With the success of “Dragon Hunter,” a proper gaming culture was established in the Kingdom of Ra.
Wizards, including Asti who studied properly at the Irene School, began to prepare for the sequel to “Dragon Hunter” step by step, nurturing the seeds left by Yuren.
Along with this success, the dolls and merchandise of the title dragon, the Black Dragon and Fire Dragon Ragnix from “Dragon Hunter,” sold like hotcakes, though not as much as Capsule Monsters.
At that time, Ragnix, Sirael, and Brakkar gathered again in the realm of the sacred beasts.
“Alright, everyone is here.”
“What’s going on, Ragnix?”
This gathering was led by Ragnix.
From their perspective, it was as if they were gathering for drinks again just 2-3 days after a drunken reunion that occurred about 10 years ago.
Ragnix, who led the meeting, responded breezily with a clear smile.
“What else could it be? Sometimes, you just want to drink without a care. Hahaha!”
“You seem to be in a really good mood.”
Sirael, with his elf appearance and green hair flowing, asked Ragnix.
But Ragnix replied with an unexpectedly serious expression.
“I’m actually more worried because I’ve been unable to sleep lately.”
“Unable to sleep?”
Brakkar, the dwarf with a golden beard, asked in surprise. It’s not usual for sacred beasts like them to have such problems.
“Yeah, the Dragon Hunter from our Kingdom of Ra has been a great success.”
Ragnix continued with a serious and dark expression.
Brakkar felt a deep annoyance at Ragnix’s demeanor.
“Because the dragon featured in it seems to have modeled after me, the voices calling my name ‘Lord Ragnix! Lord Ragnix!’ are so annoying that I can’t sleep!”
Ragnix spoke earnestly while sipping wine brought from the Kingdom of Ra.
Then, showing a face of regret, he looked at Sirael and Brakkar and said,
“Oh, I forgot you two haven’t appeared in the game, so you wouldn’t know how this feels. My bad.”
Sirael, feeling a bit rather irritated by Ragnix’s teasing, was aware of Ragnix receiving help from the wizards of his country.
Finding his effort cute, he had stayed quiet until now, but now he couldn’t hold back!
“You’re so brazen after getting help from the wizards of our country!”
“That’s right, I borrowed from the talented people of your country; thank you for the cooperation. It wouldn’t have been easy without your talented individuals.”
In response to Sirael’s words, Ragnix coolly acknowledged this and downed the remaining wine.
Then, with a serious expression, he looked at the two and asked,
“By the way, have you ever been a protagonist in a game? Other than being some deer or wolf monster that gets caught and dies on the road.”
Ragnix, with an expression as if saying, “I, the protagonist, am loved by countless people, way above deer and wolves!” suddenly realized a mistake.
“Oh no… I guess not. My apologies, I’ve been rude.”
With Ragnix’s continued provocations, Sirael and Brakkar’s faces flushed red.
Sirael, trembling with anger, pointed at Ragnix with his finger and shouted,
“Do… do you think you’ve won with this!?”
“Hmph! I’ll catch up quickly to whatever character appears in your game!!”
Both of them couldn’t hide their irritation and got up to leave, while Ragnix enjoyed the sweet taste of victory, sending them off with,
“Stay strong; I’ll be cheering for you.”
The taste of victory was always special.
Ragnix took another sip of the remaining wine as he sent them off.
*
After the release of “Dragon Hunter,” the Kingdom of Ra changed a lot in a short time.
Gaming rooms began to appear, and groups of children gathering to play “Dragon Hunter” in groups of four could be seen everywhere.
However, there was no social upheaval, like more children wanting to join dragon-slaying parties.
On the contrary, the number of people wanting to join dragon-slaying factions even decreased.
Upon listening to the reasons, the struggles and pains of hunters hunting dragons through the game seemed too heartbreaking and painful.
I felt a bit sorry for the dragon slayers.
But there was nothing that could be done.
Their way of hunting, being safe and comfortable, lacked the romanticism.
Thus, having finished our request, we returned home with the Dragon Heart Stone.
We returned to Ra Kingdom after about five months.
Silyvia, who returned early due to work, saw us after a long time and exclaimed,
“Oh my! Everyone… you’re so tanned!”
“Hahaha! We’ve been swimming in the sea every day, and this is what happened!”
All of us had gotten tanned to the point of becoming like Julia.
Even the once-whitish skin of our elf Master slightly had a sun-kissed glow.
“Look at these arm muscles; did you build them up separately?”
“No, I just ate well and played at the beach; it just happened naturally.”
In fact, was it because of the meaty lifestyle and swimming in the Kingdom of Ra? My muscles had even grown, resembling Prince Lethers’ body.
I began to understand why there were many muscular people in the Kingdom of Ra.
“Do you dislike muscles, Silyvia?”
“Oh! No! Um… I think I like them to some extent.”
Gently… gently…
After a long time, Silyvia touched my arm’s muscles.
Julia, Sora, and even the Master touched my muscles similarly, so I just accepted it.
Silyvia, whose face turned red, said,
“Well… while the others have probably been sleeping with Yuren, I want to sleep with you tonight!”
“Ah… okay, Silyvia.”
Under the pressure of Silyvia, whose eyes were red, I nodded.
Gently… gently…
Yet, Silyvia’s hands kept on kneading my arm muscles.
*
That night, exhausted, I fell asleep and opened my eyes in some forest.
“Where am I?… Is this a dream?”
I clearly remembered closing my eyes to sleep, so this must be a dream.
Lost in thought in a fantastically beautiful forest, a large deer approached from afar.
With green antlers and very beautiful eyes, the deer came closer to me, and instinctively, I knew
This deer was not an ordinary one…
“Who are you…?”
As I asked, I felt a voice coming from the deer.
“Do you not know who I am, my little lamb?”
“Um… I… I don’t…”
A radiant halo emanated from the deer.
It was a warm light that filled my heart and evoked a sense of longing.
“I am the lone protector, the nurturer of your grass and woods, the illuminator of the world.”
Light from the deer caused grass to sprout in the forest.
A warm light bursting with life.
I remember hearing about such light from the Master.
“My name is ‘Sirael’, the light of Zers. Little lamb.”
The “Holy Deer Sirael,” protecting a nation like Ragnix’s, was a sacred beast known as the light of Zers.
“Is it really you, the true Sirael!?”
“Yes, it is the real one.”
“Wow!!! I’ve only heard about you from the Master; I can’t believe you truly exist… I mean, Ragnix is real too…”
Though this was in a dream, the sight of a deer twice my size excited me immensely.
What was more amazing was that I didn’t feel afraid at all.
Rather, I felt a warmth as if in my mother’s embrace.
“But why have you come to find me? I’m not being dragged into some hassle like founding a nation, am I?”
It was said that the first king of the legendary Zers Empire, “King Zephia,” was chosen by Sirael in a dream to establish his nation.
I didn’t want to get entwined in such bothersome matters.
Upon my words, Sirael looked at me with a benevolent gaze and spoke.
“The reason I came to you today was to ask a question.”
“A question?”
“Yes…”
For what reason did Sirael appear in my dream?
My heart racing, I awaited Sirael’s words as they continued.
“My little lamb… why am I not appearing in the game?”
“……Huh?”
Did I hear that wrong?
I dug into my ear and focused again on Sirael’s words.
“Yes, my little lamb, shouldn’t a more handsome and beautiful being like me be the protagonist in the game rather than that little lizard? I want to know why that lizard became the protagonist instead of me.”
“Um…well, that’s… Sirael…”
“It’s fine. That little lizard must have had some threats or tricks up his sleeve; I understand everything. It’s just… I hope everything normalizes now.”
My mind couldn’t keep up with the absurdity of a sacred beast ranting in my dream.
“Normalizing means…”
“The rightful protagonist must return to the rightful place, no?”
“Uh… by any chance, do you have a game you want to be in?”
“It seems like that game the kids like, Capsule Monster, is quite popular; I’m not forcing anything, but I heard so.”
“Ah… alright…”
Thus, for six hours in the dream, I had to listen to Sirael’s game appearance plan.
And the next day…
“Yuren!? Why do you look like that?”
“Ah… I couldn’t sleep because of a dream…”
“You couldn’t sleep because of a dream? What does that even mean?”
I rose with dark circles around my eyes, and upon seeing my face, Sora was surprised.
I wanted to explain but had no idea how, so I gave a vague explanation and headed to the dining room.
But there, another person had an even worse face than mine.
“Sora, are you alright?”
“I’m not okay… A golden wolf, which is our country’s guardian deity, appeared in my dream and told me to make him appear in the game. I couldn’t sleep at all.”
“…Sora!?”
After that, almost every day, the two sacred beasts appeared in our dreams, and a few months later, both Sirael the Holy Deer and the Golden Wolf appeared as protagonist characters in “Capsule Monster” and “Speed Rabbit,” respectively.
It was the unavoidable choice to protect our precious sleep rights.
