Chapter 2208: A Talk With Celene

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"Svartalf is also my grandmother," Drake pointed out. "They told me about you and where you were, and I came to see you because I needed your help. Of course, I know nothing is free in this world, I’m willing to offer anything you wish for, money, resources, equipment, weapons, I could even create a small, fragmented world dungeon you can carry and keep your kids safe inside."

As Drake said, he manifested a bubble out of thin air, showing a landscape inside, leaving Celene speechless that he could even do such a thing.

"Y-You’re...! You’re strange... so there’s really a Dragon King now?" she was shaken. "This never happened before..."

"Well, the world is changing rapidly..." Drake said. "I had thought about recruiting you at first, but it seems you are living your own life, and I don’t really want to disturb you."

"Hm..." Celene sighed. "No matter how hard I check, you’re really not lying... How odd. Why are you so strange?"

"Strange?!" Drake felt offended. "Listen, I’m just trying to do what I came here to do... Why is so many people questioning me lately? Is it that bad to be honest and genuinely kind if I can? Damn it. It really makes me tired how little people expect of me..."

"..." Celene was a bit surprised about Drake’s genuine words and felt slightly bad. "I’m... I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to say it like that. I can... I can tell you’re really not a bad person."

"Of course I’m not! If anything, being so suspicious and all, you’re kind of making me feel really bad right now..." Drake sighed. "If you really just hate all dragons, then just tell me and I won’t disturb you. I’ll find a way without asking for your blood. Maybe I’ll just have to go to Midgard and find another Moonlight Dragon..."

Drake was usually a lot rougher, but with other dragons, he often times was gentler and more understanding, mostly because he saw them as family.

However, he quickly realized that being too kind only made people see him as suspicious or weird, even other dragons.

"I’m leaving..."

Drake walked forward, as Celene saw his body pass through her formation, shattering it into pieces.

"By the way, your formation would never be able to hold me."

He walked away after that, as Celene realized just how absurdly powerful that man was.

"W-What was that?! He broke through my formation by just walking through it?! How strong is he..." Celene gasped. "Ah, why am I like this?! Damn it!"

She ran outside of the house, calling for him.

"Please wait! Drake!"

"Hm?"

Drake turned to see her again, as she saw her calling for him.

"What’s wrong?"

"I apologize for my rudeness before, I had no idea you were so strong..."

"So that’s it? At the end, only strength matters..."

"No, no, I understand you’re also kind! And... much more polite than I could ever be."

"Hm."

"I’ll give you my blood, if that’s all you’re asking."

"Okay, name your price."

"No, there’s no price..."

Celene quickly filled a bottle with her divine, sparkling blood, and gave it to Drake without hesitation.

"I... well, thank you," Drake said happily. "But tell me, why are you... well, uh, like this?"

"It’s complicated..." Celene said. "Nothing too serious... I simply am like an outcast. My family is quite uptight all the time, and I became tired of that. I slowly started to care about mortals when I interacted with them, when I saw them live, when I saw them struggle... My sibling often told me that there was something greater than just that, that we had to watch over the world as guardians, but that we were not babysitters... I am not exactly a babysitter, I argued with them about... many things, but I suppose they were not wrong now, as I have indeed become one."

"It’s completely different now though..." Drake said. "You’re taking care of children nobody cares about, you’re giving them a new future, a brighter one... where they would have starved to death or turned into a darker path, becoming criminals in the streets, you gave them a new opportunity."

"I... I suppose..." Celene nodded, feeling slightly happy to be praised.

"You know? You’re the complete opposite of someone I meet... someone that walked a very dark path," Drake said. "His name was Umbral, a Dark Dragon... he swore to kill all mortals for what a few did to his mother... If only someone like you would have been there for him, I wonder how things would have turned out? Maybe... maybe he wouldn’t have become what he did, or had committed the atrocities he did..."

"Umbral...?" Celene wondered. "That name..."

"Did you know him?" Drake raised an eyebrow.

"No..." Celene said. "But it’s a beautiful name..."

"Hm, it’s a good one," nodded Drake. "Some of the older dragons may say that people like you are not necessary, but I believe the contrary. If there were more dragons like you, what happened to Umbral could have been stopped. I had a big fight with my grandmother, Svartalf, exactly about that..."

"..." Celene remained in silence, shocked by what she heard. "You... fought the primordial mother of dark dragons?"

"Indeed, it was... I am not proud of what I did," Drake sighed. "It was just a fight with words, we didn’t fight physically, and... I was angered because what happened to Umbral could have been stopped if she had been more sensitive back then. Somehow, emotions, empathy, and so on, are not as valued within our families... well, empathy between each other as dragons I suppose it’s natural, but it’s nothing as intense and genuine as it is between mortals."

"...Yeah, I know," Celene sighed.

"Perhaps because we have such long lives, our own emotions and hearts become dulled, while mortals, with their fleeting lives, have to live every day like it’s their last," Drake said. "I... understand that very well, because I was once a mortal, and I died once too, as one."

"You were?" Celene was surprised. "Wait, you mean...?"

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