Not A Regressor - Chapter 312

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 312
A Faded Promise (4)
“What, what is it? Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Ha-eun’s face twisted in bewilderment as she felt the weight of their collective gaze upon her.
The Dragon-race members gazed at the dragon mark settled beneath Ha-eun’s left eye with expressions brimming with reverence.
“Ahhh.”
“The, the Dragon Maiden.”
The shackled Dragon-race members wept openly, their tears streaming down their faces as they prostrated themselves—like devout believers witnessing the descent of a savior before their very eyes.
“No, I told you I’m not a maiden, what are you—”
“Sister, be quiet for a moment.”
Kwon O-jin pressed his hand gently over Ha-eun’s chattering mouth, as if his head were throbbing.
“What do you mean by a prophecy?”
“…That is…”
The Dragon-race members hesitated, exchanging cautious glances with one another.
“Allow this old one to explain.”
The voice came from a different direction than where the captive Dragon-race members were gathered.
“Grrrrrowl!”
Poppy bared her fangs savagely and assumed a combat stance.
From atop the collapsed rocky cliff, hundreds of Dragon-race warriors surrounded Kwon O-jin’s party, their magical arrows trained upon them.
An elderly Dragon-race member from their midst approached, leaning upon a staff.
“My name is Kelion. Though I am but a humble vessel, I lead the Dragon-race.”
The gray-haired Dragon-race elder completed his brief introduction with measured courtesy.
“I am Kwon O-jin.”
“So I’ve heard. You are the hero who came from beyond the veil, then.”
“…You’ve heard?”
From whom could he have learned of my deeds?
“Baek Moo-gang and I are quite close associates, you see.”
“Ah.”
I never imagined that the one leading the Dragon-race would be connected to Baek Moo-gang.
“First, let us relocate. The commotion may have drawn the pursuit teams of the Demon Race.”
“Yes.”
Kwon O-jin’s party followed Kelion’s guidance deeper into the narrow gorge.
Whoosh.
Upon crossing a certain boundary, the terrain before me shifted as my body experienced the weightless sensation of crossing through a Gate.
In an instant, I emerged from the cramped gorge into an expansive empty field.
Dozens of hastily erected barracks lined the sparse grassland, arranged in neat rows.
‘They’re using this place as a temporary refuge.’
Judging by the traces around the barracks, they appeared to have been constructed no more than two or three days ago.
“You all—keep watch around the gorge to ensure the Demon Race’s pursuit teams have not followed.”
“Yes!”
“Even if you spot the pursuit team, don’t attack immediately. Report back first.”
“Understood, Elder!”
The Dragon-race unit that had been held captive by Isabella’s chains turned around and headed back toward the Narrow Gorge.
“Come this way.”
Kelion, who guided them to the central tent, entered first.
In the center of the tent sat a crudely made wooden table that showed obvious signs of poor craftsmanship.
“I apologize that we cannot offer you the grand reception befitting the Prophesied Noble, and must instead welcome you to such a shabby tent.”
Kelion bowed deeply toward Ha-eun.
His demeanor was incomparably more respectful than when he had spoken with me.
“Uh… yeah. It’s, it’s fine. But what’s all this talk about Dragon’s Maiden and Noble since earlier?”
Ha-eun leaned slightly toward me, her expression suggesting she found Kelion’s excessive courtesy rather burdensome as she asked.
“…The explanation may take some time.”
Kelion exhaled softly as he observed Ha-eun’s bewildered expression, as though she understood nothing.
“The Dragon-race once had a guardian deity known as the ‘Dragon God.'”
The story that unfolded began thus.
One hundred years ago.
Around the time when the Demon Race launched their massive invasion, the Draconian Kingdom, much like the Kan Kingdom, came under attack.
The assault directed at the Dragon-race was far more powerful and calculated than anything the Kan Kingdom had endured.
It was the Dragon-race’s guardian deity, ‘Dragon God Caleos,’ who stood against the Demon Race’s forces at that time.
Unlike ordinary dragons who preferred solitary existence, he had established his own Lair within the Draconian Kingdom and took upon himself the role of guardian.
“And the hero who fought alongside Dragon God Caleos against the Demon Race’s army during that war a hundred years ago was none other than ‘Kailus Benedictus.'”
Kailus Benedictus.
It was a name I had never heard before.
“Was he of the Dragon-race?”
“No.”
Kelion shook his head quietly.
“Kailus was… human.”
“What?”
My eyes narrowed.
A human had fought alongside Dragon God Caleos against the Demon Race’s army a hundred years ago?
‘That doesn’t make sense.’
Though there is some difference in the flow of time between Earth and the Demon Realm.
Even so, a hundred years ago was a period when the ‘First Rift’ connecting to Earth hadn’t even opened in the Demon Realm.
So how could a ‘human’—no other being—have aided the Dragon-race in fighting the Demon Race?
“Kailus said that he had ‘drifted into’ this world.”
Drifted in.
If that were the case, did it mean a passage between Earth and the Demon Realm existed even before the First Rift opened?
‘It’s not impossible.’
If it had been a massive rift like the ones we see now, spanning several kilometers in diameter, it surely would have been discovered. But if it had been merely a few meters across, like the rift I was pulled into the Demon Realm through, it might have gone unnoticed by people.
Humanity tends to assume it knows everything about Earth.
In truth, if you only looked at the sheer area, the regions untouched by humanity’s hand were overwhelmingly vast compared to those that bore its mark.
“Kailous was the true leader of the Dragon-race and their savior.”
Kelion spoke with a voice brimming with reverence.
Kwon O-jin furrowed his brows as if unable to comprehend.
“…How could that possibly be?”
How could a human who had drifted in from another world ever become the savior of the Dragon-race?
More than that, how could a human who wasn’t even an Awakened survive in the Demon Realm in the first place?
“He possessed a ‘Stigma,’ you see.”
“…A Stigma?”
A short, hollow laugh escaped from Kwon O-jin’s lips.
There was no way a human who wasn’t an Awakened could have survived in the Demon Realm.
The answer to that obvious question was so simple it was almost laughable.
‘Awakened ones have existed for a hundred years?’
It felt as though all the common sense he had known was unraveling.
“Yes. He was an Awakened who possessed the ‘Dragon’s Stigma.'”
The same Stigma as Ha-eun.
“Kailous bestowed the Dragon’s Stigma granted by the Constellation upon the Dragon-race.”
“…He bestowed it?”
Among Awakened ones, there was no existence with the ability to distribute their Stigma to another person.
‘Or rather, there was.’
The Black Star Constellation.
The Awakened of the Black Star Society possessed the ability to transfer their Stigma to another being.
‘But the Dragon’s Stigma shouldn’t belong to the Black Star.’
As his mind grew tangled trying to make sense of the situation.
“Yes, he bestowed upon us the blessing of the stars.”
Kelion lifted the worn robe he was wearing slightly, revealing his left chest.
Upon his left chest was inscribed a clear ‘Dragon’s Stigma’ identical to Ha-eun’s.
“At that time, the Dragon-race were gradually losing the methods to properly wield the powerful mana contained within their blood. The magic passed down by the Dragons had been lost across the ages.”
In the distant past, the Dragon-race and Dragons were born from the same root.
Though the analogy wasn’t perfect, the relationship between the Dragon-race and Dragons of old was said to be similar to that between worker ants and a queen ant.
In other words, they were a race born to serve and revere the ‘Dragons.’
But the Dragons had no need for the Dragon-race’s aid.
Each individual was far too powerful and possessed such distinct wills that they shunned communal living.
The Dragons abandoned the Dragon-race and scattered far and wide.
Until then, they had served the Dragons and gradually learned the magic they wielded, but after all the Dragons except the Dragon God Caleos departed the kingdom, the magic began to be lost over time.
Caleos’s magic alone was insufficient to encompass all the mana with its varied characteristics.
“Then Kailous appeared in our kingdom.”
Through the Dragon’s Stigma, Kailous imparted the methods to wield the powerful mana lingering within the Dragon-race’s bodies.
“To us, who were dying of fever because we could not properly control the mana dwelling within our bodies, he was truly a savior.”
Kelion clenched his fists firmly.
Eyes burning with fervent heat and the reverence kindled within them spoke volumes about who Kailous truly was.
‘So that’s why he showed no aversion when he first saw us.’
It was only natural that the Dragon-race would react entirely differently from the Beast-human Tribe, for their savior—the one who had rescued their dying race—was none other than a human.
“So what connection does that prophecy you mentioned earlier have to do with this?”
I understood why Kailous had become the savior of the Dragon-race.
But what did that have to do with Ha-eun?
“After the war with the Demon Race, the Dragon God fell into a deep slumber. And Kailous…”
Kelion’s expression darkened.
“He returned gravely wounded and passed away.”
Was he thinking of Kailous?
His tightly clenched fists trembled faintly.
“Kailus Benedictus… the savior of the Dragon-race and the Dragon God’s dearest friend… left behind a prophecy before his passing.”
The long tale had finally reached its prophecy.
“When darkness descends upon the Kingdom, a woman bearing the eyes of the dragon shall come.”
All eyes turned toward Ha-eun.
“The dragon’s eyes shall draw the Dragon God’s soul into his flesh and awaken the slumbering deity… That was the final prophecy left by Kailous.”
Dragon God Caleos.
The last dragon who remained to protect the Dragon-race, who had been nothing but slaves.
Was Ha-eun’s “dragon eyes” the key to awakening him from his deep slumber and his wounds?
“Huh? My… my eyes are really that amazing?”
Ha-eun tilted her head in bewilderment.
Suddenly, the face of an old man flashed through my mind—one who had revealed his ugly greed to seize the “dragon eyes” she possessed.
‘I thought the power of dragon eyes was merely the ability to handle dragon magic a bit more easily.’
It seemed the power dwelling in her eyes far exceeded my understanding.
“When the Demon Race’s army attacked and the Kingdom was reduced to ashes, when countless of my kin perished… I realized the time of the prophecy had come.”
Kelion rose from his seat and approached Ha-eun.
Kneeling before her, he bowed his head low like a priest offering prayer to a god.
“Maiden of the dragon… I beseech you, draw the Dragon God’s soul into his flesh and awaken our deity from this long slumber.”
Kelion’s shoulders trembled faintly as he remained bowed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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