Chapter 769: Fighting Words
Chapter 769: Fighting Words
[Then for starters… If you were to find yourself in a situation where you’re the Dragon God, and the whole Dragon Race is going to go extinct, would you put your neck out for them and save them?]
What a simple yet annoying question.
On one end, Rael would answer with the obvious, but the obvious would clearly piss off Braum.
So instead, Rael decided to go old school.
“It depends on whether or not the Dragon Race is on my side. If they’re willing to fight and die for me, especially in these trying times, then I don’t see why I shouldn’t stick my neck out for them and help them.”
In short, so long as they didn’t abandon him when he most needed it, Rael would step in and help them against whatever problem might arise.
After all, although Rael could have trillions of constructs at his side fighting for him and giving their lives up… He still preferred actual people who weren’t created by him.
And the fact that his constructs now had free will didn’t change that.
Hearing his answer, Braum paused for a moment, then said:
[Good. That’s a good answer. I wouldn’t want to fight for people who don’t like me either. Thankfully, every single dragon likes me, so I’d never stumble into that kind of problem… Hahahaha…]
He was a little silly at times.
Anyhow…
[Now as for the second question. What if I were to ask you to become my disciple. Rather, if I told you to learn all my techniques and take over my place as the Cosmic Dragon, would you?] Braum asked.
Seeing Rael’s confused expression, he added:
[Becoming a Cosmic Dragon is a great honor. It comes with many burdens, but also just as many risks.]
Yeah…
“I can’t say I’m interested. If that position has some duties that need to be fulfilled, then I’m not the guy.”
After all, Rael had his own stuff he needed to deal with.
Learning the techniques? Sure. That would be very beneficial.
Taking Braum’s position? Absolutely not.
And clearly, that was also the right answer, albeit not for the right reasons.
[Haha. Great. Since you don’t want to take my position, I respect you. I would hate to have some puny Dragon God chasing after my hard work, so that makes it easy.]
“I see… Are all these questions going to be so vague and twisted? Because if you’re going to keep asking them, you might as well skip forward, since I’m sure you already have a good grasp on my personality by now.”
In general, Braum already had the answers he was looking for.
But Rael was certain that Braum was also using him as some kind of checklist, and he didn’t really like that.
[Hmm…]
[Alright then. I’ll skip toward the actual questions then,] Braum said, clearing his throat.
[The Dragon Race consists of several Dragon Realms and several realities. The responsibility you speak of and hate is something you’d get regardless of your choice. So long as you’re a Dragon God, you’ll have one prime responsibility.]
He paused for a moment, giving Rael the opportunity to absorb all that he had just said.
And he didn’t like it.
“What responsibilities are you talking about?”
Also…
“There are multiple Dragon Realms? Does that mean there are multiple Fate Dragon Kings and Time Dragon Kings everywhere?”
[To answer your second question, yes. There are plenty of those around, but most aren’t as massive as the Realm you had contacted me from. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, the Dragon Realm you’re on is considered the main one. Every single other Dragon Realm is just for the powerful dragons and such.]
He paused, then hummed.
[In a way, that ties together with one of your prime responsibilities. As a Dragon God, you must rule over one of these smaller Dragon Realms. Whether by tyranny or by justice. I don’t exactly care. It’s just that those people need to know there’s someone higher than them to keep them in place.]
For a moment, Rael thought that the responsibilities were going to be something dramatic and overly intense, but it was just this.
“I see. That’s definitely doable then.”
[Aha. That’s good. Then one more thing before I send you back.]
Braum cleared his throat.
[If someone more powerful than you comes along and you lose in a fight against them, would you hand over your title as a Dragon God, or would you maintain your dignity to the bitter end?]
Hearing that, Rael froze for a moment.
The question was simple, but it was far more intricate than it appeared.
After all, the situation he had just described was what happened inside Victoria’s throne room.
Just instead of hypotheticals, Rael was the one intimidating others and stomping on their dignity to become a Dragon God.
“So what happens now?” Rael asked, straightening his posture. “Are we going to fight here and now?”
Braum let out a chuckle.
[Fight? Do you seriously believe our exchange would be a fight?]
At the obvious taunt, Rael just stared at him, then shrugged.
“Size isn’t everything.”
[If you say so. But on the other hand, could you tell me what you thought you were doing?] Braum asked. [Sabotaging all the rules, and for what? Just so you could achieve a little bit more power? Do you think the dragon race is a joke?]
“I think your rules are a joke,” Rael replied plainly. “You have so many rules for the stupidest of things. I’m guessing you’re the one who came up with those rules. Do you believe that by limiting the dragon race so much, it wouldn’t come back and bite you in the ass?”
Right as Braum was about to reply, Rael continued:
“Since you think I’m such a big threat to the Dragon Realm, what would happen if I were to go ahead and conquer it all? Because of all these rules you set up, everyone’s way too weak. Would you even step in and do anything if I were to do something?”