Chapter 50

7 EYES On the continent of Vastonia, the generally accepted knowledge about dragons was as follows: Dragons are creatures that are overwhelmingly stronger than any other race. Dragons are creatures that live longer than the elves do. Dragons are creatures that can live anywhere. Some prefer warm places like volcanoes, some like cold places such as snowy mountains, and some live at the bottom of the ocean or in poisonous swamps. Dragons are creatures protected by hard scales that can deflect all kinds of attacks. Dragons are creatures with strong fangs and claws that can cut through all kinds of things. Dragons are creatures that have strong stomachs that can digest all kinds of things. Dragons are creatures that fly freely in the sky and that pursue their enemies from the air. Dragons are creatures that breathe fire hot enough to melt all sorts of things. Dragons are creatures that don’t always attack other creatures if they’re not hungry. Finally, dragons are the most intelligent of all magical beasts. The human Sage, who spent many years in close contact with a dragon, might know more. But that Sage only knew one dragon, so they only had a single point of reference. All living things on the continent of Vastonia, from the fiercest beasts to the most cowardly of vermin, feared dragons and kept far away from them. People being no exception. But there was currently only one dragon living on the continent of Vastonia. It lived on a far-off continent once but came here to the main continent after the war. The dragon had no name, but the others used to call it Eyes. Even the dragon itself couldn’t remember why. Maybe it had exceptional eyesight and could spot prey from farther off than any other dragon, or some such reason. Dragon-naming conventions tended to be pretty literal. Eyes was just an ordinary dragon. It had lived long. It liked cold places. It had tough scales, fangs, claws, and wings, and it saw other creatures only as food. It was born an ordinary dragon and had lived the life of an ordinary dragon. It was the strongest of all creatures, feared by all living things. The reason why Eyes became interested in people was because of its friend, Bones. Bones had been an odd dragon. It had a keen interest in people and loved to talk. Eyes had often heard stories from Bones. They were interesting, and Eyes enjoyed listening to them. No doubt Eyes cared for Bones very much. Eyes never paid much attention to people, but somehow, listening to Bones talk about them, Eyes always felt a little bit excited and sort of happy. One day, the eccentric Bones was taken off somewhere by a small person, and when Bones returned, they were literally just bones. Dead, in other words. When Bones died, Eyes was very sad. Eyes couldn’t cope with his grief, so it went around murdering and eating those who had caused it such sorrow. But when the sadness and the murderous feelings began to subside, Eyes began to wonder. Why had Bones been so interested in people? What was interesting about people? Yes, Eyes had taken an interest in them, too. But when Eyes went to observe people, people attacked it. Eyes had killed many people already. And even if that hadn’t been Eyes’s intention this time, things still ended up that way. So, in the end, Eyes decided to barbecue and consume them. It tried to catch a few to play with, but it wasn’t particularly exciting. It had no idea what Bones’s fascination with people had been. Eyes was disappointed… And a bit annoyed, to be honest. People were no match for Eyes, and yet they bothered Eyes on a daily basis. When Eyes went hunting for food, people attacked. Sometimes they brought Eyes what it thought was food, but the food tasted bad and bitter, and while it was distracted by the terrible taste, they’d fling a big net over it. Each time, Eyes killed them or went and burned their homes to frighten them, but the harassment continued. Recently, they’d even started sneaking into Eyes’s nest. Eyes was tired of people now and thought of moving away. But if it just disappeared, the people would think it ran away. That wouldn’t do. Still, it was too much trouble to destroy the people’s nest, since they all hid deep inside. So what could Eyes do…? Just as he was pondering that, something happened. A green person invaded his nest. Dragons were the most powerful creatures of all. So from birth until now, Eyes had never known the sensation of crisis. And it wasn’t just Eyes. Most dragons never felt threatened once in their lives, not even at their moment of death. Their scales protected them from all attacks. And with their strong stomachs, they could even consume poison safely. There was no threat to them. The only threat was probably when two dragons fought each other over territory or something. Two dragons could hurt each other. However, dragons rarely ventured into each other’s territory, and even if they did, they rarely fought to the death. Most of them died of old age after a life spent being an apex predator. So when the green person crawled into its nest, Eyes didn’t really worry at all. Ah, another one. Still, just one person. It hardly mattered. It could easily flame-grill the green person in a narrow cave passage. As hard as it was to believe, other people had somehow created a small entrance into Eyes’s nest. They’d entered the nest from a rear passage and attacked Eyes while Eyes was sleeping. But when Eyes woke up and began to thrash about, the people panicked and ran like rats down the narrow, unfamiliar passageways. Eyes burned half of them to death quite quickly. But the others survived and got away down the passages. Eyes had to chase them all down and barbecue them. What a hassle. Eyes wasn’t surprised that the green person was still half alive after its breath attack. Half the previous people had lived long enough to flee, after all. No doubt this one would flee down a narrow passage, too. In that case, all Eyes needed to do was roast it and finish it off. Confident, Eyes leaned in to get a closer look and… Suddenly, one of its eyes was blinded. Eyes was confused. What was happening? One of Eyes’s eyes was burning. Its body was singing with sharp, biting pain. Through Eyes’s half-ruined vision, he saw the green person…inside its nest. It knew that the green person must have been the one to wound it. “Graaagh!” When was the last time Eyes had roared with genuine rage? Eyes’s roar always made living things flee in terror. “Graaagh!” But the green person roared back without hesitation. Eyes trembled. Looking down, it saw the green person with a sword. What fighting spirit. Hubris. Such a small person dared to attack him. …And for what? Eyes’s confusion gave way quickly to more rage. “Graaagh!” Bracing its legs against the ground with more force than it’d usually use, Eyes jumped up, raised its right arm, and brought it down on the green person. Then there was a sound… A sound Eyes had never heard before. Crack! A second after the sound, Eyes realized it was on the ground. Eyes got to its feet, feeling pain in its claws. Its claws… Claws that had never had a single crack in hundreds of years…were splintered and bleeding. Huh? Something was wrong. But no, years of experience made that impossible. There was no way a dragon like Eyes could be defeated by one little person. Such a thing had never happened before. Eyes had never once imagined it. So the fact that it was in danger right now was slow to sink in. About ten minutes later, though, Eyes was starting to realize… I… I can’t win… Within just a few minutes, Eyes’s body had become a battered mess. Its claws and fangs were splintered. Its throat burned from constant fire-breathing. Its scales were peeling off all over. There was a large gash in its neck. It was losing blood all over, and its strength was fading fast. The little green person was strong. He countered every attack. He shattered Eyes’s claws and fangs and chipped away at its scales. Now he was glaring at Eyes with the most ferocious look Eyes had ever seen. Am I…going to die? But the dragon still had its instincts. All living things had innate survival instincts. Eyes had just never felt its own before. And when that instinct flooded the dragon’s body… “…Huh?” Eyes turned and fled. “Don’t let it get away! After it!” The green person chased after it, along with the tiny glowing flying person. Incredible speed. Incredible technique. Incredible murderous intent. Of course. These people came to kill it. Of course they would give chase. Eyes fled. Its chest hurt, perhaps from too much fire-breathing. It couldn’t run very well. Perhaps because of its injuries. Even if it left the nest and spread its wings, it doubted it could fly. Its wing was tattered and had a giant hole in it now. It had no choice but to roll down the mountain. It was better than staying still. It had to run. It had to escape. Escape, escape… At a certain spot, Eyes stopped. It was standing by the back entrance to its nest. It couldn’t fly. But if it went any lower, it would have nowhere to hide. So Eyes made a risky choice. Dragons had a final resort unknown to other creatures. Few dragons had seen or personally used this last-resort technique. Few would ever have a reason to. Some dragons even considered the ability shameful. Eyes, for one, had never imagined it would need it. But it knew how. No one had taught it how to do this. It just knew…instinctively. No one on the continent knew of this magic. A form of magic, secret even to most dragons. And even among dragons, there was no name for it. They referred to it as “That Magic” or simply “That.” It was a human who gave this magic a name. This human had a deep friendship with a dragon. The humans later called them a Sage. The Sage learned the secret from their dragon friend. And they called it Newt. But the Sage never described Newt. Therefore, no one on the continent knew what Newt was. “Gasp… Gasp…” Using Newt, Eyes entered the cave through the back door and made its way to the nest. Shivering in a corner of the cave, Eyes prayed that the green person would just wander off into the snowy mountains. According to legend, dragons were bad at fleeing. Indeed, there was no such thing as a dragon adept at running away. This was the first time in Eyes’s life that it had ever fled from a fight. “Agh!” Then, a short time later, when the green person reappeared, Eyes gasped in despair. The green man spotted Eyes and swung his sword. I’m dead, Eyes thought. “A woman…?” But the green person paused. Newt was working! Eyes did her best to speak people words, a language she barely knew. “Help. Please, don’t kill me.” It was the phrase Eyes had heard the most from people over the years. She knew what those words meant. It wasn’t like she’d rehearsed, but she found she could say them fluently. Newt was working well indeed. “Is she a survivor of the hunting party, Boss?” Yes… With the power of Newt, Eyes could transform into another race. A perfect body transformation. This body could do it all… Even reproduce. A secret technique said to have been devised by dragons in ancient times, when they were on the verge of extinction, in order to ensure the survival of their species. It’s considered a technique used by cowardly losers now. For a dragon on the verge of destruction to transform itself and beg for sympathy from its enemies… Almost unthinkable. It was an arcane, almost entirely unknown magic. But everyone had heard the myth. The myth of the race known as dragonewts… “Poor thing looks half petrified, Boss.” “Indeed.” The people, seeing Eyes in her Newt form, simply assumed that she was of a similar race to them. The Newt magic was working well. It would take a fool not to make the connection and guess that it was really the dragon. Relieved, the dragon got ready to spin a good story and ensure her survival. She wasn’t confident in her people-speech skills, but she knew what to say in begging situations. Eyes had heard much begging over the years. “H-help…! Help me…!” Not bad, Eyes thought. Her words made the green person sit down beside Eyes and speak in a confident tone. He said: “Worry not. I will slay the dragon.” Those words had a murderous intent behind them. A shiver of fear went through Eyes. She stiffened, swallowing what she was about to say next. Had she…been found out? “I’ve killed a dragon before. A red-scaled dragon.” Oh no! She’d been sniffed out for sure. Eyes’s heart was beating so hard, it hurt her chest. It really hurt! People bodies were so fragile… How could the green person not have realized? Eyes knew that people were still there, hiding behind rocks, even if they’d disappeared. She knew from the blood smell. Eyes had been foolish to try this… How could she have thought she could get away with it…? That the green person wouldn’t notice? But then… Why didn’t the green person finish her off? “Don’t worry. You won’t suffer anymore.” Then Eyes realized something. Newt wasn’t the kind of magic spell that made you hide in plain sight. It was the kind of spell that played on others’ sympathy by making the caster appear to be something familiar or dear to them. Maybe the Newt power had bewitched the green person, even though the truth was obvious? Would Eyes be able to survive…? But then… “Hmph!” …the green person swung their sword. The same sword that had peeled away Eyes’s scales shattered her claws and fangs, punctured her wing, and beat her down mentally, too. An object of fear. A symbol of death. Without mercy. “Yeep!” There was a squishing sound, and Eyes felt her heart thump massively. Then she lost consciousness… Hearing only the sound of her own pathetic, keening death throes…