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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“It’s no use, again.”
Sylphia clicked her tongue softly.
She adjusted her glasses, which were now perched amidst hair that had grown long enough to reach her waist.
Then, without a second thought, she carelessly tossed aside the vial she’d been holding. Before the vial could hit the floor, it vanished, sucked into some unknown space.
Sylphia, resting her chin on her hand, muttered,
“What’s the problem?”
There was absolutely no progress.
She had started growing her hair out the moment she realized that Rudrick liked long hair. Initially, it barely reached her shoulder blades, but the task had taken so long that it now flowed down to her waist.
However, despite the considerable time invested, she hadn’t achieved any results, and was still stuck in the same place.
It was a blow to her pride.
Dragons were known as the masters of magic.
Of course, in the grand scheme of her long life, this was a mere blink of an eye, a truly short span of time.
Yet, the fact that she was making no significant progress despite her intense focus was something the pride of the Red Dragon clan could not tolerate.
“…How can I fix that constitution of his?”
Sylphia gnawed on her lip, muttering to herself as she stared at the note filled with various complex equations.
For now, she had tentatively named Rudrick’s condition ‘Mana Overload’.
Unlike in his past life, there were no signs of Rudrick living a limited life in this one.
It was understandable, as right after Eileen’s first pregnancy, everyone seemed to compete, leaving no room for mana to overload within Rudrick’s body.
Thanks to that, Sylphia was now three months pregnant. Her belly was starting to show a little.
Of course, regardless of that, it was a problem that needed to be fixed eventually.
This kind of mana release was only a temporary measure, a makeshift solution.
As long as the fundamental constitution wasn’t improved, it was like having the fuse of a time bomb still intact.
Sylphia’s gaze remained fixed on the note as she muttered.
‘The fundamental issue is that his body absorbs an excessive amount of mana from the natural state. Since he’s constantly absorbing mana without rest, the mana circuits in his body, having surpassed their threshold, collapse, completely disrupting the body’s balance. If I know the principle, there should be a solution.’
Sylphia rested her throbbing forehead on her hand.
If you understand the principle behind the problem, you should be able to deduce a solution.
However, Rudrick’s mana overload constitution seemed to mock this obvious logic, as every method Sylphia had attempted so far had been rendered useless.
The expression “all remedies are ineffective” truly fit perfectly.
If his body was a unique constitution that constantly absorbed mana, it would be a simple solution to just block the act of absorbing mana altogether.
Unfortunately, not only was this the first time she had encountered such a constitution, but even the vast knowledge of dragons had yet to provide a solution.
Knock knock.
“…Come in.”
A knock on the door interrupted her contemplation.
Sylphia turned her gaze from the note and spoke, and Rudrick cautiously poked his head in.
“What are you doing?”
“I was looking for a way to fix your constitution. As usual.”
“I think it might be better to just give up at this point… It’s not like it’s hindering my daily life.”
“No. My pride can’t accept that.”
Sylphia shook her head.
Of course, it was important to cure her husband from a dangerous constitution where his mana circuits could collapse at any moment, but now it was really a matter of pride.
How could a dragon invest years and still not find a clue? It felt like that.
“Even if it wasn’t about pride, if your husband is a ticking time bomb, I should fix it if I can.”
“Can you not treat me like an explosive?”
“I’m sorry if you felt that way. But you said you liked intelligent women. I even wore glasses, even though they don’t suit me.”
Sylphia pushed up her silver-rimmed glasses and winked.
Her polymorphed appearance, with her distinctive red hair, seemed more lively and outgoing than that of a typical mage.
Now, remembering something Rudrick had once casually said, she wore glasses, giving her a slightly softer look.
“Can I be honest?”
“No.”
Rudrick started to say something, but Sylphia immediately shook her head and answered.
“If you say glasses don’t suit me, I’ll be upset.”
“…What does being intelligent have to do with wearing glasses, anyway?”
“It has everything to do with it. Just wearing glasses makes you look intelligent.”
“This is why ‘four-eyes’ is a bad idea.”
Tsk tsk-
Rudrick clicked his tongue softly, reached out, and took off Sylphia’s glasses.
Naturally, a polymorphed body wouldn’t experience things like a decline in eyesight. Rudrick, removing the glasses that were just frames without lenses, nodded and said,
“This is much better.”
“…Is this really better? You said you liked the intelligent image.”
“Liking an intelligent image and wearing glasses are different, don’t you think?”
“Is that so…?”
Peck.
Sylphia tilted her head in understanding, then smiled bashfully and kissed him on the cheek.
“Since you say this is better, I won’t wear them anymore. If my cute husband likes this better, then that’s what I should do.”
“I wish you’d stop putting ‘cute’ in front of my description when you’re talking about me.”
“No can do.”
Sylphia pushed aside the note with equations and changed the subject.
“You know what? I was away for a few days, Rudrick.”
“That’s right.”
“I had a huge fight.”
“What?”
Rudrick asked back, puzzled.
How could she have a fight when she wasn’t even alone?
Rudrick momentarily thought of the Blue Dragon, Abel, across the mountain range, and looked at Sylphia with a strange expression. Sylphia quickly waved her hands.
“No, I don’t mean a physical fight. I just had some things to do. To be more precise, I went around asking other dragons for advice on how to fix your constitution, Rudrick.”
“You mean a verbal fight?”
“Yes, that’s right. Their reactions were all the same. When I told them I married a human, they all laughed at first, thinking it was a joke. Then, they were either shocked or got serious, it was so unpleasant to see.”
“…Hmm.”
Rudrick hummed.
Dragons are superior life forms compared to humans.
Using the often-used analogy of seeing things from another’s perspective, to dragons, humans were nothing more than lower life forms capable of communication.
Considering that, the gap between humans and dragons was too large.
Dragons, who from birth could naturally use powerful magic and dragon language that not even human archmages could compare to, without even trying.
It wouldn’t be strange for them to look at whatever humans did with the same amusement one might watch a pet’s antics.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that it was no different than a pet dog understanding words, offering a paw, or sitting on command.
Applying that logic, it wasn’t hard for Rudrick to deduce how Sylphia would be viewed by other dragons, and he made a subtle expression.
“When I said I liked a human and married him, they all treated me like I was crazy. Do you know what the lord of our clan said? He said, ‘Even if you’re crazy about men, a human is a bit too much, isn’t it?’ He didn’t say it so directly, he was a bit more roundabout, but still.”
Regardless, Sylphia, who had been passionately recounting the events, looked furious.
“I held back because I have a baby now, otherwise, I would have started by burning down the lair, lord or not.”
As she spoke, her emotions surged, and Sylphia huffed and puffed. Rudrick let out a small sigh.
It was obvious that getting angry wouldn’t be good for prenatal care, and besides, this was something Rudrick had become accustomed to over the past year or so.
‘Am I married or raising a child?’
Just looking at Sylphia huffing and puffing in front of him proved the point.
Since dragons have a lifespan close to eternity, it was impossible to directly compare it to a human’s lifespan.
However, the dragon in front of him, who had lived at least a few hundred times longer than Rudrick, acted no differently than a petulant child.
It wasn’t just Sylphia who was acting immature for her age.
All five of them occasionally showed their quirks, so it was a bit unfair to single her out.
Rudrick sighed and skillfully soothed and placated Sylphia.
“If we ever meet that lord or whatever, let me know. I’ll go with you and give him a piece of my mind.”
“…But it was worth it to go and hear their complaints. The lord told me a method, and I was planning to experiment with it. Everything else failed. Just like a moment ago.”
“A method?”
As soon as Rudrick asked, Sylphia answered with a look of half-doubt.
“Yes. The method seems a bit crude… but it’s not entirely nonsensical.”
“What method is it…?”
The moment he heard the word ‘crude’, his trust plummeted.
Rudrick cautiously asked, and Sylphia posed a question in return.
“Rudrick, think about it the other way around.”
“…?”
“Creating something from nothing, and destroying something that exists. Which one is easier?”
“Of course, destroying something that exists is easier, right?”
Turning something into nothing.
That was the act of trying to fix Rudrick’s mana overload constitution. It should have been easier, yet every method attempted so far had failed.
However, the method the Red Dragon Lord had taught Sylphia was this.
“Then let’s change our perspective. In a way that doesn’t affect the body, that is, to only disable the mana. First, break the circuit that’s absorbing all the mana as if it were malfunctioning, and then rebuild it, he said.”
The principle behind the method Sylphia proposed was this.
Rudrick’s mana circuits continuously absorbed the vast amount of mana distributed throughout nature, even without him being aware of it.
As with everything, too much is not good, and there is a threshold. His circuits were absorbing mana endlessly beyond that threshold.
However, forcibly destroying the mana circuits in a crude manner would obviously have a negative impact on the body.
So, like performing delicate surgery, they would carefully destroy the mana circuit once. Without affecting the body, only to the extent that it could no longer accept and use mana.
Then, they would completely regenerate Rudrick’s unique mana circuit anew. That was the gist of the method.
After hearing this detailed explanation, Rudrick replied,
“I’ll just live like this.”
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