IYAMD: Episode 89

Marsilia’s chest tightened. Jaha’s small voice seemed to catch in his throat, making it hard to breathe. As Marsilia hesitated for a moment, Jaha glanced ahead and shifted his body.

“Put me down. They seem to be searching for us.”

Following Jaha’s gaze, Marsilia saw torches lined up, climbing up the hillside. He had been so focused on the ground and on Jaha that he hadn’t noticed until now.

Caught off guard by the sudden change in atmosphere, Marsilia set Jaha down. Unlike someone who had just made people’s hearts race, Jaha walked ahead in a casual manner.

As he walked a little ahead, he turned around and extended his hand.

“Won’t you come? I can’t see anything around me.”

Marsilia chuckled and took his hand.

“Don’t treat me like a torch.”

Jaha let out a small laugh at the grumbling remark. The laughter, rarely heard, made Marsilia’s heart beat faster.

“You have many sins, Jaha.”

Jaha, who had been paying attention to the steep path, responded indifferently.

“What do you mean, all of a sudden?”

“You’re toying with my heart. That’s really bad.”

It was psychological torture, like dangling hope in front of him.

“I’m not speaking strangely; you’re just hearing it strangely.”

“Ask anyone around. They’ll tell you who the problem is.”

“Well, I won’t say anything anymore.”

As the two bickered and descended the mountain, they soon met the knights who had come to find them. General Des and Marquis Yoncen Pablo were leading the group and approached them.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty? About the dra—…” Marsilia nodded to them and replied.

“We’ll dispose of its corpse as soon as the sun rises tomorrow. They must be tired from the battle, so let’s return and rest properly tonight. The celebration will wait until tomorrow.”

At the news of the dragon’s deatg, the knights cheered loudly. They hugged each other, until Marquis Yoncen Pablo shouted at them, and they finally quieted down.

“You heard His Majesty. After dinner, we rest. Understood?”

“Yes!”

Even on the way down, the knights’ noise didn’t quiet easily. Marsilia kept pace with them, holding Jaha’s hand as they walked. The slope was steep, and Jaha, resigned, took his hand. The heat from his tightly grasped hand made Marsilia sigh. It finally felt like it was over.

The next morning, construction work was once again in full swing. They had to dismantle the ballistae to create carts capable of carrying the dragon’s body. With many people working, the task seemed to progress smoothly.

Jaha, upon waking up, immediately asked Marsilia for assistance and immersed himself in inner energy cultivation. After recovering some of his energy, he went outside to find several large carts already completed.

“Too big, so it’ll be hard to move. I suppose they plan to connect them in a long line to carry the dragon,” Jaha thought, once again impressed by their ingenuity.

“You all are impressive.”

As Jaha complimented the knights, they rubbed their noses and puffed their chests out in pride. Marsilia, watching their reactions, let out a snort of disbelief.

“Stop playing around. If you’re knights, you should be hearing these compliments through your swords, not from carts. Quit being knights and go be carpenters. Manage facilities in the palace, you incompetents.”

Seeing the knights deflate immediately, Jaha gave Marsilia a sidelong glance.

“Why do you always…?”

Marsilia shrugged nonchalantly.

“I’m just speaking the truth.”

“Still, you should praise them when they do well. That’s how people will follow you more eagerly,” Jaha muttered, amused by the scene.

Marsilia looked at him and asked, “Where did you learn that?”

“From my father.”

When Jaha lowered his gaze, Marsilia gently patted his head.

In the afternoon, they spent all their time moving the dragon’s body. Jaha stayed in the camp, focusing on his energy cultivation, while Marsilia set up a guard, Shasha, and headed to the scene.

The recovery of his energy was slower than expected. Absorbing his master’s inner energy was no easy task. To fully achieve it, Jaha would need to practice for days, but the situation wasn’t lenient enough for that.

While the dragon’s was being dismembered, Jaha, after finishing his cultivation, couldn’t help but admire the efficient work of the men.

On one side, the scales were piled up like a mountain. Gerald was busy checking the quantity of the scales there. Greeting with a smile, he appeared occupied answering the knights’ questions as they sorted the scales by size.

Jaha approached Marsilia, who was sitting on a cart, lost in thought.

“What are you doing?”

Marsilia lifted his head, replying with a tired expression.

“I was thinking. Wondering if there’s a craftsman who can process dragons byproducts.”

Having felt the hardness of the scales when he had thrust his sword into them, Jaha quickly understood his concern.

“The horns would be great for making swords or spears.”

Marsilia paused, clearly deep in thought, then let out a heavy sigh.

“Well, it can’t be helped. We’ll have to store them in the Imperial Palace warehouse until we find a craftsman who can work on them.”

Jaha quietly observed the man, who was now trying to appear lively. Despite having overexerted himself yesterday and not resting properly, he seemed to be pushing himself again. Jaha had noticed he seemed to have a fever this morning.

“Shouldn’t you rest for a bit?”

Jaha asked quietly, and Marsilia shook his head.

“It’s not like I’m doing anything myself. Just being here is resting.”

Jaha frowned at him.

“You have a bad habit of pushing yourself too much.”

Marsilia smiled under the sunlight. He casually swept back his tousled, light blonde hair, looking as if nothing was wrong.

“Everyone lives like that.”

“Haa.”

Jaha sighed deeply again, his chest tight. He felt like the meal he had eaten in the morning might come up at any moment.

Marsilia then shared with Jaha that they had searched the pile of bones, but nothing had been found. He had expected there to be a dimensional rift, but beneath it all, there was only dense rock. Even the priests had been mobilized, and Marsilia himself had personally searched, but nothing out of the ordinary was discovered.

“Isn’t it better if there’s nothing?” Jaha asked, and Marsilia smiled awkwardly, looking troubled.

“Yeah, I should think so, but somehow, I feel uneasy about it.”

“Now that I see, you’re the type to go looking for trouble.”

Marsilia gave an innocent look at Jaha’s comment, but he didn’t seem to have a response. After a while, his eyes darted around, and he let out a soft groan.

When Jaha teased him, saying “See that?” Marsilia closed his mouth with a somewhat sulky expression.

The dissection continued until evening. Given the immense size of the dragon, it seemed impossible that it could be finished in just a day or two.

Jaha had neatly severed its neck earlier, at the request of a knight. Since it was cut from the part where the scales had been removed, it wasn’t particularly difficult. After that, dozens of knights gathered to assist, but the dragon’s corpse still showed little change.

“Should we leave the head as is?”

“We need to take that.”

“Why?”

“If it were autumn or winter, we’d take Draco’s entire body. But since it’s summer, dragging it around would attract too much attention, so we’re just taking the head.”

The head alone was large enough to fill a cart, several times the size of Jaha, so at least it seemed like it would be sufficient for now.

Jaha imagined the man dressed up in shining attire in front of the head and chuckled softly.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Just thinking, as an the emperor, you’d probably be playing around all the time, but there’s so much to worry about.”

“If I were playing around, who would govern the country?”

At his casual grumbling, Jaha laughed louder. There was a hint of a childlike whine in his tone.

“Did you know? In the Eastern Continent, there’s a stereotype that only the youngest or the only child are the most whiny.”

“So, you’re saying I’m being whiny now?”

“Yeah, you have a bit of that tendency.”

“Heh.”

Marsilia tilted his head back and let out a wry laugh before asking Jaha.

“And what about you?”

“I’m the eldest.”

“You do have that eldest-child vibe. Surprisingly, you take good care of people.”

Marsilia narrowed his eyes, smiling.

“You’re also pretty weak to whining.”

That was true. Jaha was quite weak to whining. He tended to indulge Jaryeon’s whines most of the time, and the same went for this man’s whines as well.

“I don’t just indulge anyone.”

At Jaha’s words, Marsilia’s smile seemed to deepen for some reason.

Since they hadn’t had a chance to wash up after falling asleep yesterday, the two of them headed to the stream before dinner. Jaha was bothered by the smell of bodily fluids from the dragon, and as always, Marsilia followed behind him.

From a distance, Jaha could already hear the commotion at the stream, so he had a rough idea of what to expect. When they arrived, it was already bustling with knights.

“Your Majesty, are you here to wash?”

“Come in! Hey, move over there.”

Startled by the crowd, Jaha sighed and grabbed the hem of his tunic. As he was about to take off his clothes, Marsilia’s hand stopped him from behind.

“Are you going to take off your clothes here?”

“Then where else should I take them off?”

Jaha tilted his head, and Marsilia shook his head firmly.

“There are so many people here.”

Jaha lightly grumbled and pushed his arm away.

“I want to wash too. Don’t bother me.”

Leaving only his tunic behind, Jaha approached the water. As he joined the knights washing their bodies, a sudden silence descended around him.

As Jaha washed his arms and looked up, he saw Marsilia approaching with his shirt off. Jaha now understood why the knights had gone quiet. Their eyes shifted toward him as they noticed the Eastern Continent lettering glinting on the left side of Marsilia’s chest.

Had they not noticed before? With the knights’ gaze now directed at him, Jaha looked at Marsilia. His chest, seen in the bright light, was quite muscular. The thick muscles were prominent, and above them, Jaha’s name glittered.

Even though the knights couldn’t read the letters, they must have recognized that the name belonged to Jaha. Marsilia proudly displayed it, smiling brightly as he came to stand in front of Jaha. What a frustrating man he was.

All the knights’ gazes were now on the two of them. Marsilia, still smiling at Jaha, turned to scold the knights.

“Everyone, wash up in three minutes and return to the barracks, understood?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

After the knights washed quickly and left, Marsilia nodded to Jaha.

“Now, shall we wash in peace?”

However, his wish was not granted. With 600 men washing up, more knights arrived as the others left.

Jaha quickly finished and left the stream first, quietly smiling as he heard Marsilia’s voice shouting at the knights from behind.