[황룡낙렬(皇龍落捩)·화룡재상(火龍再上)].
At the far edge of the East, in a nation that seeks dominion over the world, a saying has long been passed down.
"When the Emperor inevitably falls, the Scorch Dragon descends and raises him anew."
It was a saying only possible in the [Empire], one of the oldest nations on the continent since humanity first appeared upon the earth, formally known as the [Nasca Namrium Urmeria Eastern Unified Empire], because its founding first emperor still remained its one and only Emperor.
He was an Emperor who possessed an ability beyond all common sense: by binding the concepts of reincarnation and the soul together through magic, he could revive once more through a vessel chosen in advance.
And so he continued to enjoy the authority of the Emperor even now, upheld by near-permanent support and trust bordering on faith.
......Of course, that method, which relied so excessively on magic that it was hardly different from obsession or a near-mad enthronement, was nothing but a burden to certain reincarnations...
**
"Rudra. Where are you going this time?"
[Nasca Namrium Urmeri......... hereafter, the [Nasca Empire].
A unified state that had seized supremacy over the Eastern Continent, and a pure human nation proud enough to claim that in national power alone, it would not lose even to half of the [Ten Great Demon Lords]—
—because of that reputation, many people mistakenly believed the [Nasca Empire] was a country the first [Hero] had built all by himself, but the truth was the exact opposite.
The man himself had only been a warrior of admirable character. The reason he had been able to create the greatest nation in the world was because of his younger sister, who became the wife of the [Creator God], and one woman who had supported him with boundless love.
"......"
And as many legendary tales of heroes recorded, that woman's true identity was one of the four members of the strongest race said to exist in this world, the divine sister known as the [Scorch Dragon], Velgrynd.
......At the same time, she was also the woman currently holding onto the man she had called Rudra and scolding him right in front of his face.
"Are you planning to head west again without saying a word? If that is what you want, I do not mind, but Kondo and Damurada are definitely going to lecture me again."
"......"
Her beautiful blue hair fluttered like it had captured the color of the open sky itself, and her eyes shone with a light that seemed to hold both icy composure and burning passion. Speaking in a worried voice, Velgrynd, dressed in a qipao, addressed the man before her.
Because she possessed a ceaseless love so deep that she would readily offer even her life for the man she loved, she was trying to help him by warning him in advance about a situation he would likely dislike.
Of course,
that was only possible because she had no idea that the person he dreaded most was her.
"......How in the world did this happen...?"
The ash-haired man, Adelio, ruffled his hair, which was beginning to mix with strands of gold, and sank deeper into thought.
"...I can overlook being reborn in the world of a novel, but this is just ridiculous."
He had no complaints at all about being reincarnated.
No, it would not even have been strange to say he was glad.
When he first realized this was another world, he had thought of it as compensation through reincarnation for all the time he had wasted in a life where he could never live as he pleased.
He simply had never expected that even in this world, his freedom would be obstructed again.
"I am Rudra's reincarnation...? That should be absolutely impossible..."
The first and oldest, the greatest and strongest [Hero].
Among all beings in existence, he alone had become a disciple of the [Creator God] and was the first to rise to the rank of [saint], a figure still described as being close to a god even now.
To say Adelio was that man's reincarnation was absurd.
And for good reason. Rudra's soul had already been split into many fragments and scattered across every dimension, and among those fragments, the one closest to him already existed.
"......I am not Rudra."
And so the man refused to be called by that name.
Whether it was the authority of the Emperor or the might of a hero, none of it was of any use to a man who wanted only freedom.
"No. You are Rudra, Adelio."
But the Scorch Dragon denied his words.
"I can tell. You are the man I loved, and the man my brother acknowledged."
"......"
"So please, do not reject it. No matter what anyone says, the only one fit to inherit Rudra's name is you."
The woman, who believed more firmly than ever that he was the reincarnation of her lover, clasped his hand with her usual graceful smile.
"Come. As always, I will rise into the sky as you wish and guide you before anyone else can."
......
[황룡개소(皇龍開消)·화룡선길(火龍先拮)].
And at the far edge of the East, there is another saying as well.
"Whenever the Emperor loses the path before him, the Scorch Dragon steps forward first and opens the way."
The new epic the man and woman would write together had only now taken its first step.
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