Translator: Sunnyshies
Editor: Ryuubii
Chapter 7 : A Decade of Time (1)
“…Yugo!”
Amalia opened the door with a bang and stepped into the room with huge steps. She left the general store with a good excuse and went straight back to the inn to question Yugo.
Hugo was lying on the bed, playing with a wooden hanger that seemed to have been in the closet. He shuddered for a moment, perhaps because Amalia had suddenly jumped in, and then looked up timidly.
“What’s the matter, Amalia? I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“I know that… more importantly, Yugo. What is this all about?”
She helped Yugo up from where he was lying and sat side by side with him on the bed. Amalia and Yugo are regarded as mother and son, so there is only one bed in the room.
When Amalia mentioned the information she had gotten from the farmer and the owner of the general store, Yugo tilted his head slightly.
“Ten years have passed?… ah, I see. That’s why the mountain where I used to take my naps has changed its shape.”
“How can you be so calm? Don’t tell me, no way. Yugo, you knew!”
“That’s definitely not true. It’s not like I was trying to conspire against you… to be honest, I don’t know what to think when you say ten years have passed.”
Yugo hung his head in shame when Amalia confronted him.
Amalia bit her lip and sat back down, remembering that she had been yelling at a five-year-old child, no matter how much of a dragon the other party really was.
“…I’m sorry, I’m speaking out of turn.”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I knew that humans are very concerned about time, but I didn’t pay attention to yours… I really did not know that just by taking you to the Demon World, ten years would pass.”
According to Yugo, demons, dragons, and other creatures of the Demon World have a very loose sense of time.
The Demon World is constantly light or dark, and the passage of time is not as clear as in the human world. So even though Yugo knew that he was the youngest among the dragon race, he had no idea how many years exactly he had lived or how long he had been sleeping.
Yugo brought a human in the Demon world for the first time by himself. So, for Amalia, the time she spent in the Demon World was enough to affect her, but even if ten years had already passed when they returned to the real world, it was only an instant in the life span of Yugo, the dragon.
Amalia turned her head to look at him as she spoke.
“…the owner of the general store said that after a group of adventurers named Nantoka defeated the golden dragon, the mountains calmed down and there were no more strong demons in the area.”
“Nantoka?… ah, so it’s those little b******s, right? They not only abandoned you, but they also took credit for my disappearance, didn’t they?”
“Little b*****d… you mean, Alphonse?”
“Who else would it be?… I can control my magic when I’m in my human body, but when I’m in my dragon form, it becomes very difficult to control. This is the reason why the demons that reacted to my magic gathered while I was taking a nap, and naturally changed their habitation when I was gone.”
‘…so does that mean Alphonse and the others took the best part?’
Yugo, the golden dragon, disappeared without being defeated by Alphonse and the others. Normally, in order to fulfill a guild request, you have to submit a part of the remains of a demon, but you can also fulfill the request by saying that “the powerful demon no longer appeared in the area”.
Perhaps Alphonse and the others learned that after they left Amalia behind and descended the mountain, the mountain settled down and the demons disappeared. That’s why they reported to the guild, where they received the request, that there were no monsters in that area because they defeated “the golden dragon.”
The guild may have been skeptical, but the fact is that the golden dragon disappeared for ten years, and no more powerful demons really appeared after that. The guild accepted Alphonse and the others’ report and became known as the group that defeated the golden dragon, they even managed to build a village at the foot of the mountain. The people of Polk only remembered them as “Nantoka,” though.
“…”
“…Amalia.”
“…this kind of makes me angry.”
“Oh, what a coincidence. I feel the same way.”
Amalia squeezed out with a restrained voice, and a small hand was gently placed on her fist above her lap.
When he looked up, his beautiful golden eyes caught Amalia’s. Her eyebrows, with their graceful lines, were slightly drawn together, and the beautiful boy was looking at Amalia with a sad face.
“I have no feelings for those kids, and I don’t care what they do. But I don’t like it when people say that I was defeated by a small fry like that, and more than anything, Amalia, I resented the fact that they abandoned such a talented person like you, yet now they’re acting all high and mighty with a feat of heroism that doesn’t exist.”
“…I’m not a talented person.”
She let out a weak voice.
When the guild measured her magical ability, the result was only “lower-middle”. Although she had received training in white magic at the monastery, she would get tired if she used her magic too many times, and the effectiveness of her magic was only average in the guild.
Still, if there was someone who would rely on her, she wanted to help them. In addition, since she could give her salary to the people who had raised her thus, accompanying Alphonse and the others was the best deal for Amalia.
‘But…I can’t deny that I’m not good enough.’
That’s why Esmeralda, who was much better than Amalia, but also younger, more beautiful, and of higher status, was chosen. They used her as much as they could as a discarded piece, and her empty body was dumped in the Dragon Mountain.
However, Yugo pouted his lustrous lips and distorted his face.
“That was only a shallow judgement on the past of humans. You have a rare power.”
“…there are plenty of white magicians who are much better than me.”
“Hmm?… oh, by the way, you’re a white magician, aren’t you? I forgot.”
“Yes?”
Amalia’s dark emotions receded and she stared at Yugo. She had thought he was talking about Amalia’s talent for white magic, but it seemed she was wrong.
“Aren’t we talking about white magic?”
“…umm. It’s true that your magic power is about the same as a human’s. However, abilities do not only come out in the form of magic.”
Yugo said as he stroked the back of Amalia’s hand and then turned his head.
“Hmm. I don’t know exactly what it is, but you probably have some hidden talent. I can feel a different kind of power in your body other than white magic.”
“…you’re lying.”
“I’m not lying. In the first place, if you were just a mere human being, you should have been rejected when I tried to take you to the Demon World. But you were able to heal your own wounds when you went to the Demon World, and although ten years had passed, you were able to come back in good health. Isn’t that right?”
“…”
It’s true that ordinary human beings can be thrown into the Demon World, but there is no guarantee that they will be able to stay safe in a place where demons are born. Amalia was desperate for a lot of things at that time, so she thought, “Is that how it is?” But when she thought about it calmly, Yugo’s explanation made sense.
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