“Drake?”
A thousand years ago.
The forces that worshipped dragons had not yet become known to the world.
They hid in the shadows, quietly expanding their influence like cancer cells.
Eventually, however, they were exposed.
Those were the Eight Great Families.
Valerian, Albion, Lunaris, Cerulan, Verdant, Helios, Antonio, and Ragnar.
Those eight families had repeatedly committed acts of betrayal against humanity.
That was what Kain had always known....
‘The Drake Family was one of the Eight Great Families? Even back then?’
The Drake Family was famous throughout the Empire, but Kain had believed they had nothing to do with the dragon-worshipping faction.
Their name wasn’t even among the Eight Great Families.
‘You’re telling me they were already building their power alongside the Eight Great Families a thousand years ago? They just never revealed themselves?’
It was only because Kain had brought down the Ragnar Family that things stood as they did now.
Otherwise, there might have been Nine Great Families.
No.
Even then, the world probably would have known only Eight Great Families.
With the Drake Family neatly omitted from the list.
‘They were hiding themselves completely. Behind the shadow of the Empire.’
That was why Kain hadn’t realized anything even when Valensius Drake stabbed him in the back.
Who could have imagined that a man known as a 9-Star Dragon Slayer would turn out to be a traitor?
“Damn. The back of my head is practically throbbing. Of the Eight Great Families you mentioned, which one holds the most sway?”
“The Drake Family, of course. Its head, Alton Drake, effectively holds all authority.”
Kain knew the name Alton Drake.
He had heard it before his regression.
An 8-Star Grand Sword Master and one of the strongest men in the Empire.
And someone like that was the leader of the dragon-worshipping faction?
“Then the person who ordered Walter’s death was...?”
“That is correct. Alton Drake.”
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped Kain before he could stop himself.
He had been stabbed in the back before his regression, and even after regressing, it was the same story.
‘The Drake Family was the leader of the traitorous faction.’
They pushed the other families out in front while remaining perfectly hidden themselves.
They wore the mask of Dragon Slayers while secretly manipulating everything from behind the scenes.
That was the true face of the Drake Family of the Crosent Empire.
“To deceive humanity like this.... I really can’t let them get away with it.”
Apart from Kain, Walter’s eyes were also filled with shock.
“There are this many families that worship dragons....”
He had already been shocked when he learned that his own Ragnar Family worshipped a Red Dragon.
But what he was hearing now went far beyond that.
“Tell me about the Eight Great Families. Everything you know.”
With his mind completely dominated, Lorenzo was no different from a puppet.
He readily spilled secrets that would have horrified the Eight Great Families had they heard him.
But to Kain, very little of it was new.
‘It’s all the information I already knew.’
Still, it wasn’t meaningless.
He could compare information from the current era against his memories.
More importantly, hadn’t he just discovered that the Drake Family was the true power behind the traitorous families?
‘I have to bring down Drake. I can get revenge for being stabbed in my previous life while I’m at it.’
For that, Walter’s role was crucial.
Who else could possibly serve as such a convenient bait and shield?
Unaware of Kain’s meaningful gaze, Walter was clutching his head.
He was overwhelmed by all the shocking information he had just heard.
“Do you know anything else about the families?”
“That is everything I know.”
“Then let’s talk about dragons this time.”
Kain knew more about dragons than anyone, but at this point in time, there was far more that he didn’t know.
While his mother was still alive, he had merely been an immature royal living luxuriously in the palace.
‘I only started learning about dragons after that.’
In particular, he had no idea where their lairs were located.
That was what he hoped to learn from this question.
People who maintained close contact with dragons should at least know where their lairs were.
However—
“I do not know their locations because I have never met the dragons directly.”
“You don’t even know one?”
“That is correct. No one knows except Duke Drake.”
That complicated matters.
Still, it wasn’t as though he had gained nothing.
“I guess I’ll just have to ask Drake.”
Alton Drake.
All Kain had to do was extract the information from him.
***
Alton was waiting.
Waiting for the crystal orb to light up.
Waiting for Lorenzo Antonio to contact him.
Fortunately, his wish was fulfilled fairly quickly.
―Duke Drake.
“Duke Antonio. How did it go? Did you deal with him?”
No subject had been stated, but Lorenzo immediately answered.
―We did not kill him.
“......?”
―Instead, we captured him alive.
‘They took him hostage?’
That was actually an even better outcome.
Once someone reached 5-Star Aura, subduing them was more difficult than killing them.
It was no easy thing to restrain a rampaging bull.
“Are you certain?”
―Yes. We captured him completely.
“You said your son was a 6-Star Knight.... His skills are indeed impressive. What was his name?”
―Dario Antonio.
“I shall remember it.”
Alton expected Lorenzo to start showering him with flowery praise and flattery at this point.
But—
―......
“......?”
Lorenzo said nothing.
Not even the customary word of thanks.
Just as Alton began to sense something strange—
―There is something I wish to ask, Duke Drake.
“Speak.”
―Where is Lord Camiloas’s lair?
“......?”
Why was he suddenly asking that?
Alton asked directly.
The answer he received made him nod.
―I was thinking that perhaps we should offer this man directly to Lord Camiloas as tribute. I believe that would please him more.
“Hmm. That is certainly true.”
Camiloas would obviously want to devour alive the traitor who had killed a Blue Dragon.
“I shall send you the coordinates through the crystal orb. Do so.”
―Understood.
Even after Lorenzo received the coordinates and immediately ended the communication, Alton couldn’t shake the strange feeling.
***
‘Everything went according to plan.’
Kain smiled as he checked the coordinates Alton had sent.
‘So this is where Camiloas’s lair was.’
It had definitely been worth asking.
The location was different from the one Kain remembered before his regression.
‘Camiloas definitely has a relic.’
When Kain killed Camiloas in the past, there had been no relic.
Naturally so.
Dragon Lord Arkadion had already awakened from his Slumber Period by then.
‘He had already collected everything, so there was nothing left for me to steal.’
Even finding three relics under those circumstances had been sheer luck.
Kain had discovered relic locations that even the Lord himself hadn’t known about.
‘Now that I know the location, I’ll go to Camiloas. Then I’ll steal the relic.’
He had a plan.
But it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded.
Camiloas wasn’t some naive dragon like Bernatus.
‘As expected of the Red Clan, he’s violent, arrogant, and extremely suspicious.’
Kain knew his personality well because he had met him in the past.
So he wasn’t lacking confidence in his ability to handle him.
But that was only how Kain saw things.
“D-don’t tell me you’re planning to go to a dragon’s lair?”
“I am.”
“You’ll get killed!”
From Walter’s perspective as an observer, the idea was horrifying.
“Are you going there because you want to die?”
“No.”
“Then why...? Well, it has nothing to do with me.”
Walter waved his hands and subtly tried to put some distance between them.
“You’re coming too.”
A single sentence from Kain stopped him in his tracks.
“Why me?”
“Don’t ask why.”
Kain continued avoiding the question.
Would bait be happy if you told it outright that it was bait?
Fortunately, there was a far more convincing method.
“Do you want to end up like them too?”
Kain pointed toward the Antonio father and son.
They stood there like dolls, staring blankly into empty space with expressions that made them look as though a screw had fallen loose inside their heads.
For some reason, goosebumps rose across Walter’s skin.
“Well? If you don’t want to listen, should I let you join them?”
“...When are we leaving? Let’s go.”
Walter wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried ahead as though fleeing.
***
Duke Antonio’s territory lay on the outskirts of the Bellion Kingdom.
Because it bordered the hostile Kingdom of Asel, it had been positioned as a strategically important defensive territory.
And Camiloas’s lair was hidden among the mountains crossing that very border?
Not even Duke Antonio, who lived nearby, knew that.
Though the duke himself showed no reaction whatsoever now.
‘How the hell can he turn people into puppets like that? Without even using hallucinogenic herbs?’
Walter couldn’t stop wondering as he followed Kain.
Whatever magic Kain had used had made both Lorenzo and Dario spill everything they knew without resistance.
‘It was the same with that assassin before.... What the hell did he do?’
Walter tilted his head, but there was no way he could know about Ninth-Circle Mind Domination, magic said to stand at the pinnacle of the art.
But what he truly couldn’t understand was Kain’s motive.
Walter had personally witnessed enough to know that Kain’s true identity was that of a Sword Master-level powerhouse capable of stabbing a dragon to death.
But his intentions?
‘I have no idea. Why does he keep dragging me around... and why does he keep saving me...?’
Kain had saved him from a dragon.
Saved him from an assassin.
And now he was even bringing Walter around like a retainer.
Walter desperately wanted to know what Kain was thinking.
Of course, Kain couldn’t exactly tell him.
‘This is it. Camiloas’s territory.’
Kain had only seen the coordinates reflected in the crystal orb once, but he remembered them perfectly.
The location wasn’t far from Duke Antonio’s territory.
Two days had been more than enough to reach it.
“Lead the way.”
At Kain’s command, the Antonio father and son stepped into the dragon’s territory.
The moment they did—
SKREEEE!
Wyverns descended from the sky and blocked the way ahead.
They landed densely behind the group as well, cutting off every escape route.
Even Kain’s group, who had remained outside the territory, was completely surrounded.
KRAAAH!
The Wyverns only glared at them, apparently without any intention of killing them.
Then a voice came from somewhere.
[Four humans wandering into such a deserted place. What a lucky day.]
It was a voice Kain had heard in his previous life.
[Wait there. I shall personally come and eat you.]
A moment later, a massive shadow covered the sky.
THUD.
A huge body covered in red scales landed leisurely.
The three-thousand-year-old dragon swept his arrogant gaze across his prey.
[You all look rather delicious... Hmm?]
His orange eyes stopped on Kain.
[You... What are you?]
Camiloas’s voice trembled.
[Why do you... possess the Prophet’s relic?]