Chapter 3 - A Torch, But Now Abandoned Firewood
Clay walked and walked aimlessly.
"Damn it."
He had left the place the soldiers had visited, but it was still difficult to decide where to go.
'I can't go anywhere with people...'
It was impossible to seek out the people he had built relationships with.
The fact that he had nowhere to go left him with a hollow laugh.
"This is so pointless."
For whom had he worked so hard?
As Clay asked himself that question, he spotted some smoke not far away.
'What is that?'
It was early morning.
The day had just begun to break.
The smoke rising into the dawn clearly indicated that someone had been camping nearby and using a fire.
'Could it be soldiers?'
Clay was still in the wastelands.
In this place, where the only remaining buildings were ruins, camping was extremely dangerous unless there was a specific reason to stay.
Therefore, the people making the smoke were most likely merchants or soldiers.
'Haa.'
His thirst had been quenched by the rainwater last night, but the hunger that felt like it was sticking his stomach to his back was tormenting his body and mind.
'Just in case.'
If they were from far away, they might not know his face.
Still, just in case, Clay picked up a piece of burlap lying nearby and draped it on to cover his face.
Whoosh.
Battered by the sandy wind, Clay slowly moved his feet.
He finally reached a spot near where the smoke was rising.
All that was left was a sand dune.
If he went over the curved terrain, he would know who was on the other side.
"...It's quiet."
It didn't seem like there were many people.
Clay moved carefully and climbed to the top of the dune.
He then lay down and peeked his head over, looking down.
"!"
The moment he saw who was there, Clay was startled and quickly hid himself behind the dune.
'What, what was that?'
He had only looked for a moment, so he couldn't be sure of what he had seen.
But...
Swoosh.
He peeked over the dune again.
What he saw was a fairly large bonfire.
But the smoke wasn't just coming from there.
The entire space behind the dune was filled with flames, as if it had been set on fire multiple times.
And in the middle of the flames, a single figure stood.
The figure was staring blankly at the bonfire that seemed to have just been lit.
Through the flickering flames, the figure's appearance gradually became clearer in Clay's sight.
Horns rising through her white hair, pointed ears like an elf, and red eyes fixed on the bonfire.
A Dragonkin.
That race, said to have the power of dragons in a human form, was a legend in itself.
And Clay had encountered that legend before.
More specifically, the woman right in front of him.
Swoosh.
The woman suddenly turned her head.
Clay's eyes met hers.
Hwa-reuk.
Amidst the rising flames, their gazes were frozen in the air.
"You..."
Clay was the first to speak.
"How are you here..."
He shouldn't have revealed his identity, but he was completely confused by this encounter.
Because she was...
"Clay."
...one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's army who had disappeared.
"You've risen again before you could turn to ash."
Even though she had suddenly encountered Clay, she spoke calmly.
"It's good to see you again."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
As if she was no longer an enemy.
The Four Heavenly Kings.
The four disaster-level forces that led the Demon King's army, pushing the world into a hell of destruction alongside the Demon King.
Among them was a being who had lived long enough to appear in a nation's mythology, and that was Beatrice, the progenitor of the Dragonkin.
There were many rumors about why a legend like her had joined the Demon King's army.
There were many baseless stories, like she had fallen in love with the Demon King or that she simply enjoyed destruction, but there was one credible theory.
The extinction of the Dragonkin, with the exception of her.
The hypothesis was that she had defected because her own kind had been killed by humans while trying to help the world in crisis.
It was a plausible reason.
Otherwise, there would have been no reason for her to join the Demon King's army.
"If you're done with the greetings, shall we warm ourselves by the fire together?"
But she, who had disappeared from the demon realm at some point, was now standing in front of Clay, showing no hostility.
"It's so warm it's almost hot. It'll be helpful for you on this cold morning."
"What are you?"
Clay instinctively frowned.
"Where have you been, and why are you showing up now? Are you here to ambush me?"
"I'd rather not deal with an inflated ego."
Beatrice, the progenitor of the Dragonkin, stared intently at Clay.
"I was just warming myself by the fire. Burning everything around me."
"Are you expecting me to believe that?"
"That's your choice. Now and then."
For a moment, Clay was speechless and held his breath.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke again.
"There's no way you have no feelings toward me. If you have an ulterior motive, show it."
"You like being aggressive. I suppose. It feels like just yesterday that we fought to the death. Was I in my dragon form back then?"
He wondered how she could be so nonchalant, but Clay didn't let his guard down.
"Yes, it feels like yesterday. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say so. The war only ended a little while ago after all."
"But to be executed before you could even be honored... How pitiful."
At those words, Clay fell silent.
Beatrice took a step toward him.
He was startled and took a step back.
"Don't come any closer. I'll summon the holy sword."
"In your current state, doing that would be suicide."
Despite Clay's threat, Beatrice was completely unfazed.
"Did your companions not believe in you at all?"
"..."
"Did your companions keep their faith in you as much as you're showing your teeth at me, ignoring your hunger?"
Clay tried to ignore his stomach, which was rumbling irreverently against his will, but Beatrice handed him a marshmallow skewer that she had hung near the fire.
"It's not very nutritious, but it can satisfy your hunger for a moment. Eat this, and I'll find you something more proper."
"Don't come any closer."
"Here."
"Don't come any closer..."
She had already approached him and was holding his hand.
He tried to pull his hand away, but she was faster in placing the skewer in his hand.
"How the mighty have fallen. You've certainly become much weaker."
After forcefully giving him the marshmallow, she walked over and rummaged through a bag on the ground.
"Just wait a moment. I'll get you something that humans can eat soon."
Beatrice's busy movements stopped.
Feeling a presence behind her, she turned her head.
And she saw it.
Clay, holding the skewer, was gritting his teeth.
And he was barely suppressing some emotion he was not revealing with his head bowed.
"...What do you know?"
He muttered, his whole body trembling.
"What do you know about humans?"
He had always fought for humans who struggled to survive even in the midst of destruction and chaos.
As a human himself, he sympathized with them and fought with courage.
And yet...
"I'm not hungry."
A transparent, sticky substance flowed down Clay's cheeks as he gritted his teeth.
From Clay's face, which was bowed even lower, drops of water evaporated by the flames fell according to gravity.
Even though he had been given a second chance, defying the natural order, everything about him was still stuck within that order.
That's why he couldn't understand.
The fact that he was left all alone.
"...I guess we have a lot to talk about."
Crackling, crackling.
In the space where only the sound of burning wood remained, Beatrice started rummaging through her bag again and said in a low voice.
***
"No traces left."
Somewhere in the wastelands.
The captain of the Royal Guard, who should have been protecting the empress, was searching the area with a few knights.
"It seems the rain washed everything away."
"Can we really track them down?"
"It's just a corpse, why does Her Majesty want to find it so badly..."
The captain of the Royal Guard frowned at the knights' muttering.
"Do not speak blasphemously."
The sandy wind sweeping through the wastelands brushed past the captain.
Her long hair, tied in a single braid, fluttered like an abandoned flag.
'You don't know.'
The captain of the Royal Guard, Lilien, muttered to herself.
'That Her Majesty has already committed an act she cannot bear.'
Reminded that Tia had taken a step she couldn't stop, she chewed on the sand that had gotten into her mouth with the wind.