How long have I been drifting?
My limbs still refused to respond. I remained flat on my back, carried helplessly by the current, my eyes fixed upon a star-studded sky.
It’s nighttime now, huh…
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but it didn’t seem like it had been that long. Nevertheless, I could feel my strength slipping away.
At that moment, all sensation departed from my arms and legs. But strangely, I felt no cold, no pain, no discomfort.
Only an overwhelming drowsiness…
Isn’t this, like, the most dangerous possible state to be in? I mused, as if the whole thing were happening to someone else.
Within that hazy threshold between slumber and wakefulness, where the line distinguishing consciousness from unconsciousness dissolved, a voice reached me.
“… Ryuto! Ryuto! Where are you?! Answer me, please… You have to!”
How Cordelia had discovered what happened to me, I couldn’t begin to guess.
Moses had probably spun some clever story after I disappeared. Perhaps he had simply reported me as missing or claimed I had been assaulted by a monster.
Regardless, he would’ve made sure things played out so that this wouldn’t happen—that Cordelia and I would never cross paths again.
Whether through sheer coincidence or by virtue of her Hero skills—those inhuman instincts, that inconceivable perception—Cordelia had, against all odds, located me adrift downriver.
I saw her then, sprinting at full speed down the gravel bank along the shore, heading straight toward me.
Looks like I might make it, I thought. But as my gaze fell upon what lay just beyond, my head weakly swayed from side to side.
“There you are! I finally found you! Hold on, Ryuto! I’m coming right now—wait… What?!”
Life just isn’t fair.
Right in front of me loomed a massive drop—the waterfall infamous throughout this region, a sheer drop exceeding fifty meters.
For someone like Cordelia, who’d long since transcended the bounds of ordinary humanity, such an obstacle would perhaps pose no challenge. But for a mere Villager, surviving such a fall was utterly beyond the realm of hope.
Cordelia grasped the situation instantly. Without a moment’s hesitation, she made her decision: she would dive into the freezing winter river.
Yet, even with her inhuman reflexes and monstrous physical ability, she was too far away.
“Sorry, Cordelia. Guess this is goodbye…”
The words, barely more than a whisper, emerged hoarse and fragile, yet I compelled them from my lips. And judging by the way her expression twisted into a crumpled mess in that instant, I knew she’d heard me.
My apology was for two things. One was for the inevitable—my impending demise. The other… was for my inability to reciprocate her feelings.
I had known for some time how Cordelia felt about me.
Even with the memories from my past life, it was hard to ignore. Still… she was too young. Too earnest. And in a few years, she was destined to blossom into a woman of unparalleled beauty—an individual utterly beyond the aspirations of someone like me.
As I thought that, memories of our time together flashed through my mind like a reel of film, playing out in the seconds before the end.
Until the age of six, she was my constant shadow, always clinging to my back. However, once she turned seven—the age her vocational aptitude began to truly mold her—things changed. I found myself receding into the shadow of her back.
Even so, the bond between us never broke. Our positions changed, but we stayed close. Always together.
And then, not so long ago, arrived that crucial moment—the moment she chose me.
To her, it must have felt completely natural. She perceived me as her destined partner and chose me without hesitation.
Yet, despite this… I found myself burdened by a nagging thought:
A protector of none. Someone who must always be protected… That’s me. Maybe Moses was right. Maybe I don’t deserve to stand by her side—as an equal—in any sense.
God… It’s pathetic… I want to be strong. I want to be strong enough… Just once… Please…
Then, just as I heard the distant splash of Cordelia diving into the river…
… I plunged into the abyss.
I found myself in a dimly lit cavern.
Countless stalactites hung from its ceiling. Water droplets descended from their tips—drip, drip—echoing faintly through the darkness.
The sudden, cold splash of one such drop stirred me awake, leaving me speechless the instant I opened my eyes.
“This is the underground cave beneath the forest—the very path leading to the dragon’s lair.”
The voice came from above me, its calm, resonant tone addressing my prone body.
And its speaker… was a dragon. A massive one, cloaked in deep crimson scales. Fifteen meters long, at the very least. Its overwhelming mass left me utterly paralyzed, incapable of formulating a response.
“Creatures that fall from the waterfall,” the dragon rumbled, “usually wander the riverbed until death claims them. Only much later does the current carry their husks away. Fortunate or unfortunate, I cannot say. But by peculiar fate, you were swept into a channel that led here.”
Apparently, I’d been washed ashore onto a bed of rock.
Yet, whether due to the residual effects of the drug or the severe trauma from the descent, I still couldn’t move. My limbs remained useless.
Only my mouth responded, and through it, I managed to whisper a plea.
“I have… a request.”
The dragon paused, its colossal head lowering as it contemplated my presence.
“A capricious twist of fate, perhaps. Should it lie within the confines of my power, I shall heed your words.”
Surprised by the unexpected composure of its tone, I drew a breath and continued.
“I-I’ve heard the stories. They say that those who reside within a dragon’s lair become stronger…”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed slightly, as if recalling distant memories.
“It is true. Long ago, there were a few such humans. They built bonds with us, lived among us, and shared in our time. Upon their departure, many rose to fame. Some even became heroes of great renown.”
Famous legends, all of them. The details differed from one tale to the other, but the core was always the same: an ordinary person, by some strange chance, forges a bond with a dragon.
So the stories went: these individuals coexisted with dragons, acquired a peculiar and wondrous power, and subsequently returned to the human realm, wielding that newfound strength to ascend as heroes.
“Take me with you… I want to become strong…”
“I cannot grant that wish.”
“But you just said you’d listen.”
The dragon gave a solemn nod.
“I said I would hear any request within my power. I did not lie. The dragon race is one of noble blood, and we do not lie unless truly forced. Or rather, we cannot lie. A dragon can’t sustain both its form and power while speaking falsehoods. We are bound by the Power of Words.”
“Then why can’t you grant my wish?”
“There are two reasons. Firstly, a matter of age. To bring someone into the Dragons’ Domain is to accept them as kin. However, any person already molded by human customs and social norms would become a disruptive element in that world. The humans previously admitted by us were invariably abandoned children or slaves, under the age of twelve, picked up on a Young Dragon’s whim.”
“And the second?”
“You… are already dead.”
The dragon’s gaze shifted toward my abdomen. Then, a claw gently grazed my forehead, subtly tilting my head upward.
And in that moment, I saw it—really saw it.
Ah… yeah. This is bad, I thought, strangely calm.
My very insides had been grotesquely torn open, spilling forth from my gut. Blood continued to gush in thick, rhythmic bursts.
Most damning of all… I felt almost no pain.
Hypothermia, blood loss, nerve damage—whatever the cause, my body’s systems had already started shutting down.
In other words, I was done for.
It was then that a chilling realization dawned upon me.
My situation explained the dragon’s gentle demeanor, its perplexing kindness. It had merely been overseeing my final moments, and nothing more.
My time was short. If I was going to bargain, I had to be now.
“Then… what if I meet those conditions?” I asked the dragon, grinning defiantly.
“Ah, yes. Should that indeed be the case, then I may not speak, and I will grant your wish to the best of my ability,” the dragon responded with a solemn nod. “However, your demise is imminent, and your age cannot be reversed. Such occurrences are simply beyond the realm of possibility.”
“Got you to promise, didn’t I?”
“You’ve secured my word?”
“What I want… is the Dragon’s Blessing skill… and access to the Dragon King’s Grand Archive.”
At that, suspicion tinged the dragon’s voice.
“How do you know of that? No—rather than waste time questioning a dying man, it would be faster for me to read your heart and memories directly.”
The dragon closed its eyes. A few moments later, it erupted in laughter—soft at first, then expanding into great, resonant peals that filled the cavern.
“I see now! You are… a reincarnator. And more than that… he he he. Ha ha ha ha! Fascinating! You are plotting something most amusing indeed. And this is not our initial encounter, is it? You… You were present on that fateful day, at that specific time, in that particular place. When the village of the prophesied Hero was attacked, and on a whim, I chose to save a few human children.”
The dragon squinted its massive eyes, its laughter conveying genuine amusement.
It was getting harder and harder for me to speak. My body felt unbearably heavy.
“That day… you saved me—a mere twelve-year-old boy—from the goblins’ incursion and returned me to my mother. You even read my heart back then, and said, ‘You walk a most curious and fateful path.’”
The dragon’s deep voice rumbled with amusement.
“Should events unfold as you hope from here… then, indeed, that prophecy shall be altered.”
I could feel the end approaching.
Just as my vision blurred and faded, the dragon’s voice resonated once more, tinged with unconcealed mirth.
“How troublesome, to be bound by such a promise. Now I have no choice but to bring you back to the Dragons’ Domain.”
“Those words… I’ll take them to mean… you’re granting my request. From here on out… it’s a gamble… but…”
The dragon opened its jaws wide. Inside that monstrous maw, I saw rows of enormous, wickedly sharp fangs, each one as thick as a grown man’s arm.
“Then die, Ryuto Maclaine.”
With that, the dragon seized me in its massive claws and flung me straight into its mouth.
I heard it clearly: the sickening crunch of my skull being crushed between its teeth.
And so, Ryuto Maclaine’s second life came to an end.