The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 109

Having the Eye of Authority, the Red Dragon could see beyond the blizzard and led us to a nearby cave, deciding that it needed to stabilize itself first.

The entrance was cleverly concealed by ancient conifers, making it a suitable place to hide for a while.

While the Red Dragon breathed fire to light the cave, I erected a barrier to seal the entrance from potential enemies and the cold.

“Warm yourselves first. We have a long way to go.”

The Red Dragon gently laid Kasena on the ground.

Each of its movements was as tender and delicate as a mother caring for her child, a quality I had never seen in any Red Dragon before.

In the peaceful silence that felt like a long-lost memory, Rain slumped down beside Kasena, examining her condition.

The poison had already spread down to her ankles, making even Friede’s divine healing abilities seem inferior to this Red Dragon’s.

“Thank you so, so much… Ah, I am Rain Ludwig.”

I bowed deeply, bandaging the arm where the ghoul’s teeth had torn away flesh. The Red Dragon nodded.

“The name given to me by Karendel, creator of the great Fire Dragon Bel’daki-dun, is Alakish. You may call me that.”

Alakish… If my knowledge is correct, it means ‘mission’ or ‘calling’ in the ancient dragon tongue.

It was the name given by the Divine Dragon at birth, and the fact that True Dragons live a life befitting their name made it feel significant.

So, this was Alakish.

During the war 300 years ago, I only saw four Red True Dragons. I had only heard that one had gone north on a different mission.

“It’s surprising that you don’t fear Alakish. Are all humans these days like that?”

“I’ve had a few encounters.”

Of course, I wouldn’t speak informally. In Yoshua’s case, Lista told me to speak comfortably from the moment we met, which made it possible.

“I don’t know what the situation is in the south, but for someone as young as you to have so many dealings with my kin, things must be quite eventful there.”

You might wonder how it could drop its guard so quickly after just meeting, but the Dragon race itself was created to protect the world, so they are generally friendly to humanity.

As long as you don’t do useless things like black magic, that is.

Gently stroking Pipi, who had regained a stable body temperature by the fire, I felt the need to resolve the question I had earlier.

“Alakish, could you tell me where this place is?”

I carefully licked my chapped lips, waiting for an answer. Honestly, I had already made the worst guess… but I hoped it wasn’t true.

“Hmm, this is Harbadonia.”

However, Alakish turned that guess into reality by uttering that dreaded name.

“North of the Barrier, the continent of snow, darkness, and madness.”

As I expected… I sighed deeply and rubbed my forehead. There were only two places in this world where the word ‘Barrier’ was used.

The northern boundary, the Harbadonia Barrier.

The southern boundary, the Kalane Barrier.

Outside the barriers that protect the civilized world… was the abyss, a land of death that humans could never traverse.

And if this was a land where extreme cold, not tropical nights, prevailed, there was only one place.

If the Red Dragon Legion built the Kalane Barrier, the White Dragon Legion built the Harbadonia Barrier. Now, the ‘White Wolves’ guard that place…

How on earth could we have come all the way from the Kalane Peninsula in the southeastern part of the continent to Harbadonia?

The spatial magic that black mages use by borrowing power from the abyss is all short-range. Only the gods could perform such long-range spatial teleportation.

“Now, Alakish will ask. Who are you people? How did you get here?”

Alakish looked at Rain and Kasena alternately, seemingly suspicious.

“I sensed the presence of gods and came in haste, but all that was there was you.”

“The presence of gods?”

“The humans of this land are all beings into whose beastly flesh the gods have carved light… but your souls somehow carry the scent of gods.”

Beastly flesh carved with light…?

I didn’t understand the first part, but I immediately understood the second part for some reason.

“Could it be because of this?”

I held up the Black Sheep Scale, which I always wore around my neck on a chain. Alakish’s eyebrows twitched, and its eyes widened in awe.

Feeling that I needed to dispel even the slightest doubt, I explained how I obtained it and how I ended up here (though I didn’t fully understand it myself).

Alakish listened carefully to the entire explanation, stroking its chin, its eyes narrowing quietly.

“So Anridal was involved in the disturbance that occurred south of the Barrier.”

“Anridal?”

“That is the True Name of the Lord of Time. If the sealed Evil God has used its power, it means something is happening south of the Barrier…”

South of the Barrier, too?

If so, does that mean something is happening north of it as well…? That question was pressing, but there was a more urgent task at hand.

“We need to return to the Empire as soon as possible. Is there any way?”

I wondered what Yoshua had been about to tell me about Toureina just before the incident.

And I was worried about what had happened to Rin’s body after this attack. If those guys had the power to summon the [Abyssal Behemoth], achieving a specific purpose with that body would be no problem.

Additionally, I couldn’t keep taking Kasena with me in this extreme land.

Alakish, who had been reverently caressing the Black Sheep Scale, finally returned it and spoke.

“If it is true that the Black Sun has personally chosen you and sent you here in this situation, there must be a reason for it.”

“…!”

“In accordance with the mission given by the Fire Dragon, Alakish will guide you to the Barrier.”

Things are working out this well?

With the help of a True Dragon, it wouldn’t take even a month to get to the Barrier. We could just ride on its back and fly.

Perhaps reading the hopeful observation in my eyes, Alakish tilted its golden dragon eyes slightly towards the fire and shook its head briefly.

“I understand your urgency, but it will be a long journey.”

“Yes?”

“First of all, Alakish cannot fly. As you saw earlier, its wings were damaged in a long battle.”

In the despair of crushed hope, I thought. Now that I think about it, its wings did seem to be deformedly twisted earlier…

A True Dragon that cannot fly, is there such a thing? If it had visited the Divine Dragon even once, it would have been healed immediately.

How could it not have met the Divine Dragon even once during the ‘long battle’ that Alakish spoke of?

“And the situation in this Harbadonia is not something to easily overlook.”

Is it because it’s swarming with ghouls?

I vaguely knew about Harbadonia’s notoriety through various books, but if a True Dragon is warning me like this, it must be even more serious…

It was around that time. There was a rustling sound from the basket that Alakish was carrying on its back.

“I was wondering earlier, but what is that?”

At that question, I suddenly felt like Alakish smiled.

For a moment, I doubted my eyes. Red Dragons rarely smile due to their nature as a combat race.

A new bewilderment was added to that bewilderment with the answer that came back.

“This is Alakish’s daughter.”

Daughter…?

And that moment was also the moment when the answer was given as to how Alakish could treat Kasena so tenderly.

Alakish carefully took out of the basket with both hands what it treated like the most precious treasure in the world: a giant egg.

A dragon egg with a red background and three golden stripes, about the size of my sitting height.

“T, this is…?”

I could only blink my eyes because it was something that even Rin’s knowledge didn’t know.

A True Dragon lays eggs?

Wasn’t that something only Divine Dragons and Wyverns could do?

“Although you have associated with many of Alakish’s kin, it seems you still don’t know this much.”

As Alakish gently stroked the egg, the life inside the egg vigorously wriggled.

“True Dragons give birth to new life when their lifespan is nearing its end, and they make that life inherit their mission.”

Until it becomes a full-fledged adult, they accompany it, teaching it its mission and guiding its personality, so that it can take on its mission.

“There’s no need to be so surprised. Alakish has spent over 1400 years in Harbadonia.”

Fourteen hundred? Fourteen hundred years?

Is this real? No, a dragon wouldn’t lie, but… but that means it’s been living here alone since the beginning of the Tersian calendar.

I tried to imagine how it had endured alone in this land of madness for that eternity, but I couldn’t even grasp it.

Alakish seemed to have similar thoughts, gently pressed its forehead against the egg, and gave a sad smile.

“That’s why I’m a little worried. I wonder if this child will be able to endure the mission that Alakish had to bear…”

* * *

Alakish stroked the egg all night, chanting in dragon tongue as if singing.

Only the Dragon race could imbue power into the language itself without any additional elements, and Alakish’s dragon tongue permeated deeper into the soul than any sacred hymn or chant I had ever heard, like a winter bonfire.

Was it prenatal education, or was it out of consideration for us? Maybe it was both.

As that fiery timbre echoed in the cave, the color began to return to Kasena’s face, and the fatigue that had accumulated in my body for several days poured out, gradually blurring my consciousness.

What awakened my drowsy consciousness was a smell. A truly terrible… smell that made me think a ghoul had attacked.

“Rin, Rin, Rin.”

Pipi, who had regained consciousness at some point, was sitting on Kasena’s head, who was still unconscious, and flew over to me, rubbing its face against my cheek.

Without the leisure to welcome the reunion, I followed the source of the smell.

“What is this?”

Next to the bonfire, a bizarre piece of meat was skewered and completely burnt.

And on top of it, something was bubbling in an old helmet that I didn’t know who had used or when.

Something murky, a mixture of all kinds of entrails, blood, and meat… What on earth is this?

“You’re awake.”

Then Alakish, who had walked in from behind, filled a pottery bowl that I didn’t know where it had gotten from with that something and took it to Kasena.

“U, um? Alakish? May I ask what you’re doing right now?”

Then Alakish tilted its head as if asking what kind of obvious question that was.

“Humans are weak. They must be supplied with nutrients. Alakish has hunted for it.”

And as soon as it gently held Kasena’s body and tried to pour the liquid into her lips, Rain screamed.

“I, I’m! I’m hungrier! Can’t you feed me first?”

Alakish held out the bowl as if there was no reason not to.

Looking at it up close, it really… what is this sense of oppression? Cold sweat flowed like rain.

If I had to compare it, Krista’s poisonous cookies were cute in comparison.

“Emergency, emergency, Rin emergency!”

Pipi, who had been staring at it with me, flew around busily and tried to wrap its body in flames. It might have mistaken this for a powerful enemy.

“Don’t do it, Pipi! Alakish prepared it for us from dawn… We have to, gratefully, eat it…”

Gathering as much courage as when facing black mages, I remember closing my eyes tightly and filling my mouth with the liquid.

But when I opened my eyes, the horizon was tilted, my head was spinning, and Pipi was wailing that I was dead.

It was truly an enormous discourtesy to the person who had shown kindness, but Alakish didn’t seem embarrassed, but rather puzzled, and raised its eyebrows.

“Don’t human children eat food like this? You are truly picky.”

“It’s not that I’m picky, it’s just that this is a bit…”

“You are a truly pitifully weak race.”

It’s natural that dragons don’t know the concept of gourmet food because they get nutrients from the energy flowing in nature from the moment they become adults… Even when they were young, they would just tear off and eat raw meat a few times.

“Then what should we do? We need to supply you with nutrients so that you can regain stability.”

If you just bring me the ingredients, I’ll cook… I was about to say that, but Alakish, who was looking out of the cave, made a decision first.

“The blizzard has stopped. Prepare to move, human boy. We must go to the village.”

Village? What village?

There can’t be a village of humans here… Surely you’re not talking about a village of cursed beast-people?

“Of course, but is there a problem?”