Caw, caw, caw.
I opened my eyes to the bright sunlight and the sound of crows cawing.
Black Dragon Crown awoke from his long slumber with fluttering eyelids. Perhaps it wasn't sleep but death. Or perhaps some strange state that defied description.
Crown pondered: why was he still conscious?
"...I thought I was dead."
Yes, the black dragon had died, struck by a pitch-black arrow.
He clearly remembered the erasure of consciousness that occurred when the final blow struck.
That state of absolute darkness undoubtedly signified "the end."
His main body had unquestionably perished. Was there any possibility of resurrection? In the short term, none whatsoever. It might be possible after ten thousand years had passed, if even then...
He had shattered his powers uploaded to the cloud server and scattered them across the continent. If those fragments survived, they might serve as the foundation for resurrection. But that was more like a treasure hunt for his benefit. He hadn't even expected it to work.
The Mad Magician was a net that, though it might appear loose, never let anything slip through.
He didn't believe that monster-like genius would fail to solve this one problem. He probably would have found all the fragments eventually, despite finding it terribly annoying, and cleanly erased all traces of Black Dragon Crown from this world.
"—But thought is existence. If I'm thinking now, it means I exist. How strange."
But there's no way that guy would have let me live.
Perhaps a meteor the size of the sun had begun falling from outer space? Such an unprecedented catastrophe had occurred, and they had forgotten past grudges and resurrected an ancient evil for the sake of all humanity's survival—
"As if."
Crown chuckled. It was an amusing joke.
After leisurely observing his surroundings for a while, Crown became intensely interested in solving this mystery. It seemed like the most entertaining thing he could do right now.
Crown got to his feet. A crow perched on a branch flapped its wings and cawed before flying into the sky, and simultaneously, an apple fell from the tree.
He brushed off the dirt from the apple as it rolled on the ground and took a crunchy bite.
Now, let's check this body.
These sensory organs weren't the higher-dimensional, beautifully deformed body he had meticulously modified and evolved. This was... yes, human sensory organs. He wiggled them.
Two arms, two legs, five fingers, five toes, two eyes—a typical adult male body with nothing missing. The genitals were also properly attached.
Overall, the body seemed somewhat delicate. The wrists were quite thin. The skin was pale. Perhaps lacking in muscle mass?
Let's check flexibility too.
"Nnnngh."
Even the mighty dragon couldn't suppress the conditioned-reflex groan that accompanied stretching. He finished his assessment by moving various muscles.
The body's range of motion wasn't very good. The flexibility test revealed stiffness. A leg split would probably reach about 105 degrees.
And the performance of the mana organs was cursed with terrible inefficiency.
It was a functional defect that would be difficult to cover even with wisdom deeper than any illusion mage possessed. This meant that practically all useful magic was unusable. In other words, all he had was an ordinary body.
This meant that Black Dragon Crown—had become so fragile that he would need to avoid poisonous insects, hide from monsters, and leave natural disasters to luck. The key point was that there was almost no room for improvement.
Even a snowball needs some snow to roll. In this state, it would be difficult to improve even if he found an opportunity.
Next was exploration of the world.
First, he decided to figure out where he was. That was quite simple. He just needed to look at the sky and the ground. Crown climbed to the top of a nearby tree, sweating profusely.
First, the sky. A high, blue sky welcomed him.
Then, the ground. Mountains, fields, the shape of ridges, the presence or absence of distant landmarks, tree species, ecosystem, roads. He scanned all the information in his field of vision as if absorbing it.
Trees with a subtle reddish tinge to their leaves. This was a species distributed only in a very specific, narrow region of the continent. And the ecology of crawling insects and such... was familiar.
The dragon's deep wisdom provided insight into his location as if by magic. This was near "Sanjebi Village," which he had created for the purpose of a "Hatchery."
How curious. It felt like fate rather than coincidence. Sanjebi Village was a more important place to Crown than one might think. Though the Mad Magician wouldn't know that.
Well, now he knew "where" he was.
But "when" remained a mystery. Considering that there weren't significant topographical changes compared to his database from just before his death... it seemed to be within 100 years at most.
If it had been a starry night, he could have determined the latitude, longitude, and even the exact date. That was unfortunate.
"...Still, it's strange."
He needed more information. And information could be found where people gathered.
Well, let's see. Was the village still functioning properly? Let's go check. Following this path would get him there soon. After crushing leaves under his thin foot soles for quite some time, soon...
The entrance to the village...?
"Stop, stop!"
Crown, who had been tilting his head at the red architectural spire beginning to appear through the branches, turned gracefully at the voice from behind.
It was a gaunt man wearing leather clothes that revealed his protruding ribs. His nutritional state didn't look good. In his right hand was a rusty blade.
A bandit.
"You, I can't tell if you're a woman or a man! Put down everything you have and get out of here. H-hurry up!"
But even with such a skinny body, the knife he held was quite threatening. With physical specs like a rag and unable to use illusion magic...
Still, this was perfect. He had so many things he wanted to ask. Crown spread his arms, smiled, and said:
"Everything I have... Does that include my body?"
"What?"
"I asked if that includes my body. Since this is also something I possess, I'm wondering if you want to restrain me and use me as a slave. Because unfortunately, I can't allow that."
"...What are you talking about?"
Despite having a blade pointed at him, Crown continued speaking calmly, causing the hungry bandit to feel intensely uncomfortable. To hide this unease, he waved the blade more threateningly—but to no effect.
Crown, still smiling, kindly explained for the bandit who didn't seem to understand his language well.
"You're questioning me. Good, I'll help you understand. We're negotiating, aren't we? I've firmly rejected the condition that my body is not available for trade."
"Negotiating? No, this is robbery! I told you to hand over everything you have!"
"Isn't robbery a type of negotiation too? Think about it. You're demanding what I can give up in exchange for sparing my life. So if it's a deal, haggling should be possible too."
But it seems you lack the education for such intellectual conversation—
Crown blinked regretfully and raised both hands in a gesture of non-resistance.
"Judging by what you're saying, you don't seem interested in my body. Right? If so, that's within an acceptable range. Come, take the textiles covering my body."
"......"
Crown displayed a harmless smile.
The bandit approached very cautiously. This person was suspicious...
Crown's attire was shabby and simple, with scratches and dirt marks here and there. These had come from climbing trees.
If he had been a master who could handle mana, there wouldn't have been such traces. Even if they wore cheap clothes, such people didn't roll around in dirt. Especially not mages.
So he had judged him as a target, thinking he was just as he appeared—a delicate body that couldn't kill a chicken. But somehow, it seemed like a very wrong judgment—
===============================================================
"AAAAARGH—!!"
It's okay if physical abilities are a bit lacking. Human males are very fragile creatures who live with their internal organs exposed externally.
Even with just a little strength, one can cause pain.
===============================================================
Crown walked along the mountain path, humming a tune. There was a little blood on his fingertips. Any hunter passing through this forest path might come across a corpse missing its eyeballs and entrails.
He spoke to a crow looking down at him, tossing it one of the eyeballs he had just acquired.
"It's strange, crow. I extracted information before killing him, but... honestly, I couldn't believe what I heard. That bandit said that it's currently [Lion Year 452]. Do you know what this means?"
It was two years before Black Dragon Crown's death. He was walking in the continent's past.
It meant that the world was flowing in a very strange way.
"Moreover, it's not even the 452 that I know. It's a bit different. Look..."
Step. Step.
With cheeks flushed from mild excitement, Crown hurriedly walked until he reached the site of Sanjebi Village. Except for one thing, it was exactly as he remembered.
An ordinary village. Ordinary thatched houses. Twisted people living ordinary lives. It was indeed the place he had carefully created. But there was one alien structure.
A tall red temple stood there.
It wasn't a temple of the Goddess. The flag fluttering on top of that spire displayed a symbol Crown didn't recognize—the emblem of iron being forged in flames.
It was even functioning properly. Functioning as a hub for collecting faith and distributing mana. And there was a strong scent of new mana that he had never smelled before.
It wasn't the Goddess's "Divine Power," nor was it his own "Dragon Scale." It was a red mana that felt like condensed heat flowing down with a tingling sensation. Yes, a new "Dragon."
A temple!
A real temple isn't a structure that can appear so easily and simply. Had a new deity appeared since the birth of the Goddess? None except Crown.
Dragons are such rare anomalies. It takes at least a thousand to ten thousand years for a sentient being to take that great step toward birth.
While the birth process was curious, other things were curious too. Dragons have distinct purposes, like Black Dragon Crown's "Pain/Fun" and the Goddess's "Rules." What purpose does this being live for?
He was curious. There were too many curious things to bear.
Thud.
Crown, who had been clapping his hands and delighting while looking up at the red temple, soon sensed a presence that suddenly appeared about three meters behind him.
Whatever it was, if it hadn't just dropped from empty space, the correct interpretation would be that it deliberately revealed its presence. He turned around with a joyful heart.
Monk.
Those three syllables stuck in Crown's mind.
"Welcome to the holy land, traveler."
The monk addressing him had shaved his hair, eyebrows, and beard. The garment covering his body was made of very tough and uncomfortable woven grass. Such clothes would prick the skin with every step.
His muscles were extremely developed. From fingertips to toes, there wasn't a spot without scars and calluses, making him look more like an animal's hide than human cloth.
Those fists. Even a light swing would break the bones and crush the flesh of this delicate body. Crown sensed this instinctively.
And those eyes.
They shone with spiritual light. It was the hardened light that only humans whose minds had been hammered to steel-like hardness through long training could display.
The monk, fingering a long red silk ribbon—the only colorful part of his attire—asked Crown:
"What do you think of the color that dyes this temple?"
"It's a beautiful red. Intense too. And I can tell it contains much effort and delicate care. There's not even a fingernail's worth of faded parts on the building."
"Good insight. I'm glad you recognize the effort. We repaint the outer walls every day to honor His will."
Quite extravagant.
To paint such a building with vivid red every day would cost a considerable amount, even using the cheapest dyes. Perhaps their doctrine actively encouraged consumption, far from frugality.
Crown subtly asked to gauge the influence of this emerging religion.
"Ah. What kind of paint do you use?"
"The blood of ascetics like yourself."
"Oh."
And he knew he was fucked.
"...Hmm. There seems to be a misunderstanding. I don't seek asceticism—"
"Hahaha! That's not something a pilgrim who came to the holy land of their own accord should say. Since you've climbed to this sacred village, you must surely have desired trials."
"Actually, I got lost."
"Don't worry. Fear is not a sin. There's nothing to be ashamed of. I will become your trial, helping you overcome that fear."
He's not listening at all.
Still, if he could just wedge into even a tiny, very tiny gap, he could resolve this through dialogue. Crown had deep insight into the human mind; all he needed was one trivial keyword.
—Thwack.
But—
"...Hmm?"
Suddenly half his vision disappeared. Crown was startled. Had he lost an eye? What was just swung... a fist?
No. He couldn't move his hands, arms, neck, or legs. That meant what he had lost wasn't an eye, but half his head—
Crown died.
===============================================================
Caw, caw, caw.
He opened his eyes to the bright sunlight and the sound of crows cawing.
Black Dragon Crown awoke from his long slumber with fluttering eyelids. Perhaps it wasn't sleep but death. Or perhaps some strange state that defied description.
Crown jumped up and strode to stand under a tree. A crow perched on a branch flapped its wings and cawed before flying into the sky, and simultaneously, an apple fell from the tree.
He caught the apple in mid-air and took a crunchy bite.
"Resurrection... no. Since the crow was still there, this is more like time rewinding."
Munch, munch.
He accelerated his thoughts while feeling the apple's flesh. Alright, a new emerging religion had appeared in Sanjebi Village. They had a culture of killing visitors and using their blood to paint the temple walls.
That meant he shouldn't go there.
He set aside mysteries like why time had rewound, whether this resurrection was unlimited, and such. For now, it would be better to move in a different direction.
Crown went in the exact opposite direction from the village.
And then...
"Welcome to the holy land, traveler."
"...In case you don't know, let me tell you. This isn't that village. It's not a temple either. It's just empty mountains, to put it simply."
"Ah, so you know about the village. If you draw a large circle from that village, everything inside is holy land. This is right at the boundary of the holy land. A pilgrim who came to the holy land of their own accord would surely know."
"Ah."
Fucked.
"Don't worry. Fear is not a sin. There's nothing to be ashamed of. I will become your trial, helping you overcome that fear."
Thwack-!
Crown died once more.
===============================================================
Caw, caw, caw.
"......"
Crown blinked a few times and quickly made his assessment.
First, the monk was at least an Ascension-level powerhouse. And since his body was as fragile as swaying grass, fighting meant death.
Second, he had already appeared inside the "holy land," so at this point, he had already been "recognized." Probably no matter which direction he went, he would be visited by the monk.
Third, when he met death, he awoke at the same time, at the same point.
In other words.
"A snake eating its own tail."
He was trapped in an infinite loop.