CH 16

Chapter 16: A dream about the God of Light

Translator: yuzu

+ + +

“How did you find this…?”

Could it be that the dog wasn’t trying to run away after all, and it found this thing in order to repay her?

Luya had just started to accept her fate in this world, but once she saw this golden pass to the Empire, her heart was shaken.

The imperial capital had stopped accepting refugees long time ago. The population living in the lower city had exploded, and the living space of the poor was overcrowded to the limit. Even the prisons couldn’t accommodate more people. Any criminal was immediately exiled, even for petty crimes like stealing a piece of bread.

Even then, the imperial capital was out of reach for countless refugees. There were also numerous people who tried to cross the boundary at the end of Asdra Continent to reach the continent of the God of Light. They hoped to receive God’s blessing, but it was still unknown if anyone could pass through the sea of fire to reach the other side.

Did she want to go to the imperial capital? Of course! Who wouldn’t want to return to the place where humans lived? Even if life was difficult, as long as you worked hard, you could still get enough food and clothing to live. Wasn’t this the point of working 80-hour weeks in her previous life?

But right now, that was a fool’s dream.

The red dragon seemed to have raised her as a pet. How could she possibly convince the red dragon to let her go? She couldn’t imagine the consequences of betraying the dragon.

Run away while the dragon is out hunting? That was even more unrealistic. The mountain was brimming with all kinds of monsters, each one more dangerous than the next. It was impossible for her to escape this mountain alive. What would she do after she left? Did she know which direction the imperial capital was? The wilderness was filled with danger, and it would take an enormous amount of luck to reach the imperial capital alive.

Forget it… it was better to think about it later.

Luya sighed discreetly. Now that the red dragon was behind her, she absolutely couldn’t show any sign of wanting to run away.

For instance, this time when Lu Dahuang ran away, she was about to explode.

In truth, she actually had a pretty good temper, and she was quite tolerant. But after thinking of how well she had treated the dog, given it food, bathed it, and even taken the risk to buy it life-saving medicine, she couldn’t bear how the stinky dog disappeared with no conscience at all. If she hadn’t liked small animals so much, she definitely would have abandoned it.

Similarly, if she ran away, the red dragon would probably be even more furious. The consequences of drawing the dragon’s anger was unimaginable. Since her life was decent right now, she didn’t want to upset the red dragon.

That said, the red dragon probably didn’t know what this object was, right? It would be better if she didn’t let the dragon find out…

So Luya put that insignia in her pocket and pretended to rub the Shiba Inu’s head. She spoke self-righteously, “I know what you want, but don’t run all over the place next time. There’s too many monsters here, and I don’t need this. Only the red dragon can protect us now.”

The dog looked at Luya with a complicated expression, and she didn’t know if it understood her meaning. Finally, after giving the insignia to Luya, it quieted down and started to follow Luya.

“Whatever, let’s go back. Don’t do this next time.”

Luya led the dog along and sighed. She then started to examine the things that the goblins had abandoned when they fled.

There was still a piece of unknown animal meat roasting on a bonfire in front of the chieftain’s tent, which looked to be the goblins’ dinner. The skin had already turned golden, and it was sprinkled with a layer of spices, which gave the meat a mouth-watering fragrance.

Luya swallowed her saliva.

“Since we came all the way here, we might as well see if there’s anything worth taking. Lu Dahuang, you haven’t eaten all day, so come over and help yourself.”

She took the piece of meat directly off the grill, and after blowing impatiently, she bit it and chewed carefully.

She didn’t know what kind of animal meat this was. The spices concealed the flavor of the ingredients. Aside from the fact that the meat was a bit tough, it could be considered the best thing she had eaten ever since arriving in this world.

The crucial point was that this roast meat was salty! She finally had something that had salt!

“The meat is salted! You can’t eat it, so unfortunately I’ll have to finish the rest of it for you.”

Luya quickly changed her mind, and started to eat the roasted meat in front of the Shiba Inu. She also asked1 if the red dragon wanted to have some.

【No, you’re too thin. Eat more of it yourself.】

…Oh fuck!

Listen, what kind of fairy boyfriend response is this? Luya looked at the red dragon with heartfelt emotion. He was completely different from a certain stinky dog that only made other people worry.

When the Shiba Inu looked at her angrily and started to whine, she comforted it very naturally and said, “Don’t worry, there’s still some slime noodles for you.”

“Whine2—!”

She pretended not to see the Shiba Inu’s angry glare, and she finished the rest of the roast meat by herself. Then she started to search the area for anything interesting.

First she went to pick up the goblin chieftain’s staff. Given that this was a magical world, Luya figured that since she was a transmigrator, it would make sense if she had special talents. There was simply no way that she was just an ordinary person.

So she tried to test if she had any magical talent. She held up the staff and waved it a few times. However, she didn’t feel any recovery magic or see any signs of a miracle happening. She waited for a while, and there was no reaction.

…She didn’t know if she was incapable, or if the staff itself was ineffective. As a weapon, the bows that the goblins left behind seemed more useful than this, so perhaps she’d just use the stick to dry her laundry.

Luya confiscated the bows and arrows that the goblins dropped. Although she couldn’t actually shoot anything, she could start practicing from today. Perhaps one day she would become the Link3 of another world?

In the chieftain’s tent, she rummaged around and found some herbs, fruits, some unknown seeds, and blocks of salt.

Even though these were just goblin items and there wasn’t anything good, she still stuffed everything that she could fit into a snakeskin bag. She didn’t even spare the pots and pans.

She was more like a bandit than those goblins. Fortunately, Luya still had a conscience, and she didn’t let the dragon burn everything down. The main reason was that Luya felt like this could become a renewable resource. She figured that she could come back here later on to see if there were any new stuff to loot.

“This is such a good haul! Lu Dahuang, you found quite a nice place, so I’ll count this as your apology and forgive you.”

Luya completely forgot how angry she was before, and she happily rubbed the dog’s back.

The Shiba Inu finally seemed to realize that “Lu Dahuang” was referring to him, and he suddenly looked back at Luya in surprise, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“What’s wrong? Do you like your new name? I’m Luya, and you’ll have my last name4 starting from today.”

Luya was totally oblivious. After tightening the snakeskin bag, she carried the dog who was staring at her unhappily onto the dragon’s back. She rode the dragon away triumphantly with her new trophies.

When they returned to the dragon’s lair, it had just reached nightfall.

The dog was extremely uncooperative. It was surprisingly strong, and no matter how she pulled, it wouldn’t budge. Luya spent a lot of effort trying to pull the dog into the cave, and eventually she couldn’t only give up and let it go. But at that point, she realized that the Goblet of Aqua of Pura was already full of water.

Oh, let’s give it a taste!

She tried to give it a sip, and the water was cold and sweet. It was absolutely delicious.

That was really great. Now, their water situation was guaranteed.

Luya breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that the old demon hadn’t sold her any counterfeits. Otherwise, she’d definitely have the red dragon take her back to complain.

Consequently, she grabbed the dog’s water bowl, poured some in, and called the Shiba Inu over to drink. Then she started another fire, and boiled some slime noodles for the dog.

She didn’t know if the Shiba Inu was angry at Luya for eating all the meat. It finished the water, but it kicked over the bowl of slime noodles. Then it broke free of Luya’s leash and rushed into the dragon’s lair.

Luya was very sad. As an office worker who worked 80-hour weeks, she ordered takeout on most days and didn’t cook. To her, wasting the food that she made was inexcusable.

But what could she do? She was also upset!

So she picked up the goblin chieftain’s staff and rushed into the dragon’s lair, chasing the dog for a while. However, the dog was too fast, and it was extremely agile. She could tell right away how this dog had been able to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. In the end, Luya slumped down out of breath, even though the dog still had plenty of energy. It provocatively sat on the grand some distance away from Luya, staring at her contemptuously.

Heh… ruthless! Stinky dog!

Finally, Luya dropped her staff, and looked at the Shiba Inu who had laid down after she admitted defeat. She leaned against the red dragon and fell asleep.

After going through such a thrilling day, she was exhausted.

That night, Luya had another dream.

However, this time the dream that she saw was different. It wasn’t a memory of her body, but rather a vision of something that had never happened before. The protagonist of the dream was herself.

She didn’t know what was going on with this strange dream. In the scene, she was in the center of a pure white shrine. A group of humans in priest robes had forced her to kneel at the altar, and they accused her of being the god-slayer in the prophecies. She was the witch who fornicated with the evil dragon, and the sinner who would one day bring destruction to the Grandina Continent.

Luya had no idea what was going on, and she kept yelling that they were mistaken and it wasn’t her. But they all ignored her, and no one listened to her voice. They kept kneeling and chanting their incantation, praying that their all-powerful God of Light would descend from heaven to punish her. They hoped that the witch would meet her demise by execution.

Luya struggled desperately, and she tried to lift her head. However, she was confronted with the sight of an impossibly beautiful man whose gorgeousness couldn’t be described with words. The man’s long golden hair flowed like water, warm like the dazzling sun. His pale blue eyes were crystal clear and divine. He calmly sat in front of his own statue, and looked at Luya with compassion and mercy.

“Perhaps we should give the sinner a chance.”

His voice was very pure, like the sound of the sky itself. It resonated in the depths of their souls, stimulating a faint warmth and ache in their hearts. When he spoke, his believers all calmed down, and some of them groveled on the ground piously. At the same time, Luya suddenly felt like there was a creepy smile on the corner of the man’s mouth.

No… this wasn’t right…

“As long as you offer your soul to the light, you will be cleansed and saved… Isn’t that right, my fallen Favored one? The witch of the evil dragon…”

Author’s notes:

There are fewer and fewer comments!

You guys can’t trick me into releasing more chapters!

I accidentally spoiled the volume title, but I quickly deleted it. You guys aren’t allowed to see what I saved up.

In my stories, gods generally aren’t good things.

Translator’s notes: