Son of the White Dragon

"Your Highness, please spare us!"

"No! Stay away! Aah!!!"

"A monster! He's a monster!"

"Evil dragon! You'll go to hell!"

The boy with crimson eyes slaughtered the remaining people amid a mountain of corpses, the innocents' dying words echoing endlessly in his ears.

An hour later, as he stared at the hill now covered in corpses, clarity gradually returned to his eyes. He looked in disbelief at another person's heart clutched in his claw.

The heart was warm and still beating, feebly pumping out its last trickle of blood.

The boy broke down sobbing, draconic roars echoing through the mountains alongside his cries.

He dropped the heart and ran, ran ever onward. When a knight tried to stop him, he seized the man's arm and hurled him aside.

The tremendous force sent the knight flying onto a distant slope. On closer inspection, the armor around his left forearm was already twisted out of shape.

No, more precisely, his entire left forearm was held together by bone alone. Every muscle had been torn apart, mingling indistinguishably with the armor.

One armored soldier after another was thrown aside. Even the mage who formed their final line of defense was knocked away as the boy charged through his stunning magic bullets.

The boy ran toward the distant mountains...

His body was growing weaker, but he could not stop. For more than ten days, he had eaten no protein or fat. Smoke from a fire would give away his position.

Besides, whenever he tried to kill prey, the dead victims' eyes would rise before him again, along with that heart he had held in his claw.

The wild fruit along the way could not possibly sustain him. The most important organ of dragon kind, the heart that could generate magical energy through breathing alone-the "Dragon Core"-had not yet fully developed because of his age.

All he could do was keep squeezing his body for energy. Even a little more would do, even the tiniest bit...

But in the end, the knights dispatched by the Royal Court caught up with him.

"Your Highness, enough of this farce. Come back with us," the man at their head told the white-haired child before him.

"Come... back with you... What? Go back with you and continue those so-called 'performance tests'?!" Panting heavily, the white-haired boy widened his silver eyes and roared at the man.

"These are the king's trials for you. Britain was on the verge of destruction, and the king saved it. The king loves you dearly. He wishes you to grow strong, to inherit this country, to inherit..."

"Enough!

"He cast spells on me in the name of 'trials,' drove me mad, and made me slaughter our civilians and our soldiers. You call that a trial?!

"He colluded with the Saxons in the name of 'saving the country' and carved up the lands of southwestern Britain. You call that saving Britain?!

"Is he truly still the wise 'noble and steadfast king' of two years ago, the commander of that lone city surrounded by foreign tribes?

"Is he still... the father who loved me...?"

The boy's initially furious voice gradually grew subdued, until he choked on his words.

"Your Highness..." The man at the head of the knights still wanted to persuade him.

"Whew... hah... Enough, Sir Brian, and the rest of you behind him. Go back. I won't let my hands be stained with any more innocent blood from this land."

The boy steadied his breathing, took a deep breath, and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

The white scales on his body gradually vanished. As he spoke, he backed toward the thousand-foot cliff behind him.

"I'm actually terribly afraid of heights. A child of the White Dragon, afraid of heights. How embarrassing.

"And... dying from a fall off a cliff is such a disgraceful way for a dragon to go.

"Though I'm only half dragon. But would it hurt if I grabbed a sword and cut my own throat?

"Listen to me, getting picky about how I die. Heh."

Muttering to himself, the boy soon reached the edge of the cliff.

"Prince Sovell! Don't take another step back! Come back with me."

Brian spoke to the boy, his tone carrying a trace of pleading.

"Sir Brian, you're a loyal, honorable knight. Unfortunately, my father is no longer a wise ruler."

So said Sovell.

"I still remember when I was little-though I suppose I'm still little now...

"Never mind. It must have been two years ago, a few days after my fifth birthday. I watched Father return from slaying magical beasts, and I longed to do the same.

"I begged you to take me out to slay magical beasts too. You told me that hunting was the foundation of slaying magical beasts.

"So you took me into the forest to hunt rabbits, little wild boars, and other animals.

"When we came back, Father looked at me, filthy from head to toe, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He scolded me for fooling around, and scolded you for joining in...

"Ah, I remember that day so clearly. I've talked a little too much.

"If those mages with their snail-slow legs catch up and hit me with a Magic Binding Lock, I might not even be able to jump. So...

"Sir Brian, may God bless you with joy, good health, and a long life. Take care."

With those final words, the boy jumped off the cliff behind him..."

"Not all mages are slow on their feet, you know... So, that's where you came from?"

A strikingly beautiful man with rainbow-colored long hair sat amid a sea of flowers, looking at the unconscious white-haired boy beside him. His white robe was simply adorned, but made from the finest fabric.

"Though I feed on human dreams, I can occasionally draw out human memories to create an illusion myself, too~" the "man" said shamelessly.

"All right, shouldn't you be awake by now? That cliff was certainly high, but with my flowers cushioning your fall and your half-dragon physique, you should have woken up two minutes ago."

After the "man" said that, Sovell could hardly keep pretending.

He opened his eyes, sat up, and surveyed the boundless sea of flowers around him before asking the "man":

"What kind of 'person' are you?

"What is this place?

"Why did you save me?"

"Hmm, just what I expected you to say ╮( •́ω•̀ )╭... All right, let me introduce myself first-

"My name is Merlin, the Magus of Flowers. Merlin Ambrosius.

"I'm the court mage of King Uther's court, and a half-human, half-incubus. That's why I could create an illusion and see your past just now.

"And this is Avalon, the legendary 'paradise.' What do you think? Beautiful, isn't it? I planted all these flowers myself~"

"I see. The 'Magus of Flowers'... Yes, it's beautiful."

At that, Merlin stood rather proudly and spread his arms. Sunlight spilled down, and a gust of wind sent countless petals swirling into the air.

The sight was so beautiful that even Sovell was lost in it for a moment. Looking at some of the bare flower stems on the ground, he sighed inwardly at the waste.

"No need to sigh. This is Avalon, after all."

As Merlin's words fell, the petals blown away by the wind grew back in an instant.

"By the way, aren't you surprised at all that this is Avalon? This is the legendary paradise, you know."

"No, I'm certainly surprised. But my last question takes priority right now."

"All right, all right. Your last question. Once I tell you a story, you'll know the answer...

"Half a century ago,

"the former king, Constantine, was assassinated by killers sent by his vassal Vortigern.

"The former king's eldest son, Constans, succeeded him.

"Vortigern gradually took control of the country, enjoying Constans's complete trust.

"Vortigern plotted Constans's murder and usurped the throne.

"Twenty or thirty years later,

"two branches of the Germanic peoples, the Angles and the Saxons, crossed the North Sea from the Jutland Peninsula and invaded Britain in force.

"Vortigern was captured by the Saxons. He bought his life back at the cost of southern Britain's cities, people, and fortifications.

"Vortigern fled to a city in Western Britain, now Wales. He heeded the poisonous counsel of the sorcerers in his retinue and sought to build a fortress for himself alone, fleeing the war, abandoning his people, and casting aside his responsibilities as king.

"But every wall built during the day would inevitably collapse the following morning.

"Once again, Vortigern listened to their poisonous counsel: find a fatherless child, kill him, and sprinkle his blood over the fortress. Then it would become impregnable and collapse no more.

"Vortigern sent messengers to find this child.

"In a place called Carmarthen, a messenger found a boy who was seven years old at the time..."

About my age, Sovell thought as he listened.

"His father wasn't human, but an incubus..."

At that point, Merlin seemed to deliberately slow his speech. Sovell looked at him with the sorrowful gaze of someone looking at another of his own kind.

"Hey, what's with that look? Aren't you supposed to stare at me wide-eyed and say:

"'Don't tell me you're...' and then start marveling at my age? Isn't that how this is supposed to go?"

"No, I'm not. I already have some idea of how old an incubus might be."

"Half-incubus. Oh, never mind. Yes, that boy was me at seven years old-

"My mother and I met Vortigern. After learning the truth from him, I used certain methods to see the pool beneath the fortress.

"I mocked those sorcerers mercilessly:

"'You sycophantic frauds! Now tell me, what lies in the pool beneath that fortress?!'

"Well? Well? Wasn't that incredibly cool?~

"Once the pool was drained, everyone present saw two dragons sleeping within it, one red and one white.

"Then the two dragons awoke and fought ferociously. At first, the White Dragon gravely wounded the Red Dragon, but in the end, the Red Dragon staked its life on one final assault and drove the White Dragon away.

"After witnessing that scene, I gave a prophecy:

"The Britons would wage a long, drawn-out war against the barbarians. Along the way, some would sacrifice themselves to defend their country, while others would collude with the barbarians and become traitors. But in the end, under the leadership of a king, they would one day drive out the barbarians and achieve victory.

"The next day, Constantine's second son, Aurelius, and fourth son, Uther, led an army that drove off the Saxons and burned the usurper Vortigern to death.

"After Aurelius became king, he needed stone from Ireland to carve monuments honoring the soldiers who had fallen in battle, so he sent his younger brother Uther and me to attack Ireland.

"In the Irish campaign, Uther demonstrated superb military talent, winning a great victory in his very first battle.

"But the Irish commander survived. Instead, he conspired with Vortigern's offspring to poison Aurelius.

"I learned of the king's death through the stars, then encouraged Uther to claim the throne. Uther grew ever fiercer in battle, crushing the Saxons and the remaining Irish forces in one stroke and bringing peace to Britain.

"Uther then became king. But because Britain's mystery was gradually fading, King Uther and I planned to unite the Red Dragon's bloodline with a noble woman, producing a child born with mystery...

"Well? Do you understand why I saved you after you jumped off that cliff?

"The adopted son of the 'Vile King' Vortigern, the Son of the White Dragon, Sovell Pendragon."