Kidnapped Dragons

Chapter 348: Episode 100: At the End of the 1,000-year-long Voyage (2)

Chapter 348: Episode 100: At the End of the 1,000-year-long Voyage (2) He opened his eyes.

In front he could see the face of Myu who had fallen back to sleep. After covering her body with a gown, he placed a blanket over her body.

Despite having finished the experiment, he did not leave. As if stapled on the ground with a nail, he stood still for a long time.

Even though he wanted to walk forward, his feet refused to leave the ground and his blank mind did not know where he was supposed to go.

Passing through his mind were many things.

In the distant past, there was a time when he had dreamed of this instant; that there would come a day where he would discover how to send the baby dragons back home; that strenuously trying to the brink of death would some time end this loathsome regression.

That was what he used to think in the past,

But that day never came.

Later he was lost, thinking that such a moment would never come to him. It was when a failure was followed by another failure as a sense of defeat was built upon defeat.

In those times, even the dreams during his sleep would tell him that such a moment would never come. Waking up, he would show resentment at the non-existent gods. How wretched is it, that I cannot even achieve what I want in my dreams?

Getting angry changed nothing.

After that, he no longer felt a sense of defeat even from failures. It later made him think that cutting the chain of regression was something that cannot be done by a mere individual human.

His heart no longer felt rushed after letting go of his greed and emotions. Some time in the future – whether it was possible or not no longer mattered – something would surely come up along the road. He started to bear such carefree thoughts in his mind.

But nothing came up along the road.

His life was a voyage.

The world surrounding him was a vastly large and wide ocean, and a night sky of the first lunar phase with not a single twinkling star. There was no current in the water with everything beyond a one-inch mark being dark; crying out one’s loneliness was not even met with an echo; and shivering through the endless coldness of the night waiting for a non-rising sun in vain.

It was a wintery night at the ocean.

Even the direction to head in was vague. No-one in the world told him anything.

He was all alone.

But even then, he proceeded on.

Inside the dark world, soaked by the storm, knocked apart in the tempest, and sometimes withstanding the tackles of the enormous monsters.

He proceeded forward. He had to go forward.

And today, just then.

His partially wrecked ship managed to reach a port.

“…”

Yu Jitae looked down at his two hands and tried moving each of his ten fingers.

It wasn’t the time to be excited yet…

There was still a long road ahead of him. It was still night outside and some things could not be seen through the veil of darkness.

It wasn’t the time to rush things, and there was no reason to create a fuss.

“…”

Sitting next to Myu, he closed his eyes. He restarted his stopped heart and also began pumping his paused lungs.

He went over the situation again.

There were a total of 9 ‘authority organs’ inside the [Origin Fragment]. From those, the two most important organs in sending the baby dragons back home were [Emergency Summon] and [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection].

[Emergency Summon] contained the coordinates of the other world, Askalifa and the [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] contained the ‘power’ that could force an intersection between the distant dimensions.

Easier put, [Emergency Summon] was the navigation while [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] was the engine.

However, the two organs were being protected by the [Will of the Ancient One] and this was something that could not be broken that easily. But in this experiment, Yu Jitae had finally managed to crush through the Will of the Ancient One that was protecting the [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection].

Something strange was that it wasn’t broken purely thanks to Yu Jitae’s abilities. The Will of the Ancient One blocking the road to [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] had a crack on it already.

This was presumed to be due to Myu being a mutant dragon.

Thanks to that, he now knew the operating principle of the engine that would send the baby dragons back home as well as its functioning mechanism.

However, his attempt at crushing the [Emergency Summon] using the same method was met with a failure. The [Will of the Ancient One] protecting it was as tough as usual and could not be broken with ease.

All he had to do now was break through the [Emergency Summon] to find the coordinates of Askalifa where the baby dragons would be returning to and…

He knew how to approach the problem.

Now he needed to find a day to change the powers protecting Myu into a comprehensible shape using [Conceptualisation (SS)] and dive into the world.

This was something he had already mentioned to Myu.

And in that world, if he could successfully untangle the [Will of the Ancient One], that would mean both the navigation and the engine would be ready.

And, that would in turn mean…

“…”

A night sky faded by the curtain of darkness. At the tip of the horizon, he could finally see something – not the countless ports of deserted islands that he had seen multiple times but something definite that was urging him to come.

“…”

It was when he was sitting on the spot quietly imagining the future that a message was sent to his watch.

[Oscar Brzenk: Do you have time?]

It was the message of the long-awaited guest.

***

A man with blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the office with light enveloping him.

He was world’s official Rank 1, Sovereign, Oscar Brzenk.

A few months ago, Yu Jitae had asked him to look for the Vintage Clock, which had disappeared somewhere, because a sovereign was the one chosen by Providence and was the only existence that could enter the [Temple of Providence].

Like a knight being granted the title by a king, a superhuman would be granted the position of a sovereign by Providence at that place. Yu Jitae had also become a sovereign once in the past and that was why he knew about that area.

The [Temple of Providence] was an extremely occlusive location that even Yu Jitae could not approach. Therefore, Oscar Brzenk was the only one in this current time that could look for the traces of the disappeared Vintage Clock.

They shared simple greetings but Oscar Brzenk did not have a good look on his face.

“The Judges of Providence were blocking the entry to the Temple.”

Judges were the ones protecting the Vintage Clock.

It was a bizarre turn of events.

“Judges blocking the entry to the Temple?”

The Judges were the ones that decided on the right and the wrong within Providence and what was wrong would be given to the sovereigns to take care of. They were like teachers giving homework.

There should have been no reason for them to interfere with the entry to the Temple.

“Seems they really don’t like someone.”

Despite saying that, Yu Jitae was quite puzzled because Oscar Brzenk was like a model student as a sovereign.

“Yes. They really don’t. Those inflexible guys ignored the procedures, threw things at my face and fought between themselves. They even expelled me to an outside dimension for three months telling me to not get involved in this matter. It is not easy to be hated like that…”

Yu Jitae, who knew the workload of a sovereign, gave a hazy smile. Those that knew about everything would even say as a joke that after slaves at a corn farm and PhD students come sovereigns.

However, Oscar Brzenk added with a serious look on his face.

“Not me, but you.”

“What? You mean me?” Yu Jitae replied.

“Yes. What in the world have you done?”

“Are you saying your entry to the Temple was blocked because of me?”

Oscar Brzenk turned all the more serious.

“As I’ve said, I’ve been in exile for 3 months thanks to someone. The Judges were, as is commonly said, out of their minds. I know the ‘Lord of Time Providence’ cherishes you so I’ve never brought this up but now I must. What in the world are you?”

Yu Jitae gave a slight frown. Slowly, he swept through his lower lips with his fingers.

“Time traveller.”

“Damn it. This is not the time for jokes.”

Oscar Brzenk smiled as if it was absurd.

A few seconds went by.

Yu Jitae still had an indifferent look on his face, and Oscar Brzenk’s smile turned rigid with time.

“……Who is aware of this?”

“I have said it to the houseowner.”

“Chaliovan? Did that gossip-lover stay quiet?”

“Even a stray dog knows how to value its life. More importantly, I want you to share more stories about the Temple of Providence.”

Chaliovan does not die, and that was the reason he had a loud mouth. Yu Jitae was implying that he could kill him so Oscar Brzenk had to swallow his curiosity to continue.

“There is nothing much else to say. The road to the Temple of Providence was blocked so there was nothing I could find.”

“How meaningless of a time have you spent. Is that the conclusion after several months of