Ashen Dragon

Chapter 198: Chapter 124 Valena’s Diary
 

“Look here, Mantou!”

“There’s probably a hidden room here!”

Singo found a concealed door and easily pried off the old lock.

Mantou complained, “As a warrior, it’s impressive enough that you have perception, but you even developed handy skills?”

Singo replied righteously, “A skilled professional must be versatile. Isn’t that exactly for situations like this? Think about it, if it weren’t for my handy skills, we’d be trapped here.”

“Tsk.”

Mantou remained disdainful and was skeptical about the previously mysteriously missing Gold Coin.

“Enough, no more talking. Let’s move before that monster catches up.”

Singo opened the concealed door and crawled into the narrow tunnel first, followed closely by Mantou. The tunnel echoed with constant shuffling sounds until they finally reached a pitch-black hidden room.

Singo skillfully took out a spare Glowing Stone to light up the area. The scene before them opened up.

“This is…”

To their surprise, the hidden room was not that small; it was more than spacious enough for the two of them. The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust, and cobwebs filled the corners, clearly indicating it had been abandoned for years.

The room was quite well furnished, with a bed, blankets, and a desk all present. On the desk were a few quill pens and yellowing sheets of paper. The walls even had innocent-looking doodles, giving it quite a homely feel.

Mantou looked at the doodles on the wall.

Those drawings were rather simple but colorful, depicting a warm family consisting of a man, a woman, and a little girl against the backdrop of a dark tower, some humans in black robes, and terrifying giant dragons.

The chaotic strokes indicated the little girl’s fear towards those entities.

“A child’s bedroom.”

“It’s unimaginable that someone would live in a place like this.”

Mantou sighed.

“Mantou! Look what I found!”

Singo opened a drawer in the small desk and seemed to have discovered something incredible.

“What is it? Let me see.”

Mantou leaned in to look and saw a simple diary. It seemed to have been carefully preserved, though time had left some pages decaying and a few roughly torn out. The cover bore prominent letters—”Valena’s Diary.”

“Valena’s Diary…”

Mantou’s expression instantly became complex, as if a terrible suspicion had arisen in his mind, making him silent while he carefully turned the pages.

The handwriting inside was clumsy and childish, full of innocence.

“January 3rd, Mom told me to start this, my first diary entry. Dad, as usual, told me to stay silent. Otherwise, those bad people from the Dragon Shaman Cult outside would capture me, and the terrifying Dragon would devour me in one bite. I have always obeyed.”

“January 4th, I stayed in the room quietly. Dad said I was very obedient.”

“January 5th, still in the room. Today, I found a cute animal. Dad said it was a spider. I invited it to eat black bread with me.”

“January 6th, Mom brought me a book called Beautiful Bird. It told the story of a bird family. I liked it very much.”@@novelbin@@

“January 7th, I read the book in the room. A cute rat accompanied me. I named it Tete as a reward for keeping me company. I let it gnaw on a page.”

“…”

“February 15th, Dad hasn’t visited for a long time. This time, when he came to see me, I was very happy. He said he would soon defeat the bad people and rescue Mom and me from this tower. We would be together forever like in the stories.”

“February 16th, Dad told me many things. He said he would take me to see the outside world. I was very happy.”

“February 17th, stayed in the room.”

“February 18th, stayed in the room. Food ran out. I’m so hungry.”

“February 22nd, I ate Tete, but I was very sad.”

“February 23rd, Mom finally came back. She brought food but cried a lot. She said she was chosen to be a ‘sacrifice’ and might never come back. I hugged her tightly for a long time.”

“February 24th, Dad hasn’t been back for a long time.”

“March 17th, Mom celebrated my twelfth birthday. I was very happy. I asked her why Dad hadn’t come back, but she didn’t answer. I saw she was a little sad.”

“July 16th, I really want to see the outside world. I want a friend.”

“…”

“December 27th, Mom hasn’t been back for seven days. I’m very scared.”

“December 30th, Dad has been gone for a long time, ten months if my watch is right. He finally came back today, but he said Mom was dead. I cried.”

“January 20th, Dad said Mom’s death was worth it, that it was great. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but I was very scared. He seemed like a different person. He used to love Mom.”

“January 21st, stayed in the room trembling.”

“…”

“September 12th, Dad told me he had defeated the bad people. I asked if we could leave here, but he didn’t answer.”

“September 13th, I was taken out of the room, but Dad still wouldn’t let me leave the tower. I was very angry. To me, this tower was like the prison described in the books, very restrictive.”

“September 14th, a girl named Mary was brought to the tower. She was about my age and very scared. I hoped we could become friends.”

“September 15th, stayed in the tower, but I secretly came back here. This place made me feel very safe. Here, I could remember my old Dad when he still loved me and Mom.”

“September 16th, there were strange noises in the tower, but Dad wouldn’t tell me what they were. Mary was also very scared.”

“October 1st, the noise grew louder. I was very scared.”

“September 16th, Dad was really different from before. I missed Mom and cried for a long time.”

…

“I don’t know the date, Dad told me not to resist. His original words were ‘to welcome the noble evolution with joy.’ I didn’t understand what he meant, but he scared me more and more.”

“Dad was completely different from before. He would never treat me like this before, never. I was so scared.”

“Mary said Dad was a bad man.”

“Dad wouldn’t let me see Mary. He said she did something wrong and needed to be punished. He said I would see her later.”

“Dad said everything was for my good. If I behaved, I could leave. I thought so too.”

“I would behave.”

“First day, scales grew on me, it hurt a lot.”

“Second day, more scales grew.”

“Third day, spikes grew on my back, it still hurt a lot. But Dad was very happy. He said I was almost successful. Seeing Dad happy made me happy too.”

“Fourth day, I felt like I was becoming a bad person. Dad fed me some meat. He said it was edible, but it felt wrong. My nose became very sensitive, and I seemed to smell… Mary.”

…

“Eleventh day, still no changes today. Dad said he was disappointed in me and called me an inferior species, saying I had let him down. I cried a lot. I didn’t know what I did wrong.”

“Twelfth day, Dad said he found a new method.”

“Fourteenth day, Dad replaced my hand with a new one. Though I got used to it, it still hurt a lot. But he told me not to cry, so I held back. I couldn’t make Dad angry anymore.”

“Fifteenth day, I felt a bit odd.”

…

The following pages were roughly torn out.

Mantou read it all in one go and couldn’t help but take a deep breath.