Reincarnated as a dragon’s egg ～Lets aim to be the strongest～ - Chapter 502

502 – The Topic of Hero Miia

We arrive at the summit where I fought the clay brave.

“…I see.”

Umukahime sends a critical gaze over the sloppily-placed stone slab on top of the overturned earth.

『I-I didn’t mean anything bad by it. That golem was seriously strong after all…』

“Well, it was inevitable that things ended up like this… Probably.”

Umukahime sighs as she walks up to the remains of the clay brave’s upper half. Around us, the broken remnants of the legendary rank armour [Evil Ahriman] are scattered about. Th-that might have been a waste of good equipment…

“I don’t mind. Even if it was here, it would have gone unused. In the first place, if I were to fight, I wouldn’t do so in such an immobile and weak form. From the start, there was no use for this armour.”

The [Evil Ahriman]… I wonder how much it’d have sold for. Well, with how few connections I have, there’s no point thinking about it.

“……”

Volk is staring at the [Lavetateinn of Life-Cutting] stabbed into the ground with great interest. He glances quickly at Umukahime. That’s the look of someone wanting to ask to take it with him. But, whether it’s out of fear of Umukahime, or because he’s reading the atmosphere, he’s staying silent. As expected of Volk, the man surprisingly packing common sense.

『But, what did you mean by saying the world would change significantly if it’s read?』

“God’s Voice is capable of seeing everywhere in the world. My master said that it does so by appropriating what people see. Hence it is so. My master had me cover this mountain peak in mist, and made the clay brave stand watch, to prevent outsiders from seeing it by coincidence.”

『So, if I read it…』

“Of course, the eyes of that evil god shall have laid on it too.”

I-is that really alright…? To begin with, should I really be antagonising them? If I work with Umukahime, I’ll naturally end up opposing God’s Voice… Honestly speaking, if God’s Voice isn’t planning on interfering beyond making me clash with Lilixira, I don’t want to do anything that would make me more involved with them… But I suppose it probably wouldn’t go so well anyway.

『…Now that you mention it, wasn’t it shown to God’s Voice through your Demon Lord’s eyes? Are you sure the contents were hidden?』

“I wonder. I am not aware of the full extent of God’s Voice’s knowledge. Before my master brandished her sword at that entity, she said that she acquired a unique skill through evolution that allowed her to escape observation, however.”

…Hm? The Demon Lord she’s talking about wasn’t the Alchimia who took down Eldia’s boss five hundred years ago? From the details on the [Clay Brave] and [Clay Guardians], I was confident that was the case, but… It’s surely not possible for a Hero that merely has [Asura Realm] to evolve.

“Well then, I will read out the words on the stone.”

『A-ah, please.』

Aro, Volk, the black lizard, and the atlach-nacha line up by my side, seemingly uncomfortable.

“Dr-dragon-god-sama… It sounds serious, but is it okay for us to listen in?”

I look at Aro and nod.

“Yeah. Umukahime hasn’t chased you out, so it should be fine. Besides… It’s about the figure that’s probably Lilixira’s boss. It’s possible it could be scheming something with her.”

I face the front. For some reason treant-san is standing further forward of me and gushing with curiosity, bringing its face closer to the stone slab. Have a little tact, will you.

『There is some that cannot be comprehended through words. From here on, I will use [Telepathy] to speak.』

Umukahime traces the edges fondly with her hand.

『I don’t know whether it will take hundreds, no, thousands of years for this to be read. Perhaps this will crumble away without ever being read, but it is my ardent wish that that does not happen.』

I had thought Alchimia might be more wild, but the impression I get from Umukahime’s narration is of a calmer individual.

『Firstly, let me give you my real name. I was the Hero of the Harenae Empire, the most prosperous country in the world, and received the name Miia at birth.』　

From then, she reads about the personal history of the Hero Miia for a while. Apparently, Alchimia was a figure from five hundred years ago, and she was a former Hero.

At the time, rather than a desert, Harenae was covered in lush grass, and was a powerful, flourishing empire that sent troops to absorb small countries if the need arose. That’s completely unimaginable coming from the penniless small country of the present that’s surrounded by desert.

Miia was named the Hero by the Oracle, and held tremendous power. However, unwilling to be recruited into the political arena, she joined the Church’s Holy Knights in their monster subjugations and relief efforts, by way of avoiding being used by the military. By supplying various convenient excuses to escape from the military and by telling her the best way forward, it seems that God’s Voice was a close companion of Miia’s.

After that, the tale moves on to her getting wrapped up in a conflict against the Saint of five hundred years past, Lumira, who waged war against the empire at the center of a union of small countries, and her single-handed subjugation of the monster feared as the strongest of the era, the Magic Beast King [Bandersnatch]. With that progression, we finally arrived at the conflict with Eldia’s leader, the Demon Lord Noah.

At that time, the Demon Lord Noah regarded it impossible to take down Miia through normal means, and evolved into a [Pandora], intent on turning the heart of the Harenae Empire into a battlefront.

I understand just how terrifying that must have been. I remember trembling when I first heard that species. As it was one of the other options I could have evolved into besides [Ouroboros], I know of [Pandora]. It’s a dragon specialising in durability and underhanded curses, and releases a wide area curse of death upon dying.

In short, its plan was to hold the empire hostage and torment them to death. Eldia seemed to idolise him, but Demon Lord Noah must have been an unbelievably cold-blooded bastard. He probably thought of humankind as no more than nuisances from the bottom of his heart.

…However, Miia knew of Demon Lord Noah’s plan through God’s Voice. God’s Voice made Miia choose between luring the [Pandora] into the Harenae Empire and ambushing it before it could reach its target, or to prolong the battle and mire the world in conflict.

If she intentionally went along with Demon King Noah’s plan and fought with a resolution to sacrifice her hometown, she would have been able to quickly defeat the Demon King. However, if she chose to protect the Harenae Empire and prolong the battle, powerful monsters would be born one after the other, and the world would likely be dragged into and ravaged by war.

And so Miia slew Demon King Noah in the centre of the Harenae Empire, triggering the curse, and turning the empire into a desert of death.

As a result, Miia was transformed into an undead by Demon King Noah’s [Pandora] curse, and became unable to live as a human. At the same time, the people living in the remote regions of the Harenae Empire that had been mostly transformed to desert and those living in the recently subjugated and vassalised states, had their hatred pointed back at the empire, causing the anti-empire war that had subsided to reignite under Saint Lumira’s hand, who attacked the Empire that had lost eighty percent of its military strength.

Unable to stand for the near-massacre that the great war was becoming, the undead Miia took action, but Saint Lumira declared her to be the second coming of the Demon Lord and a threat to the surrounding countries, pulling them into an even larger-scale war.

During that war, Miia finally became aware that the one offering Saint Lumira counsel and the God’s Voice advising herself were one and the same. Letting the Demon King Noah evolve to [Pandora], the destruction of the heart of the empire, and Miia becoming inhuman, were all in order to bring about great wars.

『-And so, failing to persuade Saint Rumira, I ended her life. After that, I concealed myself in this Easternmost Strange Land, and began preparations to defeat God. This is all I have to say about myself.』

…If this is true, what God’s Voice has done in the current age looks tiny by comparison. I can see why Umukahime seems to have been so certain that I would fight against God’s Voice. Indeed… It seems it would be impossible for me to get along with God’s Voice, matter how hard I try.