Dragon Poor

Perhaps Kim Seon-Hyeok would have been angry if he had found out the truth a bit sooner. No, he would definitely have been angry. However, the current Kim Seon-Hyeoks’s expression stiffened when he found out about the ringleader behind the Great Summoning, but he wasn’t shaken. 

“I see.”

He simply nodded his head at the lengthy explanation.

“I see? That’s all?”

What was he expecting?

Marek seemed slightly bewildered.

“Then what do you want me to do? Should I throw a tantrum over how I was betrayed and used?”

Of course, it would be a lie to say Seon-Hyeok wasn’t upset. But that was all.

Sure, he now knew who was the culprit summoning the foreigners, including himself, but his life here was too satisfactory for him to get angry about it. 

“Have I suffered any great loss because the Dragon appointed me as her proxy?”

“No, that’s not it. Perhaps the other beings may be different, but the Dragon is just and righteous. She would only help you, she would never harm you.”

“Then, there is no problem.”

Marek seemed dismayed by Kim Seon-Hyeok’s succinctness to the point of being blithe. 

“Do you really not feel anything? Are they not the culprits who brought you for no reason to a place where you have no connections and caused you to suffer and risk death when you had been living perfectly well in the other world?”

“I would have struggled just as much even if I stayed in the other world. In that world, I was a nobody. Of course, I almost died here multiple times, but what about it? Right now, I’m living life very well.”

When he first arrived in this world, he desperately wanted to go back. But that was only because he felt that world was more comfortable than living in this world.

At that time, he had been a trainee who had to undergo harsh training for the awakening, and after awakening, he had been on the front lines straddling the thin line between life and death as a lowly foreigner.

But now, that was all a thing of the past. 

He was given the title of duke and held a vast amount of wealth that even if he spent lavishly, he wouldn’t run out before his death. He had received so much praise from the people to the point of being tired of it. He was the husband of the only Empress in the continent, and his vassals were bold men who would eagerly give up their lives for him.

All of this was something that he would never have obtained living the life of an average, no, of a below average life even if he died a hundred times. 

While he had no intentions of being grateful, that didn’t mean he resented it either. 

“But that’s not important right now, is it? What exactly does a proxy do?”

Marek sighed at his question.

“Originally, proxies would reveal the will of the beings who are not able to participate in this world, and eventually become the door through which those beings would manifest in this world. That is what a proxy does.”

“Just as the Fragments of Chaos descended into this world with the help of the Demon King?”

When Marek nodded his head, Kim Seon-Hyeok asked him about the duties of the proxy in more detail.

“It depends on which beings’ proxy you are. Some may bring disorder to the world while others may eradicate the beings disturbing the world. Or like me, prevent non-humans from controlling the fate of the world.”

“Hm.”

Although Marek didn’t mention what the Dragon’s Companion was supposed to do, Kim Seon-Hyeok could vaguely see that the Dragon’s purpose had to do with the poor subspecies of the Dragon who were punished and exiled. 

“Is there anything else that I should know? If not, there’s something else I wish to ask.”

Since Kim Seon-Hyeok found out what he needed to know right now, he didn’t see a need to continue listening to the lengthy lecture.

“Julian isn’t a foreigner, so how was she able to become your successor, and what will happen to her in the future?”

Rather than the lecture, he had more pressing and realistic concerns.

“Simply put, she has the blood of foreigners. Most likely one of the foreigners from the Great Summoning from 200 years ago, or the ones before that, was related to one of the ancestors of Mangsk.”

Marek told him that it would be difficult to find a noble or royalty who didn’t have the blood of a foreigner amongst their ancestors if they went up several generations and that Julian was one such case.

“If her foreigner’s blood hadn’t flowed through her, she would not have been able to withstand the Dragon’s poison in the first place.”

In the end, her being the Adjuster and his greatest adversary were all possible because of her foreigner’s blood.

“From now on, just as I used to be, she will be this era’s Adjuster, and will be in charge of the balance of the eastern continent until the next Great Summoning.”

“When is the next Great Summoning?”

“It could be a few decades from now, or it could be a couple of centuries from now. I don’t know and I can’t tell you.”

As of right now, Kim Seon-Hyeok couldn’t tell whether it would be better to have a longer or shorter period of time till the next Great Summoning. 

“Hm…”

When Marek saw Kim Seon-Hyeok looking like he may understand, Marek had one more thing to add.

“I’m not saying that Julian has to do something immediately. She is still the liege of Mangsk and as long as there isn’t a special being who doesn’t interfere in the area she controls or there is a disturbance, she will be able to enjoy her present life for a long time.”

Having said that, Marek looked Kim Seon-Hyeok straight in the eye. He seemed to be warning Kim Seon-Hyeok not to do anything that would ruin the balance for her.

“You don’t have to look at me like that. I don’t have plans of causing a commotion.”

Marek didn’t seem particularly satisfied with his answer, but he also didn’t get on Kim Seon-Hyeok’s nerves by arguing over something that hadn’t happened.

“What will you do now? Since Julian’s become this era’s Adjuster, you won’t have much to do.”

Marek smiled bitterly at his question.

“Truthfully, life as an Adjuster was quite boring and quiet. I don’t exactly want to rest, but I don’t know what to do. It’s been 200 years since I tried to do something of my own free will.”

Marek had an ambiguous expression on his face. Looking unsure as to whether he should be happy or sad, he looked like a person who had lost his path.

Well, that made sense.

It hadn’t been two months, or two years, or even twenty years. It was only natural for Marek to feel lost when he hadn’t been able to do anything of his own will for 200 years.

“I’m this old and yet so foolish.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok shrugged at Marek’s self-deprecation.

“I wouldn’t say you’re foolish. I’m sure you’ll think of something to do soon.”

Having said that, Seon-Hyeok paused for a moment before subtly bringing up a topic.

“May I suggest something if you can’t think of something to do?”

Unsure of what Seon-Hyeok was trying to say, Marek stared at him.

“You haven\'t been able to see the world because you’ve been confined to the East. Why don’t you wander outside with me?”

Kim Seon-Hyeok added one more thing.

“And if you have time, you can help me with my business too.”

Not understanding what was going on, Marek blinked his eyes, but once he realized what Seon-Hyeok was intending, he laughed dryly. 

“Are you saying you want to beat the Demon King?”

 “Well, more importantly, I have someone to find, but there’s no reason we can’t do that either, right?”

While Marek was incomparably weaker than his heyday, it didn’t mean that his abilities were gone. Marek was still a powerful man who struggled to find an opponent and if Seon-Hyeok was with him, then it wouldn’t be impossible for them to defeat the Demon King.

“No one knows about the hard work you’ve done for 200 years keeping the balance of the eastern continent. You’ve worked that hard, but you haven’t been able to leave your name behind… If that were me, I wouldn’t be able to sleep from the unfairness.”

As a human, it’s natural to have a compensation mentality. It was only natural to want to be appreciated and rewarded if a person did something.

But so far, Marek had done everything in the dark. He had thoroughly erased his traces, and if necessary hid his identity. As an Adjuster, he could not participate in the fate of the continent so there was no way there would have been any compensation.

It would be strange if he didn’t have any regrets.

“You’ve suffered so much, wouldn’t it be great to leave your name behind in history?”

Although it was a cheap and thinly disguised instigation, it was enough to shake the heart of the old knight who had been living as a ghost for his entire life. 

“Why don’t you think about it and give me an answer. I’ll probably be staying in Mangsk for a few more days.”

With that, Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t try persuading Marek anymore. Of course, Seon-Hyeok wasn’t giving up on persuading him. Seon-Hyeok was going to take a little more time to work on coaxing him.

Although Marek looked a bit bewildered right now, the old knight currently in front of Seon-Hyeok was well worth the effort. 

Kim Seon-Hyeok needed something plausible to convince Ophelia, who would never allow him to go West, that this trip was absolutely necessary and that it wasn’t dangerous. 

And the Sword Star Marek Schnail Roachim was enough to be that plausible something. 

Marek didn’t immediately respond to Kim Seon-Hyeok’s offer, but he also didn’t reject it. 

“I will consider it.”

“Yes, do.”

Having finished their individual business, it became silent between the two.

“Mm….”

A low moan was heard in the midst of the silence. It was Julian.

Julian, who had been quietly sleeping in Seon-Hyeok’s arms, finally woke up.

“Julian.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok looked at Julian nervously. He was worried that she might be harboring feelings of resentment towards him for forcing her to take on the fate of an Adjuster. 

“Are you awake?”

Perhaps it was because she was still half asleep, but awareness slowly returned to her blurry eyes.

“Ah…”

Once fully awake, Julian looked at him with eyes as blindly loyal to him as she looked at him when she was a young squire.

Hatred and resentment were nowhere to be seen.

“My Lord.”

Just as she remained his dear squire even after she became the Countess of Mangsk, he was still her lord.

Kim Seon-Hyeok inadvertently let out a sigh of relief. He was so grateful and couldn’t be happier. 

“Fortunately, I feel fine even when I look at you, My Lord.”

It seemed like he wasn’t the only one feeling relieved. Julian was also looking at him with a relaxed expression on her face.

“I’m sorry, Julian.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok apologized to her. 

It was an apology for recklessly dragging her with him to hunt for the sea serpent, and an apology for forcing her to assume the fate of an Adjuster.

“It’s nothing, My Lord.”

Julian’s answer was brisk, if not hard, but her steadfast expression put his heart at ease.

The problem, his damn adversary, that had been keeping him in Mangsk was finally settled. 

***

The West was thrown into chaos.

It wasn’t just the people of Mangsk who witnessed the commotion that occurred that night. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the dazzling flash of light that lit up the night sky had spread across the West, and that the number of people who had witnessed it reached tens of thousands. 

The people quarreled over the identity of the auspicious light.

But no matter how loud the commotion was in the West, it wasn’t as great as the turmoil in Mangsk. 

“What on earth was that gigantic creature?”

“It didn’t look like a creature of this world.”

This was only natural. If people in the other regions only saw the auspicious light, then the people of Mangsk had seen the owner of the light. 

“Whatever it was, it’s certain that it’s auspicious.”

“Didn’t our liege’s complexion noticeably improve immediately afterward? It was most definitely a lucky sign.”

The Mangsk vassals had all sorts of speculations about the identity of the overwhelming creature they had seen the previous night. But no matter how much they argued with each other, they had no way of finding out the answer when the people who knew the identity of the creature kept their mouths shut.

“Since this happened after our lady ascended to the position of liege, it is definitely a sign that heaven is willing to accept her as the new liege of Mangsk.”

“I agree. Since ancient times, the birth of a great man has always been accompanied by a good omen.” 

An absurd conclusion was drawn, but Kim Seon-Hyeok continued to not reveal the existence of the Dragon.  

He had decided that there was no reason for him to be at the center of the commotion.

And even if it wasn’t that, right now, he was focused on other things that he had no time to be worrying about what the people were saying. 

“Goldrake is coming.”

The whereabouts of his most loyal and reliable dragon had been hidden, but now, he could feel the energy of the Earth dragon a short distance away.