By Zephyria 
It was a very large and beautiful beast.
The first thing that caught the eye was its brilliant golden hue. The beast, lying gracefully amidst the pervasive black mana, was covered head to toe in scales befitting its immense size. It had four horns on its head; the front two were relatively small, while the back two were large and pointed upwards.
As the beast, sleeping with a head the size of a castle resting on a foreleg the size of a mansion, drew a breath, it was noticeable how the surrounding contaminated mana seeped into its nose and mouth. What was it trying to do with mana drawn in like this? I wondered if some sort of spell was cast upon it as well.
Its inhales were very deep, but its exhales were very shallow.
Without taking my eyes off the beast, I asked, “Lord?”
“That… is Dragon Lord Spiritus, the mother of all dragons and ruler of monsters, inheritor of eternal life… the Gold Dragon, known as the master of the greatest vault on this continent. She is the primordial dragon, the first of the 21 dragons known in history.”
“How did you know immediately upon seeing her…”
“How could I not? She’s a Gold Dragon, and she has four horns. She looks exactly like the illustration.”
Had anyone ever seen all twenty-one dragons in their lifetime and died?
I could guess who the author of that book was. My gaze shifted to Gano Paquin, who was still stiffly frozen. He stopped like a inchworm that had met its natural predator, then cautiously took a step forward.
As Gano Paquin approached the beast’s foreleg, I couldn’t help but click my tongue.
Gano Paquin was of average adult male height. This six-foot man was less than half the size of a fingernail compared to the beast. Faced with a monster larger and heavier than any form I had seen in my two lives, my heart stirred involuntarily.
The moment my hand, resting on the sword hilt, twitched, Gano Paquin climbed up the foreleg and embraced the beast’s large, wide snout with his entire body. Was he planning to go into its mouth? The way his collar fluttered with each of its breaths was particularly bothersome.
“What are you doing?”
“No, no… I was just surprised, thinking it might have been sealed in a way I couldn’t undo.”
“You weren’t?”
“Uh… there’s no magic circle, and I don’t see anything strange. But the mana concentration is so high that I got… scared. Now that I look at it, its breathing is normal, and there’s nothing twisted inside. It’s just… it’s just sleeping.”
The God of Records was not one to cherish monsters. I had a guess as to its identity, but I opened my mouth to seek more certainty.
“Is this, perhaps… also a god?”
“Yes. Eternal life inevitably leads to boredom. Spiritus often chose dreams as a way to endure life. The God of Dreams and Jewels. She is the sixth god.”
What use is it to fiddle with a sleeping friend like that?
Gano Paquin stroked the large scales on the dragon’s massive head, then the smaller scales on its lips. Because he was so small, he looked like a sparrow perched on a cow’s snout.
Benjamin watched the scene with envious eyes, his heels bobbing, which was quite amusing. He couldn’t take his eyes off it.
Watching that scene, it no longer felt threatening. All of us, who had drawn our swords, sheathed them one by one and relaxed our shoulders. I continued to ask, “Were you close?”
“Well, we got along reasonably well. Our tastes differ a bit… but she has a good personality. And she knows a lot.”
“Did she know you were being sealed?”
“Hmm… I was quite preoccupied back then. Spiritus can sleep for fifty years or more once she falls asleep, so she might not have known. Well, we weren’t the type to look out for each other’s health. Everyone’s healthy without that sort of thing anyway.”
“Why don’t you wake her up, then.”
“I’d like to say hello since it’s been a while… but if she were sealed, I’d have to trace the magic circle backward or break the spell. But she’s just sleeping. Who can wake up the God of Sleep?”
It was then that Benjamin, hesitating, stepped forward.
“Um, excuse me…”
“Yes?”
“Will… Spiritus-nim get angry if I go closer too?”
Ah. I quietly bit my lower lip. He was acting like a child, even though he was past his teens, and it was both cute and amusing. Before Gano Paquin, with his eyes wide open, could reply, I also requested, “He has no ill intentions. He just seems to want to see a dragon up close, as he’s admired dragons since he was young.”
“Yes! Just, just once… I won’t touch her. I won’t do anything disrespectful. If you could just let me feel her breath up close…”
“She’s sleeping anyway, and they aren’t trying to do anything malicious.”
If the God of Records hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have let Benjamin get so close to such a monster.
But then, if a friend is by your side, would you persecute his companions? I thought that a god in charge of some domain, not just a monster with intelligence, would be less dangerous than an unknown monster. Without much thought, I sided with Benjamin’s plea.
“Well…”
Before Gano Paquin could properly answer, he let out a hollow laugh seeing Benjamin slowly approach him step by step. Seeing Mage Boulder sticking close to his back and peeking, I also swallowed my laughter.
Gano Paquin, who had been contemplating, pressed his cheek against his friend’s snout and gave his permission.
“Uh, don’t touch her. I won’t give you even a single scale.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Yes…”
The one rejoicing was Benjamin, and the one disappointed was Boulder.
At this point, there seemed to be no need to hesitate. The rest of them also casually approached Gano Paquin, and in front of the dragon’s snout. They looked up at Gano Paquin, who was still perched on its foreleg. With a gust of the dragon’s breath, my bangs scattered and were pulled up to the crown of my head.
Up close, it was even more dazzling, blinding me. Would it shine this much even if it were coated in crushed gold? So this is the dragon of the continent.
The dragon Boulder had recreated with Illusion Magic was less than a quarter of this size and far less imposing. In particular, its neck was longer than I expected, and its head rested comfortably on its foreleg, which caught my eye.
Truly magnificent. I felt the same admiration I felt when looking at a fine steed. A creature with such an elegant and noble appearance must surely have a gentle and refined way of speaking. Now I understood why the Sierran Empire’s symbol was a dragon. This could rival the dragons of the Central Plains.
However, as the dragon’s breath kept pushing me back, a question suddenly welled up.
“This one… or rather, this person is also a god, yet she breathes.”
“Uh, right? I breathe too. I just eat words and spit words, so you can’t see it.”
“Then this person…”
“She inhales contaminated mana and exhales refined mana. That’s why they usually build their lairs in higher places…? But this is too low an altitude, so it’s a bit… strange.”
Is that so?
Benjamin, inhaling deeply, resembled the wizards facing the Golden Turtle.
Did the mana from the dragon’s exhale taste different? If I had to say, it would be a power close to Divine Power, but because contaminated mana was gathered throughout the cave like a bird lining its nest with down, I couldn’t feel a significant difference even at this close distance. After all, if the volume of exhaled breath were significantly greater than inhaled breath, the cave entrance would have been filled with divine energy.
Dragons gather mana in their hearts, didn’t they say?
When I first told Douglas Mustang about the existence of the Dantian, I heard that only dragons and the like accumulated mana in their bodies this way. At the time, I thought it was absurd nonsense, but seeing it so close now, I felt a desire to observe its interior.
It was then, while watching the group laughing and chatting merrily, that I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.
The moment I felt a chilling gaze, I turned around immediately. The contaminated mana gathered around me shook and my body twisted. I planted my feet firmly and looked up. The dragon, as if aware of Gano Paquin on its foreleg, gently raised its head and scanned our group from high above.
Then it opened its mouth. Its red, enormous mouth, and its surprisingly sharp white teeth, despite its immense size, were briefly visible before disappearing in an instant as it exhaled. How could such a colossal being move so silently? Every movement was elegant and quiet, filling me with awe.
It spoke.
[Are you here to cause trouble too?]
…What?
The dragon’s gaze locked directly onto me. Just its large eyes staring at me exerted a crushing pressure on my shoulders. It felt less like a Divine Beast and more like an exceptional martial artist looking down on me. A mere flick of its large eyes downward felt like it was scrutinizing my entire body down to the minor meridians, which was deeply unpleasant.
I took half a step back. It raised one of its foreclaws and scraped the ground with a tap, then lowered its head. Its breath was so close it pushed my chest back. While its bright yellow reptilian eyes gleamed, I remained silent.
It did not threaten me.
It wasn’t a threat, but…
[Gano. What the hell are you doing?]
It did not use the gentle and refined tone I had imagined based on the dragon’s appearance.
❖ ❖ ❖
Our group sat around the round table, idly watching the gods argue.
I thought I was familiar with Shadowless Incantation, having encountered it many times, but I had never even heard rumors of magic that conjured a table and chairs out of thin air with a single gesture, or changed its form with a single movement. With Benjamin’s help, I heard about subspace and Polymorph, but I was simply astonished.
Who would paint themselves entirely gold if not a Gold Dragon?
Even though it was a round table, there was a designated seat of honor. The blonde woman sitting on a more ornate and massive golden chair appeared to be around forty. Her dress, shimmering with golden luster, did not flare out at the skirt and fully covered her shoulders, making it look like a cleric’s robe in terms of its cut.
She had loosely tied her waist-length hair and let it fall forward over her shoulders. As Gano Paquin spoke, she repeatedly and irritably tugged at her hair. Seeing her, there were two people here who were watching her with shining eyes, so I wished she would take better care of her hair.
The woman, unable to read my thoughts, exclaimed, “So what now? You’re going to kill As with these kids in tow?”