We traveled through time together, but I'm the only dragon? The others are all beautiful girls?

This wound failed to heal even after the second 'calamity'.

Humanity, on the other hand, is the second arcane empire. Their use of magic is far more radical and arrogant than that of the elves. By studying the cosmic scar left behind by the departed gods—the 'Corona Wound'—they have developed a forbidden twelfth-circle spell comparable to Faerûn's 'Kaltsath's Divine Consecration'—the 'Edivaradan Divine Spell'. They attempt to forcibly place their demigod emperor on the throne of the God of Magic, to single-handedly reshape the magic network, and then to completely end the 'Calamity' that the elves have blocked from entering.

But, as always, even as a demigod ascending to the throne, he ultimately only suffered a defeat—no, a defeat even more devastating than that of Faerûn.

The failure of 'Edivaladin' drove the already rampaging primal magical power completely mad, transforming it into eternal night and endless ice and snow, which descended upon Eldra.

The elves' great seal on 'Calamity' also failed, and the once-powerful human arcane empire collapsed overnight.

The remaining human empires either fled in disarray into the underworld to seek refuge with their once-despised "poor relatives" who were so fragile they needed to believe in gods to survive, or they abandoned their dignity to beg for the protection of the two remaining elf courts.

Then, in the long, hopeless millennia that followed, it met its final end along with all intelligent life in the world.

"So, this really is the last place where life ends?"

Inside the teaching hall of the Tower of Mystic Light, Akalion looked down at his nominal secretary, Isriel. This purple-haired elf, whose temperament should have been intellectual and elegant, was now being forcibly dressed in a bikini-clad, white-stockinged maid outfit that clashed with her surroundings and exuded a wicked sense of humor.

Even a true dragon needs to learn. He can't just eat and sleep all day, then eat again and do errands. Akalion hasn't forgotten that there are other threats in this world.

For Akalion, the magical system of this world was practically perfect. His sturdy dragon scales and the pair of ferocious horns atop his head were, in themselves, the most efficient and perfect medium for casting spells. Although, with his current skill level, he could only reliably cast second-circle spells, his bright and brilliant future was something to look forward to immensely.

"Yes!"

Staring directly at her by the dragon's 'pure' gaze, Isriel felt an indescribable sense of shame slowly welling up from the deepest part of her heart. She lowered her head slightly, not daring to meet the gaze of those gray dragon eyes, her voice trembling slightly.

"My lord, today's lesson is over... May I change out of these clothes?"

Isriel's voice trembled almost imperceptibly. She bowed slightly, her purple hair falling from beneath a white lace headband, obscuring her face which she dared not lift.

Isriel2.jpg

Volume 1 Snowfield Dragon Lord: 21. Territory Development, the World, and the New 'Me' (Part 2)

Isriel's small hands, beneath her white silk stockings, were tightly gripping the corner of her maid's apron, which was no different from a napkin, as if it were the last and only thing she could rely on.

"certainly--"

Akalion drew out the syllable meaningfully, his massive dragon head slightly lowered, his gray vertical pupils, like inorganic crystals, fixed intently on Isriel, his mind enjoying the intense emotional fluctuations between the elven girl and her nervousness and shyness.

Then, just before her taut nerves were about to snap completely, he uttered the next words with a twisted sense of humor.

"--Can."

As if granted a general amnesty.

Isriel instantly activated a changing spell, replacing the three-piece white silk maid outfit that she considered shameless with a more elegant black elven dress.

However, Akalion's gaze fell on her hands and neck—she hadn't changed out of the white bodysuit that covered her body because the work wasn't finished yet.

"Now, massage my body."

The dragon issued the same command that had been repeated every day for the past two weeks, a command that brooked no argument. His massive body stretched out lazily on the huge stone platform prepared for him, each scale shimmering with a cold metallic luster, but at a certain moment, it would transform into the unique luster of a gemstone with each breath.

"Until I fall asleep."

"Yes……"

Isriel's voice was filled with the exhaustion of someone whose soul had been drained. After ten consecutive hours of teaching magic and world history, her spirit, already drained, was now being thrown into this equally mentally taxing physical labor.

But this is not some cruel act of exploitation by a beastly capitalist who deserves to be hung on a street lamp!

This is great proof of Akalion's status as a 'wise' lord.

He 'generously' stipulated an eighteen-hour workday for all his subjects. After all, the superior race of elves only needed four hours of sleep to recover their energy for the entire day.

He was saving them.

He was using endless labor to fill the emptiness in their souls, which had been born of despair.

Once their bodies are sufficiently exhausted, they no longer have the energy to think about the lost past, the unknown future, or nonexistent hopes—these vague concepts that only bring pain.

Everything Akalion did was for them—moreover, the time he spent on his daily work and studies was almost the same.

After half a month of learning and practice, Isriel's massage techniques are now able to accurately locate every nerve node on Akalion's head that brings comfort.

As those soft, smooth white silk hands deftly pressed against the cold scales, and as Isriel exuded her unique, cool fragrance, like moonlit honey, Akalion's consciousness was quickly detached from the real world and sank into the depths of a dream.

For more than a month, he has been trying every moment to figure out how to get from this bizarre dream world to the shared space that belongs to "me".

However, he never succeeded.

Perhaps we really need to wait for the right "opportunity"... but how long will that take?

After yet another futile attempt, Akalion finally felt exhausted.

give up.

Let's give up for now.

Let's go see that lighthouse instead.

Ever since that extinguished divine spark merged into his soul, and also after the second dream following Luminous's return, this solitary lighthouse standing in the middle of the endless sea of ​​darkness has become the only unchanging scenery in his dreams.

Just as he focused his consciousness entirely on the lighthouse, his consciousness suddenly plunged into chaos.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar feeling came over me.

Why was it only when he gave up on going to the Dark Space that he was able to go there?

No, Artoria came of her own accord! There must be something else going on here.

As his thoughts raced, he sensed a familiar yet unfamiliar presence beside him... Another 'Blue Heir' had joined the Dark Space?

"Wake up~ Wake up~"

A slightly itchy sensation came from the tip of his nose; it was Ying's slender, white fingertips playfully tickling his nostrils.

"Ying, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Artoria's voice carried a hint of helpless dissuasion, but when she saw Akalion's peaceful sleeping expression, a gentle smile involuntarily appeared on her face.

"He was sleeping soundly. I wonder what happened to make him so exhausted? He didn't even have time to meet with us."

The moment he opened his dragon eyes, three figures came into his field of vision.

One of them was a beautiful young woman with white hair and red eyes, standing about 1.6 meters tall. Her gaze was as calm as a salted fish that had been pickled to the point of being stale, as she calmly examined his enormous dragon body without any fluctuation.

"—Is this the special, unique male 'me' you were talking about?"

"Another 'me' has joined?" Akalion's consciousness quickly returned to normal. He shook the massive dragon head and asked with some confusion, "Why has it taken me so long to enter the Dark Space? It's been almost a month!"

Artoria's signature ahoge (cowlick) quickly twisted into a question mark, then she slowly shook her head and said, "That shouldn't be the case. If you wanted to come... you should have been able to come, right? Didn't you see that—"

She stopped abruptly, her gaze instantly turning sharp to Ying, and demanded, "You didn't say anything, did you?"

Upon hearing this, Ying's forehead immediately broke out in a fine layer of cold sweat. She seemed, indeed... to have completely forgotten about it. She tilted her head guiltily, playfully sticking out her tongue, trying to gloss over the situation: "Hehe! I thought it was just bad timing that I never saw you!"

"..."

Seeing that her attempt to charm him had failed, Akalion revealed a sharp gaze that seemed to want to dissect her. She immediately landed on her knees with a thud, adopting a posture of sincere apology. "I'm sorry, Akalion, I forgot to tell you that when we enter the dream, we will see a lighthouse. If we gaze at it for a moment, we will be automatically brought here."

At this point, Ying herself was also a little confused.

"Have you not gazed at it even once during this time?"

“A lighthouse?” Akalion was silent for a moment, a blank expression on his dragon face. “So… what Artoria was talking about at the beginning wasn’t some kind of metaphor?”

“That’s right!” Ying immediately seized the opportunity, stood up and pointed the finger at Artoria, trying to divert Akalion’s attention and prevent him from continuing to pursue her mistakes. “It was you who didn’t explain things clearly in the first place!”

"What..." A blush of anxiety instantly spread across Artoria's cheeks. Her gaze darted back and forth between Akalion and Luminosity as she stammered in explanation, "It's all...it's all because of the two of you. Back then, it was too, too—"

As she spoke, she became too embarrassed to continue.

"What's wrong?" The beautiful white-haired, red-eyed girl looked at Artoria with the same unwavering gaze and asked curiously, "Did something happen?"

"Yes—" A mischievous grin spread across Ying's face. She deliberately dragged out her words, about to reveal what had happened that day, when Artoria darted forward and covered her mouth tightly, preventing her from uttering those shameful and indecent words.

Then, Artoria quietly leaned close to the white-haired, red-eyed beauty's ear and, in the simplest terms, summarized what had happened between Luminosity and Akalion.

"...That's it?" The white-haired, red-eyed beauty glanced at Artoria expressionlessly after hearing this. "They didn't actually mate."

"!"

These overly blunt words instantly made Artoria's cheeks turn as red as if they were about to bleed.

"How...how can everyone be like this! Even if we're all the same person, we can't be this lewd!"

"Ahem!" Ying finally broke free from Artoria's grasp. After glancing at Akalion, who was still in a daze, she cleared her throat and dropped a real bombshell with a serious expression:

“Actually, Akalion and I already mated after Artoria left. In this space, we won’t be truly harmed. And, through that act… I can go to Akalion’s world.”

"!"

Upon hearing this, both Artoria and the beautiful white-haired, red-eyed girl stared intently at Ying with an unprecedentedly serious gaze.

"That wasn't a lie?" Artoria's ahoge (cowlick) trembled violently. How could that be? Traveling through worlds through... through that kind of thing? What kind of lewd web novel author could come up with such a disgusting plot?!

"Really... is it really possible?"

For the first time, the beautiful girl with white hair and red eyes showed an intense, almost terrifying, emotional fluctuation in her previously lifeless eyes.

“Of course it’s true!” Ying stretched out her arm and nudged Akalion’s chin, who was still stunned by his foolish actions over the past month, her tone full of unquestionable certainty.

The beautiful white-haired, red-eyed girl gracefully extended her hand to Akalion, touched his nose, and introduced herself: "I've already introduced myself to Luminous and Artoria, and now I'll introduce myself to you again. 'I' am Eleanor, also known as 'Blue Heir.' I am the princess of a small country in the Dark Souls world. Due to the curse of the undead, I have been imprisoned in the Northern Undead Asylum... for a very, very long time."

P.S.: I've made it to the featured section! Dear readers, could you please give me some votes? Considering I'm updating 6 words a day...

Volume 1 Snowfield Dragon Lord: 22. The Undead Eleanor Bluebrother

"How long exactly that long period of time was—I can't remember anymore. The entire wall of the cell was already covered with the vertical and horizontal marks I used to measure time, and there wasn't a single empty space left."

Eleanor's voice was as calm as if she were narrating a history unrelated to herself, yet the content of her words was so heavy it was suffocating.

"..."

Akalion fell silent once again.

How come each one is more important than the last? Will there be an even worse-treated 'Lan Si' joining next?

He could only sigh and be thankful that Eleanor in front of him seemed to be in relatively good spirits.

In the depths of those red eyes, which resembled congealed blood, Akalion could not see the deep-seated madness hidden within Luminous, nor the heavy burden that Artoria was forcibly carrying.

All he could see was an eternal, deathly stillness, worn away by the passage of time, where even despair had been worn away.

However, the next moment, a tiny flame slowly appeared on this desolate wasteland, and it burned brighter and brighter.

Light and darkness, love and hate, hope and destruction... change began to be born again in those eyes.

In the world of Dark Souls, the Undead Curse may make the Undead immortal, but it also causes them to slowly lose their humanity and soul, eventually turning them into undead who crave souls.

"Be with me!"

Eleanor strained to tug at the corners of her mouth, which had long forgotten how to smile, forming a stiff and grotesque arc.

This should be a laugh, right?

Thinking this, she quickly stepped forward and pressed her body tightly against Akalion's warm dragon form. An unprecedented sense of security welled up from the depths of her heart, as if holding him like this meant that even if she were to return to that cage, she would have no fear...

"Huh?" Artoria's mind went blank for a moment. Had she heard correctly?

"Wait a minute!" Ying stepped forward and forcefully pulled Eleanor aside. "I was here first! Even if we're all 'Blue Heirs,' there should still be an order of arrival!"

“But,” Eleanor tilted her delicate head slightly, looking at Luminous with pure, unadulterated eyes, “Akkarian, aren’t there two?”

"……what?"

Artoria's brain, particularly the rational part, began to overload, with almost tangible white smoke billowing from its head.

She really hadn't misheard, but why? Why was this happening? Could it be that 'I', who had been imprisoned for so long, had become so...so unrestrained in my mind?

“That makes sense.” Ying, upon hearing this, showed a thoughtful expression. She deeply sympathized with Eleanor's plight and felt a deep connection to her. “However, Artoria still takes precedence over you!”

"Right, Artoria! You don't want to lose to someone who came later, do you?"

She turned her head and looked at Artoria with encouraging eyes, looking at 'me' who was ranked No. 2 on the list of people she was closest to.