The 5000-year-old Herbivorous Dragon-Chapter 73 - The Evil Dragon Rēvendia’s folklore

It was immensely peaceful. Already three days had passed since Haizen sent the letter to the so called home country.

At first the reply was supposed to come immediately―― But it appeared like it wouldn’t come any time soon. Of course Haizen was modestly saying that, ‘Most likely the opinions on how to welcome the Evil Dragon Lord are divided.’

In other words, there had to be a heated dispute going on between the bigshots whether they should invite or reject me firmly. To cordially welcome the highly infamous “Evil Dragon” as the trump card in subjugating the Demon King, or consider the possible risk that inviting the “Evil Dragon” to one’s country could bring and instead maintain their distance. If they were to welcome me, what etiquette would it require. If they were to keep their distance, what means would be necessary to avoid spoiling my mood. It should be something along these lines.

“Hnnn―… I don’t want to cause too much trouble so we’ll wait for a bit longer and if there’s still no reply, let’s leave by ourselves, I guess. Once we do that they’ll be able to take it easy, saying ‘The Evil Dragon Lord didn’t wait for the reply and set out on a journey somewhere.’”

“I see, as expected of Evil Dragon Lord. The puny humans’ political issues aren’t even worth considering, is that right? Moreover we must step on the road to domination and defeating the Demon King as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, but let’s wait a little more, okay? I want to let off some of the exhaustion here that piled up lately.”

While saying so, I was busy lying in rapture inside Haizen’s guest room. The smoke rising from my joints was due to moxibustion, a therapy made possible due to medicinal herbs mixed by the medics. It supposedly works like a charm for all kinds of illnesses caused by aging and moving too much, like arthritis or stiffness.

Thanks to the medicine given to me by Ariante my figure appeared like that of my youth, but for some reason it felt like my stamina didn’t really return completely. It seemed like the bill for living confined for many years wouldn’t be settled that easily.

“As a matter of course. After all the Demon King’s subjugation is possible only thanks to the Evil Dragon Lord’s strength. Curing this fatigue is nothing else but the first step to ruling over this world.”

“Thanks for putting it that way. Oh right Rēko, could you massage the area around my shoulders this time?”

“Certainly.”

Rēko was giving me a massage by hitting my shoulders with the edges of her hands. She insisted that she also had to do something for me when I was receiving moxibustion treatment so I asked her casually, but it turned out she was really good at it.

That’s when the sound of doors opening could be heard.

“Ermm Evil Dragon Lord, I’ve brought papa’s literature you wanted…”

It was Sheina carrying in her hands a pile of books. On her back was the spirit placed in a baby backpack. She was carrying the spirit around close to her hoping she’d get attached, but it seemed to have yielded no effect yet.

“Oh yeah, thanks. Could you leave it on the hallway right outside the room? As you can see I’m having moxibustion now, so if you were to leave it inside it’d stink of smoke.”

“Evil Dragon Lord is currently relaxing. You can stand back.”

Pat pat pat, when my shoulders were chopped finely, a sound of satisfaction mixed with a hint of drowsiness inevitably leaked from my throat. For some reason the gaze of Sheina holding the books turned puzzled, fixedly staring at my slacken face.

“Hnn? Something happened?”

“Ah no, it’s nothing really. I’m leaving them outside the room.”

For some inexplicable reason these past few days Sheina’s state was odd. I felt like her attitude became restless ever since that demonstration of all my darkness with Lady Saintess. Most likely I must’ve scared her. Once I rest a bit more we’ll leave, so please don’t worry too much.

“However Evil Dragon Lord, are those documents really necessary? Since it was written by human hands, apparently a number of forgeries is present among them. I can recite all of Lord’s 5000 year long life myself if you only so desire.”

“It’s okay Rēko. It’s important to be aware of how am I perceived by humans, you know?”

Above all I think even those forgeries would be more realistic than Rēko’s delusions. It seemed like there were various theories passed down by humans on how “Evil Dragon Rēvendia” ought to be, so I wanted to pick out one that was written in the most moderate style as the official version. And I wanted to stick to its setting from now on.

“Incidentally Evil Dragon Lord, I’ve already looked over all of those volumes so please use me freely as a catalogue substitute. I’ll make sure to select the most suitable book.”

“Eh? Really? Well then, among all of them how’s the one written in the most amicable style about me?”

“Let me see…”

Rēko became quiet for a while as though searching through her memory.

“First off all Evil Dragon Lord―― I can say that Lord being born from the darkness of the Netherworld and bringing about the annihilation of the former civilization is the minimum common preceding paragraph among all of the volumes.”

“Isn’t that too heavy to be considered a minimum? Besides finding something moderate from there would be next to impossible, wouldn’t it?”

“Naturally there were books without that account too. However, that part should be the minimum requirement for them to be of any use in Evil Dragon Lord’s research. I excluded those vulgar works which wouldn’t even take that into account from consideration. Personally I found three books which can be thought to tread close to truth that I can recommend. These are:『Legend of the Supreme Evil Dragon』,『Regarding the True Colors of the Netherworld’s Emperor Dragon』and『Kin’s Holograph ? Record of the Evil Dragon Lord’s Demon King Annihilation (still being written)』”

“Please stop putting your own filter on it and just search through everything. Also what’s with that last one, the holograph? Clearly it’s you trying to write a new chapter in history, isn’t it?”

“This is the most recommended biography. It’s peerless in regards to accuracy.”

Swish, Rēko took out from her pocket a bundle of papers bound with a string. There was something written in tightly packed small characters. No, no more.

“I’m begging you here, please put all of the books as the eligible pick and search one more time. What’s the book where I’m written about the most peaceful like?”

“… One of those books. I must say that I had to go through a lot of hardship to resist the urge of burning them all up.” 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝒆𝘸𝚎𝙗𝒏oν𝙚𝘭.𝐜𝒐m

Rēko frowned clearly displeased. Then she slowly unsheathed the dagger on her hip. It was the so called jewelled dagger she received from Raiotto.

“There’s a book where this dagger makes an appearance. Based on the contents it’s from that village’s priest family―― In other words, I believe it might be written down by Raiotto’s ancestor.”