I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 855

Taking advantage of that momentary lapse in my guard, Dolos vanished in an instant.

The blue light that had illuminated him was gone before I knew it, too, leaving me to stare blankly at the sky.

I had no idea where that light had even come from, but an empty unease welled up inside me.

The thought that someone was watching from the sky, and the realization that they could send someone whenever they wanted.

With both weighing on me at once, I had no idea what the future held.

’Should I move?’

After working so hard alongside the people of Large Field to remodel the place, I might actually have to pack up and leave altogether.

Still, I had grown attached to this place, and even if I moved, there was no guarantee a new spot would be any safer.

After all, if they were gods, they probably already knew what I was capable of and could come looking for me whenever they pleased.

’Seeing as they sent Dolos, they aren’t completely sure yet either.’

Shaking off the despair, I took a step back and thought it through calmly.

As always, the gods hadn’t come to visit me in person, nor had they reached out directly.

Sending Dolos was more about verifying their suspicions; it didn’t mean they’d concluded I was the Chief God.

So it would take some time before things became clearer.

’By the way, what the hell is taking Lackey so long?’

Missing Dolos was a foregone conclusion, but that didn’t stop me from getting annoyed at Lackey for dragging his feet.

If he didn’t have a good excuse, I was going to give him an earful.

└ Heavenly Demon) Sir, you would do well to check the Recommended Posts.

As I grumbled under my breath, Yoo So-wol left a comment.

Wondering what was going on, I opened the Gallery’s Recommended Posts, and what do you know?

Title) A Message to the Master Who Only Has Brute Strength

(Photo 1 of our house half-wrecked by falling floating stone)

(Photo 2 of our house half-wrecked by falling floating stone)

If you still swear at me after seeing this, I’m going on strike.

└ Is this Lackey?

└ Judging by the photos, pretty sure it’s Lackey. Haha.

└ ???: I’m tellin’ ya, the house collapsed!

└ Hahahaha!

└ Hahahaha!

└ Hahaha!

Title) Grylls’s Current State of Mind

(Photo: "I heard the house over there collapsed, so I went to take a look.")

(Photo: "But when I came back, it was my house that had collapsed. Tears just started falling.")

└ Bwahaha!

└ Hahaha!

└ Heh heh heh!

└ Haha, but didn’t Grylls wreck his own house? Lol.

└ How did you translate those subtitles?

└ OP) It was in a video, so I clipped it myself. There’s a meme image too.

└ Ah, gotcha. Haha.

"..."

Then again, a meteorite strike was normally destructive enough to wipe out all the dinosaurs.

I should probably consider myself lucky that it ended with just a wrecked house.

Looks like I’d have to bust my ass cleaning up the place the second I got back.

’It’s freezing cold in the middle of winter, and now I have to deal with this shit...’

In the end, I chose to walk home on foot.

Partly because I felt bad for Lackey, but also because I needed time to sort out my thoughts.

’I need to look into what the Prometheus Project really is, too... Though who knows if any records survived.’

Considering it was presumably top secret among top secrets, it was doubtful anything was left behind.

What’s more, the words I’d said while watching my friend die came back to me.

That I’d been captured in the United States and used as a test subject before barely managing to escape.

I had said it half-jokingly back then, but the more I chewed on it, the harder it was to brush off.

Weighed down by all these tangled thoughts, I trudged back home.

"Master’s back. Come on, get to work."

"Nobody got hurt, right?"

"We hid in the underground pit we dug just in case."

Leave it to Lackey to have phenomenal judgment.

And so, I spent my time steadily repairing the damage caused by the falling floating island.

It was obvious the fight with Dolos had thrown the Gallery into total chaos, but I didn’t bother logging on.

I just wanted to lie in bed alone and think in peace.

’Ah, right. I still need to eat that Devil Fruit.’

What I called the Devil Fruit was, of course, the gift Dolos had left me.

It held the condensed essence of lightning, and consuming it would certainly grant me lightning energy.

However, I had no way of knowing whether it would simply grant resistance like the cold energy did, or if it would let me wield the element itself.

On top of that, there was no telling what would happen if I ingested it whole.

’Unlike the cold, it feels unsettling, too...’

Every time Dolos’s lightning scorched me, unwanted memories had flooded in.

It was basically shock therapy, and I doubted whether I could handle it.

If something went wrong, a deluge of memories might crash through and overwhelm me completely.

’I should send it to Selena first.’Get faster updates on nove‌lping.com.

We had an extractor at our place, but that was strictly for extracting essence.

Actually using the extracted essence was far beyond my area of expertise.

Trickle...

"Ah, hot, hot, hot! Pour it slowly."

"I am pouring it slowly. By the way, did you stick your arm in lava or something? I’ve never seen your arm injured this badly, Grylls-nim."

Once things were somewhat sorted out, I took a break myself.

While resting, I treated the severe burns on my arm, and it seemed pretty bad even to Elia.

And no wonder—even if I wasn’t quite at a dragon’s level, I still had extraordinary regenerative abilities.

The fact that it still hadn’t healed meant it was that severe.

’Does it prevent regeneration or something?’

Yet the inside of that light hadn’t felt like much of anything at all.

In more ways than one, it was a truly bizarre technique.

Flap! Flap!

A few days passed as I stayed quiet around the house, being cared for by Elia.

The heavy sound of wings flapping outside came alongside the weight of a massive presence.

Having just survived that blood-curdling fight with Dolos, I couldn’t help but flinch.

Quite a mess.

"Squeeeak!"

Fortunately, it wasn’t an invasion by Dolos or some other dragon.

Vanir and Tyranno had returned.

The moment Tyranno returned, he fluttered his little wings and leapt into my arms.

For some reason, it felt like it had been forever, so I hugged him tight.

"We had a bit of a situation."

I can tell just by looking. The stench of my own kind clings heavily to you... and it carries the scent of lightning, no less.

Was it because they were of the same species?

Vanir had immediately seen through it, realizing a pure-blooded dragon had been here, not one of the Large Field residents.

I held nothing back as I told her everything, and the more she listened, the tighter her brow furrowed.

From what you say... it sounds as though one of my kin has fallen under the command of the invaders.

"Probably. It’s just..."

It won’t be a simple employment arrangement. The name Dolos alone says as much.

"What do you mean by that?"

Vanir answered my question in a conflicted voice.

A slave.

"..."

Keeping a dragon as a slave—and one from the Mythological Era, at that.

There had been a restraint collar around his neck, but it was astounding that such a thing was enough to keep him suppressed.

’He definitely seemed to cut himself off when he was about to say his real name.’

Just as Vanir said, the chances were high that his name had been changed by force.

After all, a name is the single most important factor in establishing one’s identity.

’Hearing it put that way makes me feel a bit guilty, too.’

Lackey and Dolsoe had names of their own, too.

Names personally bestowed by Wi Ho-chang, who had been both their master and a father to them.

Still, we had come too far, and they had gotten used to the new ones, so apologizing felt awkward.

Above all...

"As long as you know, Master."

"Doesn’t matter to me."

"You bastards..."

Seeing that neither of them gave a damn, I just laughed it off.

At any rate, Vanir warned me that the gods had started watching, so I had better be careful.

I’d been thinking the exact same thing, so I needed to stay sharp.

I shall have to lay low for the time being as well.

"I’m sorry. This is because of me."

Do not apologize. You too are being hunted by a past you cannot even remember.

An accurate comparison.

My reality: being pursued by a past I had no memory of.

I had tried to shake off the pursuit while searching for that past, but I couldn’t see any way out.

Facing it head-on with my own eyes and moving forward together was an option, but that would be difficult too.

Moving forward together when Aris and Aragon had already slaughtered each other in fratricidal war?

No matter how much the Chief God had acted as a mediator, even he would have shaken his head and said, ’Yeah, this is a bit much...’

So, what will you do now?

"Well... for now, my goal itself hasn’t really changed."

Finding the Gallery server and checking what records were stored there.

Though at least I had a new objective this time: the Prometheus Project.

If I could dig up even a shred of documentation on it, I’d have a clue.

Vanir nodded at my words and offered a piece of advice.

You have my support. Just be careful not to bury yourself in the past.

"I won’t, so don’t worry."

Says the man clinging desperately to uncovering his past?

"Just think of it as curiosity."

You certainly have a way with words. Then I shall take my leave. Ah, right.

Before spreading her massive wings, Vanir left me with a parting thought.Find the original chapter at novelрing.com.

My child will be causing some trouble from now on.

"...That sounds like the scariest thing yet."

Tyranno causing trouble?

The moment I heard those words, an unprecedented dread washed over me.

At least Wonmo’s mischief was typical for a beast, but with Tyranno, I couldn’t even begin to guess.

It will merely amount to the house blowing up, so do not worry yourself too much.

"What the hell did you teach him?"

All I taught him was magic. Still, you should be able to reach a reasonable compromise.

"Wait..."

Until next time.

Flap!

Leaving behind only those irresponsible words, Vanir took off.

I could only watch as she flew away into the distance.

She moved so fast she shrank to a speck in an instant.

"...Tyranno?"

"Squeak?"

I called softly to Tyranno.

He looked like the most harmless dragon in the world on the outside, so I had no idea what kind of trouble she meant.

If it was just the usual draconic wanderlust kicking in, I could handle that somehow.

After all, since I had to travel around myself, I couldn’t really blame him for that.

"All right, Tyranno. You can’t go causing trouble like the others, okay?"

"..."

"Aren’t you going to answer?"

Why are you looking away, my cute little Tyranno?

I kept asking until I got an answer out of him, but sadly, he dodged my gaze to the very end.

In the end, all I could do was keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t wreck anything.

’Please, let it be normal trouble.’

Carrying that wish, I spent the winter.

The bitter winter passed, warm spring arrived naturally in its wake, and I resumed my activities in earnest.

The residents of Large Field who had been staying in Goblan Village began traveling back and forth to my house.

"We definitely finished building the house, so why is it all blown to pieces?"

"Things happened."

I didn’t bother bringing up the fight with Dolos.

How could I tell them that their ancestor had fought me in a bloody brawl?

In any case, after leaving daily life in the hands of the Large Field residents, I headed for Lucas’s flagship.

It was to find out more about this ’El’ar’ Dolos had mentioned.

I had managed to glean fragments of information through GalWiki, but that was as far as it went.

Aside from the fact that he was someone who had worked on computers alongside Alund, there was nothing.

[El’ar? Why is that guy’s name coming up?]

"To give you the short version..."

I gave a brief summary of the situation to the startled Lucas.

At that, he sipped his beer, let out a dry breath, and spoke.

[I get the gist of it. But I can’t give you anything helpful.]

"Why?"

[That guy El’ar loved hiding behind others. He’s that insidious, so watch yourself.]

I had no idea what kind of insidious he meant.

In the end, without gaining any useful information, I returned home, and—

"...Where did Tyranno go?"

"Huh? He was right here just a second ago."

Tyranno was gone. Without a trace, no less.

Wondering if he was already causing trouble, I searched every nook and cranny of the house.

"Ah, ah, ah~ Ah, ah~"

It was right as I passed Maengkkongi’s music class(?).

Among the Large Field residents listening intently to the lecture was a face I had never seen before.

A cute little girl who gave off the distinct aura of a little princess.

I almost dismissed her as someone’s daughter, but something felt off.

"Pee-yoong! Pee-pee-yoong!"

"What is he saying?"

"W-Well..."

The Large Field residents who usually just sang like carefree loafers.

For some reason, they were glancing around nervously.

The moment I picked up on the atmosphere, I stared intently at the princess-like girl.

"Isn’t there magic to understand animal speech? Seems like there should be."

"I’ve never learned such a thing..."

"Then I’ll teach you. First..."

"Tyranno?"

At my quiet call, the girl flinched.

Then, eyes shining with golden light met mine.

"Ah."

With that cute reaction, the girl covered her mouth with both hands and said,

"I’ve been caught."