Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 53: Bond

“Wake up!”

Huh? Is someone here? Wait, is someone hitting me?

“WAKE UP YOU STUPID DRAGON!”

Liz…

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Liz, her arms covered in scales of ice, punching my cheek repeatedly.

“Liz…”

“Why?! Why did you leave without saying anything?!” She yelled, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“I…”

“Why did you leave?! Was it something I did?! Tell me!”

I don’t want to tell her. I don’t want her to know.

“Come down here, now!”

I reluctantly shifted back into my human form, once again standing in front of Liz in the place where we first met, trying my best to keep my tears away.

Liz walked toward me with a mix of anger and sadness on her face, readying her fists to punch me, or so I thought. As soon as she reached me, she embraced me in a hug.

“Why did you come into my life like a hurricane, make me fall in love with you, and then just disappear just as quickly?! Just tell me. I won’t get mad. I just… I really wanted to see you.”

“I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t want to leave, but I had no choice.”

“Just tell me, please. I don’t want it to end this way,” she said with pleading eyes full of tears.

Please don’t make that face. I don’t want it to end, either. Why did I have to remember…

“If I tell you,” I stopped and looked away. “You will never look at me the same again.”

“You don’t know that.”

If I tell her, she might leave on her own.

I pulled back from her embrace, took out my sleeping bag, sat down, and patted the space next to me. “Let’s sit down. It might take a while.”

Liz obediently moved over and sat down next to me.

I stared into the cave wall, trying to muster up the courage to tell Liz about my forgotten past.

“Where to even start?” I mumbled.

“It’s okay, take your time,” Liz said, grabbing my hand.

I took a deep breath. “Do you remember the night before I left?”

“When you had a nightmare?”

“It wasn’t so much a dream as it was my memories. Something I had forgotten, or rather something I had sealed away.”

Liz looked at me, patiently waiting for me to continue.

“I thought the last time I was awake was during the era of the Byzan Empire, but I awoke once after that, around hundred and thirty years later. The Byzan Empire still stood, but… I guess I should start by talking about that.

The Byzan Empire was originally one of five countries on this continent, but by the time I woke up, it was the only one left standing. The new emperor used the empire's overwhelming military might to subjugate the other countries due to the emperor's ambition for a grand empire. It only took a few years for them to crush their neighbours and enslave their people.

The population had been indoctrinated to believe that they were the chosen people and that every other country was filled with barbarians. They valued strength and national pride above all and used fear and violence to control the population of the conquered countries. They were now all part of the empire, but their people were not equals. Anyone that showed just a slight defiance got put in a slave collar and forced to work until they died from exhaustion.”

“That’s horrible…”

“The emperor’s ambition did not stop there, however. For a few years, there had been forced conscription and heavy taxes to build a navy, preparing for his next conquest, the lands across the Crystal Trench to the east,” I said and looked up through the hole in the ceiling. “It was around the end of that time period that I awoke. I did not initially know about the state of the empire when I left my lair and, as usual, registered as an adventurer, quickly rising through the ranks. They valued strength, and I had it in droves.

The problem came when I got invited to an audience with the emperor himself. I initially declined since there was no merit for me to involve myself with royalty, but since he was so insistent I decided to just get it over with so I could go about my business. This was when I found out about his upcoming plans for war. He wanted me, as the strongest adventurer, to accompany an advance force of other adventurers to infiltrate the enemy country and sabotage their infrastructure.”

“But why would adventurers do that?”

“In the Byzan Empire, adventurers were expected to join the war. It was not like it is today. Naturally I declined, much to his frustration, not that I cared. What could he do? There was no one in the empire that could threaten me, or well… so I thought.”

“You mean there was someone strong enough to be a threat to you?” Liz asked with wide eyes.

“Not exactly… There was this girl… Clarissa. She was the daughter of the innkeeper at the inn I had been staying at for a while. We had been… intimate a few times, nothing more,” I said and took a deep breath. “I had left on a trip to the southeast part of the continent to gather some rare materials when soldiers came and dragged her away. The emperor had found out that she knew me and wanted to know where I went. When I came back from my trip, the innkeeper threw me out, cursing me that it was all my fault that his daughter got taken.”

Even though I felt nothing like that for her, it’s still weird to tell Liz about some other girl.

“But…” Liz said before I interrupted her.

“I forced my way into the palace, killing any palace guard that tried to oppose me without a second thought. Before long I stood in front of the emperor again, this time furious. I demanded that they release Clarissa, but the emperor just laughed at me, saying I was in no position to demand anything from a higher being and to just obey his orders. What a delusional man he was.”

I stopped talking, trying to keep my composure for the next part. Liz didn’t say anything and just held my hand.

“The foolish emperor ordered the guards to bring something and tossed it by my feet, something wrapped in a long cloth. Anyone could see that it was a body.”

My voice trembled as I closed my eyes, trying to continue talking.

“I leaned down and removed the cloth, revealing Clarissa. Her body had been mutilated, her eyes had been gouged out, and her teeth were missing,” I grimaced at the memory. “The emperor just laughed and said that she refused to tell them where I was, insisting she didn’t know, so they tortured her until she succumbed to her wounds.”

Liz let go of my hand and hugged me. “It wasn't your fault.”

“Maybe it wasn’t, maybe it was… If I didn’t go on a trip. If I had just been more careful. If I had just kept to myself. If I had left the empire. There were many things I could have done differently.”

“It still wasn’t your fault that they did that,” Liz said, tightening her embrace.

I took another deep breath. “You can probably imagine what happened next. The emperor had sealed his fate. [Red Haze] activated, and I killed everyone in the throne room before they could blink, except for the emperor. As I was forced back into my dragon form, the emperor just applauded, shouting that he had finally gotten a powerful pawn.”

“Didn’t he care that all his guards were killed?”

“That’s just the kind of man he was,” I replied. “The emperor, realising that the creature in front of him didn’t obey his orders, was dumbfounded. He couldn’t fathom that someone would dare to go against him. The last expression he gave me before I crushed him under my feet was not the despair I had hoped for but rather confusion as to why this happened to him. He truly did believe that he was a higher being.”

Liz pondered for a moment before speaking. “Did you leave because you were afraid that would happen to me?”

“Yes, but also because of what happened next,” I said, turning to look at her. “Remember some time ago when I asked Chloe what happened to the Byzan Empire?”

Liz looked at me like she knew what I was going to say.

“The real answer is me. I did not stop after killing the emperor. I erased the empire from existence,” I said, closing my eyes. “I destroyed everything, murdering millions of men, women, and children that had nothing to do with the acts of the emperor. I paid no mind if they were citizens of the empire or the conquered countries. The survivors must have interpreted my lightning magic as either divine retribution or a natural disaster, more likely than the wrath of a dragon.”

“But it wasn’t your fault! It was the emperor’s actions that caused [Red Haze] to activate!”

I looked back up at the hole in the ceiling. “While it is true that it activated, I still did it. I was somewhat in control. I was me, but also not me. Rage overtook my rational thinking, but I let it happen. I hated everyone. I hated everything. In my rage, I slaughtered them all, knowing full well what I did. That is why I didn’t want to tell you…”

I turned back to stare right into her eyes. “There is more blood on my hands than you could possibly imagine. That is who I am, a calamity. Someone who can and will destroy everything.

After I had scoured the land, I went back here and created a spell to seal my memories, a pathetic way to escape reality. I used the untested spell to seal away everything that had happened during my time awake, including the spell itself. That might be why I slept for such a long time afterward.”

“Then how did you remember everything?”

“The explosive power from [Red Haze] caused the seal on my memories to crack. I lost consciousness when the seal finally broke.”

“I see…”

“That is why I went back here, to sleep until the end of my days… I wanted to run away from everything.”

I hate the [Red Haze]. Even if I managed to control it this time, the murderous thoughts still tried to consume me. I’m no better than Orzuz.

We both sat in silence in the dim cave for a while until Liz took a deep breath. “I don’t care.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t care about that,” she repeated.

“What do you mean you don’t care?” I asked with wide eyes. “How can you not care about what I have done? How can you not care about what I might do?”

“So train me until I’m strong enough that it won’t happen.”

“But even if you are safe, there are still others that might get hurt because of me,” I said. "You know how prone I am to making enemies."

“Then I will protect them too.”

“But what if you don’t?” I asked with a trembling voice. “What if I destroy everything again?”

“I won’t let you,” she shrugged. “You are my dragon, I won’t let you rampage.”

“But…”

“No buts, I am your tamer. It is my job to keep you in check.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “You could quite literally be holding the fate of the world in your hands. I can’t take that chance.”

“You’re not taking that chance. I am.”

“You’re insane.”

“Of course I am. I’m sleeping with a dragon.”

I let out a small laugh and looked straight into Liz’s eyes. “Are you sure? There is no going back after this.”

“I’m sure.”

“I can’t believe that you would go that far just for me,” I mumbled as I closed my eyes and sighed. “I will just have to make sure nothing ever happens to you.”

Liz’s joyful expression felt like medicine for my soul as she kissed me.

“Oh, one more thing,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist.

“What?”

“I love you too,” I smiled.

“W-What?” Liz pulled back and stared at me with a flustered face.

“You told me when you woke me up, right?” I said with a smirk as I pulled her back into my embrace. “It’s too late to act embarrassed now.”

Tears began flowing down Liz’s cheeks.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Liz hugged me even tighter. “No, I just never thought I would see you again.”

How could I ever think of leaving Liz? Running away in fear like a child. I will have to spend the rest of my life making it up to her.

This warmth in my chest is pure bliss. It’s almost like it’s overflowing… Wait, this feels odd. It’s literally flowing.

Suddenly, Liz yelped as she grabbed her thigh. “Ugh, something hurts.”

“Liz! What’s wrong?” I yelled, panicking as she squeezed her thigh.

“I don’t know. It burns.”

“Let me see!”

I took off some of her clothes to get a better look, only to see something red on her thigh. It almost looked like it was being etched onto her skin. Just as I was about to use a healing spell, I stopped myself and just stared at the mark.

Uhm, that’s definitely a mark resembling a dragon. And I can clearly feel my magic signature from it. Did the mana that flowed from my magic stone do that?

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Liz sighed in relief before looking down. “Uhm, what is that?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, further inspecting the mark.

“It looks like a dragon,” she pondered, looking at me with suspicion in her eyes. “Did you mark me?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. Is anything different?”

Did I just mark her as mine or something? I feel like my mother could have given me more lectures when I was young.

“I don’t think so,” she replied, opening her [Status]. “Wait, what is this?!”

“Did you find something?”

“[Bond].”

“Bond? What does that do?” I asked. “I haven’t heard of that before.”

“It’s a passive ability. It says it increases my base stats by 10% of my tamed dragon’s base stats. Bonus can’t exceed more than 30% of my base stats per level of dragon taming,” she said, reading the information shown on her [Status].

So it’s a taming thing and not a dragon thing… Wait, so the mark means I belong to her then?

“That means if you manage to max out dragon taming, your base stats will increase threefold.”

“Wouldn’t that make me the most powerful human alive?” Liz asked, realising the power of the ability.

“Most likely,” I pondered. “I guess this means you have officially tamed me…”

“But… I didn’t do anything?”

“We will have to bump up gathering information about taming to the top of the list,” I chuckled. “With some luck, monster taming works the same.”

“Didn’t you get anything?” Liz wondered.

“Me? I’m not the tamer,” I replied, opening my [Status]. After searching for a while, I found it. “Huh, guess I did get something. Most interesting.”

“What does it do?”

“Let’s see,” I mumbled, reading the information. “While nearby, any experience you gain will also be given to your tamer.”

“Isn’t that the same as that bracelet?”

“The bracelet steals it. With this, we both get it,” I replied. “But wait, isn’t that a bit unfair?”

“What is?”

“Your [Bond] gives you more stats while mine gives you experience. Where are my benefits?” I smirked. “Being tamed sure is ungrateful work.”

“Do you need benefits?” Liz grinned.

“No, but it would be nice to get something,” I giggled. “I guess I will take you as my benefit.”

“I’m fine with that,” Liz smiled. “But can I put my clothes back on now?”

“For now,” I smirked. “I guess my lair can be a bit cold.”

After Liz got dressed, we sat back down on my sleeping bag.

“I’m sorry for leaving without saying anything. I knew I would never be able to leave otherwise.”

“I forgive you,” she replied, leaning her head on my shoulder. “You had your circumstances. Just never do it again.”

“I promise,” I assured her, leaning my head against hers. “And even if I did, you would just track me down and punch me again, wouldn’t you? How did you even figure out I was here?”

“Honestly, it was just a long shot,” she said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I didn’t think you would have gone to Kaydossa, and I hoped that you wouldn’t have left me behind and traveled somewhere else, so I came here to be sure.”

“What if I had found a new lair somewhere else?”

“You? You’re far too lazy for that,” Liz smirked.

“Well, you got me there,” I giggled. “But how did you even get in here? I closed up the entrance.”

“When I couldn’t make a scratch on the mountain wall where the entrance used to be, I kept casting spells next to it until I had blasted a hole large enough for me to crawl through.”

“I’m happy that you came here,” I said, kissing her cheek. “I can’t believe I tried to run away from everything like a scared child. It’s embarrassing.”

“All that matters is that I found you again.”