I let out a thin breath of a laugh like wind hissing, and Ordin tilted his head, looking at me.
"It’s astonishing enough that Varen returned, but harder to believe that an Aylos brought him."
I froze the smile on my face at once.
I’d felt for a while that the Aylos house held some secret.
Jed had invoked the family name, saying he trusted “Aylos,” not me, and the original Ceryl’s bodyguard had been bound by a magic that wouldn’t let him die even if killed.
It clearly wasn’t an ordinary house.
A lie that wouldn’t pass with Varen wouldn’t pass with Ordin, so I chose and offered only suitable truths.
"In fact, I’ve lost most of my memories. I only remember what’s happened these past few months."
"How did you come to lose them?"
"I can’t tell you that. What I can say for certain is it’s nothing that would harm dragons."
Blue irises tried to read my intent.
I had nothing to be pricked by, so I lifted my chin and met him squarely.
Ordin snorted.
"Quite bold for a human."
"Well, after everything I’ve been through. In this world, the brazen survive more easily."
A man who resembled Varen looked at me with interest.
I didn’t dodge it; I put down the rest of the truth.
"Ordin, I am Aylos. But I have no memories of the house—none. And there was no one to tell me."
"Hm...."
"Can you tell me what happened between Aylos and the dragons."
Ordin let out a deep sigh.
After a long moment, he looked not at me but at the moon and opened his mouth in a heavy voice.
"Dragons have lived here since the beginning. There is nowhere like Belzena for flying as we please."
Dragons were beings with a history nearly on par with the Spirit. They might have been born with this world.
"But once—only once—we abandoned Belzena and every dragon fled."
"...For what reason?"
"The first time we were assaulted by humans. They cornered and hunted us with magic."
To drive dozens, hundreds of dragons to flee their home—what kind of magic could do that.
I couldn’t even hazard a guess, so I asked straight out.
"What kind of magic could make every dragon run."
"They could read the wind’s direction—and bend it as they wished."
"...The wind’s direction?"
"Yes. We were helpless. The flames couldn’t carry past the wind, and none of the dragons could fly."
Ordin turned his head back to face me. Loss lay thick in those blue eyes.
"The Aylos house was the first and last humans to drive dragons to the brink of extinction."
The memories of the last few months churned.
Jed, who had called me the cruelest human in Alberian and handed me the torture of a dragon.
The original Ceryl Aylos, who held the role of Monster Executioner at the facility.
Margon, who’d rejoiced that I’d finally succeeded in taming a dragon.
Stray facts that had never touched began linking one by one. The scattered fragments formed a single, large picture.
"...Aylos were the first Dragon Hunters."
My hands began to tremble, fine and cold. A truth that was almost within reach drifted like dust in the air.
Since I came to in this world, I’d interrogated myself countless times.
Why me. Why did I enter the novel.
I’d never found a sharp answer. Now I thought I knew why.
Because I’d been thinking with “me” at the center.
Why was I, of all people, made “Ceryl Aylos.” That was where I needed to start.
With that realization, I blurted out the reason I’d come here, voice urgent.
"Ordin, don’t ask me why—just listen. There will be a human army raid soon."
"What?"
"They can’t use wind-working magic like Aylos. But they wield weapons and magic far more powerful than that."
I scraped together the scattered story of the original in my head.
In the novel’s Belzena battle, Varen dominated the page count.
Of course he did: with his brain broken and under human brainwashing magic, Varen had massacred the dragons.
But the original’s Varen wasn’t here. In fact, the opposite.
Varen was the strongest even among Dravergh. If he completed awakening properly in the Spring of Wisdom, he’d be a solid ally.
Which left only the army of high mages and the crossbows installed on Jed’s tower.
If we were careful about those alone, we could turn the Belzena war into a dragon victory.
Reaching back through memory, I told Ordin everything in detail.
What magic the mage army used, what the crossbows’ weaknesses were.
I couldn’t name the exact date, but I remembered roughly when the dragons were struck and from which direction the army appeared.
After listening for a long time, Ordin asked in ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) a low voice,
"Why tell me this."
Those eyes were still full of distrust, and I shut my mouth for a beat.
Before I was Varen’s benefactor, I was Aylos.
We might be sitting face-to-face having a conversation now, but it was natural that Ordin couldn’t fully trust me.
"I know how strange it sounds. But I’m human and yet wholly on the dragons’ side."
Even when I was a reader outside the book, I felt the same.
Back then I could do nothing but stare into the story and stew.
"I will never stand by and watch dragons be harmed by humans."
Now I’m inside the story. At the center of the events.
Which means I can overturn the original.
Like how I saved a pit-bound, wretched dragon in a cave.
I can save Varen’s parents, his kin—every dragon in Belzena.
Ordin studied my face, hard with resolve. Then he slowly shook his head.
"Strange. An Aylos shows up after a hundred years and stands with dragons."
"After a hundred years?"
"Yes. The last Aylos heir died a hundred years ago. For humans, that’s more than enough time for a line to be snuffed out."
What now.
My head was already in overload; there was no room for new information to wedge in.
But Ordin stared into my eyes and kept talking.
"More than that... this is my first time seeing an Aylos up close. Hm... odd. Very odd."
I came to myself and found Ordin’s face right in front of mine.
He looked like Varen and acted like him—so for a second I mistook him for Varen.
I flinched and leaned back. At my flustered look, Ordin narrowed his eyes.
"Are you truly Aylos."
"...Excuse me?"
"According to the records, Aylos were said to be extremely ill-favored of face. There’s no way they’d look this beautiful."
"..."
"Odd. Very odd indeed."
Even with the cool night breeze, cold sweat beaded.
I forced my stiff neck to turn and fixed my eyes on the full moon.
I’d been glad he took after his father; I didn’t expect the eyes to be the same too.
Like father, like son wasn’t a saying limited to humans.
***
It was already the third day since we’d come to the Dravergh Kingdom.
The dragons still despised us, but at mealtimes they set a bountiful table.
The food was excellent, the bedrooms comfortable. It was, literally, the best rest—warm backs and full bellies.
But the more the days passed, the more on edge I grew. My blood felt like it was drying up.
Because Varen still hadn’t come out of the Spring of Wisdom.
I sat outside the caverns to vent my restless chest.
"Ceryl, why are you out here again in this heat."
Kallen trotted after me and sat at my side.
I gave a weak smile and asked after our party.
"Margon?"
"He must be very tired. He just keeps sleeping."
"Tch, Jed that bastard. How hard did he grind him that a sturdy ox like that can’t pull himself together."
I clicked my tongue and turned my eyes to the high gorge.
The first time I’d seen the dragons fly, it had been a spectacle and a wonder. After three days of it, I felt nothing.
Even while watching their bright, mottled colors, I found myself unconsciously searching for gold.
Kallen read my mood and looked with me at the flock.
"I’m used to the dragon, but the other dragons still scare me."
At that, I glanced sideways.
She’d barely managed to stick close to me, but fear filled the young girl’s face.
I ran a hand over her orange hair once.
"Why don’t you call him Varen? You use names just fine with the other monsters."
"Ah...."
She knew Varen’s name—she still called him “the dragon.”
I’d thought they’d grown rather close; the distance showed in how she addressed him.
"Mm, I’m fine with other monsters. Dragons are still...."
Fair. You don’t easily forget losing family and home, friends and work, to dragons.
I answered with a silent nod.
Kallen clasped her small white hands and, anxious, worried at her fingertips.
"Honestly, I still have nightmares. Every night, the dragon that burned my hometown shows up."
"...Yeah?"
"Yes. It was a red dragon with spikes all over. Its pitch-black eyes looked like a demon’s."
Confessing her nightmares, Kallen cast her gaze far off.
An instant later, eyes that always sparkled went cold.
What is she looking at. I followed her line of sight.
A red dragon studded with spikes was winging our way, black eyes gleaming.
"...It looked exactly like that."
The red dragon glided easily, reached the mouth of the cave, and Humanized.
With blood-red, wavy hair streaming like spilled gore, he strode past us. Eyes black as an abyss flicked and skimmed Kallen.
"Ah, the stink of humans. Makes me sick. I want to kill you."
