Got a Gallery in the Wild

A dragon’s head and a human body.

She still had her long tail, and her skin remained covered in scales.

That was the reality of dragon Polymorph.

Handsome men and beautiful women? Not a chance. They simply took on a “human” form.

If I had to compare them to another race, they were something like lizardmen.

There was one thing that still didn’t add up, though.

According to Cain, during the Age of Dragons, most heroes were dragons enjoying themselves in Polymorph.

However, Badir still looked like a dragon from every angle.

Her appearance was far removed from that of an ordinary human.

Even demons, with their blue skin and inverted eyes, still looked fairly human.

— It seems you still don’t quite understand.

“…A little. Just now, Sir Cain said that most of the heroes of the Age of Dragons were dragons transformed into humans. I thought they’d look similar.”

— That’s possible. But it’s far too troublesome.

“Troublesome?”

— Do you know how much work a Polymorph requires? You have to alter the skin, the hair, the fingers, the toes… you have to calculate every single detail separately.

Now it made sense.

It was like undergoing complete cosmetic surgery.

Just imagining having to calculate every part gave me a headache.

“So when you were outside, you actually did all that carefully?”

— That’s right. There was a reason for it.

“A reason?”

— If you’re attractive, it’s much easier to enjoy the pastime.

An incredibly realistic reason.

Though it was still disappointing.

Even so, it was much easier to talk to her in this form.

It still took some getting used to that lizard head.

“So, you’re from the outside world?”

— That’s right.

“If I’m not being disrespectful, could you tell me how old you are?”

— Probably over three thousand. I was born at the end of the Age of Dragons. Since old age hasn’t caught up to me yet, I won’t reach six thousand either.

“…And what’s the average lifespan of a dragon?”

— So far, almost none have died of old age.

What an ambiguous answer.

Though I understood.

As people grow older, many stop saying their age and simply mention the year they were born.

Counting every single year becomes truly tedious.

It was probably something like that.

‘She’s lived through an unimaginable number of experiences.’

That was exactly why I’d asked her age.

Even for dragons, considered the most powerful race in the world, the Forest of Four Seasons was still a dangerous place.

And if even a dragon avoided certain areas…

Then I needed to know which ones.

“Then, is there any region I should avoid at all costs? A place where even a dragon would have difficulty surviving?”

— I see you still haven’t given up hope of escaping. It would be better if you did.

“If I do nothing, I’ll never accomplish anything. But if I do something, then at least there’s a chance of achieving some kind of result.”

It was far better than sitting around doing nothing.

Besides.

I had some very reliable allies.

With them, perhaps there was still a small chance of escaping.

Maybe that was why another question came to mind, and I decided to ask it.

“Oh, by the way. Have you ever heard of the Gallery?”

— The Gallery? You mean one of the invaders’ abilities?

Surprisingly, even Badir, a being from the Mythological Era, knew about the Gallery.

Although she apparently couldn’t access it.

If she could, she wouldn’t have answered as though she’d only heard of it.

‘She can use magic here, but not access the Gallery?’

Perhaps the gods had done something when they imprisoned the dragons inside the Forest of Four Seasons.

After all, even Eldorado had been turned upside down after discovering an unexpected truth.

Who knew how many secrets mythology itself was hiding.

It wouldn’t be surprising if it turned into one of those stories where the gods ended up being complete bastards.

“So you can’t use the Gallery either?”

— Not in this place.

“Well, I can.”

— Hmm?

When I told her I could access the Gallery, Badir looked at me with obvious bewilderment.

It was as if she were thinking,

“Even I can’t do that. How is it possible that you can?”

Then she looked me up and down before turning her gaze toward Ludwig.

— Can you access the Gallery as well?

Ludwig slowly shook his head.

He couldn’t even use mana properly, much less access the Gallery.

The only reason he was still alive was because of his mithril sword.

— How curious.

“I think so too.”

— Hmm… Cough. Cough.

Badir seemed to think for a moment before coughing.

Right.

The poison was still coursing through her body.

There was no point in keeping her any longer.

It was better to use the remaining time to obtain only the most important information.

— In any case, you can think of the Gallery as one of the invaders’ abilities. At the same time, it was the greatest reason we lost the war.

“The reason?”

— They could converse with one another as though they were face-to-face, completely ignoring distances of thousands of kilometers. Thanks to that overwhelming coordination, they ultimately defeated us.

“Oh, I know a little about that too. The principle is very similar to the one that connects the Holy Sword with this body.”

Cain added that explanation.

After hearing it, I was finally able to understand where the Gallery’s operating principle originated.

That still didn’t change the fact that most things remained a complete mystery.

“Could it be that… the gods were actually the ones who did something wrong first…?”

— That wasn’t the case. We were the ones who earned our expulsion.

“Earned your expulsion?”

— Whenever we had the chance, we stole humans’ riches or killed them. It was only natural that they eventually drove us out.

“The legend that dragons hoard gold and silver treasures in their lairs didn’t come from nowhere.”

“……”

Well.

Whatever the reason, what mattered most to me was finding a way to escape.

Not stories from the Mythological Era.

I’d have plenty of time to complain to the gods once I got out of here.

As long as I remained trapped in this place, survival was still my absolute priority.

“Getting back to the subject… is there anywhere I should absolutely never enter?”

— Wherever you go, it’ll be dangerous for someone like you. In fact, this forest is only the third safest region.

“……There are places even safer than this?”

Now that was news to me.

I’d always thought this was the safest place.

I supposed she was saying that from a dragon’s point of view.

But that was precisely what made it even more objective.

Even for a dragon, the strongest creature in the world, there were dangerous places.

And just a few days ago, she’d even been attacked by an intruder.

— There is a place where the climate is warm all year round. The insects are a bit large, but it’s a fairly safe area.

“……The insects are a bit large?”

— About the size of one of my claws.

“You’re using your original size as the reference, right?”

— Isn’t that normal?

For us, that was already an enormous danger.

A living hell.

Here, the four seasons were well defined, so the insects were relatively small.

But the place Badir was talking about…

I’d rather not imagine it.

If I’d started there, I might have ended up surviving by eating insects.

Or, more likely…

The insects would have eaten me.

“Then tell me which places I should avoid at all costs.”

— There are many for someone like you, but never set foot in an area completely covered in green. It might as well be called a cursed land.

“A green land?”

— The moment you set foot there, the bones and flesh throughout your entire body will slowly begin separating.

Very slowly.

“……”

— Not even skin trying to regenerate would be able to heal. Little by little, it would peel away until you eventually died as though you’d contracted a plague.

Wasn’t that basically radiation poisoning?

Since when was there a radioactive zone in the middle of the forest?

Whatever it was, I would never set foot there.

Besides, radiation-contaminated places were usually full of horrific mutants.

Aside from that, there was also the volcanic region, the region of darkness, and the sea.

Some of those places I’d already seen from the other side of the river, while others I hadn’t.

“Then technically, we’re in the center of the forest right now, aren’t we?”

— That’s right.

“And normally, the entrance and exit should be in the same place.”

— Correct.

“Then couldn’t we leave through the same place where Mister Ludwig entered?”

“?”

I felt Ludwig’s gaze beside me.

At the same time, Cain translated my question for him.

If the entrance and exit were the same, perhaps all we had to do was return to the place where Ludwig had entered.

Just as I was berating myself for not thinking of such a simple idea sooner.

— Heh.

Badir let out a faint mocking laugh.

As if saying,

“Do you really think that idea never occurred to me?”

It irritated me for a moment, though she obviously had her reasons.

— I wish it were that simple. How long have you been living here?

“Not even a month yet.”

— As you said, the gate always remains in the same place. The problem is that although the gate itself doesn’t move, everything around it constantly changes.

She then pointed toward the sky.

I followed the direction of her finger.

The sun was slowly beginning to rise.

— Even here, the place where the sun rises changes every day. Do you know what that means?

“……”

— Judging by your expression, I think you do. This place consists of dozens of regions that intermingle with one another at specific times. Position, orientation, terrain… there are far too many variables to consider.

“……Then what would the probability of finding that gate be?”

— According to my calculations…

Badir crossed her arms and began calculating.

Even a dragon capable of performing dozens of calculations simultaneously needed time to work it out mentally?

Or was it simply because the probability was absurdly low?

After several tense moments, Badir finished her calculations and nodded.

— Based purely on probability, it would be approximately 0.00000002%. And that’s being rather generous.

“Generous?”

— The human body is extremely fragile. I understand that it falls ill easily. If we include that factor, the probability decreases dozens of times more.

“……”

It was a truly hopeless number.

I ran a hand across my face.

It was almost like the odds of winning the lottery.

Perhaps even worse.

And that was with her admitting she was being optimistic.

The real probability had to be much lower.

But.

“……That’s good news.”

— What?

“It means it isn’t zero.”

I clung to the fact that, no matter how close it came to zero.

It still wasn’t zero.

After all, it was still a probability.

Who knew.

Maybe I’d be the one who ended up winning the lottery.

Some people had won it twice.

There was no law saying I couldn’t do the same.

“Those who keep trying are always given an opportunity. If I keep reducing the odds little by little, they’ll stop approaching zero and start approaching one.”

“……”

Badir looked at me with an expression that clearly couldn’t understand me.

It was the kind of look that said,

“Is this guy actually insane?”

But I was completely serious.

“Besides, I’m not alone. I’m sure there’s some way to increase our chances considerably.”

— ……If that’s what you believe, I won’t try to stop you. Just don’t push yourself too far.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

The way Badir had explained everything actually put me much more at ease.

At least now I knew there was a goal.

I didn’t care if it took years.

Or even decades.

As long as I could eventually reach it.

— Cough… Cough… It’s time for me to leave. Is there anything else you’d like to ask?

“Anything else…? Ah, right…”

I remembered something.

That time when I recited the Heavenly Demon’s cultivation method and experienced something similar to astral projection.

While freely flying through the sky.

I’d seen an enormous tree.

My original intention had been to head toward it.

But one thing after another had prevented me from doing so.

“Do you know of a huge tree? One that towers far above all the others.”

— You’d better not go there.

“Why?”

— Because it emits an overwhelming amount of mana. It’s one of the reasons why those who come from outside are unable to use mana here. Creatures born within this forest are the exception.

“What exactly is it?”

Badir seemed to choose her words carefully before answering.

— The invaders called it the World Tree.

“The World Tree…?”

— That’s right. It releases mana so powerful that it exerts tremendous pressure over everything around it. And coincidentally, there’s one here as well.

Badir pointed toward a certain spot.

All of us turned our heads.

There stood the little sapling that was still growing slowly.

The sapling that LetsPlantTrees had given me.

— ……No. Wait a moment.

As if she had suddenly realized something, Badir’s eyes widened the instant she saw it.

— W-Why is that thing here?

The moment she said that, she walked straight toward the sapling.

Fwoooosh!!!

She unleashed a dragon’s breath from her mouth.

“……”

Was it really okay to do that?

I was completely dumbfounded.

If LetsPlantTrees had seen that scene.

She probably would’ve fainted from shock.

But Badir didn’t seem to care.

She looked at the sapling, now reduced entirely to ashes, with satisfaction.

— We were on the verge of great danger. That cursed tree.

“……Is it because of the mana pressure?”

— That too, but it also turns everything around it into a wasteland. It absorbs all the nutrients for itself, just like a pig.

“……”

No wonder they hated elves so much.

Now I understood why they hated planting trees.

Though if they could casually give away a World Tree sapling, that meant they occupied quite a high position.

Or perhaps planting World Tree saplings was a policy carried out by the entire nation.

‘I’ll ask about it later.’

For now, I decided to postpone anything related to the World Tree.

According to Badir, I could go there if I wanted.

But I would have to be extremely careful.

— Well then. Before I leave… at least let me give you a gift.

“A gift?”

— You’re going to take care of my son in my place. The least I can do is offer you something appropriate.

If it was a gift from a dragon, I certainly wasn’t going to refuse it.

What could she possibly give me?

It was bound to be something extraordinary.

Yes.

It had to be something extraordinary.

— Ugh…

“……?”

— Uuuugh…

Badir lifted her head as her throat began to swell.

At that moment, I had a bad feeling.

And unfortunately, it came true.

— Blargh!

Plop! Plop! Roll, roll!

Badir spat out a sphere almost the size of a soccer ball.

It wasn’t an egg.

It was an internal core that shimmered with rainbow colors.

And on top of that.

It was completely covered in dragon saliva.

— Eat it.

“……”

For the first time, I couldn’t help glaring at Badir.

With the same expression someone would make after seeing fish head curry.