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“It seemed the lesson I taught my student is grabbing at my ankles. All right. What do you want as a compensation for the knowledge? You don’t have a personality where you would be tempted by materialistic goods.”

“Please tell me about your swords.”

Azell pointed at the pair of swords mounted around Kairen’s waist.

Kairen put on a peculiar expression.

“Are you sure you are fine with just that?”

“Yes.”

“You are taking a loss on this deal. I’ll accept it in any case. You can’t back out now.”

“Why?”

“After a brief investigation, you would have been able to find out this information. Compared to what you are about to tell me, the price is very cheap.”

Kairen was nicknamed the Dragon Sword Duke because of the dual swords he used. Those swords were too famous, so there weren’t any secrets that were unknown to the public.

Azell let out a bitter laugh.

“I don’t care.”

“Then I’ll tell you about it. The swords are Dragon Swords(龍劍).”

“Dragon Sword?”

“From one to ten, the ingredients were all extracted from a Dragon’s corpse. Moreover, these are magical swords forged with my blood.”

“That is why I can feel Dragon Demon Magic from them.”

“Yes. Is that why you were interested in them?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen a sword tinged with Dragon Demon magic.”

“Of course. There are only few in existence on this world. It is something I reconstructed after I saw the old records.”

“The old records?”

“It was a record about the Dragon Demon war.”

“What?”

Azell was confused. Weapons like the Dragon Swords didn’t exist in his era.

Kairen spoke.

“There weren’t any detailed descriptions, but I was able to find a passage saying the heroes of that age used weapons emitting Dragon Demon magic to fight against the Dragon Demon King’s forces. However, I didn’t know what those weapons were made out of or how to make them. For years, I gathered damaged records and through endless research, I found a story saying a Dragon had to be killed to make the weapon. This was why I guessed Dragon Slayer’s ritual was part of the process.”

This was why Kairen had killed a Dragon with helpers. They had used the corpse to research a way that they could make weapons with Dragon Demon magic imbued in it. These two Dragon Swords were the result of over 30 years of research.

“.......”

Azell was speechless.

‘This basically means they completely forgot about the Dragon Slayer’s ritual and the Dragon Maqi....’

At the time of the Dragon Demon war, Azell wasn’t the only user of the Dragon Maqi. If he included those killed in the war, there were twenty of them. Yet, all the records about them and the Dragon Maqi disappeared?

Even if the fall of the Nadick Empire had caused confusion, and the great darkness was present, everything about this was unnatural. His suspicion deepened as he continued to suspect that the Dragon Demon King’s worshippers secretly severed the knowledge on this subject.

‘Anyways, they tried to duplicate the Dragon Maqi using such a method. Impressive.’

If Carlos had been alive, Azell would want to hear his opinion on this subject. At the time, Carlos thought about mass producing large and beautiful magical energy, but he had never thought about reproducing the quick flames of the Dragon Maqi. Their attempt at replicating Dragon Maqi came at an era when all the knowledge about the Dragon Maqi had been severed.

Kairen spoke.

“Now it’s your turn.”

“Do you know about the goal of the mages to seek for a way to ultimately save mankind?”

“I know about it. The great flood of the world raked across this world, and it forever left a wound on this world.”

It was what every magician wanted. They wanted to changed the world with their own magic.

This wasn’t a figure of speech. The magicians genuinely believed that they could changed the world through magic. They weren’t trying to use magic to change how a person thought or acted. They wanted to change the fundamental laws of the world.

Azell spoke.

“You like speaking in poetic expressions.”

“My magician friends are all full of pretentiousness. It’s almost pathological. If one was a talented magician, one must act with bluster to meet the expectations of the masses. This is a tradition passed down by the Archmage Carlos... Mmm? What’s wrong? Why is your expression like that?”

“...No. It’s nothing.”

For a moment, he almost let out a choking sound. Carlos had always spoken that way when he was bragging about himself.

‘No way. Everything about the Dragon Slayer’s ritual and Dragon Maqi was forgotten, yet such words from Carlos survived? Moreover, it had turned into a tradition?

It really was a terrible thing. Azell spoke as his body shuddered.

“The magicians sincerely believe such works are possible. Moreover, the Dragon Slayer’s ritual is the proof.”

“Mmmm?”

“Since time immemorial, a great magician made a deal that was both beneficial to the humans and the dragons. Humans thirsted for strength, and the dragons thirsted for wisdom. The ritual puts what both sides wants on the line.”

It was a promise made between the two races. At the same time, it was made into a law of this world.

Unlike the humans, Dragons didn’t pass down their knowledge. However, all of the Dragons—including the newly born ones—knew about the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual.

Kairen’s eyes opened as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

"What kind of nonsensical story is that?”

“Anyways, this is the only answer I can give to the question posed by you.”

“Mmmm.......”

Kairen frowned. It sounded like a fantastical delusion, but he didn’t have any evidence to dispute what he had been told. Azell referenced the Dragon Slayer’s ritual in his fight against the Earth Dragon to get its attention, and the Dragon Demon King’s worshippers obsessed over this fact.

Kairen asked a question.

“So let’s say anyone could go look for a dragon, and they initiate the Dragon Slayer’s ritual. Do you mean to say the Dragon’s power could be obtained by winning a one-on-one battle to the death?”

“Not everyone could do it. It is only possible for humans. Ah, it is possible for the Dragon Demons to do it. (TLN: Dragon Majins) They barely qualify for the requirement needed for the contract..”

“Basically, it’s impossible for me to test it out?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm... It’s hard to believe that story.”

Kairen grumbled, but he didn’t ask any more questions. After thinking for a brief moment, Kairen stood up.

“Let’s end this here today.”

“Are you sure that’s all for today?”

“Yes.”

Kairen didn’t speak any further and returned to lie down in his beddings. Then he immediately fell asleep.

Azell looked at him for a brief moment before turning his gaze towards the campfire. He started to think.

‘The Dragon Slayer’s ritual.......’

He suddenly thought about the conversation he had in the past.

5

He had a dream.

He acknowledged that it happened far from the current world. It was a memory from the distant past.

‘Ah. It was right around this time.’

As a high level Spirit Order Practitioner, he could guide the intent of his dreams. He could also change the content of his dreams. During the process of gaining control over his mind, he had learned a technique where he could create a dream using a specific memory.

Azell used this technique to recreate a snippet of his past in the form of a dream.

“I’ll change the world someday.”

He had a friend who always said those words.

If someone else had said it, he would have laughed it off after calling the person out as being immature. However, this was Carlos. It wasn’t a dream of an immature boy, who was ignorant of reality. Azell acknowledged the dreams of those with the ability to achieve it.

This was why Azell asked the question.

“How do you want to change it?”

“Mmm. I haven’t come up with a concrete idea yet. What I can do and what I want to do isn’t matching up yet.”

“What if we could prevent those of the Dragon Demon race from being born into this world?”

“If that was possible, then this damn war would be over. However, the birth of the Dragon Demon race itself was caused by magic changing the world. I’m not sure it’ll be possible to reverse that change. Still, it is something worth researching about.”

The magicians considered the birth of the Dragon Demon race to be the result of a mighty magic. It was the very first magic that made an indelible imprint on this world. Moreover, everyone believed the Dragon Demon King Atein was the founder of mages.

Azell snorted.

“Don’t take my words too seriously. How would it be possible to change the entire race into being sterile?”

“...Is that how you see it? It seems that I have to throw away my opinion of you being a dumb swordsman. It seems you might be quite extraordinary.”

Carlos was astonished. Then he spoke as if suddenly thought of something.

“Still, it may be possible using another method. Like the Dragon Slayer’s ritual, we might be able to impose a contract between humans and the Dragon Demon race....”

“The Dragon Slayer’s ritual. I don’t know what that particular mage was thinking when he made that up.”

“You, who have benefited the most from the Dragon Slayer’s ritual, shouldn’t speak of it in those terms.”

“The fact that I benefited from the ritual is a separate issue. Still, what kind of a person thought up a ritual where a human has to fight against a Dragon one-on-one? Did he think it was fair fight?”

“The mage was too much of a romantic. I think he believed good would always triumph over everything.”

“What?”

Azell looked at Carlos as if he had heard something outrageous. Carlos let out a bitter laugh.

“I know it sounds strange... However, I really think that was his mindset. The mage was blinded by his romanticized ideals.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The era when the Dragon Slayer’s ritual was formed was much more barbaric.... Moreover, the relationship between the humans and Dragons were completely different.”

The Dragons used to live in places where humanity had never trodden. It was rare for them to show themselves to the world. However, Carlos had researched the old records. He found out that the Dragons were entirely different being before the Dragon Slayer’s ritual.

“In the past, the Dragon had no natural enemies, so they were the tyrants of nature. They didn’t hesitate to expand their territories, and any humans in their path was ruthlessly killed.

Moreover, at the time, humans had no way of stopping the Dragons.

“Through the Dragon Slayer’s ritual, the Dragons learned humans were beings worthy of respect. Moreover, when there were problems at the time, people didn’t think through it logically like today. That bastard killed a member of your family? Then you have the right to strike him down with a rock. You have a problem? Then the person who wins in the fight would be justified. The world worked in such a way.”

“It doesn’t sound too different from the current times?”

Even in Azell’s era, the monarchs all insisted that they were in the right. If one said the other was wrong, then war would be waged. The knights insulted each other as battle raged.

Carlos laughed bitterly.

“It was way worse back then. At least, the losing side doesn’t lose their women to be raped any more. In the past, it didn’t matter if they were children or adult. People have enough rights where such acts don’t happen any more.”

“Somewhere in this world, people still live that way.”

“In that era, that way of life was the norm. They didn’t even have a common language where the two races to communicate with each other, yet they were able to come up with a ritual that involved a one-on-one battle. It changed the relationship between the two races dramatically.... If both sides didn’t have good intent in their heart, it would have been impossible to achieve such a feat.”

“So you are saying it was a very barbaric era, and the ritual was in line with the common sense of that time?”

“Yes. They thought and acted in an entirely different way from our era.”

“I think your explanation is extremely romanticized... Well, whatever.”

Azell needed a lot of power to win against his enemies in the Dragon Demon war. This was why he had challenged Dragons to take their powers. He washed blood with blood as he stole the Dragons’ power. From his perspective, he couldn’t agree with Carlos’ explanation.

“Someday I will change the world....”

Carlos spoke as he looked into the distance.

“I want to turn the bad part into good. After this damn war ends, I... I want to change the world for somebody.”

“You will drop that line as you look profoundly into your lover.”

Azell grumbled.