Silver Dragon Chronicles Episode 60
Before, he couldn't breathe underwater, but now he could.
With a grave expression, Jehwa began agonizing over how that was possible.
“Could it be… that I'm a fish?”
That can't be right!
The conclusion he had reached with such a serious expression was absurdly preposterous.
Just as Jehwa was deeply contemplating his powers, himself, a certain scene flashed through his mind.
‘I shall return.’
‘You must go carefully. It could be dangerous.’
“Huh? What… is this?”
With a slightly bewildered face, Jehwa grabbed his head.
“Uh!”
And at something flowing down his cheeks, he blankly let out an exclamation.
“Haha! What is this? So this is what you call tears? But that's strange. I've never cried since the day I was born.”
Jehwa muttered in confusion at the tears streaming down for no reason.
“Jehwa.”
“Huh?”
Right then, Hong Yuhwa, who had been wandering around looking for him, called out.
“What? Are you… crying?”
Seeing Jehwa, Hong Yuhwa asked with a bewildered expression.
“No, it's strange. Tears suddenly started flowing.”
Hong Yuhwa scrunched up her face at the sight of Jehwa wiping away tears while beaming brightly.
“A grown man sniveling like that.”
At those words, Jehwa beamed brightly once more. Of course, his foot was striking Hong Yuhwa's face.
But at that moment, they did not know. That a black bird was watching them.
“Hoo?”
The black-haired man made an expression of interest. His left eye was completely black.
“Have you discovered something?”
Watching that, the purple-haired man asked with a blank face.
“Kekekek! It seems the Princess has fallen for some human brat.”
At the black-haired man's words, the purple-haired man looked surprised.
“Human?”
“A rather peculiar one at that, but he doesn't look particularly strong.”
“Could he be the one the Hyeolgyo is wary of?”
“Hmm… I believe so? But at best, his strength would be around that of a demon quasi-baron.”
“Is that so?”
“But he is more than useful enough.”
The black-haired man smirked.
“Now then, shall we go drop our Yeomakma Princess into hell?”
“Is it possible?”
“If we use that human, it may just be possible. Who do you think I am? I am the greatest illusionist in the Demon Realm!”
The black-haired man said.
“Hey, what's with your face?”
Sawollin asked Hong Yuhwa, who was standing there blank-faced with one eye dyed a pretty blue.
“Is there more than one reason my face would end up like this?”
“You got hit again.”
It would be foolish to ask who hit her. Who else here could dare reduce Hong Yuhwa to such a state?
“Hey! A woman's face is her life! Don't hit my face if you can help it!”
As Hong Yuhwa shrieked, Jehwa scrunched his face and opened his mouth.
“What?”
“No, it's nothing.”
Intimidated by Jehwa's murderous momentum, Hong Yuhwa laughed awkwardly. If she shouted for no reason and got her other eye hit too, simply staying quiet would be better for her health.
“Haa….”
Only when Jehwa's gaze turned away did Hong Yuhwa finally let out a sigh of relief.
“What are you going to do?”
“Huh?”
Sawollin, who had been watching the two for a moment, asked I Seolhye.
“Will you come to the Cheonma Singyo? It must be hard for a righteous faction person to be alone….”
“Even if I went to the Gonryunpa, it wouldn't be much fun…. Since you're here, I don't think it'll matter much.”
I Seolhye smiled bashfully as she spoke, and Sawollin smiled as well. Watching the two, Jehwa blankly murmured.
“It's been a while…. Should I pay a visit to the village?”
Before you know it, looking back, that thing called time passes in an instant. No existence can defy the flow of time. In any world, that is law, truth, and indeed the answer.
He had already thwarted the Hyeolgyo's plans twice.
While roaming the martial world, he had also dealt with every Hyeolgyo spy he spotted.
And already, a year had passed.
A year had gone by since the village where Jehwa grew up was destroyed and he swore revenge; Jehwa had returned to the village.
The village, untouched by human footsteps, had become ruins.
Moreover, traces of the massacre from back then still remained everywhere.
“This is the village where Jehwa grew up?”
Hong Yuhwa looked around blankly.
“For some reason… it's a cold place.”
In response to Heukhwa's murmur, Hong Yuhwa spoke.
“That guy grew up here for thirteen years, you know. The amount of energy he must have unconsciously leaked is probably tremendous.”
Watching Jehwa's back as he walked blankly toward somewhere, Hong Yuhwa tilted her head.
“But where is he going?”
“The cemetery.”
“Huh?”
When Hong Yuhwa still didn't understand, Sawollin explained.
“He's heading to where the villagers' graves are.”
Now understanding, Hong Yuhwa gazed at Jehwa's back. For some reason, it looked lonely.
“The cemetery, huh….”
Thud, thud.
Standing before the empty graves with neither tombstones nor anything else, Jehwa looked around.
This was it. The place where the villagers he had spent thirteen years with lay sleeping.
“A year has passed.”
Realizing anew that quite a bit of time had passed, Jehwa blankly murmured.
“My revenge isn't over yet…. If I go this time, I should finish it completely, right?”
Jehwa scrunched his face as if displeased about something. He seemed dissatisfied that he hadn't achieved much despite traveling the Central Plains for a year.
Of course, to the Hyeolgyo, being struck such an enormous blow by a single person was devastating, but Jehwa's goal was nothing less than the destruction of the Hyeolgyo.
Truly, many things had happened over the year.
He had even gone to the ends of the Central Plains and back. Of course, it would be impossible for an ordinary person within a year, but since it was Jehwa, who was different from them, let's just leave it at that.
He had also met many people. Among them were those who knew about his hometown.
“But really, where is my hometown?”
He had lived here since he was five. It was only natural for Jehwa to wonder where his hometown was and who his parents were.
After tilting his head briefly, Jehwa turned around to look for Hong Yuhwa.
“Why is the village so tiny~”
Hong Yuhwa muttered as she looked around the village. Having grown up seeing only luxuries, the village was all too small for her.
“So Jehwa grew up here? To think the Silver Dragon Prince grew up in such a cramped human village….”
Hong Yuhwa smirked suddenly as she muttered with a somewhat dumbfounded expression.
“Well, he lost his body and barely survived by entering a human one.”
The former Silver Dragon Prince Eun Jehwa and the present Jehwa were very different. The old Jehwa was a complete dragon; the present Jehwa was an ambiguous existence that could neither be properly called a dragon nor a human.
Moreover, the difference in his power was enormous as well.
“It's amazing every time I see it…. How that weakling got so strong.”
If one thought of Jehwa from his Silver Dragon Prince days, he had now grown strong beyond imagination.
“Hm?”
Walking along while thinking of Jehwa, Hong Yuhwa suddenly tilted her head.
“What is it?”
She sensed something alien from a place not far away.
Eyes sparkling, Hong Yuhwa headed toward where she felt the energy. Normally she would have been on high alert, but for some reason, it felt similar to Jehwa's.
After walking a short while, a certain world unfolded before Hong Yuhwa.
“This is….”
Hong Yuhwa looked around and opened her eyes wide. Strangely, only the space before her had far more snow piled up than anywhere else.
“What in the world is going on?”
With a fascinated expression, Hong Yuhwa extended her foot and entered that space, walking across the snowfield. Then, suddenly, she felt that the place was unbearably cold for some reason.
“Haa… it's cold….”
Hong Yuhwa's body, which had been huddling against the cold, suddenly stiffened.
Her body had always been filled with powerful flame energy. Yet now she felt cold. Feeling such cold from just the chill filling the space, not someone else's energy, was absurd.
“Wh-what the hell is this place!”
The moment the terrified Hong Yuhwa tried to stretch her leg to escape that space!
“Huk!”
The cold energy struck Hong Yuhwa's entire body.
Thud.
“Ugh….”
Wrapping her arms with her own hands, Hong Yuhwa crouched down and trembled.
“What in the world is this place….”
Hong Yuhwa, looking around with an anxious expression, soon discovered where a massive energy was condensed and opened her eyes wide.
“The source of this chill… Is it gushing out from over there?”
Hong Yuhwa, scrunching her face and muttering, looked around.
The aura of the cluster of light felt from over there was far too similar to Jehwa's. If so, this was the place where Jehwa—the present Jehwa—was born. A sacred ground where the Silver Dragon Prince was newly reborn. Hong Yuhwa could understand why this place was so filled with cold energy.
Other humans wouldn't even be able to see that light, nor would they feel the cold as she did here. Humans were duller to ambient energy than demons.
But unfortunately, Hong Yuhwa was not a human but a sensitive demon. A flame-attribute demon at that, with energy diametrically opposed to the cold.
To Hong Yuhwa, this place was no different from hell. She was terrified of this place where she couldn't even properly unleash her demonic power, suppressed by the cold energy.
“Cold….”
As Hong Yuhwa muttered blankly with her eyes tightly shut….
“What are you doing here?”
Right then, a familiar voice rang by her ear. Hong Yuhwa flinched in surprise and raised her head toward the voice. There, Jehwa was looking down at her with a sullen expression.
“What are you doing sitting there?”
“Ah, no… it's cold.”
“Cold?”
Jehwa tilted his head and extended his hand to Hong Yuhwa.
“Then just get out of here.”
Hong Yuhwa scrunched her face and grumbled at that hand.
“I can't use any power at all. Not in a brutally cold place like this.”
That a being known as the Yeomakma Princess could be in a space where she couldn't use her power! It was truly terrifying.