Nainiae remembered the rule about being careful not to mention Riley’s past life so easily. She glanced at Riley who had a serious look on his face. She sent a signal.
“…”
Riley’s eyes met with Nainiae’s. Riley lightly nodded and said to Andal,
“It is just that I think I have heard that line somewhere. I think I heard that line before, but… I cannot remember where from…no matter how much I think about it.”
Andal, with a serious look on his face, checked Riley’s face and asked,
“Your memory seems to be coming and going lately. It is a bit unstable… By any chance, are you suffering from that illness that old humans are known to suffer often?”
“An illness?”
“D… D… What was it? Dimension?”
“You mean Dementia?”
“Ah, right! Dementia!”
It was a familiar word. Riley and Nainiae peeked a smile and relaxed the heavy atmosphere a little. They started to roll their brains again.
“It is not dementia, so don’t worry.”
Of what the human that Andal had run into in Ansyrium said, Riley was thinking about ‘Brave Hero’ and ‘Fall.’ Riley thought about the conversation he had with a certain someone just before he died in his past life.
‘If you are asking me how it feels, I’m exhausted. Honestly, I’m exhausted.’
Standing above the clouds, the man had blood-like red skin and black horns. Riley remembered the conversation he had with the very last demon that he had fought in his past life. Riley asked Andal,
“By any chance, can you show me how the guy looked like?”
“What? As I thought, you know something?”
Having heard Riley’s request, Andal looked at Riley with suspicious eyes. Thinking it could not be helped, Andal used mirage magic to form the shape of the child he had met in Ansyrium.
“Here. This is how he looks like.”
With piercing gazes, Riley and Nainiae glared at the boy’s face which Andal had formed with mirage magic. They furrowed their brows.
‘It’s different.’
‘It’s different.’
The boy looked young. However, somehow, that belied the true age of the being and it showed on his face. Riley and Nainiae exchanged gazes with each other. It seemed they had confirmed it and were okay with Andal disengaging the mirage magic.
“Anyway, it is not certain if the ‘Old Friend’ that this bastard is talking about is you. However, if you know something, then I would appreciate it if you helped us. You just need to show your face for a moment. As for the rest, ‘We’ will handle it.”
He was talking about the other dragons beside himself who were making their moves concerning this incident. Nainiae checked Riley’s mood.
“Is the situation so serious that everyone needs to be involved?”
“Riley said there was no solution, so this is the best we could do. If we let that Epidemic man live, ruining a city or two like Ansyrium or Solia would be the least of our problems.”
Throwing the man into the sky or burying the man deep in the ground…Andal said they needed to eradicate that monster using any means necessary. Andal looked at Riley,
“Are you going to come along?”
Having heard the question, Riley asked back,
“If I don’t come along, what is going to happen?”
“We would collide with the human we are supposed to negotiate with.”
Andal said he was planning on killing the boy who seemed to be hiding the Epidemic man, the purple human that the dragons were chasing after and extract the memories from him. Having heard his plan, Riley sighed big.
“It is not important to know how that bastard figured out our identities and approached us first.”
Watching Riley sigh, Andal lightly lifted his right hand and ignited a fire above it.
“We are superior beings who are beyond this world.”
Pak!
He then squashed the flame. Andal continued,
“Our task is maintaining this world’s balance.”
Balance of the world, our task… Riley watched his friend huffing and puffing all agitated next to him. This time, Riley sighed briefly inside.
‘What if… What if that bastard who fell and died with me was also reincarnated in this world?’
In Riley’s past life, this being was called the Demon Lord. It was the demon who had finally and barely met his end after Riley went through all sorts of hardships. Riley was thinking about the possibility of the Demon Lord being reincarnated into this world along with himself. Riley supported his chin with his palm and agonized over this.
‘If it really is that bastard, then this is dangerous.’
Riley thought about how it would play out if Andal and his fellow kin members went to fight the bastard. Riley crumpled his eyebrows.
‘It won’t change anything even if Andal brought a few lizards with him. They will all die.’
Nainiae, who had Riley’s memories, seemed to be thinking the same thing. She glanced at Andal to check on his mood. Andal was still huffing and puffing.
‘I already have a headache because of Helena. Why do I need to mind that bastard too now?’
Although Riley could not be certain, since Riley was living in this world with the Blessing of Sword and his memories still intact…Riley could not jump hastily to the conclusion that the Demon Lord from his past life was not in the same situation as Riley.
‘What are you going to do?’
Nainiae glanced at Riley.