Chapter 216: Bring Some Popcorn, Jinseo (6) "How fascinating..."
Even if she was younger than Charlotte, she was still a dragon who had lived a very long time.
Until the moment she was sealed, she had traveled all over the continent with the other dragons and experienced all kinds of food.
Yet even for her, cola's uniquely prickling carbonation and sweetness were strong enough to make her forget her anger toward the lesser creatures, if only for a moment.
"That alone isn't enough, is it? Jinseo, could you bring my niece some bunsik?"
"Will that be all right?"
"Don't worry. Even if she eats one plate of bunsik, it won't be nearly enough for her to recover her strength. Just trust me."
"Understood."
Jinseo went into the food truck, then came back carrying a plate piled with steaming tteok-twi-sun.
"Here, this is tteokbokki. Its spicy-sweet flavor is the best part. This is fried food. There are three kinds, and personally, I prefer the fried seaweed rolls. And this is sundae… but can you eat the sundae offal that comes with it?"
Charlotte had the expression of an aunt who had brought her niece to a bunsik shop for the first time as she carefully explained each item on the plate, and Evelyn nodded and began trying the bunsik one by one.
"This kind of taste… is new to me."
"The lesser creatures are weak beyond weak compared to us, but they seem to know far better than we do how to make life enjoyable through clever ideas."
After saying that, Charlotte picked up a toothpick and began sharing the bunsik with her niece.
This really feels strange.
Jinseo crossed his arms as he watched Evelyn chew with her small mouth full of tteokbokki.
That dragon who had looked so terrifying now seemed like nothing more than a teenage girl stopping by a snack shop after school to eat tteokbokki.
"You must have been very hungry."
"Yes."
"Well, of course. If you fight lesser creatures for six days without eating or drinking, no matter how much of a dragon you are, you'd be hungry and exhausted. Especially with those lesser creatures constantly eating right in front of you every single day."
"Yes..."
As she answered, Evelyn devoured all the bunsik in the blink of an eye, and even that was not enough, because she slowly reached her hand toward the bag of potato chips Charlotte was holding.
"That's enough. No more."
Charlotte lightly smacked her niece's hand away and smiled mischievously.
At that, Evelyn seemed slightly upset, pouted, and sucked the remaining tteokbokki sauce off the toothpick.
"If this were normal, you wouldn't have touched the food of lesser creatures at all and would've just burned it with your breath, but seeing how you ate it all, you really were starving."
"Yes..."
"If you had listened to me, you could have enjoyed far more kinds of food than just what you ate now, so that's a pity. Anyway, as I said, I'm going to seal you again. Since you still haven't escaped the darkness rooted deep in your heart, you're too dangerous."
Charlotte lifted her hand over Evelyn's head to cast the sealing magic.
"But instead of making you sleep endlessly like before, I won't do that this time. I'll be satisfied with locking you up so you can't go outside."
"You won't… put me to sleep?"
Evelyn, who had expected to fall back into another long slumber, blinked at the completely unexpected answer.
"Someone I know among the humans advised me that if I force you to sleep like that, then the same thing will just happen again after the seal is undone. And in human terms, your age would make you a juvenile… what was it again? Anyway, they said you're not at an age where blindly punishing you would solve anything."
"Of course, that does not mean she should be forgiven unconditionally just because she is young. Since your niece will likely live far longer than you, there may come a day when she is the only dragon left. If that day comes and she is still like this, then the lesser creatures or the dragons may be doomed to fight until one side disappears. Shouldn't such a tragedy be prevented?"
Recalling Jinseo's words, Charlotte lightly ruffled Evelyn's hair.
"Strictly speaking, you're a little over the age to qualify as a juvenile dragon, but during all the time you were sealed, you didn't grow even a little mentally. So yes, you are a juvenile dragon. Even so, you still have to be punished, so stay sealed for 1,000 years. Spend that time thinking carefully about what you did wrong and how you should live from now on."
"1,000 years..."
"Oh dear, if I keep talking to you, my resolve will weaken, so this won't do. I'm starting the seal now."
Flaaash.
As a soft light flowed from Charlotte's hand, Evelyn's body began to grow faint.
"I'll come visit you about once a month, so don't feel too lonely. If I just leave you alone the whole time, that would be worse than putting you to sleep."
"Really...?"
"Yes. No matter how much I hate you, you're still my one and only niece. What should I bring you?"
"That thing… I just drank."
"Cola? All right. And tteok-twi-sun too?"
"Yes."
"I'll bring McXnald's too when I come."
Flaaash.
Radiant light covered the entire coastline.
As Evelyn disappeared along with the light, the people gathered around began looking this way and that, trying to figure out where she had been sealed.
"Did you seal her somewhere under here, by any chance?"
When Jinseo pointed at the ground, Charlotte shook her head.
"No. The moment the sealing was complete, I teleported her somewhere else. We can't have other lesser creatures finding her again and affecting the seal. This time I hid her somewhere truly deep, so no one will ever find her."
After finishing Evelyn's sealing, Charlotte brushed off her hands with an expression of relief.
"All right, lesser creatures! It's really over now! For at least the next thousand years, my niece won't be breaking free from the seal! Your children can have children, and those children can… well, whatever! They can keep having children, and you'll still be able to live without worry for all that time!"
When Charlotte declared the end of the battle that had gone on day and night for a full six days, the soldiers dropped heavily to the ground.
"It's finally… over."
"I still can't believe we really fought a dragon head-on for six days, apart from eating and sleeping."
"You live long enough, and you end up fighting a dragon head-on and saving the world too. At least now I've definitely got a story to tell my children later. Ha ha ha..."
With the tension finally gone, the soldiers exchanged calm words and laughed freely.
Once the thrilling joy they had felt at the moment Dark Dragon Evelyn fell began to subside, a deep sense of fulfillment slowly filled their hearts.
"And… since you fought this hard, it's more than enough to call all of you Dragon Slayers."
Dragon Slayer.
An honorable title granted only to those who brought down a dragon, the strongest lifeform in history.
The soldiers, hearing that the title had become theirs, jumped to their feet in shock.
"Really? We're Dragon Slayers?"
"Wow, we're receiving a title that only appears in legends?"
"No, come on, that's not right. If it were Lord Craid, who contributed the most, that would make sense, but us? That doesn't sound right."
"That's true. How could people like us be Dragon Slayers..."
The soldiers began pushing all the credit onto Craid, and Craid, who was sitting at the food truck counter eating, twitched when he heard them.
"Hey, hey, hey, who said it only applied to a few people? Every single one of you here is a Dragon Slayer. Isn't that right? Oh, should I include the chefs too? Jinseo, what do you think?"
"I'll decline such an honorable title. I only made food, after all."
Jinseo shook his head and refused.
"A Dragon Slayer holding a sword is one thing, but a Dragon Slayer holding a ladle and a kitchen knife doesn't really look cool."
"We're chefs anyway, so even if we had that kind of title, it wouldn't really mean much… The honor of being the chefs who fed the Dragon Slayers suits us much better. I think that would help business more too."
When the other chefs refused just like Jinseo did, Charlotte scratched her left temple awkwardly.
"Now that I hear you say it, that's true enough. Anyway, listen well! From today onward, the 1,000 lesser creatures who fought my niece are Dragon Slayers. Spread the word everywhere that I, a dragon, personally certified it!"
With a single statement from her, no fewer than 1,000 Dragon Slayers were born.
Humans, dwarves, centaurs, elves, and even vampires were all included.
"Yeah! I became a Dragon Slayer! I really did!"
"Grandfather… are you watching? I… I became a Dragon Slayer!"
"When I get back, I'll have something to boast about to my children! The Dragon Slayer from the fairy tales is me! I'll be able to tell them their father is that Dragon Slayer!"
The 1,000 Dragon Slayers embraced one another and shared their joy.
And Jinseo smiled too, though for a different reason.
{ -Hidden Quest: "Achieve victory in a battle against a Supreme Being" has been completed. As a reward…- }
{ -Congratulations! Your Mobile Cooking Facility has reached the highest rank, Level 100!- }
{ -The reward gained for reaching the highest rank is being issued.- }
{ -The reward currently chosen by the owner is "Return to a desired point in time." This reward may be used whenever you wish.- }
As Jinseo read the messages continuing to appear in the status window, he saw the last line displayed and clenched both fists tightly.
At last… I can meet my parents again.
It had been three years since he began doing business in another world with the food truck.
Jinseo, who had waited all this time for this day alone, felt his chest tighten with emotion at the thought that he could turn back time and change the past in which his parents died early.
But that joy lasted only for a moment.
The instant he realized that he would also have to part with the companions and regular customers who had been with him since he started running the food truck, along with everyone else he had met in this other world, the strength left the hand he had been clenching so tightly.
"Mr. Jinseo."
"Ah… Cardinal."
"Thank you so very much. Thanks to you, we were able to save the world. And..."
Fedora, who had quietly approached Jinseo, looked toward the two old men and the younger man who were still sniffling.
"I'm also so happy that you fulfilled Great-Grandfather's wish and that Brother Julien and Little Grandfather were able to reunite."
"I'm glad I was able to help."
"I'm so very happy, but… are you not?"
"I..."
Jinseo trailed off and lowered his head slightly.
"There's something I need to think about."
Perhaps because the mood was so festive.
Everyone was laughing, talking, and celebrating, so aside from Fedora, no one noticed the shadow that had fallen across Jinseo's face.
"Ah! Everyone, attention! I still have something to say! I couldn't explain it beforehand, but that Dragon's Blessing I used on you all does have exactly one side effect."
"What?"
"A-a side effect?"
"No, wait, why are you only saying that now...?"
As Charlotte suddenly said something unexpected, the soldiers who had been wildly celebrating all froze at once.
"It's not a side effect that applies to everyone. It only manifests in some of you, so there's no need for all of you to make those faces. It's absolutely not some terrible curse, so you don't have to worry too much."
"W-what kind of side effect is it?"
"Surely not… hair loss?"
"Hey! It's not hair loss! If it had a side effect that horrifying, I wouldn't have used this magic in the first place!"
At Charlotte's fierce denial that it was absolutely not hair loss, all 1,000 members of the force, including Craid, let out sighs of relief.
"Your appetites increased explosively, right? Once Dragon's Blessing ends, of course that ought to go back to normal, but when I tested it before, a few of them kept that appetite for quite a while."
Charlotte lowered both hands and made a gesture describing a belly sticking far out.
"In other words, some of you are guaranteed to get fat for a while."
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