The dragon hidden in the darkness did not reveal itself. Only the clanking of chains echoed.
Stabbing its heart? Pulling out its claws?
Why would a being that feared nothing say such things?
I forced my frozen feet to move and stepped closer to the dragon. I extended the lightstone a little deeper.
The light wasn’t enough to reach the inside. It only made the grotesque chains stand out more clearly.
‘A face I haven’t seen before. And no weapon.’
I halted at the dragon’s continued words. Had it noticed I had no weapon—was it planning to kill me?
I leaned close to the bars, then backed away a few steps. Even chained, the creature inside was a predator.
A normal human like me could be swallowed whole in the blink of an eye, the way Rami swallowed crickets.
I needed to talk first. Dragons were intelligent—communication should be possible.
“Hello? I’m Ceryl. I’m a newly assigned administrator.”
It was the politest, gentlest tone I’d used since arriving here. But in response to my courteous greeting, the dragon gave something completely unrelated.
‘I’m sick of this. If you’re going to cut off my tail, I’d prefer you do it in one stroke.’
What was that supposed to mean? My brows furrowed.
“Why would I cut off your tail?”
CLANG—chains rattled violently. The dragon must have moved.
‘...So you’re a spirit caller. You can hear me.’
“Huh? I said it out loud, didn’t I?”
‘Humans cannot hear a dragon’s voice.’
Was that a thing? I scratched my head, searching my memory.
The original novel never explained this part in detail. Come to think of it, dragons only spoke in their human forms. There was no scene where a dragon in its original body directly conversed with a human.
According to canon: humans cannot communicate with dragons in their true form.
...So this was the transmigrator perk?
Better than a status window.
‘You. What are you.’
The dragon cut off my wandering thoughts. I squared my shoulders and gave the most trustworthy smile I could muster.
“Well, I’m definitely not a spirit caller. Just an extremely ordinary person.”
‘Ordinary?’
“Yes. I barely have any magic at all. My family’s a bankrupt mage clan.”
Another metallic rattle. I couldn’t see the dragon, which made it frustrating.
Was it also pathetically thin like Rami had been? Were its scales supposed to be sleek but now dull and cracked? And if it had been eating that rotten meat—was there dental plaque to deal with?
Wait. Focus. I came here to win over the idiot dragon.
“Ahem, let me introduce myself again. My name is Ceryl Aylos. I came because I want to talk to you.”
‘...Aylos?’
“Yes, Ceryl Aylos.”
Instead of responding, the dragon exhaled like a sigh. A heavy heat brushed past my skin.
A reptile’s breath was never supposed to be this warm. Impossible in reality.
But a fire-breathing dragon was different.
“Why no reply? I introduced myself, so shouldn’t you introduce yourself too?”
For some reason, I was certain the dragon wouldn’t attack. I grabbed the thick bars with both hands and leaned close.
“Hey. Hey, Mr. Dragon! I came here to talk, okay? Yes?”
No matter how far I craned my neck, its figure stayed swallowed in darkness. It was maddening.
Say something. Show yourself. One or the other. Don’t play coy.
Growing impatient, I bit my lip, then rolled the lightstone inside the bars. It wasn’t nearly enough to illuminate the dragon—but I hoped to see even a scale.
But that hope shattered in an instant.
Just as I thought I see something, the dragon stepped on the stone.
‘What trick now.’
“It’s not a trick. I just want to talk—”
‘Using a false name, yet you say no trick.’
My mouth froze mid-sentence.
The body I possessed was indeed Ceryl Aylos.
But technically, that was not my name.
No way.
Had the dragon realized I was a transmigrator?
“H-ha... no, I am Ceryl Aylos. Look closely.”
If I’d learned anything from experience in this world, it was that blatant brazenness paid off.
I held the lightstone under my chin to illuminate my face. I forced a faint smile.
At that moment, deep in the darkness beyond the bars—
blue light flashed.
The dragon’s eyes met mine. My breath stopped. I couldn’t even blink.
I had encountered many monsters—but never anything this overwhelming. From a single glimmer of its eyes alone, I felt in my bones why dragons were kings of monsters.
‘Leave.’
“.......”
‘And stop bringing me rotten meat.’
The light vanished, and my body loosened suddenly. Freed from the spell, I stumbled backward.
My heel caught on uneven stone, and I fell. The lightstone dimmed, as if drained by the dragon’s presence.
“...ugh... ugh...”
My gaze met the lifeless eyes of a corpse on the floor. Its stench rose, thick and rancid.
I remembered nothing after that. I ran like mad down the corridor, didn’t even think to lock the doors. I crawled up the long staircase on all fours—and the moment moonlight hit me, I collapsed in the grass.
“Hah... hah... How... am I supposed to....”
Tame a dragon?
Was conversation even possible?
I couldn’t even speak in front of it.
I lay there staring up at the night sky, trying to calm my pounding heart. Eventually, my cold sweat dried in the breeze. Rami climbed onto my chest.
It had something in its mouth. A live cricket, legs still kicking.
“Hey. Why bring this. You eat it.”
It must have thought it was tasty, so I should have some too. When I grimaced and sat up, Rami slipped into my pocket.
Its long tail stuck out, swaying. It had eaten the stunned ones happily—but ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) of course fresh ones were tastier.
“Wait. Then what has the dragon been eating this whole time?”
Small reptile → large reptile.
If this little one needed live insects, then—
The dragon’s cage had only rotten corpses.
“Has it even been eating?”
Most of the corpses I’d seen looked untouched—limbs still intact.
“Oh no...”
There was one passage from the original novel I remembered vividly—because it was the reason I dropped it.
Dragons do not hunt other monsters.
But Varen Dravergh ate monsters as his food.
That brutal feeding shattered the dragon’s mind.
After that, Varen no longer ate from hunger—
but because the slaughter itself entertained him.
***
Kallen narrowed her orange eyes sharply at me.
“Why are you interested in the dragon again?”
“You’re still suspicious of me? Is that how you treat your direct superior?”
Still, after spending a few days together, she’d warmed a bit. She shrugged and answered.
“You asked what we fed it... It’s been two weeks since the dragon last received food.”
“You haven’t fed it for two weeks?”
“Well, you haven’t executed any monsters in two weeks. No new corpses, nothing to give.”
My jaw dropped. I must have looked idiotic, because Kallen rolled her eyes. I hurried to close my mouth and cleared my throat.
“Feeding a dragon monster corpses... What kind of lunatic—”
At my muttered words, Kallen tilted her head. Her orange eyes stared blankly as if to ask what I meant.
“A lunatic... a brilliantly creative lunatic... who would have come up with that.”
“.......”
“Right. Me. That was me.”
I didn’t have to say it aloud to know the truth. Ceryl held both execution authority and corpse-disposal authority—but to think he’d decided to feed the corpses to a dragon.
I had believed it was Varen’s innate cruelty that made him devour monsters. The novel had said so.
Reality was nothing like that.
The dragon had been driven insane because it had been forced to eat monster corpses while imprisoned.
Of course.
The one who was insane wasn’t the dragon—it was the humans.
I tore at my hair over a past I hadn’t even committed. But regret didn’t matter now. I had to live in this body.
“When did they start feeding monster corpses?”
“Well... before I came here, so at least over half a year.”
“Ha... I’m going to lose my mind. Do you know what they fed before that?”
Kallen rubbed her still-round jawline.
“I read it in a book—the dragons like raw fish. Especially red salmon.”
A giant reptile that likes salmon.
Too cute.
“Ceryl, which monster will you inspect today? If it were me, I’d check ‘Erni’ or ‘Bellatus’—”
“Great. Go check both. And write down what they’re being fed.”
“Huh? By myself? Ceryl, wait a second!”
Red salmon: acquired.
I waved her off casually as I headed straight for the food storage.
