Reincarnated Dragon Goes to the Academy!

Chapter 177 : Paradise (3)

Lucas, who had been swallowed by the light and moved somewhere, looked around with a dazed expression.

"Where am I?"

He had been moved somewhere by an artifact many times, but this was the first time he had felt so dazed.

And the pure white space with nothing in it made him feel as if he were floating in the air, and he kept checking to see if his feet were on the ground.

[What are you doing?]

But when a voice suddenly came from right next to his ear, Lucas, who was startled, jumped up.

"Ugh!"

[Hahaha!]

He turned his head to find the owner of the voice, but there was no one there.

[Still, you came in time. I knew I did well to leave it to Ellaim.]

"Who are you?"

[It's Kratos. Shall I say I'm the god you all call the main god?]

The main god in the main god's mirror. It seemed fine, but it felt out of place.

"...The situation is not good, so why aren't you coming back?"

He had already heard about the disappeared main god.

[Hahaha! I want to go back too. It was something Taras did while I was briefly in another dimension. I don't know when it started, but he had prepared it very thoroughly.]

The main god hadn't disappeared on his own and not come back?

"Damn it."

[Right. I also think it's a damn thing.]

Lucas, who had finally escaped from his dazed state, pulled himself together.

'This isn't it.'

There were one or two things he had to ask.

"Why were my memories intact when I entered the path of reincarnation, and why is Taras trying to get me on his side? No matter how much of a dragon I was, what am I, a mere human, that he's doing this..."

[One at a time. One at a time.]

As he poured out the questions he had been curious about, Kratos smirked and calmed Lucas down.

"Then please answer from when I entered the path of reincarnation."

[I did that. It will take a while to tell that story.]

-Saaa. Click. Clatter.

A tea table set appeared on the white space, and soon, even steaming tea was served.

[Sit.]

As Lucas pulled out a chair and sat down, the chair in front of him also moved smoothly.

-Clatter. Click.

The teapot floated up in the air and poured the tea.

[Drink while you listen. It's a tea I brought from another world, what was it called again...]

"I understand, so please just finish your answer."

[Ah, right. The answer.]

The teacup that had been floating in the air rose to the vicinity of where his mouth would be, and then came down again and was placed on the table.

[Hmm... this is your third life.]

"What, what? Third?"

[Right. Third. Your first life was a dragon. And then I commanded you to become a god, but you said you wanted to live on the surface one more time. So I specially opened the path of reincarnation for you.]

"Hah."

Lucas, who had lost all his strength, leaned back in his chair and sighed.

[And then you wanted to live as a dragon again. That was Lanos of your past life.]

"...Hah."

[And this time, you refused to become a god again. You even threatened me, saying you would rather die forever than live forever.]

The teacup floated up, and soon, the sound of drinking tea was heard.

[Mmm- the scent is good.]

"..."

[But this time, I couldn't erase your memories. Because I had hidden something in you. It was something I had hidden from the moment Taras was born. I had predicted that something like this would happen. Hmm... it would be more correct to say I saw it.]

Something hidden?

"If you saw it in advance, why didn't you stop it?"

[Because if I had stopped this, something bigger would have happened.]

"What on earth did you hide in me?"

[Actually, Taras's position was originally yours. Taras was originally the god of evil. But he said it was too much to manage both evil and hell.]

He was a god who was not there now.

[So what. Shall I say I did a personnel change? If you had taken Taras's position as it was, this wouldn't have happened. But.]

"...?"

[The divine world and even other worlds would have been destroyed.]

So what on earth had he hidden in him! Lucas, who was getting frustrated, picked up his teacup and downed the tea in one gulp.

[Ah, the thing I hid in you. Shall I say it's a part of my power? You can think of it as a key to stop Taras. You'll find out about that later.]

"What happens if I side with Taras?"

[Taras is lying. He knows what I hid in you. And since it can only be activated by your own will, he has come forward to persuade you.]

The scattered puzzles began to fit together one by one. From the reason Taras had tried to persuade him to the unsettling feeling when he had entered the path of reincarnation.

[And the key for me to return to this place is also with you.]

"Then please tell me now. I'll go and open the door or the dimension right away."

[You'll open it when the time comes. Because I will lead you there.]

The teacup floated up again.

"Then do I have no choice but to live as a god in the end?"

[I'm sorry... but I guess so. You'll have to return to the place where you originally belong.]

"Damn it."

[But there will be special treatment. Even if you go out for fun in the middle...]

"It's fine. What special treatment."

He just wished he could die forever.

[If you're so miserable, I can erase your memories so that you can live as if it's your first time...]

He hated that even more. Rather than living as a god with all of this forgotten, it was better not to forget if he had to do it anyway.

"It's fine."

[Whatever.]

"It's frustrating."

[I'll let you out.]

He had meant that his heart was frustrated, but a door had appeared next to him.

"Hoo."

Lucas, who had let out a small sigh, got up from his seat. He had nothing more to ask, and even if he did, the answer that would come back seemed to be set.

He would probably just say that he would find out when the time comes.

[Farewell.]

"Can I meet you again if I come here?"

[Hmm... I can't give you a definite answer, but I'll try to make it so that you can come.]

"Do you know anything more about what's happening now?"

[Because I'm in this state.]

The teacup floating in the air shrugged once. As if it had shrugged its shoulders while holding the tea.

"I understand."

Lucas opened the door without any lingering feelings and went out.

***

As he came out after breathing the clean air that seemed to have nothing in it, the damp air of the cave and various smells hit him.

"You're out."

"Ugh..."

He felt nauseous, as if he were smelling all those smells for the first time.

"Tsk."

As Ellaim held out his hand, his churning stomach settled down at once.

"Thank you."

"Were you beaten up or something?"

Although he had been briefly misunderstood, he just shook his head as an answer.

"When did the main god entrust this to you?"

At that, Ellaim looked up slightly and began to count.

"Hmm... it seems to be over five thousand years."

"Hah."

It seemed that it was not wrong to say that he had predicted everything.

"But I didn't go around looking for you for five thousand years."

"I guess so."

"It wasn't easy to go around looking for you, thinking about what the main god had said to me on the day he entrusted this to me."

What on earth had he said?

"A human male living his second life with black eyes and hair. I've seen a man with black eyes and hair from time to time, but it's not easy to meet a human living his second life."

Lucas nodded his head.

"But the human girl living in your house. Should I say she's your younger sister?"

Lucas's eyes turned sharp at the mention of Nella.

"Right. I was going to ask you about that anyway. You made a contract with Nella."

"Right. She's a very likable human. Her energy is clear and pure. I had my eye on her since she was young."

A human that a spirit king liked. It was not an easy thing.

"Right. She's a child with many scars."

"The spirits will soothe those scars."

Ellaim was right. Even when Nella had been suffering from a sickness of the heart for a long time, the Naiads had stayed by her side.

"Let's go back."

"Right."

***

Lucas, who had come out of the cave and returned home, first looked for the children.

'I did check on the island, but...'

He felt that he would only be satisfied if he checked with his own eyes that they were okay once more.

"Lucas."

He turned his head at Skir's voice.

"Right. Is everyone okay?"

Nella and Pola were also there.

"We're fine. Really."

"What about Caitlin?"

"Unni is also fine."

Lucas nodded his head and let out a sigh of relief.

"I didn't know something like that would suddenly happen there. I should have gone with you."

He regretted sending the children first, saying he had other things to do. If it weren't for Nella, the children would have been helpless and would have become food for the monsters there.

"Young master~?"

Just then, Ally's voice was heard from a distance.

"Ah. Guild master."

Lucas quickly hid his startled expression and smiled faintly at Ally.

"You have something to say to me~?"

Ally said, clenching her teeth. She must have known that her beloved island had been turned into a mess.

"Haha. Yes. H-here..."

Lucas, who was filled with a sense of guilt along with a feeling of apology, smiled awkwardly and gestured towards a quiet place.

"Goodbye..."

The other children also bowed their heads awkwardly. Although it wasn't their fault that the monsters had poured out there, they couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt.

Ally, who had come to the place Lucas was leading, was breathing heavily through her nose.

"Aellas. I'm sorry. I didn't want to make your island like that."

"No, but still, isn't that a bit much? The whole place is all blackened!"

From Ally's point of view, it seemed she couldn't understand how the island had gotten into that state just because a few monsters had come out.

"It's because I wasn't there. It became like that because the children tried to block all of that."

Lucas subtly shifted all the responsibility to himself.

"The sand and the trees are all scorched, so I can't even use the island again!"

It must have been the work of the lightning magic Pola had poured out and the fire spirits.

"And my beloved staff all died! The best bartender and chef our island boasted of are all dead!"

"Ahem... wasn't that the work of the monsters?"

"Aigoo!"

Ally grabbed the back of her head and pretended to collapse.

"No! I also have a lot to say."

"...?"

As Lucas suddenly shouted, Ally's eyes widened.

"Where were you and what were you doing while something like that was happening on the island? You must have set up an alarm magic or something. The children went on a tour and almost went straight to a tour of the celestial world!"

"T-that is..."

"If you had come earlier, the island wouldn't have become such a mess, would it! I sent the children, trusting you, but why did you only come here now?"

"Ah, I thought the alarm magic was wrong..."

"You little rascal?!"

As Lucas shouted, Ally flinched and cowered.

'Good. If I just keep going like this, it'll be fine.'

Lucas put his arm on his waist and put on a solemn expression.

"If something like this happens again, you'll be in big trouble!"

"The island is..."

"You have a lot of money, so just buy something next to it and build a new one."

Ally looked at Lucas with a wronged expression. In fact, she would be wronged. Since Ally also knew that the monsters had come for the children.

"Ahem! Then I'm going!"

Lucas turned his body sharply and left the place.

'Ugh... guilt...'

A sense of guilt washed over him as he remembered Ally's wronged gaze.

'But it's not like I said anything wrong. Well.'

He straightened his shoulders again and walked.

[End of Chapter]