Chapter 13

The decrease in the dragons’ birth rate had various causes, but the biggest reason was the arrogance of the dragons.

Back when they were mere creatures, their instincts probably whispered to leave descendants behind, but now, having become beings that are almost 80% no longer biological…

It’s only natural that their sexual desires and urges for offspring would diminish.

Still, since dragons live much longer… even with a low annual birth rate, somehow the population should be sustainable.

But…

“Feels lonely…”

Lately, fewer young ones have been coming to see me. The Lizardmen who occasionally visited now only come once a year to offer meat—barely that.

And among those I gifted my scales to, only the seven children still visit from time to time. Is this what it feels like to be an old dragon sitting in the back room?

At least, if there’s any consolation, it’s that the overall environment has started to stabilize.

The number of dinosaurs, which were on the brink of extinction, is slowly recovering, and conflicts between dragons have decreased… Hmm, or maybe they’ve just stopped coming to bother me.

The Lizardmen population is also increasing. If mammals diversify at the right moment and primitive humans appear, that’d be nice… Hmm…

Like that, as I leisurely observed the general state of the world while spending my days, sleepiness began to creep up on me.

There were quite a few tiring things recently. It’s about time for a nap, huh? Yep.

After writing a note in the cave where I usually stay saying I’d go into hibernation for a bit, I moved to the peak of a tall mountain and dug out a large cave.

Here, I won’t be disturbed by anyone else.

Thus, I began my first hibernation.

Though, even in hibernation, only my physical body sleeps; my spirit remains awake.

This is a good chance to browse another world’s internet thoroughly. Time will surely pass well this way.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

How long had I been asleep?

“WAAAR! WAR!!!”

Suddenly, a loud roar reached the summit of the mountain where I slept.

War? What war all of a sudden? Did aliens invade? Or did some eldritch horror awaken from the depths?

Or… could it be?

Because I had been asleep for so long, my body had stiffened, and it took me several days just to loosen it up.

Grrr… how long was I asleep if it took this long to get moving again?

Once my body was finally limber, I flew out of the cave I’d been staying in and soared into the sky.

“What is this?”

I witnessed countless dragons flying through the air, breathing fire at each other.

“Huh? What in the world is going on here?”

Beyond breath attacks, they were smashing each other with tails and tearing scales off with teeth and claws—a pitiful sight.

Mostly, the black ones were being attacked, by reds, golds, and blues.

Total chaos. And amidst it…

BOOM!!!

A burst of flame hit my face and exploded.

Hmm, slightly warm.

“A silver-colored giant dragon… Could it be…?”

“Could it be the Creator Dragon God who disappeared hundreds of years ago?!”

“Creator Dragon God or not! Don’t stop the attack! This time we’ll burn all the blacks!”

“The Creator Dragon God?! How can such a corny name exist!”

“Anyway, it’s outdated! The world belongs to us Black Dragons now!”

Tch. What a mess these foolish brats have made. A most unproductive display of poor parenting by the Seven Children.

“What do we do about the Creator Dragon God?!”

“I don’t know! Counterattack first!”

“Breath! Dodge!!”

Again, the red dragon’s fiery breath narrowly misses as the black dragons hurriedly evade.

And the stray breath hits me once more.

BOOOOOM!!!

Flames hot enough to melt rocks into lava in an instant—but to me, it’s merely a slightly warm breath.

However, the damage from such attacks isn’t the issue.

How dare you breathe fire at me?

I stared at the red dragon who breathed fire at me.

A fairly large dragon—not some reckless youth, but one who has long been an adult.

Slowly flapping my wings, I approached the red dragon.

“H-H-H-Hiiik?!”

The red dragon, seemingly frightened by my approach, kept breathing fire. But its lukewarm flames couldn’t even make me feel a mild warmth.

“Youngsters these days… No respect. Breathing fire at your elders, how rude.”

As I got closer, the red dragon panicked and tried to flee using its wings. But…

“Too slow.”

Before he could escape, I had already grabbed his face.

“The Ifrit must have messed up the education of these youngsters. What a sorry sight.”

“G-G-Gack!”

The red dragon struggled to break free from my forepaw, but his feeble resistance couldn’t even budge one of my claws.

“Do you wish to die?”

“G-G-Grrr…”

I heard something crack in my grip.

The red dragon’s groans gradually lost their form and trickled away.

Sighing softly, I released my forepaw, letting the red dragon fall helplessly with a bloody head.

“…”

Silence fell over the battlefield. All eyes were on me, and not a sound could be heard.

Spreading my wings, I flew elsewhere.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The place where I used to stay—the cave where dragons came during disputes before I went into hibernation—was completely blocked due to the collapse of the mountain caused by the war.

The nearby Lizardman temple was now in ruins.

The small temple built diligently by the Lizardmen was now nothing but a pile of rubble.

Sighing softly, I looked up at the sky.

A chaotic battle raged above as enormous dragons fought in the air, causing destruction below.

Huge trees burned and collapsed, many dinosaurs and animals lost their homes and died while fleeing, and smaller creatures dug burrows in the ground to survive in this hellish scene.

Amidst this spectacle, I let out a sigh mixed with irritation and spoke quietly.

[Stop.]

My sincere words carried an unintended magical power, and the dragons who heard my voice froze mid-motion before falling helplessly.

Ugh, this is annoying. Why are these unruly ones fighting a war?

“What…?!”

“Our bodies won’t move!”

Looking down at the dragons who had fallen and created dozens of massive craters, I swallowed my irritation and asked.

“What happened while I was asleep? You there, speak.”

Pointing at a black dragon lying in one of the craters, I spoke, and the black dragon looked up at me and said.

“O-Oh mighty Creator Dragon God! Please withdraw your killing intent!”

“I didn’t really mean to emit any killing intent.”

“Then why can’t we move our bodies?”

Hmm, why is that?

Maybe it’s because I woke up from a deep slumber due to the noisy sounds and found the world I nurtured in disarray due to these grandkids’ antics?

Well, it’s probably because my single heartfelt word had an effect.

Once again, I spoke sincerely.

[Move.]

Thus, the dragons who had been unable to move and groaning in pain were set free.

“Explain slowly why this happened.”

“That… It’s a very long story, but…”

“Summarize it briefly.”

“The cheeky gold dragons attacked our hatchlings! One hatchling was sacrificed!”

What? Hatchlings? When the birth rate is already so bad that every individual counts?

“There, Gold. Is that true?”

“T-That…”

“Speak properly.”

“We did attack the hatchlings, but… the blacks excessively expanded their territory and invaded ours!”

So the blacks overextended their territory first, then the angry golds retaliated against the hatchlings?

Then why did the others get involved?

“And you, Red and Blue. Why did you join the fight?”

“Because the blacks were wrong! We couldn’t just sit by and watch them cause trouble relying solely on their numbers!”

“They even extended their influence to the seas. That’s unfair!”

Hmm… So ultimately, it’s a territorial dispute.

I sighed softly.

[Erebus. Shamash. Ifrit. Thetis. Sylphid. Sagarmatha. Yggdrasil. Appear before me.]

I called the names of my seven children, and they were summoned before me.

“Wha-?! M-Mother?!”

“What…? Mom?!”

Summoned suddenly, the children were surprised to see me.

“Explain. What happened while I was asleep?”

Seeing my clearly irritated expression, the seven children hesitated to speak.