Chapter 22 - How on Earth Did You Do That?

The next day, I started my morning with a video call to Sia.

["Did you sleep well, Oppa?"]

She rubbed her eyes as though she'd only just woken up, but she looked beautiful all the same.

"I did. Thanks to my Sia listening to me yesterday."

["I'm glad."]

Her warm voice melted my heart. At first, I'd thought it best not to tell her about the villains if I could help it. But the more I thought about it, the gladder I was that I'd told her early. Otherwise, I might have lain awake worrying about when and how to bring it up.

"Sia... are you okay?" I asked carefully, worried because she hadn't seemed well when we'd ended our call yesterday.

["Me? Of course I'm okay!"]

But she sounded almost strangely fine, as if she hadn't heard a word of what I'd told her yesterday. That only made me worry more.

"Are you sure?"

["Of course. I went and got revenge on all of them."]

"Revenge? They're already dead."

Was there even a way to take revenge on dead villains? Besides, I'd never told Sia who they were. With her abilities, she could probably find out somehow, but surely even a dragon would struggle to take revenge on people who were already dead...

When she saw my confusion, Sia's mouth fell open in alarm, as though she'd said something she shouldn't have. A moment later, her expression returned to normal.

["In my dream, I mean. In my dream."]

She said she'd given them such a scolding in her dream that they'd cried their eyes out, then threw a cute little punch at the air with a "Hi-yah!"

'In her dream...?' Something about that didn't sit right with me. I had a feeling that wasn't what she'd meant to say.

Well, anyway. Nothing good would come of pressing the subject, so I changed it.

"I'm going to see Lord Rokan later."

["Grandpa?"]

"Yeah. I need to take him the footage of the gate raid. I'll show it to him, get his feedback, and ask him a few things myself."

I needed feedback on what the wearable camera had recorded, and I also wanted to ask about the aurora-colored sword energy I'd managed to wield, if only briefly. Taking the footage to Rokan was already part of my plan. But then—

["Can I watch it with you?"]

"Of course. But I need to talk to your grandfather for a moment first. Can you wait a little?"

["... Is it something I shouldn't know about?"]

Her mood shifted in an instant, as if she thought I was hiding something. She was half right. There was a scene in the footage that I didn't want Sia, of all people, to see, and I intended to ask Rokan to erase it. If it had been recorded on an ordinary camera, I could have done it myself. But Sia had specially modified the wearable camera. If I tried to erase it and botched the job, I'd only make her more suspicious.

"What could I possibly hide from my Sia? It's nothing like that, so don't worry."

After reassuring her, I kept the call going for a long time, chatting about everyday things instead of heavy subjects like gates or aura.

"See you later, Sia. I'll call you soon."

["Okay!"]

After hanging up, I picked up the camera and headed to Rokan's lair.

"Welcome."

Rokan greeted me warmly as soon as I arrived. "Shasha told me roughly what happened. It sounds like you had quite an ordeal yesterday."

"Yes. I'll explain everything once we're inside."

After exchanging brief greetings, I gave Rokan a quick account of what had happened in the gate. When I'd finished, I said,

"I have a favor to ask."

"A favor?"

"It's nothing major. I'd like you to erase part of this footage cleanly, without leaving a trace. I thought it would be better to ask you than to make a mess of it myself."

I explained why I wanted the footage edited. Just before they died, the villains had said insulting things about Sia. Could he erase that scene so she wouldn't be hurt by it?

Rokan listened and fell silent in thought. After a while, he answered, "It would be better not to."

"... Sorry?"

To my surprise, he'd refused. The footage plainly showed mere human criminals belittling his granddaughter. I'd assumed he'd want that part erased as much as I did. What did he mean, it would be better not to?

Seeing my baffled expression, Rokan continued as if he'd expected it. "Even if you erase that part, it's only a matter of time before Shasha finds out. Besides..."

He gave me a meaningful smile. "I think seeing it might actually make Shasha happier."

... Seeing that would make her happier? No matter how I looked at it, there was nothing in that footage Sia would like. Still, if he was so sure, he must have his reasons. I decided to do as he said for now.

"Shasha must be waiting. Let's go."

In the end, I stood before the enormous screen with that part of the footage still intact. As soon as Rokan connected the call, Sia appeared on the screen.

["Oppa! Grandpa!"]

It had been barely ten minutes since our last call, but she greeted me as warmly as if we hadn't seen each other in ages.

"Hello. Have you eaten?"

["I'll eat later! What about you and Oppa?"]

"Same here. And you, Minjun?"

"I haven't eaten yet either. If you're free, we could have a meal together afterward."

After a little more small talk, it was time to get down to business. Rokan put the footage I'd given him on the screen and shared it with Sia.

"Please give me your honest feedback as we watch. Don't hold anything back."

I skipped past the parts without fighting and played the first clash with the Antmen. Sia and Rokan fell silent, concentrating on the footage and the mana flows it captured. We were all watching with serious faces when Sia spoke first.

["Grandpa, I know he's my Oppa, but don't you think he's a real genius?"]

"Yes. His rate of growth is remarkable."

I hadn't really noticed it at the time, but dragons apparently saw it differently. "It's almost a shame to see your talent like this. If you'd been born a dragon to begin with..."

Rokan flinched midway through and waved a hand. "No, I shouldn't have said that. Forget what you just heard."

It hadn't sounded particularly strange to me, but he apologized as if he'd let something slip, then turned his attention back to the footage. After watching for quite some time, he told me what he'd noticed.

"Watching you wield a sword this time, I couldn't help thinking you looked like a hatchling in human guise."

"What?"

Maybe it was just me, but he seemed to be saying an awful lot of cryptic things I didn't understand today. Seeing my confusion, Rokan explained.

"You're human, but the way you wield a sword seems more like a dragon's than a human's."

"Could you explain that in a little more detail?"

["Oppa, let me explain."]

Sia stepped in, apparently wanting to add her thoughts. According to her, there was a fundamental difference between the swords of humans and dragons.

Humans wielded swords for two main reasons: to protect something precious or to take something precious away.

Their swords became steeped in all kinds of feelings, from grief, desperation, and longing to honor and greed. Dragons were different. Born as the greatest race on earth, they had no need to wield swords to defend themselves or plunder anyone else. Why bother with a sword when dragon speech would do?

For dragons, wielding a sword was nothing more and nothing less than a pastime. Their swords didn't carry the desperate emotions a human's did. Instead, they carried an easy confidence that they could achieve whatever they wanted without resorting to a sword like humans did, and the aloof pride born of that confidence.

["What Grandpa means is that he sensed that dragonlike confidence and pride in your sword, Oppa."]

"Precisely. And yet your sword also carries the strong emotions of a human. That is what I cannot make sense of."

Rokan stressed that although those qualities might seem able to coexist, they absolutely could not. The more I listened, the more confused I became.

["Hmm. Oppa, you still look lost."]

Sia had hit the nail on the head. "It's a little embarrassing, but you're right. Honestly, I don't understand a word of it."

I mimed squeezing my head and complained to her that it hurt. The more I learned, the more tangled everything felt.

"I thought so," Rokan said, gently placing a hand on my shoulder. "Just remember what I told you. One day you'll understand it on your own, so don't worry."

"Yes. I'll keep it in mind."

"That's enough of that. Let's move on."

There was a more important matter to discuss. I advanced the footage to the second clash with the Antmen, which also showed the confrontation with the villains.

It showed me faltering at the Antmen's overwhelming numbers, then squeezing out every last bit of strength to survive. When my strength began to fail, the villains attacked. Then came the moment when, facing certain death, I unwittingly wielded aurora-colored sword energy.

Just after the footage showed aurora-colored sword energy beginning to ripple along the blade in my wounded hand, Rokan paused it. Then he addressed me in a calm voice. "Minjun."

But his voice was so unnaturally calm that a single word sent goose bumps across my skin. "How on earth did you do that?"

I didn't know exactly what the aurora-colored sword energy was, but it certainly seemed like an achievement. I'd expected Rokan to congratulate me and be pleased. Yet he didn't look pleased at all.

"I'm not sure myself. The only thing I can think of is... when that sword energy appeared, I felt an overwhelming determination to make it back alive."

Though his reaction had startled me at first, I calmly told him what I thought. Judging by the circumstances, my will to survive was the most likely reason I'd been able to manifest the sword energy, but I didn't know for certain. That was why I'd wanted to ask him about it.

Instead of answering my question, Rokan swallowed a troubled hum, his expression too complicated to read. Then he said, "... Let's take a short break."

As if he'd developed a headache, he left us and went into his study. What on earth was going on?

* * *

Rokan stumbled back into his study, squeezed his eyes shut, and sighed. Having read the energy of Minjun's soul, he'd long known the young man was no ordinary being. But even so... 'Knowing that doesn't make this any less startling.'

Aurora-colored sword energy. When Minjun had first mentioned it, Rokan had been skeptical. Judging the matter dispassionately, Minjun at his current level shouldn't have been able to wield such immense power. It had seemed more likely that he'd hallucinated while the power ran out of control. Yet, astonishingly, what Minjun had said was true.

He really had wielded an unusual sword energy reminiscent of an aurora. The other dragons settled on Earth probably didn't know what it was either. Even Sia had looked as though she'd never seen it before. But Rokan knew. He knew what power Minjun had wielded, and what sort of being had once wielded it.

An ancient, secret book that only Dragon Lords had ever been permitted to read contained this account:

<... Wielding an unusual sword aura reminiscent of an aurora, he drew every eye. Gifted in many pursuits beyond swordsmanship, he possessed strength sufficient to overwhelm not only other humans but even our kind. (Passage omitted) Though he was friendly toward our kind, fate made him someone we could not help but guard against. For he was

* * *

* * ***.>

It was the story of a man who had caused an uproar across the entire continent tens of thousands of years ago. Humans now dismissed it as a common folktale, but among dragons it had been passed down as history. Remembering that passage, Rokan sighed again. For now, there was nothing else he could do.

'How could you have reproduced even that?'

Of course, Minjun's sword energy was nowhere near the power wielded by the man in the account. But one thing was certain.

If Minjun ever learned to wield that sword energy as deftly as that being, whose very mention was taboo, he would command power far beyond merely wielding a dragon's strength—power great enough to overwhelm even Rokan, an ancient dragon.

But until Minjun could properly wield a dragon's power, at the very least, that other power had to remain sealed. Otherwise, it would swallow him, and he would turn into a monster who could no longer be called human.