Silver Dragon Legend, Episode 31
That was him now.
The child had become him, and he had become the child.
“Watching a child who was strong, unlike my weak self…… I wanted to become like that…… Even I don’t really know how I grew so strong.”
Eun Jehwa said with a slight smile to Diadelin.
“What the heck is that……”
Diadelin scrunched up her face, unable to understand a single word of what Eun Jehwa had said.
“If your curiosity is satisfied, spit out the way back.”
“None of my curiosity is satisfied.”
At Eun Jehwa’s words, Diadelin grumbled and gathered her escort knights.
“I’ll come and tell you the way back after my body recovers.”
“What if you run away just like that?”
“I promise on the name of Diadelin.”
“Hmm……”
Jehwa stroked his chin.
The Demon Princess herself had staked her name. If one known as the Demon Princess would go so far as to stake her name, she was worth trusting.
“Then go.”
When Jehwa spoke with a bland expression, Diadelin let out a deep sigh.
And just as she was about to use teleportation magic, she paused and looked at Eun Jehwa.
After hesitating briefly, Diadelin opened her mouth.
“Let’s…… meet again.”
Having said that, she vanished from that spot.
“Whew…… That was tough.”
Eun Jehwa, who had been looking at the spot where Diadelin had stood for a brief moment, muttered with a deep sigh.
As expected, the Flame Demon Princess was strong. After all, it was his true self who had emerged, not Jehwa.
Eun Jehwa, who had been sighing, looked at Sa Wollin sleeping soundly and gave a bitter smile.
“You tomboyish young lady, you shouldn’t recklessly charge at your opponent.”
After that, he looked at I Seolhye and Un Wonnam, who were completely drained of strength.
“You okay?”
“Not okay……”
I Seolhye answered Eun Jehwa’s question in a weak voice.
Meanwhile, Un Wonnam stared intently at Eun Jehwa and asked.
“You…… who are you?”
“Sharp as ever.”
Eun Jehwa smiled bitterly at Un Wonnam’s question.
“Huh?”
And I Seolhye, who had heard their conversation, looked at Eun Jehwa with wide eyes.
“Well, just pretend you don’t know for now.”
“…….”
Without answering, Un Wonnam scrunched up his face and let out a deep sigh. Then he looked around and muttered.
“What a mess.”
“Don’t blame me.”
Eun Jehwa said with a wide grin.
“That girl just now…… who was she?”
“Don’t try to find out. You’ll get hurt.”
The moment Un Wonnam asked, Eun Jehwa answered mercilessly.
Yes, he might get hurt trying to find out. After all, the other party was the daughter of the Flame Demon King.
The Kunlun Sect, which had already been reduced to a shambles by the Blood Cult, was turned upside down once more.
The Kunlun Sect suffered enormous damage from the demonic blaze that had suddenly swept through.
If there was any fortune to be found, it was that their main forces had all emerged unscathed? Because the fight between Eun Jehwa and Diadelin had ended in an instant.
In any case, news of the Kunlun Sect spread throughout the Central Plains Murim once more, shaking the martial world again.
Regardless, the Kunlun Sect was pouring all its efforts into restoring the sect.
***
“Unnngh……”
A woman tossed and turned on the bed.
“Aah! You’re awake?”
The woman, Sa Wollin, opened her eyes with a frown at the sudden, noisy chatter beside her.
“What the……”
“Wow! You really are awake!”
Sawollin felt annoyed looking at the wide-eyed, astonished I Seolhye.
“Is it that surprising that I’m awake?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
I Seolhye nodded with a serious expression, and Sawollin lost her words looking at her.
Then after pondering briefly, her face began to turn pale.
Swish!
Sa Wollin stripped off her top in an instant and examined her stomach.
Seeing her stomach perfectly intact, she let out a sigh of relief and muttered.
“It was a dream.”
“What was?”
“Ah, I had a terrible dream……. A dream where my stomach was pierced.”
“It wasn’t a dream, though.”
I Seolhye spoke with a serious expression to Sa Wollin, who was muttering with a chuckle.
“What?”
And at those words, Sawollin looked at I Seolhye with a shocked expression.
“No, if I had a hole in my stomach, I should be dead! But I’m perfectly fine.”
“Look closely. Your stomach is a bit red.”
I Seolhye poked Sawollin’s stomach with her finger as she spoke, and at her words, Sawollin looked at her own stomach.
Looking closely, the spot where her stomach had been pierced was slightly reddish. And it was round, too……
“W-what is this?”
Sawollin muttered with a slightly queasy expression. Come to think of it, her stomach felt somewhat upset, too.
“Anyway, the reality is that that rude, inhuman little girl put a gaping hole in your stomach!”
I Seolhye cursed Diadelin with a fierce scowl.
“Th-then how am I still alive?”
When Sawollin asked with a bewildered expression, I Seolhye spoke.
“I don’t know what method she used, but that nasty wretch healed you.”
“Huh? Why?”
Why would she save her after trying to kill her? It was incomprehensible.
“Because Jehwa stomped her.”
“…….”
Sawollin was lost for words at I Seolhye’s words.
Stomped? Who? Jehwa? That monstrous girl?
“I’m sure Jehwa got hurt, too……”
She had clearly rushed to protect Jehwa and gotten hurt because of Diadelin’s words.
But I Seolhye said that Jehwa had defeated that Diadelin.
“The moment you collapsed, he…… grew incredibly strong and stomped that girl flat. And it was really terrifying! To think he beat an opponent that even Master lost to……. Honestly, neither of them seemed human. How should I put it? It was like a fight between absolute beings?”
It was a tremendous battle where ice and flames wreaked havoc. The surrounding buildings, and indeed the entire area, were reduced to scorched earth.
Even now, that battle felt like a dream to I Seolhye, and she couldn’t believe she was alive. Because back then, she had truly believed she was going to die.
Hearing I Seolhye’s words, Sawollin asked urgently.
“J-Jehwa? What happened to Jehwa?”
“He’s sleeping in the next room right now.”
The moment she heard I Seolhye’s words, Sawollin quickly ran to the next room.
In the next room, a boy in his mid-to-late teens was lying peacefully on the bed.
The boy with mysterious hair was named Eun Jehwa.
Sawollin sighed in relief seeing Jehwa lying there without any notable wounds.
“By the way, wouldn’t he normally be out looking for food at this hour?”
“Uh……. This guy, he’s been sleeping for three whole days.”
“What?”
Sawollin, who had been brushing Jehwa’s hair aside, was startled by I Seolhye’s words spoken with a troubled expression from beside her.
“W-what do you mean? Just sleeping?”
“You know……. According to Master, it seems he exhausted himself by unleashing too much power in an instant. There’s nothing wrong with his body.”
“…….”
Sawollin looked at Jehwa with a gloomy expression. Seeing him plunged into a deep sleep made her heart ache.
***
A dark space.
“Huh?”
There, Jehwa’s eyes went wide.
“Where are you going in such a hurry, when your body is so weak?”
“Mother!”
A boy of about six years old, who had been running around, smiled brightly at the voice calling him from behind and ran to the woman.
“Me?”
Startled, Jehwa looked at the boy.
The boy was clearly Jehwa. Except for his hair and eye color being a perfect silver, he looked exactly like himself.
Jehwa’s gaze naturally shifted to where the boy had run.
There, a woman with the same silver hair and silver eyes as the boy was gently smiling, holding the boy in her arms.
“Huh?”
At that sight, Jehwa’s eyes widened. The woman resembled him.
“Mom……”
Without realizing it, Jehwa muttered as he looked at the woman.
Strictly speaking, the woman was not his mother. She was the mother of the boy in her arms.
Jehwa smiled bitterly and turned to leave that place.
But then his eyes went wide. Blocked by a young man standing in his way……
Eun Jehwa asked Jehwa.
“Where are you going?”
“This isn’t a place for me.”
When Jehwa answered with a bitter smile, the young man smiled slightly.
“You are me, and I am you.”
“……?”
Jehwa tilted his head at Eun Jehwa’s words.
“You definitely said this in exchange for letting me exist.”
“…….”
“That you wanted a mother.”
“Huh?”
Smiling slightly at the surprised Jehwa, who had once again widened his eyes, Eun Jehwa looked at the woman and spoke.
“That woman is my mother, and also your mother.”
Jehwa blankly looked back at the woman. Soon he realized what this was.
This before his eyes was the young man’s memory……. And also his own memory.
Jehwa smiled softly.
Right now, he was having a happy dream.
“Sigh……”
Jehwa, who had been sleeping quietly, let out a long sigh. It was a happy dream, but now it was time to wake up.
Jehwa gently opened his eyes.
“This is……”
Jehwa opened his eyes blankly.
Rising from his spot with disheveled hair, Jehwa looked around and then got completely up from the bed.
“Gruuuugh……”
Crack, crack!
And he stretched out wide.
He felt like he had dreamed something happy, but he couldn’t remember.
“And……”
Jehwa fell into thought.
Come to think of it, it seemed he had fought some rude little girl before going to sleep.
“Did I win?”
As expected, he couldn’t remember. After the final clash, his memories had cleanly floated away and vanished into thin air.
“Hey! Seeing how I’m here, I must have won, right?”
This was the room he used in the Kunlun Sect.
Having instantly blown away his brief worries, Jehwa’s expression soon turned fierce.
In this situation, there was only one thing that could make Jehwa’s expression turn fierce! And that was—
“I’m hungry…….”
That’s right! He had been hungry.
“Huh?”
Sa Wollin, who had briefly stepped out of the room, was left speechless because Jehwa had vanished from the room in an instant.
“W-what? Where did this guy run off to again?”
It was a relief that he had regained consciousness and gotten up, but seeing Jehwa disappear made Sawollin’s head suddenly start to ache.
Because every time this guy woke up and vanished, he caused some sort of trouble.
“I need to find him before he causes an accident.”