My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon - Chapter 45

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈

Chapter 45: The Dungeon (That Used to Be)

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‘He’s going to turn that Gate... into a training ground?’

Who just drops something like that without any explanation?

He could have at least told me later.

Anyway, after Rokan declared that he would turn the Gate into a training ground, my mind became a complete mess.

The dungeon belonged to Maple Guild, so how was he planning to buy it? And why did he want to turn it into a training ground for me?

I had so many questions, but he said he would explain after our sparring match. For the next hour, all I could do was focus on swinging my sword as hard as I could.

I gritted my teeth and exchanged hundreds, thousands of blows with Rokan.

Swinging my sword without a break was hard enough, but seeing it get stopped so effortlessly every time was mentally agonizing too.

Several times, I wanted to drop my sword right away. Still, I gritted my teeth and desperately endured for an hour.

And finally.

“You did well.”

Rokan announced the end of our sparring match.

The moment it ended, I collapsed on the spot without saying a word.

After swinging my sword for over an hour, my palms were red and burning. My wrists throbbed so badly that even the slightest movement hurt.

This was not sparring. It was practically torture.

As I lay there unable to even move my mouth, Rokan brought me a bottle of water along with recovery magic.

I emptied the whole bottle in one go and let out a rough breath.

“...I thought I was going to die.”

“You didn’t die, so isn’t that enough?”

Even as he joked, Rokan encouraged me, saying I had done well to keep up despite how difficult it must have been.

I took another sip from the potion he gave me and silently stared at the sword Rokan had stuck into the ground.

It had clearly been fine before we started sparring.

But seeing the chips along its blade made me realize all over again just how intense today’s training had been.

After pulling the sword from the ground, Rokan used Dragon Speech to return to the lair with me.

Since I had not fully recovered yet, I dropped into a chair and asked him.

“Rokan, could you tell me about the dungeon you mentioned earlier?”

He was going to turn the entire dungeon called Dragon Sword Garden into my training ground.

After he spoiled that much, I had nearly gone crazy with curiosity for the entire hour.

“Yes, I should. You were very curious, were you not?”

“Of course I was. You could’ve told me now instead of then.”

When I complained lightly, Rokan smiled.

“That was why I told you. I wanted to see how well you could maintain your focus even with that on your mind.”

Ah.

So that had been part of the training too.

He was not just trying to tease me.

...But did something like that really help with training?

“Right. Then I should start with what happened when I went to the dungeon.”

Anyway.

Rokan said that yesterday, he had entered Dragon Sword Garden for a second investigation with Maple Guild representatives and Hunter Association representatives.

I had been part of the first investigation team, not Rokan. Naturally, everyone had come away empty-handed.

I should have known from the moment we confirmed that the dungeon’s clear conditions had reset. When we actually went inside, the dungeon had returned, as if by magic, to how it was before that incident.

At the time, one of the guild representatives asked, “Could there be a secret in Minjun’s sword?” They asked me to take out my sword and open the entrance to the tomb.

But I made an excuse, saying that the sword had been completely broken since then.

It did not seem right to let people learn about the secret connected to dragons.

So, the first investigation had no choice but to end with nothing.

It seemed Maple Guild wanted to uncover the dungeon’s secrets no matter what, so they expanded the group and went in for a second investigation.

And Rokan had slipped into that investigation team.

But the second investigation had also ended with nothing.

They needed another artifact that held a dragon’s power, like the Dragon Bone Sword, to enter, so it was only natural.

In the end, they left the dungeon empty-handed again after wasting their time.

“After I confirmed everyone else had left, I slipped inside.”

After secretly entering the dungeon alone, Rokan took a spare Dragon Bone Sword from his subspace, inserted it, and opened the entrance leading beneath the tomb.

He carefully explored the inside of the tomb, eventually reaching the space where Minos had trapped me.

At first, I wondered how he could enter and leave that space so freely. But then I thought about it again. As a real dragon, Rokan could probably come and go there as freely as he pleased.

No matter how elaborate a dungeon was, it could not possibly trap a dragon if it had been made by a mere human.

Anyway, Rokan said he began his investigation after entering the space that was presumed to be where I had been trapped.

He said “presumed” because the landscape I had first seen when I was trapped there was quite different from what Rokan saw.

It was an alien landscape, as though countless dimensions had been cut apart and layered on top of each other.

The dimensions were cracked in places too, so it was not a pleasant sight.

In Rokan’s words, it looked like performance art by an artist suffering from hallucinations.

And most importantly.

“I could not find that human called Minos. That lunatic obsessed with Dragon Speech did not react even when a dragon himself paid the place a visit. It was probably because...”

“Because he was scared?”

“No. I could not find even a trace of his lingering will. After seeing you use Dragon Speech, his wish must have been fulfilled. I believe the terrible lingering will left in that place was erased to some extent.”

...Had he really just wanted to see a human use Dragon Speech?

In a way, was that not true madness?

“But that is not the important part.”

Perhaps his throat was dry after talking for so long, because Rokan got himself a glass of water before continuing.

“That Minos fellow seemed mad in many ways. Even if he was an Emperor, I never imagined he would have gathered so many artifacts capable of bringing out a dragon’s power.”

Rokan said he had found not only Dragon Bone Swords in the tomb, but also various artifacts that could bring out, amplify, and maintain a dragon’s power.

“I can only make an estimate, since he seemed to have lived in a different dimension from mine. But by the standards of my world, each one was worth as much as the budget of a small or medium-sized territory for two or three years.”

Perhaps remembering what he had seen, Rokan clicked his tongue.

It was not strange for an Emperor to own a few precious treasures. But Rokan had found well over a hundred.

“All the artifacts he had gathered were linked by a single magic circle. When I examined it, I found it filled with formulas that could assist with using Dragon Speech.”

In other words, the place had not simply been designed to bring out and amplify a dragon’s power. The entire space had been made to have a meaningful effect on the use of Dragon Speech itself.

“I plan to bring Shasha there soon and show her, too.”

If Rokan, a dragon, was saying this much, the magic circle’s support for using Dragon Speech must have been remarkably effective.

“...”

The more I learned about this human named Minos, the crazier he seemed.

He had spent an eternity existing as a lingering will in his own tomb just to see it once, and he had poured that much money into it.

And from what Rokan said, the magic circle carved into the tomb did not seem ordinary either.

Sorry for misunderstanding you, Minos.

I thought you were a deranged psychopath, but you were just an incredibly dedicated lunatic.

“There was only one thing I thought when I saw it.”

“That it would be... the perfect place for me to train?”

Rokan nodded.

“Yes. It will need some adjustments, but there is nothing lacking in that place as a training ground for you. Even for us dragons, it is not easy to build such a suitable system for a Dragon Speech user who began life as a human.”

If Rokan was saying that much, then that said it all.

The thought that I could train in a more organized way than I did now made it hard to hide my excitement.

But only for a moment.

Come to think of it, was that not a tomb?

So I would be spending a long time training near wherever someone’s corpse was buried.

‘That would feel pretty unsettling.’

Who trained inside the tomb of an Emperor from another world, someone who had been praised as a wise ruler by his people during his lifetime?

As I fell deep into thought, Rokan chuckled.

“I can roughly guess what you are thinking, but endure it. After all, it is also true that you took your first step toward understanding Dragon Speech because of that human.”

...That was true.

I had suffered terribly there, but that experience had led to meaningful progress in using Dragon Speech.

If I had to put it another way, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Minos had brought me closer to the day I would meet Sia again.

“...You are right.”

“Anyway, that is how things stand. I will be busy as well, since I need to purchase the dungeon and modify it.”

“But, Rokan. What if the guild does not want to... sell the dungeon?”

With the discovery of the Imperial Tomb, its value had probably skyrocketed. Beyond that, it was an extremely useful dungeon for raising rookies.

If I were Maple Guild’s guild master, I would not want to sell it easily.

But Rokan answered as if I had asked something obvious.

“They will sell it. You humans have a saying, do you not? If money cannot solve it, then you should consider whether you simply do not have enough money.”

Ah.

Even Sia carried countless expensive artifacts, gold, and treasures with her.

How much wealth would Rokan have, after once being the Dragon Lord?

I was amazed by the unimaginable amount of wealth he must possess, but I also felt grateful that he was willing to spend so much for me.

“Yes. Thank you so much, Rokan.”

“No need for thanks. Rest a little longer, then do some recovery training before you leave.”

“Thank you!”

“Ah, and.”

Rokan called to me, then spoke after considering his words for a moment.

“It seems I have brought you a great deal of good news today.”

“What do you mean...?”

Filled with anticipation, I looked at Rokan.