"Hehe, your back is so fluffy- it's kind of making me sleepy..."
Hearing Riya's words, Marco sighed and said,
"Can you get off my back already... We already crossed the river and walked for quite a while...."
Riya completely disregarded Marco's words, saying instead,
"But you know what? Kai is fluffier than this, but he avoids me a lot..."
At those words, Marco replied in an annoyed words,
"Who even is Kai, ugh?"
Riya responded with a smirk to that question.
"It's the pet cat of a friend of mine! It's a very arrogant cat! It doesn't let others touch it all... but it seems to like sitting on Lia's shoulder for some reason..."
"I once tried to snatch him away to play around with him for a day, but he's a fast runner, and I didn't manage to catch him at all... sigh~"
After hearing those words, Marco just kept silent and didn't even talk anymore.
'This two-legged creature is insane; she's not even hearing my words anymore. ugh.. she's just talking to herself at this point...'
After walking for another hour or so, Marco and Riya arrived near a giant tree located on a small hill.
Two chairs and a table were placed under the shade of the tree, and the table had several types of sweets and pastries on it.
But what was most surprising was the woman sitting on one of the chairs.
The woman glanced at Riya and smiled slightly before speaking.
"We meet again, Riya, 'Pursuer of the Eternal Nirvana'... It's been a while..."
Seeing the woman, Riya immediately jumped down from Marco's back, and a surprised look appeared on her face.
"Ah, you were here too, Aria Senpai!? Yeah, it's been a while, hehe~"
Riya walked over to Aria's side and sat on the other chair, while Marco just stood there in silence.
Aria glanced over at Marco and said,
"It's been a while, Marco. I see that you have grown quite a lot compared to before..."
Marco sighed at those words and said,
"A while? It's been more than a century since you last came here... I thought you would never come back..."
A confused look appeared on Riya's face after hearing Marco and Aria's conversation. "You two know each other?"
Aria nodded her head at that question and replied.
"Actually, Marco belongs to a race that's already been considered extinct by the outside world; even I thought that this type of sentient sheep's had gone extinct...."
"But color me surprised; I found a young cub when I was wandering around at random in the Beastfolk's Empire..."
"There are a lot of hidden gems in that place. Half of the beasts in my garden are from that place..."
Riya tilted her head and asked,
"Your garden?"
Aria nodded her head and said,
"Well, we are sitting in my garden right now... This whole plain is my garden; actually, the Dragon King gifted me this area..."
For a dragon, the perception of time and the space they live in are different.
Humans might think that this whole plain is too big to be considered a garden, but for a dragon, this place is actually quite small.
All the beasts and monsters living in this place's ecosystem are basically Aria's pets.
Even Marco himself has met Aria before; she was the one who taught him language and how to talk and understand others.
She was the one who gave him the knowledge of this place and asked him to lead his herd of sheep.
Marco has been following her orders for the last hundred years.
Although he's not an awakener, he has a lifespan of three hundred years due to his unique bloodline, so he's still in his prime.
"Ah, forgive me about that; I was out on a small trip with the Dragon King these past few years..."
Aria was literally wandering around and playing chess with the dragon king for the whole last century, but a century is really not too long for a dragon.
For her, a century is simply comparable to a year in terms of human perception of time.
Marco wanted to reprimand Aria for abandoning him for so many years, but when he finally saw her again, he was at a loss for words.
"Hundred years is a small trip? You dragons sure are a wilful lot..."
For Aria, a hundred years meant nothing, but for Marco, a lot of time has passed. He considered Aria his protector and his mother, and he wanted to meet her again one day to thank her for all she did for him.
But he just kept waiting and waiting, and she never returned.
And now that she has suddenly returned, Marco has no words to describe his thoughts.
"Well, how long before you appear again after this time, then?"
Aria sighed at that question and said,
"Er... I think I will be staying in the Dragon Valley for a long time this time... After all, things
are getting more rowdy nowadays..."
"I want to investigate the strange phenomenon of hundreds of miasma-filled dungeons opening in the Dragon Valley every year..."
Hearing those words, Marco replied,
"Ah, about that... When the miasma-filled dungeon opened in this place for the first time, thousands of your so-called 'Pets' died... Fortunately, the dragon's started to clear out the
dungeon soon after..."
"Otherwise, this garden of yours would have been done for..."
"When you didn't return even when your garden was on the brink of destruction... I thought
you had died..."
Aria chuckled slightly upon hearing those words,
"Haha, you worry too much; there's no way anything can kill me when I am wandering around with the Dragon King himself... I have yet to see anything that has ever been able to survive
his anger..."
At that moment, Riya intervened and spoke,
"What about Link's Father?"
After hearing those words, Aria paused in thought for a moment before speaking.
"Well, that's uncertain to say... The outside world thinks that the Dragon King and Ashtel Rex
might get into conflict if they meet... but the thing is..."
"The two of them have already met once before... Although they are not friends, you can
consider them acquaintances at the very least..."
Riya was really surprised after hearing those words.
"What!? Is that really true!?"
Aria nodded her head and said,
"Yeah, when I was wandering around in the Oort cloud with the Dragon King about sixteen
years ago, we came across him as he was going back after conquering an SS-rank dungeon..."
"We actually had a good chat..."
Riya found all this information extremely shocking. The media in the human empire consistently seeks to garner more views by drawing comparisons between powerful
individuals.
Thus, it leads people to misunderstand that the strongest individuals are not necessarily on good terms with each other, and they can engage in conflict at any time.
But this isn't true.
Just like Ashtel has a lot to protect, the Dragon King Idri himself has the whole Dragon Valley
to take care of.
If they fight, victory and defeat won't matter; both of them will lose, as their fight will affect things that they want to protect.
Worldly things seem so fickle in front of powerhouses like 'Demi-gods', but these worldly things are what bind them too, just like any other normal person.
"Looking back, Mr. Ashtel is not a bad person either; I would say he's carrying just as much
burden on his shoulders as the Dragon King..."
"In fact, I think all those who lead their races are kind of similar in some ways..."
Aria glanced at Riya and said,
"I actually met the Demon King himself once... His way of ruling his race is different from us...
He doesn't go to great lengths to protect his kin like us..."
"But as the ruler of the Demon Continent, even he's trying his best to expand his race and give them a better chance for survival in this world..."
"Even though the alliance doesn't like the demon race, if you look from their point of view, demons do what they are meant to do... They don't spread miasma intentionally..."
"It's in their nature to do so... Looking from this angle, you will find that no one is absolutely
evil and no one is absolutely good..."
Riya frowned at those words and asked,
"But demons destroy other people's homes and kill people for fun, right?"
Aria nodded her head and smiled.
"Exactly... And that's what demons are supposed to do; they live on 'Miasma', which is an
extremely toxic thing for any kind of living being, and they are bound to lose their minds if they get corrupted by it..."
"In other words, demons themselves are victims of miasma if you look at it from a different
point of view..."
"And what the alliance does is 'Kill' these victims to stop this miasma and corruption from spreading... as we don't have any other way to stop it..."
At that moment, Aria's eyes turned serious as she said,
"What if Link was corrupted by miasma and became a demon? What would you do? Would you
still be able to think of demons as enemies?"
"You traverse the path of 'Healing all wounds', but what about the wounds inflicted on
entities without their awareness?"
"If the whole Demon race is just a victim, then wouldn't that mean you'd have to heal them
too?"
"Tell me, Riya, what do you think is the true meaning of your healing magic, then?"
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! It seems we are going really deep into psychological
thoughts...
Question of the day:
What are your thoughts on Aria's words?
(Tell me in the comments.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story.
Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.