Chapter 1 – The Evil Dragon Finds a Baby and Becomes a Mother

In that world, a mighty monster known as the Demon Lord suddenly appeared.

The Demon Lord led his subordinates—the Four Heavenly Kings and 72 demons born from his very being—plunging the world into terror and chaos.

It seemed as if the world was facing its end.

But that didn’t happen.

Around the same time as the Demon Lord’s assault, a young boy appeared with the crest of the Hero on his hand. He was the Hero.

Thanks to the efforts of the Hero and his companions, the Demon Lord and his subordinates were defeated over twenty years, and peace returned to the world.

…Or so it seemed.

In truth, however, there was a mastermind behind the Demon Lord’s invasion.

Someone had intentionally unleashed the Demon Lord on the world.

His name was Belial, the Evil God King.

He was the vilest of the calamity gods, ruling over destruction and chaos.

Belial was one of the wicked gods sealed away by divine powers in the distant past.

His physical body had been destroyed, leaving only his spirit to wander and wait for a chance to revive.

Belial used the negative emotions of humans as his energy.

Since he needed a ton of that energy to revive, he used a tiny piece of his power to create the Demon Lord and unleashed him on the world.

As a result, the Demon Lord’s actions filled the world with terror and despair, and the energy Belial needed for his revival started to build up.

Just as he was about to be resurrected, Belial broadcast a message to the entire world.

He declared that he was the true mastermind and an evil god with power far greater than the Demon Lord’s.

Upon hearing this, the people of the world fell into deep despair.

The Demon Lord was a being that took the Hero twenty years to defeat. And now, a god with even more power was coming for them.

To make matters worse, for some reason, the Hero had gone missing after defeating the Demon Lord.

In a world without its hope—the Hero—no one could possibly stand against the reviving Evil God King.

The despair of the people became a great source of energy, and at last, the Evil God King was revived.

A world without a Hero had no choice but to perish.

…Or so it seemed.

Ultimately, however, the world was saved.

Because the Evil God King was defeated.

By a single dragon.

…She was the dragon who defeated the Evil God King.

The Evil Dragon, Karma Abyss.

Thanks to the strongest dragon, a slayer of gods, peace once again returned to the world.

…And a hundred years passed.

☆

“This is bad. I’m so lonely. So lonely I’m starting to tremble…”

On that day, the Evil Dragon Karma Abyss was in a panic.

She was inside her cavern home at the foot of the Sky Dragon Mountain Range.

Karma Abyss—or just Karma—clutched a single letter in her hands.

An owl had delivered it from a dragon she knew.

We’re getting married!

…It was a wedding invitation.

“Damn it!”

Karma tore the invitation to shreds.

“What is this?! What the hell is this! Everyone getting married! Getting all damn happy!”

Karma’s wail of anguish shook the world. That isn’t a metaphor. It literally caused a magnitude 5 earthquake.

Whoops. Dammit. I have to rein this power in…

Karma scolded herself.

Karma held the title of God Slayer, the one who killed a god.

By killing a god, her level had shot to MAX—Level 999, to put it in numbers. An absurd reality.

She possessed a level of power where a simple sigh of grief could trigger an earthquake.

And it was because of this power that she was solitary, lonely—to put it bluntly, a total loner.

“Haaaaah……………… I’m so lonely.”

Karma was simply too strong.

And because she was too strong, she was an outcast.

After all, she was a dragon so mighty she had killed a god. Ordinary people trembled at the mere sight of her.

Even other dragons were afraid of her.

Because of this, Karma couldn’t make any friends, let alone find a boyfriend.

“Nah… she’s kinda scary.” “Her face is just… kinda scary.” “We’re not really in her league, you know? She killed a god… and her face is scary, too.”

That’s what the guys her age would say, and none of them would come near her.

“Ugh… I curse my own overwhelming strength!”

All the other dragon girls her age were paired off and living happily.

Some dragons her age were even married and had kids already.

And yet, here she was, a total loner. No friends, no boyfriend. Marriage was a far-off fantasy.

Her family had died long ago, so she was truly, deeply lonely…

“This loneliness is so bad, it feels like it’s going to kill me…”

The figure sighing so deeply was a far cry from the hero who had saved the world.

“Ugh… Why did I ever go and eat a god…?”

It wasn’t as if Karma had intended to become a God Slayer.

It was a coincidence.

By pure chance, while she was sound asleep, some strange being called the Evil God King showed up and started shrieking and hollering right where she was.

Hey, I’m trying to get some sleep here, shut up! a sleep-addled Karma had thought, and so she swallowed the so-called Evil God King whole.

Caught completely by surprise, the Evil God King was eaten by Karma and died.

…Right, it wasn’t like she had any particular sense of justice or anything.

It just so happened that the Evil God King revived right where she lived.

And because some insolent fool was disturbing her sleep, she eliminated him. That was all.

As a result, she had obtained this absurd power in the most unreasonable way.

“I don’t need power like this… Hah… I just wanted to be a normal girl.”

Because she had so much power, she was feared by humans and avoided by other dragons.

“Hah… this is rough. Maybe I’ll just die…”

One hundred years had passed since she defeated the Evil God King and became the God Slayer.

For that entire century, Karma had been a loner.

She hadn’t had a proper conversation with anyone. Not even with another dragon.

A hundred years of solitude had eaten away at Karma’s spirit. And, as if to make her despair even worse, a wedding invitation from an acquaintance arrived.

The invitation spurred Karma to make a decision.

“Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll kill myself. I’ll die and get a do-over on this whole dragon life thing. I’m betting it all on my next life.”

And so, the dragon hero who had saved the world was about to meet her end, all because she was a loner.

…But it was at that very moment.

Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!

From outside her lair, she heard the sound of something crying.

“What could that be? An animal?”

THUD, THUD, THUD

Karma walked toward the sound.

At the entrance to her lair, there was a basket.

“What’s this? A basket? There’s something inside…”

Karma poked her head forward and peered into the basket.

And inside…

Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!

“A baby…? A human… baby?”

A tiny infant was lying inside the basket. Its chubby cheeks were absolutely adorable.

“Why is such a cute baby in front of my lair…?”

She glanced around, but there was no sign of any parents.

“Aha, you were abandoned, weren’t you.”

So this child was an orphan.

“You poor thing… You’re all alone, too. Heh, so am I.”

The common ground of loneliness sparked the evil dragon’s interest in the baby.

“What should I do with this child? Should I… search for the parents who abandoned it?”

It was then—

Just for a moment, Karma’s eyes met the baby’s.

Karma panicked.

(Dammit… I’m going to make it cry!)

After all, she was feared by humans and dragons alike.

It was only natural.

Karma… the Evil Dragon Karma Abyss… had evolved as a being when she killed a god.

Her scales shone with a black luster that would put obsidian to shame. Her eyes were as red as if they were constantly bloodshot.

Inside her mouth grew thousands of sharp fangs, like swords.

And a jet-black aura-like substance constantly emanated from her body.

Karma didn’t know it, but this was one of the skills she had acquired by gaining the God Slayer title.

It was a constantly active skill called Aura of Terror, which would cause weaker monsters to faint just by getting close.

By killing a god, Karma had unconsciously obtained an immense amount of experience points, levels, and powerful skills.

But be that as it may.

Because of this Aura of Terror, people were terrified of her.

Karma knew from experience. Everyone who saw her was struck with terror, screaming and crying as they fled.

(I’m going to make this child cry, too!)

Just as she thought that—

“Gahaha ♪”

Contrary to Karma’s expectations, the baby… laughed.

“…”

In that moment, Karma’s heart was stolen by the baby’s smile.

When everyone, absolutely everyone, had feared and avoided Karma…

This baby, far from being afraid of her, was smiling at her.

“Sniffle, sniffle… WAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

The one who cried wasn’t the baby, but Karma. She was so happy.

That there was someone who wasn’t afraid of her, someone who would smile at her…

“Daa? Glee, glee ♪”

Seeing the wailing Karma, the baby’s smile only widened.

And seeing that… Karma thought.

(Cute. So cute. This child is unbelievably cute!)

“I’ve decided. I’m not going to die!”

Karma made her resolve.

“Because if I die, who will take care of this child?!”

That’s right, this baby had been abandoned. She probably wouldn’t find its parents even if she looked.

If Karma were to abandon it, this baby would have no one to care for it… and it would die.

This kind, cute baby who looked at her terrifying face without fear… Karma couldn’t just leave it.

“It’s alright! I’ll take full responsibility and raise you to be a fine person!”

In a way, this baby was the one who had saved her from taking her own life.

After thinking about how she could possibly repay that kindness, she decided that she would raise this child herself.

Yes, in that very moment, the Evil Dragon Karma Abyss became this baby’s mother.

And so, the world’s strongest evil dragon, who had once saved the world, decided to raise a human baby she had found by chance.

…Our story begins fifteen years after this.

On the day that the boy, Ryuuji, who was raised with all the love an evil dragon could give, celebrated his 15th birthday.

It begins when he declares the following to his mother.

“Mom, I’m leaving home to become an adventurer.”

“I see. In that case, Mother will come with you.”

…And so began the days of hardship for the boy with the strongest dragon in the world for an adoptive mother.