Chapter 39 - Oppa’s “Thing” Broke?

How long had I been unconscious? My head was still foggy, and I felt as though I were caught somewhere between dream and reality. What had happened before I passed out? Right. After barely clearing the gate, I’d come to Rokan’s lair to recover from the aftereffects of using dragon speech, and then I’d lost consciousness. So was this Rokan’s lair? As the fog in my head cleared, my eyes began to open.

“Ugh...” The first thing I saw was the familiar ceiling of Rokan’s lair. Turning my eyes, I realized I was lying in a bed I’d never seen before. Rokan was there, too, and when I turned my head again, I saw Sia on a large monitor.

[“Oppa! Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”] The moment I let out a small groan and started to sit up, Sia called out to me anxiously, checking how I was. “Yeah. I’m just tired and sore all over. I think I’ll be fine after some rest.” [“Phew. Thank goodness.”]

After reassuring Sia, I turned to Rokan. “Rokan, how long... has it been since I collapsed?” “About three days.” I’d been out that long? I’d never been unconscious for anywhere near that long before, and the news came as quite a shock. As I stared at him in stunned disbelief, Rokan eased me back down onto the bed. “You still need to recover. Don’t do anything for the next few days. Just rest.”

Then Rokan told me what had happened before and after I lost consciousness. On the day I’d gone to clear the Garden of the Dragon Sword, the time I’d promised to call had long since passed without a word from me. Worried that something had happened, Sia had used a tracking spell to find the gate I’d entered. As soon as she got there, she saw that its rank and clear conditions had changed, and she hurriedly called Rokan for help. But even as dragons, neither of them had a way to force their way inside. So Rokan and Sia had waited endlessly in front of the gate for me to come out, searching for a solution in case the worst happened. It was the best they could do at the time.

Then, after several hours of waiting, the gate opened sooner than they’d expected. Sia watched me from a distance with Rokan, staying back just in case. She knew that meeting me in person while I was still in that condition would only make it worse. Once they’d confirmed I’d survived, Rokan saw me teleport to his lair and rushed over at once. But in that brief interval, I’d lost consciousness. And though it still hadn’t sunk in, three days had already passed since then.

Hearing everything they’d done made my chest tighten with emotion. “Thank you, Sia. Really, thank you.” [“You don’t have to thank me. You’d have done the same if our places were reversed, Oppa. I’m just glad you seem okay.”] Finally able to relax, Sia smiled brightly. But when I looked closer, her eyes were bloodshot, as if she’d been up for days.

“Sia, you haven’t been staying up all night, have you?” [“N-no, nothing like that. I’ve just slept a little less than usual?”] Her momentary fluster made it obvious she was lying, and Rokan promptly corrected her. “She has. She stayed awake for all three days you were unconscious. She was worried you might wake up in the middle of the night.” He’d told her he could watch over me during the day so she could at least sleep then, but she’d refused and insisted on staying awake. Caught in her lie, Sia looked away in embarrassment.

“You should have slept, Sia.” [“But... I couldn’t help worrying.”] With her cheeks flushed and her voice adorably sulky, she looked so lovable that the thought of never seeing her like this again sent a chill through me. That was what would have happened if I’d failed to clear the gate.

“You’ve seen Minjun wake up now. Can’t you go to bed?” [“I’ll stay a little longer. Just a little. He only just woke up.”] Sia protested like a child who didn’t want to go to sleep. “Sia, listen to your grandfather. You can’t be thinking straight after three days without sleep.” [“I’m fine. Dragons can go more than a week without sleeping.”] She met my concerned gaze with a little smile. Oh, right. Sia was a dragon...

“That still doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Shasha, listen to your grandfather. Off you go.” [“Aw. I’m all grown up, you know.”] She could say that, but in Rokan’s eyes she was still his precious little granddaughter, so adorable he couldn’t bear to see her hurt. He gently coaxed her again. In the end, Sia muttered a few complaints at him, told me to call anytime I got bored, and turned off her camera.

After that, I drank the potions Rokan gave me and regained some strength. Once I’d finished, he asked, as I’d expected, what had happened inside the gate. “I didn’t want to pepper you with questions while you were unwell, but I think it’s time. What on earth happened in there?” “It’s... a bit of a long story.”

Starting with my fight against the Sword Wraiths in the Tomb of the Dragon Sword, I told him in detail everything that had led to my using dragon speech, leaving nothing out. At first, Rokan seemed interested in the story of the emperor who’d wielded a Dragon Bone Sword. But when I reached the part where I’d met the emperor and used dragon speech, his expression changed. “No matter how I look at it, that’s impossible.” “Sorry?” “I know I’m always telling you that you have extraordinary talent, but this goes beyond that. However gifted you are, this should be impossible.” Rokan shook his head. But hadn’t he seen the gate’s clear conditions himself? “... I don’t really understand it either. But I’ve told you exactly what happened in there.” “Hmm. I think you’ve misunderstood me. I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I’m saying that, barring some exceptional factor, it should be impossible in theory. Did your camera capture any of it?”

At his question, I took out the camera and checked whether it had recorded me using dragon speech. If it had, I could just show him. Unfortunately, there was no footage of anything from the moment I met Minos onward, including my use of dragon speech. Had the power gone out at some point? “... Would you like to see the rest of the footage, at least?” It hadn’t captured me using dragon speech, but perhaps something else in the recordings would offer a clue. I handed Rokan the camera, and he watched through the footage beside me. “That certainly wasn’t an ordinary gate.”

Partway through, Rokan replayed one section, then frowned. “The fellow buried in this tomb has definitely tampered with it.” Tampered with it? Seeing my confusion, Rokan sighed. “To find out exactly what he did, I’d have to go there and see it for myself. You must be exhausted, so let’s leave the discussion here for today.” He pulled the blanket over me himself and added, “I think it would be best if you didn’t meet Shasha this week. Spend the next few days here recovering.” “Thank you...”

I’d wanted to go on a date with Sia to lift my spirits, so that was a real disappointment. Sia would probably feel the same. “Oh, Rokan.” Remembering something I’d forgotten, I called out to him. “I was too out of it to tell Sia earlier, but... the sword broke.”

It had weighed on me ever since it broke. I didn’t know how Sia would feel, but I felt terribly sorry and upset about it. After all, it was the first meaningful gift she’d given me since we’d reunited. It was also the sword that had helped me discover a talent I hadn’t even known I had. Of course breaking it bothered me. “The sword Shasha gave you?” “Yes. I’m sorry to ask, but I was wondering if you might be able to fix it.” I took the broken Dragon Bone Sword out of my pocket dimension. I could have asked Sia to fix it herself, but then she’d find out I’d broken it. “I’ll take a look at the sword. You rest for now.” After casting a healing spell on me, Rokan left.

* * *

The next morning, Sia contacted Rokan as soon as she woke to check on Minjun. Rokan turned the camera so she could see him sleeping. Normally he would have been awake by then, but his body had yet to recover fully. Since she’d called, Rokan told her about the conversation he’d had with Minjun while she was asleep. And that wasn’t all. [“... So he seems quite upset that the sword you gave him broke.”] He told her that Minjun’s Dragon Bone Sword had broken, too.

From Minjun’s perspective, the ideal outcome would have been for Rokan to keep quiet and simply repair the sword. But Rokan knew how hurt his granddaughter would be if he kept it a secret and she found out later. He felt bad for Minjun, but he had to tell her. Besides, the Dragon Bone Sword Minjun had handed him was so badly damaged that repairing it would be complicated. It wasn’t an ordinary sword, either, but a Dragon Bone Sword imbued with dragon power. Even if he managed to repair it, Rokan couldn’t promise it would perform as it once had.

“He could’ve just told me. It’s only a sword—I could give him as many more as he wants...” [“I feel the same way, but I can understand why Minjun would worry.”] It would be stranger if he felt nothing when a precious gift from the person he loved was ruined. [“That’s why I think you should give him a new sword.”] “I should. But I don’t think I have another Dragon Bone Sword.” She had more fine swords than she could count, but the one she’d given Minjun was her only Dragon Bone Sword. Perhaps she should make him a sword herself. Wait. “Why didn’t I think of that?” she exclaimed excitedly.

What if she returned to her true form, removed one of her own bones, shaped it, and made a sword from it herself? Sia’s face lit up with excitement at the brilliant idea that had come to her. Of course, it was a way of thinking no human could ever understand. Cutting out one of your own bones to make a sword for your lover—what a horrifying idea. But that was only from a human perspective. To dragons, it was nothing unusual. Their values differed from humans’ to begin with, and removing one of their own living bones wasn’t difficult for them at all.

Undo the Polymorph, use magic to neatly remove a bone from one side of her chest, cast a healing spell, and she’d be done. With the right anesthetic spell, she’d barely feel any pain while removing it. Compared with pain a human would recognize, perhaps it would hurt about as much as getting a shot. She could certainly endure that much for Minjun, anytime. If anything, she regretted not making him a sword from her own bone sooner. There was just one thing that worried her.

“But Grandpa, would that be okay...?” [“What do you mean?”] “It would be a bone imbued with my power. What if that power affects Oppa...” Their energies were incompatible, which was why they were avoiding meeting each other. A Dragon Bone Sword made from her own bone might actually harm Minjun. Fortunately, it didn’t seem likely that what she feared would happen. [“It would contain only a tiny fraction of your power, so it should be fine. In fact, that might make it even better.”] “Better...?” [“Yes. The sword might act as a kind of vaccination.”]

If the sword continuously exposed Minjun to a trace of Sia’s energy, perhaps he would grow a little more accustomed to it. Rokan thought it might work like a vaccine. Of course, this was unfamiliar territory even for him, so he couldn’t guarantee the result... Still, he judged the risk of anything serious happening to be extremely low. Maybe Minjun would feel briefly dizzy from time to time, but that was about it. Surely he could put up with that much. [“There may be minor side effects like that, but I think the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks. It should be fine.”] “I see!” Now she had one more reason to make Minjun a sword from her own bone.

“Thank you, Grandpa! Good night!” [“Good night, Shasha.”] With that, Rokan headed to his bedroom, while Sia gazed at the sleeping Minjun on her monitor, happily pondering what to do. ‘A sword carved from my own bone... It’ll be the only one of its kind in the world.’ What gift could possibly be more meaningful?

Unlike other dragons, who might make a Dragon Bone Sword from one of their own bones out of curiosity at some point in their lives, she had never tried it. And now the perfect opportunity had come along. This had to be a sign from heaven. “Hehe.” The person she loved would carry her bone close to him all the time and grow stronger with it. How wonderful was that? “How should I make it so my Oppa will like it?” At the thought of making Minjun a one-of-a-kind sword, Sia couldn’t stop grinning. Minjun, of course, had no idea she was making such plans.