Dragunov and the Three Musketeers

Cleru Neos

It’s like what everybody says. I’m a peasant.

My father, mother, grandfather and grandmother, even my uncles and aunts are all poor. Our family tree is filled with farmers in an all-human farmer village named Serene Village. Most humans are living with middle-class wealth, but our family can’t even buy a dragonoid helper. Our destiny is to born poor and die poor, but everything changed when the Second Dragonoid War broke out.

In just a blink of an eye, flames broke out and annihilated the whole village. There were only thirteen survivors from all over thousands of men and women who originally lived here. And I was one of them.

I was four or five at that time, I can’t quite remember. All I remembered is that I was stuck in debris, unable to neither move nor breathe. But then the debris was lifted from my body, and I saw the face of my life saver. It was Yuri Dragunov. He was crying at that very moment, and when he saw me, he hugged me tight as if he was relieved that he saved his own son.

He took care of me like his own child. As the war goes on, we wandered aimlessly through abandoned radioactive cities, searching for survivors. We continued to dig in the rubbles of aftermaths and then we successfully recovered another kid. It was Zac Schneider.

Soon, we saved a child who was stranded in an underground tunnel. Because of a specific explosion, all train passengers died except for two people. The human kid was Alder Windstrafe, and the dragonoid girl was Emy.

We wandered city to city, desert to warzones, boundary to the edges of the earth, with only one thing in mind; to survive and save someone in need. Our objectives are a lot far different in the present day, which made me wonder why did everything turned out like this?

Dragunov told me his story once. During the First Dragonoid War fifty years ago, he lost his parents. He never told me much about his childhood, but the second tragedy of his life is what that broke him. He has a loving wife and two kids, one boy and one girl. He was a scientist working for the Human Alterran Empire and he is in charge of making a new bomb to annihilate the dragonoids who are preparing for coup d’état before the war raged. But then the Dragonoid Liberation Front discovered this intel and kept his whole family a hostage. They forced him to make a bomb to obliterate the humans. Without any option, he followed everyone who was threatening his family’s life.

The Human Military Marine Corps discovered Dragunov’s location and prepared their rescue operation but everything went wrong. Dragunov’s wife became a hostage and then killed by a dragonoid. The dragonoid army retaliated and held their ground to keep Dragunov away from the empire’s reach because he is a valuable asset at that war. Being overwhelmed, the human army used Dragunov’s bomb to the dragonoids, killing them all. Including Dragunov’s children.

Because Dragunov was being kept in a reinforced capsule, he was the only one that lived after that blast. The world considered him dead until his debut as a duke during the Third Dragonoid War.

Dragunov didn’t want to see anyone dying because of the bomb he has made, so he held the effort to rescue everyone in the war zone and help everyone in need. He was a good man, until we met Him.

We discovered a ruined cathedral on the southern edge of the empire, which was covered by thick snow. Unlike any other churches, this one has a lot of demonic symbolisms like illuminati signs, the mark of the beast, and horned statues such as rams, dragons, and even knights. At the deepest end of the cathedral was a door that has rainbow eyes in it.

When Dragunov opened the door, we discovered that there is a man bathing lifelessly in a literal fountain of blood. Noticing our presence, he woke up and welcomed us to his home.

“My name is Necross. I am glad that you have awakened me from my eternal slumber. Because you revived me from Requiem Aeternam, I shall grant your wish.”

“I would like my family back. And also, I wanted war to cease from this world.” Dragunov said.

“I see that you have the greatest intention of all the man in the world. But unfortunately, with my current powers, I can’t grant your wish as of the moment. I have another set of conditions in order for me to achieve the power needed to grant your wish.”

“What would you need, I shall give it to you.”

The bloody man named Necross laughed. “It’s just a simple ritual named Necross Ascension. I just need 666 million, 666 thousand, 666 murder deaths all over the world. It doesn’t matter how or who does it, as long as I can gather those number of souls via murder, I shall have my eternal powers back. Then, your wish shall be done.”

It was a good deal for Dragunov’s perspective, maybe because he’s gone crazy because of the events he went through. Six hundred million lives in exchange for the billions of people who will live peacefully in the future. Moreover, Dragunov will get his family back. It will be a happily ever after.

Our lives have changed after that encounter. Because of Necross’s magical contributions, Dragunov became wealthy. He supported Zac’s armory business, which he immediately became a young duke. Dragunov also supported Alder’s and my dream to become a honorary soldier.

I was seven back then when I was taught by private sword lessons, and it happens to be I’m the classmate of the princess Serenity Elkyria. Our sword instructor is the same, so he decided to mix me up with a royal maiden. That is why we grew up playing together until we reached teenage years where the Third Dragonoid War broke out.

During the Third Dragonoid War, everything was an opportunity. Zac’s arms dealer business went sky high, Alder’s contributions to the empire as a soldier refined his skills, and Dragunov had a lot of body count to add to his end of the contract with that demonic entity.

That also gave me the spotlight when a lot of dragonoids tried to assassinate the princess, and I was there to rescue her numerous times. When I got wounded, she treated me. Our affection towards each other became so powerful that I aimed for a higher goal; to become a dragon knight.

I have seen the horrors of death for hundreds of instances. Even innocent people like the princess are the target for those killings. That’s when I realized that everything Dragunov has been doing is completely wrong.

This was the time where I went full rebel from my step father Dragunov. I cut all my connections with him and entered the Dragon Knights Academy without any support. I was just lucky to have Jasmine to stay by my side for free. And for my expenses during the school years; the princess secretly covered it all.

I never asked any for it, but Dragunov is always acting like a father to me. He did some unforgivable things for me to be happy, but that weren’t necessary. One of those blasphemous example is the assassination of the previous dragon knight that has the title of the Princess’s Guard. He paid the assailants for me to have a chance to replace the Royal Knight.

And that was the start of the Dragon Knights Tournament.

Dragunov’s priorities became messed up as time goes on. He became trigger happy and sadist. He lurks in the shadows, controlling everything and anyone like a puppet. Even me, Zac, and Alder.

But little did he know that he was also manipulated.

By Necross.