Chapter 36. The Cute Lizard

Dragons are a pain in the ass.

It's all thanks to the demanding settings the Game developers came up with.

A long time ago, the balance of the world, blah blah blah, they slapped on all sorts of grandiose rhetoric.

And since they were scheduled to appear in the latter half of the Game's story, they acted like they were hot shit, running rampant.

That's why I particularly disliked the Dragon race in the Game.

As a baby Constellation, I struggled due to the level difference, but in the end, the Player always wins.

---

「Title: Holy shit, killed a freaking Dragon lol

(Photo of Dragon corpse loot)

-This fucking bastard. Kept killing me whenever I passed by, now you've got what's coming to you, huh?

└lol cute

└Those were the days lol

└?? What are you talking about

└That's a total noob Dragon」

「Title: Bullshit, this guy's the weakest?

-Took me 30 hours to kill him?

└Yeah yeah, you're just getting started

└Hey, stop being creepy and get out

└Surprisingly, it's officially true. He's a loser who got kicked out, a total weakling among weaklings lol

└The cool Dragons are breakdancing in their own territories right now

└FYI, there's almost a two-level difference between him and the ones you're talking about lol

└Yep, that's the average」

---

Again.

Dragons are a pain in the ass.

The moment they're pushed back, they believe they can't protect the balance, so they try to fight the enemy in front of them, even if it means burning their own lives.

The problem is, even if not all Dragons bear such a heavy responsibility, they all have a pain-in-the-ass personality.

Okay, okay. They're Dragons, so it's understandable.

No? Actually, it's not understandable.

From a Player's perspective, it was hard to find a group of thugs like them.

“Mr. Lizard, I was just trying to talk.”

-Grrrr....!!

“Your guys were the ones who attacked first.”

[Black Sun's Incarnation: ...What the...?]

The collision of the Holy Sword and the Dragon's breath.

There were a few more skirmishes after that, but even with the power of a Constellation force, strong enough to be a mid-to-late Game boss...

They couldn't stand against me at this point.

-How dare you, how dare you...!

The Dragon Lord, bound tightly by the chains I prepared, was restrained in this world by the power of the Holy Sword 'Sekratis.'

Normally, it would have abandoned its physical body and attempted an emergency escape, but with the power of the Holy Sword that distorts providence, the story is different.

‘This is convenient.’

[Child of the Lost Star: The power of the Holy Sword, even the Dragon Constellation cannot evade it.]

The Child of the Lost Star, who hadn't done anything but watch, left a message in the chat as if he'd helped me directly.

“Let's talk now.”

I approached the massive Dragon's snout, stuck in the ground.

“Why did you send your underlings?”

Here, "underlings" refers to the Dragons who quickly disappeared before the Dragon Lord could even Summon them.

The Fire Dragon, Ice Dragon, and so on, whose deaths I confirmed through the status window earlier.

Originally, they would have been influential in their own territories, but in front of me, they were all just lizards.

-Because their anger was justified...!

“What anger?”

-Your neglect of the world, your irresponsibility, and you took our kin and abused them!!

Abuse?

What is this nonsense?

My head throbs for a moment at the absurd string of words.

“In the first place, the only Dragon on our side is Calisa. Why is this suddenly...”

As I spoke, I felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

The Dragon Lord's baseless rage, the one-sided attack…

The only connection between them and me was one Follower. Had something really happened?

“Calisa.”

-...!

As if confirming my intuition, the Dragon Lord reacted to the name that came out of my mouth.

-Don't you dare utter that child's name with your filthy mouth!

“Why? She’s our Follower now.”

As I said that with a smile, the Dragon Lord trembled and convulsed.

But it’s a fact.

Calisa, who belonged to the Dragons, had long since switched to our Religious Order, and she's been working hard.

Hardworking and pretty Followers are always welcome.

-If it weren't for you, if only you weren't here...!!

“Yeah, right.”

I'm sorry, but the reason Calisa changed Religious Orders wasn't because of my coaxing.

Of course, better benefits might have played a role, but the more direct reason was the burden of her position.

‘I don't want to be a guardian.’

Calisa was the strongest and most beautiful Dragon, favored by the Dragon Incarnation, but she longed for freedom.

Unlike other Dragons who were born free, she was different from birth, and thus lived under constant scrutiny.

‘Then don't be.’

‘....?’

Calisa in the Game wanted freedom, and I gave her what she wanted.

In reality, Calisa's stress level within our Religious Order has never exceeded 'Severe'.

This means that most of her stress was alleviated after she changed her affiliation.

What does this mean?

‘It means they must have treated her like crap over there.’

They talk about love and favor, but they must have forced her to take on a difficult role even though she didn’t want to.

I put aside the messy backstory for a moment and asked about the Follower at the center of all this.

“So, where is Calisa now?”

Judging by the Dragon Lord's attitude towards me so far, and the current situation—

Calisa hasn't been seen anywhere since I disappeared.

‘I want to see her too.’

A real Fan Meeting with my Followers always makes my heart flutter.

Who could refuse?

Characters I once cherished and raised, building bonds with them, have now come to reality.

-How dare you mock me!!

My innocent question only served to further enrage the Dragon Lord.

“Excuse me?”

-Not long ago, the faint connection I had with Calisa completely vanished. You know what that means!

Vanished.

It meant her location was untraceable.

If she had died, there would have been a notification.

And it's unlikely she just severed her connection to the Dragon Lord out of spite because—

[Target 'Calisa' cannot be accessed!]

Even I was blocked from tracking her whereabouts.

[Black Sun's Incarnation: A Follower...severing their connection with a Constellation...?]

[Child of the Lost Star: Impossible.]

As the two Constellations expressed their astonishment, there's no way a Follower could sever the connection on their own. If the world worked that easily, it would be a chaotic mess of Constellations trying to swindle their Followers, and Followers in turn trying to double-cross their Constellations.

Once formed, the bond is not easily broken.

“Hey.”

I dropped all formalities and called out to the Dragon Lord. The massive Divine Dragon, sensing the shift in my demeanor, heightened its vigilance.

“Where is Calisa right now?”

-How would I—!!

“I don't know. That's why I'm asking. Don't you want to find her?”

-...!!

It was slowly dawning on me that this was no longer the time for casual pleasantries.

‘Another Constellation.’

It was highly likely that one of those Constellation bastards was involved again.

***

A Dragon's heart isn't just a pumping muscle.

It's a primal energy source connected to the Constellation's very essence, the very reason they are distinct from other races.

And their bones? They are naturally infused with mana-affinity, making them incredibly valuable, traded for astronomical sums in places like the black market.

Their blood, their eyes, their very existence is treated as a treasure. These noble beings…

Even stripped of their past glory and taking on a human form, their inherent value remains.

Calisa, a woman, a Dragon, was acutely aware of her own worth.

Behind her warm smile, there were always hidden calculations, always driven by her own sense of value.

She was a Dragon worthy of such calculations.

And now.

Bound and restrained, relinquishing even her longed-for freedom to embrace the deep darkness...

It was clear proof that her value now lay not with herself, but with another.

“...Love.”

With a broken voice, she uttered His name.

The Absolute Being, the Father God, her Lord God.

The gracious one who saved her from that abhorrent group and granted her freedom.

You are still in my Heart.

I do not resent you for leaving us.

But please, allow me to grasp at even the faintest sliver of hope.

Oh, Lord God. My Lord God.

“For the sake of reaching you, I—”

And a Constellation watched over Calisa.

***

The reason a Dragon's body is treated as a precious treasure…

A living Dragon holds the potential to create new magical possibilities.

[Target is unable to communicate!]

[Target is unable to communicate!]

-....

The Constellation observing her desperately blocked all means of Calisa communicating with the outside world.

Her eyes were covered to prevent her from seeing the flow of Mana, and her body was bound to eliminate any possibility of escape.

‘Hey. Is this right?’

The Boneless Death Prophet, speaking through his sacrifice, asked him. But even an omniscient Constellation couldn't know everything.

-The Otherworld.

The Constellation's dreams and aspirations lay in a new world, free from interference.

That’s why he planned to exploit the Absolute Being’s absence and manipulate His follower.

‘He cannot harm his own Follower.’

And that Follower was currently lost in a sweet dream he had orchestrated.

This was a unique ability of Constellations.

Blurring the lines between reality and dreams, granting the target an eternal, inescapable slumber.

While the bound Calisa believed she had willingly surrendered her freedom, the reality was far different.

Not only her freedom, but her very will.

Now, Calisa would become his obedient servant, even attacking her own summoned Lord God without recognition.

“Have you ever faced the Holy Sword?”

The Boneless Death Prophet, speaking through the sacrifice, pressured the Constellation hidden in the darkness, recalling a horrific experience.

He needed to find a solution quickly, or they would both die.

-Shut up.

Finally annoyed, the Constellation crushed the sacrifice’s Head.

-Crack!

Blood splattered, and the headless body collapsed.

A deep silence fell.

-Your Follower is already Corrupted.

Followers who enter a Constellation's dream never return.

The Constellation's ability implanted Divine Power within Calisa's mind, turning her into a puppet.

Not even the Absolute Being could save a Follower afflicted by his Divine Power.

【The Eternal Sleeper】

He decided to proceed with his plan.

For the sake of his own paradise.