224 – 65-2. The reason why the sword master had to raise the sword.
***
A knight and an evil dragon.
In a way, it is a common story in fairy tales.
But life is not as beautiful as a fairy tale.
There are laws that end with a sad ending, not a happy ending.
“Drake, it’s hot today. Put on your hat and go out.”
“Thank you! Mother!”
Drake was born as the son of a peasant.
It is said that from a young age he followed his father’s footsteps and helped cultivate the fields.
A serf who wears a straw hat and goes out to work under the melting sun.
He was just a person who thought he would be lucky if he lived a life worth eating day by day.
Similar to me, originally there was no ties to swordsmanship.
“Drake. You don’t have to follow me today.”
“No! I want to get paid quickly and buy delicious food for my younger siblings!”
Firstborn.
Drake is the eldest of the children born, and it is said that he had two younger brothers under him.
“Drake hyung! If you come back today, let’s have a sword fight with me!”
“Hey, how fun is fighting with wooden sticks! Oppa, you have to play house with me today!”
A firstborn son who can be trusted by his parents.
A big brother who is kinder than anyone to his younger siblings.
Drake was rumored to be a friendly and fun friend in town.
“I’ll be back!”
“I’ll go with Drake. Honey.”
Like that, when he went out the door with his father to work in the field, he helped his father with his fern-like hands.
He follows his father who works hard in the field with a hoe, sows seeds, and fetches water in advance to help water the crops.
Drake did most of the chores.
When the time for harvest comes in the fall, he said he couldn’t be happier when he saw a basket full of fruits and vegetables.
A thrilling feeling about what the newcomer might have prepared for lunch every time, and the sparkling night sky that was clearly visible when the sun went down and turned black.
It was a memory that Drake felt in Sprout Village, now irreversible.
“I’m back! Mother!”
“Drake. Wash your hands and prepare dinner.”
Two father and son returned home after dinner time.
Looking at the muddy Drake, his mother put on a worried expression.
Drake often got muddy.
Even though he was young, he tried to help his poor family even a little bit.
“Brother! Today it’s your turn to read me a fairy tale!”
“Drake, let’s go hunting for stag beetles with me tomorrow!”
His younger siblings welcome him after he comes out after washing his hands.
The color of ripe barley. He inherited the color of his parents’ hair, so they all had blonde hair similar to his own.
The younger siblings, who were waiting for Drake, expressed their excitement by jumping in place.
“For deer, let’s find a tree where sap flows. William!”
He smiled reciprocally and answered his younger siblings.
“Catherine. Put the storybook you are going to read today by your bedside before going to bed!”
Brothers and sisters on good terms. Drake, who fulfills his role as the first in the family.
“I will eat well!”
At night, the family sat around the dinner table in the order of five.
Most of the evening meals were oatmeal or bread, but even so, mother’s food was always waiting for her when she returned home.
“Honey, what day is it today? Does the oatmeal have chicken in it?”
“hehehehe, a few days ago was my son’s birthday. Because I couldn’t take care of it on time… I’m doing it even today.”
The day before the black cloud invaded the village,
Drake’s mother wished her a happy birthday that she hadn’t been able to do before.
“Thank you! Mother!”
“Yes, eat a lot. Drake!”
A dinner that was more harmonious than ever.
Who would have known that this moment would be the last dinner with my family.
“Thanks to hyung, we eat delicious food too! Oops!”
“Brother, I’m late, but happy birthday!”
The expressions of the younger siblings smiling brightly and the smiles of their parents who were looking at them happily.
Even when I close my eyes to try not to remember it, I faintly remembered it.
Oatmeal has become an uneaten food since that day.
***
At dawn when everyone was asleep.
The moon began to be covered by the shadows that filled the sky.
Heukun led other dragons to raid the village.
According to Drake’s guess, this also happened because of the ‘prophecy’ I had heard.
To burn the village in advance to prevent future events.
If you think about later that Heukun destroyed the mage tower where the sages gathered, that was the only reason.
─Quaang!
A roar that shook heaven and earth. The ground shakes as if an earthquake had occurred.
The peaceful village of Sprout was engulfed in flames in an instant due to the flames spewed by the dragons.
“Drake!! Wake up!!”
“Catherine, William. Let’s go outside!!”
Drake’s family members were also forced to come outside as their house burned down.
Because they came out in a hurry, they had no time to pack clothes or important items, and they hurriedly took refuge.
Looking around, the village was turning into ashes in an instant.
Meke smoke rising. People’s screams and cries.
“Save me!! Save people!!”
“The child is still in the house!! Let go of this!!”
“Mom… Mom…”
I wasn’t aiming for gold or silver, nor was it entertainment for joy.
The dragons thoroughly set the village on fire as if they were laughing at the people crying out for help.
Slaughter.
He was killing people, from children to the elderly.
As if no one should survive here.
“My God….”
“…..”
I looked up at the sky and saw that it was flying around in a circle.
For what reason the dragon had been attacking such a rural village, the young Drake had no idea.
Among them, the dragon was the largest and reflected the moonlight, giving it a black glow.
Looks like a cloud. The pitch-black black dragon descended closer and closer to the earth, and took on a human form.
“There are still survivors. No one should survive here today.”
Long black hair down to his waist and deer antlers on top of his head.
The man in the black coat slowly opened his mouth.
Almighty demon king. Black luck.
The demon king, like a large cloud moving at night, faced Drake’s family.
Around the time when Drake was unable to do anything as his body trembled at the feeling of being frozen to the core.
“..Drake. He wants to run away with his brothers.”
His father has been telling his son to take care of his younger siblings.
He’s trying to buy time for his children even though he knows he won’t win if he fights. The hoe in his hand was shaking.
“..Tearful paternal love. A mere human against a dragon?”
Heukwoon opened his mouth while watching the scene. In this world, dragons are near absolute invincibility.
Has scales that deflect magic and impervious to blades.
Unlike humans who can’t get off the ground, they can fly freely in the sky.
Because the mana of the heart was extremely special, enough to create a hot flame inside the body.
“Come on, run without looking back.”
“Drake, you should always be healthy.”
The words of Drake’s parents holding Drake’s shoulders.
Then he swallowed his cry and took his brothers by the hand.
“Mom, Dad.. See you again later.”
That was the last thing he saw of his parents.
Drake’s parents jumped to death to make their children’s escape successful.
However, they were ordinary peasants, not trained swordsmen or wizards.
There was not enough strength to stop the demon king of the dragon cult, and soon after, Drake and his younger brothers were captured by Heukun.
“..I will honor my father’s sacrifice and save you.”
The dragon approached with its yellow eyes shining.
That’s how Drake lost everything in one day.
My parents were kinder than anyone else.
The younger siblings who followed him well.
And even friends from the village I was close to.
Like dark clouds that suddenly cover the sky and rain even in sunny weather, the demon king called Heukun has swallowed it up.
***
“..You made swordsmanship because of the black cloud.”
I listened to Drake’s story with a mixed heart.
It is said that most people are intertwined with the demon lord, but I never thought this would happen.
Now I understand why the Drake style of swordsmanship is focused on catching dragons.
‘I wonder if the reason they accepted me as a disciple was because I was from Sprout Village.’
In fact, it was a village that was burned down and then rebuilt.
The old couple who took me in must have been angry at that time too.
I came to Sprout Village at least 15 years after Dark Cloud attacked.
“Yes, an ordinary human who is not a hero cannot injure even a dragon, let alone a demon lord.”
“No. The village could have survived thanks to my father.”
Obviously Heukun acted as if he would kill all the villagers.
Perhaps he was moved by his father’s sacrifice, or he was able to save time for others to escape.
“Still, I couldn’t save my parents then. Even my younger siblings.”
In a weeping voice he says as he punches his wall hard.
I chewed my lower lip at the opposite of him, who always spoke loudly and laughed.
“..The only thing left in my heart is vengeance. Disciple.”
“……”
Vengeance.
Drake stomps his chest with his hands and vomits.
He couldn’t protect anyone. It was probably because of that that he was driven to wield his sword in spite of himself until now.
After that, he followed Heukun.
With the hope that their parents might still be alive, they searched for family information together.
Then I was able to meet the current sage, Azmodeus, when I was young.
“Even I have no face raising my face to a sage!”
However, when Heukun tried to destroy the mage tower to fulfill the ‘prophecy’, as he did in his village later.
“Because I arrived too late when Black Cloud attacked the Mage Tower!”
It is said that he arrived too late to save everyone. He said that he couldn’t go fast using magic because of his innate lack of mana.
Azmodeus is the only surviving sage.
Drake was also the only survivor of his family.
Even though he saved her, he must have been guilty of repeating his own wounds.
“But Master, it is not your fault.”
A man born as a peasant’s son swung a sword.
Drake has reached the level of Grand Sword Master, where he can eventually kill the Demon King with just one effort.
I wonder if the only reason Drake accepted me as a disciple was because I looked like him when I was younger.
‘Almighty demon king. Black luck.’
According to Drake who fought against him during the Demon War, It is said that Heukun was an omnipotent demon king who could handle all weapons.
Based on a wooden sword with the words Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter written on it.
A dragon that can create any weapon from a wooden sword held in its hand, and can handle any weapon proficiently.
“..Did he use the power of incompetence?”
Considering that the nameless saint, Fine, was not able to use her divine power skillfully.
Perhaps you can use the authority to get rid of the other person’s talent.
A miracle.
Originally, it is safe to say that saints are human beings who bring miracles.
Because holy power is the embodiment of strong wishes made of reason.
The story of the first saintess reviving people who were dying was famous.
It was also something I heard in class at the academy.
‘What is the prophecy?’
So that means it was all planned from the beginning.
In order to neutralize her hero in her prophecy, the demon lords of her dragon cult destroyed her.
I bit my molars hard.
“I understand. Fortunately, the wise man has a heart.”
“Yes. But I don’t think I’m qualified. Disciple.”
After organizing all my thoughts, I talked to Drake.
In the end, for Fine’s happy ending, these two must be connected.
“If you kill the demon king Heukun… Will you accept his heart?”
It must be a problem that can be solved by catching the demon king called Heukun.