When I stepped out of the small room, Kallen was standing at the door. She paced nervously, then came straight over.
“Ceryl, what about Noak?”
“For now I’ll take sole charge of this one. Make sure other handlers can’t access it.”
I walked ahead, the bulging pocket hidden by my cloak. If Kallen tried to smuggle a monster out under my nose, this time it really would be execution.
A cold sweat ran down my back. Fortunately, the new body didn’t betray any sign of nervousness. Keeping a poker face was easy.
“But it’s a monster they were going to kill anyway — why bother catching bugs to feed it? Ew, Ceryl. Wash your hands well before bed! Ugh, disgusting.”
Is catching crickets with bare hands that revolting? Wild bugs are probably cleaner than people.
And how dare she be chattering about how smart monsters are. I wanted to cover the lizard’s ears so it wouldn’t hear her.
Annoyed at the screeching, I stopped and turned. Kallen spoke bluntly but she was also easily cowed.
“Why do you think we’re supposed to kill monsters? What is the purpose of the 5th Facility?”
“Ah....”
“It’s not an execution ground. Sure, that’s how it’s been, but it’ll change. We’ll understand monsters, care for them, and tame them. That’s what you and I are going to do.”
Kallen seemed full of things she wanted to say. She opened her mouth a few times, then snapped it shut with a displeased face.
I shot her a look that said then be my superior if you’re so bothered, and moved on. Power feels bitter when it’s not in your hands. Once you grab it, it’s sweet.
***
“Rami, want to try hunting on your own today?”
Those glittering eyes looked at me, then scurried along the dark wall and disappeared.
I named the cricket-loving Noak “Rami.” I felt a twinge of guilt for Yangsooni for a moment, but ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) it couldn’t be helped.
Apparently my naming sense had improved a lot in a short time.
Under the tree shade where moonlight didn’t reach, Rami excitedly hunted crickets. Watching it overeat until its belly bulged, I gave a small whistle. It immediately returned to my jacket pocket.
There was a reason I had brought a monster that moved via shadows. I curled my lips into a smile and looked toward the dark Main Building.
“Come on, Rami. Time to earn your keep.”
Everyone had left for the day; the building was empty. I opened a window and snuck in. The hard soles of my boots clicked, so I took them off and tiptoed.
How adorable would a giant reptile be? Curious about that, I had undertaken an uncharacteristic task to try and greet one.
But if that being was Varen, things were different.
Varen Dravergh. The last royal bloodline and the most powerful dragon. The madman who had killed half the world’s monsters.
According to the original timeline, Varen’s appearance was imminent. Whether he could be placated was unknown, but I could not pretend monsters weren’t being exterminated with him right under my nose.
The dragon was deep underground. The access keys were kept in Jed’s office.
It was a hassle to get permission from the facility’s top authority every time, but nobody complained.
When I arrived safely at Jed’s study, I set Rami on the palm of my hand.
“Rami, ride the shadow and go unlock the door. Can you do it?”
Rami, whose dark hide matched the dim environment, bobbed its head at me. Placed on the floor, it circled a few times at the door, then leaped and vanished in an instant.
I stared at the firmly closed door with a trembling heart. After a moment, I heard the click of the lock disengaging.
Nice, Rami! I clenched my fist. The crickets I’d brought must have numbered in the dozens by now. Not one felt wasted.
The key was in the last drawer of Jed’s desk. It was locked, but Rami easily opened it.
There were five keys. Meaning five doors to pass through before meeting the dragon.
I left the Main Building carrying the heavy bundle. The place where the dragon was held lay deep in the forest behind the facility.
Bright moonlight lit the woods. Though I’d never been here, I retraced the map in my head as I walked.
After a long walk, a large stone mound came into view. A good concealment for a casual passerby, but when I brushed away the branches covering it, a thick wooden door appeared.
I stopped and listened. No human sound, not a single passing monster noise.
After confirming it was safe, I moved quickly and precisely and used the first key to open the rusted lock.
With a screech that chilled me, the heavy wooden door opened. Inside, moonlight didn’t reach; pitch-black darkness yawned inward.
As soon as the door opened, a wind surged out from the depths and brushed against me.
“Ugh... ugh, God....”
I instinctively raised my cloak to cover my mouth, but the rising nausea made me clutch at the rock and gag.
What on earth was that smell? Reptiles usually had almost no odor—no fur and little sebaceous secretions.
If there was such a stench, it had to be the keeping conditions.
Whatever the cause, I had to see it with my own eyes. I’d come this far; I wouldn’t turn back over a smell.
I steadied myself and took a lungful of clear forest air. But—
“Uweeeek, ugh. Hnk....”
This was not a smell a person could endure. Anyone who went in to feed would surely have rhinitis.
Leaning against a rock and breathing shallowly, I suddenly caught a fragrant scent on the tip of my nose.
Turning my head, Rami stood on my shoulder, a green little thing with a mint leaf clenched in its tiny mouth.
“My, my baby. Is this for daddy?”
Rami bobbed its head.
See? Monsters repay kindness. I stroked its head with my finger; the thin long tail wagged.
Wild herbs have potent scents that are hard to use in cooking, but they’re excellent at masking foul odors. I didn’t just breathe in the mint—I stuffed a few leaves into my nostrils.
Now every breath was intensely refreshing. My voice sounded nasally, but this was something else.
“Rami, let’s go.”
I called my sturdy helper, but Rami hurried down my body and perched on the rock, shaking its head.
“Daddy going alone? Rami don’t want to go?”
Another bob. This lizard was very clear in expressing its wishes.
Well, from one reptile’s perspective, a dragon would be terrifying. If I encountered a fifty-meter giant in human form, I’d freeze too.
I told it to enjoy hunting bugs and entered the underground alone. Pulling out the portable lightstone from my backpack, I saw stairs stretching endlessly.
One lightstone was enough for bright light, but here it was ineffective. I could only see the next step or so—barely within arm’s reach.
Leaving the basement door ajar just in case, I moved cautiously. How many stairs had I descended? At least five subterranean levels, I guessed.
At last the stairs ended and an iron door appeared. Using the key, I opened it, and an even stronger stench hit me. It pierced the mint tucked in my nostrils.
The corridor seemed endless. It led only in one direction, and I had to open three more iron doors.
Finally, I reached the last door. I exhaled shallowly and steeled myself.
Beyond this door was the dragon. The world’s most notorious traitor, the betrayer of monsters, the biggest idiot of idiots—Varen Dravergh.
As befitted the final gate, the iron door was unusually heavy. Scraping across the stone floor with a chilling sound, it opened.
A pitch-black subterranean prison. An ominous aura seemed to emanate from the opposite side. I advanced as if possessed, then stopped at the sight that met my eyes.
“Ugh, what the hell....”
This was a visual assault rather than olfactory. Corpses of monsters were scattered everywhere.
So that was the source of the stench. Decay, not reptile odor.
It made me sick just to look, so I forced my gaze back to the front and swallowed.
I pushed the lightstone forward as far as possible and walked on. A few meters ahead I found a tightly set iron grate the thickness of an adult forearm.
I approached, but even with the extra light, the dragon wasn’t visible in the deep area beyond the bars. I took out another spare lightstone; the light range widened.
Shining it here and there beyond the bars as my eyes adjusted to the dark, a sight more shocking than the scattered carcasses appeared.
Chains the thickness of a man’s waist hung from the inner wall—more than twenty of them. Each chain extended into the deep darkness.
Tch. A monster that could wipe out a city in an instant—how had they confined a dragon? The cruel purpose at the ends of those chains was obvious.
I stood silently staring into the dark.
Then someone spoke.
‘...Another human.’
The voice came straight into my head rather than my eardrums. The strange sensation prickled goosebumps from my soles to my crown.
Could dragons speak? If so, what would the voice be like? A pleasant bass? Or a deep, dignified tone?
Last night I’d merrily imagined a dragon’s voice and fallen asleep. Reality was nothing like that. It sounded as if the vocal cords had been sanded raw—coarse and rough.
‘Ha... planning to stab my heart today? Or pluck my claws?’
And just hearing it, you could feel how utterly exhausted it was.
