Chapter 13: War of the Dragons (1)
The decrease in dragon birth rates had several causes, but the biggest reason was the dragon's arrogance.
When they were living beings, their instincts would have whispered to them the need to leave offspring, but now, about 80% of their existence had transcended biological life.
It was natural.
Still, since the dragons' lifespans had increased... even if the annual birth rate decreased, they could somehow maintain their population.
But.
"How lonely..."
Lately, the number of children coming to see me had started to decrease.
The occasional lizardmen visits had now dwindled to just once a year to offer meat.
Only the seven children who had received my scales came to visit occasionally. Is this what it feels like to be an old man in the back room?
At least, it was comforting that the overall environment was starting to stabilize.
The number of dinosaurs, which had been on the brink of extinction, was slowly recovering, and the friction and disputes among dragons were decreasing... Well, they're not coming to me, so it must be decreasing, right?
The number of lizardmen was increasing, too. It would be nice if mammals diversified at the right time and primitive humans appeared. Hmm....
Thus, I spent my time leisurely, observing the overall situation of the world, and soon felt a bit sleepy.
After all the tiresome events, it's only natural to feel sleepy. Yes.
I wrote a note in the cave where I lived, saying I was going into hibernation for a while, and then moved to the top of a high mountain to dig out a large cave.
Here, I wouldn't be disturbed by others.
And so, I began my first hibernation.
Well, even though it was hibernation, only my body slept, and my mind was awake.
This time, I should thoroughly check out the internet of other worlds. Time seems to fly by.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How long had I been asleep?
"War!!!"
Suddenly, a loud roar reached the top of the mountain where I was sleeping.
War? What sudden war? Had aliens invaded? Or had a transcendent octopus-headed monster awakened from the abyss?
If not... could it be?
Due to my long sleep, my body had stiffened, and it took me slowly moving to loosen up.
Ugh... How long had I been asleep? It took me days just to loosen up my body.
Once my body moved smoothly, I leapt out of the cave where I lived, flew into the sky, and saw.
"What is this?"
Numerous dragons were flying in the sky, breathing fire at each other.
"What in the world is happening?"
A dreadful scene where they not only breathed fire but also lashed with tails and tore each other's scales with teeth and claws.
Most of the attacks were on the children of Black, with Red, Gold, and Blue mainly attacking Black.
It was a chaotic situation. In the midst of this.
Kwaang!!!
A flame suddenly flew in from somewhere and hit my face, exploding.
Hmm, slightly warm.
"A giant silver dragon...? Could it be?!"
"Could it be the Creator Dragon God who disappeared hundreds of years ago?!"
"Creator Dragon God or whatever! Don't stop attacking! This time, we'll burn all the Blacks!"
"Creator Dragon God, what a tacky name!"
"It's just an old thing that's fallen behind the times! The world already belongs to us Black dragons!"
Amidst such a scene, I let out an annoyed sigh and said softly.
[Stop]
Unknowingly, magic was imbued in my sincere words, and the dragons that my voice touched stopped moving and plummeted to the ground.
A slight annoyance is rising. What exactly happened for these immature ones to wage war?
"What is this?!"
"My body won't move...!"
Looking down at the dragons that had fallen and created dozens of large craters, I swallowed my annoyance and said.
"What happened while I was asleep? You there. Speak."
I spoke to the Black Dragon groaning in pain in one of the craters, and the Black Dragon looked up at me and said.
"Creator Dragon God...! Please withdraw your killing intent!"
"I didn't harbor any killing intent, though."
"Then why can't we move our bodies?"
Well, why indeed?
Perhaps it's because I was rudely awakened by the noise from a nap, only to find the world I had been tending to shattered by these grandchildren-like creatures waging war?
Well, it must be because of the one sincere word I spoke.
I spoke sincerely again.
[Move]
Then, the dragons that had been struggling to move were freed.
"Why did this happen? Explain slowly."
"Well, it's a very long story if I start talking..."
"Summarize it shortly."
"The insolent Gold Dragon attacked our hatchlings! One hatchling was sacrificed!"
What? The hatchlings? In a situation where the birth rate is already disastrously low, and each one is precious?
"You there, Gold. Is what he said true?"
"Well, that's..."
"Speak clearly."
"We did attack the hatchling, but... Black first expanded their territory excessively and invaded ours!"
So, Black messed up the territory first, and Gold attacked the hatchling in anger because of that?
Then why did the others get involved?
"You there, Red. Blue. Why did you join the fight?"
"Because Black was wrong! We couldn't just watch Black cause chaos with their numbers!"
"It was so bad that Black even reached out to the sea. This is unfair!"
Hmm... So, it's ultimately a matter of territory.
I let out a small sigh.
[Erebus. Shamash. Ifrit. Thetis. Sylphid. Sagarmatha. Yggdrasil. Appear before me.]
I called the names of my seven children, and the children whose names were called were summoned before me.
"Ugh?! M-Mother?!"
"What is this...? Mom?!"
The children, suddenly summoned, were surprised to see me.
"Explain. What happened while I was asleep?"
Seeing my angry appearance, the seven children found it difficult to speak.