Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 491

For a moment, I doubted my ears.

So I asked again.

“A true dragon?”

- Yeah. A true dragon.

I didn’t mishear him.

It was real.

And that uniquely sneering expression of his only added to how convincing it was.

'The guy who calls me a mongrel bastard isn’t going to crack some joke at me in a situation like this.'

Of course, even if it wasn’t a situation like this, I don’t think he’d joke with me.

Seriously.

It pisses me off, but weirdly enough, I get it.

That was why Su-ho thought calmly.

'But if it’s a true dragon, that means a real dragon. If I go by what Omega said, I’m a mongrel right now...... so if I become a pure true dragon, what happens to the other bloods?'

Do I lose those abilities?

I don’t like that.......

Seeing is believing.

I asked right away.

“If you say a true dragon, do you mean a complete dragon that isn’t a human or some other species?”

- That’s right.

“Then if I become a true dragon, what happens to the other bloodline abilities I already have? Do they disappear?”

- I don’t know.

“What?”

- I said I don’t know. You’re the first case I’ve ever seen too—how would I know?

“What kind of answer is that? Why are you being so irresponsible?”

- I’m only telling you the facts.

Man, that’s damn realistic.

My brow furrowed.

Just going by the feel of it, when I looked at my growth mechanism so far, it had kept drawing an upward-sloping graph.

'The authority that got released this time is Quarter Blood, so the next authority is probably Half Blood.'

And after that, wouldn’t it be pure Dragon Blood?

Of course, that was just a prediction.

But if it went like that, I didn’t think I’d end up losing my other bloodline abilities.

The trait’s name itself is New Blood—so it didn’t feel like it would suddenly tell me to pick only one bloodline when the time came.

'Then that means I don’t have to become a true dragon right this second.'

At that moment, one piece of information popped into my head.

'Wait. But I already got my hands on a true dragon’s power.'

The reason I thought that was none other than the information on the Dragon Egg.

I clearly remembered the information from when I first got the Dragon Egg.

[ Dragon Egg ]

Grade : S

# The fourth authority of Dragon Blood that has been released.

# The holder of Dragon Blood is merely a holder of a bloodline, not a real dragon.

# To become a real dragon, beyond dragon blood, flesh, bone, and also mind and senses, you need a part of the fundamental power possessed by a true dragon.

# When you obtain a fragment of a true dragon’s power, the Dragon Egg’s true authority is released.

It said that to awaken the Dragon Egg’s true authority, you needed a fragment of a true dragon’s power.

I used a fragment of a Sun Dragon as the price, and the System recognized that as true dragon power.

That was why the Dragon Egg got released.

Then doesn’t that mean I already have true dragon power?

I asked.

“But I already obtained a true dragon’s power.”

- What are you talking about?

“One of the release conditions for the Dragon Egg’s authority was using a fragment of a true dragon’s power. So I used a fragment of a dragon with the name Sun Dragon, and the System recognized it too. Then doesn’t that mean I’ve already become a true dragon, and a descendant of the Sun Dragon too?”

- .......

Omega fell silent.

So I was right?

As I was thinking that—

- I’m seriously so dumbfounded, absurd, and stupid that I have nothing to say.

“What?”

- If you eat a bite of pork, do you become a pig? Or at least a pig’s descendant? At best, it’s just one fragment of power. Watching you talk like you’re some true dragon or a descendant of a Sun Dragon just because of something at that level is so ridiculous I can’t stand it.

“Ah?”

Now that I think about it, he’s right.

No, but I could not know. Man, he really talks like an asshole.

I shut my mouth again.

Then this time, another thought raised a question.

“But isn’t it weird?”

- What is?

“Why are you suddenly telling me that? When did you do all that despising and calling me a mongrel bastard, and now you suddenly tell me there’s a way to become a true dragon? That doesn’t match up.”

- What doesn’t match up?

“......?”

I tilted my head.

“Are you stupid?”

- An inferior ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ being really has no shortage of things it can’t say to a great and noble dragon. The stupid one is you. I’m giving you a chance right now. A chance to become a noble true dragon instead of some ambiguous existence like a mongrel bastard.

“Then why?”

- Do I have to explain that for you to understand?

“Ah, seriously, the way you talk makes me want to flick your forehead. I’m asking because I don’t know. Shut up and answer.”

- Tsk tsk, I’ll explain it for you, you foolish bastard. There are two reasons I’m giving you the chance to become a true dragon. First, no matter what, dragon blood has leaked into a different species that isn’t a dragon, so as the last Dragon Lord, to preserve the nobility and legitimacy of our bloodline, I have to make you into a true dragon.

“.......”

After hearing that, I fell silent.

That was the first reason?

This is ridiculous.

In the end, because the bloodline leaked and its nobility dropped, he’s saying he’ll just make me into a true dragon and maintain some kind of nominal nobility no matter what?

Why did a phrase like ‘Congratulations on achieving 2,000 days without an accident in the military unit’ suddenly pop into my head?

Enduring both my absurdity and my fear, I asked the second reason.

“......Fine. I’ll hear you out to the end. Then what’s the second reason?”

- The second reason is to make you the strongest player.

“The strongest player?”

All of a sudden?

What the hell is this now?

At that fresh, contextless pile of bullshit that popped out, I couldn’t get my bearings at all.

“Why?”

- I can’t tell you.

“What?”

- I said I can’t tell you.

“Then why?”

- Because you’re a lowly existence.

“......?”

At Omega’s answer, I made a blank face again.

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak.

No, you said you’re the Dragon Lord, right?

But your conversation level is really only this much?

Are you sick or something?

Countless words whipped through my head like a typhoon, but I was so dumbfounded that none of them came out of my mouth.

After a long silence, I forced my mouth open.

“Tell me honestly.”

- What?

“You’re not the Dragon Lord, are you?”

- What?

“No, honestly, you don’t even seem like a dragon. Listening to the way you talk, you’re more like...... yeah, a lizard, or some dragon wannabe.”

- What did you say?

“Or you’re a lizard wannabe! You crazy bastard! Think about it logically. Fine, the first reason is because of that damned dragon exclusivity. But the second reason doesn’t even have a before-and-after context—your words don’t make any sense. You despised me in every way you could, and now you’re saying you want to make me the strongest player? Who would believe that?”

As I spoke, anger surged up, and my voice rose.

Like gradient rage.

But would you look at that—Omega, who I thought would obviously flare up at my words, didn’t get mad at all. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut tight.

What is it?

Did he feel disgust even at the sight of me getting angry because his chosen-people mentality was soaring so high?

After keeping his eyes closed for a long while, Omega lifted his eyelids again and said.

- That’s all I can tell you. I want to make you the strongest player. But I can’t tell you the reason because you’re lowly.

“Then what kind of insane bullshit is tha—!”

At that moment.

“Ah, wait?”

Instantly, Grid’s face flashed through my head.

Not because I missed that toad face.

More precisely, it was something Grid always used to say that came to mind.

I narrowed my eyes and asked.

“Don’t tell me you can’t say it because of my security clearance issue too?”

- Yeah.

“No, you crazy bastard, seriously......!”

Then from the start, you should’ve said the System is watching and you can’t say it because of security. Who the hell describes it as “because you’re lowly”?

This is seriously driving me insane.

But from Omega’s standpoint, that was his best.

Among dragons, the one with the highest rank is an Arch Dragon, and among them, only the very greatest existence gains the position of Lord.

Besides, Omega had lived his entire life as a genius among geniuses, so he didn’t really know how ordinary people felt.

He had no intention of understanding, and no intention of trying to be considerate.

Because even when he acted cocky, everyone still propped him up.

So that kind of way of speaking and way of thinking wasn’t because he was rude—it was a strange way of speaking that came from the habits of the life he’d lived so far.

Of course, I didn’t understand.

So now, I tried to understand anyway.

Putting aside the fact that the other side was a crazy lizard, I needed to know why that bastard—who despised the weak like it was eating—suddenly wanted to make me the strongest player.

'Calm down. Back when I was a grade 9 civil servant in my previous life, how many insane complaint filers like that did I run into?'

Through long years of social life, I know down to my bones that not everyone is a normal, reasonable person.

I’d just lost my touch because it had been so long since I’d met a crazy nuisance like this.

In that sense, there wasn’t really anything to understand about Omega in the first place.

If the other side was a weird person, the correct move wasn’t to adjust my common sense to them—it was to accept that that person was just like that and talk accordingly.

Of course, that premise only applied when there was something for me to gain, or something I absolutely had to do.

Otherwise, it was just a waste of emotion.

In this case, it was both, so I stopped getting worked up and started my insight carefully.

Why does he want to make me the strongest player?

At that moment, one piece of information came to mind.

'......Lizard Dragon?'

Right. There was a Lizard Dragon.

An unlucky guardian who resisted to the end and tasted the collapse of the Lizard World.

Then could Omega be like that too?

He said he was here because of an agreement with the System.

And the Lizard Dragon was a guardian-level existence, and the Omega in front of me said he was the final Dragon Lord.

If you looked only at status or rank, they were roughly in the same class.

Once I thought that, a lot of things clicked into place.

'Then him wanting to make me the strongest player is probably.......'

Revenge.

Against the System, at that.

Because if his world had been fine, he wouldn’t be here doing some role like an NPC giving quests.

After I finished my insight to a certain degree, I lifted the corner of my mouth and said.

“What do you think about the System’s existence?”

- What are you talking about all of a sudden?

“Do you like the System? Do you respect it?”

At that, Omega’s face crumpled up all at once.

But he didn’t spit out any curses.

Yeah.

So that’s what it was.

He hates the System.

The reason is probably because he lost.

No, it looked like it wasn’t just him—every dragon must have lost.

I continued.

“That expression is a work of art. I get why you want to make me the strongest player. Looks like you want to raise me well and get revenge on the System or something?”

- .......

At my words, Omega’s crumpled expression changed strangely. At the same time, his eyes narrowed thin.

I kept going.

“Your world probably got eaten away by the System. And for reasons related to that, you’re trapped here, playing some role like a signpost. I can tell just by looking at you—full of chosen-people mentality—you’re showing rejection toward the System, but you don’t let a single curse slip out of your mouth. If it were up to your temper, you’d want to hurl two lines of curses at it, but for some reason, you’re watching the System’s face, aren’t you?”

- .......

Omega stayed silent.

But his brow was crumpled as far as it would go, and he was grinding his lips down, too.

'So I’m right.'

It was checkmate.