Gathering Wives with a System Chapter 716 —And The Blind Swordsman

Would that mastermind even be alive after the Thousand-Year Stampede? Probably not.

So the dragon cried. Days passed, followed by more days, while the dragon remained alone among the ruins of a home that no longer existed. It had once believed that revenge would eventually give its life meaning, but now even that purpose had disappeared, leaving the dragon with nothing except memories of the people it had lost.

The dragon did not know how long it remained there. Eventually, the sorrow became so familiar that the dragon stopped trying to escape from it. There was no reason to move, no reason to fight, and no reason to search for the people responsible, because the dragon had already lost everything that could have made revenge worthwhile.

Then, someone appeared.

Footsteps slowly approached the dragon, but it did not raise its head or even bother to look toward the person who had come. Nothing in the world mattered to the dragon anymore, and whoever had arrived was simply another existence passing through a world that had already ended.

"Alice Calloway, am I correct?" the new arrival asked, then added. "Nice to meet you. I'm Isaac Hargraves."

The dragon slowly raised its head when it heard a name that it had not heard since long ago. A blind swordsman stood several meters away, holding a sword in one hand while quietly facing the dragon despite having no eyes with which to see it.

His face was covered in scars, some old and faded while others still looked relatively fresh. Both of his eyes were blank, and the dragon could tell from the traces around the eyes that the man's vision had been sacrificed to someone.

The dragon stared at the swordsman for a long time without saying anything. His body was covered in corruption, and the dark marks had spread across almost every part of him, yet somehow he was still preventing himself from becoming a monster.

For the first time in a very long time, something stirred inside the dragon. The dragon became happy when it realized that the swordsman might be like itself, someone who was also capable of resisting the Red Rain and perhaps even an existence that stood against it.

The dragon was surprised by the thought.

Had the dragon really become so lonely that the mere possibility of companionship could make it look forward to the future again? After spending countless years alone, it seemed that even the smallest hope of finding someone similar to itself was enough to make the dragon briefly forget the sorrow that had consumed it.

The dragon carefully examined the swordsman again, hoping that the first impression had been correct. Unfortunately, the more closely it looked, the more obvious the difference became, because unlike the dragon, the swordsman was slowly dying.

The man had probably used countless legendary items to keep himself alive. Even then, those items could only delay the inevitable, and the fact that he had managed to prevent himself from becoming a monster for this long was likely the result of an insane amount of willpower.

His body was filled with countless injuries, many of which had clearly been caused by monsters capable of blocking healing and regeneration. Some wounds had never properly recovered, while others had been damaged repeatedly before they could heal, leaving his body in a condition that seemed only a step away from death.

Yet the swordsman did not seem concerned about any of it.

Despite having a body that was barely holding together, he had a calm smile on his face. It was a gentle and pure smile, almost as if he genuinely believed that everything would eventually become fine despite having every reason to think otherwise.

The dragon could not stand that smile.

The dragon did not understand why it felt such a strong urge to destroy it. Perhaps it was because the smile reminded the dragon of something it had lost a very long time ago, or perhaps it simply hated seeing someone remain hopeful when the dragon itself had already lost the ability to hope.

The dragon wanted to crush that smile.

The thought came so suddenly that the dragon immediately looked away. It knew that if it continued staring at the swordsman, there was a possibility that the dragon might actually act on the impulse.

The swordsman remained where he was, apparently unconcerned by the dragon's hostility. He did not raise his sword or attempt to defend himself, and the calm smile on his face never disappeared.

Then the dragon sensed something. There was another presence nearby, but it was hidden by the power of System, so carefully hidden that the dragon almost failed to notice it. After concentrating on the surrounding area, the dragon finally located the faint presence and realized that it was standing somewhere close to the swordsman.

The presence was extremely weak. However, what caught the dragon's attention was not its strength but the emotion coming from it. The presence seemed to be looking at the dragon with immense sorrow, and that emotion was so strong that the dragon could almost feel it despite the distance between them.

The dragon became still.

It did not understand why this unknown existence would look at it with such sorrow. The dragon had never met this person before, and as far as it knew, it had done nothing to them that could have caused such a reaction.

The hidden presence continued watching the dragon.

The dragon carefully searched the surroundings with its senses, trying to determine exactly where the person was hiding. It could not see the existence directly, but it could feel that it was close to the swordsman, almost as though the two had been traveling together for a long time.

The dragon's expression became colder as it continued examining the area. It had spent countless years surviving alone, so it had learned not to trust mysterious presences, especially ones that appeared without warning.

Still, there was something different about this one.

The sorrow did not feel fake.

The dragon finally decided to speak, breaking the silence that had settled over the ruined surroundings. Its voice was quiet but carried enough force to make it clear that the dragon had noticed the hidden existence and wanted an answer.

[What do you want?] the dragon asked the two people in front of it.