WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈
Chapter 127: I Can’t Stand Losing People
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A few days later.
Minjun headed for a Gate to clear it for the first time in a while.
The unusual thing was that, unlike before, he was not going to clear it with Rokan. He was going in alone.
Originally, he had planned to find a moderately difficult Gate and clear it with Rokan, as they had done before. He had even cautiously asked Rokan two days ago whether he was interested.
‘I do not think I will be able to for the time being. I am sorry.’
Rokan had declined, saying he did not think he would have any free time.
It could not be helped. Since Agartha’s existence had come to light, Rokan had been busy with countless matters.
As the former Dragon Lord, he had to help rebuild Agartha for its dragons and help them adapt to an Earth that had changed completely over the past two thousand years.
Still, Rokan could not neglect helping Minjun grow.
‘Even so, I will find a Gate for you myself.’
And so, the Gate Minjun was heading to now was the one Rokan had found for him.
“...This feels strange.”
It was not because Rokan was not beside him.
In fact, Minjun had only gone to a Gate with Rokan once before.
The reason he said that was because he would be entering today’s Gate alone.
It was not common, but there were occasional cases where the number of people allowed to clear a Gate was limited to one for various reasons. There were also cases where a Gate was judged manageable by one person even without such a restriction.
The Gate Minjun was entering this time was one of those cases.
Regardless of the Gate’s difficulty, it was his first time clearing one alone, so he was somewhat worried about whether he could do it.
But Rokan had advised him that the experience would help him grow, and Minjun steeled himself.
‘It’s unfamiliar, and there won’t be anyone helping me, so I need to do well on my own.’
Lost in various thoughts, Minjun soon arrived at his destination.
A Gate that an A-rank Hunter could supposedly clear alone, one that even seemed rather easy.
As always, Minjun naturally entered the Gate.
Without noticing the gazes of others watching him in secret, their presence perfectly concealed.
* * *
The dragons Evan and Zephyr had concealed their presence completely as they waited for Minjun to enter the Gate.
The instant they confirmed he had entered, the two erupted in delighted cheers.
“It worked, right?”
“We will need to go and confirm it properly, but it is unlikely to have failed.”
Zephyr released their Stealth and approached the Gate. The moment Zephyr checked the coordinates engraved on it, they smiled sinisterly.
“It worked.”
Evan understood the meaning behind that smile as well.
“Indeed. All that remains is to change the coordinates again. That way, an error will occur, and he will not be able to return here.”
Not only that, but it would eliminate even the possibility of Sia following Minjun to the dimension where he had fallen.
“We must change them immediately.”
After modifying the Gate’s coordinates one final time, Zephyr rose and dusted off their hands with a relieved expression.
“Like you, Lord Evan, that human has been a thorn in my side for some time. I had been wondering what to do about him, but now it feels as though all the grime has been washed away.”
“Wonderful. Shall we go have a glass of good wine? My treat. As it happens, I have been saving a fine bottle for a day like this.”
They did not bother hiding their delight.
After erasing as many traces of their presence as possible, they swiftly returned to Evan’s lair.
“Heh heh. Hehehehe.”
Evan laughed, the corners of his lips twisted upward unnaturally. He took a bottle from the wine cellar and poured Zephyr a glass.
“I never thought an opportunity would come so soon. I thought Agartha would make it harder to create one, yet paradoxically, Agartha brought us this chance right away.”
“Exactly.”
The two dragons happily clinked their glasses. Clink!
“I do feel a little sorry that Shasha got that human caught up in this, but whether he knows what he did wrong or not, he must pay the price for loving wrongly.”
“Of course. I do not know which dimension he will fall into, but I hope he starts anew there and finds new love.”
“Let us hope that new love is an ordinary human suited to him.”
“Not a dragon.”
With wicked smiles, the two dragons leisurely emptied their glasses.
* * *
The moment I entered the Gate, I had a strange feeling.
Normally, I should have been able to sense at least a faint presence from the monsters.
But.
‘Why... can’t I sense anything at all...?’
I could not put it into words, but this felt different from entering an ordinary Gate.
Was it normal to see such a huge city wall the moment you entered a Gate?
No. It was not impossible, but I had never even heard of it happening.
And that city wall looked strangely familiar.
“Where have I seen that before...?”
After searching my memories for a moment, I remembered what the wall was.
“...Elysium?”
Elysium, the city for exiles in Pangaea, the dimension Sia and Rokan came from, where I had ended up because of the Yongduam Gate incident.
It had only been a short time, but it had been such a special and intense experience that my memories of it were still vivid.
“But why am I suddenly here...?”
Various possibilities crossed my mind until I finally came up with one hypothesis.
“Don’t tell me I made another crash landing...?”
Just like during the Yongduam Gate incident around two months ago.
But the Gate had looked no different from any ordinary Gate.
The Gate I had been caught up in before had not even been one people could enter freely. It had also been rated EX-rank, so suspicious that it practically screamed danger.
I did not know why that had happened, but at least the circumstances had made some sense.
This time, though, it made no sense at all.
‘This suddenly?’
Maybe I was wrong.
Maybe it was truly just one coincidence after another, and I had only ended up in Pangaea. Perhaps, like any other Gate, I could return once I killed all the assigned monsters.
No, that had to be the case.
I absolutely could not stand being stranded in another dimension.
Still, every sign pointed to me having crash-landed here.
“No. That can’t be...”
Clinging to the hope that I could return to Earth, I approached the city wall to get a better grasp of the situation.
As I got closer, I saw two guards standing watch before the gate.
I took a translation artifact from my subspace and put it on before cautiously approaching them.
“Excuse me...”
“Are you an outsider? May I ask what brings you to Elysium?”
The moment I heard the word Elysium, a chill ran down my spine.
I had been rationalizing it to myself, telling myself it might not be the same place.
But now, had even that slim possibility vanished?
“Adventurer? May I ask what business you have here?”
Seeing my dazed expression, the other guard must have sensed something strange and cautiously asked me.
“Or have you come to apply to move into Elysium?”
“Well...”
As I was wondering how to briefly explain this complicated situation, one of the guards suddenly gasped and pointed at me.
“C-Could you be Minjun?”
“Huh? You know me?”
“Of course I do! How could I not? Please, could you wait here for just a moment? Goodness. I never thought I would see you again in my lifetime.”
Not long after they hurried inside the city wall, the guard returned with someone else.
And incredibly, she was someone I knew.
It was Estelle, an elf.
The elf I had first met when I fell into Pangaea.
She had helped me adjust during my brief stay there.
The instant Estelle saw me, disbelief filled her eyes.
“Minjun!”
Then she burst into tears.
“Do you know how worried I was when you suddenly disappeared? I assumed you had returned to where you came from, but you could have at least said goodbye before leaving...”
Filled with resentment, happiness, and countless other emotions, Estelle pulled me into a hug.
I had no idea what exactly was going on.
Until I entered, the Gate had seemed no different from a normal one...
Still.
“Estelle, I’m glad to see you again too, but if you hug me this fiercely, I...”
What would Sia think if she saw this?
Estelle clearly had no ulterior motive. She was simply so happy to see me again. Still, it was an awkward situation.
“Ah.”
Only then did Estelle remember what species my lover was and immediately step away from me.
“I’m sorry. This meeting was so unexpected, and I was so happy to see you that I just...”
“...It’s fine. I think I would have done the same if I were you. But everything is so sudden for me. Could you tell me how much time has passed since then?”
The same amount of time might have passed, but Earth and Pangaea were different dimensions. Time might have passed differently here.
Judging from Estelle’s reaction, more time had likely passed here than on Earth.
“Thirty years have passed.”
“Pardon? That much time has passed?”
My head began to spin.
It was not impossible, but that did not make it any less shocking.
Only about two months had passed on my side.
“Yes. Seeing that you look exactly the same, it seems only a few years have passed for you.”
Not even a few years. Not even a few months.
Then again, Estelle looked exactly as she had in my memories.
Was that because she was an elf?
“Could we go inside and talk about this in detail?”
“Of course. Let’s go.”
I followed Estelle through the city gate.
“It’s changed a little since then.”
“Thirty years have passed. Not everything has changed, but there are quite a few differences from back then.”
Just as Estelle said, I could sense the passage of time.
The overall atmosphere had changed somewhat, and the buildings also seemed quite different from when I had been here before.
As I followed Estelle.
“Hey, isn’t that Minjun beside Estelle?”
“You’re right! He looks exactly the same as he did thirty years ago!”
Some of the older residents recognized me and could not hide their shock.
Then the residents who knew me gathered around.
“You are Minjun, right?”
“Now that I see you up close, you look exactly like you did back then. How is that possible?”
“Thirty years have passed. How have you not changed at all?”
“If you’re human, you should clearly look older. Could you really be a dragon, just like the rumors said...?”
Just as when I had first arrived, people mistook me for a dragon.
Back then, I had been mistaken for one because I was human yet used dragon powers, including Dragon Speech.
In the end, I had to explain myself again, just as I had before.
“Actually, I returned to my original world, then came back to this world after almost two months. So...”
“Ah, so when you disappeared back then, you returned to your original world, then fell into the rift you mentioned and came here again?”
“That’s... close. It isn’t exactly right, though. I will explain it later through Estelle. I’m still trying to process everything myself.”
It was not difficult to answer them, but if I kept taking questions here, a crowd would surely gather and make things difficult in many ways.
Just as I gave them a rough answer and was about to leave.
A dwarf stopped me.
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