Encounter with the Dragon God - Part 2

For this chapter, please note that any text written in brackets such as {words here} are spoken in Japanese.

***** Narrator's POV *****

The moment Orsted and Nanahoshi appeared, a shiver ran down Paul's spine as he froze in fear despite not even looking in Orsted's direction.

"Well, it's actually this way", Rudeus said as he pointed his finger across the magic circle down the mountainside.

"Hmm?"

Orsted was quite surprised to come face to face with a human child pointing directly at him the moment he appeared on the peak of Red Dragon King Mountain.

Paul slowly turned his head and peeked over at Orsted, still overcome with intense fear.

'THAT is the Dragon God? Rudy wants to team up with HIM!?'

"What are you doing here?"

The moment those words left Orsted's mouth, Paul flinched and nearly stumbled backwards.

Rudeus steeled his resolve and looked Orsted firmly in the eyes despite his inner fear. He intended to answer his question, but was first cut off by another.

"You", he said while looking at Paul. Paul snapped around, immediately turning to face Orsted. His right hand instinctively reached to his side for his sword, but he stopped just before reaching it, recalling his discussion with Rudeus.

"You're Paul Greyrat, correct?"

"H-How do you know my name!?"

"...It doesn't matter. More importantly, how did you get here? And why do you know about this place?"

"Uh- I..."

"I'm the one who brought him here", Rudeus interrupted.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Rudeus Greyrat, Paul's son."

"Paul doesn't have a son. Only two daughters."

"Excuse me!?", Paul shouted at him. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

Orsted looked over in Paul's direction and seemed to study him.

"I can assure you that Paul is my father", Rudeus answered.

"Hmm... how strange", Orsted muttered. "Still, why are you here? Who told you about this place?"

"Lord Perugius was kind enough to teach me about these circles", Rudeus answered confidently with that technical truth.

Paul was shocked to hear this as well. 'Rudy knows the legendary hero Perugius as well!?'

"Perugius? That old fool?", Orsted said in disdain.

"Yes. He was very kind and understanding."

"Hmph! Oh well. It doesn't matter."

Orsted narrowed his eyes as he stared intently at Rudeus.

"I see that you look me in the eyes."

As he said that, Orsted started walking slowly towards me. Paul, who had his hand hovering above the hilt of his sword this whole time, drew it and yelled out to Orsted.

"Don't come any closer!"

Rudeus reached out towards Paul and patted him on the back... causing him to vanish instantly from where he stood.

"Wha-What!? No! Rudy, no!", Paul yelled in frustration as he still clenched his drawn sword from the basement of their home.

Meanwhile, Orsted's eyes went wide in shock after seeing Paul vanish right before him.

After only a moment, Orsted's face relaxed as he came to an understanding.

'I see. He must be the Magic God, the newcomer among the Seven Great Powers. This has never happened before. It's strange for someone so young to have reached such level of power, but if he has been receiving tutelage by Perugius, I suppose it's possible', Orsted thought.

{"Nanahoshi, pleased to meet you. My name is Rudeus."}

Suddenly, to her complete surprise, Rudeus greeted Nanahoshi in Japanese.

{"What!? You speak Japanese!? Wait, is that you, Shinohara?"}

{"No, I am not Shinohara"}

"You two know each other?", Orsted interjected.

"We are from the same place", Rudeus answered.

{"What is your real name?"}, Nanahoshi excitedly asked.

{"Rudeus is my real name. I'm afraid you didn't know me back in Japan."}

{"What? Then how did you know my name?"}

{"I'll explain everything, but for now, could you please let Orsted know that I'm not a threat? He's got quite the frightening look in his eyes."}

"It's alright Orsted. He's a friend."

'Hmm. Did this boy come from another world like Nanahoshi? Perhaps Paul Greyrat found him and adopted him as his son.'

Rudeus knelt down and placed his right hand on the ground, summoning a huge [Earth Fortress] around all three of them. The earthen dome shielded them from the freezing cold air and was about the size of Rudeus' living room.

"I'm sorry, but the biting cold wind was really getting to me", he said as he proceeded to conjure a light spirit and then warmed the air within the dome with the [Heat Island] spell. He also opened up some small air holes at the top of the dome for ventilation.

"Where did you learn how to do that?", Orsted questioned. "Perugius himself cannot cast spells without incantations."

"I had an excellent teacher. Roxy Migurdia."

"Roxy? She also shouldn't be capable of voiceless magic"

"Oh, you know Roxy as well?", Rudeus perked up. "Incantation-less magic was self taught. Roxy taught me more about magic theory and simply about how this world works in general."

"Self taught?", Orsted said as he raised an eyebrow.

'This boy must be incredibly talented. Perhaps it's due to knowledge from his other world. Nanahoshi had told me that magic did not exist in her world, though...'

Rudeus then quickly conjured three stone chairs and used gravity magic to lift two of them over to Orsted and Nanahoshi.

"Please, feel free to take a seat", he said as he sat down in the remaining chair.

'Was that gravity magic? There's no way either Perugius or Roxy could have taught him that!'

"Where did you learn that magic?"

"I taught myself. After fighting the North God, I tried to emulate the effect with magic and eventually succeeded."

Orsted sat down, but was very wary of Rudeus.

'This level of talent... He's like Laplace. He must also have an incredible quantity of mana to be using gravity magic for such mundane tasks.'

"Orsted, I'm glad to finally meet you. I'm hoping that we can work together."

"Hmm? Were you looking for me? I assumed it was Nanahoshi you were searching for."

"I'm happy to meet her as well, but no. Ultimately it was you who I needed to talk to."

"Aren't you trying to find a way back home? Just like me?", Nanahoshi cut in.

"No. I don't want to go back."

"Why not? Don't you have family and friends back home? I'm sure they miss you!"

"I have family and friends here. There's nothing waiting for me back in my old world."

"I see...", Nanahoshi said with a sullen look on her face.

"You said you were searching for me. How did you know I was going to be coming to Red Dragon King Mountain?", Orsted questioned.

"I didn't know you would be here, to be honest. I only knew that you would be passing through the lower jaw in the next couple days."

"How did you know that?"

"From last time we met."

'What? From last time? This is the first we have ever met. He even said he was glad to meet me just a moment ago. Is he... implying that he has been through multiple time loops just like I have? Impossible! But how much does he know...'

As Orsted contemplated that, he stared menacingly at Rudeus. Rudeus quickly raised his hands up with palms facing Orsted as though to surrender.

"Woah, calm down. I didn't come here to fight. I was hoping we could help each other out."

"I don't need your help", he replied coldly.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I could certainly use yours."

"I'm a busy man", Orsted replied as he terrified Rudeus with another glare. "If you want to help me, take Nanahoshi with you back to Perugius. Since you're from the same world he should be willing to help both of you."

"I can do that if you want, but what I'm really offering is an alliance. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all."

"Hmm? What do you know of my 'Enemy'?"

"I know he is one and the same as my own. I swore on my life to one day kill Hitogami for what he's done to me."

***** Rudeus' POV *****

As soon as I said Hitogami's name, Orsted's face twisted into one of rage. I readied myself to activate the magic circle carved into my gauntlet that would teleport me back home in an instant should Orsted attack.

"How do you know that name?", Orsted said in a cold and terrifying low voice.

"He killed both my wives and everyone I ever cared about only to laugh in my face and mock me for my foolishness of trusting him."

"Your wives!?", Nanahoshi yelled in surprise.

Orsted, however, seemed unbothered by that detail and was more focused on my relationship with Hitogami.

"So. You were an apostle of Hitogami", Orsted said as he quickly stood up, knocking his chair back in the process.

A chill ran down my spine as he said those words. I almost teleported away immediately but just barely managed to hold myself back.

*Gulp*

I almost choked on my spit when he stood up.

"I am not!", I hurriedly yelled out. "I despise Hitogami from the very depth of my soul!"

Orsted remained silent as he continued to stare me down.

"Please, let me explain! I promise you that I am on your side!"

"Go on, then. Explain", Orsted said as he took a couple steps forward, until he was looking straight down at me.

"A long, long time ago, that bastard Hitogami appeared in my dreams, telling me all this nonsense about him being a god and wanting to help me."

As I said this, Orsted sneered as he continued looking down at me.

"I didn't believe him as he didn't seem trustworthy at all, but he kept showing up and giving me advice from time to time. At first, the advice he gave me seemed like it was to my benefit, but that was all just a ruse to gain my trust. The moment I let my guard down, he tricked me into doing something that inadvertently got Roxy, my wife, killed. The next night he appeared again in my dreams and laughed at my foolishness, reveling in the fact that he tricked me."

"A fate you deserved for trusting him!"

"Perhaps I did, but Roxy didn't deserve to die! Neither did Sylphy! Or Eris! Or Cliff or Zanoba! None of them deserved their fate!"

***** Back to Narrator's POV *****

As Rudeus shouted, Orsted remained silent as he continued to think.

'This boy. He's admitted that he was an apostle of Hitogami, but has now realized Hitogami's true nature. Should I kill him anyway? Killing Hitogami's apostles as soon as possible usually leads to the best result, but this loop has already changed to such an extent that I have no idea what to do anymore. Perhaps it might be worth learning more of what he has to say.'

"After Hitogami took everything from me, I swore to one day kill him. The problem is that I have no way to reach him. I spent fifty years searching for a way to reach him. Eventually, I came across an ancient dragonfolk ruin that described five sacred treasures held by the dragon generals that are all required to send you to the barren world, where Hitogami resides."

When Rudeus mentioned the sacred treasures, shock was once more apparent on Orsted's face.

'He knows about the treasures? The way he speaks he obviously is describing himself in a previous loop. How did he manage to have the same magic cast on him as I did? Did Perugius do it? Is he really capable of something like that?'

"Perugius told me that the last dragon general would not appear for another few decades. At that point I knew I had no hope of reaching him. My body was already beginning to fail and I knew I wouldn't last that long."

Nanahoshi seemed completely lost at this point. All this talk about sacred treasures and dragon generals had her utterly confused. The one thing she understood, however, was that Rudeus was clearly indicating he had time traveled.

"Even still, I didn't give up. Killing Hitogami had become the sole purpose in my life. I continued my search and found yet another ancient dragonfolk ruin in an underground cavern on the Heaven Continent. A mural in these ruins described an ancient magic said to have been developed by the First Dragon God that allowed one to traverse through time. I spent my final years studying this magic with Nanahoshi's help until finally I felt I understood it enough to attempt it on myself. I was out of time anyway, nearly on my deathbed."

"I helped you?", Nanahoshi questioned. "I don't think I would be able to help with that sort of thing."

"You had been studying magic circles specifically related to summoning and teleportation in order to one day find a way to send yourself back home. You had effectively become a master in the art, surpassing even myself."

While Nanahoshi and Rudeus had their short discussion, however, Orsted's mind was racing.

'This boy learned father's secret technique and cast it on himself!? Then why does he use magic so freely? Does he not suffer the same drawback of slow mana regeneration? Has he even improved upon the original!? If we've met in the past, why don't I remember him? Did his time loop overwrite mine? Does this mean that if I kill him he will come back and I won't remember anything? What happens if I fail, is this my last loop!?'

While all these questions ran through Orsted's mind, one thought held priority above the rest. The thought that there was a chance that Rudeus could put an end to his father's secret technique, ending his time loops.

For the first time in over 20,000 years, Orsted was faced with the possibility, however remote, of true defeat. He knew one thing for certain.

'This boy is DANGEROUS!'