Chapter 213 - The Things That God Possesses (3)

3

The Golden Dragon lived in an enormous tower.

Because it pierced the heavens, it was called the Heaven-Slaying Spear. Because its pavilion was made of gold, it was called the Golden Heaven Tower. Its oldest name was the Underworld Tower, for it peered toward the far shore from the earth.

Seven thousand years had passed since the Golden Dragon built the tower. Even as a thousand years layered upon itself seven times, the gold remained resplendent. In distant antiquity and even now, the Underworld Tower was sacred, like an umbilical cord hanging from heaven.

In the kingdom’s southeast, the tower was visible wherever one turned. It had been part of the landscape long before the kingdom’s founding. To exist—that alone became a faith. People worshipped the mysteries of the world.

Even after seven thousand years, the heavenly pavilion remained unchanged.

“I decree a punitive expedition.”

Only humankind had changed.

“Let all nobles heed me.”

Humans, who had lived as slaves to dragons, had before anyone knew it founded a nation of their own.

“A punitive army shall be assembled. Let the lords send their soldiers. This is a royal command.”

As the dragons sneered, humans were foolish and weak. Their lives were so short that even maintaining the continuity of their state was difficult.

Humans were as dim-witted as the dragons thought, but not so dim-witted as to forget which race had enslaved them. The kingdom made eradicating every dragon nation from the earth its national policy.

“The forces to be dispatched by rank are as follows. Each marquess, one thousand. Each viscount, two hundred. Each baron, fifty. Honorary viscounts...”

A vast army numbering in the hundreds of thousands assembled.

Nevertheless, the expedition failed solely because of the Golden Dragon’s authority.

Every dragon was born with an authority of its own. The Golden Dragon’s was [Instinct]. It was a power that laid human greed bare and unleashed it.

Upon setting foot in the Golden Dragon’s domain, brave warriors were consumed by bloodlust. Simple soldiers were swallowed by sexual desire. Adventurers who called one another sworn brothers splintered over spoils. The first punitive expedition, the second, the third—the kingdom’s armies suffered crushing defeats in utter disarray.

As it had always been, so it would be again.

That was what the dragon had thought.

“...”

The Golden Dragon gazed at the girl before it.

Ja Sujeong, had she said?

The child resembled a flower bud just before full bloom. The dragon could smell a faint poisonous fragrance seeping through the gaps between its petals.

“How do you retain your sanity?”

“It is simple. I already live according to my instincts.”

The flower bud imitating a human spoke.

She pronounced the dragon tongue with fluent ease.

“I obtained because I wanted, acted because I wished, and killed because I lived. If those who follow their instincts are called mad, then I must have been mad for a very long time. O Golden Dragon Emperor. You may be able to restore a mad person to sanity, but you cannot drive someone already mad to madness again.”

“There is reason in what you say.”

The Golden Dragon looked over the girl’s shoulder. Dozens of humans stood there. They remained silent while Ja Sujeong spoke.

“But that explains only you. How do they, too, retain their sanity?”

“Well, indeed. It is very strange. Why might that be?”

Ja Sujeong smiled.

“Do try to guess, O Golden Dragon Emperor.”

“...”

The Golden Dragon examined the humans again.

There was nothing wrong with its authority. The humans breathed roughly. Their fists were clenched as though they wanted to kill one another that very instant. Their faces were flushed as though they wished to throw someone down and rape them. They were silent, yet desire swirled throughout their bodies.

They had one thing in common.

An emotion more distinct than bloodlust or sexual desire ruled them.

The Dragon Emperor, more adept at reading emotions than anyone, easily recognized it.

“... I see.”

It was [Fear].

“Are all of them afraid of being hated by you?”

“Yes.”

The flower bud’s smile blossomed fully.

“For I am loved.”

The Golden Dragon understood the truth. And shuddered.

Those humans seethed with bloodlust and sexual desire. It was simply that the feeling [I do not want Ja Sujeong to hate me], the fear that they might disappoint her, suppressed every other emotion.

Even the fear of death.

The Golden Dragon could not help asking in disbelief.

“Love?”

That was love?

“Yes.”

Ja Sujeong affirmed it.

“People often say they love themselves. And that they love themselves most of all. As though it were only natural. What is the true nature of the love they speak of then?”

Ja Sujeong’s voice lilted. Each stitch of her voice joined the next like a melody.

“Very few humans find themselves so lovable they can hardly bear it. They are exceedingly rare. When people say they love themselves, that love is the feeling [I do not want to lose this]. This life. This moment. It means they do not want to lose their lives.”

Ja Sujeong slowly extended her left hand.

“Then surely there is no harm in calling the feeling of not wanting to lose me love as well.”

“...”

“Your Grace, the Ultimate Sword?”

At Ja Sujeong’s call, a duke approached and knelt. Then he pressed his lips to her fingertips.

The duke was an ascended human who had lived for more than two thousand years. He was also, beyond all doubt, the kingdom’s strongest swordsman. For such a duke to kneel seemed an entirely obvious and natural thing.

“Rather than lose me, they would abandon their own lives. To them, I have simply become such a presence.”

“...”

“The Underworld Tower, said to be impregnable. To think the secret to conquering it was love. It is conventional, but amusing precisely because it is conventional. What do you think? Are you not entertained, Dragon Emperor?”

At that moment, the golden dragon knew instinctively.

Who here was strong, and who was weak.

“... I want to live.”

The Dragon Emperor’s shoulders trembled.

“Spare me. ... Let me live.”

The dragon had shrunk into human form. At the pavilion’s summit was a flower garden, and at the garden’s center was a fountain. In that fountain made of gold, the Dragon Emperor pleaded. The vibrations of the dragon’s trembling body spread unaltered across the water’s surface.

“Of course.”

Ja Sujeong stroked the Golden Dragon’s chin.

“I must let you live. You are so beautiful.”

“Please...”

“But you have yet to answer my question. A way to help those who have already died. Do you know such a way, Golden Dragon Emperor?”

“I do not. I do not, but I know those who I suspect might... I know them. They, too, are Dragon Emperors. I will tell you their names. I will tell you where they are. So...”

“Yes.”

Ja Sujeong’s touch was gentle.

A gesture that said she understood everything.

“Three punitive expeditions were ordered to conquer this place. The most recent was twenty years ago. Approximately one hundred thousand lives were lost then. Two hundred thousand, if we include those who went uncounted. The royal family and nobles will rise like a swarm of bees, clamoring for your head, but...”

“...”

“Do not worry. I will find a way to take care of it for you.”

SPLASH

The fountain’s water rippled.

The Golden Dragon’s hair spread across the surface, wavering.

“There is just one price.”

“What is it...?”

“Please love me.”

Somewhere, a drop of water fell.

+

[Golden Dragon’s Gaze]

Rank: EX

Effect: Those who enter the skill’s range are consumed by instinct. Their intellect is paralyzed and their reason dulled. Desires, urges, and greed they ordinarily suppress are unleashed.

This skill reveals the target’s ‘essence.’ It can be applied not only to living people but also to objects. If you wish, you can perceive the essence of all things. You will survey the world from an omniscient perspective.

※ However, you yourself are also included within the skill’s range.

+

The Golden Dragon was reduced to Viscountess Ja Sujeong’s pet.

“In the desert beyond the mountain range, there is a child called the Earthbone Dragon.”

To the lover she had come to love for the first time in her life, the dragon offered everything she had.

The Golden Dragon used her authority for Ja Sujeong. Recited her knowledge for Ja Sujeong. Dedicated the rest of her life to Ja Sujeong. She knew well the ruin that awaited a dragon who fell in love with a human, but her knowledge weighed less than a single blink of her lover’s eyelids.

“The Earthbone Dragon?”

“Yes. The Earthbone Dragon has the authority of immortality. Everything its fingertips touch scatters into sand, and every life gathered into its grasp gains eternal life. The method is somewhat unconventional, but...”

“Oh?”

Ja Sujeong smiled.

“How amusing.”

The dragon became happy.

+

[Earthbone Dragon’s Skull]

Rank: SSS+

Effect: Stores the memories of the living. Stored memories are placed in a ‘box.’ This box can be destroyed only by the owner of this skill.

As long as the box is not destroyed, you can produce the body of a person who inherits the same memories over and over again. The body can roam the world, accumulate new memories, and ‘update’ the box with those experiences. Provided you allow it, of course!

Even if the person’s body is destroyed, the box suffers no damage. Bestow the privilege of immortality upon those around you.

※ However, the memories of a destroyed body cannot be updated to the box.

+

The Earthbone Dragon soon became Ja Sujeong’s pet.

“Perhaps I still lack a few ingredients.”

The Golden Dragon and Earthbone Dragon rubbed their cheeks against Ja Sujeong’s lap. Viscountess Ja Sujeong slowly stroked the Golden Dragon’s golden hair and the Earthbone Dragon’s black hair. Whenever her touch brushed their foreheads, the dragons shivered.

“I have obtained [Eyes] that see anything. And acquired a [Head] that stores memories. But it is still not enough to encompass even those who have already died. Might there be a good means?”

“At the end of the great river...”

The Golden Dragon parted her lips.

Sweetened breath flowed out.

“There is a child called the Glacier Dragon. Bitter cold rages where that child lives. The wind becomes snow midway through blowing, and the sea turns to ice midway through surging.”

“How intriguing. Please tell me more.”

“The Glacier Dragon freezes those it takes a liking to in a special way... It makes them into pillars of ice. Those pillars can never be destroyed or melted. Except by the Glacier Dragon. Astonishingly, when the Glacier Dragon melts a pillar, the person trapped inside comes back to life as though they had only closed their eyes for a moment...”

“Meaning?”

“The Glacier Dragon has the authority to stop time.”

The Golden Dragon rested her face against Ja Sujeong’s lap and looked up at her other half.

“If it can stop time, it can accelerate it. If it can accelerate it, it could control it as well... Could it not...?”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong smiled softly.

“How adorable.”

The dragon became a little happier.

+

[Glacier Dragon’s Breath]

Rank: EX

Effect: You can control the time of anyone you wish. You can return them to the past or freeze them in the present. You can move them to any moment on a timeline you have observed.

※ However, you cannot move them to a time you have not personally observed.

+

The Glacier Dragon became Ja Sujeong’s pet.

“Ah.”

All the ingredients were assembled.

At last, Viscountess Ja Sujeong let out a breath.

“How lovely.”

Beneath the sound of her breathing, the dragons were happy.

“Yes, lovely.”

Ja Sujeong herself was happy as well.

Probably.

[Act Three.]

[Kingdom Hunt.]

At this point, no political force could stop Viscountess Ja Sujeong.

There were six dukes in the kingdom, and accordingly six factions. The Performance Faction followed the Duchess of Amusement. The Pioneer Faction followed the Duke of the Peerless Sword. The Religious Faction followed the Duke of Myriad Gods. The Inner Capital Faction followed the Duke of the Inner Capital. The Bedrock Faction followed the Duke of Bedrock.

Viscountess Ja Sujeong was ‘loved’ by all six dukes.

Even in the unprecedented situation of a mere viscountess [Owning] dragons, the nobles could not openly oppose her.

There might have been a slim chance if the royal family considered Viscountess Ja Sujeong dangerous. After all, was the royal family not the only force that could stop a noble running rampant?

The reigning monarch was the Sun King.

He had held the throne for more than ninety years, and had not attended the Noble Assembly even once in the past sixty. When a rebellion broke out sixty years ago, the Sun King executed his own daughter.

The Sun King could find no value in a nation that could stand only through the killing of kin.

Nor could he see why he should bother to exist in a place without value.

The king shut himself away.

During the sixty years the sun spent in seclusion, the kingdom rotted away.

“Your Majesty.”

Flower petals had their most poisonous scent when they rotted.

“Please hear my request.”

“...”

“You regret killing your daughter, do you not?”

“...”

“A rebellion arose because you ruled the nation. Whatever policies you adopt, whatever governance you practice, someone somewhere in these royal lands is inevitably sacrificed. The more one governs, the more sacrifices one creates. Since it is true whoever governs, it is true when I govern as well. Then would it not be better to do nothing?”

“...”

“Let the wise exercise their wisdom. Let those who desire power obtain it. Your Majesty need only exist here. If that is the only path of kingship you can pursue...”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong sat below the throne.

She reached out and caressed the cheek of the king, who had not made a single expression in sixty years.

“Entrust it to me.”

The scent of peaches.

A fragrance like peaches crushed by hand filled the audience chamber.

“I quelled the rampage of Red Nails that none could quell. I stopped the Assembly of Stone that no one could stop. I crushed the rebellion raised by the Heaven-Shattering Cat in the southeast. I revived the royal army abolished by the Fish-Eating Treaty, defeated the Golden Dragon threatening the kingdom’s south, took in the Earthbone Dragon encroaching upon the great desert’s territory, and captured the Glacier Dragon that froze the great river’s eastern waterways. The Duchess of Amusement. The Duke of the Peerless Sword. The Duke of Myriad Gods. The Duke of the Inner Capital. The Duke of Bedrock. Even the six dukes, rotting with time, have hearts that beat anew in return for giving their hearts to me. Look, Your Majesty. I have accomplished tasks no one else could achieve.”

“...”

“I am capable.”

“...”

“I am the most capable of all.”

“...”

“And so, Your Majesty.”

The murmured whisper of the age’s most capable minister was sweeter than the praises chanted by the most treacherous minister of all time.

“Entrust it to me.”

Her violet eyes opened halfway.

“Do you fear misrule? Misrule, then. I shall set it right. Do you fear mistakes? Make them. I shall undo them. Do you perhaps fear madness? It is all right. Go mad.”

“...”

“You need only be mad for me.”

The stone statue hardened over sixty years opened its mouth.

“Why?”

The monarch once praised as the kingdom’s sun was puzzled.

“If you are so capable, the kingdom must be of no use to you. If you can give the kingdom everything, the kingdom can give you nothing. Why do you seek my favor? I can give you nothing.”

“Forgive my presumption, Your Majesty, but you are mistaken about one thing.”

“What is that?”

“I am here for an audience with you.”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong gently rose, bracing herself against the royal knees.

The gazes of sovereign and subject met.

“What I desire is you, Your Majesty. Just as you desire someone infinitely more capable than yourself, just as you have always dreamed of such a person, I desire you.”

“...”

“Become my own foolish king.”

Their breaths met.

“I shall make you the enlightened monarch of the age.”

The statue crumbled in the peach fragrance, and the sun was bewitched by petals.

As he crumbled and fell under their spell, the king asked one final question.

“... The burden of what I have already done is great. Many have died. I have no right to live as an enlightened monarch. Is it not my duty to remain a foolish king until the end and apologize to history? Just as the dead cannot be revived, sins already spilled cannot be undone. It would be better for you as well, Viscountess, if I died and you served a new monarch.”

“Aha.”

It was the same as the curse the witch had once poured out.

Back then, Ja Sujeong had been unable to offer any answer.

“It is all right, Your Majesty.”

Now was different.

“I can help those who have already died.”

She had become a little more capable.

“I can help not only the dead, but everyone in all creation.”

“How...?”

“Entrust everything to me.”

Ja Sujeong smiled seductively.

“Only, please love me.”

That December, Viscountess Ja Sujeong was elevated to duchess.

Hers was the seventh ducal house established in the kingdom’s history, and she was the youngest ever to receive the rank.

The Duchess of Kaleidoscope.

In the kingdom, it was customary to shorten ducal titles to two syllables. The Duke of the Ultimate Sword was called the Duke of the Peerless Sword, and the Idle-Eater Duchess was the Duchess of Amusement. The Duchess of Kaleidoscope, too, was more often called by the two syllables coined among the populace than the three bestowed by the king.

The Kingdom-Toppling Duchess.

She was the duchess who brought a nation to its knees.