[Child.]
Fafnir circled around me.
She floated through the air like a sky lantern.
[How were you able to endure the black flames?]
“Well, you can more or less guess, can’t you?”
The black flames were flames of destruction that had once burned everything in this world.
There was no way a mere human could withstand such destructive power.
Yet I had broken through those flames and claimed her.
Only one person in history had ever accomplished such a feat.
[So a successor has finally appeared from the bloodline of that accursed Sigurd.]
No, wait.
“I am his successor, but I don’t have any Imperial Family blood. I’m a member of House Fenrir. Look. My eyes and hair are black, not gold.”
I hurriedly waved my hands.
She had no right to turn someone else’s family tree into a dog’s pedigree.
[Fenrir? Do you mean that simpleminded, ignorant, barbaric berserker who threw his weight around with nothing but brute strength? You are his descendant?]
“Isn’t that a bit harsh to say about someone else’s ancestor? More importantly, you knew our ancestor?”
[Of course I did. He hurled rocks, mountains, and all manner of things at me in his attempts to capture me. He was so noisy and irritating that I could hardly bear it. How fascinating that the descendant of a man built like a troll is so thin and scrawny.]
“Hey, I don’t think I’m that thin.”
But he threw mountains?
Was he even human?
[No. Compared to your ancestor, you are little more than a tree branch.]
Hmm.
Should I build more muscle?
Apparently, I would need to be at least as large as Father to compare with our ancestor.
No.
Even Father did not seem capable of throwing a mountain.
Just how monstrous were our ancestors?
[Child. Show me that accursed power.]
While I was imagining my ancestor, Fafnir spoke.
“As you wish.”
CRACKLE.
With the sound of flowing electricity, I released mana throughout my entire body.
[Hmm. You are still lacking.]
She went straight for the sore spot.
“That’s true. My realm is still low, and I used a great deal of mana breaking through the traps and enduring the black flames—”
[I am not speaking of your mana.]
She interrupted me.
[You cannot use that man’s swordsmanship at all.]
“……Over the course of a thousand years, his swordsmanship was gradually forgotten. Only his mana cultivation method remains within the Imperial Family.”
That was probably why Melina had sent me back.
There had been no one on the battlefield with greater talent for swordsmanship than me.
She must have believed I had a better chance of restoring the Sword Saint’s swordsmanship.
[You humans are as poor at remembering things as your lives are short.]
Thank you for telling me something I already knew, Your Dragonship.
That was why I was suffering through all this.
[Dragons, however, are different. Throughout our long lives, we forget nothing.]
“……And?”
[I can teach you that man’s swordsmanship.]
“What?”
She slowly approached me.
[Do you not wish to learn it? The swordsmanship of a genius the world shall never see again—the swordsmanship that defeated me, the ruler of the world?]
A subtle temptation lingered in her voice.
I grabbed her by the throat.
“You’re more than old enough to know better. Stop acting coy.”
Even with my hand around her throat, she remained completely unperturbed.
“What are you plotting? You wouldn’t teach me without demanding anything in return.”
[It is nothing significant.]
Her alluring voice echoed beside my ear.
[I merely wish to consume the souls of the enemies you shall cut down.]
“Why don’t you eat them secretly?”
[When you became my master, restrictions were placed upon me. I require your consent.]
“You don’t need my consent. You need my permission.”
She fell silent and smiled.
Her smile left me with a strange feeling.
This was Siegfried Sigurd’s swordsmanship.
The greatest genius in history and the only Grand Sword Master.
The illustrious Sword Saint himself.
Did I want to learn it?
Of course I did.
That was one of the purposes of my return in the first place.
However.
“You plan to devour souls, recover your power, and eventually dominate me.”
[Well, you can more or less guess, can you not, child?]
Fafnir made no attempt to hide it.
Then again,
it was only natural for a Demonic Sword to covet its master’s soul.
“Fine. But only the souls of evil people.”
I released her throat.
[Oh! You grant me permission despite knowing that you may lose your soul?]
“I only need to become stronger faster and subdue you.”
[Hahahaha! As expected, you are an entertaining child.]
She took my face in both hands.
My gaze met her violet eyes.
[The contract is established.]
My vision gradually became stained violet.
***
When I opened my eyes again, I was floating in the air.
[Have you regained your senses?]
“Where are we?”
[Within my memories.]
We were so high that even the clouds lay beneath our feet.
The enormous mountain ranges and lakes looked as small as toys.
“This is high.”
[This is the view of a dragon.]
Fafnir took my hand.
[Hold tightly. You shall now behold my true form.]
At that moment,
the sky grew dark.
“What?”
Thinking a cloud had covered the sun, I raised my head.
My guess had been only half right.
The sun had indeed been obscured.
However, the clouds remained beneath my feet.
Something else was blocking the sun.
“Don’t tell me that’s……?”
[Indeed.]
A body so enormous that it covered the sky.
Radiant violet scales.
Massive wings whose mere beating altered the weather.
[That is my true form.]
The enormous Demonic Dragon Fafnir was flying across the sky.
“You’re huge.”
[Do you now understand something of my true greatness?]
Fafnir’s human-shaped soul wore an openly proud expression.
“I doubt you showed me this memory just to brag about what you looked like in your prime.”
[You insolent wretch.]
At my indifferent reaction, Fafnir moved her hand.
The scene changed.
An enormous dragon like a mountain range.
One man standing against it.
“That man is the Sword Saint!”
[Yes. That bastard is the accursed Siegfried Sigurd.]
His golden hair streamed behind him as he swung his sword.
Brilliant blue sword energy carved into the dragon.
“Incredible.”
My mouth fell open without me realizing it.
His sword energy was so enormous that it was difficult to believe a human had unleashed it.
It created the illusion that divine punishment was descending from the heavens as lightning struck the Demonic Dragon.
[Watch carefully. How many swords is he using now?]
Huh?
What did she mean……?
The sword in his hand was the only…….
A chill ran through me.
When I looked carefully, I saw something flying through the air.
Long, straight, glittering objects.
Swords.
Swords were flying through the sky and attacking the dragon.
[Have you never wondered why the Hero possessed three swords?]
“The legend of the Three Holy Swords. They say Siegfried Sigurd carried three swords and switched between them as the situation demanded.”
[Holy Swords, nonsense. They were not Holy Swords! They were merely fussy and obstinate blades.]
Fafnir’s soul pointed toward Siegfried.
[What matters is not the swords, but their master.]
Looking closer, I saw thin streams of mana flowing from Siegfried’s body and connecting him to each blade.
Whenever his indifferent golden eyes shifted, the swords danced through the air.
When the Fafnir within the memory breathed fire, the greatsword spun and blocked the black flames.
When Siegfried swung his hand, the straight sword sliced through the dragon’s flesh.
The rapier soared high into the sky, wrapped itself in lightning, and pierced through the dragon.
“He’s controlling all of those alone? At the same time?!”
[Indeed. Having suffered beneath that swordsmanship, I know its strength better than anyone.]
Fafnir’s soul hugged herself as though the memory still sent chills through her.
[It was as though I were fighting three Heroes at once.]
With those words, Fafnir’s memory went dark.
***
When I opened my eyes again, I was still inside the dungeon cavern.
“How can you turn off the memory at the most important moment?!”
[I lack the power to show you any more because I have not consumed any souls. If you wish to see further, hurry and offer me the souls of the wicked.]
“What a shameless scheme.”
I gripped the sword and raised it over my shadow.
[What are you doing?]
“Stay inside for a while.”
I drove the sword into my shadow.
The Demonic Sword melted into darkness and flowed inside it.
[Oh? How did you know of this ability?]
“I have my ways.”
It had been Vlad’s specialty in my previous life.
He would approach while pretending to be unarmed, draw the sword from his shadow, and kill his target.
[The more I observe you, the more fascinating you become. You know how to use abilities of the sword that I never taught you. Your appearance suggests you have lived for little more than ten years, yet your soul is strangely weathered.]
“Stop peeking at other people’s souls.”
Not that she was wrong.
When someone spent enough time rolling across battlefields, everything intact eventually became worn and broken.
Why would the soul remain unscathed?
I shrugged once.
The person I had been in my previous life, who met his death on the battlefield,
and the seventeen-year-old who had only just come of age.
Neither one was any less me.
“Keep it simple. I’m just someone who died once and came back to life.”
[You died and returned to life?]
“Yes. I traveled back through time and am currently living my second life.”
[Child, do you truly expect me to believe that?]
“You don’t have to believe me.”
For the first time, Fafnir looked bewildered.
Of course, she quickly regained her composure.
[Very well, child. It seems you are the instrument of divine providence in this generation.]
“Divine providence?”
[Indeed. Since ancient times, those beings called gods have shown an appalling degree of favoritism toward you humans. Consider Siegfried, who defeated me—a dragon among dragons—despite possessing the body of a mere human. Does he not plainly appear to have been crafted with the gods’ utmost care?]
“The gods…….”
The ring that allowed me to return had certainly been given to Melina by the Saintess.
[And ordinary humans tend to call those chosen by the gods Heroes. Just as they did that bastard Siegfried.]
“That’s rather grand.”
I looked around the cavern.
The bones of an enormous sleeping dragon were visible.
‘If he was strong enough to defeat something like that, could he have defeated the Demon King too?’
I recalled him from Fafnir’s memory.
His overwhelming strength was great enough that I would have believed he was a god descended to earth.
“I want to become like him.”
[And then? What do you intend to do after becoming that powerful?]
“In a few years, Hellgates will open, and demons will pour out across the land. Eventually, even the Demon King appears.”
Fafnir scowled.
[Ugh. The thought of those revolting creatures entering the world is unbearable.]
“That’s unexpected. You both have ‘Demonic’ in your names, so I thought you’d get along.”
[Child, do you wish to befriend mosquitoes and cockroaches merely because you are all animals?]
No.
[It is the same. Those tiny creatures charge at me merely because they possess wings. How are they any different from moths throwing themselves into a flame?]
At least it was good that we agreed on our hatred of demons.
So let us slaughter them together.
I walked inside Fafnir’s skeleton.
Her body was so enormous that it felt as though I had entered a small cave.
[Child. What are you doing?]
“Since I came all this way, shouldn’t I take something back with me?”
At the center of the rib cage, where the heart would once have been,
lay the symbol of a dragon.
A Dragon Orb.
I picked up the Dragon Orb, which shone with radiant light.
It was time to return home.