asiph-1 was engineered to bring about the collapse of the Committee, standing as the worst criminal who operated solely toward that singular goal.

"But that alone is not grounds to spare Asif-666 from elimination. Have you given any thought to that?"

"Yes."

Gadwick, of course, had racked his brain over it.

"Since he is the creator of Asiph-1, he might possess a way to collect the fragments of its soul scattered across the frontier. The ones who erased his memories were the Endelion. Those hypocrites—hopeless idealists—who possess a deeper interest in Asiph-1 than any other race. I believe they likely planted an additional suggestion during that procedure. Making him naturally drawn to instinctively collect the pieces of the criminal he created while wandering the frontier dimensions..."

"Then why do we, the Kavite, want Asiph-1? Even going so far as to feign indifference on the surface?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect it differs from the Endelion's objective."

"Correct. It is entirely different from what they want."

The High Commissioner was about to share an even more dangerous secret.

"Asif-666 and the Asiph-1 pieces he will collect are crucial keys to our plan. They are stepping stones to reach our final destination."

The plan to obtain perfect eternal life.

The High Commissioner spoke in a soft tone.

"The primordial race ate dragons."

He tossed out the statement so casually that, for a moment, Gadwick thought he had misheard.

"...Pardon?"

"The staple food that granted eternal life to the primordial race—I am saying it was dragons."

Gadwick was confused.

Was that a homonym?

Was there another creature entirely that bore the name "dragon"?

But the ensuing words carried an unmistakable meaning.

"Dragons. The Dragon Race. The monsters we know so well. The main enemy we finally brought to heel after two major wars."

"...My god!"

Gadwick's scream-like exclamation was a blend of sheer joy and profound shock.

He was delighted to realize that this plan culminated in the absolute ruin of those monsters. On the other hand, the realization that a race had existed which used those monsters as livestock... and that the Kavite were plotting to tread that exact same path... left him feeling utterly overwhelmed.

"Then this plan is ultimately..."

"Those beasts have arrogantly roamed this world for far too long. They have enjoyed more freedom than necessary."

The High Commissioner whispered.

"We intend to follow the path paved by the primordial race. The path Asif-666 will guide us down. But in order to reset the relationship between us and the dragons, the Kavite must change as well. We must transcend our limits. This current state won't do. But there's no need to worry. We have the Talents."

Gadwick recalled how their bodies reacted to dragon blood.

He also thought about what could be achieved with Talents.

He remembered the phenomenon where a prisoner's mind, forced into an altered body, would eventually shatter, collapse, and drown in madness. It wasn't as rapid as possessing a dragon's body, but doom still awaited them in the end.

'Could the reason we agreed to the prisoner system proposed by the Endelion be... because we considered it a form of experiment as well?'

The High Commissioner continued speaking.

"And the dragons must change too. To achieve that, we're secretly conducting many operations in the frontier dimensions. We are even utilizing the dragons' own hands for some experiments. Altering the physical bodies of dragons, modifying their souls, swapping them out, mixing them together. They could never imagine it. They can't fathom what destiny their actions will ultimately bring upon the Dragon Race. They are cooperating, blissfully unaware that they are contributing to the ruin of dragons. There's no way they could know that all of this is an experiment to allow the Kavite to possess dragons in the most diverse forms possible."

"Diverse... forms, you say?"

"Yes. Because beasts should act like beasts. Returning them to that state is our goal. We must preserve the good blood, cull the bad blood, and mutate them into a form that's much easier to breed. Then, we will selectively diversify them to fit various purposes and functions."

The High Commissioner emphasized his point.

"Livestock, behaving exactly like livestock."

Only then did Gadwick understand perfectly.

The High Commissioner was talking about the plan to re-domesticate the dragons.

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