Chapter 139
Shio asked as if it were nothing.
That was exactly why Daphne found it so absurd.
The fact that he answered immediately meant he already knew what she was going to ask.
No, this bastard?
Daphne felt a surge of irritation, but she held it back for the moment.
Then, in a voice low enough that Artson could not hear, she said,
“If you knew the Emperor was a dragon, you should have told me.”
Shio blinked.
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he made an awkward expression.
“Ah. All the other dragons already know about it, so I assumed you did too, Lady Daphne. Come to think of it, since you were an outcast, no one would have told you. I completely forgot.”
“…Are you making fun of me?”
“Oh, come on. As if I would.”
Shio laughed playfully.
Feeling even more annoyed, Daphne stomped hard on his foot.
“Argh!”
Hearing Shio’s scream made her feel a little better.
Daphne chuckled.
“There are two things I want to ask first.”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“That guy. Does he know I’m the Calamity?”
At Daphne’s question, Shio’s eyes widened.
“Oh… Lady Daphne.”
He covered his mouth as if he were genuinely astonished and took a step back.
“Did you ever actually intend to keep the fact that you’re the Calamity a secret?”
“…What?”
“No, I mean… you’ve been practically announcing it everywhere, so I figured you had no intention of hiding it.”
“……”
She wanted to argue.
But when she thought about it, he wasn’t exactly wrong.
So she found herself unable to reply.
Clicking her tongue softly, Daphne pressed her lips together.
“He’s probably figured it out. He’s not someone who’s only lived for a hundred or two hundred years.”
Listening to Shio’s words, Daphne nodded.
Then she recalled what the Emperor had said.
—’When you’re able to use this properly, come find me again.’
—’Only then will I finally be able to help you.’
He had handed her a sword that had been created specifically for dragons and then said those words…
That meant the Emperor had at least figured something out.
Pressing a hand against her forehead, Daphne spoke.
“Then the reason I entered this body?”
“Ah, I can answer that with certainty. It wasn’t his doing. He doesn’t possess that level of ability.”
“Hmmm.”
Is that really so?
Then how exactly did I end up inside this body?
Did the frequencies of the “Calamity” and the “curse” just happen to resonate by pure coincidence?
Daphne narrowed her eyes slightly.
Then she decided she would think about it carefully another time and looked back at Shio.
There was still something she needed to ask.
“Then my second question. Why is that guy doing all this among humans?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Give me a longer answer.”
“No, seriously, I don’t know… Well, I guess I can at least say he’s not exactly sane. Which is why someone perfectly sane like me can’t understand him.”
“You aren’t exactly…”
“Hm?”
“…No, never mind. Forget I said anything.”
Looking at Shio, who was completely unaware of how abnormal he himself was, Daphne let out a long sigh.
Why are there nothing but weirdos around me?
What rotten luck.
“Anyway, why do you think he’s insane? Did something happen?”
“Not really… It’s just difficult to explain with words.”
“Wouldn’t getting punched make it easier to explain?”
“Hey! Come on! Stop trying to solve everything with violence!”
“Clench your molars.”
“Aaagh!”
Just as Daphne clenched her tiny fist and was about to charge at Shio—
“The god was split into several fragments, and from the five largest fragments, dragons were born.”
Artson spoke.
At some point, he had stopped doing push-ups and was now sitting comfortably.
“But those five fragments weren’t all the same size. That guy came from the largest fragment. That’s why he was the strongest… and the smartest.”
Artson let out a cold sneer.
“He thinks he’s a god.”
“……”
“For now, he sits on the Emperor’s throne because he doesn’t yet have enough power to rule all of humanity. But he isn’t satisfied. One day, he’ll definitely cause trouble.”
The atmosphere instantly became heavy.
A chilling breeze passed between them.
At that moment, Daphne felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
Just then, Teiti quietly spoke.
“Says the villainous dragon who joined hands with a dark mage to slaughter humans.”
“Hey! Elf! Shut up!”
“Says the villainous dragon making completely unscary threats.”
“Ugh, seriously! I’m getting insulted by an elf like this?!”
Artson flopped onto the ground in frustration, but Teiti wasn’t afraid in the slightest.
After all, Teiti had spent months beside Daphne—the number one person no one ever wanted to associate with because she was a completely insane, ill-tempered lunatic—being constantly bullied and having his life threatened.
Would he really be frightened by someone like Artson?
Hmph.
Of course not.
Leaving Teiti openly provoking Artson behind her, Daphne looked back at Shio.
“Is what Blue Head said true?”
“Hmm… Yes. Of course, he has his own ideals and sense of justice. That itself isn’t necessarily bad. In some ways, he’s actually quite similar to you, Lady Daphne.”
“But?”
“The problem is that he believes only he is right.”
Daphne narrowed her eyes.
A being with convictions is admirable.
But a being that possesses nothing except those convictions is dangerous.
And a being who has the power to enforce those convictions…
…is a Calamity.
Pressing firmly against the corner of her aching eye, Daphne let out a long sigh.
Then she recalled everything she had observed inside the Imperial Treasury.
“Have any of you ever entered the Emperor’s treasury?”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re not asking me, are you?”
As each of them answered in turn, Daphne let out a hollow laugh.
“Then I must have been the only one who noticed.”
Daphne’s eyes turned ice cold.
“There wasn’t a single divine relic in that place.”
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‘There wasn’t a single divine relic…’
Late at night.
Walking through the hallway of the Grand Duke’s residence, Shio’s expression stiffened as he recalled Daphne’s words.
—’Not me, but dragons are beings originally close to gods. Don’t divine fragments and divine relics naturally gather around them like magnets?’
—’But there wasn’t a single divine relic inside that treasury. What do you think that means?’
“There’s a group that’s collecting divine relics, and the Emperor is opposing that group.”
Shio abruptly stopped walking.
“Damn it.”
Cursing under his breath, he ran a hand through his hair.
His black-and-white hair slipped between his fingers.
‘It’s already hard enough dealing with the wraiths and Lani, and now there’s another enemy?’
Just how many enemies are there?
At this rate, I’ll grow old fighting them all.
And every single one of them has some bizarre goal…
Huh?
The moment he muttered that to himself, Shio’s pupils suddenly widened.
‘No way.’
Shio’s mind raced.
‘What if Lani has infiltrated the group collecting divine relics? What if that’s why we haven’t been able to find her? What if the wraiths are merely underlings created to gather divine relics?’
If that were true…
Then everything would make sense.
The moment he finished piecing everything together, Shio immediately turned around.
He needed to tell Daphne right away.
However—
“E-Excuse me!”
“Half-and-half hair! Wait! Stop!”
The voices of children struck his ears.
Startled, Shio turned around.
Standing there were Rache, Vipera, and Arius, in that order.
Judging by their extremely serious expressions, something unusual had clearly happened.
Surely Lani hasn’t already made a move.
Quietly preparing a spell in his mind, Shio approached the children.
“What happened?”
“W-Well…”
As Vipera hesitated,
she suddenly shoved Arius hard in the back.
“Y-Y-You t-talk! I-I can’t!”
Hmm.
They’re acting just like usual.
So it doesn’t seem like Lani has done anything…
Then what could they want?
Shio remained on guard.
“We thought about it among ourselves, but we couldn’t come up with an answer. So we came to ask you. We were hoping the Sage could think about it together with us.”
“Yeah. This is really important.”
Shio tightly clenched his fist.
Although they were children, they had matured early.
They wouldn’t make a request like this lightly.
If they said it was important, then it truly must be.
“Please, tell me.”
Mentally preparing himself in an entirely different way than before, Shio listened attentively.
He resolved not to be surprised no matter what they said.
“Well…”
The children looked at one another before speaking slowly.
“It’s Daphne’s birthday soon.”
“We’re planning a surprise party.”
“H-How c-can we t-trick her?”
“……”
I mean…
It is important, but…
“We really want her to be completely surprised, you know?”
“We want to throw her a big birthday party this time. It’s not like we think she’s cute or anything. We just haven’t really celebrated it for her before.”
…That wasn’t nearly serious enough to build up the atmosphere like that, you idiots!
Shio barely managed to suppress the curse that almost escaped his mouth and took a deep breath.
Then he looked down at the children and asked,
“Have each of you already prepared your presents?”
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