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Chapter 79 – Part 2

「Um, well, I don’t really get it, or I guess it hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but in summary, Dran is one of those Ancient Celestial Dragons, reincarnated into a human, right? I don’t really get it, but, um, I understand that much」

Can that really be called understanding? I had my doubts, but I held my tongue. There’s no point in interrupting the conversation here.

「You don’t have to force yourself to try to understand right now. Just because you know now who I was in my past life, doesn’t mean I’ve become a different person.

What changes is just your perception of me. In this case, it’s you two, Selina and Diadora.」

「No, we’ve certainly learned about your past life, but that doesn’t mean you’ve changed or anything.

That’s because you were originally like this anyway.」

「Right…… It’s not like I’ll suddenly look at you like you’re a god, and it wouldn’t feel right to change my attitude toward you either」

「If you two suddenly started acting unfriendly towards me, then I’d become lonely and sad too. I’d like it best if you all continued to treat me the same as you always have.

Besides, I’ve already died once before. I became a human and was able to have a second chance at life. I accepted that unexpectedly good fortune, and have decided to live and die as a normal human.

I will live as a human, until this life comes to an end. Well, I do sometimes use my dragon powers here and there, but I hope you will laugh it off charmingly and forgive me for it」

After declaring that I wouldn’t be using my powers as an Ancient Celestial Dragon wastefully, I moved on to ask the headmaster a question about something that had been bothering me.

「By the way, Headmaster, Ente-Yggdrasil probably heard about my past life from her siblings, so it isn’t strange for her to know about it.

After all, I do have acquaintances among the ancient Yggdrasil trees.

However, you already had a vague idea of my true identity somehow, so I’d like to ask how you found out.

Maybe you heard it from Ente-Yggdrasil during your time as a Priestess Princess?」

In response to my question, Headmaster Olivier looked down at the cup in her hand for a moment, then slowly began to speak.

It was only for a short time, but it seemed like this was a topic for which she needed to sort out certain things inside her heart first.

「Dran, among the high elves, myself included, there were some stories passed down about the final moments of your past self.

While the True Dragons, the Dragon Gods, and the other six Ancient Celestial Dragons all relocated to the dragon world that they made for themselves, you were the only one who stayed behind on earth. And so, the story of how the Seven Heroes destroyed you was passed down」

So this was about how I had met my end in my past life. Selina and Diadora, who had been listening to our hard-to-understand conversation as if trying to grasp clouds in their hands, got relieved looks on their faces and opened up their ears so as not to miss a single word of Headmaster Olivier’s story.

On the other hand, Ente-Yggdrasil was looking over at the headmaster with pained eyes, so it looked like this was a story from the High Elves that had reached even to these parts.

For a quick moment, I felt like I could feel the pain of when the human heroes had pierced my heart back then. That really did hurt.

「Among the seven heroes who had gone to kill the one known as Dragon at the time, one of them was a High Elf woman.

Of that time, no, even throughout all of the High Elves’ history, she was likely the strongest and the best spirit user we have ever had.

She was the distant ancestor of the High Elves, rooted deeply to this Ente Forest. Of course, she had many other descendants, besides those of my own lineage」

That’s right.

Quite a lot of time has passed since my death, and there were plenty of descendants around the world, carrying the blood of the Seven Heroes in their veins. Christina was one of them.

「Oh, you must mean that woman. Certainly, as far as I know, she was the most superior spirit user on earth. There was no other spirit user who the spirits loved more than her.

She was able to summon the earth, water, fire, and wind Spirit Kings all at once. She had enough skill to cause the pseudo Beginning of the Universe. Such a person is rarely ever born like that, much less raised to be that powerful」

During the final battle of my past life, the spirits she had put to work were the Spirit Kings, the rulers of each of the four elements, who had constructed this world in the first place. To create a new universe, the name of that action was called the “Beginning of the Universe.”

The “Beginning of the Universe” was the ultimate spirit magic, which creates a universe that collapses at the same time as its birth, and in that extremely short time between birth and destruction, a great force is created. The “Beginning of the Universe” is a magic that taps into that power.

Besides that, it also has the power to erase the spiritual and physical laws of the original universe, and overwrite it with the laws of the new universe. Well, it didn’t work on me though.

「She was able to summon multiple Spirit Kings at once? That was probably much, much different from the Spirit King summonings we do today.

Even if we try to summon the Spirit Kings, at best, we only end up causing large scale earthquakes or tsunamis.

If she saw us now, she would lament over how pitifully weak we are」

「She was not the kind of woman who would do that, you know.

Hmm, but since I’m able to meet one of her descendants like this, you might as well tell me what else happened to the heroes after my death. I don’t mind it, so please tell me as much as you know.

After she killed me, what happened to her? I always guessed that she either changed shape into a World Tree, or maybe got married to that one man」

Species with deep connections to the spirits, such as elves and some fairies, would sometimes transform into higher spiritual beings as they grew.

In the case of High Elves, due to being highly synchronized with the World Tree, it is very rare for anything to change into the same race as hers.

She, who once fought against me, should have entered the stage of sublimating her own soul into a World Tree in the near future.

「My ancestor, Elsyria, after she fought and killed you, chose the path of marriage with the hero Semto, and lived until the end of her life together with him.

She did eventually evolve into a World Tree, but it seems that it definitely wasn’t her own choice to do so」

「I see, Semto was a bit of a late bloomer, so he was always so anxious about everything. So he was able to get married after all. That’s a relief to hear」

If that was what happened, then that means Elsyria and Semto’s child was a half-High Elf.

Well, the ratio of human blood to High Elf blood running in Headmaster Olivier’s veins was only about one to several thousands, or one to several hundred millions, or maybe even less than that.

With that said, Christina, who was the direct descendant of the hero Semto, had even lower of a ratio than Headmaster Olivier, but this means that she does have some High Elf blood in her.

「Nevertheless, it’s been just 16 years since I was reborn as a human.

To think I’ve been able to meet two descendants of the heroes; the goddesses of fate shouldn’t have intervened, but now I’m starting to think maybe they pulled some strings behind the scenes」

「Two, you say? Dran, so I was right, she is too?」

「Hmm, you noticed as well, Headmaster? As you predicted, Christina is also a descendant of the Seven Heroes.

Moreover, she is the direct descendant of the hero Semto, the one who landed the finishing blow on me.

She didn’t simply inherit the bloodline of the one who killed me; she is also the sole inheritor of the “Dragon-Killing Factor” that emerged upon my death.

Christina seems to understand that her family must have done something in the past, but she hasn’t heard the details yet. It isn’t really something that she could easily ask about, after all.

Come to think of it, although the two of you were originally like strangers to each other, Headmaster Olivier, this makes you and Christina more or less relatives」

When I spoke of the Dragon-Killing Factor having been passed down the generations, Headmaster Olivier’s face became downcast, filled with pain.

It was probably because she was feeling grief and the gravity of the deed Semto had committed by killing me. Semto, who had intended on shouldering the burden of the Dragon-Killing Factor alone, ended up passing it down, continuing on to this day in his descendants.

Finding out that one of our close friends was the descendant of the one who had killed me, Selina clung onto my left elbow with her considerably trembling right hand.

I placed my right hand on top of hers, letting her know through that action alone, that I wasn’t bothered in the slightest by that fact.

「It was also unexpected for me to find out that Semto’s descendants have had to carry the burden of the Dragon-Killing Factor just because he killed me.

I want to get rid of that curse somehow, but it is a painstaking process, and I currently can’t come up with any good plans」

When I expressed my compassion towards Christina and Semto, Diadora asked me a question with a slightly doubtful face.

「Hey, Dran. I’m just wondering, but Olivier and Christina’s ancestor was the one who killed you. Don’t you hold any grudges toward them? They’re the descendants of your enemy」

「Diadora, you asked the hard-to-ask question so boldly. Though that is one of your good points. I don’t have any resentment toward the heroes, the headmaster, or Christina.

That’s because at that time, I had become tired of living. So when they came to kill me, I resigned to that fate, and accepted it.

But when I learned about Christina’s circumstances, I felt like I had done something bad to them instead」

「Hmmm, the current you looks like you’re enjoying life to the fullest, but you went through a lot in your past life, didn’t you?」

「My mental state was a bit fragile in some places. My siblings always worried about me and grieved about it.

That’s how it is, Headmaster, so you don’t have to get so worked up for my sake. Please don’t pay it any mind. If you do, I’ll be the one feeling sorry instead」

「It takes a weight off my shoulders to hear you say that. As for Christina, do you plan on telling her someday?」

「I suppose I will start by looking out for a good opportunity to do so. “I’m the reincarnation of the dragon that was killed by your ancestor.” I won’t be blessed with such an opportunity to just say that as quickly as I did this time, so it’ll be difficult」

It showed in the faces of everyone here, that they all agreed with that statement.

Fortunately, Christina’s Dragon-Killing Factor wouldn’t cause any damage to her real, everyday life, so long as she doesn’t directly enter any confrontations with dragons. So finding a solution wasn’t too urgent right now.

It’s just that Christina herself is carrying guilt over the fact that her ancestor must have committed a grave sin, so I strongly feel that I want to help clear the dark clouds in her heart.

「Hmm, anyway, my inner thoughts, and that Headmaster was thinking about me, all of that has been cleared up now.

By the way, Ente-Yggdrasil, I see that you’ve recovered well, so what are the plans for the festival?」

Until now, Ente-Yggdrasil had been listening quietly to Headmaster Olivier’s conversation with me, but she nodded very seriously in response.

She was a sheltered girl, with innocent and airheaded parts to her, but even though she was a young Yggdrasil, she showed an expression of her responsibility to her role as leader to all her followers.

「I will take responsibility, and still hold a ceremony as planned. I can’t betray the expectations of all the people who came here, looking forward to today.

Fortunately, thanks to the assistance of the Great Spirits and Dran-sama, all of the miasma pollution from the demon world has been cleared out of my forest.

In my current state, I can hold the festival with no problem, so please be at ease. Also, Dran-sama, please just call me by Ente」

Ente smiled sweetly, and in response, Selina and Diadora let out quiet noises. It seems like Ente had pulled on their heartstrings just now.

I could feel that she was trying to be more friendly towards us, but the two’s reaction was still overly sensitive in response to that sense of trust and friendship.

「Got it, then as you said, I’ll call you Ente from now on. I’ll be looking forward to the festival tomorrow」

「Yes, please do. Dran-sama」

Having said that, Ente looked really happy as her smile deepened.