Red Dragon Camiloas was 3,033 years old this year.
Human dynasties had risen and fallen dozens of times over the course of his life, yet his temperament had never changed.
Like any other dragon, he arrogantly regarded humans as nothing more than prey.
Then one day—
Humans appeared before him, personally offering treasures and proposing cooperation.
Their pathetic scheme to bask in a dragon’s prestige was unsightly, but Camiloas generously accepted.
After all, he too was a dragon who loved glittering treasure.
And so they maintained a mutually beneficial relationship for many years.
His followers seemed to conceal their relationship with dragons thoroughly, but Camiloas didn’t care.
As long as they regularly offered him quality humans and treasure.
However—
[There is a human who dares hunt dragons?]
Even Camiloas found it difficult to contain his rage when a lowly human dared challenge them.
Dragons barely possessed any sense of kinship toward their own kind, but even so, humanity’s desperate resistance was enough to wound his pride.
Humans were beings who belonged prostrate before dragons.
That was what Camiloas believed.
And yet—
[…….]
Camiloas froze before a single human.
More precisely, because of the purple pattern reflected in that human’s eye.
‘Why in the world is the Prophet’s relic in a human’s eye……?’
Having lived for thousands of years, Camiloas naturally knew the prophecy of the Prophet.
The Prophet would appear to prevent the end, and if the dragons failed to aid him, dragonkind would perish.
Because he had never forgotten that prophecy, Camiloas didn’t crush the insolent human standing before him and staring straight into his eyes.
[Who are you?]
“I am the Prophet. I came to save you dragons.”
The scales above Camiloas’s eyes twitched.
Whether it was true or not, he disliked the way a mere human spoke as though he would be the one saving dragons.
[What proof do you have that you are the Prophet?]
“Didn’t you see my eye? Only the Prophet can use a relic.”
[You can truly use the relic’s power?]
The human claiming to be the Prophet nodded.
Camiloas still found it difficult to believe.
‘Of all things, he appears in the form of an inferior human.’
He disliked him from the very first impression.
[Is that why someone from the Green Clan is following you around?]
Having sensed Bernatus’s presence, Camiloas spoke, and Bernatus hurriedly greeted him.
[Greetings! I am Bernatus of the Green Clan!]
[How old are you?]
[I am 1,231 years old this year!]
[Why are you clinging to that human?]
[Because he is the Prophet, of course. I am traveling with him so I can be of even the slightest help in preventing our race’s destruction.]
[……Help?]
Camiloas looked ready to spew flames at any moment.
A great dragon had voluntarily become a human’s servant because he wanted to be helpful?
It was an act that dragged the dignity of dragons through the dirt.
[Hey, Bernatus.]
[Yes, Lord Camiloas.]
[Are you insane?]
When Camiloas glared at him with his eyes wide, Bernatus, still in spirit form, visibly wilted.
[Why…… Do you ask?]
[A dragon is humiliating himself by serving a human? Have you lost your mind?]
[A human……? He may look like this, but the Prophet is undeniably the one who will save us…….]
[What a load of shit.]
Camiloas snorted.
He didn’t seem to care that the Prophet himself could hear every word.
[You’re still young, so you don’t understand, do you? Humans are incredibly cunning.]
[What?]
[How do you know this human is really the Prophet? Do you have proof?]
Bernatus widened his eyes and asked back,
[There’s an imprint in his eye. You saw it too, didn’t you, Lord Camiloas?]
[I did. But how does that prove he is the Prophet?]
Camiloas looked suspiciously at Kain.
[Perhaps any human can use it.]
[I heard humans cannot use relics…….]
[Have you ever actually made a human try using one?]
Bernatus shook his head.
[No.]
[See? Dragons may be unable to use them, but perhaps humans can.]
[But the Lord said only the Prophet could use them…….]
[The Lord could be mistaken.]
True to his suspicious nature, Camiloas even doubted the Lord.
[Hey, self-proclaimed Prophet.]
“……?”
[Why did you come all the way here?]
“I came to receive the ancient relics. I heard the dragons were dividing them among themselves for safekeeping.”
[If you really are the Prophet, why are you in the body of a weak human? Wouldn’t being a dragon be better?]
The question came suddenly, but Kain had already prepared an answer for it.
“Because moving around is easier as a human.”
[So you appeared on this land in a human body?]
“That’s right. I cannot save you as another race.”
[Ha. You keep lying to the very end…….]
Watching a human shamelessly spout lies made Camiloas’s anger rise.
He wanted to crush the man beneath his foot immediately and devour the other humans.
And yet Camiloas continued to exercise patience because of that one slim possibility.
‘If there is no proof, I simply need to make him prove it.’
Camiloas turned around.
[Follow me. I shall take you to where the relic is.]
All while concealing his dark intentions.
***
‘As expected, being the Prophet is practically against dragons.’
Even while following behind a three-thousand-year-old dragon, Kain remained completely at ease.
No matter how violent and distrustful of humans Camiloas was, now that Kain had claimed to be the Prophet, the dragon couldn’t easily touch him.
‘Until he confirms whether I’m really the Prophet, he’ll never eat me or attack me.’
Every dragon worshipped and followed Dragon Lord Arkadion.
Camiloas was no exception.
There was no way he could casually cast aside the Prophet Arkadion had foretold.
‘Still, it looks like he’s taking me into his lair to test me. Damn, he really is suspicious.’
Unlike Kain, who mocked the dragon inwardly, Walter could only follow behind while trembling.
“Y-Young Master Kain. He’s not going to eat us, is he?”
“Who knows?”
“Why is the dragon taking us somewhere……?”
“Who knows?”
“And what were you talking about with the dragon earlier?”
“Nothing important.”
With Kain refusing to give him a proper answer, Walter couldn’t hide his anxiety.
This Red Dragon was at least three times larger than Aolios.
It would have been stranger not to be intimidated by its overwhelming presence.
‘Still, don’t worry. Nothing dangerous is going to happen.’
Camiloas was probably trying to test whether an ordinary human could also use the relic.
And sure enough—
Camiloas stopped deep inside the lair and murmured an incantation.
The space that had been concealed beneath a layer of mana was revealed.
It was Camiloas’s hidden treasure vault.
[Human. You said you came for an ancient relic, did you not?]
“That’s right.”
[There is a relic here.]
A ring inside the vault floated into the air.
[This is the Prophet’s Ring. Do you want it?]
Kain nodded, but Camiloas’s mouth stretched into a long grin.
It was clearly a sneer.
[Humans are very good at lying. And as it happens, you, the so-called Prophet, are human.]
“Are you saying I’m lying right now?”
[If you are not, then you will not mind if I test the relic on another human first, correct?]
“Do as you like.”
Camiloas bared his teeth and pointed at Dario.
[You there. Put on the ring.]
But Dario didn’t respond.
He was currently under Bernatus’s Mind Domination.
Camiloas saw through it and glared at Bernatus.
[His mind is being controlled. Bernatus. Release him.]
[What? B-but…….]
Bernatus glanced cautiously toward Kain.
That action earned Camiloas’s anger.
[What are you doing? A dragon is checking the mood of an inferior human? Do you have no pride?]
[No…… He is the Prophet. And it was the Prophet who told me to use Mind Domination…….]
“It’s fine. Release him.”
Only after Kain gave the order did Bernatus dispel the magic.
“Ugh……?”
As Dario regained his senses, he looked around before his eyes met Kain’s.
“Y-you……!”
“More importantly, why don’t you look behind you?”
At Kain’s gesture, Dario reflexively turned his head.
Then—
“Eek!”
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the house-sized Red Dragon.
[There is no need to be frightened, human. Do as I say, and I shall not eat you.]
Camiloas bared his teeth, apparently trying to sound gentle, but the sight only made him more terrifying.
[Here. Put on the ring I gave you and use it.]
The floating Prophet’s Ring moved in front of Dario.
Dario stared blankly at it until the dragon’s voice rang out again.
[Put it on. Then use it.]
“…….”
[If you cannot use it, I shall eat you.]
The threat of being eaten proved more effective than anything else.
Dario hurriedly grabbed the ring and slid it onto his index finger.
“B-but how do I use it?”
[If you are human, should you not know how?]
“Me?”
Dario repeatedly clenched and opened his hand, utterly confused.
[Use it.]
“H-how am I supposed to……?”
[If you cannot, I shall eat you.]
“I’m asking how…….”
He tried surrounding it with Aura and moving his hand in different ways, but he had absolutely no idea how to activate it.
[You cannot do it? Truly?]
Camiloas tilted his head.
[Then I have no need for you.]
“W-wait! Just give me one more—”
CRUNCH—!
Dario’s body was crushed beneath the dragon’s enormous foot.
There wasn’t even time for a scream.
Camiloas lifted his foot with an expression that showed he had already lost interest.
He casually rubbed the blood stuck to his sole against the cave wall.
As though wiping mud from the bottom of a shoe.
[What a stupid human. How can he not know how to use it?]
It was a death Camiloas wouldn’t even remember.
The name Dario.
The thirty years he had lived.
To Camiloas, none of it was worth even as much as mud stuck to his foot.
Camiloas had killed Dario on impulse, but that very action was proof that he was shaken.
He had assumed humans would be able to use the relic.
Yet this one couldn’t?
Then didn’t that mean Kain truly was the Prophet?
SQUELCH—
When Camiloas lifted his foot, the crushed mass beneath it was revealed.
The ring slipped free from what had been Dario moments ago.
Camiloas floated the ring into the air and cleaned it with Clean magic before glaring at Kain.
[If you are truly the Prophet, then you should be able to use this, correct?]
“Of course.”
[Then prove it.]
Now it was Kain’s turn.
Exactly the direction he had wanted things to go from the beginning.
‘To think I’d obtain a relic this easily.’
Smiling inwardly, Kain stepped forward.
He picked up the ring floating in the air and examined it closely.
The Prophet’s symbol was engraved on its surface.
‘This is something I never obtained even before my regression.’
Because Arkadion, the relics’ owner, had awakened from his Slumber Period, Kain had lost any opportunity to touch it.
But right now, Arkadion was still asleep.
It was the perfect time to rob him of his relics.
‘If I could use the Prophet’s Eye, I should be able to use this too.’
Without hesitation, Kain slid the ring onto his finger.
The ring emitted light.
Then vanished.
Only an imprint of the ring remained on his finger.
At the clearly different reaction, Camiloas’s eyes widened in shock.
[The relic…… imprinted itself?]
“This should be enough to confirm it, shouldn’t it? But…….”
Having instinctively understood how to use it, Kain focused mana into his finger.
“I suppose I should prove it properly.”
[What……?]
“Kneel.”
The instant he spoke—
THUD—!
Both of Camiloas’s legs slammed violently into the ground.
[Ghk!]
“Prostrate yourself and worship me.”
This time, Camiloas’s chin flattened against the floor.
A dragon worshipping a human.
It was something that should have been impossible.
[W-what is this……?!]
“How dare a mere lizard keep its eyes open before me?”
The moment those words left Kain’s mouth, Camiloas’s eyes snapped shut.
It wasn’t something he could resist through willpower.
And that made him all the more bewildered.
By the relic’s power.