Chapter 202 - North Korean rabbit

Chapter 202

A sense of vast emptiness enveloped my entire body.

Having nothing beneath my feet was a far more terrifying thing than I had imagined.

The rough sea wind clawed at my skin, thoroughly disheveling my hair as it passed.

Yet, the dizzying fall that would have dragged me to the ground did not occur.

Drowning out the sound of the wind that scraped at my ears, Arpad's voice asked by my ear.

"If you truly didn't intend to harm yourself, then why do such a thing?"

I turned my head.

Then, the man standing with me in the empty air filled my vision.

He was right.

I hadn't jumped to die.

It was closer to a proof that my will was this strong.

"Is this a threat? You know full well that if you do this, I have no choice but to stop you. Both you and I."

I was furious.

"Your way of speaking is starting to sound more and more like that damned lizard!"

"...Is that so? No, really? I'll be careful then."

Both he and I knew well. This was a demonstration to threaten Arpad, it couldn't be a gamble.

Because I knew full well he would never let me fall.

All of us.

I nodded.

"Yes. It's a threat. A threat to hand over all of my Arpad."

"...I told you I don't know how. I'm being honest. I have no reason to lie to you."

"I know."

"Then why?"

I pointed to the ground where the sea wind blew and commanded.

"Get rid of that first."

That grotesque monster writhing there.

"I can't understand what relation there is between eliminating that thing and filling in what I lack."

"If you don't know, then just do as you're told."

I said, my voice like frost.

"By doing what my Arpad would have done, and by continuing to listen to me, even if there's nothing to recover, you will recover."

"That sounds like you intend to brainwash me."

"Correct. If you call it brainwashing, then it can be seen as brainwashing. And it's also taking you away. From you. From that damned lizard!"

"……."

To Arpad, who still seemed not to fully understand, I threatened again.

A threat that was bound to work.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll jump again."

"I can catch you every time."

"I know. But I'll still do it. And if I keep jumping, eventually I might reach that monster down there that's eating people."

"……."

A clumsy threat held little meaning.

What was important was the fact that I was threatening him to this extent, even staking my life.

And I added an elaboration I was sure would be effective.

"Then that thing would probably find me very delicious to eat? Since that bastard Gaspard wanted me too."

I was certain.

At least, the meaning my existence held for the current Arpad would remain the same.

If I desired and pushed this strongly, in the end, even if by force, he would inevitably be dragged along.

Because he loves me.

At my last added words, Arpad's brow furrowed.

Ah, a familiar expression.

The expression he often showed when he didn't like what I said, or when other men were around me.

This, at least, remained the same.

Truly.

For a moment, my heart swelled, and I barely managed to stop myself from hugging him.

Finally, words of surrender came from Arpad's mouth.

"...I can't win."

Along with them, Arpad's body was enveloped in a golden aura.

The light grew larger and larger, finally taking on a form.

A familiar appearance.

'Dragon!'

Though smaller than Artanus's massive frame, it clearly took the form of a dragon and held the same wavelength of magical power.

I realized anew.

Truly, the current Arpad looked almost like a dragon.

Because he was handling the dragon's magical power as if it were his own limbs.

'But he hasn't become a complete dragon yet.'

The current Arpad did not possess a dragon's physical body like Artanus did.

He had merely clad himself in magical power shaped like a dragon.

'Then, before he becomes a complete dragon, there must be some way for me to return him to human.'

I did not let go of the thread of hope.

Whether Arpad was an actual dragon now or not, from below, it would appear as nothing less than the emergence of a golden dragon.

Even from afar, near-screaming shouts could be heard from all directions.

"A dragon, it's a dragon!"

"Artanus has manifested!"

"Good heavens, Artanus!"

"Save us!"

The people's desperate shouts and screams seemed to give Arpad not a shred of sentiment.

Just as the cries of ants beneath one's feet hold no emotional impact for a person.

I felt a faint sense of dizziness.

Could I really bring him back? Arpad, who had become such a vast existence, and was becoming more so.

To my side.

As a human.

My palms grew clammy with tension and fear.

Meanwhile, Arpad slowly descended to the ground.

After alighting weightlessly and softly upon the highest spire of the market, he stretched out his long neck and tore into the remnants of Gaspard that were swallowing people in the center.

"Kieeeeeek—!!!"

The flesh that had lost reason and soul shrieked and resisted, but it was meaningless before the dragon.

Arpad was moving exactly as I had hoped and threatened.

He tore the massive monster, created by the entanglement of Gaspard and his experimental subjects, to pieces and burned them with magical power.

The monster was not one. Like an amoeba, every single broken fragment moved, trying to devour people.

Perhaps finding it bothersome to deal with each one individually, Arpad spread wings made of magical power and lightly swung them.

Small golden flashes shot forth from the wings.

They took the form of small golden dragons and flew swiftly.

Towards the fragments of the monster.

Kieek! Kuek! Kaak!

The sounds rang out arbitrarily in volume and pitch. They were the screams of the small dragon-like flashes as they bit into and burned the small monster fragments.

Thanks to this, those who were nearly eaten and saved, those who were partially swallowed and barely escaped.

Some were even swallowed whole and managed to escape by a hair's breadth.

The rescued, of course, along with their families and acquaintances, and even those who witnessed the scene from the side, looked up at the dragon seated atop the spire with joy and reverence.

"Thank you, Lord Artanus."

"You saved us!"

"Hurrah!"

Countless thanks and adoration surged from the people.

Seeing this, Arpad would not be moved by people's gratitude.

But while boasting that he had merely fulfilled his duty, he would have calculated the political gain.

I asked Arpad.

"Don't you feel anything?"

"What should I feel?"

Unconsciously, my strength drained and a sigh escaped.

I kept steadying my heart.

That I hadn't truly lost a part of my Arpad forever.

That it couldn't be.

That I could recover him.

That if I couldn't, I would take him by abduction.

But was it really possible?

The self-blame and anxiety I had been suppressing in the deepest part of my heart surged up at Arpad's unchanged attitude.

'Did I want to save Arpad, only to end up killing him?'

Like Artanus's curse.

Unconsciously, a choked voice burst out, unable to be held back.

"If I'd known it would be like this, I should have just stayed in the imperial palace. I didn't really want to go. I wanted to be by your side. Even while running away, every moment, I missed you……."

The emotions I had been struggling to hold back crumbled, melting into tears.

"If I had, then this wouldn't have happened……."

"That's not true."

"...What?"

"The dragon's prophecy, the prophecy of the future, must come to pass no matter what. But the process, the meaning, is different."

His voice was surprisingly impassive for words meant to comfort me.

This aspect was so unlike Arpad.

Perhaps because of that. Even more, sorrow and fear surged up wave after wave.

As if unaware of such things, Arpad continued his impassive speech.

"In <The Book of Fate>, was there a part written about you stabbing me to save me as I was dying?"

"Ah, no."

"Then this is a meaning you created and filled in."

He continued words that should have been warm and affectionate with utter impassivity.

"A single sentence cannot express everything. Depending on how one interprets it, adds to it, the meaning of the sentence changes in a thousand different ways. In the end, Artanus's prophecy is the same."

Those words were a terrible comfort and, at the same time, a dreadful pronouncement.

"You desperately tried to save me, and you succeeded. As a result, the current me can exist."

I shook my head.

"No, I failed."

"So, in the end, you think I am not Arpad?"

"...You are Arpad. But... you're different. You've changed."

"In the end, all beings are bound to change. Just because I changed a bit quickly doesn't mean I've ceased to be me."

Arpad smiled brightly.

"I still love you."

Dreadfully, even at this moment, those words were sincere and true.

From all around, cheers of joy surged like celebratory petals scattering.

Pure joy at regained life and escaping calamity.

Amidst it, I was so sad and so lonely.

I should have been engulfed in a terrible sense of loss and regret.

Then, a sudden force assaulted me and Arpad.

"!"

The scenery of Betena, the land's end I had fled to, vanished, and deep darkness swallowed us.

A vast dizziness shook everything.

When I finally regained my senses, I could see something terrible.

A golden dragon nearly twice as large as the form Arpad had revealed in Beneta.

Red vertical-pupiled eyes larger than my height.

Though it was difficult to discern a reptile's expression, I knew.

Right now, Artanus was beyond joy, filled with rapture.

That made my reason fly away.

Enough to push aside sorrow, self-blame, and even the sense of loss for a moment.

I ran towards the dragon, pointing a finger.

"Give me back my man! You damned lizard!"