The Foreigner on the Periphery

"I really feel like I'm dying! I can't do this anymore!"

A pleading voice.

"Could you please try just one more time?"

"No! No! I won't do it even if it kills me!"

The elf, Blair Campbell, finally gave up.

Before her stood a fairy, rubbing her bloodshot eyes.

At Blair's earnest request, Larissa had been continuously traveling back and forth to the spirit realm, observing the space beyond the barrier in hopes of catching a clearer glimpse.

The sweet-scented fairy sniffled and spoke.

"I don't even have the strength to flap my wings anymore. Just look at this."

"Phew... I understand. It can't be helped."

"Yeah, sister. Stop with the elder abuse. Still, we found out one more thing thanks to all my hard work. You should be satisfied with that."

On her first attempt, the mana had been blazing like the sun, making it impossible to gauge the Red Dragon's exact condition.

However, because Larissa had endured the agonizing pain of her eyeballs burning and constantly recharged herself with sugar powder, she had managed to capture a faint image.

His wings were folded and his tail was curled—the typical sleeping posture of a dragon.

"Given the timing, it's not hibernation. He'll probably wake up soon. Don't worry too much."

Despite the fairy's consolation, the elf felt a chilling sense of crisis.

To think he was unconscious. The worst imaginable scenarios swirled in her mind.

Ring!

A call came in from a subordinate. After listening to the report, Blair gave a brief instruction.

"Send him in."

Larissa, brushing sugar powder off her suit with a limp, exhausted gesture, asked a question.

"Who is it?"

Instead of answering, Blair said something unexpected.

"Perfect timing. Please wait just a moment."

"What?"

Right then, the door opened and a man walked in.

The fairy's eyes narrowed at the visitor. He was a slender man, his face completely obscured by sunglasses and a mask, with a bucket hat pulled low over his ears.

"Who wraps themselves up like that? Is he a celebrity? Someone famous?"

"...He has become somewhat famous lately."

Blair turned to the man.

"Could you use your recovery power on her? She pushed her body too far traveling back and forth to the spirit realm."

"What? Recovery? Sister, you don't mean...?"

The man reached out toward the fairy, and a brilliant light burst forth.

Flash!

"Oh my god! What in the world!"

The fairy fluttered her wings in disbelief, then soared into the air with immense vigor.

Her stamina, which had plummeted to zombie-like levels, surged back. Feeling vitality overflow through her body, she gasped in astonishment.

"Wow! I feel incredible. All the fatigue is just gone. It's like I woke up from a deep sleep. This guy is a walking dose of propofol!"

Blair couldn't shake the suspicion that the fairy was dabbling in a few things other than sugar, the one legal drug permitted by society.

"Larissa, I apologize, but we have some things to discuss in private."

"Got it. See you later, then. And hey, thanks for today!"

Receiving her thanks, the man shifted awkwardly and mumbled in a low voice.

"Ah... yes. You're welcome."

The fairy tilted her head slightly as she walked out the door.

'Hmm? That voice sounds familiar.'

She completely failed to realize that his voice was identical to that of Edward Mitchum—the half-elf and Vampire ability user who sat at the head of one of Korea's top six conglomerates.

   *

Left alone, Blair spoke to the "youngest."

"There is somewhere you need to go with me."

Avoiding the eyes of the other employees, they moved to an annex located deep within the Lair.

"Where are we?"

"This is where the Chairman's guest is staying. He is also a dragon."

She then explained what the youngest needed to do.

Blair confronted the lingering anxiety in her heart.

'Am I doing the right thing?'

Jenkinson had brought back unexpected freeloaders from his outing. He locked two of them in prison and provided a residence here for the third, instructing Blair: 'Do not touch him, just leave him be.'

She was now effectively disobeying the Chairman's orders.

'Right now, I have to grasp at any straw I can.'

The powers of an elf and a fairy were not enough to wake Jenkinson.

But what about a dragon, one of his own kind?

'Since he is a guest who received a favor, I should be able to ask this much of him. If he has any decency, he won't betray the Chairman, even if he can't repay the debt. There's also no worry of rumors spreading outside.'

Blair did not know that Jenkinson had partially contributed to the incident that forced him to stay here.

"Now then, let's go in."

She took the lead.

As they opened the door, a thick, gloomy air enveloped them. There were no lights, but neither the sharp-eyed Blair nor the youngest—whose blood was a mix of several races—had any trouble seeing in the dark.

In the center of the darkness, the two of them saw a massive figure crouching on the floor.

"He hasn't even woken up despite us coming all the way in."

Clearing her throat, Blair called his name loudly.

"Lord Kentius, do you have a moment?"

The youngest felt the texture of the air shift.

Immediately after, a part of the darkness moved.

The tricolor dragon Kentius looked at the homeowner's subordinate with only one eye open.

"..."

He didn't ask why they had come. Even though he was merely a freeloader, he didn't get angry at them for entering without permission.

The elf read lethargy and despair in the dragon's eyes.

This elf, who generally loved all dragons in the world—though the depth of that love varied—carefully swallowed a sigh.

'Good heavens, a dragon suffering from depression!'

A dragon, the very incarnation of self-affirmation, was holed up in a corner of the Lair, wallowing in sorrow.

According to Jenkinson, this dragon seemed to loathe himself. It was an unbelievable tale.

Blair spoke to Kentius, who had been refusing all food and drink and doing nothing but sleeping for days.

"The Chairman sent us."

He didn't even ask why.

Blair introduced the youngest standing next to her. Since disguises were meaningless in front of a dragon, he had already revealed his bare face. Even though it should have been a familiar sight, there was no real reaction.

"This is the greatest Divine Power user on Earth, as acknowledged by Chairman Jenkinson."

Jenkinson had also speculated that he might eventually become the greatest in the entire dimensional system, but she left that part out.

Blair had clearly witnessed a miracle at the university hospital. Among the people the youngest had unintentionally healed were patients with severe dementia. It meant he could even cure brain abnormalities that most ordinary priests wouldn't dare attempt to touch.

"The Chairman ordered us to treat you, Lord Kentius."

It was a lie.

Through her previous attempts, Blair knew that holding a conversation with Kentius was impossible. His symptoms had worsened to a point closely resembling aphasia.

'I have to fix that depression first before I can even ask him anything!'

As the elf waited patiently, something resembling a reaction finally emerged.

It was a faint mental wave.

=...Do whatever you want.=

Kentius didn't hold high expectations.

He knew the fundamental cause of his depression wasn't something that could be cured.

The priest—whose genetics were a mix of elf, human, dragon, and Ober spider—reached out his hand and emitted light.

Flash!

His power delved into the dragon's brain.

The Divine Power couldn't touch Minjun's brainwashing. However, the principle of restoring the body to its optimal state applied equally to the brain. The imbalance of various chemicals, such as hormones, was corrected.

The priest serving an unnamed god couldn't remove the suggestion, but he succeeded in lifting Kentius's severe depression and lethargy.

"...?!"

Seeing the change in the dragon's eyes, Blair let out a sigh of relief. Then, she looked at the youngest with renewed wonder, evaluating him in more positive terms than the fairy had.

'He's practically a walking Prozac.'

She felt no guilt about using the candidate for the universe's strongest priest as a dragon antidepressant without permission. Kentius finally opened his mouth.

"...Amazing. I didn't know a priest could do something like this."

Confirming that his psychological state had noticeably improved, Kentius blinked in bewilderment.

"I should send my thanks to Jenkinson."

Having regained his stability, he recognized the rudeness he hadn't been able to perceive while depressed.

To belatedly send a proper greeting for the residence and simultaneously express his gratitude for lending the priest, he chanted a message magic.

With a slightly stiff expression, Blair waited for his reaction.

"Hmm?"

The dragon's head tilted.

"Strange. Something is deflecting my magic."

Blair spoke in a tone that suggested she had expected this.

"It seems the Chairman has set up a barrier and is engrossed in his research. To maintain his focus, he appears to have blocked even message magic."

She didn't bring up the fact that he was unconscious. Leaking only the absolute minimum amount of information, she steered the topic where she wanted. "Since we're on the subject..." Feigning a natural flow of conversation, she put on a troubled expression.

"There is an urgent message I need to deliver to the Chairman right now, so this is quite a difficult situation. Would there be any useful method to bypass this?"

Even though he was young, he was of the Dragon Race, so he might know a method that an elf wouldn't.

It was a question she couldn't ask any other Ancient Dragon, as they could pose a threat to Jenkinson. Contacting the Chairman's children who were wandering through outer space also carried the risk of being wiretapped. Now that Ye Minjun was missing, Blair had nowhere else to turn.

Could Kentius wake him?

She didn't expect him to break the barrier. She just wanted to transmit a loud voice past it.

That he had to wake up quickly. That if his absence dragged on any longer, greedy Ancient Dragons might notice and swoop in.

"Hmm, well."

Blair felt despair as she heard his next words.

"It won't work with my strength. The barrier is too powerful. You'd be better off asking another Ancient Dragon for help..."

His words trailed off. It seemed even he realized it made no sense.

"That's impossible, though. They'd throw a fit about a mere elf daring to treat them like a messenger."

His reasoning was different from Blair's, but it led to the same conclusion regardless.

"Is there no other way?"

Kentius, who had been deep in thought for a moment, spoke.

"Goodness, come to think of it, this is quite funny. There was no need to ponder it."

He spoke as if he had realized something.

He suddenly smiled. It was the first smile the young dragon had shown in months.

Kentius gestured with his chin toward the man standing next to the elf.

"Aren't you asking me this while keeping the key to solving the problem right by your side?"

"Could it be?"

The elf and the dragon looked at the same spot simultaneously.

"Uh, eh? Why are you looking at me?"

Receiving their stares, the youngest tensed up.

Though he would likely become depressed again as time passed, Kentius, feeling momentarily better, kindly explained.

"Elves are just as far removed from Divine Power as dragons, so you might not know this. Divine Power and Magic both use mana as a medium, but they have a predator-prey relationship. Their compatibility is terrible."

"Ah, then?!"

"You said he's the greatest ability user on Earth? High-ranking priests can manifest Divine Power in ways other than recovery. They sometimes carry their voices on Divine Power to communicate with each other. Try doing that."

It was advice to attempt piercing Jenkinson's barrier with Divine Power instead of Magic.

The elf gasped.

"My goodness, I took a long detour when there was a shortcut right here!"

Blair wanted to run straight to the barrier, but while Kentius was in a good mood, there was one more thing she needed to check. She asked what had happened when Jenkinson and Kentius met. Excluding the crucial keyword 'Dragon Heart', Kentius had heard almost the entire conversation between the young male and female thieves and the Ancient Dragon, so he explained everything he knew.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Having gotten her answer, Blair urgently grabbed the youngest's hand and sprinted out. Kentius watched their retreating backs—or to be exact, the priest—with a peculiar gaze. Shortly after they disappeared, Kentius, his appetite returning for the first time in a while, opened his subspace.

"Gasp! Secretary! S-Slow down!"

Blair ran, practically dragging the youngest along. She was in a rush. She couldn't be certain if things would work out exactly as Kentius said, but it was worth a try.

Heading toward Jenkinson's lab, the secretary prayed with an anxious heart. She desperately longed for the Red Dragon she revered to wake up safely.

'Chairman... please, wake up!'

   *

"Get up! Come on, get up!"

Jenkinson felt like he was going to die.

"How long are you going to sit there crying? Get up now. We have to take revenge on those Ancient Race bastards!"

Jenkinson thought that sorrow might actually be enough to kill someone.

Ignoring the urging crashing against his ears, he sobbed. He felt the agonizing pain of his heart being torn to shreds. Collapsed on the floor, he wailed in grief.

He felt like he was dying.

He was so profoundly sad that he truly felt he would die.

"Ahhh, Father! Mother!"

Jenkinson could not believe the tragic news that had arrived from the front lines.

"To think the two of you would pass away so vainly! To mere Ancient Race scumbags, dragons of noble bloodlines like you!"

The Lightning Dragon who had come to persuade Jenkinson frowned, seemingly having a hard time understanding.

"Noble bloodline... your family has always insisted on that bizarre nonsense. I suppose you are special, though. A powerful dragon like you can't keep guarding the rear forever. Come, go with me. We must get revenge!"

Jenkinson wiped away his tears.

"Revenge...!"

"Yes, revenge! As you know, the tide of the war is unusual. Those bastards were absolutely pathetic during the last war, but they suddenly returned with unheard-of weapons and new technology. Because of that, we ended up losing a crucial planet! Now, not only the Ancient Dragons but even the young dragons who haven't yet reached a thousand years of age are being drafted. You may not be as old as your late parents, but you're an Ancient Dragon of considerable age yourself. We need that power right now!"

"...I understand. I will go too. To the front lines!"

"Good thinking!"

The Gold Dragon Jenkinson glared upward with blazing eyes. Looking beyond the Milky Way spread across the night sky, toward the direction where the enemy was stationed, he made a vow.

'Father! Mother! I swear I will take revenge for the two of you. And... I will definitely reclaim your bodies from those bastards!'

Jenkinson etched the final wishes of his deceased parents into his heart.

The heart of the most enduring, noble bloodline had to be passed down to him.

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