The Foreigner on the Periphery

Dragons were fundamentally dopamine junkies.

This was distinct from adrenaline junkies, who relished perilous adventures. In fact, pointlessly risking their noble lives was an act that absolutely appalled them. Instead, dragons savored the thrill of accomplishing something meaningful, the rush of feeling they were valuable beings.

Dopamine was the pleasure delivered as a reward for an action, acting as the motive to sustain it. Steeped in it, dragons desired more spectacular victories, higher achievements, deeper narcissism, and constant recognition. The vast majority of them were severe workaholics. They deeply loved their work of ruling and managing.

Jenkinson, of course, was no exception.

At least, he used to be.

Struggling not to let it show on his face, the Ancient Dragon muttered inwardly.

'...I'm getting a little tired of this.'

Uncharacteristically for a dragon, the ruler of Korea was suffering from burnout rather than workaholism.

He had a valid reason. He was far too busy these days.

'I don't want to work. Is it okay for someone to be this busy? Is this really a workload one dragon can handle? I just want to take a break.'

If he had it his way, he would drop everything, hole up inside his Lair, and sleep for a few decades.

But he knew the situation wouldn't allow it. A sense of responsibility crushed his shoulders. This was the right thing to do. He had to be the one to do it, and no one else.

Jenkinson considered himself an individual capable of agonizing over and distinguishing right from wrong; he believed that the moment he abandoned such contemplation, he would be no different from a beast. That was why he couldn't stop working. Even in a distinctly hostile environment.

'Ever since Minjun escaped Earth, the situation has been getting more and more complicated.'

Without the Lord, the disputes and accidents arising within Dragon Race society never resolved cleanly.

Instead of perfectly settling one matter and moving on to the next, he had to simultaneously resolve all sorts of incidents, leaving him feeling like even ten bodies wouldn't be enough.

Earth needed a Dragon Lord.

"Kaien."

Jenkinson smiled, pretending to be relaxed. It was a move intended to overwhelm the young dragon.

Because of that insolent brat, he had found no time to rest even after wrapping up the incidents in Korea.

"...!"

Kaien and Asisphael nervously exchanged glances. The tension made their bodies feel as if they creaked with every breath.

'Damn it, if I knew this would happen, I would have left it behind in the Lair!'

How could they have possibly foreseen encountering Jenkinson here?

The very owner of the place where the stolen item had originally been kept.

Kaien felt his nerves stand on edge as he recalled the Dragon Heart hidden within his subspace.

The Ancient Dragon asked calmly.

"I will be direct. What is it that you want?"

Kaien replied quickly. In an attempt to hide his tension, his tone came out sharper than necessary.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am telling you to explain why you are inciting immature children."

The young dragon felt anger rapidly replacing his tension. Immature? He was being dismissed simply because he was young. It was the typical tone of an Ancient Dragon.

Seeing that expression, Asisphael felt a pang of dismay, realizing her lover's hot-blooded temperament had been triggered. Now was not the time for this!

Meanwhile, Kentius felt simultaneously depressed and bewildered. It seemed he was no longer needed... Couldn't they all just leave now?

"I believe our demands have already been clearly communicated."

"To grant dragons who aren't Ancient Dragons—even those who have just reached adulthood—the qualifications to become the Lord? Do not try to play jokes in front of me, young man."

"...?!"

"I am certain that not a single one of the friends following you truly wants that. The Lord is a position that even Ancient Dragons find overwhelming. Do you really think a young dragon could handle it? Mediating disputes between Elder Dragons and meeting with the Committee to lead negotiations?"

"That is an ageist remark, assuming young dragons are unconditionally inexperienced...!"

He tried to protest, but the Ancient Dragon didn't wait for him to finish.

"This time is a somewhat special case, but originally, dragons hated ascending to the Lord's seat. It's a thankless position that does little to satisfy personal greed while forcing you to take on a string of headaches. You all don't truly want to birth the youngest Lord in history. You merely want to express your negative emotions by throwing a tantrum. In the process, you want your voices heard, to exert influence over the adults, and to feel a sense of superiority. At the same time, you want to spew your anger."

As Kaien's eyes rolled back in agitation, Asisphael felt a headache coming on. 'We're doomed!'

The master of the house, Kentius, stared at the argument bouncing between the Ancient Dragon and his half-brother with an annoyed glare. His eyes held nothing but the wish for everyone to disappear quickly. He didn't seem to have the slightest bit of interest in the contents of their conversation.

Kaien shouted.

"That's right! We are angry. This is all because dragons live far too long. Yes, we live a damn long time. We only get stronger as we age. No matter how much young dragons break their backs trying, they can never surpass the wealth the Ancient Dragons have already established!"

Kentius's repulsion finally overcame his lethargy. Gathering his courage, he spoke up.

"Um, excuse me. Do you really have to do this in my house? I find this situation a bit uncomfortable..."

"Jenkinson, look here. The economic classes have been completely severed, and the ladder connecting them broke a long time ago. Take Earth alone—haven't all the valuable things already been bought up by you old folks?! Young dragons are just picking up the scraps you left behind!"

Jenkinson frowned. Kaien didn't stop shouting.

"Back when the Ancient Dragons were young... before we 'lost' the war with the Ancient Race, this problem wouldn't have arisen. You are a lucky generation. Back then, wealth overflowed throughout the universe. Even without exerting much effort, one could secure enough to make a living. But the story is different now. The resources available for dragons to enjoy have drastically decreased and become limited. Yet you, who thoroughly enjoyed yourselves in the past, still greedily try to monopolize everything! At this rate, we will be poor for practically our entire lives!"

"Poor? Have you ever thought about how other races would feel if they heard that?"

For a dragon to speak of poverty was an atrocious deception.

Kaien stared at the Ancient Dragon who pointed this out as if looking at a psychopath. Then, in a preposterous tone, he spoke with a scoff.

"Why should a dragon consider the perspectives of other races? A dragon should naturally think by a dragon's standards. Are you telling me to be satisfied just because we have more than the likes of elves or humans? If we do that, we'll stay at that level for the rest of our lives, reeking of spoiled mammalian stench from our entire bodies!"

Jenkinson felt a sense of futility, as if he were talking to a wall.

"So you are saying there's a need for someone to represent the rights and interests of the youth."

"Yes, exactly!"

"Excuse me... I'll say it again, but if you're going to fight, couldn't you go outside and do it? I'd like to be alone."

"That's right, there was a need to protect our rights, which the old folks don't care about. That is why I..."

Jenkinson cut him off.

"Then why didn't you come to me?"

"...!"

Kaien finally shut his mouth. Jenkinson didn't miss the opening and fired back.

"Do not bring up that absurd nonsense about birthing the youngest Lord ever again. If you needed someone to protect your rights, you should have contacted the most likely candidate to win from the very beginning. Then you could have exerted your own kind of pressure. You would have wielded power equivalent to the number of votes you hold. There would have been ways to lobby, offering to support me in exchange for revising the Dragonic Code after I became Lord. But your actions so far simply make it look like you are hell-bent on boycotting the election and delaying the schedule. In fact, Blair... my secretary, tried to contact you directly, but you have given absolutely no response to this day."

Jenkinson's points were entirely valid.

Up until now, Kaien had remained completely silent to the Jenkinson faction's requests for dialogue and negotiation.

"Watching you, this thought occurred to me. Perhaps delaying the election isn't a means to achieve a goal, but the goal itself? But why on earth would that be?"

"..."

"I heard all your financial assets turned into mere scraps of paper because you stepped up and incurred the wrath of the Ancient Dragons, acting as a sort of scapegoat. For what exactly? A sacrifice for your peers? No, I am certain. You are not 'that kind of dragon.' You are an incredibly ordinary member of my race, the kind I know very well... one who moves solely for his own benefit. There is something you want. What is it?"

Jenkinson spoke in a heavy voice.

"Since we are facing each other like this, I intend to find out. However..."

The Ancient Dragon paused mid-sentence and fell silent.

"Hmm?"

"...!"

The Ancient Dragon stared at a single spot, his demeanor as if he were tasting the empty air and gazing at the fringes of the atmosphere. The sudden silence made Kaien and Asisphael shrink back.

Could it be.

Could it really be?

"..."

Maintaining the uncomfortable silence, the Ancient Dragon finally spoke.

"Wait a minute... this."

His eyes flashed as if he had confirmed something.

"I've been sensing something strange since earlier, but I wasn't quite sure. However, I know for certain now. You there, what on earth have you hidden in the subspace connected to your body? A tingling aura has been leaking out of it little by little."

"...!"

Kentius, who hadn't been interested or noticed anything unusual, widened his eyes slightly.

It was the first time that he, having unintentionally ended up merely providing the space for their heated debate, took an interest in the contents of their conversation.

At the same time, the young couple froze.

'Damn it, no way?'

Could the senses of an Ancient Dragon of that age even detect the aura inside a subspace?!

Kaien spat a curse inwardly.

'What a monster!'

At that moment.

Whoosh!

Kaien sensed the surrounding mana fluctuating. The aftermath of the spell the Ancient Dragon chanted encroached upon the surroundings.

'A detection spell!'

Kaien urgently reached out his hand. It was a reflexive action. The artifact given to him by his helpers wrapped around his empty wrist. However, even when it came into contact with the Ancient Dragon's Magic, there was no reaction this time either. Just like when it touched the Dragon Heart.

Only then did Kaien realize it. He hadn't seen that treasure exhibit its function even once since stealing the Dragon Heart. Naturally, since there were no more barriers to break through, he hadn't even tried to use it. But the current situation felt as if its functions had automatically stopped, as if it had already done everything it needed to do.

"This is!"

Soon, the Ancient Dragon's eyes boiled over with rage.

"You insane brats. How the hell did you take that!"

Asisphael shouted.

"Run!"

The two dragons leaped up simultaneously. A deafening roar followed.

Boom!

A shockwave strong enough to make even a dragon momentarily lose its balance swept through the surroundings.

Lacking the confidence to immediately pull off a complex spell like Teleport, Asisphael opted for a more traditional method of escape. It was to obscure the pursuer's line of sight with an obstacle and slip away in the opening. Furthermore, instead of backtracking through the unnecessarily spacious and complex interior of Kentius's Lair, she decided to make a shortcut.

The result was a massive hole blown through the wall of the Lair, which still carried the look of newly constructed architecture. Along with a thick cloud of dust, the ceiling and walls collapsed, blocking the space between them. Seeing this, Kentius's jaw dropped open as he stiffened in place. Heterogeneous, clear air mixed into the dense dust—a fresh breeze that had no business being felt in a gloomy underground space.

—!

Emitting Dragon Fear, the Ancient Dragon roared in fury.

"You bastards... stop right there!"

Kaien still wore an expression as if he wanted to deny reality.

"Crazy, how did that monster notice it?"

Asisphael bit the nape of her disoriented lover's neck and pulled him. Throwing him forward, she shouted.

"Kaien! This isn't the time. Damn it, fly! Run away!"

Kentius screamed in despair.

"You crazy bastards! What the hell are you doing to my house!"

A dragon chase began within the ruined Lair.

Unfortunately, however, even the ones being chased could predict it.

That this escape wouldn't last long.

   *

=Say, by the way.=

"Hmm?"

A distant dimension unreachable by a single dimensional leap from Earth.

Staring at the night that had fallen over that place, Asiph-1 asked his creator.

=Why did you give them as much as three days?=

He was asking why he had allowed the priests such a long time to review Minjun's demands.

The Frying Pan pointed out another path its creator could have taken.

=Though they are all powerful ability users, you could have instantly brainwashed at least one of them with just a poke. And with your current power, you could have subdued them all and force-fed them. You could have obtained the altar without having to wait any longer.=

It was a question asking why he had given them time to agonize and discuss among themselves when he could have just brainwashed them all.

Gazing at the dazzling night view outside the window, Minjun replied.

"Because there's no need to return goodwill with violence."

=Pardon? Goodwill?=

It was a difficult statement to understand. Even more so when thinking of that high-ranking priest named Felix who had doubted Minjun.

But Minjun wasn't just referring to a few specific priests.

He was talking about the entire Ellahu-Praga Church.

"This church has shown us goodwill and realized it through their actions for hundreds of years. The Talents they gathered here were an arrangement to awaken my kin. They also took massive risks in the process. Many priests failed to return to their bodies and met their deaths while extracting Talents. They sacrificed themselves for us."

=...That is true.=

The Frying Pan felt the profound loneliness carried in its creator's words.

The vast majority of the people living in this dimensional system didn't even know that the primordial race existed. The Ancient Race, who at least knew their true identities, was obsessed with keeping the primordial race asleep and squeezing them for their blood.

All this time, only the followers of Ellahu-Praga had expressed goodwill toward Minjun's kin. In the form of faith and worship.

Listening to his words, the Frying Pan intuited something.

The massive boundary its creator drew to distinguish 'us' from 'others.' This church, as a whole, was positioned inside the line Minjun had established.

Then it muttered inwardly. 'Is that also why my creator didn't bother to brainwash the Princess of Endelion?'

=But what if you leave them be and they make the wrong choice?=

What if they concluded that they wouldn't give Minjun the Divine Blood?

The Frying Pan felt that the freedom its creator had given the priests was far too dangerous.

=As I understand it, it seems you have given them the freedom to commit sins.=

Minjun shook his head and said,

"No, I didn't give them the freedom to commit sins."

=Then what did you give them?=

"The opposite. I gave them the freedom to not commit sins."

It was then.

"...!"

The Frying Pan felt the outside becoming incredibly noisy. Minjun's head turned in that direction.

A pale, hazy aura crossed the night sky. The human soul with a Sword lodged in its neck was returning. The ghost, having just scouted a secret location, radiated a mental wave from afar. The moment it touched Minjun's mind, he learned what was happening inside the church right now.

He let out a soft sigh. The Frying Pan waited quietly.

Finally, Minjun spoke.

"It seems some of them have just exercised their freedom."

However, it was in the exact opposite direction of what their god wanted.

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