Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 28

“This is ridiculous. How can you not know about dragons?”

Kang Chan watched him waver, his own tension reaching its breaking point.

He might be the one to attack first this time.

Just as the tension peaked, Zikyon suddenly clapped his hands, making Kang Chan flinch.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

‘What is this? Why is he suddenly clapping like a maniac?’

He clapped repeatedly, shouting,

“Bravo!”

Among the Dragonkin, the word “bravo,” passed down from ancient times, was an expression of true joy. Even Zikyon, having lived for thousands of years, could count on one hand the times he had exclaimed it.

Now, “bravo” burst forth from his lips repeatedly, and Kang Chan, who had been unnecessarily tense due to his unpredictable behavior, felt a wave of embarrassment.

‘Is he messing with me right now?’

Kang Chan no longer wanted to deal with this increasingly bizarre, unidentifiable intruder.

Whatever he was.

Conversely, Zikyon was genuinely delighted.

To think there was someone who didn’t know about dragons! Honestly, his pride was slightly wounded, but the novelty of meeting someone who didn’t know about dragons – beings known to everyone – more than made up for it.

Now in the twilight of his years as an ancient dragon, he had grown weary of everything in the world.

Magic that could make anything possible, hoarding gold and jewels—he was tired of it all.

Even amusement had become stale.

The countless repetitions of his false life no longer provided him with any entertainment.

Recently, he had found science, not magic, amusing.

Instead of the omnipotent power of magic, he found joy in creating devices like windmills and watermills based on scientific principles, rediscovering the vitality of life in the pleasure of creating something with his own hands.

Then, after enjoying a brief nap, he awoke to find a strange object had fallen into his territory. Out of curiosity, Zikyon had invaded the Red Mas ship.

Inside, he found not one, but two unexpected treasures.

Not just one, but two dazzling toys to revitalize his life.

Along with mysterious objects that operated on the power of science, not magic – things he had never seen or heard of – he had encountered a peculiar human who didn’t know about dragons.

With this human, unlike the existing games where he had to hide himself and live a false life, he might be able to enjoy games in his true form.

Several times, he had tried to mingle with the elves, the forest people, in his true form, hoping to escape the ennui [boredom] of his millennia-long life.

However, none of them had the courage or audacity to accept him, a dragon, as a true friend.

They were always trembling with fear.

Before a dragon, a species that was unpredictable, greedy, cunning, and unimaginably powerful.

A tiger could be friends with a rabbit, but a rabbit could never treat a tiger as a friend.

But the human before him was different.

He had no fear of the dragon species whatsoever.

If he could befriend such a person, he could enjoy his true self for the first time, and he could easily learn the secrets of the mysterious objects he wielded.

‘Ah, when was the last time I felt this excited?’

The mere thought made his heart flutter.

However, Kang Chan felt an indescribable revulsion as the green-haired youth with a flushed face stared intently at him.

‘What is it? Why is that bastard staring at me with those eyes? Could he be…?’

A strong sense of unease swirled in Kang Chan’s mind.

Unwanted memories of the past resurfaced.

It was a past he didn’t want to talk about, but back in his Red Mas days, he had been unusually popular with men.

Partly because there was only one woman on the Red Mas ship, but also because Kang Chan’s face was remarkably pretty.

There weren’t many Asians in the Federation Army, so an Asian like Kang Chan, with his fair skin, jet-black hair, and eyes, held a mysterious charm for them.

Some even found his need to shower alone due to his mysophobia [fear of germs] mysterious.

However, no man dared to approach Kang Chan or try to seduce him.

They knew his high-frequency blade, with its ghostly skill, could cut off their manhood in a single stroke.

But even without direct advances, his inbox was always filled with love letters from anonymous gay admirers.

And he had trembled at the creepy gazes of the gays who glanced at him during operations.

The eyes of the green-haired youth standing before him now were no different from theirs.

Those dreamy eyes, lost in their own fantasies….

Kang Chan could no longer tolerate his gaze.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Kang Chan raised his voice, causing Zikyon, who had been lost in his own fantasy, to return to reality.

“Ah! I’m sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Now that you’re done here, please leave.”

“Eh? Th, that’s….”

“Do you have any other business with me?”

‘To be so defiant even knowing I’m a dragon, as expected.’

Zikyon nodded, as if having made up his mind, and extended his hand to him.

Kang Chan felt a strong sense of unease wash over him again at his sudden gesture.

Artheon and several other mages always extended their hands like that when casting spells.

However, the words that came from his mouth were not a magic spell.

But it was enough to surprise Kang Chan.

“Would you perhaps be my friend? G. Zikyon’s friend?”

Kang Chan was so surprised by his unexpected words that he was momentarily speechless.

If they were ordinary humans with greed and avarice no less than a dragon’s, they would surely say yes immediately.

Being friends with a dragon was worth more than becoming the king of a nation.

But the man standing before him was a human who didn’t even know what a dragon was.

Zikyon was extremely curious about how such a human would respond.

However, Kang Chan was not as kind as he had hoped.

“Are you kidding me right now?”

Zikyon, startled by the venomous words, said in a disappointed tone.

“Why? Do you not wish to be?”

“What is the reason for suddenly coming to me and saying such a thing?”

“I didn’t expect to meet you here so suddenly either.”

“So, you think I would readily agree if a stranger suddenly came up to me and asked me to be friends?”

Zikyon’s face changed to one filled with worry at Kang Chan’s hostile words.

“Of course, I am well aware that my actions are strange right now. You must be bewildered and suspicious of me. But I truly want to be your friend.”

“What is the reason?”

Zikyon, an ancient dragon who had lived for over 8,000 years, fell into deep contemplation to give a reason to a mere human.

Because this one word was the biggest gateway to making him his friend.

Intelligent and experienced, he instantly came up with thousands of sweet-talking reasons.

He was confident that he could make the human before him his friend no matter which one he said.

But he had no desire to gain a friend through such lies.

The purpose of this game was truth.

Not lies, but his true self and a true friend who could accept it.

Creating a true game through a true encounter! That was what he wanted.

After finishing his thoughts, he paused for a moment and finally opened his mouth with difficulty.

Zikyon was revealing his true feelings to someone for the first time since his parents, who had given birth to him in his hatchling days.

He was nervous.

It took more courage than he thought, and he conveyed his sincerity with difficulty.

“I have been very lonely.”

Zikyon felt a sense of relief in his heart after unexpectedly speaking out.

However, Kang Chan’s expression twisted as if he had bitten into a bug upon hearing his sincere words.

‘That pervert! So, his goal was my body!’

Rage boiled deep within Kang Chan’s heart.

“You’ve chosen the wrong person.”

Kang Chan’s suit began to switch back to combat mode.

Zikyon’s expression changed from disappointment to dismay as his opponent reacted coldly despite his honest feelings.

“Why, why are you suddenly like this? I just said I was lonely and wanted to be true friends with you.”

Kang Chan’s cynical reply followed his incomprehensible words.

“If you’re so lonely, why don’t you meet a woman instead of coming to me, another man? I really can’t understand people like you. If you want my body, even though I may be weaker than you, you will surely be doing it with a corpse. Well, if you’re a pervert who likes that, you’ll get what you want.”

High-frequency blades emerged from Kang Chan’s hands, which were brutally sneering, and turned bright red.

And a blue aura sword rose above it, burning purple in harmony with the red high-frequency blade.

Zikyon realized that the human before him was seriously misunderstanding something when he heard the human’s words, which contained a will to risk even death.

“No! Did you, by any chance, think that I wanted to do *that* kind of thing with you, so I asked you to be friends? Is that it?”

Zikyon was filled with uncontrollable anger at the human who was silently glaring at him as if he was not worth answering.

“How dare you! What do you take me, Zikyon, an ancient dragon, for!”

The dragon’s rage, which had been suppressed by reason, surged, and the surrounding mana fluctuated, distorting space.

Due to the distorted space, all the objects around it appeared twisted in a grotesque manner.

Just because he was angry.

Kang Chan, who was watching the scene, turned pale in an instant.

He had guessed that he was a formidable person, but he was never this much.

The man before him was a true monster that far surpassed the realm he could imagine.

Kang Chan, who had met his eyes, could not even think of moving, like a mouse in front of a cat, and could not control his trembling limbs.

Even he, who had never feared death, was experiencing fear for the first time in his life.

It was the fear that lay dormant within.