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That suddenly appeared from the ground.
Its massive white torso is enveloped with tightly packed scales and intimidates all who see it.
Its white luster could be considered a piece of art by itself; who knows how much each single scale could be valued?

Its thick limbs can blow away the weak with a light swing, and its sharp claws can take lives just as easily.
Its long tail undulates, and the wings on its back stir up a storm.
It has golden eyes, embers emanating from its mouth, and dense magic power that could overwhelm others with its mere existence.

This, which seemed to burst through the floor, was undoubtedly a pure white dragon.

And so, what’s commonly depicted as the strongest creature appeared before us, but for some reason, I don’t feel any fear.
It certainly looks strong, and I’m sure we can’t win against it.
However, fear is absent in me, to the point that I’m honestly more curious about how it managed to get to this stratum with its gigantic body.

『Look Ain, look! It’s a dragon! Not a wyvern, but a dragon like in the stories!』

Ciel, meanwhile, has her eyes glimmering with excitement at the white dragon’s appearance.
Even in this world, dragons are depicted as the strong. To the point where most of the heroic tales Ciel read in her younger years had scenes of fighting an enormous dragon.

Faced with a being of legend, I can understand Ciel’s excitement.
Influenced by Ciel’s reaction, my sense of fear… No, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

First, how do I describe it? This dragon doesn’t feel like a monster. The fact that it doesn’t attack us immediately is already un-monster-like, but its magic power also feels fundamentally different from that of monsters’.
It’s the first time I’ve felt something like this, so it’s difficult for me to make a judgment. It also has similarities with monsters, making it even more of a dilemma.

Also, I don’t know how, but I believe I feel rationality from its observing eyes.

「Who are you lot?」
「Oh, you can talk?」

A stern, earth-shakingly bassy voice came from its mouth, which Ciel replied to with her usual cadence.
Her tone has a tinge of friendliness; is it because she’s not talking to a human? I hope so.
Also, this white dragon seems to have noticed my existence.

「I ask again. Who are you lot?」
「Even if you ask that, I don’t really know how to properly respond.
But let’s see. My name is Cielmer.」
「There is another one, isn’t there?」
「You mean Ain, Ainsel? Only either of us can be outside once at a time.」

Hearing Ciel’s reply, the white dragon turned silent.
It might be organizing the information in its head.
However, Ciel doesn’t give the dragon much time to think.

「Why did you come up here? You live in the deeper parts of this den, right?」
「… I see. Indeed, I emerged from the deepest depths.
You see, I sensed an unusual presence infiltrating this den.」
「Do you mean the spider? If so, we already defeated it.」
「Let me correct myself. I sensed three presences in total: one distinct, two intertwined.」

Ah, so we’re also part of the strange presence it mentioned.
If it can perceive my existence, then Ciel’s presence certainly would seem strange to it.
In that case, this dragon’s goal might be to eliminate us, to assess us, or to simply observe us out of curiosity.

Still, it doesn’t seem like it’s here to eliminate us.

「We’re included too, then. In that case, what reason did you come up here for?」
「I came to ascertain your intent. However, this should be enough probing around.」
「I appreciate that. I’m not very good with people who beat around the bush. How about you, Ain?」
『I’m not good with them either.』
「If Ain’s not good with them either, then I’m really glad that you’re going to be direct with us.」
「Then I ask, are you a divine messenger? Did you come under the orders of the gods?」

Ah~, so it can tell that much, huh?
Is there a chance that this white dragon is someone on our side?
However, I can’t feel any divine power from it. It does have massive magic power stores, but I can’t sense anything similar to what I do from Mother, the Creator God, and even the Artificial Divine Messengers.

『Ain, Ain.』
『What is it?』

Since I was musing, I responded late.

『Are we divine messengers?』
『… Maybe I should handle the talking.』
『Would it be better that way? Good luck.』

Leaving with that, Ciel switched with me.
While I have discussed this topic with Ciel, the conversation should go smoother if I were to answer. Besides, depending on the white dragon’s response, switching should make explaining easier.

「Are you the one called Ainsel?」
「Yes. I’m more knowledgeable about godly matters, so we switched places.」
「Hm. Then?」
「Right. We came here by our own will to defeat that spider.
As for what kind of existence I am, I won’t answer it unless you tell me about yourself and your relationship with the Creator God, or Lady Fiiyanamia.」
「… I see then.」

This white dragon seems to think and conclude by itself a lot.
I don’t know what it just concluded, but since it didn’t get mad or impatient, that’s good enough.
After all, since I’m currently outside, all we can do is defend from attacks.

「I will answer in order. I am what was once a monster.」
「So it’s different now, then? It certainly does feel that way.」
「From your reaction, it appears that you don’t know what sort of existence a monster is, do you?」
「All I know is that they attack humans and can be harvested for magic cores.」

In short, I only have surface-level knowledge, and it hasn’t caused any problems so far.
Also, I believe they just spawn out of thin air? If speculation is fine, there’s still more I can say, but since it seems like the white dragon is going to teach me, it should be unnecessary.

The dragon moves its large neck in a nodding motion. Anyhow, it appears that it isn’t the type to make fun of people for being ignorant.

「Monsters are beings that are created from what are commonly called miasma and malice, around a magic core born to act as its heart.
To put it more succinctly, malevolent forces create the monster’s form, within which a magic core manifests.」
「Monsters are edible, aren’t they?」
「Monsters act as a sort of purification mechanism.
As they are purified upon death, consuming them carries no ill effects.
The remaining magic core, once depleted of its magical energy, will then dissolve back into the land as mana. You can consider mana as ambient magical energy that the world naturally possesses.」
「How is miasma created?」
「The specifics elude me. Yet, I know it as a malevolent force that will continue to accumulate for as long as the world exists.」

So according to the dragon, monsters seem to serve as the cleaning mechanism of this world. I have no idea why monsters need to be in the equation, though.

A dragon appeared!? And started lore dumping!? Like some old grandfather!?

It was funny to me how sudden the dragon’s appearance was, literally bursting through the floor, lol. I think I’ve said this many times, but I really like how there’s many characters that feel intelligent by the virtue of just… talking first. That’s it, just talking things out. Also, why does the dragon emanate so much “grandpa talking to a small child” vibes? Maybe because Ciel is also emanating “very excited child” vibes? Also, low-key diss on wyverns, lol.

Also, for those curious, the dragon calls itself “我(ware)”, an arcahic “I” which you might hear a lot from Demon Lord or vampire (aka long lived) characters in anime.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!