Episode 5
“Wh-why are you doing this?”
Julitan stumbled backward at the sudden crisis, but frozen by the sight of his opponent approaching with a drawn blade for the first time in his life, his legs refused to move properly.
“You’re that Seal’s Tamer, so if I kill you, its master disappears. And once I become its master, I’ll fix that arrogant Seal’s personality.”
“Huh? Huh?”
If nothing else, he certainly seemed like the type to hold a grudge.
“Stay still! You do know this is my father’s barony, don’t I? Your house will be compensated fully, so don’t resent me.”
Castello raised his sword, speaking of family and compensation without even knowing that should Julitan die, the Julitan family line—already without parents—would come to an end. He looked ready to cut him down at any moment. His eyes were clouded by the desire to possess Carnelian immediately. Well, even if they weren’t clouded, he didn’t seem like the type to change his mind anyway.
“W-wait. Why me, because of that woman!”
Indeed. Would that single cry become Julitan’s last words in life?
“Consider it an honor to die for a nobleman!”
Castello’s ruthless blade flew toward Julitan’s neck, and Julitan squeezed his eyes shut without realizing it. In that moment, he thought about what a dog’s death was…… And he should have died, but all he heard was something dropping with a thud. And Castello’s body collapsed as if crumbling.
‘Wh… huh?’
Julitan cracked his eyes open and touched his neck. What the…… Did Castello change his mind? The moment he thought that, Julitan saw Castello’s head rolling about at his feet. Julitan looked down with a face that still hadn’t grasped the situation, watching the severed head roll about with that lust-filled expression still perfectly intact upon it.
“…….”
“Damn it. To think I had to cut down someone like that—my sword deserves better, really.”
Every villager’s eyes were fixed on Carnelian, who was wiping the blood from her sword with a complaining expression. Any awed wonder at how she could have approached so fast, beheaded him, and still had the composure to complain would have to be saved for later. In short, the head of the noble lord’s son who had visited the village was now rolling on the ground.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah! Uuuuwaaaaaah!”
Startled by the sight of the severed head without a thought for the consequences, Julitan unknowingly kicked the head with his foot, sending it flying into the sky while letting out a long scream. Thanks to that, the lord’s son, Castello, who until moments ago had the imposing frame of one who seemed ready to command the world, was now reduced to having his head become a commoner’s kickball, sent flying through the air. It was a moment that confirmed without exception the adage that a villain’s end is miserable.
“Why! Why! Why! Why! Why did you kill himaaaa!”
Julitan staggered toward Carnelian with an unfocused face. He didn’t even want to think about it, but because nobles treated commoners like mass-produced goods, it was obvious what the regional lord would do to this village once he learned of his son’s death. They would surely be subjected to extreme torture reserved for traitors, one by one, then ground up fine to be used as feed for the Peseter and scattered into the sea. They surely would.
“If I hadn’t killed him, you would have died.”
Carnelian said with a face that asked what there was to be so surprised about.
“What? Then…… for me?”
The wave of emotion was about to crash over him like a flood.
“Fool. I don’t care whether you live or die. But you’ll see what problems arise if a Seal’s Tamer suddenly dies.”
Carnelian gripped her sword tightly again and looked back with a tired expression. Behind Carnelian were two of Castello’s Seals, convulsing all over their bodies as if struck by lightning. The soldiers who had been trying to arrest Carnelian were also looking at the Seals beside them in bewilderment.
“Wh-why are they like that……”
“If their master dies without any command, most of them instantly lose their reason and attack anyone nearby. We call that…… ‘Heartbreak’.”
Before Carnelian’s words even finished, Castello’s Seals began attacking the nearby soldiers. Even though they were lower-rank Seals, they were powerful beings with abilities far exceeding those of ordinary people.
It was a one-sided massacre. Whether it was the halberds the soldiers held or their leather armor, they were useless against the rampaging Seals. The two Seals rushed in with cruelly changed eyes, and in an instant soldiers’ heads flew off, armor was pierced, chests burst open, and bloody pieces of arms began rolling across the ground. Is this what it would look like if a beast attacked a person? Before anyone could even be overcome with terror, the village entrance literally became a sea of blood. It was a situation where one could go deaf from the terrible screams spewing blood.
“Tch. I really don’t like fighting fellow Seals, but…… it can’t be helped.”
It was then that Julitan saw for the first time the tremendous ‘combat power’ Carnelian possessed. He thought her body had disappeared from in front of him in an instant. And the next moment, Carnelian was behind the Seals tearing apart the soldiers’ bodies like paper, and the moment he realized it, the enemy Seals’ bodies were cleanly cut apart. Just two times. The moment the silver trajectory of her blade, which appeared as a flash of light, came to an end, the movements of the Seals who had been ripping people’s bodies apart like beasts stopped forever. And then, silence. A silence so deep that one could even hear the drops of blood falling from Carnelian’s blade. That silence lasted until several villagers couldn’t endure it and vomited. Carnelian approached Julitan with an expressionless face. Her appearance, not even wiping away the red blood of the enemy Seals splattered on her face, truly evoked the image of a red dragon returning to its nest after finishing a human hunt, and Julitan sank to the ground without realizing it.
“What’s with that face? It’s like you’re seeing me like this for the first time.”
Unlike her scornful words, Carnelian’s expression was clouded with turmoil. Perhaps the guilt of having cut down fellow Seals was not something she could ignore.
“If low-rank Seals losing their minds cause this much devastation, who would stop me if I ended up like that? I’m not even comparable to them. Even I can’t guarantee what I’d become. Now do you understand why I stopped you from dying?”
At her words, Julitan could only nod with a blank face.
“That aside…… what now?”
Steon, his expression serious, approached Carnelian and spoke. With a face trying hard to regain his composure, Steon had begun to worry about the ‘aftermath’.
“What do you mean, what now? You mean those corpses? Huh, do I have to take care of those too?”
“Not that, damn it…… anyway, you killed the lord’s son who came to this village, the soldiers, even the Seals—all of them! There’s no way the lord will stay quiet. If he learns of this, the lord’s army will likely descend upon this village.”
Unlike Steon’s serious expression, Carnelian wore a face that said, ‘Is that all?’
“Oh, was that it? If they know I’m here, they’d never come. And even if they did, I bet my master it wouldn’t take even one minute to annihilate them.”
“J-just why do you have to treat everything like…!”
Steon’s patience seemed to have reached its limit.
“Stop it! Don’t ever do such a thing!”
Suddenly, Julitan shouted and stepped forward.
“No more of that. Even if you annihilate the lord’s army, a stronger… such army will come, and then too, will you kill them all? Eventually, a Seal with abilities like yours will come too. What will you do then? You might just die fighting as your master orders, and that would be that, but what about the people who died before that? Are you just going to laugh them off as having died because they were weak?”
Julitan spoke clearly though his voice trembled, and Carnelian briefly averted her gaze before grumbling sullenly.
“Then what do you want to do, Master.”
“I’ll go and talk to him.”
Steon spoke calmly. This time, it was Carnelian who looked surprised.
“What? To the lord? Go? You’re going to talk? About what?”
Carnelian looked at Steon as if he were a pervert.
“If I explain the circumstances, he’ll understand. This was clearly an unavoidable situation.”
“Unavoidable situation?”
“Yes.”
At those words, Carnelian, who had been silent for a moment, burst into laughter.
“Puhahahaha. I thought you were quite the educated one, but you really know nothing about humans. That a noble would…… un. der. stand. and. for. give? the one who killed his son? Ooh! It was an unavoidable situation, so I forgive you. Brave young man—are you expecting him to say something like that right now? Honestly…… it would be better to take up a sickle and shovel and fight instead!”
Carnelian spoke in a slightly angry voice. Just what kind of being were humans in her eyes? Julitan thought that someday, he would like to hear from her what she believed humans to be like.
“I’ll still go. It doesn’t matter what you think. I’ll go talk to the lord. Believe in me.”
Steon stood proudly.
“Right. Let’s trust Steon.”
At Julitan’s words, Carnelian turned to him with a look that said, ‘Are you a fool too?’ Then she nodded with a complicated expression and muttered.
“I think I have a rough idea…… of what kind of personality my master has. Why is it that every time, I can’t meet a normal master? Could it be that even beings like us have something called fate……”
-intro
“A Seal is…… not such a simple existence as you think.”
Jemia’s blue gaze was fixed on me.
Amid everyone’s anxiety and expectation, Steon, who had gone to the regional lord Ranselt Castello, returned three days later. Though they had expected him to cry out, ‘I did it!’, Steon’s face was calm even amid the villagers’ celebrations.
“Oh. Your head is still attached. How unexpected.”
Those were Carnelian’s first words upon seeing Steon’s composed appearance.
“Count Castello said that if you and Julitan come to him and apologize formally, he will forgive you. It really took a lot to persuade the lord.”
“Really? If that’s all it takes, I’ll do it as many times as needed. What a relief!”
Julitan cheered at Steon’s words, but Carnelian was different. She furrowed her thin, dark brows and muttered.
“Apologize? He’ll accept an apology? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Have you only seen the bad side of humans for hundreds of years? Why are you so cynical?”
Steon shot thorny words at her, but Carnelian didn’t wipe the scornful expression from her face.
“Well, do as you please. I’ll follow my master’s orders.”
“Let’s go, Carnelian. That lord is surely a rational man, unlike his son. If we go together and apologize……”
Carnelian cut off Julitan’s words and spoke loudly on purpose.
“Fine! I said fine! We just have to go, don’t we?”
Dragon Lady
Author / Gim Cheolgon
Publisher / Bak Seong-in
Editor in Chief / Editorial Department
Published by / Next Level Studio
Address / 4F, 113 Seongsuil-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Contact / 070-8801-6987
ISBN 979-11-92729-25-1
This book was published as an e-book by Next Level Studio in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder.
Unauthorized reproduction of this book’s contents without the publisher’s permission is prohibited by copyright law.