Ch29 - The more shocking truth, part two

[If what you said is true, why did I not find any records in the two years I am here? Not a single thing about the past and history about humans and dragons coexisting.]

Jun asked Taki with doubt on his face.

[About that, I was quite surprised too. The only thing that came to my mind is that the humans erased the records themselves so that no one will find out that they were the ones that betrayed the dragons, that they were the ones that discriminated the dragons because of the Dark dragon lord.]

Taki replied with a serious face, believing that his theory is the truth.

[That's right! Because of… Because of the humans, we dragons needed to fight against the Dark dragon lord by ourselves for so long. We are already nearing our limit… The only hope we have now of winning is to find the hero and the dragon priestess!]

Strea cried out as she started sobbing. It seems like she broke down after being reminded of the situation her home is currently in and Taki's theory became the trigger for her outburst. Seeing such a young girl carrying the burden of her entire kingdom, I can't help but feel ashamed for what the humans have done. Looks like the rest of us also felt the same as Lily already teared up while Jun and Seria had this hard expression on their face.

[It's alright Strea, it's alright.]

I said as I walked over to Strea and embraced her.

[It's alright now. We will do whatever we can to help you.]

I said as I slowly stroke her head, trying to calm her down. While looking at us, Taki gave a grieved expression.

[It's not like I hate humans or anything because of this, I just felt ashamed for the behaviour of the humans in the past. With that, I will like to request for all of your assistance to help the Dragon kingdom. The reason I am telling you guys all this is because I believe that we are most probably the strongest party in DHO, with us around we may have a higher chance of winning.]

Taki requested with a sincere bow.

[Count me in.]

I replied Taki with a firm expression, with Strea still in my embrace. It looks like she had calmed down but there are still tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

[Of course I am in as well!]

Lily cried out as she ran towards me and Strea with her arms stretched out.

[I do not really know about dragons but after seeing such a cute girl like Istrea, I don't think they're bad at all. Of course I am willing to help.]

Seria said as she walked over to us and gave a pat on Strea's head. With that, we all shifted our gaze to Jun who had a troubled expression with his hand on his chin. It seems that already became his default pose as he had been thinking for a while now since Taki's explanation. It took him a while to notice our gaze.

[What? Of course I'm in too.]

Jun awkwardly replied to our stern gazes.

[I am just thinking about the number of dragons I killed this past two years… If there are some of them that were like Istrea… I…]

When Jun said that, Seria looked shocked when she realized what Jun meant. I believe I made almost the same expression back then when I dropped the spoon.

[As I explained before to Kalia and Liliane, intelligent dragons that can turn into human form are only the elder dragons. Dragons and wyverns to them are just like goblins and kobolds to us humans. And something that I did not explain before, the elder dragons refer to themselves as Dragonians instead.]

Taki explained to Jun and Seria the way he did for me and Lily but with a piece of extra information. Dragonians sure sounds better than elder dragon as I am sure that not all Dragonians are old enough to be called an elder, like Strea.

[I see… I only encountered three elder dragons in the two years I am here. But all three of them looked like they were in a berserk state, with a black aura surrounding them. They don't seem like they were able to talk or be reasoned with. Are they the corrupted dragons that you talked about before?]

Wait… Jun actually encountered three corrupted elder dragons before?! I already had a hard time defeating one corrupted dragon. I wonder how much stronger will an elder dragon get if it got corrupted.

[That's most probably the case. Corrupted elder dragons will lose their sanity and just does whatever the Dark dragon lord wants it to. Their hatred is manipulated and amplified by dark magic, making them lose their reasoning. But unlike corrupted dragons, corrupted elder dragons will not get any stronger.]

[Hmmm… I see…]

After listening to Taki's explanation, Jun gave a short reply and started thinking again. For me, I am just glad that corrupted elder dragons will not get any stronger.

While Jun is still deep in thought, I decided to ask Taki something that had been weighing on my mind.

[Taki… I think… I think I might have had killed a sane Dragonian… I fought a Steela before when I just came into this world and I don't think that it's corrupted. There was no black aura…]

I mumbled softly while trying to avoid eye contact with Taki.

[A Steela?]

[That's right! Kalia! I almost forgot! The Steela that you defeated before went missing just a few days after you left. We tried searching for it but to no avail.]

Jun interrupted before Taki can say anything else.

[Eh?…]

Missing? How can it go missing?

[Onee-chan! Didn't you say before that there was no blood when you fought with Steela? Maybe it is still alive?!]

Now that I think back about it, there was no blood so there is a chance that the Steela is still alive. That means that I did not kill anyone!

[Hey guys, there are also dragons that are not corrupted serving the Dark dragon lord and the only Steela left in this world... is currently serving the Dark dragon lord as one of his generals.]

[[Ehhh?]]

Lily and I leaked out a dumb sound. I actually fought someone that important?! Even Jun looked shocked while Seria had been speechless for a while now.

[If you really did fight the Steela, I doubt that he is dead. He must have had pretended to be dead and escaped when nobody was looking. But I wonder why was he so close to Distodia?]

What Taki said is reasonable and the question of why he was so close to Distodia can only be answered by the Steela himself.

[There is no point in dwelling over something we don't know, we will automatically find out when we face the Dark dragon lord in the future. I am more concern about how I can get Distodia's assistance in this matter. However, no matter what method I think of, I don't think they will help. The fact that dragons are their nemesis is to deeply arched into the kingdom.]

Jun said with a frown on his face.

[However, players like us will most probably agree to help us out. I will need to start making the arrangements soon. Anyways, how will we locate the hero and the dragon priestess?]

[I will know the dragon priestess when I see her, is what Mira-, I mean the shaman, said... But I can really feel that the dragon priestess is really close by! As for the hero, I have no idea. The shaman said that the hero will show up himself during the final battle with the Dark dragon lord.]

Strea answered Jun, looking unsure herself.

[Right… Then I have another question, if all it takes is for the hero and dragon priestess to defeat the Dark dragon lord, why are there so many players summoned into this world?]

Jun asked. Being dragged with the flow, I totally forgot about that!

[The world will summon multiple individuals from another world in order to find a suitable hero and dragon priestess, is what I heard from the dragon shaman. In this scenario, the other world will be the game that we were playing, Dragon Hunter Online. I already asked this back when I just came into this world. They said that I am not the hero so I thought, why am I summoned then?]

This time, Taki is the one that replied Jun.

[Hmmm… Then one last question. Will we be able to return to our own world after defeating the Dark dragon lord?]

Ah… The most important question slipped past my mind as well. It's amazing how Jun can still be so composed even after hearing such a shocking truth. This question is very important to me as it will determine if I can return to being a man or not.

[I will not be able to answer that as I do not know. Not even the dragon shaman that seems to know everything know about this.]

After hearing Taki's reply, I do not know how I should feel. What he is saying is that there is a chance that we are able to return but there is also a chance that we will not be able to. I do not want to get my hopes up only to be crushed. Will I really be stuck as a girl forever?

[Kalia, are you alright?]

Taki asked me with a worried face. My feelings must have leaked out from my face for Taki to start worrying about me.

[I-I am alright…]

I squeezed out a reply. Right after, Jun came over and gave me a shoulder pat while Lily hugged me from behind. It seems that they know what I was thinking about.

[(It's alright, Onii-chan. There is still a chance for us to return back to our world.)]

Lily whispered beside my ear. For some reason, I was unable to hold back my feelings and started crying again. I turned over to Lily to hug her back. I feel that I had been crying a lot lately. Both Lily and Jun looked surprised by my reaction but I do not care. This past few weeks had been truly hard on me. Getting thrown into the world of DHO, turning into a real girl, getting attacked by dinosaurs and dragons and almost dying… While thinking about all this, my stomach suddenly started cramping. With my legs losing their strength due to pain, I started falling until my butt touched the floor, with one hand holding onto my stomach while my other hand grasping tightly onto Lily.

[It… hurts… My stomach… it... hurts…]

I managed to squeeze out while gasping heavily for air. My vision became blurry and before I lose consciousness due to the pain, I felt my pants getting wet.

[Onee-chan!]
[Kalia-nee!]
[[[Kalia!]]]

And thus, our history class ended.

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Author's note:

Dragon shaman, Miralis and Taki's conversation~

Part one:
After Miralis explained everything to Taki

Miralis: Only the hero and dragon priestess can save us from destruction!

Taki: I will do my best to save the world as the hero!

Miralis: Who says you are the hero?…

Taki: Nani?

Part two:
Taki: So will we be able to return after this whole fuss is over?

Miralis: I do not know…

Taki: I thought you know everything?

Miralis: Who says I know everything?

Taki: ?

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