WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈
Chapter 128: You’re Choosing That?
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“Wait a moment.”
A dwarf stopped me and stared intently at my face, as if trying to confirm who I was.
Then.
“Could you be Minjun?”
With an unbelieving look, he kept scanning me from head to toe.
“Yes. Do you... know me?”
I felt sorry for him, but I couldn’t remember who he was.
His face looked familiar, though. Who was he again?
“My name is Kutun.”
“...Ah!”
The moment I heard his name, I remembered.
He was the dwarf I had drunk with at a tavern after we stopped the wyverns and monster army from attacking the city walls.
I couldn’t recall every detail, but memories of us drinking together and talking about all sorts of things gradually came back to me.
“So you remember now.”
Once I recognized him, Kutun laughed heartily and returned to his usual casual way of speaking.
“I’m sorry. Everyone still recognizes and remembers me after more than thirty years, but I didn’t even recognize you.”
“Why worry about that? Have you been well? Nothing happened?”
Kutun put a hand on my shoulder and asked warmly.
“I’ve been... doing fairly well.”
“I’d like to talk more, but this doesn’t seem like the place. Right, Minjun? Do you think you haven’t forgotten something?”
“Forgotten something?”
Had I left something behind?
I didn’t think I owed anyone money, but had I forgotten to take something with me...?
“Your reward, of course! You helped us stop the monster army, and you saved Adil when he was nearly kidnapped.”
“Ah, now that you mention it... I completely forgot about that.”
For making a major contribution to driving away the wyverns and monster army, as well as helping rescue the hostage during Adil’s kidnapping incident, Elysium had said they would give me a separate reward in addition to Bellium’s Tear.
But I had suddenly returned to Earth and never properly received it.
I hadn’t thought I would ever return to Elysium, so I had simply forgotten about it.
“You forgot that? If it were me, I would have remembered it until the day I died.”
“Ha ha...”
I laughed awkwardly.
“Anyway, this worked out well. After you suddenly left, the elders spent a long time worrying about how to deliver it to you. Now that you’re back, that burden is gone.”
Kutun laughed heartily and patted my back.
“You still seem a little overwhelmed, so I’ll come find you later. Let me see... Estelle is beside you, so you’ll probably be staying at her house for now. Stay there, and I’ll come to you.”
Kutun said he would see me later, laughed heartily once more, and disappeared into the crowd.
“So... we should go to your house first, then, Estelle?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind, Minjun.”
We made our way through the crowd and arrived at Estelle’s home.
“Phew.”
After thirty years, she must have torn down and rebuilt the house, because its layout was very different from what I remembered.
But the piles of smoked meat stacked in one corner of the room were still there.
That brought back old memories.
Right. This elf was a meat-eating elf.
“Minjun, have you eaten?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Then I’ll bring you some tea.”
After Estelle brought out tea, we immediately began talking about everything that had happened.
Only around two months had passed since I left Pangaea, so I didn’t have much to tell her.
There wasn’t much to say besides how I had somehow ended up in Pangaea instead of the Gate I was originally supposed to go through, and how I still didn’t know why that happened.
Ah, no.
Since I had come to Pangaea, I couldn’t leave that part out.
Before returning to Earth from Pangaea, I had encountered Bellium’s lingering will. At the same time, I had seen fragments of Elysium’s distant past, and heard Bellium’s lingering will say something incomprehensible.
“I’m sorry.”
Then, immediately afterward, I gained the skill called Stealth.
None of it made sense, so now that I was in Pangaea again, I needed to find a clue about those strange events.
“Hm...”
Once my long explanation was over, Estelle lightly stroked her chin and fell into thought.
“Estelle, do you have any idea at all what might be going on?”
Estelle slowly shook her head.
“...I’m sorry, but none at all. I only vaguely feel that all of this may be Bellium’s will. I can’t say I have any real idea.”
I hadn’t expected much, but it was still disappointing to gain nothing.
Still, the fact that Estelle immediately mentioned Bellium meant there was a strong chance Bellium was connected to why I had been called here.
The problem was that I had no idea what relationship I could possibly have with Bellium.
“Perhaps Adil could give you a more satisfying answer, Minjun.”
“You mean the archaeologist?”
I remembered.
The lizardkin archaeologist who had taken me to the place where Bellium’s remains were kept.
“Yes. He’s nearly old enough to retire, but he’s still actively continuing his research.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
It seemed that, to return to Earth this time as well, I would have to visit the place where Bellium’s remains were.
But before that, there was something I needed to confirm.
“Estelle, I’m asking just in case, but has there recently been major damage caused by monsters? Or has there been any such incident?”
If there had been, perhaps something hadn’t gone wrong during my passage through the Gate.
Maybe it was only slightly different from an ordinary Gate. Perhaps, if I killed enough monsters like with any other Gate, I could return to my original world.
It could have just happened that the place connected to that Gate was near Elysium.
But Estelle shook her head.
“Not at all. If anything, the past few weeks have been strangely peaceful.”
Then that wasn’t it either.
My conversation with Estelle hadn’t produced much.
Still, if I had to name one thing I gained from it, it was that I would need to meet Adil again to find even the smallest clue to returning to Earth.
This wouldn’t be easy.
After that, Estelle told me about Elysium’s recent situation.
There were many things to talk about, but considering thirty years had passed, it seemed less had changed than I expected.
In Korea, enough time had passed for mountains and rivers to change three times.
Then.
While I was still talking with Estelle, Kutun came to find me.
“Have you caught your breath now?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
I had mostly grasped the situation and heard a fair amount about Elysium’s current state from Estelle.
“Then let us go. It’s time to receive the reward you didn’t get thirty years ago.”
* * *
Kutun took me to a warehouse I had never seen before.
An elderly-looking elf was waiting for me in front of it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Elder Heset.”
“I’m Minjun.”
“I was personally disappointed that I couldn’t meet you thirty years ago, so it’s an honor to finally do so. Please follow me.”
I followed Heset into the treasure vault.
Kutun said he wanted to see it too, so he followed us inside.
“Other than the treasures kept in the Sanctuary, the most valuable items are stored here.”
Even at a glance, I could see treasures that looked extremely valuable.
“You may choose any one item you like from among them.”
I had unintentionally absorbed Bellium’s Tear before, so I expected them to give me a reward of a suitable scale with that in mind.
This was more than I had expected.
“Is that really all right?”
“Of course. It was already decided thirty years ago.”
Heset smiled with her eyes and nodded readily.
If they were offering more, there was no reason for me to refuse.
Heset stepped back and gave me space, telling me to look around freely.
“Minjun, would you mind if I looked with you?”
“I’d appreciate that.”
With a dwarf’s eye for valuables, Kutun would surely be a great help in choosing the most useful reward among all these treasures.
“Hm, let’s see. What would be best?”
Even though he was picking out a reward for me rather than himself, Kutun seemed excited. He rubbed his hands together and walked around the treasure vault, looking eager to inspect the treasures.
“Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything here. But since you have the choice, you should pick something that will be the most useful to you or that you’ll like the most.”
Kutun wandered around with the air of a master craftsman before eventually picking up a ring and showing it to me.
“This is an artifact that instantly restores a large amount of mana. It would probably be quite useful for you.”
“Oh.”
It sounded like a fine treasure, and it really was.
But I felt that I could probably get an item like that by asking Sia or Rokan.
It wasn’t that I disliked it. Still, since I had the chance, I thought it would be better to get something rare that would be difficult to obtain on Earth.
“There seem to be many other things here that would be useful to you. For example, this chalice...”
After that, Kutun recommended various artifacts and treasures he thought would be useful to me.
As expected of a treasure vault, every item was impressive. Yet none of them truly caught my attention.
They would surely sell for high prices on Earth, but they weren’t things that couldn’t be found there.
“Kutun, I’m sorry, but may I look around by myself for a while?”
“So nothing has quite satisfied you yet. I thought you might say that.”
With his usual hearty laugh, Kutun stepped aside and watched me.
What would be best?
The artifacts Kutun had introduced were not as rare as I had hoped, and the other artifacts he hadn’t recommended were much the same.
Perhaps, rather than an artifact, I could choose gemstones found only here or another valuable item.
For example, a famous painting that seemed to have been painted by a renowned artist.
Or a sculpture made with such precision that human craftsmanship could never reproduce it.
I looked over many treasures, but still didn’t see anything that felt right.
I stopped looking around for a moment and approached Heset, who had been watching me from a distance.
“I don’t have to choose the reward today, right?”
“That is correct. You may look around today and return tomorrow.”
“I see. Then I’ll look around a little longer before I leave.”
I needed to look over everything at least once before I could make a proper decision.
But even as I continued examining the treasures, nothing appealed to me.
Eventually, I reached the farthest corner of the treasure vault.
Since it was the most secluded corner, it was likely where relatively less valuable treasures had been placed.
I didn’t expect much, but I examined every treasure there just in case.
Then.
“...!”
The moment I saw one treasure, I picked it up as though entranced.
It was a jewel box containing an unidentified stone.
The instant I opened the box, I had no choice but to make up my mind.
“I’ll choose this.”
But.
“...Already? You have plenty of time, Minjun. Why not think it over a little longer before deciding?”
Heset advised me to give it more thought.
“You chose that? It doesn’t matter what you choose, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it. It’s certainly valuable, but compared to the other treasures you saw, it’s somewhat less valuable. If I were you, I’d choose something else.”
Kutun openly recommended that I choose another treasure.
Honestly, I could understand why it looked that way to them.
Even so, the reason I chose this stone was simple.
They couldn’t see it, but I could.
From there, I could see the same faint, brilliantly multicolored aura I had seen before.
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