The Dragon Slayer Who Regressed After 1,000 Years - Chapter 50

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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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The Dragon Slayer Who Returned After 1000 Years – Episode 50
The news that Cain had been invited to join the Imperial Knights spread through the palace in no time.
Naturally, Jake, who was well-informed, heard it too.
“Cain! Are you really going to the Empire?”
“Yeah.”
“So we won’t be able to see each other anymore…? Since you’re becoming an Imperial citizen….”
“You know one thing but not two.”
Cain let out a short laugh at Jake’s dejected expression.
“I don’t have to change my nationality. I’m enlisting as an Asel citizen.”
“Really? The Empire approved it?”
“Yeah. Valenticius informed me just a moment ago. He said it’s fine to do it that way.”
Cain draped an arm over Jake’s shoulder and spoke with a smile.
“So don’t cry about me being gone. I can come and go whenever I want.”
“W-Who’s crying?!”
Jake bristled, but tears glistened at the corners of his eyes.
“Still, I’ll need to spend a few months in the Empire. To establish myself.”
“R-Right?”
“So look after my mother during that time, will you? Give her the herbal medicine once a week.”
“Of course! Don’t you worry about the Lady one bit!”
Watching Jake thump his chest with confident assurance, a natural smile bloomed on Cain’s face.
It was fortunate to have a friend he could trust.
Just then, Valenticius approached.
“Master. The carriage has arrived.”
“All right. Just let me say goodbye to my mother.”
Cain headed toward his mother’s room.
“Mother. I’m going now….”
Before he could finish speaking, Serena suddenly pulled Cain into an embrace.
“Mother…?”
“Go well, my son.”
His mother’s hand patted Cain’s back.
Through his back, he felt the faint trembling in her fingertips.
It wasn’t from her illness.
Cain gently grasped his mother’s trembling hand.
“Yes. I’ll be back soon.”
After bidding farewell, Cain boarded the carriage with Valenticius.
After the delegation had stayed in Asel for several months, Valenticius departed for the Empire alongside Cain.
‘Well, the surveillance target is moving to the Empire anyway.’
Now that Cain was joining the Imperial Knights, Alton had no reason to leave Valenticius in Asel.
He’d come to Asel in the first place to keep watch over Cain and the Knights.
“Master. How do you feel about this?”
“How do I feel?”
“You’re joining the Imperial Knights—something you’ve dreamed of.”
“Who said I dreamed of it?”
“Pardon?”
Valenticius, caught off guard, quickly composed his expression.
“Then… you’re not pleased about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Then why did you accept becoming part of the Imperial Knights…?”
“I’m curious.”
Cain’s mouth curled into a smile.
“What level the Imperial Knights have reached by now.”

* * *
For the Black Clan, the Succession Battle is an important ritual for determining the Pack Leader.
Though his younger brother Drakasion died in the process, Nerkasion’s life had certainly improved since the Succession Battle.
‘Now I am the Pack Leader.’
No longer did he have to hide in the shadow of the previous Pack Leader Belacors, and his strongest rival, Drakasion, was gone.
Not that he’d hoped for his brother’s death, but he couldn’t deny a certain satisfaction.
‘The only thing that troubles me is the men who killed Drakasion.’
The knights of the Asel Kingdom and the Belion Kingdom!
Those vermin had to be exterminated without exception.
War with them needed to be prepared for at once.
But.
‘Alton. I’ll have to endure it, even if I must hear that man out.’
The representative of those humans who follow dragons.
He couldn’t avoid joining hands with him.
Had not Belacors himself received vast Treasures and human sacrifices from him?
‘Well, the gifts do please me.’
Nerkasion’s eyes turned toward the gleaming Treasures.
Not long ago, that man Alton, having become Pack Leader, had sent over a cart laden with Treasures as a congratulatory gift.
Eating the human who had pulled the cart was merely a bonus.
‘He said I could eat that human, so I ate him, but…….’
There was no helping the damage to his pride.
Humans were merely a delicacy to be consumed whenever he felt inclined, yet it seemed there were those he could eat and those he could not.
‘Still, there’s no choice. Without using that man, I cannot obtain Treasures continuously. And as for my revenge against the kingdom.’
Since he said he would help with Drakasion’s vengeance, he could simply watch and wait in silence.
In the meantime, there was nothing to worry about.
Or so he thought.
Until word came of Diolamir.
[Nerkasion. This is terrible. Diolamir, he…….]
Nerkasion’s pupils trembled violently at the news.
Nerkasion immediately teleported to Diolamir’s Lair.
Hoping that what he’d heard was a lie.
Upon reaching the Lair, Nerkasion descended along the cavern passage.
[Diolamir! Diolamir!]
The poison traps were shattered for some reason, and the toxic mist that had filled the forest before his arrival had all dissipated.
Anyone could see that something was terribly wrong.
Moreover.
‘Hck.’
The sharp metallic scent of blood, detected by the dragon’s keen nose, only deepened the sense of dread.
[Diolamir…….]
The moment he saw his subordinate lying with tongue extended and hollow eyes staring into nothing.
Nerkasion’s mind grew distant, as though filled with that same toxic fog.
[Diolamir!!!]
Though they differed in age by twelve hundred years, they had been companions since childhood.
Even in the Succession Battle, Diolamir had stood with his faction and fought faithfully beside him—a stalwart subordinate.
And yet Diolamir.
‘To die like this…….’
What struck him most was the sight of an empty chest cavity visible between the split scales.
‘Someone took his heart.’
The thought crystallized in his mind in an instant.
‘It was them.’
He had heard it from Alton not long ago.
That Drakasion’s heart too had gone missing.
‘Those cursed humans killed Diolamir as well……!’
Rage flooded his vision.
Nerkasion could no longer wait.
The perpetrators had to be found.
He issued an order to the dragons that followed him.
[Search the surroundings thoroughly. Every corner of the misty forest. They must have left traces behind.]
[Understood.]

* * *
The carriage entered the Imperial Capital.
“Master. This is the Crescent Empire’s capital.”
‘I know that, you fool.’
Though they had entered the Empire, Cain’s heart remained unmoved.
It wasn’t as though he were visiting for the first time, and besides—he had once held the position of commander of the Imperial Knights.
Though that was all before the return.
‘Still, I’m curious what the atmosphere is like now.’
The past was an age of chaos.
Dragons openly devoured humans, enslaved them, plundered their treasures—a lawless wasteland.
In that hellish era, Cain had drawn his sword to survive.
He hunted dragons for the sake of mankind.
Though his serious hunts didn’t begin until forty years later.
‘The dragons haven’t run rampant yet, but in a few more years they’ll move to enslave humanity in earnest.’
He had to cut down the root before it could grow.
By joining forces with the Imperial Knights and taking down as many as possible.
The Imperial Knights were at the vanguard of dragon subjugation, so it wasn’t an impossible task.
Ironically, the one who held that empire in the palm of his hand was none other than Alton.
‘And this fellow beside me is the eldest son of the Drake family.’
Valenticius gazed out the carriage window with a serene expression.
It was only natural that he’d be delighted to be home, but there wasn’t a trace of his father’s severity about him.
‘The Alton I saw was a man of cold calculation, unreadable as the depths of the sea. The fact that he reached eight-star at that age is extraordinary in itself.’
He was clearly hiding something.
Otherwise, how could he have allowed Valenticius to live for a thousand years?
‘Whatever method he used, I have to uncover that secret.’
It seemed unlikely that Valenticius knew the method himself.
Alton almost certainly possessed that knowledge.
“Master. We’ve arrived.”
At those words, Cain set aside his thoughts and descended from the carriage.
The glittering castle of the empire—so magnificent that no kingdom could rival it—loomed above him.
“Let’s go.”

* * *
The Imperial Knights, unquestionably the continent’s finest order.
Only those who reached the pinnacle of that order could claim the rank of commander.
Yandre Nemesik, an eight-star Aura knight and commander of the Imperial Knights, could not suppress an inward sigh at His Majesty’s decree.
‘To accept a non-imperial as a member? I simply cannot fathom it.’
The Imperial Knights accepted only imperial citizens.
The ironclad rule was that foreigners must change their nationality and become imperial subjects first.
Yet His Majesty had broken that very rule for the first time since the order’s founding.
If they could bring him here—the youngest Sword Master and Dragon Slayer—he could be inducted while still an Asel national.
‘Sigh… no matter how I protest, he won’t listen.’
Frustrating as it was, there was nothing to be done.
It was His Majesty’s command.
Yandre sighed inwardly as he left his office.
He’d just received word that the new knight had passed through the castle gates.
‘I hope this man is worth breaking the rules for.’
As Yandre arrived at the courtyard, his eyes fell upon a carriage.
The doors opened and several people descended.
The first to approach Yandre was Valenticius Drake, the eldest son.
“Ah, Commander Yandre!”
“It’s been a while, Lord Valenticius. I heard you went to Asel as part of the diplomatic mission. I trust you’ve been well.”
“Yes, indeed. And you’ve been well too, Commander?”
Since Yandre had trained alongside Valenticius’s father Alton and maintained a long friendship with him, he knew the young lord well enough.
A tragic prince who had failed to awaken his Aura for years.
His younger brother Cassius was already a four-star prodigy said to have inherited their father’s talent, but the elder son had not been so blessed.
Had he not been the Drake family’s firstborn, induction into the Knights while still unawakened would have been impossible.
‘How troubled his heart must be, unable to awaken his Aura.’
With sympathetic eyes, Yandre asked gently.
“I heard you trained with the Asel Knights for a time. How was the experience? Did you see any progress?”
“Yes. Remarkable progress, in fact. I’ve reached two-star. Ha!”
“Pardon?”
Lord Valenticius had reached two-star?
He thought the young lord was supposed to be inducted unawakened—was that not the case?
“So you’re saying… you’ve awakened, then?”
“Yes. Finally. Ha ha ha!”
Confusion seized Yandre’s mind.
Not only had he awakened, but reached two-star as well?
It was too unbelievable to accept, so Yandre Nemesik began examining Valenticius’s body first.
He let his own energy flow into the other man, measuring and gauging his strength.
The result was.
‘You truly……have awakened, haven’t you?’
Beyond merely awakening, he had clearly reached the second star as well.
It was a feat that should have taken at least two years. How was this possible?
“Wait, Prince Valenticius. It’s only been three months since you left, hasn’t it? How could you have achieved this in that time……?”
“Remarkable, isn’t it? I’m equally astonished. I owe it all to having found such an exceptional master.”
Valenticius smiled and gestured to the man standing beside him.
“Allow me to introduce you. This is Prince Cain of Asel, who has agreed to join us today. He is my master.”
Yandre’s gaze shifted toward Cain.
And in the moment he perceived his Aura,
Yandre’s eyes transformed, as if he were looking upon a monster.

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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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