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Besides, in my old world, monsters don’t exist. In that case, was my old world brimming with miasma? That shouldn’t be the case… I think. 

Either way, I now have a better understanding of monsters.

「Monsters purify the miasma that exists within them upon death, but if a monster lives for a long enough time, it is possible for the miasma to be purified within its lifetime.」
「And that is what you are.」
「Yes. I am an exceedingly unusual existence, neither monster nor beast.
As far as I know, there are only a few others like me.」

I suppose being able to live a long time means that they have simply become powerful enough to survive.
If there are white dragon-class beings around every other corner, then wouldn’t humanity’s territory be much smaller than it is now?
Still, seeing how the white dragon is, they are unlikely to proactively attack people, so it might depend on their territories.

「Why are you in the deepest depths of the den now?」
「The gods tasked me with the management of this den—through a divine messenger, to be precise.
I was brought here by the Fiiyanamia you’ve mentioned earlier.
Ever since, I have hunted monsters as needed and chased off any that attempted to disturb the den.」

I see, so this dragon was acquainted with Mother.
And that’s why it knows about the gods. However, I’m still not fully convinced.

「How are you able to perceive me?」
「I don’t see the need to explain… but why not, I suppose?
After I was tasked with the protection of this den, I gained the ability to sense what was approximately going on within the den.
It was likely the doing of the god who created this place.」
「So that’s why.」

It must be a detection ability originating from the Creator God. So it’s not usual that this dragon can sense me. But on the other hand, it was deemed necessary to have the ability to detect beings like me.
That should signify just how important the den is deemed.

If monsters are purification mechanisms for miasma, it means that if dens disappear, the world will be filled with miasma.
Even if the miasma doesn’t become a problem, this would still likely increase the number of monsters.
So why do monsters attack people? I have a hypothesis for that.

The definition of miasma is vague to begin with, but since it’s thought to be bad air or the like, it might also consist of ill will and animosity.
Stories of grudges and resentment that people direct at each other, amassing and turning into curses—whether they are real or not, notwithstanding—also existed in my old world.
That’s pretty much the concept of ‘on-nen’.

So when miasma takes form, it naturally attacks people.
The people who are attacked might not deserve it, but still.

「Then I ask again. Who are you? What sort of being are you?」
「Let’s see… Ciel is pretty much a normal person.」
「Which means you are different?」
「I am a soul that is possessing Ciel due to the Creator God’s whim… I suppose?
I have died once before, but something happened during my reincarnation, resulting in me coming to Ciel with my memories intact.」
「What is the purpose of your power?」
「Ciel’s living conditions were so exceedingly horrible that there were risks of her dying immediately, so the Creator God gave a part of her power for our protection.
This power was originally meant to be exhausted, but because I worked too hard to protect Ciel, more of that power remained than anticipated. It was then absorbed into me, resulting in me now being half a step into divinity.」

Putting it into words, it’s honestly hard to believe.
Like, ‘I worked harder than the Creator God expected’, what does that even mean? Still, it’s thanks to this that our relationship is the way it is now, so all is well.

「For that reason, I am, in a sense, a being sent here by the Creator God. However, I wasn’t sent here for any particular reason.
For now, it seems that I’m allowed to roam freely until I officially become a god.」
「Why were you pursuing the other strange presence?」
「Regarding that spider, it had energy that originated from the divine realm.」
「So defeating it draws you closer to godhood?」
「Something like that.」

This dragon is surprisingly sharp-witted. And for some reason, it looks bored out of its mind.

「In short, you truly aren’t scheming anything else?」
「That’s right.」
「What a bore.」
『This dragon just called us boring.』
『True. But don’t you think it might be actually bored?
After all, the only thing it seems to do is defeat monsters in the den’s depths.』

That certainly does sound boring. 
It’s not like the white dragon accepted its task with an earnest sense of duty, and the monsters it defeats are unlikely to be as powerful as it is.
So it’s possible that it came up this far in search of something powerful.

『Say, Ain.』
『What is it?』
『Will it be bad to play with this dragon?』

For some reason, Ciel seems quite restless.
I’m sure she only wants to dance to her heart’s content, but without context, she just sounds like a battle junkie.
She should be able to dance her heart out even without it being in the middle of combat, but it probably feels different for Ciel. 
Dancing normally is fun, but dancing while using the full extent of Dance Princess’ power is a different kind of fun, I suppose. I feel a similar way with my singing, so I can somewhat understand.

『It’s fine. However, don’t push yourself, alright?』
『Of course, we’re just playing, after all.』

Ciel currently has less than half of her usual magic power left. As long as she understands that, then I don’t mind.
It’ll depend on whether the white dragon is willing to cooperate, but you’ll never know until you try.

『In that case, there’s still one question I want to ask, so I’ll try asking it now.』
『Okay.』

「One question. This is our second time entering this den; did you also try to go up the first time around?」
「I cannot perceive things in the shallow strata.」
「I see. Thank you very much.」

If I remember correctly, we only went as deep as the 7th stratum that time.
Strong monsters don’t appear in the shallow strata, so perhaps there’s no need to monitor it much.
Maybe monitoring it is also deemed unnecessary since that’s still within Mother’s detection range?

Either way, I’ve heard what I wanted to hear, so I switched with Ciel.

As Ciel came outside, she looked at the dragon with great excitement.

「Dragon, dragon. Since we’re already here, will you play with me? Will you dance with me?」
「Hou… Very well. With that, neither of us should perish.」
「Then that settles it. We have a sky here, after all. You can fly too, right?」
「Rather, the sky is my domain.」

As though planned beforehand, Ciel and the dragon then flew up into the den’s open sky.

And now we have a dragon battle at hand! Just playing around though, lol.

It’s funny how the dragon was “Why should I tell you? Meh, not like I have any reasons to keep it a secret anyways.” And then afterwards, “So you’re not planning on doing anything suspicious that I have to stop due to my duty or something? Are you sure about that?? We’re really not fighting???” Completely itching for just any source of entertainment, lol. Excited Ciel is cute as well, let her dance as much as she wants~

Also, neat little trivia: When Ain was talking about miasma and curses, she specifically used the term “on-nen” basically meaning “super powerful grudge”(not literally, btw) which is commonly associated with urban legends and ghost stories, as grudge so deep it remains beyond death. Not that it was originally associated with the dead, that’s just how strong of a word it is.

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