The Foreigner on the Periphery

Amid the agony crushing her existence, Del dreamed.

The Queen Mother's voice rang out, rebuking her.

"I will say it again: you lack the qualities an Endelion must inherently possess."

Del murmured in half-resignation.

"Yes, I know, Mother."

"I am lacking. I always have been."

"Why do you not know how to love and cherish yourself more? Can you not realize how precious your existence is to this dimension?"

The quality the Queen Mother spoke of was Kermathei-asha-kw'aterai in the language of Endelion.

A heart that knows its own immense worth, treasures it deeply, fears losing it, and loves itself without limit.

A self-deprecating laugh escaped Del.

"Yes, that's true."

"And as a result, I've ended up in this situation."

"Just what were you thinking? For an Endelion... someone bearing the weight of royalty, to commit a crime! For a princess to become a criminal!"

"But I couldn't accept it."

"These sacrifices have to stop."

"It is a sacrifice that all Ancient Races living today accept as a given. You must not interfere with it."

"No, it isn't right."

"I saw my nameless brothers and sisters. Isolated from society the moment they were born, meant only to be used later to extend the lifespans of the elders."

"Our kin, bred like livestock, just waiting for the day they are consumed."

"The moment I saw them, I knew. My life could never be the same."

"They are not your brothers or sisters. They are not our kin. They are simply... 'bodies'!"

"No, they aren't bodies; they are people. They are living beings with souls and flesh perfectly united."

"People shouldn't have their value measured by their utility. Dignity must not be quantified. They shouldn't be categorized by standards they neither chose nor could ever choose."

"But there is no alternative!"

"One day, I will create a perfect Homunculus."

"When I succeed, we will no longer have to sacrifice our young to satisfy the desires of the old."

"We cannot blindly wait for that day! What about the Ancient Races reaching the end of their lifespans before then? Are we supposed to just let our elders die off while waiting for a future that may never come? The current system is a sacrifice meant to prevent that. After all, 'they'... were born for that sacrifice!"

The scene shifted.

She stood in a place dyed stark white as far as the eye could see.

"The sinner is sentenced to penal labor."

The Ethics Tribunal.

The Kavite were the ones who had prosecuted the Princess of Endelion and sentenced her to a massive fine of over 500,000 Talent. After the trial ended, leaving only the sinner awaiting her punishment, they made no effort to hide their satisfaction.

"Royalty of Endelion reduced to penal labor... the world is truly unpredictable. We have prepared a splendid prosthetic body for you. A vessel to accompany you through your long life as a prisoner, Princess."

The princess replied sharply.

"Stop with the wordplay. A prosthetic body? How is that a fake body? In the end, isn't it just a disgusting abomination made by stealing the body of someone who was perfectly alive...?!"

A sudden silence fell.

"Hahaha! What do you think?"

Her protest died in her throat. Completely paralyzed, her gaze locked onto the 'thing' that had just appeared.

The artificial body the Kavite claimed to have prepared for her was painfully small compared to her original form. However, since most creatures across the dimensions were of similar stature, the size itself wasn't surprising.

What seized her eyes and froze her soul was its species.

That body, eyes closed and stripped of free will, that flesh with its soul erased so it could serve as a prison for a sinner...

"A human?!"

The Princess of Endelion let out a soundless scream.

"Princess! Princess? Are you alright?"

Riiiiing!

Del opened her eyes.

'Ah!'

Her distant senses rushed back like a tidal wave. A nervous system absurdly dull compared to her Endelion main body reconnected with her mind.

Through her hazy consciousness, Del realized the current shape of this flesh was human. Just like in her dream.

The last time she woke up, she was inside a Shutan mansion, but now she seemed to be outside. Looking at the sky, it was night. How much time had passed since then?

—!

Apart from the lethargy and pain crushing her mind, she felt something grating on her nerves. Del understood why she had woken up again.

'A signal?'

From very far away, a wave created by some Magic Tool had crossed the vast distance to reach her. A fragment of power inside Del was resonating in response to the signal. It was a phenomenon she hadn't felt the last time she regained consciousness.

'Was something like this inside me?'

Looking back, it wasn't the first time she realized something unknown existed inside her body. Take the VIP Jump Code, for instance. It wouldn't be strange if something else had been planted in her.

'Is it some kind of tracking tag to find me?!'

The moment the thought crossed her mind, she felt a sense of crisis.

'No!'

Removing it was impossible when she hadn't even known it was there, but now that she had noticed it...

Flash!

She immediately obliterated the tag left inside her body, erasing the fragment that resonated with the external signal to broadcast her location.

Stagger!

Someone stopped her as she struggled to stand. She shifted her eyes. It was that priest again. The pale-skinned three-eyed one.

"You still lack sufficient life force! You must rest more..."

"Where is he?"

Instead of giving her the answer she wanted, the priest kept talking about other things and begging her, but his words fell on deaf ears.

She muttered in a half-dazed state.

"I need to jump to the next dimension quickly. We've already been discovered here."

"Excuse me?!"

Yumtus hesitated.

"But Princess, you haven't fully recovered from the aftermath of the last jump..."

"I'm fine."

Del spoke, enduring the dizziness scrambling her mind. It was a struggle.

"Because the major damage... isn't physical."

   *

"Now, let's go."

Minjun watched with a bizarre feeling as the princess he had intended to kidnap rushed him instead.

Hearing a few words from Yuria, he vaguely guessed the situation. Only then did he understand why the princess was dressed like this.

'She was waiting for someone else.'

Princess Yuria seemed to have arranged to meet people who would smuggle her out of the palace. Since the outings of unmarried women were strictly controlled, the process naturally had to be secretive. That was why she had prepared a mask and a tight black outfit.

'We must have narrowly crossed paths.'

Of all things, her partners also seemed to be humans.

Minjun recalled what Darkbara had recited. Princess Yuria. The representative of the Pro-Human Faction within the Shutan Royal Family.

'I can roughly picture it. She broke the royal taboo to expose the Sanctuary to humans?'

But Minjun had arrived before they could reach her.

It was an illusion that would shatter and a misunderstanding that would clear up over time, but for now, he decided to ride the flow.

"This way."

He led her secretly out of the room. Minjun walked at a certain distance from the princess. Checking that the guards couldn't see them, Yuria marveled silently.

'What an incredible expert. Even though we're moving slightly apart, he's still within the range of my ability. Yet he's still using Magic.'

While moving cautiously out of the palace, a single question popped into Minjun's mind.

How did the real guides the princess was waiting for plan to smuggle Yuria out, then?

The answer soon appeared before his eyes. As the time for the 'real' intruders approached, the guards showed strange movements. Completely unlike when Minjun had broken in, glaringly obvious holes began to appear in the patrol routes.

'Some of them have already been bought off.'

Thanks to this, Minjun's path became even easier. He easily escaped through the hole the guards had opened for the intruders colluding with the princess. Safely out of the castle, he and the princess headed to the place where Ha Eunseong was waiting.

Meanwhile, as they drew closer and closer...

'Huh?'

The dragon, who had Polymorphed into a human, felt a bizarre sensation.

It was slightly different in nature from what he felt when wandering around as a ghost. Because he was already combined with a body, he wasn't a spiritual body right now.

If back then, as Minjun had described it, it felt like his spiritual body was unraveling...

Crackle!

...now it felt like the magical power inside his body was losing its balance and collapsing.

'Uh? At this rate, it's going to wear off, isn't it?'

The person approaching beyond the bushes right now was definitely Minjun. Just as Ha Eunseong was about to say something to him, the Polymorph spell shattered.

Flash!

Ha Eunseong bursting with light to revert to a dragon, and Minjun appearing before him with the princess, happened at almost the exact same time.

"Gasp!"

Seeing the massive figure suddenly appear before her, the princess was horrified. When she dropped her jaw, saw-like teeth flashed inside her mouth.

"Th-That's!"

She looked up with a half-dazed face. The young dragon, who had grown significantly taller than when he first met Minjun—perhaps because he had eaten so well lately—faced them with an awkward expression. The princess stammered.

"My god, what on earth is that dragon-like thing?"

Minjun replied calmly.

"It's not dragon-like. It's a dragon."

"A Dragon?!"

Though she tried to lower her voice as much as possible, the princess couldn't hide her emotions. That terrifying species she had only encountered in videos or books was right in front of her eyes.

"But the Committee has never once permitted a dragon's immigration to our dimension!"

"We specially invited him from off-world with an issued temporary stay visa."

The princess couldn't close her gaping mouth. She muttered in admiration.

"Humans truly are incredible. To think you would even mobilize a dragon to pull this off!"

It was something impossible to accomplish with Shutan's off-world network.

She realized it once again. No matter how strong their innate physical abilities were, the Shutan could no longer beat humans. They were lagging behind in every aspect except for physical prowess. In an era where information, connections, and money were the core of power, humans held a dominant advantage.

Yuria was convinced that her choice had been the right one.

'Forging a closer relationship with humans is the duty of the times. The Shutan Kingdom must change. I will change it.'

Making that vow, the princess looked at the majestic(?) dragon. Unable to read a dragon's facial expressions, she couldn't even imagine that Ha Eunseong was actually cowering and sneaking anxious glances at Minjun.

To her senses, the dragon's gaze was arrogant and his aura was as sharp as a steel sword.

She muttered as if she understood.

"I see. You wouldn't even need other troops. An amazing scheme. That single dragon serves as transport to the Sanctuary and, at the same time, the muscle to lock down the scene once we arrive. It's a move beyond imagination. Incredible."

"You overpraise me. Well then, shall we get going?"

"Alright."

While Minjun and Yuria conversed in an incomprehensible language, Ha Eunseong waited awkwardly.

And he wondered.

'That Crocodile Princess is the Key to the treasure vault?'

Key. A word that could be interpreted in many ways.

How was the princess supposed to guide them there?

Why was it impossible to get there without her?

'Don't tell me we really have to ride that crocodile there? Looking at her size, she could easily carry a single human. But she probably can't carry me in this state... What should I do?'

A moment later, Ha Eunseong quickly realized that his worries had been completely pointless.

   *

At Minjun's urging to leave, the princess fumbled to take out and open what she had brought.

Inside the opened box lay a hidden treasure passed down through the royal family's direct bloodline.

Meanwhile, Ha Eunseong, belatedly realizing that he was the mount and not the crocodile, felt a strange sorrow. He couldn't judge whether being treated as a hunting dog or a personal vehicle was better. But that feeling was brief. The more the agent worked him to the bone, the more his debt would steadily be forgiven.

...Of course, the problem that the total amount was astronomically high still remained intact.

Anyway, having painstakingly shaken off his unease, he threw a sidelong, curious glance at the artifact the princess was holding.

'A butterfly?'

The item inside the box was an ornament made by exquisitely carving clear crystal into the shape of a butterfly.

'Is it some kind of brooch?'

The moment he murmured that...

Crunch!

"...!"

Ha Eunseong was startled out of his wits.

'Why is she doing that all of a sudden?!'

The princess bared her shark-like rows of teeth and bit down on her own finger. The scales on her thick fingertip tore, and—drip!—blood flowed out. Fresh blood fell onto the crystal butterfly.

However.

'What?'

Despite her shocking and violent action, the result was a letdown.

Nothing happened.

A few drops of blood merely stained the butterfly's surface; everything else remained exactly the same as before, and the surroundings were dead quiet.

She spoke to Minjun as if she had expected this.

"The ability isn't activating because I'm too close."

The princess's mana-condensing ability was steadily affecting this artifact as well.

Hearing those words, Minjun had Ha Eunseong take the whole box and fly up. The ghost possessing the dragon moved as instructed.

Swoosh!

Once he flew up to a certain height with the box...

Flash!

Only then did the change begin.

The distance at which the artifact could overcome the princess's ability seemed to be about one kilometer. Upon getting that far away, the drops of blood gathered on the clear crystal spread like mist and seeped inside. The butterfly, dyed with a gruesome bloodlust, flapped its wings like a living creature, flew out of the box, and headed in one direction.

The dragon in the air and the people on the ground watched the receding butterfly. But its flight didn't last long.

Minjun said.

"It flew a little bit and then stopped."

"It did. You have good eyes for a human."

The princess followed his gaze as well.

Her crocodilian eyes stared at the blood-red butterfly that had stopped advancing in the far distance of the night sky.

"It stops its guidance if it gets too far away from the direct royal family member who provided the blood."

It seemed like an attempt to prevent the wrong person, a non-royal, from stealing and using it. Minjun caught on and nodded. He then called Ha Eunseong back down to the ground and climbed onto his back together with the princess.

Meanwhile, having his back stepped on by the two of them, the dragon felt a strange sensation.

'What the hell? This is definitely my first time carrying anyone... so why does it feel so stable?'

"You can hold onto here and here. If that's uncomfortable, here is fine too. However, you shouldn't touch this part if possible. And please be careful to absolutely never, no matter what happens, let your hand brush against here."

Minjun skillfully instructed the princess on how to mount, like someone who rode dragons on a daily basis. The moment the two settled into place, Ha Eunseong worried. Apart from the sense of stability whose source he couldn't pinpoint, his rational mind felt anxious.

'Will this work out? What if I mess up while flying and drop them both? If I did that, the fallout would be...'

That worry only lasted a moment.

Tap tap!

When Minjun wordlessly patted his nape...

Flap!

The sound of membranous wings beating the air.

A powerful rushing noise echoed, and—

"...?!"

Even though there was no clear command, no telepathy, and no spoken directive.

Ha Eunseong instinctively took flight, as if it were only natural.

Far too naturally.

'Whoa? What the?!'

Ha Eunseong himself was surprised by that movement.

He moved with the speed of a tightly compressed spring bouncing back out.

Rather than his body moving after a thought, it felt like his body had reacted instantly to the touch patting his neck.

Whoosh!

The dragon soared vigorously into the sky.

Having unconsciously started gliding, Ha Eunseong felt confused. Yet contrary to his complicated feelings, his posture was incredibly stable.

The dragon carrying the two of them cut across the empty air. The thick, swaying moonlight wrapped around him. Two types of colors overlapped and brushed against each other, faintly dyeing the black sea of the night sky.

'We're flying, we're actually flying!'

The princess, for whom flight itself was a first regardless of the method, was rendered speechless. Even the noise tearing through the air felt like silence. She gazed down endlessly. The capital of Shutan—the city she would soon rule over—was shining white. It was an overwhelming sight.

'Beautiful!'

Minjun, sitting at a slight distance from the marveling princess, gazed higher up in the opposite direction. In this world where everything had arbitrarily changed, the only things that hadn't changed were the constellations. Familiar star signs burned dimly and redly.

Swish!

Carrying passengers who had fallen silent in their respective thoughts, the dragon chased the butterfly.

He couldn't get too far away from that small thing, or the artifact would stop moving. But he couldn't get too close either, or the butterfly would lose its supernatural ability completely.

The dragon's eyes didn't lose track of the red line slicing through the night sky. It was a tricky flight, but Ha Eunseong pulled it off without overexerting himself. Perhaps to hide its route, the butterfly made sharp, complex, and unnecessarily radical changes in direction, but the trailing dragon's cornering was steady. Even as he drew arcs, his body never twisted or flipped enough to cause the passengers any discomfort. The dragon-riding experience was incredibly comfortable.

As the flight continued, Minjun would use nonchalant hand gestures to tap various parts of the dragon's nape or softly prod the scales with the tips of his toes. Ha Eunseong both recognized and failed to recognize those stimuli. He was completely intoxicated by the elegant trajectories he was drawing across the night sky. Even the sharp texture of the wind felt cozy to him. It was his first time flying for this long, this fast, and this intricately, but the results were comparable to the stunt flying of a veteran pilot.

After prowling the high skies for a while like that, Ha Eunseong thought of a possibility he didn't want to admit.

'What the... do I have a talent for this too?'

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