The Foreigner on the Periphery - Chapter 160

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It seemed like a plausible idea the more he thought about it. ‘It doesn’t attack as aggressively as Kavite, but there are other guys who show similar tendencies.’ 

Toad was the representative. This was a typical problem that arose while improving dragons. Instinctively, even guys were attracted to it. A Toad was more difficult to save, and he would hide in a lake if he felt threatened. Unlike Kavite, which could be dug up and frozen entirely, it was not possible to boil the lake or freeze it entirely to catch. 

This was because it damaged other creatures. In the end, one would have to dive in and catch and kill them one by one, but as it sounds, it’s a very troublesome task, so it’s common to just give up. ‘So it’s better to manipulate it so that no one but us can drink it.’

Of course, it would have to be the most harmful to Kavite among them. This was because it was proving to be the most annoying type of seawater. 

‘Wait a minute.’ Thoughts continued. ‘Then, what about these guys?’ 

Although it was not possible at his ranch, cases of dragons managed by other ranchers biting each other were often reported. In the worst case, the dragon would end up eating another dragon. 

It was then said that the horror of discovering an empty cage with only scales, leather, and bones left was indescribable. Of course, this happened because of the owner’s extreme negligence when it came to management. He thought that this idea would be a way to block such accidents at the source. 

Even if one didn’t feed the food separately or were to feed it slightly, it would be done so that one dragon would not covet other dragons. ‘You guys will be attracted to it for reasons you don’t know. Especially in the case of Dragon Hearts… the moment you eat them, your lifespan dramatically increases. It’s amazing how natural it is. I didn’t tell you, how do I know?’ 

However, it was very difficult to make a dragon’s blood poison other dragons. It was like living with poison in one’s body. Because of this, he changed his mind.

‘No, this has to touch the mind.’ 

The problem was that he couldn’t just put all the dragons on the farm under a complex chain of command as thoroughly as he managed them himself. In other words, one couldn’t completely control the spirit of the dragon of the world. Therefore, a much more intuitive keyword was needed to realize his idea. 

‘Love?’ Dragons loved dragons, so why didn’t he engrave the adage that they couldn’t eat each other with the same blood? 

‘No, that’s not enough.’ 

It was only a plan for situations where one didn’t have 100% control over your livestock’s emotions. It was impossible for a dragon to love all dragons all the time. They also hated each other and fought a lot. Few people knew how intense the love affair between these beasts were. 

Therefore, a different concept was needed. Another reason why dragons shouldn’t eat dragons. It should be a reason as to why they should not covet dragon hearts and hunt and eat dragons by themselves. 

“…!”

Then, something popped into his mind. Was it really possible? 

It was highly questionable. ‘It’s hard for them to perceive with their intelligence… It seems like a very high-level idea.’ 

He then turned to look at Adkiel. Bored, the guy rubbing his back against the stone floor noticed his gaze and ran towards him like a dart.

Seeing him like this, he asked, “Adkiel, is it possible? Can you instill the notion that you should never eat each other… because you guys consider yourselves so precious and noble?” 

Could one inherently obtain that morality to think that way from birth? Adkiel tilted his head. It appeared he didn’t really understand it this time. The dragon nodded as if he was wandering through a difficult word meaning, then finally gave up and snorted. 

Spewed! A strong wind blew down his face, and his hair fluttered and clung to his forehead like a spider’s web. He laughed as he pulled the strands apart with his fingers. “I said something wrong. So, let’s start again. We need to find the lost dragon.” 

Feeling a hand under his neck, Adkiel yawned in satisfaction.

***

Dotes hurriedly ran into the boss’s office. “CEO, have you seen the dispatch from the committee headquarters?” 

“I am reading it now.” The princess of Endelion stared at one spot, not looking at her men. 

To summarize the urgent instructions from the headquarters, it was to block all terminals located all over the earth. Except for one place, New York. There was a reason why only the largest of the Earth’s leap terminals was made an exception. 

“This is an unprecedented large-scale dispatch in the history of this dimension!” Dotes’ voice was Parisian. His feathers quivered. “It looks like they’re trying to find and shoot the escaped prisoner… Asif-666 early.” 

The princess recalled the look on the face of the offshore tax evasion manager she had met yesterday. When he heard the news that all the members of the unit performing operations in the two locations had died or disappeared, he put on a look of dismay. It was unknown as to what happened to him after he hurriedly ran out of the office. Regardless of the intermediate process, the command decided to dispatch a large number of soldiers and equipment via the New York terminal in order to arrest him. 

‘You shouldn’t get caught, but if you do, you won’t be shot.’ 

She proceeded to deny Dotes’ guess. However, instead of kindly explaining, she began to give instructions. “The command’s request for assistance arrived as well,” she said. “Get them ready the way they want it.” 

She tried to add that there was no need to help too hard, but she held back because it seemed like he could see right through her. In reality, managing prisoners and arresting escapees were not her job. The reason she had not had official contact with her ex-husband was that she had no direct involvement with the inmates. 

Relationships were relationships, so she needed to be careful. After Dotes disappeared, she made a gesture equivalent to a light human sigh. She began to gaze into space. 

Pod! Papapat! The images collected by the committee’s artifacts, which secretly monitored every corner of the planet, were unfolded. Unlike decades ago, a planet where various races and various intelligences now lived. She could see the faces of people. 

Was he hiding somewhere among those countless cities? Or in a backcountry where no one would set foot? Or would he have already escaped to another dimension in an unpredictable way?

Dell felt a simmering concern and concern. She also felt a deep sense of responsibility for what had gone wrong. Had he noticed the command’s movements earlier and tipped them off… would the outcome have been a little different? Did she have a meaning for coming here in the first place? 

Tormented by a sense of shame, Dell stared at the screen. Even though she knew it was unnecessary and pointless, she couldn’t stop. She focused her observing gaze on the humans. street passers-by. People sitting at office, shop or home. Among them, only humans were weeded out. Even in her regret and lamentation, she felt a slightly different displeasure. Her feelings of visiting her when looking at her mammals… especially at the sight of her human species were paler than those of her past, but not completely gone. 

‘Where the hell are you now?’ She recalled him in her memories and engraved countless scenes and expressions in her mind. She was worried about Minjun’s whereabouts. And it came back. 

‘There hasn’t been anyone like you since.’ She remembered the moment she first met Minjun, who at the time went by the name Cain. Dell was disgusted with her human body, which had redeemed her own soul, but she did not react the same way when she saw him. 

Then and now, Dell still didn’t see her soul. Nevertheless, the moment she caught Minjun in her eyes, she felt an illusion as if a bright flash was emanating from him. That moment was like a miracle.

It was the mysterious moment when she was conceived as Endelion, and the possessor of Endelion’s soul… overcame the limits of her species. Minjun made her go beyond her limits.

 ‘Wherever you are… please be safe.’ She closed her eyes for a moment with her prayers. Read the most updated version of this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at – “ ”

*** 

To find the dragon that had left the house. These were the phrases he often saw on posters when he was a child living in a facility in the city. In those days, the lifespans of people were much shorter than they were now. 

This was before dragon farms developed on a large scale. However, even then, the dragon was a very important beast and source of food. ‘It’s not enough to eat, but you raise it at home?’ 

He began to grumble. At the time, he seemed to understand how desperately they searched for the dragon. He had never wandered around searching for a single dragon for so long. Back then, when his skill level was much lower, he would often struggle to find it for days and days. 

‘But I’ll find it within today,’ he muttered as he walked. 

“…”

From there, he slowly lowered his walking speed as he caught sight of something. “No, this guy?!” He muttered in a low voice. “You mean you came all the way here?” 

An ominous foreboding began to creep in. That feeling soon turned into reality. Stand tall! He finally stopped walking. “The barrier is…” 

Damn, damn! 

A rising sense of wonder rose from within him. Even at the moment when he first saw the trail leading to the teacher’s tomb, he didn’t feel the need to worry too much. There, he set up a barrier himself and judged that the dragon would not cross the wall. 

He tried to ignore the anxiety crouching in the corner of his heart. He was desperately trying to get rid of that thought. In fact, he had never visited this area even once since he placed his master in the tomb. In other words, he had never maintained the barrier. The result was unfolding before his eyes.

“It’s torn.” The barrier was broken to a size large enough for a single dragon to enter and exit. 

He let out a deep sigh. It was the result of consciously avoiding the grave and ignoring it. Now that things had happened, he had to mend the barriers. And he needed to catch the dragon before it got really dangerous or touched anything… 

“…” At the same time as he thought so, he grasped another very big problem. He didn’t want to go inside. He stood there, unmoving.

“Kreung?” Adkiel pushed his back in an exquisite way. 

Thud! Thud! The clever fellow saw that the realm beyond which he had never set foot in since he was born stretched out. The gold dragon ran without being able to hide its excitement. Then, he threw himself into the hole in the barrier. He then turned around and barked at its owner.

“Kreung! Kreung!” 

It was as if he was urging him to explore alongside him. A dry smile spread across the man’s lips. He decided not to worry any longer. ‘Even within the barrier, the tomb is double sealed. I couldn’t have reached that far.’ 

Of course, there was a possibility that the second barrier was also destroyed… He had already decided not to dwell on the worst-case scenario. Shaking off his not-so-short anguish, he finally stepped out. 

***

“Would you like to take a break here?” 

“Kreung?” As if wondering, Adkiel blinked. His resolution was short-lived. The direction of the trail left by the dragon was consistent, only getting closer and closer to the tomb.

He wasn’t ready yet. And so, he came up with an excuse to pause. “Are you tired?” 

“…Kreung?” Adkiel did not agree with his master, but he decided to pretend to agree. The dragon then sat by the master’s magic brazier and stared intently at his face. Away from that gaze, the owner was immersed in an unknown deep thought. 

Adkiel did not forget that he had already eaten today’s feed. But on long walks like this, and when taking breaks in between, the owner didn’t act too hard. Today was a special case, so perhaps he could ask for a little more special feed. 

“Kreureung?” Sitting on the floor, he walked toward the silent man, and the dragon rested his forepaw on his master’s right knee. 

However, he didn’t respond. Adkiel felt confused. ‘Why is Lee Yangban like this today?’ 

The moment I thought it might be okay to purr one more time as a protest… “Oh sorry. I forgot.” 

After pulling a bowl of feed out of the air and making Adkiel the happiest dragon on the planet, he lay down on the grass.

A sea of stars spread out in the dark sky he gazed at. Among them, he knew that the particularly bright light sources were actually satellites, not planets. It was part of the security system prepared for him by the administration. He could have asked them to find the dragon’s whereabouts, but he soon erased that option from his mind. 

He had long ago ordered the government not to disturb the tranquility of country life unless he first spoke to him. Thanks to this, they had been impatient for a long time. If one were to start a conversation from this side first, they would burst into celebration and cheer among themselves and hold on to the string. 

He felt tired just imagining it. And in the first place, except for the small damaged part, the barrier was intact, so one wouldn’t even be able to see the inside from the outside. He counted the stars in silence. 

He suddenly remembered what his master had said. Nowadays, he often found himself immersed in reminiscing about his teacher. 

-When I was young, my tribe thought that when people died, they became stars in the sky. 

Even when he was young, his own people died countless times, but it must have been worse when the teacher was young. Perhaps it was a time when there was such a thing as average life expectancy – a time when he had to go through so many deaths that he could average it. The teacher was the person who lived the longest among the people born in that era. 

Even such a master could not escape death in the end. He recalled his first meeting.

-You’ll be fine. The position of successor to the most respected among dragon slayers. 

At the time, he didn’t understand why he was chosen among the children in the facility. Then the master asked. 

-What do you think is the most important virtue to raise a dragon? 

Thinking of the instructors at the facility, he seemed to have replied like this. ‘I need to be able to make the dragons obey my commands.’ 

-What should I do to make them obey my commands? 

‘I have to make the dragon fear and respect me.’ 

To be able to voluntarily follow your orders even without an immediate cane or beating, so that the dragon can feel the utmost happiness in following your words. The master spoke in a deep, resonant voice.

 -You seem to have that kind of quality. You are a child who will be loved beyond the limits of your species. 

Will he one day be able to transcend the bonds of death? Will he one day… be able to attain perfect eternal life? 

Thinking of his teacher, he once again felt a subtle sadness. Calm and gentle… Soft… “Damn it!” 

No, that sadness was never light or quiet. He felt the limits of the self-hypnosis he had struggled to maintain for so many years. From there, he felt a wave of sadness. It seemed that he would suffocate from the longing that gnawed at his insides. Uncontrollable emotions swept and scratched at this heart. 

‘Master lived long enough.’ 

Was that enough? 

‘Already dead. I can’t turn it back.’ 

Really, could it be turned back? After their time together, he thought of the time when he lived distraught after his teacher passed away. He could remember about half of that time, yet he couldn’t remember the other half. 

He sincerely wished for him to come back. So hopefully he could join the perfect eternal life system that would be completed one day. 

‘It’s already in the past.’

Trying to shake off his lingering feelings, he looked at the stars. And in his deep sorrow, he commemorated him in his memory.