Chapter 53
Heros was really greatly surprised.
Even though he was under a curse that severed emotions, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t be surprised at all. He was clearly agitated. Just that it didn’t show on his face.
[You’re always so straightforward whenever I see you. I thought at least your eyes would widen if I showed this form.]
The emperor, that is, the giant golden dragon presumed to be the emperor, said. Heros blankly looked up at him.
It was a dragon.
A dragon, created from fragments of the god who created this world, the agent of god and the guardian of the empire.
Heros wondered if he was under an illusion magic, so he closed his eyes tightly and then slowly opened them. However, the dragon prominently in front of him was not created by illusion.
“……I was surprised.”
[It doesn’t look like that at all.]
The gold dragon, who laughed lowly, had his body enveloped in golden light.
The light that surged as if to reach the endless ceiling of the cave soon shrank to the size of a person, and not long after, it was contained.
What appeared beyond the light was a woman with luscious blonde hair tied high, but before admiring her overwhelming beauty, the gaze was drawn to the snail-shaped horns rising near the temples.
[Consider it an honor. You’re the second human to see this form of mine.]
Heros placed his hand on his chest and slightly bowed his head.
While doing so, he thinks. That he couldn’t refuse the emperor’s orders so far and that his mind became comfortable with the emperor’s voice might all be because he was a dragon.
But does that make sense.
No matter how much a dragon, he shouldn’t be able to manipulate others’ minds.
Moreover, Heros was someone with equal strength to fight against a dragon. Then how exactly.
Heros raised his head with a subtle expression. He looks at the emperor.
“What is the reason for allowing me this form.”
[……Tsk, no fun. I expected a different reaction this time.]
The emperor clicked his tongue and approached Heros closely. When he waved his hand, a table and chairs were immediately created. The emperor sat down on the chair and then offered the opposite side to Heros.
[The reason I showed this form is because there is something you have to do and something you must know.]
Heros sat on the chair and waited for the next words.
[You asked me. What the calamity, that is, that black dragon, really is. What kind of existence it is to bring about so many disasters.]
“But you didn’t answer.”
[It wasn’t that I didn’t answer, but that I couldn’t answer.]
The emperor smiled bitterly and chose his words.
There weren’t many words he could say to Heros, a mere mortal.
[In the world.]
The emperor, having finished his thoughts, continues.
[There is something called causality. Causality means that if you take an action, you must pay the price for that action. Do you understand?]
“I am not a child, Your Majesty.”
[In front of me, everyone is just a child.]
Heros slightly frowned and then quietly waited for the next words. The emperor’s mouth opens again.
[Causality is a law that applies to all beings living in this world. But it doesn’t apply to dragons like me. It’s like how no matter how unreasonable the orders I give you are, they become reasonable in your minds and you comply.]
Heros felt his earlier doubt being resolved.
It’s the part where he can understand why he had to obey the emperor’s words all along, why he only complied.
[Then I’ll ask. Why doesn’t the law of causality apply only to us dragons?]
Heros stared into the emperor’s golden eyes and answered.
“……Calamity.”
[As expected, you’re a smart human.]
The emperor grinned as if it was the correct answer.
[The dragons wanted an existence to take on their causality instead. Me and the other guy refused it but…… the remaining three stubbornly created it. That is the calamity, the black dragon.]
In other words, the black dragon is an artificially created existence, and the reason it was created is to take on the ‘results’ of the causality that the dragons would bear.
That is, Cellus is a waste dump where the results of the dragons’ foolish actions are gathered.
It was difficult words, but Heros understood immediately.
Even he thought that the things the black dragon had done so far were somehow strange.
“Then the disasters he created,”
[Are not what he intended. He did nothing wrong.]
Heros frowned. While doing so, he looks at the back of the emperor, at the sealed body of the calamity. And he recalls the words he said when they clashed.
-What exactly did I do wrong to be like this!
Heros tightly clenched his hand placed under the table.
If the emperor’s words are true, the calamity did nothing wrong. He was just used for the selfish desires of other dragons.
[The calamity is something ‘we’ created, so I wanted to take responsibility myself. Asking you to seal this guy is in that context.]
“I understand.”
[I thought this would end it. But really unfortunately…….]
The emperor let out a long sigh and raised his eyes.
[The other ‘we’ seem to have already made contact with death. So the fact that the calamity is not dead but sealed must have been known to the black sorcerers.]
The three dragons who created the calamity, Cellus, to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.
They stood in opposition to the emperor and used humans again for their own safety. The result is the black sorcerer organization, the Specter.
[Hero.]
The emperor looked straight at Heros and asked.
[Can you annihilate a dragon?]
***
[Intense battle in the mine, 13 injured, no deaths.]
[‘We are the Specter’ black sorcerer’s dying words]
[Specter, what exactly are they?]
Daphne slightly frowned while looking at the newspaper article headlines.
This incompetent Tate. I sent him to protect the humans, but he let 13 get injured? When he comes back, you’re dead.
Having no deaths in the fight with black sorcerers was truly amazing, but Daphne didn’t think that at all, and her mindset to beat Tate only became more firm.
“The name Specter is finally known.”
Daphne clicked her tongue tsk tsk.
“Stupid reporters. If they reveal the name like this, those guys’ power will grow even more.”
Now that it’s known that black sorcerers are not just individuals but an organized group, people will pay attention there.
Then, inevitably, some will cross over to that side.
Unlike regular magic, black magic is a peculiar magic that can be used by burning one’s life even without talent.
“Anyway, I need to step out to catch these guys too.”
Daphne let out a sigh.
“They won’t let me out at all, so this is like having honey in front of me but not being able to eat it.”
Participating in the subjugation team seemed really like someone’s scheme, after returning to the mansion, Daphne was forbidden not only from subjugating black sorcerers but even from investigating them.
Is that all?
She couldn’t go out either. For the reason of recovering health.
‘This body wasn’t healthy to begin with.’
Daphne let out another sigh.
“I need to catch all those black sorcerer bastards and beat them up badly…….”
Daphne’s eyes slightly sharpened while murmuring. Daphne glared at Brysa who was doing push-ups in front of her.
“Subordinate. Somehow, your speed seems slower than before.”
“Huff, heok…… N, no, I’ve done push-ups 50 times already, huff, of course it slows down!”
“You’re talking back. Add 50 more.”
“Aack!”
Brysa, who declared she wanted to become Daphne’s subordinate, had been receiving special training from Daphne for the entire week until now.
Running 20 laps around the training ground, 50 push-ups three times as one set for a total of 5 sets, squatting with water buckets 5 sets, and then running 20 laps around the training ground again…….
This is called training, but it’s close to torture. Brysa was really at death’s door.
“Huff, heok, but, young lady, I, I’m a spirit summoner, huff, why do I have to do this physical training, huff.”
“Hmm.”
Daphne folded her arms and tilted her head.
“Stand up.”
“Huff, yep!”
Brysa jumped up thinking finally rest.
Her hair that was cutely braided in pigtails is disheveled. Her white and blemish-free skin is flushed red. It’s a very good result of training.
“Can you summon a spirit now?”
“Uh, now?”
Brysa rolled her eyes.
“Clearly this morning at home, a spirit came. But when I come here, spirit summoning doesn’t work again. What could it be?”
That’s because Daphne is a dragon.
Spirits are as sensitive as elves, so feeling Daphne’s aura, they get scared in advance and don’t come out from the spirit world.
But that’s only for lower spirits, if it’s an upper spirit, even if scared, they would come out at least. Because they are beings with pride.
“To become my subordinate, you need to at least know how to summon an upper spirit.”
“……Upper spirit?”
“Yes.”
“I’m 8 years old.”
“So what. I’m 5.”
“Hing.”
“Be mature.”
“Hing sir…….”
Daphne spoke again to Brysa who drooped her shoulders.
“To summon an upper spirit, you need enormous mana. At your current level, it’s impossible.”
“Yes, that’s right. So if you lower the standard a bit…….”
“You need to increase mana. But to increase mana, physical strength is essential. Healthy body healthy mind, healthy body healthy mana. Do you understand what I mean?”
If I say I don’t know, I’ll get hit with the sword again. I shouldn’t have given that as a gift, really.
“Yeees…….”
“So no more talking back, do physical training first. When you reach a certain level, I’ll teach you how to build mana too.”
“……Yeees.”
Should I just say I don’t need to be your subordinate here and go back, she wavered for a moment but Brysa didn’t.
Why? Because Daphne seen from the side was much more amazing than she thought!
Daphne is 3 years younger than her. But she performed double her training amount.
And as if not tired, she even practiced swordsmanship.
Watching that from the side, how to say.
It makes you think I want to become like that too.
It also makes you think I can’t lose.
Brysa threw away the desire to give up and lay down again. To do the remaining push-ups.
It was then.
“Who are you?”
An unfamiliar voice was heard. When she turned her head to where the sound came from, there was a red-haired kid walking leisurely with a wooden sword propped on his shoulder.
“Who are you to stick right next to Daphne? That’s my spot?”
“……What?”
“Get lost, don’t piss me off.”
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By Anna 💓
