“……Drake?”
With the sudden appearance of unfamiliar information, Aria forgot what she was about to say and looked at Eleonora.
Eleonora also looked at Aria. Her eyes were clear and blank as always, showing no signs of understanding.
Considering the relatively non-hostile reaction, it would be better if Eleonora answered directly. Aria gave a slight nod to Eleonora, who was waiting for instructions.
“I don’t know the surname. The name is correct, but my dad… my father never told me his surname.”
“Then could it be that your father’s name is Elon?”
Eleonora’s gaze grew cold.
It was as if they were saying not to mention that name. Perhaps that alone cleared the doubt, and the Dragonkin who asked the question sighed softly.
“I’m asking just in case… is he still alive?”
“If my father were alive, do you think I would have become a slave to humans?”
“……I suppose that’s true. I’m sorry.”
Eleonora let out a light scoff.
It was a rare expression of intent from someone who seldom showed emotions on her face.
Aria felt a little bitter.
While she was only holding on for the sake of seeking the Dragonkin’s cooperation, it wouldn’t be something easy to forget that she had blood enemies.
“Follow me. This place has too many eyes and isn’t suitable for conversation.”
“Too many eyes, huh? Sounds like their intentions aren’t aligned with the village’s consensus.”
“Precisely. It’s a secret we don’t want outsiders to discover, but the Dragonkin here are divided into two factions.”
Aria hesitated slightly at the unexpected affirmation of her casual remark.
Now that she listened, the atmosphere indeed felt strange. At first, she thought it was just because it was night, but there was a general air of tension—it wasn’t the loose atmosphere of a closed village with no outsiders and merely performing routine night watch.
Aria and her group walked after the Dragonkin ahead.
The scenery they passed was more desolate than expected. The dry winds that swept through the plateau were lifeless, and the village felt stagnant, resembling a hideout for defeated soldiers.
The leading Dragonkin entered a barracks.
Once the three trailing behind crossed the threshold, one of the Dragonkin glanced outside once more and firmly closed the entrance’s curtain.
“Before we hear what your business is… we have something to apologize for.”
“Are you apologizing for driving away Eleonora and her father? Now of all times?”
What was with the late apology?
Even while remembering they were in the position to request military support, Aria couldn’t help but feel a rush of anger and questioned them in a slightly aggressive tone.
This was the only Dragonkin village across the entire continent, and did they think they could just toss two Dragonkin into a world dominated by humans and think everything would be fine?
Especially considering one of them was an oblivious child?
Aria could only scoff.
“Technically, we didn’t stop the expulsion. I can’t deny it if you criticize us for it, but we were followers of Warrior Chief Drake.”
“……Warrior Chief?”
The unexpected reply made Aria’s mind go blank and her composure return slightly.
Several new pieces of information swirled in her head. Dragonkin divided into two factions. Warrior Chief. Those who were expelled and those who followed.
“Your father, Elon Drake, was one of the great warrior chiefs who led this village.”
In this village, there are four leaders referred to as warrior chiefs.
Just as humans are divided into multiple nations rather than a single country, the Dragonkin were also once divided. After being driven into a gorge due to defeat in the racial wars, they negotiated and coexisted, and the current system of making key decisions based on the council of the four warrior chiefs has continued to this day.
“Of course, there are factions following each warrior chief, and conflicts between factions are frequent. And the faction led by Warrior Chief Drake was the strongest one in the village.”
Even after being driven into the northern end of the continent, having their land taken by humans, are they still dividing into factions and fighting amongst themselves?
Really, humans are the same no matter where they go. The story was so realistic that Aria couldn’t even consider whether it was a lie.
“You must have seen the condition of the village on your way here. What did you think?”
“It looked larger than I expected, and I was surprised. I thought it was an environment where no living creature could survive.”
“That’s accurate. There are beasts and plants that survive in this environment, but food is always scarce. So even after the racial war ended and time has passed, the number of Dragonkin hasn’t increased that much. The food situation here makes it nearly impossible for the population to grow.”
Aria struggled to maintain her expression at this rather poor news.
How much cooperation she could gain from the Dragonkin was the only variable that could create an advantage against Luminous in battle, but the fact that the population hadn’t significantly increased was equivalent to saying their military strength hadn’t risen meaningfully.
“Warrior Chief Drake advocated for ground expansion to solve the food problem. Naturally, we had no capacity to engage in full-scale battles with humans, so the plan was to secretly import food while hiding our identity.”
While it came with various risks, Aria thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
Hadn’t the Beastman Resistance Army also disguised themselves as humans to gather supplies and equipment? Nothing would come from staying put; a dire environment wouldn’t improve on its own. Change had to be sought to find a way forward.
But unfortunately, the other factions of the village didn’t think the same way.
“Thanks to the proactive stance of Warrior Chief Drake, the proposal passed, but we couldn’t avoid the strong backlash from the proud Dragonkin.”
Only then could Aria’s group understand how this small spark could lead to tragedy.
The story that followed was as expected.
The idea of infiltrating the society of the lowly humans to smuggle food sparked strong opposition among many Dragonkin.
Two warrior chiefs, who had always held resentment toward Warrior Chief Drake, saw it as an opportunity to undermine his powerful faction and successfully co-opt a third warrior chief, who had until then maintained a nominal neutrality.
No matter how strong a faction, it couldn’t vie against three factions alone.
As the balance broke, Elon Drake was defeated, and for the reason of bringing shame upon the dignity of the Dragonkin, he was expelled from the position of warrior chief.
However, the opposing faction’s leaders didn’t stop there—they sentenced Elon Drake and his only offspring to a harsh punishment of exile.
This was practically a death sentence. However, Elon Drake, who wanted to end things while taking responsibility, realized he would have no choice but to fight until all his subordinates perished if he resisted this decision.
In the end, he had to leave the village with his only family, his young daughter, and after that, there was no way to learn of their whereabouts.
“Because of such ridiculous reasons.”
Aria’s grip on the chair creaked, but she had no time to pay attention to that.
‘They threw out an innocent child, all because of a power struggle?’
They said Dragonkin and Elves had a bad relationship, but why did their actions resemble the idiots of Albresia?
Eleonora grabbed the hem of Aria’s clothing as she flared up. Aria lowered her head, expressing her apologies, while the warrior chief quietly observed their exchange.
“It’s foolish. They claimed it was a measure to protect the pride of the Dragonkin, but they intended no harm to the balance of factions, and yet they had me, who was his subordinate, inherit the position of warrior chief, making me essentially a puppet.”
To assert that Dragonkin weren’t attacking, he tapped the dagger at his side with his fingers before unbuckling it and pushing it forward toward Eleonora.
Eleonora looked to Aria for permission with her eyes.
Once she got a slight nod, Eleonora, as if handling explosives, carefully reached for the dagger.
On the upper portion and handle of the dagger were small engravings that seemed to depict horns and scales.
“This is Drake’s crest. Do you recognize it?”
“……Father’s dagger.”
At the mention of the dagger, Eleonora remembered why that crest felt familiar.
The dagger that Elon used during their time in hiding bore the same emblem.
Though she lost it when Elon was murdered by humans and she was captured as a slave, she had wielded that very dagger when she learned how to use one.
“If you feel guilt about your father’s deeds, please help us.”
Eleonora broke the silence and made an audacious request, causing the warrior chief to make a wry smile.
“Then let’s hear it. Normally, it would be an unreasonable matter to allow an outsider, especially a vampire and an elf, but I can’t ignore the benefactor who saved you, miss.”
Aria promptly explained the situation.
The Dragonkin, who rarely came out of the gorge except to occasionally gather information, looked quite surprised upon hearing that Aria was the fourth Progenitor.
They knew she was a powerful vampire but likely never thought a queen would visit directly.
Moreover, it seemed the rumor of Aria traveling with Dragonkin hadn’t reached this far, clarifying why they were unaware of Eleonora until they saw her in person today.
After finishing the tales of the fall of the Luminous Kingdom and the emergence of Luminous, Aria’s group awaited the warrior chief’s reply.
“If it can help lessen the debt owed to the late Warrior Chief Drake, I’d be happy to assist. The other three warrior chiefs will object vehemently, however.”
“Then……”
“But don’t expect support from the other factions. To speak frankly, it’s because of your father’s daughter that I’m willing to help; the idea of a crisis for the entire human race feels distant to me. While humans or vampires near the borders might pose a threat, I don’t consider it likely that the spirit of light would extend its greed to these remote Dragonkin struggling to survive. So be assured that the other factions will absolutely not cooperate.”
From the perspective of those who had faced Luminous directly, it was infuriating, but it wasn’t that the Dragonkin’s reasoning was entirely irrational.
Without knowing how far Luminous’s greed would stretch, one of the safest places farthest from them could very well be the Dragonkin village. Perhaps even after the emergence of Luminous, they might not reach the Dragonkin gorge.
If Luminous were truly in such danger that they’d need to enlist the help of the Dragonkin, it would make no sense for them to voluntarily enter a perilous battlefield that could draw the attention of Luminous.
“So what I can offer is merely personal assistance. I can act as a mercenary without relation to the village or factions. That’s all I can do.”
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