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No one on the continent knew this magic. Not even among the dragons was there an established name for it like “that magic” or “that spell.” It was a human who gave a name to the magic. This human had a deep friendship with a dragon and was a man later called Sage among humans. The Sage was taught the secret by one of the dragons, who called it “Newt.” However, they never told them what kind of magic Newt was.
Therefore, no one knew about it.
“Haa… Haa…” Eye, who used Newt, entered the cave through the back door and went straight back to her nest. Then, trembling in a corner of the cave, she prayed that the green human would go away through the snowy mountains. If you were to say she was bad at fleeing, you would be right, but there were no one good at fleeing. It was the first time Eye had escaped from something. “Eeek…”
Then, Eye saw the green human arrive shortly after and panicked. He found her quickly and brandished his sword at her. I’m done for, she thought.
“…A woman?”
But the green human stopped. Newt had worked! That’s what Eye thought and, with all her heart, she uttered some words of humans that she didn’t know very well.
“He-Help… Help me. Please, don’t kill me.” Those were the words she had heard the most in the past two years. She understood the meaning of them, of course. She hadn’t practiced them, but they came out of her mouth easily. This must be the power of Newt.
“She’s a survivor from the extermination squad!”
Newt transformed her own body into that of another races. It was a perfect physical transformation that even made reproduction possible. In ancient times, when dragons were on the brink of extinction, this secret technique was developed to ensure the survival of the race. Nowadays, it was the magic of the defeated, used by dragons who were about to be defeated by other races to evoke sympathy by assuming the same form when pleading for their lives.
No one knew this magic. But everyone knew the tradition.
The “Dragons” were a ghost race.
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“Poor thing, she’s completely terrified…”
“That seems to be the case…”
The humans didn’t seem to have noticed that Eye used Newt and assumed she was of the same race as them. Apparently, Newt worked well. Those humans were foolish not to realize she was a dragon in such an obvious situation.
Relieved by this thought, she opened her mouth to plead for survival. She wasn’t sure if she could speak the human language well. But she knew what to say in such situations. She had heard it many times in the past years.
“H-Help, help me…”
She believed she had said it correctly. The green human who heard this sat down beside her and said with a confident look:
“I’ll make sure to kill that dragon.”
His words were filled with such murderous intent that a sense of dread ran through Eye’s entire body. Involuntarily, she swallowed her next words and her body shrank. Did they perhaps know?
“I have killed a dragon before. A dragon with red scales.”
No, there was no hope. They definitely knew. Her heart pounded fiercely. It beat as if it were about to burst. Her chest ached. Ah, why did the human heart seem so fragile?
When you thought about it, how could they not notice? Even she would notice, even if a human ran and hid behind a rock or something in a snowy field, she would know by the smell of blood. The fool was her. Why did she think they wouldn’t notice if she just changed her appearance? But then, why didn’t they kill her immediately?
“Don’t worry. You won’t have to suffer anymore.”
Then Eye suddenly realized. Yes, it was true. Newt was not magic to deceive by disguising oneself. It was magic to evoke pity by assuming the same appearance as the other person. In other words, she was exposed, but Newt was still effective, right? Would it save her life with this? In the next moment, she thought it would.
“Hm!” The green human brandished his sword. The same sword that shattered Eye’s scales, tore her claws and fangs, pierced her wings, and even weakened her heart. The object of horror. The symbol of death. The merciless object.
“Pii!”
With a schlick sound, a discharge struck Eye. She lost consciousness as she heard her own pathetic death.