Chapter 74: The Red Dragon and the Dragon Orb (3)
The golden-brown fried fish looked visually appealing. To accompany it, I made rolled omelettes.
Savory and delicious rolled omelettes.
Back on Earth, some people made these omelettes sweet, but I preferred the salty, Korean-style version.
I finely chopped green onions, making the omelette a vibrant yellow, and then I prepared miso soup. It wasn’t complicated; I kept it simple, focusing on the natural flavor of the miso and enhancing it with clams.
There was only a little tofu and some green onions on top.
I also added various vegetable side dishes I had brought from the Grayke market. The colors of the side dishes were a perfect balance of green and brown, resembling the freshness of bracken and spinach.
It really looked like a home-cooked meal.
“Here you go, it’s ready.”
“Hm, looks kind of humble.”
Of course, typical of a dragon.
She said something similar to what Rurin would say, though she was at least calmer than Rurin.
“What’s this?”
“Fried fish. You probably haven’t had it before.”
“Indeed. So my last meal is going to be something like this, huh? Not that it matters.”
The Red Dragon muttered something odd and brought the entire fried fish to her mouth.
“Hey, you need to remove the bones—”
Crunch, crunch.
What a foolish thing to say. I immediately regretted it.
Dragons can devour cows whole, bones and all, and digest them without issue. What was I even worried about with fish bones?
Rurin was the same.
For a moment, I forgot this woman was a dragon.
“Oh, this is well-fried. What do you call this? It’s so crunchy.”
In fact, seeing her crunch through the whole fish like that made it seem even tastier.
The dragon nodded in approval, then brought the miso soup to her lips.
Pffft—!
But that didn’t go over well. She spat it out with considerable force.
“Hey!”
“What is this awful stuff?!”
She made the typical comment you’d expect from someone encountering miso for the first time in another world.
Rurin had once reacted similarly before she became used to the taste of miso. Now, she eats it without a problem, but this dragon’s reaction was identical to Rurin’s first time.
“It’s not awful! Just savor it!”
“Hmph.”
The Red Dragon shrugged and then tried the rolled omelette.
“What is this? It’s so fluffy!”
She looked genuinely impressed, her eyes lighting up.
“I thought it looked humble at first… but it’s actually quite decent. Not bad for a final meal.”
The dragon soon finished her meal, putting down her fork and drinking some water. Then, she let out another self-deprecating laugh. What was with that laugh from earlier?
This time, however, the laugh didn’t last long. Chaos erupted. Rurin, who had been sleeping, suddenly awoke.
“What the—?! I wake up and find some old, red-scaled thing in my restaurant! What’s going on?!”
“Kyaaaah?!”
The sleeping dragon began to thrash about. At the moment she woke up, she must have sensed the presence of another dragon and realized it was a Red Dragon—one she despised. She immediately sprang into action.
Rurin launched a kick toward the Red Dragon, who was seated at the bar table.
-THUD!
The Red Dragon was knocked into the adjacent chair and tumbled onto the floor. It was an uncontrollable scene.
“How dare a Red Dragon touch my things! Victory is mine! Ha!”
Rurin cheerfully flashed a V-sign, grinning triumphantly. But her expression soon changed. With a twisted face, she rushed over to me.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
“What’s with the sudden kicking when the guest was just eating? Stop that!”
Of course, there was no real force behind it. She didn’t use any magic either. It was just a light, playful kick, showing her dislike for the Red Dragon. But even if this was a battlefield, such behavior wasn’t acceptable in a restaurant.
Even as I scolded her, Rurin shook her head vigorously.
“That’s not it!”
“Huh? Then what is it?”
“Look over there!”
Rurin tugged at my arm, pointing to where the Red Dragon had fallen on the floor.
“Blood! It’s everywhere!”
“What?!”
She was right.
There was a pool of red blood in front of the bar table. It was seeping out steadily. The source of the blood was the Red Dragon’s back. The amount of blood was enough to cover the entire restaurant floor.
It was gushing out from her back like water from a pump.
It didn’t make sense for Rurin’s kick to have caused this. Rurin had only kicked her arm, and the blood was coming from her back.
Even if there had been a trap on the floor, it wouldn’t make sense for a dragon to bleed like this.
“I told you it was my last meal. The preservation magic on my wound broke because of that kick. It hurts… so much. I was betrayed and fled. I only came here because I sensed your presence. I wanted to see… if there was any such thing as true love. Dying like this, after being betrayed, is just too stupid. But it’s only a matter of time before I die anyway… what a miserable life…”
The Red Dragon spoke of her own death as if it were someone else’s problem. Her empty eyes made it clear that she was resigned to her fate.
Now her frequent mentions of “last” made sense.
The wound on her back was truly severe. There was no way that blood would be gushing out like that without significant internal damage. Even though she was in human form, dragons are normally protected by a mana barrier.
For her to be in this condition, she must have been attacked by someone with dragon-level power.
The preservation magic had been holding her together, but it was only a temporary measure.
“What happened to you? How did you get so badly injured? Dragons don’t just end up like this.”
This wasn’t during a war between dragons. Yet here she was, gravely wounded and collapsing. The situation made no sense.
The Red Dragon couldn’t answer my question, her head drooping weakly.
Earlier, she had mentioned betrayal. There was no way a human could have betrayed her. It must have been a dragon.
“What… is she dead?”
Rurin crouched down and began poking the Red Dragon with her finger. The dragon didn’t move at all.
It was clear that death was already approaching.
Normally, there would be no way to save her.
“Rurin, stop poking her and teleport her to **Elena’s** clinic.”
This dragon hadn’t done anything to harm me. Sure, we had fought before, but that was over. Now, she was just a guest who had asked for food.
And it’s only natural to try to save a guest who collapses in your restaurant.
“You know where Elena’s clinic is, right? You went there when I was sick, didn’t you?”
“Wha—? How do you know about that?”
Rurin flinched in surprise, her lips pouting. Apparently, it was meant to be a secret.
“That elf dares—!”
She suddenly shifted her resentment to a completely unrelated party.
If Elena found out, she’d probably be terrified and lose control. She’s already scared of dragons, so if an angry one approached her, she might even faint.
But thanks to Rurin’s grumbling, the teleportation happened faster. The surroundings were soon engulfed in darkness.
Suddenly, a bright white light flashed. In an instant, Elena appeared before us. She looked at the Red Dragon and Rurin, then turned her gaze toward me.
5 seconds.
4 seconds.
3 seconds.
2 seconds.
1 second.
“Kyaaaah!”
Right on cue, Elena shrieked in terror. Her face turned pale, and her body began to tremble. Her ears twitched uncontrollably.
“T-Two great beings in my clinic! Aaah!”
“Wait, stop! If you faint here, nothing will get done. Please pull yourself together.”
I quickly supported Elena from behind, preventing her from collapsing. She didn’t pass out, but her eyes were spinning.
“Elena!”
I called out to her loudly, and she barely managed to focus on me. Her eyes were still filled with confusion.
“Th-thank you for catching me. But what’s going on here?”
“She’s a dragon, but she’s also a serious patient. So please—”
“Stop right there!”
A very arrogant voice interrupted from outside the clinic door. Someone daring to interrupt in the middle of saving a critically injured patient? There was no one in Grayke who would be so rude.
A group of men burst into the clinic. They all had bright red hair.
“Stop!”
They continued barking orders. Red hair, arrogant attitudes, and commands. It was clear who they were without even looking at Elena’s expression. Every single one of them was a Red Dragon.
They filled the clinic, and even more were outside. Red hair here, red hair there. It was everywhere.
Their sudden arrival was undoubtedly due to teleportation.
Rurin noticed before I did and scowled, standing next to me with a growl. Elena, with her dragon-identifying instincts, already had a look of shock on her face. She seemed to have mentally checked out. Her expression was completely blank.
Rurin clung to my side, her body tense with hostility.
“There are so many red ones! Let’s fight them!”
“Pfft.”
A snide laugh escaped in response to Rurin’s reaction. The man at the front of the group of red-haired men was the one who laughed. It was more of a mocking sneer than a laugh.
The man looked at me with an expression at least ten times more arrogant than that of a typical dragon.
“So, you’re the human who’s been causing trouble! How dare you harm one of our Red Dragons? We will never forgive you!”
He pointed at the fallen Red Dragon, who was still bleeding. The man’s expression was full of satisfaction as he pointed at her.
He was acting as if I had attacked the Red Dragon, and he just happened to catch me in the act.
What kind of absurd situation is this? I stared at him blankly for a moment in disbelief.
The man’s words riled up the others.
Soon, all the Red Dragons in the clinic were glaring at me as if I were their sworn enemy. They looked at me like they were certain I was the one who had harmed the Red Dragon.
They were truly furious with me. They genuinely believed I had attacked the Red Dragon.
“I told you, didn’t I? I sensed her life force fading from this direction!”
It was probably the man at the front stirring everyone up. He was relentlessly inciting them.
A dying Red Dragon. And me. With a Black Dragon, Rurin, at my side.
It was the perfect setup for framing me, wasn’t it?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I did was bring an injured guest to the clinic.”
“Don’t play dumb! There are other dragons here as witnesses. You used teleportation to bring the injured Red Dragon here, so it’s obvious you’re the culprit! The human who consumed the Lord’s Heart… You’re the only one capable of this!”
“What?”
This nonsense just took the top spot among all the absurd things I’ve heard recently. These guys were already convinced I was guilty.
It was as if they had all planned this in advance.
Their behavior made it clear—they had already decided that I had to be the culprit.
“According to the ceasefire agreement, dragons are forbidden from attacking human cities. But when one of our own is attacked, that’s a different story. We have the right to defend ourselves, and beyond that, the human who killed a fellow dragon must be struck down as an enemy! Everyone, believe what you saw! Join me in avenging Serena’s death!”
She’s not even dead yet.
For someone who was supposedly calling for vengeance in the name of their kin, he didn’t seem at all concerned about the still-breathing, bleeding Red Dragon. He was treating her like she was already dead. No matter how I looked at it, the man at the front seemed to be the one behind this entire scheme.
Was this the justification he was talking about?
