The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1493: Chapter 212 - Lucielle Of Pride (2)

Even though the girl had been explicitly forbidden from serving the Dragon, that fact alone wasn’t nearly enough to stop her from following after her.

Most people would have taken the hint. After all, when a being known as the Great Black tells you that she doesn’t need a servant, the sensible thing to do is probably to listen and go home. The girl, however, apparently wasn’t one of those sensible people.

Instead, she continued following the Dragon wherever she went.

At first, the Dragon simply ignored her.

The girl walked behind her.

The Dragon flew somewhere.

The girl waited for her return.

The Dragon rested.

The girl stayed nearby.

It went on like that for quite some time, to the point where even the Dragon seemed to realize that the girl wasn’t planning on giving up anytime soon.

Eventually, the Dragon began speaking to her.

The change was small, but to the girl, it felt like a miracle.

From that point onward, she happily trudged along beside the Dragon whenever she was allowed to. She listened to every word the Dragon spoke with bright eyes and endless curiosity, looking less like a follower and more like someone who had just discovered an entire world she never knew existed.

The Dragon told stories.

Stories older than kingdoms.

Stories older than civilizations.

Stories older than history itself.

She spoke of the era when the world had still been populated by the Great Ones.

According to her, the Great Ones were not merely powerful beings. They were existences that had helped shape reality into what it was today. Mountains, oceans, continents, and even the fundamental laws that governed life had all been influenced by them in one way or another.

The girl listened to those stories with complete fascination.

The Dragon spoke of a time when the world had been far stranger than it was now.

A time when reality itself had been less stable.

A time when creation had begun as nothing more than an idea.

The way the Dragon described it made it sound almost absurdly simple.

As though the world had first existed as a thought before eventually becoming something real.

The girl didn’t fully understand everything she heard.

Honestly, most people probably wouldn’t have.

Still, she listened anyway.

Every story felt important.

Every word felt valuable.

Because the one telling those stories wasn’t some wandering scholar or ancient sage.

She was the Great Black.

The final surviving Great One.

The last member of a race that had once shaped the world itself.

And somehow, the girl had found herself walking beside her.

Eventually, after one of their journeys, the Dragon arrived at a cave.

Calling it a cave almost felt too simple.

The place was enormous.

The entrance alone was large enough to swallow entire buildings. It rested high within the mountains, surrounded by steep cliffs and dangerous terrain that made reaching it nearly impossible for ordinary people.

The location wasn’t simply remote.

It was practically unreachable.

The moment the girl saw it, she understood.

This was the Dragon’s home.

The Dragon glanced over her shoulder.

"Art thou still following after me?" she asked.

The girl immediately straightened.

"I want to serve you, Lady Lilith."

The Dragon’s eyes remained fixed on her for several moments.

Lilith.

That was the name she had given.

The Dragon had never been known by a proper name before.

Throughout countless generations, people had referred to her by titles.

The Great Black.

The Last Great One.

The Ancient Dragon.

The World Guardian.

Names changed depending on the culture telling the story, but they all referred to the same being.

Yet despite all those years, she had never revealed her true name.

Not to kings.

Not to emperors.

Not to heroes.

Not to worshippers.

Not to anyone.

Until now.

For some reason, she had shared it with this persistent girl who refused to stop following her.

And perhaps the most surprising thing of all was that the Dragon was female.

Many stories had speculated about her identity.

Very few had gotten it right.

"I have little need of servants," Lilith replied. "What I require at present is rest. A great calamity draweth ever nearer unto this world, and I must preserve mine strength for the days yet to come."

The girl blinked.

Lilith continued.

"Therefore must I gather sufficient rest, lest I find myself unprepared when that hour arriveth. As such, I have little need for attendants tending unto me whilst I slumber."

The girl fidgeted nervously.

"W-Well, I don’t really mind that."

Lilith remained silent.

"I can just stay nearby," the girl continued. "I don’t have to do anything important. I can just be there if you need something."

A brief silence followed.

Then another.

The Dragon stared at her.

The girl stared back.

At some point, Lilith finally seemed to realize that arguing would probably accomplish very little.

"Then do as thou wilt."

The girl’s face immediately brightened.

With that matter settled, Lilith lowered herself onto the stone floor of the cavern and went to sleep.

Life continued from there.

Despite what many people might have imagined, Lilith wasn’t asleep all the time.

There were days when she would suddenly awaken without warning.

Sometimes she wouldn’t even say anything.

She would simply rise, stretch her wings, and fly off toward some distant location.

The girl never knew where she went.

She never asked.

She simply remained behind in the lair until Lilith returned.

During those periods, she kept herself busy.

She cleaned.

A lot.

Far more than anyone probably needed to.

Not because Lilith demanded it.

The Dragon had never once asked for it.

The girl simply wanted the cave to be clean when Lilith returned.

After all, if someone was kind enough to save your life and let you stay in their home, the least you could do was sweep the floor once in a while.

Even if the owner of that home happened to be an ancient Dragon capable of destroying kingdoms.

Over time, more people began appearing.

The first time it happened, Lilith returned with two girls and a slime.

The girl had been confused.

The second time it happened, Lilith returned with even more.

At that point, a pattern was beginning to emerge.

The girl didn’t know the details.

She didn’t know where Lilith found them.

She didn’t know exactly what circumstances led to their rescue.

What she did know was that every single one of them had been saved by Lilith.

Just like she had been.

The first among them was Satania.

A High Demon.

Even at a glance, it was obvious she was different.

Her mana reserves were absurd.

Trying to compare her magical capacity to ordinary people felt almost unfair.

It was like comparing a lake to an ocean.

The second was Asmodeus.

Originally, she had been an ordinary demon.

However, after being subjected to an excessive amount of sex throughout her life, she had evolved into a Lust Demon, a race that stood above ordinary succubi.

Then there was the slime.

The slime originally had no name at all.

Unfortunately, she also had a habit of eating absolutely everything she could get her hands on.

Or rather, everything she could absorb.

Eventually, Lilith grew tired of referring to her as "the slime" and named her Beelzebub.

The remaining girls were demons as well.

Levi.

Belphegor.

Morsea.

One by one, they gathered within the Dragon’s home.

And together with the first girl, who was me, Lucielle, we eventually became something far greater than a collection of rescued children.

In the future, the world would come to know us as the Seven Princesses of the Demon Continent.

Humanity would eventually assign the seven sins to us as titles.

As for me, I would become Lucielle of Pride.

That future, however, had not arrived yet.

Back then, things were much simpler.

We weren’t symbols.

We weren’t rulers.

We weren’t feared figures whose names would spread across continents.

We were simply daughters.

Because that was how we viewed Lilith.

As our mother.

The one who had saved us.

The one who had given us a home.

The one who had protected us when nobody else would.

At that point in our lives, the thought of betraying her had never once crossed our minds.

Not mine.

Not Levi’s.

Not Asmodeus’s.

Not Belphegor’s.

Not Morsea’s.

Not Beelzebub’s.

And certainly not Satania’s.

At least, not yet.