c0 (1/2)

When the wrath of a dragon that seared the sky is forgotten

When the tombstones of princes are buried under earth

And, when no one cares about such things

At an era in which survival is a crude joke

Athe desert

The rescue party

Three goes against one – An old maxim

It was early o to sleep, when a man approached the place called ‘the Last Inn’ for a lack of a better name

The inn-oas gazing at the man from the point he was an hour away from the inn

Normally, the inn-owner finds travelers much earlier, as there are not many objects that obstruct vision in the spacious Punten desert There are dunes, but even they are no obstacles for the inn-owner, as the inn is placed thirty meters atop a boulder About forty meters in diameter, the top of the boulder was completely taken over by the inn Because the inn was at such a unique place, the inn-oas able to spot travelers walking towards the inn a couple of hours before they actually reached it Those travelers came from the east, the west, or the north, stayed at the Last Inn, and went back toward the direction they came from

But thisfrom the south It was a direction that the inn-owner didn’t care much about, so the inn-owner did not see the traveler until he was about an hour away

The inn-owner assumed that the ht of the inn before he passed it Deter this about the man, the inn-owner looked at thethe distance between him and the inn Every now and then, the inn-owner turned his bored stare at other directions, but did not see any other travelers

The desert sky that resembled a dark solid matter was slowly saturated with colors of water The silhouette of thethat the ot up from his seat to prepare a water kettle and cups

Soe entered the inn-owner’s eyes as he rose The inn-owner squinted at the ht his attention

There was a black line following the hter sky, the inn-owner could see that the line was connected all the way from the horizon The inn owner tilted his head, puzzled Is theheavy? There was notheavy, the object would be hter Did thehis valuables? The inn-owner tried to look behind thea loose windbreaker

Soon, however, as it got brighter, the inn owner realized that his iot up in surprise

The black line behind the man’s feet was a stain of some liquid And no traveler would let water leak The liquid, that even the dry sands of the desert could not completely soak up and left a dark-red stain, was blood

“Sir, are you all right?”

The e piece of cloth, raised his head at the sudden sound of hu on top of a small dune and moved his hand towards his shoulder

“Who are you?”

“I ca to the inn?”

Even after the inn-owner explained himself, the man kept his hand behind his neck

“Do not come any closer Are you unarmed?”

“I aoes around without a camel or windbreaker? I am an inn-owner and I am here to help you”

“What are you helpingme where the inn is”

The inn-owner felt soain at the trail behind the man Closer up, however, it became more clear that the stain on the sand was blood The man followed the inn-owner’s stare, and shook his head

“That? Don’t worry about it”

“You’re bleeding thatme to don’t worry about it?”

“It isn’t my blood”

The inn oent behind the man’s back with curiosity The man let the inn-owner take a look

Thesack behind his back The sack was saturated dark-red and that was causing the trail of blood The inn owner flinched and looked to theout of the windbreaker, and shuddered Aa bloody sack

“What’s inside the sack?”

“As I told you, it’s nothing you should worry about”

“That’s blood!”

“It’s not human blood”

Thethe inn-owner As the , the inn-owner realized how heavy the sack actually was The sack, which looked like it could carry at least two people, left hugebriefly at the ry stare, the inn-owner promptly walked past him

“I will ready the inn before you arrive”

The man did not answer The inn-owner ran towards the inn

Of course, he did not intend to do as he told Until he reached the inn, the inn-owner tried to figure out where he had last put his sword However, the location of the longsword, that he didn’t even knohen he last used, could not be reme the man with just a sword, woke up his faot up the stairs

His wife, who ran out without a clue, panicked at her husband’s question about where the sas Fortunately, his son, who came out a little later, knehere the sas, and as he realized that he will soon be using the sword, ran out with excite wife into the kitchen, and brought out the cups and water kettle on the table

That moment, the man, who climbed up the boulder, entered the inn

The man looked around and walked towards the table with the kettle Behind thethe floor with blood The inn-owner frowned at that The man reached the table, took off the windbreaker and put it on his chair, then took off his backpack The ht his hand behind his neck

The inn-owner, coot about the bloody sack for a moment

He had never seen a sword like that before Above the grip that was about 30 centiuard that was also about 30 centiuard had to be that long, because two gigantic blades, each about 120 centi, were attached parallel to each other The sword looked like twin brothers that had a cos

The strange twin-bladed sorn strangely, too Thea cos on the top of his chest A circular shoulderguard was on his left shoulder, and on his back, a little below his neck, there was a piece of metal that resembled a hook

The space between the two blades of the sas to be hung on the hook

The sword didn’t even have a sheath

The man put down the twin-bladed sword on the table, satt on the chair, and started to unravel the cloth wrapped around his mouth and head

Then, the inn-owner’s son came back with the sword Fortunately, the s the sword behind his back The inn-owner glanced at his son to back off, and approached the man

“Could you explain what’s inside that sack?”

Thethe cloth, and left it on the table Dark hair bunched up with dirt and sweat draped on his shoulders, and his beard, unkempt for days, covered in coal-black around hisface towards the inn-owner and asked a very random question

“Is this the Last Inn?”

“So they say, since there are no inns to the south of this one”

“That was so”

The inn-owner, who almost let those words slide, soon realized what that , and opened his eyes wide

“What kind of absurd joke… You came from the south?”

“I came from there”

It would be more believable if the man told that he came from the sky

“Hah, there is nothing in the south”

“There is Keeboren”

“Ha, Keeboren? Of course that’s there Countless trees and a daas, too So, it’s just like there is nothing”

The ain asked a random question

“Give me the letter”

“Huh?”

“If this is the Last Inn, there should be a letter for Kaygan Draaka”

The inn-owner again opened his eyes wide There was, in fact, a letter About a few dozen days ago, alike he would die any tiive it to Kaygan Draaka The monk, named Orenol, had rejuvenate himself for a few days to return north

The inn-owner, al

“First answer my question What’s in that sack? And what do you mean you came from the south?”

The an Draaka, raised the kettle The inn owner quickly interrupted

“Two coins per cup Expensive, I know The water makes it possible for this inn to exist here”

Kaygan, not even responding, poured water in his cup Only after he was done pouring the water, he answered the question of the inn-owner

“I ca the Punten desert The place of my departure was Karabora I went south from there and entered Keeboren Then I est and turned north to get to this inn”

The inn owner snorted out loud Kaygan wasn’t wrong

Karabora, the east end of Punten desert, was more than 200 kilo journey through the desert, one should go around south, like the man said From the south end of the Punten desert to the inn is only about 50 kilometers

However, in other words, this le for about 200 kilole, infested with Nagas; it is probably safer to walk on the ocean of the saan pointed at the sack

“What’s inside the sack is soot from my journey Look inside You’ll believe that I came from the south”

The inn owner looked at the sack with suspicion and looked back at Kaygan Draaka, but Kaygan only quenched his thirst ater that cost 2 bronze coins per cup The inn owner cautiously opened the sack

Soon after, the inn-owner’s wife in the kitchen collapsed at a skull-shi+vering scream

Even the skyfish that flies the highest skies cannot see the ground here; not at Keeboren, reaching all horizons from north to south to east to west

Rain clouds laden with heat almost reach the apex of the forest The trees of Keeboren, inexperienced with any kind of axeblade, is old, gigantic, and sly The branches that greithout order for ages are tangled without a solution, and the branches that hold each other’s hands in the e an abundance of dead, dried leaves So, when harsh wind blows in Keeboren, leaves rise into the sky from the head of the forest

Gigantic trees round when it dies, but smaller trees can’t even fall and becoled in the branches Many trees that are aonally on their dead brothers, and so under Keeboren, which rereen ocean on its top, perpendicular, horizontal, and diagonal lines that extend out chaotically area maze that even birds would lose their way And this row, bend, rot, pretend to live, and sometimes crumble with a crack to scatter bits and pieces of bark and leaf to all directions

However, most of the ti darkness under its green veil

This is where the city of heartlessness is

A place where even the hty Leckorn wouldn’t say its name without discomfort, where even the playful Dokkaebi wouldn’t say its na his smile, and where the huiven name, ‘the city of silence’ Despite all this, this place is the city of heartlessness, and it is one of the greatest out of the great achievements that do not require praises and curses of others to testify for itself

Haatengraju

In the raju looks like a lonely white island However, that lonely white island is an immense city that relatively belittles the 200 ht of the road that extends straight forward, grand buildings stand showing off their oras that are even s are decorated with spoils of war Other Naga cities that are south of the Lih heart towers and beautiful constructions, but they are essentially a reproduction of this great city Haatengraju

Like any of its reproductions, this beautiful city is very different in tays from cities of other races In this city, one cannot hear sound, nor find light that expels darkness in the night Through the white pillars and galleries and agoras, Nagas co can be heard anywhere

So when Ryoon Fei opened hisshock

“What would it feel like to live with a heart”

Despite having the auditory sense of a Naga, which does not even recognize an arht behind one, Hwareet could understand his friend’s words because of the abnorraju Hwareet was nonplussed and could not even think of pointing out his friend’s rudeness

[Living with a heart? It would be living every day with the fear of death]

Ryoon Fei detected that Hwareet’s neeranized Ryoon did not want to puzzle his friend any further, so he closed his mouth and neered

[It could also mean that one feels alive every day, wouldn’t it?]

Then Ryoon raised his right hand and put it on his chest If Hwareet did the sa inside his chest, but he did not It was too e

[Ryoon, you don’t act like this in front of others, right?]

[What do you mean, ‘act like this?’]

[You don’t touch your chest in front of others, right? Don’t do it It’s rude] Hwareet thought that he neered too harshly and added: [You’ll stop doing that after ten days, anyway]

Ryoon lowered his right hand, and turned his body to look towards the center of Haatengraju There, the heart tower towered a few dozen tiraju In the pupils of Ryoon gazing at the heart tower, disgust and horror was jue, even minutely shi+vered

Standing on the balcony of the Fei mansion, Ryoon Fei and his friend Hwareet Makerow, are both 22 years-old, and according to the laws of the Nagas, could not yet be treated as adults But, in about ten days, when the Shanaga hides behind the moon, they will be called to the heart tower

There, they will open their chests and take out their hearts

[I don’t like it, Hwareet]

[There is nothing to be afraid of, Ryoon No Naga dies during the extraction ritual Accidents may happen, and one or two every year never co around to scare us]

Hwareet neered nicely but Ryoon’s face was grim

[I’m not afraid of an accident I just don’t like the idea of extracting my heart]

[Why is that, Ryoon? You don’t like immortality?]

[Not exactly immortality]

[Okay, half-i? I think it’s so, since we don’t have to fear the attacks of our enemies]

[Our enemy? Where is our enemy? There is no eneo north of it Where is this eneas?]

Ryoon’s neeritated Hwareet decided to explain calmly

[Of course we don’t go north of the Limit Border to the cold lands But those, the warm-blooded unbelievers can corains, so they are numerous But we can’t be numerous like theainst these unbelievers]

“They are co?!”

Ryoon shouted again with his voice

“How! Hureat Leckorns can’t even take care of themselves! And they all can’t see teht fro, but how dare would those unbelievers enter our forest!”

Ryoon screa him like a unbeliever, Hwareet felt a little uncoain

[What about the Dokkaebis?]

The naas do not fear grain-eating, horse-riding hu Leckorns However, Dokkaebis are a different story Hwareet calas knew very well

[Dokkaebis counter Nagas, they say? We cannot distinguish between them and their damned flares They can’t see temperature, but we too can’t see them And their fire can make our beautiful forest into ashes in a split second Think about what happened in Peshi+ron island and Arkinthrow valley]

[Those instances are too extraordinary Dokkaebis never like war Unless, they think of it as some kind of a funny prank, that is]

[But that’s still possible, right? I don’t think they have a li to end some day, I would think: ah, some Dokkaebi without self-control finally did it]

At the joking neerm of his friend, Ryoon had to smile

[I also know a few jokes about Dokkaebis, Hwareet And those jokes are the only things I’ve ever heard about Dokkaebis, ever But, I’ve never heard of a neerm that Dokkaebis are of threat Yes, they are the only people that can daze our eyes, but at the same time, they are the only unbeliever that has no interest in war If that is so, Dokkaebis can’t be the reason e need to live as heartless creatures]

[In this big world, there may be threats we know not of]

[Ah, there is Enemies exist]

Then Ryoon shouted using his voice, infusing it with disgust

“Right over there!”

Hwareet’s face was draith disco his friend’s recklessness and rudeness, he had a very high standard of generosity, but even he thought his friend’s actions crossed the line Ryoon Fei was pointing at the heart tower

[Ryoon, do not voice The heart tower cannot be a target of such blasphemy]

Ryoon dropped his hand pointing at the heart tower, but did not ansareet’s neerm with neither neerms nor words Hwareet suddenly felt as if he was a trespasser Hwareet changed his coe the topic a couple tiet any reaction back from Ryoon So, Hwareet decided to confront what Ryoon was silently asserting

[You won’t extract your heart?]

Ryoon still did not neer but his scales colliding with each other made an eerie sound Hwareet’s face saddened

[You don’t really want that, do you?]

[What if I do, ill they do?]

Hwareet neered full with despair: [That is impossible]

[Please give s because you’re an acolyte If a Naga states that he will live and die with his heart, what do the guardians do? Do they force the extraction?]

[No, the guardians do nothing But, I do know of soas that could not get their hearts extracted because of some unavoidable events]

[What happened to them?]

[The women, of course, were protected safely by their respective clans and waited until next year to get their hearts extracted]

[And the men?]

[They had to hide themselves desperately until the next year caot murdered]

[Murdered? By who?]

[Don’t act like you don’t know You’re the one who neered that unbelievers can’t come south of the Limit Border] Then Hwareet added an explanation: [They were all as]

Ryoon’s scales collided with each other again and made a cacophony

Hwareet sat down On the table was a box that he brought It was a gift for him and his friend to eat and enjoy, but the at

Hwareet neered as he looked inside the box slowly

[Ryoon, after ten days, the Fei clan will no longer protect you, because you become a free e difference If you extract your heart, the wonize you as a a They will stalk you, and kill you

And-]

Hwareet looked back at Ryoon, but his hand still hovered over the box Suddenly his hand bolted into the box like lightning When Hwareet’s hand ca rat The rat desperately squeaked, but Hwareet neered, still looking at Ryoon

[You may be eaten]

Ryoon Fei looked at Hwareet with a rigidly tense face, who then moved the mouse to his mouth

With the sound of bones crushi+ng, the squeaking stopped

Baiso e

A traveler alking along the ridge of the Baisowas no different from any other traveler, but his head was cleanly shaved Clearly, he was a ion of the Keezoon mountain, the monk seemed a little out of place Around here, there are no tee

However, it didn’t look like thedown the Baiso valley, and next to the streas Those buildings, which stood in the hollow place where there was not old-panners or hunters

The ently walked doards those huts

Suddenly, his surroundings became dark

Behind the monk, ondered if the sun went behind the clouds, suddenly blew a gust

At the strong gust, the monk tripped forward Fortunately, theall the way down to the valley floor

Theout of hisheavily Then, he couldn’t close his agape mouth

What popped out froantic skyfish

Its ventral fin was too great to fit in a gliulf a li those eyes one couldn’t dare look directly at, the ht backwards, and soon let out an excla that everyone talked about, was there

Collapsed towers and walls, pillars, and a doht

The monk realized that it was not as luxurious as people said

People talked about jewelled pillars and gold-coated domes

Of course, that is a result of interpreting the reflection of sunlight according to vulgar greed What was on the back of the skyfish were ht of time There, instead of shi+ny rocks or yellowish loriously The monk teared up

Looking at the great fish floating in the sky bearing ruins on its back, the monk did not hear the ruckus down at the valley until ot up and sat down, and turned his line of sight towards the valley floor, suppressing his reluctance He could not hide his surprise and worry for as happening there

On the valley floor, three horses stood in a group Their fore, but a little different First, a rider was on the center horse of the three And, the horses earing a yoke, but as connected to the other end of the yoke was no carriage A long and tough-looking rope was attached to the yoke, and on the other end of the rope, people were tied to it And those people tied onto their backs so the monk knew, but has never seen before

It was a rectangular kite, only a few hundred tiular one The monk realized why the horses were needed and moaned

Then, so The horses suddenly started running

The people on the botto minutely prepared The horses ran to the direction where they could get the htly, and suddenly the kites flew into the sky There were five kites

The monk understood that the kites were put in the air by the horses, but he questioned if the kite could sustain flight or be controlled That moment, the monk found that there were ropes other than the ones connected to the horses with the power of the horses, but was doubtful that it could be controlled or kept in the air Then, the monk realized that there was a separate rope connected to the kite, other than the one connected to the horse The monk looked around to find out where that separate rope was connected to The rope was connected to a gigantic pulley, fixed on the ground The ain, was astonished by their preparation The horses only lifted the kite up Once the kite was in air, it was controlled by the pulley, which served as a gigantic reel

As the monk predicted, the people tied to the kite pulled out their dagger Those people cut the rope connecting the kite and the horse, and the kites separated fro up But another rope was connected to the pulley, and rasped the handles of the pulley

These people were atte kites, an extre plan The monk didn’t believe in its possibility but was still ied the his hands

Then the monk realized there was a problem with one of the kites

There was one kite that shook unstably unlike the other four kites that flew properly The monk examined the kite with his surprised eyes, and soon realized that the kite was still connected to the horses What happened? The monk opened his eyes widely and observed Soon therope

That person cut the rope connected to the pulley instead of the rope connected to the horses From under the valley, people screamed profanity, and the rider on the horse connected to that kite was full of anger to the top of his head, spitting out vilification The kite ascended with an unstoppable force, and the horses were about to fly aith it The rider unsheathed his sword, as if he reereat for his voice to be heard

As soon as the rider disconnected the rope, the kite soared high into the sky

The monk jerked up and looked at the kite The kite, with both ropes disconnected, was shaking wildly as the wind blew, cooing insane with sympathy for the one on the kite The person on the kite could probably die from the fear itself

At last, the kite slowly fell down The kite cae the monk was on like it was pushed At the moment of the kite’s crash, the monk had to turn away

There was a large crash sound Thefor the horrific scene he was about to see, the monk mourned for the death of that unfortunate person

The death was sothat he could not even die, but had to stand up and speak vehemently?

The monk was dumbfounded by this unbelievable scene The person on the kite was roughly re out everything that ca speed, the speed at its ih to crush one’s body

What kind of a person was he?

Then the monk realized the person was almost 3 meters tall

Because of the absurdly large kite, the antic the person was TheBut his excitement did not cal voice

“A…are you all right?”

“What are you! Are you kidding me!”

The other person turned his fearful beak towards the monk The monk cowered

“I saw the crash while I was passing by Are you injured anywhere?”

The other person, flurried with anger, softened his voice a little

“I’m fine, dammit I’m fine! Are you relieved?”

“That’s incredible Falling fro fine You would have died if you weren’t a Leckorn”

The Leckorn snapped his beak It was a gesture equivalent to snorting for humans The monk could not hide his astonishs of the Leckorn Having scratches here and there, the feathers ith blood in various places, but e to touch hi at him or not, only looked up at the other four kites in the sky

The monk too looked up at the sky The other four kites were approaching the skyfish The Leckorn stomped his feet impatiently

“A little further! Just a little! Goddess who is lower than all, please! Loosen more rope, you lowlives!”

But luck was far away fro adventurers To add, about a 100 meters too far

The rope ran out at a point about a 100 meters away fro what to do, and the skyfish leisurely passed over their heads The people at the valley floor had tothat they were pulling back the rope, the Leckorn screamed

“No!”

The Leckorn sank to the ground, pulling his comb The monk consolated the Leckorn

“It was truly a daring plan I alht it succeeded If the skyfish flew a little lower, it would definitely have succeeded”

The Leckorn was not listening to theat the dorsal fin of the skyfish that swam leisurely to the opposite side of the sky The skyfish sithout changing its form at all The fact that the skyfish could have contacted the beings of the earth after thousands of years since it started its flight, and that this contact failed by a mere few hundred meters, did not seem to affect the skyfish at all The skyfish, completely indifferent, disappeared to the other side of the sky

A lot of time passed when the skyfish disappeared to the other side of the e The monk immersed in emotion heard the Leckorn stand up and dust his feathers, and looked back at him The Leckorn looked back at the broken kite and ranted, then screaer

“Robbes, you bastard! I will kill you! 100 meters short!”

The monk did not knoho Robbes was, but he could still presuer The monk tried to stop the Leckorn but the nextdown the slope of the mountain The Leckorn strided down the slope, his , and the monk hastily chased the Leckorn

Unable to catch his breath, the monk reached the bottom of the valley only to find out the situation was not as severe The Leckorn was screa at this furry huly, Robbes did not cower one bit against the Leckorn He even made the Leckorn fluster

“You o batshi+t crazy to get on the kite! I let you on the kite and you cut the wrong rope and destroy the kite!”

The monk opened his eyes wide A human can’t do that Only fellow Leckorns can talk like that to a Leckorn Observing Robbes in surprise, the monk could realize what Robbes was after a moment

“Daet on the back of a skyfish…Wait, even if I did cut the right rope, ould’ve failed regardless! All the other kites didn’t make it up there!”