Don’t Run Away My Lord

60 – Catching Tails (8)

“That’s right… There’s nothing more shameful than being defeated by your subordinates. That’s why I just lost.”

“I see. I appreciate your consideration, but I can’t help but be suspicious.”

“I don’t think I’ve done anything particularly suspicious other than that. I did it all for the territory.”

“Of course it is.”

If you think about it, there weren’t many things that could be questioned about Liana’s past based on what she had done so far.

Just because we know a lot of things that are inappropriate for a saint to know, we cannot tell her to confess everything.

I don’t know if she suffers some damage by hiding it, because Liana continues to guide me well.

If I just lightly overlooked her suspicions about Liana, all of these problems would disappear completely.

But nevertheless.

“What I said in Izano’s room during the day. Please explain.”

“Which one?”

“Revenge.”

Liana stared at me in silence.

“I’m worried that your desire for revenge may somehow get involved in our business.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Liana, I want to keep working with you. If possible, until you grow old and die.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

“We have to spend the next few decades together, and in order to do that, there must be no misunderstandings or doubts. Otherwise.”

“It will grow bigger and explode at a critical moment.”

Liana let out a small sigh and opened her mouth.

“Ha… That’s right. As you guessed, Erga, I am not a saint.”

“Then what was it?”

“He was just… An ordinary farmer’s child. An ignorant serf who only ate the land.”

I listened to her quietly.

“I was born into a family with nothing, so I ended up manifesting divine powers. Stupid parents rolled their eyes because they thought they would get a few pennies if they sent their daughter to Shinsung University. But I knew. If I go to Shinsung University, I will be saved. She said that she would become a saint and live her whole life bound to a religious order and deprived of her freedom.

So she ran away. Even if she doesn’t know how to use her divine power anyway, she has to stay in her damn home because she will be forced to marry the same stupid serf and a hellish life of having children and plowing the fields awaits her.”

“I see.”

“I ran away and did various things. It wasn’t the kind of work that women would do. The idea of running away was to make a lot of money. So, naturally, I learned about various things.”

Liana smiled sadly.

“There was no particular reason why I deceived Erga. It was just… I didn’t know how she would view a woman who had lived a rough life like that, so I pretended that she was a normal saint.”

“Even if I had told her the truth, I don’t think she would have changed much.”

“That’s right. I know now. But so much time has passed… I didn’t have the courage to say now that it was all lies.”

After finishing speaking, Liana looked at me for a moment and then turned her body to face me.

“Good night, my lord.”

“Good night, Liana.”

There was such a situation with Liana…

That explains everything because she knew quite a bit of magazine stuff.

I still don’t know much about her intense expression of revenge toward Noh today, but…

I don’t think it’s the right time to ask any more questions about it.

Maybe something happened while he was running around making money after leaving home…

But… Is that really true…?

He is a very intelligent person, so if he puts his mind to it, he can’t create anything…

* * * *

The next day, Liana, who had gone out, returned.

“No matter how much she walks around, she doesn’t see any dragons. She must have gone east.”

“That’s good. Then, let’s go to Izano.”

We packed our bags and paid for accommodation.

Liana asked while eating breakfast included in the accommodation fee.

“This time, even if I’m lucky enough to spot it first and avoid it, I might hit the player from over there later, right? So what should I do?”

“There is no way. If you try it with words and it doesn’t work…”

“We have to fight, right?”

“That’s right. I don’t want to fight with my blood relatives, but it’s better than being dragged into the habitat.”

“What happens if I kill a blood relative? Will I become a criminal?”

“I’m a sinner… Well…”

Unlike the freewheeling dragons on the continent, our black dragons have strict social norms.

Although it has never happened so far, kin killings are judged.

Of course, the crime must be conclusively proven.

So, what if I kill a couple of my blood relatives and disappear here, so far away from their habitat?

You might not be charged with kincide.

This is a story when there are no witnesses.

But I still don’t want to go to the point of killing my blood relatives.

Then Liana made a strange expression and slowly nodded her head.

“It’s a story worth keeping in mind.”

He seems to be thinking about something else.

* * * * *

After leaving the inn, we headed to Izano’s office.

As I was just entering the street, I suddenly heard a deep, low voice behind me.

“Ergaduk.”

Oh, my. Damn it…

I stopped walking and looked at Liana.

Liana, too, seemed surprised, her eyes widening and biting her lip.

Ah… I didn’t expect to see each other so soon…”

“I’ll deal with you, so you run as far as you can.”

“Yes…”

We slowly turned around.

Two men with pale skin, tall stature, broad shoulders, and jet-black hair and eyes were standing at a distance and looking at me.

They opened their mouths.

“Ergaduk. Nice to meet you.”

“I didn’t expect to see you this soon. I thought I’d be looking for you for at least a thousand years.”

I answered calmly.

“I heard you left for the east.”

“I’m back again. Humans cannot be trusted. This is knowledge I gained first-hand while searching the continent.”

Then their cold eyes turned to Liana.

Liana flinched at that gaze.

No matter how worldly Liana was, she was a helpless human in front of the Black Dragon.

“As soon as I returned, I followed that human. I saw him enter the inn and waited until morning.”

“I see. He didn’t come into the inn.”

“I didn’t think that was polite. Aren’t you the Lord’s successor who will be responsible for the future of your blood family?”

I nodded and looked around them.

“But, is it just the two of you? What about the others?”

“Everyone has temporarily returned to their habitat. Just the two of us are staying behind, just in case something happens.”

I see. There are only two left.

“It’s only been 40 years, but have they already given up on tracking them and gone back?”

“That’s not it, Ergaduk.”

The dragons spoke stiffly.

“The Lord has ascended to heaven.”

Ascension. In human terms, it is death.

Your father has passed away.

He was so old that it would not have been surprising if he ascended to heaven at any time.

“When?”

“It was about twenty years ago. All of the blood relatives who came to the continent returned to celebrate the Lord’s ascension.”

“I see.”

Liana looked up at me in confusion.

It would probably be quite strange from a human perspective.

I heard that my father passed away, but he doesn’t even show any signs of sadness.

But dragons are not like that.

For tens of thousands of years, or at most hundreds of thousands of years, our concept of death is very different from that of humans.

Humans who live short and unstable lives are afraid of death.

However, because dragons live for a very long time without any threats, they do not have much attachment to life.

For us, death is just a rather long farewell.

“Please come back, Ergaduk. You must come back and lead your kin.”

The dragons spoke.

“The Council of Elders will rule the clan for the time being, but the Lord cannot be absent for long. For the clan to prosper, Ergaduk must return.”

I shook my head.

“I won’t go. It’s because of my blood relatives that I left the island in the first place.”

“Then are you going to neglect your blood relatives?”

“Pull out a new rod. I’m not going.”

“Ergaduk. Even if you say that, we have to take Ergaduk with us.”

From Noble mtl dot com

At this point, Liana sneaked off to the side, then turned her body and started running.

Just before she ran away, she whispered to me.

“To Izano’s office…!”

The dragons who briefly saw Lyana running away looked at me again and said.

“Why would we stay here and not just go to the Ascension Ceremony?”

“I guess it’s because they are poisonous species who will stay until the end and catch me. So what are you going to do?”

He asked, raising his body’s aura very slightly.

“Are you planning to take this Ergaduk by force?”

“Yes.”

The dragons also did not lose and responded with auras.

In the air between us, our auras collided and sparks flew.

This feeling. It’s very familiar.

Those kids… I didn’t know they were polymorphed… But they are Lord’s collateral successors…

Although they do not reach the level of a true heir like me, they are much stronger than ordinary dragons.

“Okay… I guess this is why you guys are the only ones left.”

“It probably won’t be easy this time, Ergaduk.”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m sure about this one thing.”

He said, emitting an even stronger aura.

“If I don’t stop here, I will probably become the first kin-slayer dragon.”

“I’m sorry, Ergaduk.”

The collateral successors exploded their aurors like crazy.

The ground they were standing on crumbled to pieces and began to sink little by little.