Chapter 202 - Blessing (2)

Before embarking on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Confucius said that. The book I read, however, contained only that sentence, with no explanation of what he meant by it.

So what exactly had Confucius wanted to say? That resolve was important? Or simply that revenge was a dangerous, self-destructive choice?

As someone from the twenty-first century, I had no way of knowing, so I decided to interpret it in the way that spoke to me more.

Yes, Confucius had understood. If you were going to beat someone up, you had to be ready to get your own ass kicked.

'But apparently this kid didn't even know that.'

I smacked my lips as I stared at the kid. After launching straight into a personal attack on our very first meeting, the kid was now staring blankly into space.

"What you just said... What does that mean? I don't understand..."

I hadn't used any difficult words. So surely it wasn't my words the kid couldn't understand, but the situation itself.

Hmm. Or not?

"Wh-why would you say I don't have a mom?!"

The kid shouted, glaring at me, and I asked a brief question in return.

"Do you, then?"

"Well, no, she passed away, but..."

The kid flinched and trailed off.

Honestly, I was a little taken aback myself. I hadn't expected an affirmative answer to that question.

Of course, that wasn't a problem.

"Thought so."

I nodded as if I'd known all along.

The kid really didn't have a mother? So what was I supposed to do about it? Bjorn Jandel had grown up without one too. Besides, given how Draconic humans aged, this kid probably only looked young and was actually older than me.

In short, there was no reason to stop retaliating against that opening attack.

"B-but... how did you know...?"

"It shows."

"It... shows?"

"Yes. If you'd been raised properly, you wouldn't tell lies like that."

As I stated the obvious, I heard the kid's teeth grinding. Even in a world without your-mom insults, comments about family were bound to strike a nerve...

Oh. Was that not it either?

"Apologize, barbarian! Lies? I didn't lie about anything!"

Having regained some composure, the kid erupted in fury over being called a liar.

For some reason, that made a corner of my heart ache. Such a vehement denial could only mean the kid had been entirely sincere about calling me ugly as hell.

Bjorn Jandel would have been hurt. But that wasn't a problem either.

I was a K-barbarian, filled with that warm Korean generosity that returned every cupful received with a whole bucket.

"You don't even realize you're lying..."

I looked at the kid with pity.

"Oh dear. Don't tell me you didn't have a father ei—"

"I do! I have a dad, you lunatic!"

The kid shouted over me.

So I decided to stop being an asshole there. By now, the lesson should have sunk in: mouthing off to a barbarian could land you in serious trouble.

Besides, this was dragonkin home turf—

'Wait, why isn't the elder doing anything?'

Only then did I sense something odd and turn around. The Draconic human elder was watching me with interest.

"You're quite remarkable."

Huh?

"I've never seen anyone make Lady Fenitarseauros so angry."

The kid seemed far too emotional for that claim. Even now, the kid was glaring at me, breathing hard through flared nostrils.

But something else caught my attention.

'Lady?'

The elder had used an honorific with the name. That meant this kid held a fairly high position among the dragonkin.

No, wait...

"Don't tell me this is the priestess?"

The Dragon Priestess. A position rather like the barbarians' one and only Shaman.

Simply put, she was the only one who could grant a blessing.

"Oh, you didn't know?"

"..."

How could I know if no one told me?

I quietly turned my eyes back to the kid. Unlike before, she was glaring at me triumphantly.

"What? Feel like apologizing now?"

An unmistakable sneer curled her lips.

After a moment's consideration, I decided to stick to my attitude.

"Why should I apologize, kid?"

"... I heard you wanted a blessing engraved on you?"

That was true. But even a priestess ranked below Mister Dragon, the chieftain, didn't she? If he gave his approval, she'd have to engrave the blessing on me regardless.

"That's for the primordial dragon to decide."

The kid grinned at my words.

"Oh, you mean my dad?"

"..."

I froze with the smile still on my face.

Seriously? She was Mister Dragon's daughter...?

* * *

The tribe's priestess and the primordial dragon's daughter.

An undeniably extraordinary pedigree, but I struck apologizing off my list of options at this point. That wasn't the barbarian way. More importantly, apologizing would amount to admitting I really was ugly as hell.

"... What are you staring at?"

"Nothing. I'm not staring."

After the shocking revelation of her identity, the kid and I engaged in a subtle battle of wills amid an awkward silence.

How much time passed like that?

"That's enough, both of you."

The elder stepped in to make peace. No, to be precise, she scolded us both.

"Bjorn Jandel, what you said to the priestess was extremely rude. You stand in a temple imbued with our spirits. Barbarian or not, you must show respect."

Having calmly and logically pointed out my fault, the elder turned to the kid, who was quietly smirking to herself.

"You were also in the wrong, Priestess."

"... Me too?"

"Bjorn Jandel is the primordial dragon's guest and a benefactor of our tribe. Passing judgment on his appearance at your first meeting was discourteous."

"But I wasn't lying."

"There are times when one should remain silent. Even when something is true."

The kid hung her head dejectedly. But I didn't feel any satisfaction. If anything...

'... Wait. Is she taking a roundabout jab at me?'

Remain silent even if it was true? Didn't that mean she agreed I was ugly as hell, but thought saying it aloud was wrong?

"Now, I must attend the meeting, so I'll take my leave."

The elder headed back the way we'd come, leaving me aching from that blow. With nothing to do standing around, I sat down on the floor.

A stifling silence settled over us. The kid was the first to break it.

"Tell me something."

"...?"

"You're an explorer, right? Got any interesting stories?"

"... Why should I tell you?"

She gave me an annoyed look.

"Words carry power. And I can sense the nature of that power."

"I don't understand."

"Ugh, I mean I have to get used to your wavelength if I'm going to engrave a blessing on you later. That's probably why Dad sent you here early."

This was the first I'd heard of lore about power in words or wavelengths. But something else interested me more.

"You talk as though it's already been decided."

"If they were going to refuse, you wouldn't have come to this room."

"Then what's that meeting they're having?"

"Who knows? Maybe they thought just giving it to you would make it look too easy."

Hmm. Somehow, that sounded entirely possible.

"Anyway, just say something. We have to keep talking for me to read your wavelength. That'll make engraving the blessing at least a little less taxing on your body."

It was so reasonable compared to our first exchange that I had trouble adjusting, but I complied readily enough.

"Anything in particular you want to know?"

"Start with why you became an explorer."

"What a strange question. We were born warriors. If we cannot fight, we die."

"So you had no choice because of taxes?"

Well, put plainly, yes.

"We're not as well-off as you."

"Oh, I see..."

Dragonkin didn't pay taxes, thanks to their great contributions in a war thousands of years ago. Meanwhile, the other nonhuman races struggled with taxes every day.

"I heard most races lend their people money to pay their taxes. Don't barbarians?"

She seemed genuinely curious, and I smiled bitterly.

"No. We don't."

Dwarves received tax reductions if they became blacksmiths. Therianthropes and elves had money to spare because they used their racial abilities to help with farming and livestock in Gnometree. They offered interest-free loans through the second year, so their people rarely died over unpaid taxes.

But barbarians? We got one weapon, and that was it.

'When I become chieftain, I'll start collecting donations and overhaul the whole thing.'

Objectively speaking, barbarians lagged the furthest behind. There was a lot that needed improving.

Did my expression look that grim?

"... Enough about that. Tell me about that other thing."

The kid changed the subject herself.

"What other thing?"

"You fought my uncle... I mean, the Dragonslayer, right?"

Oh, that.

Since that was pretty much our only point of connection, I told her what had happened with a few small alterations. Nothing major; I just left out the parts that could work against me. How I'd gotten the Ogre Essence, for example, or anything that could make her suspect I was an evil spirit.

Even without those details, it was an interesting enough story.

"Leor Wuerv Dwalki... I feel like that name's going to stay with me for a while."

Like everyone else who'd heard this story, she listened most attentively to the part about Dwalki.

Honestly, reactions like that made me proud. It felt like other people were recognizing him too.

"The sword... So that's how you got it. You really are unbelievably reckless. Anyway, then what? What happened next?"

Once I finished the story about the Dragonslayer, I naturally moved on to finding new companions. That was when I heard something rather interesting.

"Did you know? My older sister might've joined that team."

She seemed to mean the two-year contract companion Mister Dragon had offered me...

"What's your sister like?"

"She's nice. I don't see her often because she's busy, though."

No, I'd meant how strong she was, not what her personality was like.

I was curious enough to want to ask a few more questions, but I never got the chance. The door opened just then.

"I heard you'd quarreled, but you seem to be getting along."

Mister Dragon came in and grinned at the sight of us chatting pleasantly.

That told me one thing. The elder hadn't told him what I'd said to his daughter. He'd never have worn that expression if he'd heard my comments about her upbringing.

"So, have you reached a decision?"

"We have."

Then he could've just told me the result first.

"What is it?"

"We've decided to grant your request."

"I see."

I nodded and glanced at the kid.

I was starting to think she might have been telling the truth. Had they already decided, then held an hour-long meeting purely for the sake of their pride?

'Was that why they asked those strange questions in the first place?'

Just as this reasonable suspicion began taking shape, Mister Dragon spoke quietly.

"There is, however, one condition."

"A condition?"

"We confirmed through the Followers of Leatlas that you received an oracle. One day, you will surely encounter Ligar Vagos... the Dragonslayer, again."

"I understand. Get to the point."

"If you manage to kill him then, bring us his heart."

"... His heart? Why do you need that?"

Given the significance of that condition, I first asked why. The answer came from the kid.

"Because of me. When that happened, I was the one who cursed my uncle."

"The curse..."

A curse that made him a dragonkin who was no longer a dragonkin. It had restricted Ligar Vagos's use of Draconic Tongue and left him unable to properly wield the Dragonslayer Sword he'd gone so far as to betray his tribe to obtain.

"Wait. Wasn't that a curse left by the previous primordial dragon?"

"That's what the world believes. But it was actually my daughter who cast it."

"... I see."

It felt like I was hearing the Draconic humans' secret history. But that wasn't what mattered right now.

"So what does the curse have to do with needing his heart?"

"The price for casting it was that my time stopped right then. And I became unable to take even a single step outside this temple for the rest of my life."

"Will his heart let you go back to normal?"

The kid didn't answer my question. Mister Dragon merely murmured sadly.

"At least, that is what we believe."

Another thought suddenly occurred to me. Was this why he'd originally offered me a companion on a two-year contract? So they could follow me around, then kill the Dragonslayer and bring back his heart if he appeared?

'Then just how old is she?'

At first, I'd assumed she was only a few years older than me, but apparently it was more than a few. The previous primordial dragon had died over thirty years ago.

Her words and behavior did seem childish for her age, though...

'... But I suppose that's possible if she's only ever lived in this temple.'

"So, what will you do?"

"Fine. If I kill the Dragonslayer, I'll be sure to cut out his heart and bring it here."

"Then we're agreed."

It wasn't a particularly difficult condition, so I accepted without further negotiation.

Now it was time to collect my reward in advance.

"When can you engrave the blessing, then?"

"Tonight, if you want," the kid answered. "But first, I need to ask you this. Which blessing do you want? I need to know so I can prepare."

"What blessings are there?"

I asked just to check, figuring there might be differences between the game and reality.

"You didn't know? I assumed you knew, since you asked for this."

"There's only one I know about in detail."

"Really? Then I'll have to explain the others too."

Despite looking annoyed, the kid explained each one in detail. From what I heard, nothing was particularly different from the game.

"The first is Earth Dragon's Blessing."

Earth Dragon's Blessing.

Engraving this blessing on your body increased the bonus stats gained from Essences by 20%. It had excellent synergy with someone like me, who relied heavily on raw stats.

Not that there were many builds it wouldn't work well with.

"The second is Volcanic Dragon's Blessing."

Volcanic Dragon's Blessing.

While the first improved stats, this one improved the performance of every skill. If I remembered correctly, the increase was around 30%.

In other words, choosing this would make me even larger during [Gigantification], and greatly improve [Iron Leather] and [Swing] as well.

"Lastly, there's Sea Dragon's Blessing."

Sea Dragon's Blessing.

Unlike the others, this was the only blessing that granted a flat numerical increase. Its effect was Magic Power +100.

Considering that each level-up through Level 5 only increased Magic Power by 10, that should give you an idea of how high that number was.

Choosing this would probably multiply the time I could maintain [Gigantification] several times over in one stroke. Until I absorbed a few more core Essences, I'd probably almost never run short of MP.

"There, that's everything. Which one do you want?"

Which of the three would I choose?

She considerately offered me more time if I needed it, but I firmly declined.

"I'll take this one."

I'd already made my choice.