157 – Reformation (1)
Adria froze at the story that came out of Kim Hyun-woo’s mouth, and a moment of silence followed.
The silence lasted for a few seconds.
However, after a while, Adria let out a small sigh and spoke.
“I didn’t think about that part.”
“Was it too sudden?”
At Adria’s reaction, Kim Hyun-woo asked. She shook her head.
“No, that’s not it. I mean, what I’m thinking about is… where I should start talking about this.”
After saying that, she remained silent for a long time, lost in thought. After a while,
“…Well, since it’s come to this, let me start by explaining why I lied to the guardian about being the Red Dragon.”
Adria began to talk about what had happened from the very beginning, and Kim Hyun-woo listened to her story for a long time.
“…That’s what happened.”
Kim Hyun-woo nodded as if he had finally understood the situation, seeing Adria who had just finished explaining everything.
“I think I get it… In a way, I’m a little relieved.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, I was secretly thinking that maybe the reason the dragon wasn’t showing up was because it didn’t really want to join the territory.”
At Kim Hyun-woo’s words, Adria looked blank for a moment and then spoke with a wry smile.
“If that were the case, there would be no reason for me to show you such an ugly appearance over and over again.”
“Yes?”
Kim Hyun-woo tilted his head as if he didn’t understand for a moment, but then he recalled the appearances that Adria had shown him from time to time.
She usually looked fine, but there were times when she looked really bad. Thinking back to those times, Kim Hyun-woo spoke as if he had finally realized the truth.
“…You must have suffered a lot.”
“I’ll neither confirm nor deny that for now.”
“Oh, and I heard that the two of you share the same body. Does that mean the dragon is watching this situation right now?”
At Kim Hyun-woo’s question, Adria nodded.
“Yes. Would you like me to switch?”
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“Um… I would be grateful if you could.”
Adria closed her eyes at his words.
And after a little while.
“…Master?”
“!”
Kim Hyun-woo realized that the person in front of him was not Adria, but the Red Dragon.
He didn’t even have to try to recognize it as a dragon in the first place.
The moment she transformed from Adria to a dragon, the atmosphere she exuded changed unbelievably instantaneously, even though she was clearly sharing the same body.
The eyes that had been intelligent up until a moment ago were half-closed and fluttered like a candle flickering in the wind, and her previously stretched-out body became slightly hunched.
Her tightly shut mouth was moving restlessly, and her hands were naturally gathered in front of her.
“…Rien?”
Kim Hyun-woo couldn’t help but mutter as he watched her.
At that, the crimson dragon—no, Rien—gave a bright smile, stood up from her seat, and hugged Kim Hyun-woo.
“I missed you, Master!”
Rien hugged him as soon as he called her name.
Kim Hyun-woo was surprised by how strongly Rien hugged him, so much so that he let out a gasp, even though his ability stats had reached 2 stars thanks to food.
“It’s been a long time.”
Kim Hyun-woo soon patted the back of Rien, whom he was seeing for the first time in a long time, and looked at Rien, who was looking up at him with a sullen expression.
“Have you been well?”
He began to talk to her as if greeting her, and Kim Hyun-woo was able to hear Rien’s story.
From wandering after Kim Hyun-woo disappeared to meeting the Dragon Lord and performing the ritual to become a dragon.
After hearing her entire story, Kim Hyun-woo felt his guilt grow heavier as he heard that she had also chosen to become a dragon in order to meet him.
On the other hand, he was also curious.
‘Why on earth are you doing this to me…?’
Up until now, whenever he had recruited heroes, their situations had always been extremely desperate, so he had never asked, but Kim Hyun-woo had always had a strange curiosity about that part.
Of course, Kim Hyun-woo was not so foolish as to not know what kind of feelings they had for him.
However, even considering that, he wondered why they were giving him this much affection, even though he had been gone for 10 years.
“Rien.”
“Yes, Master…!”
Kim Hyun-woo asked Rien, who was making a rare bright expression.
“It’s a bit funny to ask this, but why did you wait for me and…try to find me?”
“Because you’re my Master.”
“…”
He made an expression that said that wasn’t the answer he wanted, but Rien looked at Kim Hyun-woo as if wondering why he needed any other reason.
“I see.”
Kim Hyun-woo smiled helplessly as he looked into her eyes and stroked Rien’s head.
“I, I—when Master was gone, I did a lot of research. Research on magic that transcends dimensions—.”
“I see.”
He listened to Rien’s story.
“—So, that’s how it happened, so I—.”
He listened to her story.
“So—I created an equation for dimensional magic and verified the crossover theory—.”
“…”
Kim Hyun-woo was able to recall the daily life he had with Rien 10 years ago.
And.
“…”
Adria naturally looked at Rien, who was clinging to Kim Hyun-woo in her body and chattering diligently.
‘…My body…’
I couldn’t help but listen to Lien’s story for over five hours with Kim Hyun-woo, letting out a soft sigh.
####
“…What?”
When Lawton asked with a dumbfounded expression, the secretary seemed to make a very difficult expression before quickly bowing his head and speaking.
“The legion has been annihilated.”
“…The legion has been annihilated?”
“Yes.”
“…Even the angels?”
“Not a single angel has returned.”
“Huh.”
Lawton let out a hollow laugh as if he couldn’t believe the secretary’s words, then held his throbbing head for a long time before saying.
“Let’s go out first.”
Starting by sending out the secretary, he immediately put his hand on the blue sphere above his office.
And at that moment.
“Hello-”
“!”
Lawton’s hair stood on end when he heard the voice from behind him and immediately spread his hand wide open.
Vwoong-!
As soon as he spread his hand open, a sword of light was clenched in Lawton’s hand.
Lawton, who grabbed it, immediately swung the sword, but.
“Aren’t you swinging it too recklessly?”
The sword in his hand couldn’t advance any further right in front of Roria, who had appeared right behind him.
“!”
Lawton, who was startled by her, soon felt the energy emanating from her body.
“Abyss…!”
“You know me well.”
“What are you doing here?”
Lawton’s question, his eyes wide open and not letting go of his tension.
However, despite Lawton’s serious words, she still spoke with a light laugh.
“What do you mean? I came to make a good offer.”
“…Do you think we’d believe the words of the Abyss?”
“What if I told you that by listening to the Abyss’s words, you could revive the one you serve so devoutly?”
“…How can I believe that?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not, because what I’m going to do isn’t to receive something from you, but to simply give you strength. Just listen to the story and receive it.”
“…”
Lawton looked at her with a suspicious expression.
However.
“Don’t be so suspicious, our goals are the same anyway, don’t you have to kill the ‘Outer Star’?”
“…”
“So, let’s cooperate until then. Isn’t it too much to kill the Outsider with just you guys right now? I would’ve killed it while I was blocking it well, but some bastards couldn’t kill the Outsider during that time.”
“What a pity,” muttered Roria.
“So, how about it? Shall we form an alliance until we kill the Outsider?”
He soon offered again to Roton and laughed.
####
The next day.
In fact, since Lien had promised to join after becoming a dragon, it could be said that all the heroes of the Round Table in Kim Hyun-woo’s head had joined.
““…””
The heroes belonging to Lartania gathered in one place.
The former heroes of Lartania: Merilda, Lynn, and Charles.
And the current heroes of Lartania: Elena, River, and Shadria.
“?”
Even Rani tilted her head as if she was wondering about the strange atmosphere.
They all gathered in one place and looked at each other strangely.
Of course, those here could be said to be colleagues belonging to the same territory, but on the other hand, they were also definite enemies.
For example, the heroes who had originally entered Lartania or the current heroes who had just returned to Lartania had the same goal, though their processes differed slightly.
To receive Kim Hyun-woo’s affection.
And to become the one and only half of Kim Hyun-woo, whom they loved so much.
““…””
For that goal, everyone began preparing for an invisible race.
“Hey, can you read this?”
“Hmm-“
And around that time, Kim Hyun-woo showed Lien a blue bone with some kind of pattern written on it, thinking that she might know the ancient language.
“Yes, I can read it, Master!”
“What does it say?”
“It says, Heo-jeop Heo-jeop-!…”?”
He couldn’t help but look dazed for a moment at the interpretation of the sentence written on the blue bone.