TDAA Ch 2

It felt like being wrapped in something warm and fluffy. His head was heavy and dizzy, but the warmth was strangely comforting. Something wet kept brushing against his cheek. Annoyed, he turned his head and body, only to feel the same sensation on his shoulder and lower back.

Siol brushed it off and opened his eyes. This time, something warm and wet brushed between his fingers. Startled, he looked back and saw a giant wolf.

“Gah!”

He tried to scream, but his weak throat turned the scream into a whimper.

Siol scrambled forward in fright, only to grasp at air and tumble to the floor. Luckily, someone caught him before his head hit the ground. If it weren’t for them, Siol would have been knocked unconscious with a concussion the moment he woke up.

The one who helped the trembling Siol sit up was the dragon. Siol was startled again and this time scrambled backward. Being caught in the dragon’s grasp was worse than being in the wolf’s jaws.

“Oh dear… Don’t be so frightened.”

The wolf licked him from his lower back to the nape of his neck in one swipe, causing Siol to let out another strange, whimpering scream, “Eek!” Trembling, he looked back to see the wolf grinning and licking his cheek. Its tongue was large enough to lick his entire face at once. If it opened its mouth, it looked like it could chew up Siol’s head like candy.

Unable to bear the sight of Siol trembling with a pale face, the dragon chided the wolf.

“You said being with another wolf would calm him down, and look at this.”

“What can I do if the little guy is so scared?”

The wolf shrugged and stood up. Standing, it seemed much larger and more intimidating than when it was lying down. It stretched lightly and then suddenly rested its chin on Siol’s body and lay down. Siol, knocked over by the weight, blinked in surprise. The wolf kept its chin on Siol’s stomach, making eye contact. Apart from twitching its ears as if they were itchy, it remained still.

Meanwhile, Siol was regaining his composure. He was simply disoriented from being thrown into life changes he hadn’t experienced in nearly 15 years. He wasn’t the type to be hysterical or make a fuss.

His apprentice’s betrayal, his death, and then being resurrected only to fall back into the dragon’s clutches, cooled his mind one after the other. The last thing that came to mind was Ladie’s voice.

Master Siol. If you make it out of here alive, look at the world.

The warmth of her hand, pulling at his wrist as she ran alone from the crumbling castle, lingered on his skin.

What had he not known, what had he misunderstood, and what had he done?

He felt he had to know.

Siol cowered, perfectly playing the part of a 15-year-old who had been abused his entire life.

“Wh-where is this?”

“My castle. You haven’t forgotten that I promised to take care of you until you recover, have you?”

The answer came from the dragon standing beside him.

“A castle… where is it?”

“Far away from where you lived. So you don’t have to worry about being captured again.”

“My house… is there….”

“That kind of place isn’t called a home.”

“But….”

“You’ll live here from now on.”

The dragon spoke in a gentle but firm voice.

Every time Siol tried to argue, he felt a tightening in his chest. Something originating from the dragon’s curse inscribed on him was constricting his heart.

“…Yes.”

As soon as he yielded to the dragon’s will, the pain vanished as if it had been a lie.

“Then focus on healing your body. You need to grow to be the size of a fifteen-year-old, at least.”

“Yes.”

Pleased with the obedient answer, the dragon smiled and stroked Siol’s head.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Siz- Sizool. My name is Sizool.”

Siol, who almost blurted out his real name, barely managed to bite his tongue and utter a different one.

“Sizool. My name is Eorzen. I look forward to getting to know you.”

“I’m Ryufen.”

In contrast to the dragon’s polite introduction, the wolf simply rolled around on Siol’s stomach and casually stated its name.

Siol hesitated and tried to sit up, but the wolf on his stomach deliberately put its weight on his head, preventing him. His body, which seemed to be about ten years old, was only about a quarter the size of the wolf, making it impossible to resist its deliberate attempts to keep him down.

Having no other choice, Siol nodded his head in greeting while lying down.

“It’s a pleasure… to meet you.”

After exchanging names and greetings, Eorzen brought a chair over to the bed and sat down.

“I have a few questions, but I’m not trying to interrogate or harass you, so just answer comfortably. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But it would be a great help if you did.”

“Yes.”

Siol nodded nervously, swallowing hard.

How could he provide information without arousing suspicion while also gaining their trust? He was told he didn’t have to answer, but not answering would be an answer in itself. It would convey that he was reluctant to answer, that he seemed to have secrets he wanted to hide.

He had never received training in espionage and had never been in such a situation.

On the other hand, his opponent would have experienced such situations many times.

Eorzen looked into the small, trembling eyes of the wolf and asked gently,

“When were you born?”

“…I-I don’t know….”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“…Apple juice….”

Ryufen made a gagging sound from the side.

“How can you drink that sour stuff?”

“Be quiet.”

Ryufen obeyed Eorzen, but stuck out his tongue with a disgusted expression.

“What about meat?”

“…I don’t know.”

He wasn’t particularly fond of meat, so he just ate whatever Ladie gave him. The meats were all from different kinds of livestock and wild animals than those on Earth, so he hadn’t paid much attention to them.

“How many other beast-people have you met?”

“…Lord Eorzen, you’re the first.”

Until now, he hadn’t even known such beings existed.

He had even thought the dragon was a monster with intelligence until the moment he died.

“Then it makes sense that you were shocked speechless when you saw the Captain manifest.”

“Shut up.”

Ryufen closed his mouth again with a sullen look. This time, he placed both paws on Siol’s stomach, rested his chin on them, and closed his eyes, as if expressing with his whole body his intention to stay still. His tail wagged gently and then rested lightly on Siol’s legs.

“What… did you do in that cabin?”

“…I don’t want to talk about it.”

Siol whispered, biting his lip.

“Alright. If you want to talk about it later, you can tell me then.”

“Yes.”

After that, Eorzen asked if he liked warm baths, if he enjoyed moving around, if he had ever climbed a mountain. Siol replied that he liked warm baths, didn’t particularly enjoy moving around, and had climbed a mountain before. He also answered trivial questions such as his favorite snacks and animals, whether he was sensitive to the cold, what foods he disliked, and whether he had ever tried candy. As he answered one by one, his tension eased, and he started to feel drowsy.

Why did he keep asking such pointless questions? Siol tried to stay alert in case Eorzen suddenly threw a dangerous question at him, but wrapped in the warm wolf fur, he drifted off to sleep. Soon, quiet breathing followed.

When Siol seemed to have finally fallen asleep, Ryufen raised his head.

“It seems he was taken as a baby and lived his whole life in that cabin.”

“It’s natural he wouldn’t know anything, having been raised like a human…. Teach him well.”

“Of course. A wolf should grow up like a wolf.”

“But that tattoo – I don’t understand what kind of spell it is at all.”

“You don’t know, Captain?”

It was no wonder Ryufen was surprised.

Dragons were proficient in all spells and magic that existed in this world. They could typically understand the meaning of any properly structured spell with a single glance.

“I can tell it’s a spell related to someone’s death, but this part… this part on his chest is completely indecipherable.”

Eorzen said, touching Siol’s chest. It was the area where the magic inscription and the dragon’s curse were intertwined. If it had been just the magic inscription, Eorzen would have immediately understood its meaning and realized that the boy lying before him was Alchemist Siol. However, because Siol’s magic inscription and the mark from his own curse were mixed, the spell’s effect and form had changed, making it impossible to decipher.

“Perhaps the alchemist inscribed an experimental spell.”

“Then what will happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

Eorzen said with a grim expression.

“I don’t know what effect it will have, or when it will manifest.”

The two beast-men looked down with troubled expressions at the young wolf, who was like a ticking time bomb.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

For the next few days, Siol ate a lot of meat, went to bed early and woke up early, and was chased around the garden by Ryufen. When the growling wolf, baring its fangs, chased after him with a roar, some instinct compelled him to flee with all his might. After Siol collapsed from exhaustion, Ryufen would carry him by the scruff of his neck to the bathroom. After soaking in a herbal bath for thirty minutes, Ryufen would come in and scrub him clean.

At first, Siol protested, but his resistance was meaningless. The difference in strength was too great. Ryufen caught up to Siol’s three steps with one of his own, and even if Siol thrashed about, Ryufen would easily lift him with one hand. Siol once tried clinging to a table to prevent being lifted, but Ryufen attempted to lift both Siol and the table. In the end, Siol’s arms gave way first, unable to withstand the table’s weight.

It took less than a day for Siol to realize that quietly complying and offering his limbs was the quickest way to end the ordeal.

“The other arm.”

“I… I can bathe myself.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say.”

Ryufen replied perfunctorily, scrubbing Siol’s arm. He was surprisingly adept for a wolf.

Being treated like a child made him act like one. Siol was mortified by this, but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. It wouldn’t be easy to maintain the act of a 15-year-old 24/7.

Splash- Ryufen poured lukewarm water from a dipper over Siol’s head. Once the lather was rinsed away, he blew air from his chin to dry Siol, then licked the inscription, which still oozed blood whenever it got wet.

“The wound is taking a while to heal. It shouldn’t take this long.”

“It’s almost healed.”

“It’s because you don’t eat enough meat. You’ll be in trouble if you don’t eat properly at dinner.”

“I’m eating plenty.”

“You nibble on one or two pieces of steak and you call that plenty? You should be eating at least five.”

“That’s a lot!”

The gluttonous wolf seemed dissatisfied that Siol ate only two palm-sized steaks, some salad, and a few pieces of bread for a meal. He himself ate about fifteen of those steaks. Not that he was overeating, that was just his normal intake. He probably needed that much to maintain his large body….

Siol put on fresh clothes, went out to the living room, and sat on the sofa.

“Now that you’ve bathed, rest for a bit. Don’t cause any trouble while I make dinner.”

“I’ve never caused any trouble…!”

There was something about Ryufen that made Siol bristle.

He couldn’t understand his own constant defiance, but Ryufen’s way of speaking to him like a child—a troublesome child at that—made him feel unjustly accused, and a snappy retort always came naturally.

Ryufen patted Siol’s sullen head with his thick paw and disappeared into the kitchen.

Siol sighed and slumped onto the sofa. His daily routine was no different from a kindergartener’s. He ate, played, ate, played, ate, played all day long. And he was constantly scolded by Ryufen for not eating enough and not playing enough.

Siol felt like he had been more active in the past few days running and walking than he had been in the past ten years at the laboratory. Yet the giant wolf remained dissatisfied and glared disapprovingly.

This body was definitely weak. Siol had never been particularly strong, but he had become even weaker as a child, and even weaker still due to the curse. When he collapsed, panting, after running for less than a minute, Ryufen would come over and gently bite his head. The first time, Siol was terrified, thinking he was about to be eaten, but Ryufen only nibbled on him. After that, Siol would become docile.

This physical weakness must be due to the dragon’s curse, but he couldn’t say anything about it.

Why did he have to run around so much?

He was an alchemist, a researcher meant to be cooped up in a laboratory, not someone who did things with his body….

Siol cautiously approached the window and looked outside.

The dragon’s castle was built on the highest mountain in the area. He had wondered why someone who wasn’t a lord or a king lived in such a castle, and it turned out that the city itself had originated from the dragon settling there. When the dragon settled in the monster-infested land, his followers came and began to live there. As the surrounding monsters sensed the dragon’s presence and fled, the area became safe, and more beast-people flocked there to live. To Siol, it sounded no different from being a lord, but he was told it wasn’t because the dragon didn’t own the land. Beast-people culture was difficult to understand.

The city, formed in this way, had evolved over time into its current form. The city, forming a semicircle around the castle on the mountain, was large and vibrant. Beast-people with bird wings flew in the sky, and four-legged beast-people ran through the streets. Lizard beast-people basked in the sun, fish beast-people walked the streets and splashed in the fountains, and various bird species watched over them, ensuring they obeyed the city’s rules.

It was only when Siol saw this sight that he truly realized he was in a “different world.”

Then what kind of world had he been in for the past 15 years?

Siol stared down at the bustling city for a long time.

“Do you want to go to the city?”

Siol was startled but tried not to show it and looked up at the dragon. This man, who looked cold and handsome when his expression was neutral, seemed to have a soft spot for children and always showed Siol a gentle face. He treated Ryufen and Siol very differently. Then again, his attitude towards Alchemist Siol and the pitiful Sizool was also quite different.

“Lord Eorzen.”

“If you’re curious, I’ll take you.”

“…I want to see it.”

“Alright, why don’t we go down and have dinner there, too?”

Eorzen offered, extending his hand. Siol flinched back three steps, startled by the approaching hand.

“Sizool. Come, take my hand.”

Siol, momentarily frightened by the memory of being crushed by the dragon’s hand, took a step forward almost involuntarily. It was as if he were entranced, which wasn’t far from the truth.

From his observations over the past few days, Siol had realized that the dragon’s curse compelled him to obey Eorzen. Usually, the curse manifested as You shall never find a mate, you shall forever decay, and you shall forever be with death, but when the dragon was near, Siol felt a desire to touch him, to obey his commands, and if he didn’t comply, his heart would be gripped with pain. The dragon’s curse didn’t care about Siol’s fear. After experiencing this a few times, he had come to obey the dragon’s words reflexively, as if entranced.

It had only been a few days since he had been crushed to death by that hand, and now he was reduced to following him like a puppy.

Just as Siol felt a surge of anger and tried to take a step back, the dragon’s curse seized his heart.

“Sizool!”

Eorzen caught Siol’s shoulder as he collapsed without even a scream. He managed not to fall completely, but the pain in his heart was wracking him. The pain, coupled with the inability to breathe properly, made him dizzy and disoriented.

“Oh my. Sizool, what’s wrong?”

The flustered dragon laid Sizool on the floor, touching his forehead and cheeks as he asked.

Worried blue eyes looked down at him.

“Ryufen! Ryufen! Go get a doctor!”

At his call, Ryufen came running, still wearing his apron, and upon seeing Siol trembling on the floor, quickly ran off.

Amidst the pain that started in his heart and spread throughout his body, Siol thought of death. In his blurry vision, his eyes met the dragon’s, and he instinctively thrashed and screamed. No, I’m going to be crushed to death by that hand.

Eorzen, at a loss for what to do with the seizing child, noticed Siol’s leg, which had kicked against the table in his struggles, was bleeding bright red. He quickly moved the surrounding objects away. Then, he pulled the choking Siol into a tight embrace and patted his back.

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have created a homunculus. The fake body had made him live a fake life. It had been like experiencing emotions and sensations through a thin filter, leaving only remnants. Like living in a game, an AR game, where after the momentary enjoyment, only the feeling of detachment remained.

He had thought it was real then, but after returning to his original body, he realized it wasn’t.

Still, it was fortunate he had returned to his original body.

If that had been the end when he died as a homunculus, only a fake death would have remained.

Real death was approaching now.

Gasping, Siol looked up at the blue dragon. You have no idea that I am that alchemist.

He had wanted to see this world.

Siol stared blankly out the window. Beyond it lay this world, the real world that Siol had never known in all his time here. The fact that he had to die without knowing anything, without feeling anything, was incredibly frustrating. He unconsciously reached out his hand.

That was when it happened.

Eorzen grabbed Siol’s hand.

“Sizool. I’m here. You can’t die. You’ve finally escaped that wretched cabin, you can’t go like this….”

Eorzen clasped Siol’s weak, limp hand. Siol clung to the dragon’s cold hand as if it were a lifeline. The burning heat in his hand, the agonizing pain in his heart that felt like it was being squeezed, all vanished as if by magic the moment he grasped the dragon’s cold hand. In his daze, Siol pulled Eorzen’s hand closer and rubbed his cheek against the cold back of it. Tears, brought on by the pain, streamed down, wetting Eorzen’s hand.

After that, his condition began to improve. The pain subsided, his breathing eased, and the burning heat in his body cooled.

Eorzen didn’t let go of Siol’s hand until the doctor arrived.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

“Ha….”

Waking up in his room at dawn, Siol sighed in disbelief as soon as he came to his senses.

He had nearly died because he had taken a step back to avoid holding the dragon’s hand. It involved spells and curses, but that was the gist of what had happened. If he hadn’t reached out towards the window in his despair, if Eorzen hadn’t grabbed his hand, he would have died, his heart gripped by the curse.

He had faced death countless times since he was born on Earth, but none as absurd as this.

Siol opened his shirt and looked down at the mark of the dragon’s curse.

It was like a curse of obedience.

Only then did Siol realize this curse wasn’t normal. The magic inscription and the dragon’s curse on his chest couldn’t be seen as separate entities. The moment the soul-summoning spell activated and took effect, the dragon’s curse flowed into his body and triggered. The simultaneously activated spell and curse must have interacted with each other, transforming into something new.

“I have to… escape.”

But where to? How?

Did he even have a way to survive if he ran away now?

“No, for a while… I have to stay here.”

At least until he could leave for a human city on his own.

Thinking that far, Siol remembered that his body was no longer human.

According to what he had heard over the past few days, humans were waging war against beast-people, seizing their land and enslaving them. If he went to a human city in this form, he would surely be captured and enslaved.

Even if he hid his identity and went to the royal capital, could he even meet the king? There was no way a beast-person with no money or status could successfully request an audience with the king. And even if he met the king, what then?

The king was a liar who had deceived him for a long time.

From the fact that the weapons he created with alchemy were being used to seize beast-people lands, to the level of civilization in this world, the absence of people who needed Guides, and the fact that monsters didn’t just spawn anywhere dark but were created from contact with malevolent energy at connection points to the demon world.

The laboratory where Siol had lived was a perfectly crafted glass garden. Everything inside, from the smallest pebble, had been placed according to the king’s design, and every knight, servant, and member of the supply wagon had been an actor deceiving him. Siol had lived for ten years in a virtual world created by the king.

And in the end, he was betrayed by his apprentice, Nathaniel, leading him to this point.

Come to think of it, even the opportunity to take Nathaniel as his apprentice had been at the king’s request. In that sense, Nathaniel was nothing more than a spy meant to steal Siol’s alchemic skills. What must the 10-year-old Nathaniel have thought when he saw Siol living in the glass garden? He must have thought him foolish, stupid…. But those skills were worth stealing, so he played the part of the diligent apprentice….

Siol burst into tears.

He had been sincere. He had truly thought of the boy as a son. He had raised him with affection, love, and care.

The thought that it had all been a lie was heartbreaking.

But then again, hadn’t Siol’s life also been a lie?

Hiding his real body in the cabin and claiming to have sincerely cared for the boy in his homunculus form was nothing but cowardly, wasn’t it?

He didn’t particularly want to defend the boy, yet these conflicting thoughts clashed in his mind.

Siol didn’t bother wiping away the stream of tears. He knew it was pointless, the emotions overflowing too intensely. He felt that if he just kept crying like this all night, his heartache might subside a little.

Just then, the door burst open.

“Sizool?”

It was the blue dragon. Eorzen had come to the room, holding a candle.

Siol quickly wiped his tears and sat up.

“L-Lord Eorzen….”

At his frail voice, Eorzen cautiously entered the room and pulled a chair over to the bedside.

“You must have been very frightened today.”

“No….”

“But don’t worry too much. I’ll do my best to help you recover. This engraved on your body is a magic inscription. Do you know what it is?”

If he lied, he might end up in the same situation as before. Siol answered tensely,

“Yes, I know.”

“The alchemist in that house was a fool, Sizool.”

“…What?”

“He must have been a very foolish and stupid fellow. Because this spell’s grammar is a mess from the middle onwards. The meaning is unclear, and the structure is inconsistent. I don’t know what effect he was aiming for with this inscription, but it’s a failed spell.”

At the sudden criticism, Siol could only make a confused expression, unsure how to react.

“I’m sorry. That’s why it’s even more difficult to dispel. If it were a high-level curse by a skilled alchemist, I could have dispelled it step by step using the proper methods…!”

“You don’t have to apologize, Lord Eorzen.”

“Perhaps not. But seeing you cry alone makes me feel guilty.”

“Th-this is…!”

It wasn’t because of the curse that he was crying, but since Eorzen had found him crying alone in his room after he had collapsed, it was understandable that he would misunderstand.

Siol shook his head, holding Eorzen’s hand.

“It’s nothing, really. It’s just… I’m sad that the world is so different from what I knew….”

“So different from what you knew? In what way?”

“…I thought the world was full of monsters. I didn’t know beast-people existed….”

Siol mumbled his story.

“Then what did you think you were?”

“…I don’t know.”

He had thought he was human, but now that he thought about it, perhaps the king hadn’t accepted Siol as one of his kind.

He existed alone in a new category: Otherworlder.

“Sizool. You are my kind. There’s no doubt about that.”

That might be true now, but how long would these ears and tail last?

Just as the ears and tail had appeared when they hadn’t been there before, if they suddenly disappeared one day, would he then, without a doubt, cease to be one of their kind?

A tear rolled down Siol’s cheek. As Siol quickly wiped it away, Eorzen patted his head sympathetically.

“It’s best you get some sleep now.”

Eorzen laid Siol in bed and tucked him in tightly. He thought Eorzen would leave then, but he didn’t. He extinguished the candle, darkening the room, and sitting on the chair, placed his hand on Siol’s chest and began to pat him gently.

In the darkness, Siol looked at Eorzen’s face.

He hadn’t been able to look at him properly for the past few days because of his fear. Seeing the blue dragon properly for the first time in days, he was reminded of a lake fairy. His sharp eyes and mouth made him seem cold, but Siol now knew that when those cold, blue eyes looked at him, they softened with kindness. Siol gazed, entranced, at the gentle gaze directed at him.

He was a beautiful man. So beautiful it was hard to look away, and so righteous he might as well be the protector of this world.

‘But when he finds out who I am, his face will turn demonic, and he will crush me again.’

Because Siol was the cursed Death Alchemist.

Just then, Eorzen moved the hand that was patting Siol’s chest to cover his eyes.

“Go to sleep.”

Was even this whisper a command?

The moment Siol heard those words, he fell asleep as if by magic.