The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 219

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 219

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The interior of the Whispering Cave was quite spacious and high.

Though it wasn’t large enough for the Black Dragon to enter in his true form, it was spacious enough to house several two-story wooden houses forming a small village.

After entering through the narrow entrance that looked like a crack in the cliff and walking briefly through a passage barely wide enough for two people, a space as wide as a town square soon appeared.

Wooden houses built haphazardly lined the walls of the square in a circle, with a large campfire in the center. In a corner where an unfinished wooden house stood, there were several tents where the kingdom citizens who had followed Elysion seemed to be temporarily staying.

Though crude and poor in many ways, it was a village that seemed carefully tended to, just as Jurlene had said.

Lillieta, with the now-small Black Dragon perched on her shoulder, was guided to one of the wooden houses. Perhaps the finest house in this village, it was quite large and decorated with various furs and embroidered cloths.

“This is the Village Hall, but there are several bedrooms on the second floor. It should be suitable for resting.”

The middle-aged man who had guided her spoke politely, then added:

“I heard you have injuries. A priest will come after treating only the critically wounded first.”

“No, it’s fine. Caring for the critically wounded takes priority. Please tell them they don’t need to come.”

Divine power or healing magic wouldn’t suit her anyway. Unless someone like Seraphina who perfectly understood her unique constitution and wielded divine power in a way close to pure Oaths.

“Rather, there are several items I need. Could you obtain them for me?”

She requested several tools used for refining Oath concentrate through primitive methods. The man who heard the list looked somewhat puzzled but readily accepted.

“We can certainly prepare that much. I’ll send them right away, Dragon Rider.”

“Dragon Rider…?”

“Since you came riding a Black Dragon, you must be a Dragon Rider… aren’t you?”

Rita opened her mouth then closed it. It was awkward to correct him, and having an appropriate title would make it easier for her and Gid to be accepted by these people.

“…You may call me that. Well then, I’ll be counting on you.”

“We’re the ones counting on you, Dragon Rider. I’ll leave a child on the first floor to run errands, so please call if you need anything.”

The man who spoke earnestly withdrew. Rita took off her tattered cloak full of holes and sat on the wooden bed layered with furs.

Then she checked that the crude brooch attached to her cloak was intact and examined it for a moment.

‘If I show this to Gid, wouldn’t there be some reaction?’

She hesitated briefly, but remembered how the Black Dragon had trembled and suffered when trying to recall what Beacon was.

‘…Later, I’ll try when Gid seems to be in better condition.’

She shook her head and carefully put it away.

“Haah…”

As her tension relaxed slightly, a long sigh naturally escaped.

‘At least I’ve been accepted by the founding ancestors, so I’ve passed the first hurdle.’

The small Black Dragon that had been clinging to her shoulder jumped down onto the furs and stretched his head out to examine her expression. Seeing his worried look from her sigh, Rita smiled softly and extended her hand to him.

“I’m fine, Gid.”

The dragon’s head, with spines flattened, rubbed against her hand as if leaning on it. She stroked him gently and spoke softly.

“You must be tired from breathing fire. Rest a bit.”

As she comforted him, the Black Dragon opened his small mouth wide, let out a yawn mixed with flames, then curled up in a ball on the furs and lay down. He certainly seemed tired.

‘Like this, he really looks like some kind of pet monster.’

The Oaths were too quiet for him to be a complete monster, but the corruption beneath his spines that she could still feel at her fingertips was too vivid for him not to be a monster.

‘It would be dangerous for anyone who isn’t an Oathbinder to even touch him.’

Rita made a bitter expression as she unconsciously continued stroking his spines that drooped like wet fur.

‘How can I restore you?’

Though his current state was miraculous enough, she couldn’t be satisfied with this. She wanted to get him back—the Gideon she knew. There were too many conversations left unfinished with him.

Suddenly, there was a knock.

“It’s Sion and Jurlene. May we come in?”

“Yes, please come in.”

After the battle, they had each gone to calm the tense kingdom knights and cave residents and explain Rita and the Black Dragon’s presence.

Having roughly finished their conversations with the people, they entered the room given to Rita and greeted her.

“Once again, we formally thank you for your help, Dragon Rider.”

“Really, thank you. We survived thanks to you!”

Rita couldn’t focus on their greeting. She didn’t even notice how Sion’s form of address had changed from her name to Dragon Rider.

Her gaze was fixed on the necklace around Jurlene’s neck, who had thrown off her thick fur robe and gotten comfortable.

Feeling her stare, Jurlene looked down at her own neck puzzledly, then casually grabbed what hung from her necklace and held it up for her to see.

A round sphere glowing softly in five colors.

“What about this? Is my necklace strange?”

The artificial spirit muttered in surprise.

[Shock: My goodness, that’s… a ‘Star’, isn’t it?]

Rita unconsciously checked Jurlene’s eyes. Both were clear golden. There was no sign of aurora-like rippling at all.

She barely managed to speak.

“What is that?”

“It’s my mentor’s keepsake…”

Jurlene answered readily, then after brief consideration, explained in more detail.

“It’s a gem that elves call ‘Moon’s Bone.’ It doesn’t have any special powers, but it’s very rare and historically significant.”

“No special… powers?”

“Is this so fascinating?”

Jurlene tilted her head, then reached behind her neck to unfasten the necklace.

“I don’t usually show this to just anyone, but hmm, you and the Black Dragon defeated those damn Empire bastards. Here, look all you want.”

Rita received the round stone that looked exactly like a ‘Star’ with trembling hands.

A cool sensation. Though soft five-colored light swirled on the glass-bead-like surface, it didn’t emit aurora-like energy as she had known. There was no strange magic power overflowing enough to burn her hands.

‘The one I extracted from Pascal’s eye was this quiet too, but…’

This was somehow different from that one.

It was also different from the ‘Star’ she had seen countless times in Gid’s memories, floating in the White Space.

But it wasn’t really a different object. It definitely looked the same on the outside.

As she carefully examined the sphere hanging like a pendant from the necklace, she soon noticed the crucial difference.

‘It’s empty inside.’

Something Pascal had called the demon in the egg. Something Gid had made a deal with. Some being within the Star that demanded to “show the collateral” every time he saw flashbacks.

It wasn’t there. Not in this sphere.

That’s why it just sparkled like an empty glass bead without tremendous magic power or ominous energy.

‘But there’s no mistake. This is that very Star.’

She had shot it into the sky and seized it from Pascal. She had seen it several times in Gid’s memories too. There was no way she could be mistaken.

This was the very ‘Star’ and ‘Egg’ that was absolutely necessary to return to the 1770s, that Pascal had obtained and became the source of all events.

‘I never expected to find it so close… or maybe it’s natural?’

Perhaps the reason they, caught up in the exploding Star in 1770, arrived specifically in 821 was because this period was when a ‘Star’ existed in the same location as July 14th, 1770.

‘Come to think of it, what exactly is a ‘Star’?’

How did Pascal come to possess this? Was he the first Star user?

How did such a mere bead come to contain the power to manipulate time? Wasn’t it like a core that fell from the sun? Wasn’t the sun’s fire going out during the Ash-covered Era because of this bead?

“…Um, Dragon Rider? No matter how much you look at it, I can’t just give this away. It’s my mentor’s keepsake.”

Jurlene, who had been hesitating, took the Star back from her hands and spoke. Rita unconsciously let out a long breath she had been holding and shook her head slightly. Her voice came out naturally hoarse.

“That’s… your mentor’s keepsake.”

“Right, it’s precious to me. I’ll never sell it!”

“…You said it’s a gem called Moon’s Bone. Are there perhaps several of these?”

“Of course. Though they’re extremely rare, they’re not unique.”

Jurlene continued as she put the necklace back around her neck.

“According to my mentor, the stone that the Holy Empire bastards call ‘Sun’s Egg’ and enshrine in the Temple of the Sun God is the same as this one.”

“What?”

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