Reincarnation Monarch

Episode 260: Territorial

"By the way, how do you know it's morning when the sun isn't out?

Gaius hit Elle with a simple question.

"It's not a body clock. Everyone who lives underground has a unique ability."

"Heh wow. How do you know? Is there anything wrong with that?

"I don't think so. Well, it could be the mystery of life."

"The mystery of life… it adapts in harsh environments, so I do feel that."

"Mm-hmm. I guess that means the organism gradually expanded its territory"

"I see... but isn't that the history of the weak? The strong crowds the most habitable land as territory to drive out the weak, who have no choice but to travel to the harsh land and painstakingly pioneer there. Doesn't that mean that organisms evolve in a way that's appropriate for the environment so that they can live on that harsh land?

"Hmm. Well, I guess so."

"Right? If so, I have to twist one neck?

"Huh. What's that? Say it."

"It's a dragon."

The moment Gaius uttered the name, Elle's ears responded loudly to Pickle.

But Elle said nothing, and listened quietly to the words of further Gaius.

"Don't you think that's strange? Why is that world's most powerful creature constantly marshalling the Gardan continent of the world's harshest environment, where magma blows? That's what we call the warmest climate in the world, so let's make this continent of Melissa a territory. Yet the dragon stays away from Melissa in no way, nailing it to the Gardan continent...... why? Doesn't Elle know why?

"... I don't know..."

"Is it true?"

Even as Gaius turned his suspicious eyes to Elle, Elle denied this with a true face.

"It's a true story. I don't know much about dragons."

"Elle's been caring about the whereabouts of the thousand year dragons for a long time, hasn't he? I mean, the reason Elle didn't get off the ground in a thousand years in the first place was because a thousand years of dragons appeared on the Melissa continent, right? Thousand-year-old dragons that are never supposed to show up have brought Elle down to earth, and he's here now, trying to be guided by his qualities as my peculiarity... well, that's okay... hey, aren't you hiding something from me?

"... don't hide anything from me. More than that, you said that for a thousand years, dragons would never show up on the continent of Melissa, but that's a mistake."

I got Elle's word, and Gaius flickered something.

"Right! But in the mythological era heirloom, it said that a thousand years of dragons appeared on the continent of Melissa... it just said in the annotations to that history book that it was only a heirloom and it was doubtful whether it was a fact... El, the heirloom was a fact, wasn't it?

"Mm-hmm. Without a doubt, the Thousand Years Dragon once landed on the continent of Melissa. But even then, I didn't know why he showed up. So when I found out six years ago that the Thousand Years Dragon had landed on the Melissa continent again, it was time for me to see the mystery."

When Elle said so, she leaned her little neck gently, and for some reason she nodded again and again to tell herself.