The 5000-year-old Herbivorous Dragon

Chapter 74 - Former owner of the dagger

“The records of Raiotto’s ancestor…”

Frankly I had a bad feeling about this. Raiotto himself seemed like a virtuous boy, but the ones who came up with offering a sacrifice were also that priest family. Which meant there was a large possibility that he depicted me in a bad light.

“But, well, let’s hear it at least. Rēko, even the gist is fine so could you tell me what are the contents like?”

“Understood. I won’t say the gist but the whole thing without mistaking a single word.”

“Amazing, your memory is on another level.”

Ahem, Rēko lightly cleared her throat.

“『You shall become my kin. Together, we will defeat the Demon King and put this world into the palms of our hands…』That was mine and the Evil Dragon Lord’s dramatic yet destined encounter. It goes without saying that those words deeply moved me, a prestigious sacrifice offered by the village, and left me choked with tears. When we returned to the village the preparations for the feast were already put in order, with me in high spirits due to the granted honour of riding on the Lord’s back. Moreover, it wasn’t a simple feast. Indeed, since the Evil Dragon Lord made his move the Demon King’s death was already set in stone. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that it wasn’t a feast celebrating setting out for war, but the offering for the Demon King’s death - a living funeral, so to speak. The guest of honour Evil Dragon Lord was devouring heaps of meat and alcohol――”

“I think that’s from the wrong record. You’re surprisingly pushy with throwing me your top recommendation, aren’t you?”

No matter how you slice it, that unmistakably was the previous biography called “Kin’s Holograph~” or something. Moreover the depiction practically didn’t match the truth. I should take back what I said about her memory.

“It’s fine, I didn’t make a mistake. It’s the so called opening act.”

“Isn’t that a bit long for an opening act?”

“How about a digested version? I’m able to shorten it to around 30 minutes till the climax of defeating the Demon King.”

“Eh? You already managed to write about the Demon King’s death?”

“Yes, the Demon King dropped dead like a tattered dishrag. Now I’m in the middle of writing the after story.”

“That really makes me curious… But I feel like I’ll lose if I ask.”

I had a hunch that if I were to hear Rēko’s delusions here she’d reproduce them exactly in the future. Firmly resisting my curiosity I returned to the main topic. Once I urged her she began narrating details of the book in question.

“… The text written by the person that appears to be Raiotto’s ancestor wasn’t written in one volume. It remained as one section in a manuscript that is a collection of multiple dissenting views regarding Evil Dragon Lord. That manuscript is only a crude article, clearly portraying a different person, or rather a different dragon, and the written down paragraphs have no rhyme or reason when it comes to period.”

“Could you tell me the depiction of that different dragon?”

“『A dragon came to the town’s outskirts. It was a dreadful black specimen with a towering body. That was when a brave cattleman came forward and begged the dragon for mercy. Thereupon, that dragon said ‘My throat is parched, could you get me something to drink?’ Once he drunk milk his stomach broke and he left clearly in pain.』”

That’s me. My distant past when my body was starting to get bigger, for some reason was a period where I was blessed with food whenever I went. Since it was human food it didn’t suit my picky stomach and I often ended up with food poisoning.

“Conversely there are also some records of the Evil Dragon Lord. For example one called『The black dragon announcing the future certain death』makes an appearance, which I surmise is from the period when Evil Dragon Lord was just born from the Netherworld’s darkness. A period when Lord was intimate with the realm of the dead governing the fates of the deceased. Hence it’s a reliable depiction.”

“Come to think of it, there was that time when I was made to work part-time as a fortune teller. Since I knew jack about it I randomly said something like ‘Humans are going to die either way, so how about just taking it easy’, but who knew they’d take it that way.”

It was a story from my ancient days when I was sold off to a merchant. I could learn neither balancing on a ball nor diving through a ring of fire, so ultimately I was made to put my trait of speech to good use as a fortune teller. I had daily one or two customers at best.

“… And so, here’s the portrayal of Raiotto’s ancestor in question. In terms of authenticity this one’s the same kind as the previous one with milk.”

Rēko once again unsheathed the jewelled dagger.

“The geographical portrayal of the village’s location or the cave where Evil Dragon Lord lived is exceedingly accurate. What’s more it’s stated:『A huge build with black scales and azure eyes. The Evil Dragon Rēvendia dwelling inside the mountain’s cave, a member of the peerless race of dragons living since the age of gods, is a possessor of magic power equal to all under heaven and earth. He is the ultimate existence focused solely on atrocity and destruction.』―― One can say it’s regrettable even, seeing how accurate it was so far. The problem comes after that.”

“Problem?”

“That unrivalled under heaven Evil Dragon Lord has fought a battle with the author, a vagrant adventurer. And although he suffered defeat, he still successfully managed to scratch Lord with a single stroke of this jewelled dagger.”

“Aah, that’s a lie alright.”

I could assert that. There was no way I’d be off with just a scratch when fighting a human with a blade. I’d just have been killed instead.

“That’s for certain. It’s impossible for a human that would point his blade at Lord and live to exist. Much less causing an injury, it’s simply outrageous.”

“Well, it’s like that even with reverse reason huh.”

Rēko also reached the same understanding. The ‘focused solely on atrocity and destruction’ part made it no good for me that wanted something that would stick to moderation as much as possible, whereas the ‘scratch’ part made it no good for Rēko that wanted to make me invincible. There was no merit in using this view as my policy from hereon. However, I simply became curious.

“So what happened after that?”

“―― Is it fine? Beyond this point the desires of the person that wrote this delusional story are laid bare and continue in full, but does Lord still wish to hear it?”

“I’ve a feeling I heard a similar story a while ago so I don’t mind. Once or twice, it’s all the same.”

“Was there such story just a while ago?” Tilting her head, Rēko reluctantly continued once I urged her.

“The rest is an extremely simple hero story.『Evil Dragon, who received the first injury in his perpetual lifetime, was under deep impression of the potential humans possessed and decided to ascertain their future with his own eyes. Whereas the adventurer became a priest serving the Evil Dragon, taking upon himself the responsibility of appeasing the dragon.』―― A very ‘convenient’ story. Evil Dragon Lord’s vessel isn’t so small as to be appeased by being worshipped. Only small fries like that water demon could be satisfied with this. ”

Well, I groaned. Leaving aside the diss to Lady Saintess, there were many contradicting points in that story. However, hard to say it was just a coincidence given that the writer was precise on not only the geography, but he also pinned down my body’s characteristic features. In which case there was only one possible conclusion, but saying it would be rude to Raiotto so――

“In all probability this is a scam. Some imposter had to give himself weight, claiming to be a priest. To turn Evil Dragon Lord into a money making dupe, that’s some nerve he has. Next time we meet Raiotto I’ll make sure to give him an earful about it.”

What I held back from saying, Rēko slung openly with apparent vigour to boot.

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