Quoted By:
<span class="mu-g">”...So what happens when time is up?”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”If there is one thing in the world dragons love more then gold, it is revenge. To default on the debt, would bring terrible anger. It would mean the absolute destruction of the debtor- and his kin- and the kin of his kin. By fire.”</span>
<span class="mu-g">”B-But, it's not you! You're not him!”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”To a creature like that, I might as well be! I've never seen or known anything about this dragon, but it knows me. To me, I'm the same as my ancestor. We're humans. We grow old and die in the blink of an eye compared to ageless creatures. By the time the dragon wakes from its slumber, I will look and smell as close to my great-grandfather that I may as well be the same. I'd probably be at the same social level and working the same profession too- that's how the world works. Individuals don't matter to immortals.”</span>
<span class="mu-g">”Jon.. I didn't- I didn't know. It's so horrible to be born with such a curse.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”I have already accepted it. It is my burden. But you... I don't want you, or our child, to suffer the same fate. That is why I was so hesitant to marry you, and why I didn't want you to get pregnant. If I did get you pregnant, our child would be born with the same mark- they wouldn't even have time to grow up before the dragon came to extract its payment.”</span>
<span class="mu-g">”Oh Jon... but what about the money you've been saving? Every scrap of gold and silver you have so far- it must be a fortune!”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”Come on, Elly. Did you really think the dragon ever intended its loan to be possible to pay back? Even in several generations? No- this is a death sentence. But I haven't given up hope. That's why I've been delving into this cursed mountain- despite the danger and despite how little I care for riches and gold. At the current rate, I'll never have enough, but if each level of the dungeon is richer and richer still-”</span>
<span class="mu-g">”...Then at its deepest place, there may be something so valuable that even a dragon's debt could be paid off?”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”Exactly. I'm sorry I never told you, Elly. But that's the whole truth...”</span>