TDAA Ch 61
by soapa“Can’t break it, but…”
Burdril, trailing off, put more force into the hand he had placed on the barrier. The transparent barrier began to darken, starting from Burdril’s hand. The power that constituted the barrier was revealing its true identity through Burdril. The darkness was slowly being sucked into Burdril’s grasp.
Had the barrier’s power weakened? Ryufen leaped up and kicked the barrier. But unfortunately, this time too, the barrier only made the same thud! sound as before, with no change.
Just as everyone was sighing in disappointment.
“…It feels different.”
“Pardon? What did you just say?”
“It feels different, brother-in-law! It’s just a tiny bit, but it’s definitely weaker than before! Burdril! Do it more, more!”
The thoroughly excited Ryufen urged him on, nudging Burdril’s back with his nose. Burdril annoyedly pushed Ryufen away and tossed the lump of darkness in his hand into the air. Then, a black forearm shot out from Burdril’s neck and snatched the darkness. It was a bizarre sight. The forearm kneaded the lump of darkness a few times before disappearing back inside the transmutation circle.
“…Wh-what was that?”
“My courier. He can help me do this faster, but the problem is the alchemy ethics course…”
“What?”
“My master told me it was wrong. He’ll definitely scold me if he finds out I brought him out again. What should I do?”
“Damn it, what nonsense is this? Stop with the bullshit and…”
Kadion stepped in front of Ryufen, who was angrily stomping the ground.
“We will keep it a secret for you.”
“Really?”
“No one here will ever reveal the fact that you used that incantation again.”
“Ryufen too?”
Burdril asked, turning to look at Ryufen. Ryufen, receiving the gaze, scrunched up his face and asked back.
“It’ll be a problem if it becomes like that time again.”
“Ryufen.”
“Ah, brother-in-law. We have to be clear about this. If he goes crazy like last time, we might have to deal with Nathaniel and Budril. Then the only person here who can stop Budril would be Siol again, and how can you put that burden on him when we don’t even know what’s happening inside?”
“Even if Budril becomes another burden, it’s better if it allows us to coordinate the order of things. We help those inside, and whether Budril falls or not, we can save him later.”
Ryufen looked back at Kadion, bewildered. He wasn’t wrong.
“……”
The problem was that it wasn’t something to say in front of the person in question. Budril glared at Kadion with a dumbfounded expression, then shook his head. He had heard plenty about Kadion, the impeccably loyal husband and second-in-command to the wolf chieftain. A ruthless hunter who would do anything for his lord, Rifez. There were even stories that he was a wolf who would go as far as to behead a dragon if his wife wished it, so it was no surprise that he seemed to have lost his reason now.
Ryufen mercilessly jabbed Budril’s side with his nose and asked.
“So what do you think, Budril? If you do that, will you go crazy again?”
Budril pushed Ryufen’s nose away and smacked it.
“Hey, stop it! …I might go crazy, but even if I do, it will be helpful. My client wants the ancient creature that was originally trapped here, right? That ancient creature is with Nathaniel now, and he’s even using its power to cast a barrier. Its goal is to snatch that creature away from Nathaniel, so if it succeeds, Nathaniel will become weaker.”
“If you go crazy, Siol will know everything without us having to say a word. You know that much, right?”
“If that happens, you all have to take my side.”
At Budril’s reply with a slight smile, Ryufen narrowed his eyes and assessed the situation.
“Alright, do it.”
At those words, Budril nodded and rolled his stiff shoulders a few times. As Budril placed his hand on the barrier and took a deep breath, the runic circle on his neck made a cracking sound and expanded, and the forearm from before popped out again. When that hand placed itself on the barrier just like Budril’s, the barrier’s color deepened and began to be sucked into its grasp.
Even the knights, who knew little about such mysteries, could feel it. The barrier’s power was weakening at a speed incomparable to when Budril had done it alone.
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Eorzen felt an intense hunger.
“Siol…!”
No, it wasn’t a simple physical hunger, but a sense of loss, as if his entire soul was drying up. Amidst the sensation of freezing slowly from the tips of his toes, he desperately searched for a trace of Siol.
Logically, he knew it was absurd.
He had been with him just a moment ago, and he had lost track of Siol’s presence only after placing his hand on Nathaniel’s barrier. They must have simply been separated into different places.
But Siol’s presence, which he had instinctively felt, was now….
“Where are you?”
Horns from his head and wings from his back were trying to burst out on their own with creaking sounds as Eorzen muttered sharply. Flames sparked in his stomach. Acrid, poisonous smoke flowed from his mouth and scattered into the air.
His reason was rapidly dissipating.
Just as Eorzen was gasping and about to willingly accept his inner instincts to find Siol, that was the moment.
Thump. He felt Siol’s heartbeat in his palm.
Light returned to Eorzen’s emptying eyes. He pulled his left hand close, held it to his chest, and held his breath. The pounding heartbeat clearly proved Siol’s existence. He let out a ragged breath. Cold sweat beaded on his temples and trickled down. With a trembling hand, he held onto Siol’s heart preciously and felt its pulse for a moment.
“Right. I promised…. I would come find you.”
To do that, he couldn’t lose his reason. He opened his tightly shut eyes and slowly surveyed his surroundings.
It was a giant labyrinth. He was in the middle of a massive maze whose size he couldn’t even estimate with his dragon magic. The acrid smell of mold and the dust on the floor contrasted with the clean walls, making it clear that this was a new labyrinth created within a space inside the ruins. Layers of pitch-black darkness were piled up above the walls, and he couldn’t identify what it was.
“Ha.”
Eorzen twisted the corner of his mouth into a cold smile and glared at the darkness. Something that was neither magic nor sorcery was enveloping this space. That was why he had lost all trace of Siol’s scent and presence and fallen into a moment of confusion. Because that darkness was completely cutting this place off, like a separate dimension.
The ancient creature said to be slumbering in these ruins must have been a being that dealt with darkness and space.
He carefully gauged the direction.
“…You’re over there, Siol.”
By tracing the magical presence connected to Siol’s heart, he could faintly sense which direction Siol was in.
Eorzen began to move quickly. There was no time to wander through the maze. Eorzen began to advance by breaking through the labyrinth with his specialty, ice spears.
It was when he had been rushing eastward, smashing through the maze for about five minutes. From beyond a broken wall, where a dusty haze was rising, a person walked out.
“…Rifez.”
Rifez, who was suddenly hit by a shower of stones, looked at Eorzen and remained silent. She let out a low sigh and asked.
“Do you know where we need to go?”
“I have to find Siol.”
As soon as he said the words, a thick sense of anxiety began to pound at his heart again.
Eorzen started walking, paying no mind to Rifez. Rifez frowned at his movements, which couldn’t even hide his impatience, yet were clearly headed towards a destination.
“Don’t tell me you’ve cast some kind of tracking spell on him?”
Eorzen didn’t even deign to answer. He didn’t have the leisure for that right now. It felt as if his stomach would burn up if he didn’t get out of here and find Siol, even one second faster.
“I asked you a question!”
Rifez ran and grabbed Eorzen’s shoulder, questioning him. Eorzen paused for a moment, then turned to look at her with a cool expression.
“As long as that child is a wolf, I will not stand by and watch you arbitrarily control him.”
“Rifez, Siol is my mate.”
“…You are…”
Rifez, who was about to say something, shut her mouth with a complicated expression.
Eorzen looked at her for a moment before turning away again. His chest ached terribly and his stomach felt twisted, so he had no more time to argue senselessly.
How could they have let Siol leave in Marsiga? Just being apart for this short time was so agonizing and painful. No, he actually knew. Back then, he had been confident because he hadn’t been aware of what he had done. A confidence that even if he let him go like this, he would surely help Siol achieve what he wanted and eventually be with him.
But it wasn’t like that anymore. He was afraid, anxious, and felt as if he were running toward an end. As if he were heading for a future where only ruin remained, no matter how much he wished and yearned.
Only negative thoughts filled his mind.
“Do not, do not forget your promise, Eorzen.”
Rifez’s words stopped his steps toward Siol.
“Let’s get this straight now. Rifez, you are well aware that the most important thing to a dragon is their mate, aren’t you.”
“You promised you would help the child first and foremost if something happened to him!”
“I will help. But he is second. Siol, my mate, comes first.”
“……”
“If you understand, then shut your mouth now.”
At the cold reprimand, Rifez looked back at Eorzen, bewildered. This was not the usual Eorzen. The blue dragon used to just politely endure the enmity and anger Rifez sent his way, even without understanding it, but now he was submerged in anxiety and agitation, not in his right mind.
Yes, just like a dragon who had truly lost his mate.
CRASH!
The walls shattered one after another, and Eorzen’s pace grew faster.
Before long, draconic energy was flowing out of Eorzen’s body. Despite the draconic energy swirling threateningly, Eorzen left it be, as if he had no mind to care about such things.
Rifez stared at the dragon’s back with sunken eyes. At the mad dragon who, steeped in loneliness, had come to believe that an ordinary, unremarkable wolf was his mate. She had thought she couldn’t be any more disappointed in him, but even while harboring a terrible hatred, a still deeper disappointment enveloped Rifez. The alchemist Siol as the blue dragon’s mate? It was impossible. The blue dragon would surely be recorded in the history books someday. As a foolish dragon who, driven mad by his failure to meet a mate, restrained an innocent wolf.
Perhaps it was time to reveal the truth, if only to save the little wolf cub who was captured by the mad dragon without knowing why, she thought.
“I had hoped you would suffer until that day without ever knowing the truth…”
Rifez muttered coolly. The dragon was already far ahead. It seemed he wasn’t paying any attention to Rifez following him.
Her wish had already been shattered. But now was not the time to reveal the truth. She had to endure until she could use that foolish, mad dragon to save the child. If the blue dragon didn’t keep his promise, she had to protect the child herself.
Rifez quietly followed the blue dragon, who was clearing the path by unleashing a barrage of magic.
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“This place is…”
Siol groaned, struggling with a headache. He put a hand to his dizzy head and then realized he was sitting in a chair. As he looked around in confusion, he realized the place was terribly familiar.
The dreadful glass garden the king had prepared for him, the alchemy lab where he believed he had locked himself away, and among them, the study Siol used when he needed to clear his head for a moment. The ebony wood chair and coffee table, a single wine bottle and two glasses on the coffee table. And even the book Siol had left turned upside down in the middle of reading.
The night before Nathaniel left for the capital was perfectly recreated.
This space was a stage created by Nathaniel, and the main character was Siol, him.
“There were good times, too. Weren’t there?”
Startled by the sudden voice, Siol turned his head and involuntarily gasped.
“Nathaniel, you…?”
The person there was not the red-haired young man, not Nathaniel.
“You, what is that form?”
A small child, who looked no older than 10, hopped down from the windowsill where he had been perched.
“Why are you in that form…!”
It was Sizool.
Nathaniel, wearing Sizool’s shell, smiled with an expression entirely different from Siol’s. He glanced at the horrified Siol and nonchalantly sat down across from him.
“At first, I considered being on your side, but you insulted my mother so casually.”
“…My thoughts haven’t changed. A potion that requires a human life as payment is not right.”
“Look at this. Still not a hint of remorse, just repeating the same argument.”
Nathaniel sneered as he uncorked the wine bottle and poured wine into a glass.
“You even went so far as to ruin my long-held plan. Do you have any idea how long I prepared to get my hands on a dragon? How many medicinal herbs and living sacrifices were used to create enough potion to fill a tower? The countless trials and experiments I went through to create that necklace, and the alchemists in the royal palace who had trash skills but were full of nothing but pride and complaints!”
Nathaniel, shouting, threw the wine bottle to the floor. Shards of broken glass flew everywhere. He panted, seething, then suddenly let out a sigh.
“You ruined everything. So you have to take responsibility.”
“The one who needs to take responsibility is you. Don’t you know how much suffering the things you’ve done have caused?”
Siol didn’t fall for Nathaniel’s accusation.
The Siol before meeting Eorzen might have trembled and succumbed to that absurd shifting of blame. But not anymore.
“No, you will have to. Because I’ll make it so.”
As Nathaniel stood up and muttered, vines shot up from the floor, wrapped around Siol’s body, and began to draw a bizarre runic pattern.
“The one who taught me the importance of a plan was you. I was happy to accept your teaching.”
Siol calmly took a small dagger from his pocket, cut the vines, and then slashed at a specific spot on the floor. To be precise, he had severed one of the joints in the runic circle. As the magic was cut off, the vines, which had been slithering up even after being cut, went limp.
“This time, I’ve prepared.”
Nathaniel, having stood up, took a step back and pressed his foot firmly on the floor. A runic circle instantly spread out from under his foot. This time, it was a runic circle drawn on the sole of his shoe that had been activated.
“Very well, master.”
Books tumbled from the bookshelf, and from within, Siol’s fortress defense device raised its head. He had said he’d attached it to the carriage last time; it seemed he had brought it here as well.
Seeing the fortress defense device charge up with a whirring sound, Siol took out a crystal ball from his pocket. The runic circle Nathaniel had spread on the floor slowed his movements, but he just barely made it in time.
The layers of runic circles inside the crystal ball pushed outwards, enveloping the top, bottom, and all four sides. This item was a gravity control device inspired by the three-dimensional runes of the ancients. The intense gravity forced the head of the fortress defense device downward, causing its laser to shoot the floor instead of Siol.
“The same goes for me.”
While pinning Nathaniel down with gravity, Siol slashed here and there at the runic circle on the floor with his knife. The runic circle on the floor then lost its magical connection and dissipated. This dagger was also a runic tool, inscribed with a runic circle to easily disrupt magical connections.
“I’ve prepared a great deal for you.”
Siol approached the fallen Nathaniel.
“Now talk, Nathaniel. Where is the Chieftain’s child?”
Siol stepped on Nathaniel’s chest, leaned down, and pressed the dagger to his neck as he asked. A strangled voice came from Nathaniel, who was pressed down by gravity and had his chest stepped on.
“…Now.”
At Nathaniel’s command, the pitch-black fox, which Siol had thought was just a scarf, lifted its head and looked into Siol’s eyes. The moment their eyes met, Siol realized that the fox was reaching for his soul.
This fox was surely the ancient creature that had been slumbering in the ancient ruins. The ancient creature was a being with the power to manipulate souls.
I have to kill Nathaniel before I’m completely captured. Siol resisted the fox’s power and put all his strength into his hands.
Just as Siol, trembling, was about to press the dagger deeper into Nathaniel’s neck, that was the moment.
“My baby—!”
The door opened from behind him, and Rifez’s scream-like voice echoed.
Siol read the annoyance in Nathaniel’s eyes and instinctively knew. The timing of Rifez’s appearance in this room was not his intention.
If so, the timing Nathaniel had wanted would have been after that ancient creature had stolen his soul. Siol’s resistance had worked against the creature, throwing the timing off.
But why did it try to steal his soul instead of killing him?
“Siol!”
Before Siol could think further, Eorzen snatched him away. The crystal ball Siol dropped lost its magic, sucking the runic circles back in, and the gravity pinning Nathaniel down vanished.
Siol gasped and clung to Eorzen.
“Lord Eorzen.”
“Siol, are you alright?!”
“I’m, I’m okay…”
It was true. His body, which had been frozen in fear of losing his soul just moments ago, was slowly relaxing only after coming into contact with the dragon’s warmth. However, the fear that the chilly hand would grip his neck again if he moved even slightly away made him cling desperately to the dragon.
Siol took deep breaths with effort and hugged the dragon several times. The dragon did the same. The large man, who had buried his face in Siol’s shoulder and neck, was gasping with ragged breaths, holding Siol so tightly it was hard to breathe.
Siol felt Eorzen’s hand, which was clutching his back, trembling.
“Just now, you… your soul…!”
Eorzen couldn’t finish his sentence and just held Siol tightly, clinging to the powerful pulse of the artery beating in his neck.
“…I’ll kill him.”
After a moment, Eorzen grit his teeth and snapped his head up. The direction he was glaring in was where Nathaniel and Rifez were. Rifez was standing beside Nathaniel, who was coughing violently, with a dazed expression on her face.
“Just a moment, Lord Eorzen.”
“How much longer.”
“Pardon?”
“How, how much longer do I have to just endure? I, anymore…!”
Eorzen’s pupils sharpened into the shape of diamonds as he looked back at Siol. The question was almost a growl.
It was an interrogation demanding an answer, but its force was closer to a whine full of frustration and sorrow. Even though he was asking while grinding his teeth with an aura that should have been terrifying, strangely, Siol wasn’t scared of him.
Siol reached out, cupped Eorzen’s cheek, and gently stroked it with his thumb. At that, Eorzen’s expression softened.
“Today.”
“Today… you say?”
“If you can endure just until today, I’ll make it so you don’t have to endure anymore.”
Just a few hours ago, Siol had resolved that he would do anything to stay by Eorzen’s side.
That even if this man went berserk repeatedly and completely lost his mind, he would guide him from the side to delay the end as much as possible. But after fighting Nathaniel just now and almost having his soul stolen and dying, the anxiety that he could have ended up doing nothing at all pushed him forward.
He absolutely couldn’t let that happen. Siol slid his hand to Eorzen’s neck, grabbed it firmly, and brought their faces close. Looking straight into his eyes, Siol warned him firmly.
“So you have to keep your head on straight today.”
“What does that…”
Siol summoned all his courage and pressed his lips against Eorzen’s. It was a kiss that lasted only for a brief moment before pulling away, but it was enough to make Eorzen fall silent. Confusion, bewilderment, and a certain light surfaced in his eyes.
Siol glanced toward Nathaniel. Eorzen’s face contorted as if he had only just confirmed Nathaniel’s appearance. Eorzen too had seen Nathaniel in the ‘form of Sizool’. As if understanding this complex and confusing situation, Eorzen nodded.
“…I understand what you mean.”
He, who had been speaking informally all this time, switched back to formal speech. He still wore an expression that looked like he was seething, but he no longer looked like he had lost his reason like a moment ago.
“But… how much do you know?”
At that subtle tone, Siol shut his mouth and darted his eyes around.
“No, it’s alright. I think I know.”
“You think you know?”
“Yes, Sizool.”
Smiling affectionately just as he had in Eorzen’s city, he whispered to Siol.
“This is the last time I will grant such a dangerous request. Understood?”
Siol dazedly nodded in response, then glared slightly at Eorzen, feeling as if he had somehow lost. Eorzen was teasing Siol, switching between the him from Meric territory and the him from the city of beastmen.
But there was no more time to talk so leisurely.
Nathaniel was now clinging to Rifez and saying something, while Rifez still had a dazed expression.
“Mother, that wolf hit me.”
With ‘Sizool’s’ face and in ‘Sizool’s’ voice, Nathaniel pleaded to Rifez.
“Mother, it hurts….”
One could tell just by looking at Nathaniel, who was sniffling and calling Rifez “Mother,” and Rifez, who couldn’t take her eyes off him.
The shell Nathaniel was currently wearing was Rifez’s child. But Siol couldn’t understand for the life of him why Rifez’s child and his own younger self had the exact same appearance.
Perhaps Rifez’s child was involved in the incident where Siol had turned into a child. This much was certain.
“Siol, it’s an embarrassing story, but I will be honest. That child shines.”
“…Pardon?”
“Though not as much as you.”
Siol, who hadn’t understood what he meant for a moment, blushed fiercely as soon as he grasped the meaning.
Eorzen was talking about the story from before, how when he saw his mother through his father’s eyes, the sight was like the Milky Way, the morning star, the sun.
‘Even though this man thinking of me as his mate is a misunderstanding, I still seem to shine to him.’
Or maybe the cause and effect were reversed. Perhaps he had come to misunderstand because Siol seemed to shine for some reason.
If that child really was involved in the incident where Siol became Sizool—then the reason he appeared to shine to Eorzen might also be because of that child.
Because the child Siol came to resemble was, in fact, a dragon’s mate. And Siol had come to resemble even that characteristic.
“Perhaps earlier, he tried to steal my soul and put it into that vessel. To deceive you, Lord Eorzen, and possess you…”
“As I thought, I will kill him.”
As Eorzen was about to take a firm step forward, Siol grabbed his hand, then let go in a fluster. The blue dragon, seeing his mate’s eyes tremble with anxiety, took his hand and pulled him closer. Then, he bowed his head and kissed Siol’s palm, never taking his eyes off him.
Until the eyes, which had been lost in a stormy sea of anxiety, were gradually tinged with embarrassment.
And Rifez, who had been staring blankly at the child moving in a way she couldn’t believe, grit her teeth at the sight.
“…You…. You, what on earth…”
“Mother, it hurts so much. My back hurts so much… sob. Mother…”
Nathaniel grabbed Rifez’s arm, whining, and eventually even burrowed into her embrace.
Nathaniel’s goal was clearly to drive a wedge between Rifez and Siol.
“Chieftain, that’s not it…”
Siol hurried to tell the truth, but Rifez grit her teeth.
“You, son of a witch! How dare, how dare you do this to my child’s body?”
Siol shut his mouth, bewildered. She already knows? He had thought that Rifez, who sometimes put reason aside when it came to her child, would naturally fall for Nathaniel’s scheme, but instead, she was furious with Nathaniel. Fiery magic erupted violently from Rifez’s body and swirled around them.
And yet, despite it all, that wind did not harm Nathaniel. It was likely because no matter the contents, the body was still her child, whom Rifez had protected so preciously.
“…I thought it was a pretty good move, how did you know?”
Nathaniel’s expression changed completely. The face of the arrogant and sinister Nathaniel emerged, no longer the pitiful child, making him look like a completely different person.
“I asked how you knew. Hm? Rifez.”
“Get out of my child’s body, now.”
Rifez grabbed Nathaniel by the collar and growled. Nathaniel just smiled with a humming sound and didn’t reply. They were at a standoff for a moment when Nathaniel suddenly coughed, khuluk. A cough mixed with blood, and blood trickled from Nathaniel’s mouth. Seeing this, Rifez flinched in shock, released her grip, and took a step back. But countless fine droplets of blood had already splattered on her face. Rifez froze, unable to even wipe them away.
“Ah, excuse me. This body is a bit weak.”
It was true. The child’s body was terribly weak. It was a body that shouldn’t have been able to live in the first place, and Rifez had only barely kept it breathing by storing it in the Tower of Survival until now. Several days had already passed since it was taken from the tower, so it was obvious the body was reaching its limit.
“I’m asking you, Rifez. How did you figure out it was me?”
“…Because if you were truly my son, something that should have happened, didn’t happen.”
After a brief silence, Rifez glared at Nathaniel and gave a straightforward answer.
Nathaniel’s eyes widened as if in surprise.
Something that should have happened? That’s right. If the child, the ‘dragon’s mate’, had woken up, Eorzen would not be sticking by Siol’s side. Rifez had seen Eorzen staying by the ‘fake’s’ side and deduced that someone else, Nathaniel, was inside the child.
“What, you knew too?”
Nathaniel glanced at Eorzen before turning his gaze back to Rifez.
“The plan has gone awry, but things are turning out to be more interesting than I thought.”
“……”
The more Nathaniel’s smile deepened, the more anxious Siol felt. That bastard Nathaniel, who loved to toy with people, smiling meant that the situation was not good.
“Then shall we try a different approach.”
Nathaniel had, at some point, gotten up from the floor and was dusting off his clothes. After dusting himself off and straightening his attire, Nathaniel nonchalantly took a folding knife out of his pocket. It was a small knife that looked like it couldn’t harm anyone here. Wondering if he was actually trying to fight Rifez or Eorzen with such a pathetic weapon, Siol watched as Nathaniel unfolded the knife and held it to his own throat. The eerie blade touching Nathaniel’s neck cut the skin, and a stream of blood trickled down.
“You…”
“Rifez, this is my demand. Kill that damn alchemist.”
“What?”
“I’m saying I will return this body if you end the life of Siol, the alchemist of death. If you want it back in one piece, you don’t have time to hesitate. This body is terribly weak, and I think the internal organs are starting to melt.”
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Nathaniel smiled playfully, mimicking the sound of a clock’s second hand.
“Don’t even dream of it, Rifez.”
Eorzen warned, hiding Siol behind his back.
Rifez was in a situation where she had to fight Eorzen to save her child, and to listen to Eorzen, she had to abandon her child’s life.
Originally, Nathaniel had intended to kill Siol with his own hands. But when that failed, he was passing the task on to Rifez. And he was thoroughly enjoying Rifez’s predicament.
Siol steeled himself.
“Chieftain, I can subdue Nathaniel. I’ll make sure the child’s body isn’t harmed.”
Siol said quickly, looking around for the crystal ball he had dropped earlier. Eorzen, who had already picked it up, handed it to Siol. It was the runic tool he had used to threaten Nathaniel a moment ago. With this, he could restrain Nathaniel, so there was no reason for allies to fight like this.
“Restraining Nathaniel like this is meaningless.”
“What? Why? If we tie Nathaniel up and take him to the tower, then we can at least protect the child’s body, can’t we?”
“Siol, I am the lord of Atem. I cannot take a dangerous individual to the tower with my own hands.”
With a tormented expression, Rifez finally drew her sword.
“As long as Nathaniel is in my child’s body, I have no choice but to aim for your life.”
It was a hint. A message for Siol.
It was a warning to figure out a way to extract Nathaniel’s soul from the child’s body while she was fighting Eorzen.
“Lord Eorzen.”
“I know. You’re telling me not to kill her.”
“…And, be careful.”
At Siol’s whisper, Eorzen smiled gently. Seeing that smile, Siol’s anxious heart calmed, and a sense of trust welled up. A belief that with the blue dragon, they could surely achieve a good outcome.
Besides, wasn’t Rifez of the same mind now? The fact that she gave Siol a hint meant that she too was not pleased with this situation. So Rifez was surely pretending to fight Eorzen to buy Siol time to get Nathaniel out of the child’s body…
“Hah!!”
With a low cry, Rifez rushed towards Eorzen. Her acceleration, fueled by magic, and the sharp edge of her sword tip were ferocious, as if to pierce Eorzen’s heart.
CLANG!!
Siol froze as if turned to stone. Eorzen, with a dagger he had drawn out of nowhere, was deflecting Rifez’s sword. The two blades met, locked in a struggle of strength.
“I have hated you for a very long time, blue dragon. I am truly glad for this good opportunity.”
“I have long wondered why, Rifez. I would like to hear it on this occasion.”
“I will gladly tell you once this matter is concluded.”
Rifez’s expression was icy as she twisted the corner of her lips into a smile.
“You should be prepared.”
For this fight, and for the truth you will hear.
Rifez unleashed even more magic. A heavy, sharp magical energy flowed from her body, pressing down on Eorzen. But Eorzen took the weight of the magic lightly and flicked her sword away. As if their struggle of strength until now had just been him playing along. A guttural, animalistic growl rumbled from Rifez’s throat. Her eyes shone like a beast’s.
Ah, I was wrong. Rifez is serious.
This was no time for complacent thoughts about buying time. Siol desperately wracked his brain.
‘Restraining Nathaniel is easy. But I also need to find a way to drive him out. In the first place, how did Nathaniel even get into the child’s body?’
Normally, a body and soul were like a perfectly fitting mold. It wasn’t easy to enter another person’s body.
Siol thought of the fox that had reached for his soul earlier.
⋆୨🔮୧⋆
As soon as they broke the barrier and entered the ruins, Burdril’s condition became strange. It was a bit different from when the client had been taking over his body at the mansion, but he was high on euphoria, laughing bizarrely, and began to charge forward recklessly.
The hand that had popped out of Burdril’s neck was guiding the way, so they were following him for now, but,
“He seems a little crazy… is it okay to keep following him like this?”
“Ah. That’s fine.”
“It’s fine?”
“Siol is often like that too. He looks a bit sinister, but well, he’s not harmful.”
“There is no way Siol would be like that.”
Ryufen gave Kadion, who was denying it so firmly, a dubious look. How many days has it been since you saw him?
Come to think of it, Kadion had been a bit strange recently too. Wasn’t Kadion originally a wolf who was solely loyal to Rifez, served only Rifez, and whose entire attention was focused only on Rifez, a bit of a stick-in-the-mud?
“What does my brother-in-law know about him?”
“…How long is Siol… planning to stay in the human lands?”
“Why do you ask?”
Kadion, who had hesitated for a moment, fell silent. As Ryufen was looking strangely at the unresponsive Kadion, Burdril called to him from up ahead. Burdril, who had been running through corridors and doors, had just found a large door about three meters high. Ryufen struck and opened the door that Burdril couldn’t.
Beyond the opened door was a surprisingly large underground space. At a depth that seemed to be about the fourth basement level, a vast area, like five or six training grounds put together, was filled with a dense maze, which had been smashed straight through from a certain point and was no longer functioning properly as a maze.
“That must be the Commander! Then it’ll be easy from now on. We just have to follow the trail that way.”
Ryufen said in a rush and jumped down. Following him, Burdril and the other wolves also leaped into the middle of the maze. Looking at the mess of shattered stone fragments scattered everywhere, it seemed they would have to be careful even if they met the blue dragon. The blue dragon was not originally a dragon who used magic so sloppily. Eorzen would not have carved his way through like this unless he was seriously angry.
As he looked around and advanced along the broken path, Kadion suddenly spoke.
“…He looks too frail, it concerns me. If he could stay here for a while, I would like to take care of him.”
“Brother-in-law, are you seriously answering the question I asked earlier just now?”
“Siol needs to gain some weight.”
“Ah, he’s gotten a lot better, you know? When I first saw him, he was so skinny, like a mangy dog, but I washed him and fed him well and fattened him up. But then he left home and got skinny again.”
“Why did you let him leave home?”
At Kadion’s sharp criticism, Ryufen’s face crumpled and he turned to look at him. He couldn’t understand why he had to hear such criticism from Kadion and was dumbfounded. Ryufen, who was about to make an excuse in his confusion, asked back irritably.
“That’s because the Commander…. No, but what does it have to do with you, brother-in-law?”
“…Seeing a young wolf makes me concerned.”
“There are plenty of kids in Atem, and you were never a wolf who cared about such things, were you? Don’t tell me you’ve changed while I was gone?”
“……”
“Anyway, he’s ours, so don’t even think about it. It’s no use even if you try. Siol is our Commander’s….”
Ryufen flinched and turned his head forward, then picked up speed.
It was because the sound of fighting was coming from the direction of their destination.
Ryufen, flying through the already open door, surveyed the situation inside, puffed up his fur, and landed with a thud between Rifez and Eorzen.
“Stop fighting…! Gack…!”
Ryufen, who was hit by both his sister and his esteemed Commander, groaned and rolled on the floor. Neither of them had stopped their attack for Ryufen.
Then Kadion and the other wolves followed them in.
“Ah, why are my sister and the Commander fighting?!”
Ryufen, who had taken a heavy blow, asked, panting, but no answer came.
Rifez, filled with rage, charged at Eorzen again, and Eorzen didn’t look entirely at ease either. Seeing this, Kadion wordlessly joined Rifez and began to attack Eorzen, and Eorzen, finding it difficult to fight with just a sword, began to use magic as well.
Ryufen, who was watching the scene with a frown, finally ran to Siol.
“Hey, Siol, what is all this?”
“…Nathaniel has entered the Chieftain’s child’s body. And he said if I’m killed, he’ll leave the child’s body…”
“What?! Is my sister crazy? She’s fighting the Commander over such nonsense?”
“Nathaniel held a knife to his own throat and threatened her.”
“That… ah, damn it!”
Ryufen spat out a few more curses, then took a deep breath and looked for Nathaniel. Nathaniel was behind Rifez, giving orders and shouting, while subtly tripping Eorzen with shadows.
In other words, Eorzen was fighting three people at once, including Nathaniel.
Seeing this, Ryufen was momentarily stunned.
“Siol, that thing…”
“I don’t know either.”
“That’s you. That’s Nathaniel… and my sister’s kid? Does that make sense?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
Siol was the one who was curious.