'Who are these bastards?'
KangWoo looked at the blond guy moving his hands.
'Are they foreign players?'
The one waving his hand had blonde hair that reached his waist—he looked like a typical handsome western man and was wearing luxurious golden armor and a sword that was hard to look at.
It was hard to imagine that they were normal people.
'No, wait…’
KangWoo's expression stiffened after looking at the other party members behind the man.
They were each carrying a hammer, bow, shield, and wand.
There wasn't any issue with the man holding a shield or the brown-haired woman wielding a wand.
The problem was with the dwarf and the blonde woman with a bow.
'A dwarf and an elf?'
Even if it was possible for the dwarf to be a little person with a round body that made it look like he would roll over if you hit him, the blond woman with long ears had an appearance that only an elf could have.
'They look like a party that came out of a fantasy novel.'
KangWoo looked at them with a troubled expression.
The young blond man in front of the party walked toward KangWoo and shouted.
"Ugh! C-come on!"
"Calm down, Reinald!"
The elf archer blocked the young blond man.
"Look at that demon dragon. It's about to die."
"Ah…"
"It probably won't hurt anyone else."
"Oof. That's a relief."
The blond young man sighed in relief after returning to his senses.
"Who are you…?" KangWoo asked them through the Authority of Translation.
"I'm the third prince of the Arnan Empire, Reinald von Arnan," the young blond man said in a kindly voice.
"Arnan Empire…?"
"Yes. What about you…?"
"…"
KangWoo was having trouble understanding what was happening, so he looked at them, confused.
He had just received a message that said a gate had connected with the Ernor Continent. Not only that, but Reinald had mentioned that he was from the Arnan Empire.
'Are they really people from another world?'
There weren't many other things he could guess based on what he had to go off of.
A gate that led to the Ernor Continent was opened, and from it, his summoned monster appeared along with a few other people.
And a dwarf and an elf were among the people that’d appeared.
KangWoo was starting to believe that they were indeed people from another world.
[Oof, ugh.]
While KangWoo was confused, Echidna was moaning in pain.
When KangWoo turned his head around, he saw Echidna looking at him while struggling to breathe.
"Damn."
KangWoo frowned after realizing that the demonic monster he had waited for a week to summon might die.
'I have to heal it.'
If he lost his summoned monster, he had to wait another three months before he could try to do it again.
'I can't let that happen.'
It wasn't like three months was a long period of time. It also wasn't like the summoned monster was an existence that KangWoo needed no matter what.
—But he couldn't lose it in such a stupid way.
KangWoo walked toward Echidna and placed his hands on its giant body.
"W-wait!"
"What are you doing!"
As KangWoo placed his hand on Echidna, Reinald approached him while shouting.
KangWoo turned his head around to him and said, "This is my summoned monster. I'm not sure why you're trying to kill it, but I can't let that happen."
"Ugh! You!"
"You’re the demon dragon’s master!"
Reinald drew his weapon and aimed it at KangWoo.
KangWoo ignored them and placed his hand on the wound.
'It's bleeding a lot.'
A lot of blood was seeping from the cut scales.
KangWoo used the Authority of the Blade and created a short blade; then he cut the palm of his hands.
'Authority of Regeneration.'
Blood ran through the palm of his hand. The drops of blood that were imbued with the Authority of Regeneration entered Echidna's wound.
[Oof... Oof... W-who are you?]
Echidna's wounds quickly started to close.
The dragon that was on the ground looked at KangWoo.
[Ah… You're, my, owner.]
After looking at KangWoo, she seemed to have realized something and spoke in a voice that showed relief.
There were tears in the eyes of the dragon that was as big as a person.
[I'm sorry… for appearing in such a condition.]
"…“
* * *
He could hear her voice inside his head.
KangWoo looked at Echidna with a stiff expression.
'I'm not sure what happened.'
But it seemed like she thought of him as her 'owner.'
'And the current situation…'
KangWoo looked at Reinald's party, who were looking at him cautiously.
It wasn't hard to guess who had hurt Echidna.
"You, reveal your identity!"
"Let me ask something."
After discovering that they had almost killed his summoned monster, he stopped talking to them politely.
He couldn't waste another three months waiting to summon again, so he couldn't let Echidna die.
They were clearly emitting a killing intent toward Echidna.
Since they had opposing goals, they would end up fighting for sure, so he had no reason to be polite with an enemy.
"Why are you trying to kill Echidna?"
"It's an evil demon dragon!"
KangWoo tried to converse with Reynald's party.
He wanted to earn some time to finish healing Echidna.
'I also want to understand the current situation better.'
He’d originally wanted to summon a demonic monster from Hell with a high rank.
But things had suddenly turned complicated.
‘Demon dragon? Another world?’
"It caused a terrible drought and plague! Because of that demon dragon's magic, many innocent people have lost their lives! Was that something you ordered?"
Reinald looked at him with eyes full of resentment.
'Drought and plague…?'
It was a somewhat vague explanation.
[I told you that I didn't do it…]
"Shut up! You evil demon dragon! If it wasn’t you, then who?!" Reinald shouted angrily after hearing Echidna's words.
KangWoo looked at him in disbelief.
'It was probably a natural occurrence.'
He remembered the witch hunts that’d taken place in the middle ages.
That horrible history where people killed innocent women because they thought those women had caused plagues and droughts.
'Well, I'm not sure what's true or not.'
Just as Reinald said, someone might have caused plagues and droughts on purpose.
The world where Reinald lived was one where magic existed, so KangWoo couldn't conclude that it was a natural occurrence.
'But…’
KangWoo looked at Echidna, who was breathing heavily.
…But he was sure it wasn't Echidna who had caused such disasters.
He didn't think that because of his trust in Echidna, whom he had known only for a few minutes.
It may have been possible for her to cause a plague, but to cause drought, you needed to have the ability to control the atmosphere at your own will.
If you could forcibly change atmospheric phenomena at your own will, that meant that you could interfere in the destiny of a world.
To exaggerate things a bit more, it meant you could perfectly destroy an entire world.
The only demons that could do something like that were probably the archdukes, so there was no way Echidna could do something like that.
"Did you try to kill Echidna because of such a simple thing?"
"Simple?! Do you know how many innocent people suffered because of that?!"
"How would I know something like that?"
"I must kill the demon dragon to save them!" Reinald shouted with a voice full of a sense of justice.
KangWoo looked at Reinald with his eyes narrowed.
'I don't like this dumbass.'
It was the type of person he hated the most.
—Someone stubborn who used justice as an excuse and advanced without listening to others.
—A dumbass who couldn't be reasoned with.
[Oof, oof.]
"…"
Echidna's breathing was starting to normalize thanks to the Authority of Regeneration.
The wound from where blood had been leaking out was starting to quickly close.
'It seems like I've earned enough time.'
Because the wound was so deep, it would probably take some time before she fully recovered, but it seemed like her life wasn't in danger anymore.
'A summoned monster…’
KangWoo looked down at Echidna, whose body was over 20 meters across.
He had begun the summoning hoping to get a cerberus, but things had gone in a different direction.
Still, the result didn't seem bad.
'It's a dragon, after all.'
Although it was a hatchling, being able to use a dragon as a summoned monster was something great.
Although she may be a bit weaker than a cerberus, the growth potential of a dragon couldn't be compared to it.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you kill Echidna. She's my summoned monster, after all."
KangWoo took his hand off of Echidna and turned his body to Reinald.
Of course, he wasn't 100% sure whether Echidna had really caused plague and drought or not.
Even if causing a drought was impossible, she may have caused a plague somehow.
Reinald could perfectly be a hero, and Echidna could have been an evil being who killed innocent people.
'But that doesn't matter.'
What mattered to KangWoo was that Echidna was worth having as a summoned monster.
He was going to use everyone that could be beneficial to him.
He was going to eliminate everyone that could harm him.
She was someone worth it.
KangWoo wasn't stupid enough to throw away a winning lottery ticket.
"You demon!"
Reinald pointed his sword toward KangWoo with a voice filled with a strong sense of justice.
KangWoo smirked.
"Yes, I'm a demon."
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