Dragging his unusually sluggish body out, what he saw was a sight that made his eyes fly wide.
Jewels and equipment imbued with mysterious energy. All manner of arms, raw minerals. It was a place where black ore, exuding both ferocity and nobility, formed horizons and hills. ‘To think such a place existed in the world.’ Gold rose in mountains, and it was filled with garments and ornaments possessing beauty and energy as if crafted by the hands of a god.
From the patterns engraved on the gold coins to the weapons, everything was steeped in an exotic air. ‘I’m not dead. Was I dragged off to some other country……?’ He padded along, looking around.
Golden cups that struck his feet. Objects marked by an artisan’s hand with unknown patterns. Ancient books. Items whose uses he could not guess. Mountains of gold coins piled endlessly no matter how far he went. ‘At a glance, this place is filled with no ordinary things.’ He could feel an overwhelming wealth and power without end. ‘Who is the master of this place, to have gathered such tremendous treasures?’ For him, who had lived shut away on an island, it was a place difficult to imagine.
Chapak. Chapak.
As he slowly looked around, something caught his eye that was neither weapon nor jewel.
A stone had been cut clean and set upright, and on it, words were written in a heavy hand.
Though they were characters he had never seen before, he could read them. [A child who never once saw the light of the world. Even if we can never meet again, may you be happy in that distant, faraway place.]
It was an epitaph mourning the death of a young life. ‘This is……
A tombstone.’ Only then did he realize that this place was for a child who had been sent away.
No doubt these absurd treasures had been buried together for a child who had died before even being born.
The Imugi clicked his tongue lightly.
Thinking to recite a short prayer in his heart at least, he reached out one arm and placed his hand on the tombstone. ‘Huh?’ For an instant, he wondered if there was someone else here besides him.
Where his outstretched arm touched the black, transparent tombstone.
The face reflected there was completely different. ‘……
Why does my face look like this?’ The toes on his extended forepaw were short and plump. ‘……
My toes are this small?’ When he lowered his head and looked, his belly was round and protruding. ‘……
Why is my stomach sticking out like this?’ When he turned around, the tail that had once been sleek and as destructive as steel was dangling small and limp, like a lizard’s.
Something had gone wrong. ‘What is this!’ His already large red eyes grew even larger in horror.
He looked all over his body and gaped. ‘Who is this! There’s some weird little brat here!’ He felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
Staring blankly at the tombstone, he grabbed his own cheek and pulled.
Twang!
Instead of hard black scales like adamantine, his soft, tender skin stretched as far as it could, then snapped back into place with a tick. ‘Why…… why is my body so tiny and plump?’ He fumbled over his waist and stomach with his short hands.
Then he patted at his stubby thighs and even his head to check them, and his face went blank with despair.
Thud. ‘I’m……
doomed.’ Sitting down on the ground, the Imugi wore the expression of one who had lost everything in the world. Chapter 2: Is This Really My Form? ‘Is this really my form?’ He had once wielded mighty power and placed all things beneath his feet.
But no longer.
The Imugi, who until yesterday had been a powerful divine beast, was nowhere to be found; overnight, he had become a powerless and fragile life-form. ‘Ah……
No, wait. Calm down and think.’ Abruptly, he reconsidered his situation. ‘Right. Reincarnation! It must be that thing I’ve only heard about.’ The cycle of the universe, unknowable before ascending and becoming a dragon. ‘……
As if that could be true.’ He clutched at the hair he did not have with both hands.
Even to him, it was an absurd idea. ‘In the first place, does it make sense to reincarnate with your memories intact?’ The Imugi shook his small head.
When he lifted his head and looked at the sky, he saw a soft light coming through the ceiling. ‘Is it sunlight?’ He twitched his nose and let the light fall across his face.
The warm scent of sunlight seeped into his nose. ‘It’s warm…….’ His eyes slid shut on their own.
As his heart grew at ease, even his breathing felt steady.
It felt as though he were breathing for the very first time.
He liked the feeling of somehow becoming calm, peaceful.
When he released the tension from his shoulders, with every breath he drew, it felt as if strength were melting into his body.
Intoxicated by the sensation of energy being replenished in his small body, he brought his two forepaws together and let them droop.
In the still peace, it felt as though the end of some knotted emotion was quietly loosening.
How long had his belly risen and fallen with those even breaths?
He slowly opened his eyes.
The gaze with which he looked around had become far calmer.
Now that his mind had gained some leeway, he slowly began to organize his thoughts. ‘First, I should start with what I can do right now. There may be something here that can help. To do that…… I’ll have to figure out what kind of place this is.’ The Imugi moved his unfamiliar little feet with soft pats. ‘An ornate treasured sword. I can feel supernatural power from it. A ritual tool or a treasure artifact……
perhaps? There are cursed objects too.’ As the successor of the black dragon, he had high resistance to darkness and curses, so it was no problem for him, but the place was full of objects that would drive most people mad just by holding them. ‘What a nasty hobby.’ There were objects whose effects he could not know, but with some of them, even the Imugi could understand the nature of the curse. ‘A curse that makes you harden like stone and die just by looking. This one’s stale.’ ‘A curse that pushes you into a lifelong hell of hunger…… a fairly traditional curse.’ ‘A curse that takes your voice and gives you legs? This is ambiguous as a curse.’ ‘A potion that makes you lose your original form and take another, and a potion that makes you take on the same appearance as a designated being……
This one’s not bad.’ To someone else, these were items that could ruin an entire life, but to the Imugi, they were like toys made as a hobby.
Perhaps because of that, he instead found himself appraising one item after another, thinking about their value. ‘……
They’re not particularly interesting, but this is unexpected.’ The Imugi looked over the objects filling the surroundings. ‘For the master of a space managed by yang energy, their tastes are gloomy.’ That thought also suggested another possibility. ‘Or else they were sealed away.’ If someone had gathered this many objects related to darkness and curses, that was usually the case. ‘Hooh. This is……’ After wandering around for a while, he saw a jewel large enough to fill both his arms and his eyes sparkled. ‘Strong, pure darkness is contained within it.’ He reached out both hands and hugged an armful of black jewels to his chest.
Looking at those jewels that contained darkness, which was practically the source of his power, the Imugi suddenly raised his head.
And his snout fell open. ‘Is that a mountain of treasure?’ His eyes widened at the mountain of jewels piled up before him.
Before he even realized it, his tail was gently swaying. ‘Jackpot! I’ve hit the jackpot!’ With the weapons and jewels here, it was only a matter of time before the Imugi regained his power.
Clatter.
He strained his way up the mountain of jewels and picked up any gem at random, examining the power dwelling within it.
Then the spot he was standing on sank in, and he flailed his arms, losing his balance. ‘……!’ In the end, he squirmed, flipped over backward, and rolled down. ‘Even if I fall, I absolutely cannot let this go!’ Even as his body rolled down like a snowball, the Imugi gripped an especially large black jewel and hugged it tightly to his chest with all his might so as not to lose it.
Roll, roll. Thud!
Only after rolling several more meters from inertia did he stop, trembling.
He let out a groan and sagged, trying to gather his dizzy senses, when it happened.
Zwoong!
He felt space distort in midair. ‘……! What is this pressure?’ Sensing something enormous and powerful emerging, the Imugi furrowed his brow. ‘Even if I were as I was before, I don’t know whether I could gain the upper hand over that being.’ It wounded his pride, but his assessment was cold.
Instinctively feeling that this was the master of this place, he planted all four feet on the ground and raised his head.
His muscles stiffened with tension, and his tail rose on its own. ‘There’s no need to cower. I don’t know how incredible that fellow is, but I am……
a divine beast, the black dragon’s Imugi!’ Fighting spirit filled his eyes.
As he glared straight into the air, the rift in space widened, and a gigantic mountain emerged.
Boom!
Kooong!
With just two steps, the very earth shook.
The powerful vibration caused the piled mountain of jewels to collapse.
The creature rising endlessly high was immensely large, gigantic, and its entire body gleamed with gold.
The being that had seized control of the space in an instant drew in a breath, then exhaled as if tearing the air apart.
The wave from it was so intense that he nearly got swept away like a fallen leaf. ‘So that’s how you’re going to play it.’ Even with a being so enormous it covered the sky before him, he stared with his eyes wide open.
To seize the initiative, the Imugi drew in a deep breath and cried out fiercely.
“Kkyuu! ……
u?” ‘Huh?’ As a battle cry like a tiny achoo burst out, he himself was startled and opened his eyes round. ‘What kind of sound is that!’ What he had imagined was a majestic roar.
What came out was “kkyuu.”
As he stood there dumbfounded, the one whose entire body seemed to have been wrought of gold revealed the blue pupils it had kept closed and looked down at the Imugi. [Who……
are you■?]
Compared to the golden giant, the Imugi was a tiny little wriggler.
And yet, with his arms overflowing with magic stones hugged to his chest, he stood upright, squirming and dignified, and cried out powerfully toward the golden master.
“Kkyut, kkyuu!” ‘Damn it!’ He had only tried to say his name, but all that came out were squeaky snorts and fragmentary sounds from undeveloped vocal cords.
“Kkyuuuuu!” ‘This is driving me insane!’ He shouted in frustration, but only sounds that made him want to crawl into a mouse hole came out.
Even more drained than before, he plopped down where he stood.
The one who had been looking down at him blankly blinked its blue eyes, then turned its gaze toward the egg from which the Imugi had originally broken through the wall. [The egg……?]
Seeing the remnants of the eggshell, shattered by an impact from the inside out, and the fluid, it caught its breath. [No w■y, did it hat■h? The Black Dr■■on’s egg.]