EP.6
Eliserde.
As the youngest daughter of the Kingdom of Trelinia and a princess, she always wore a bright smile.
She admired the flowers along her path, delighted by the beaming smiles of her attendants and maids.
The knights swinging their swords in the training grounds, the children running around the village, even the bards joyfully lifting people’s spirits—all of it brought her happiness.
Everything about the kingdom was a delight to Eliserde.
She loved the kingdom where she was born.
And consequently, everyone in the kingdom loved her.
Thus, Eliserde fervently wished for this situation to last forever, praying earnestly to the Goddess.
However, it didn’t take long for such hopes to crumble.
Several kingdoms near Trelinia formed an alliance, aiming first to destroy the most prosperous kingdom among them.
Chaos filled the kingdom.
Although the Kingdom of Trelinia was notably powerful among other kingdoms, it didn’t mean it could overpower all the allied kingdoms.
Raids began.
Demon beasts from other kingdoms began attacking the villages, allowing the monsters they subdued to flood into the kingdom.
This alone put the Kingdom of Trelinia in immense peril.
They did not directly attack the Kingdom of Trelinia.
Rather, they started to undermine the shared front line one by one, gradually severing the flow of supplies.
As the kingdom closest to the front line with the Demon Realm, the Kingdom of Trelinia had to face the threat completely alone.
Every moment felt like hell.
As days passed, the once tight front line began to crumble, and several villages close to the front were engulfed without a trace.
Around that time, Eliserde began to lose her smile.
Her father, who always looked at her with joy, now wore a worried expression, and her brothers were donning armor to head to the frontlines at such a young age.
In an instant, the kingdom that had always bloomed with laughter began to lose hope.
The attendants and maids no longer smiled, and the children who once played in the village had disappeared.
The one silver lining was that a Survivor Hero had emerged from the Kingdom of Trelinia.
Blessed by the Goddess, he stood on the front lines with tenacious vitality, capturing demon beasts and searching for clues regarding the missing villages to dismantle the monsters’ strongholds.
Thanks to him, the Kingdom of Trelinia finally began to breathe again.
Perhaps because the existence of the Survivor Hero couldn’t be ignored, the other kingdoms, which had sent no troops, started to send reinforcements to the front line.
As a result, the kingdom experienced a temporary peace.
Children began to run around in the villages once more, and her father greeted her with a warm smile.
However.
“The, the dragon has been spotted!!”
It didn’t take long for peace to shatter.
A dragon had appeared.
The legendary dragon which had only existed in tales.
Though it was hard to believe, the news was brought by none other than the Survivor Hero, Hans.
Moreover, he has even made a vow by sacrificing his own heart.
It was a hard truth to believe, but it was one they had no choice but to accept.
According to Hans’s assertion.
The kingdom gathered as many livestock as possible as offerings.
However, the dragon was not satisfied.
While secretly entering the royal archives to read about the myths surrounding dragons, Eliserde finally found the reason for her existence.
So it was.
“Please, offer me as a sacrifice for the kingdom.”
The one who drove a dagger into the heart of his father, the ruler of a nation.
—
Eliserde swallowed hard.
All of her attendants had long since left.
Before her stood only the being called the dragon.
‘Wow…’
In that brief moment, Eliserde was in awe of the dragon’s presence.
The depiction of the dragon, described only in words without any illustrations.
Scales unbreakable by any sword, a graceful body, eyes split vertically that overwhelmed the opponent.
Though it was merely fragmented information, it matched the reality perfectly.
Jet-black scales, a body whose size was unfathomable, and the piercing blue eyes that looked at her coldly.
For that split second, Eliserde felt as if she were part of a scene from a myth.
Strangely enough, she reminded herself that she was merely a sacrifice.
As she became aware of the reality, her heart trembled.
To be honest, she was afraid.
Whenever the dragon, whose size was beyond measure, gazed at her with its cerulean eyes, it felt like her heart would stop.
As if her very existence was being laid bare.
Eliserde struggled to swallow her trembling breath and bowed politely.
“Greetings, my lord the Dragon. I am Eliserde, the sacrifice for you.”
What would become of her?
The dragon demanded living sacrifices.
The most noble and pure maiden.
In the myths, it was never revealed what happened to such sacrifices.
Would she just become their daily bread?
Or perhaps…
Her face flushed.
The heat surged, making her cheeks warm.
She was a grown woman, after all.
She wasn’t so naïve as to not understand what it meant to be the most noble and pure maiden for a sacrifice.
‘But…’
Somehow, she felt it wouldn’t be like that.
The dragon was simply too enormous.
From the way it silently observed her, it was hard to imagine something like that.
Then…
‘Could it be that I’m just a meal…?’
Fear surged within her.
Yet she held it at bay.
If she could save the kingdom with just her life, she would be satisfied with that.
How long she bowed her head, she had lost all sense of time.
[Return.]
A low, solemn voice.
At that moment, she looked up.
The dragon regarded her with an apathetic gaze, as if it were merely looking at a rock.
[Convey to the king that no sacrifice is needed.]
As the dragon said this and turned its head indifferently,
“…”
Crack—.
Eliserde felt a surge of indignation rise within her.
What’s this?
Am I not even worthy of being a sacrifice?
So it was.
Unintentionally, she blurted out,
“…Why not?”
The blue eyes fixed on her.
That indifferent gaze would have frightened her in the past, but Eliserde met the dragon’s eyes with confidence.
It was an act born of frustration.
After all, she came here prepared to sacrifice herself for the kingdom. Even if the dragon now intended to kill her, she felt no fear at all.
Moreover, her anger surged at being treated as “such.”
After all, she was a princess.
There couldn’t be anyone in the kingdom who looked down on her; everyone regarded her with affectionate eyes.
Such an indifferent gaze directed at her was something she had never experienced before.
[I have no hobby of eating humans.]
The dragon spoke, its low voice reverberating through the cave.
However, there was no fear like before.
“Then do you want livestock? If you wish, I can bring you as much as you want.”
[Very well. I am not weak enough to crave humans. Moreover, I would prefer to avoid incurring debt. If that last livestock was meant as a sacrifice for me, I might lend you assistance this time.]
“……”
Wasn’t it asking for a sacrifice?
Eliserde felt her head spinning.
She assumed the dragon wanted a sacrifice. She thought its previous outrage stemmed from greed, having been unsatisfied with the last offering and unleashing a natural disaster.
But that wasn’t the case.
The dragon seemed to want no sacrifice at all and appeared to dislike being entangled with humans.
More precisely, it disliked owing debts.
There were mountains of questions she wanted to ask.
However, as if to signify that no further inquiries would be entertained, the dragon quietly turned its head and disappeared deeper into the cave.
Eliserde stared blankly after it, before slowly sitting down on the ground.
The cold cave floor was chilling, but she lacked the luxury to care about that.
“What on earth is going on…?”
She had come prepared to die as a sacrifice.
And now, she heard she was not needed.
No hobby for eating humans, apparently?
She offered to bring livestock, but it rejected that too, saying it didn’t want to be indebted.
Then what about last time?
Eliserde still vividly remembered.
How the world seemed engulfed in fury, with storms raging and the earth shaking, as countless lightning bolts struck down.
She had definitely thought the dragon was wrathful over the disappointment with the chosen sacrifice.
But perhaps that was not it.
“What a capricious dragon.”
Did that mean the last natural disaster was triggered by some other reason for anger?
“Ah, I don’t know, I don’t care!”
Regardless, as long as she was alive, that was what mattered.
In fact, this was a fortunate turn of events.
She wasn’t sure if she could trust it, but if the dragon did lend its aid, it would greatly benefit the kingdom.
Determined to share the news, she brushed off the dust from her dress and stood up.
“Now I need to convey this news to the kingdom….”
Just as Eliserde thought that, she fell silent, gazing at the completely darkened outside.
This mountain was filled with demon beasts.
Because of that, the mountain was inaccessible to ordinary people and was deemed dangerous, only allowing entry for those permitted by the kingdom.
Especially at night, it was even more so.
“……”
Eliserde alternated her gaze between the pitch-black night and the even darker cave.
Soon, with a sorrowful expression, she took her steps into the cave.
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