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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Want to eat more?”
“What are you, a grandmother on a holiday? Why do you keep trying to feed me? I’m already full.”
“No, I just feel full even from watching you eat.”
With a bright smile.
Lassiel, who had been sitting with her chin resting on her hand, not even touching her own meal and just watching me eat, slightly pushed her plate towards me.
And I pushed that plate right back to her.
Does she think I’m a pig or something?
She was eager to feed me like a grandmother I met when visiting the countryside on a holiday, but unfortunately, my stomach capacity had already reached its limit to gladly accept everything she offered.
I’ve always been incapable of finishing a whole chicken by myself.
How can a person eat a whole chicken alone?
“Are you sure you don’t want to eat more? The chef at our house is good at cooking. It shouldn’t be bad. You said before that he’s better than the chef at the Weiss mansion.”
“Did I?”
“In the past.”
“That may be true… But somehow, I don’t remember saying that.”
“Last time, you came to my house much later. It was a few years later? Not this early.”
Yes, this is the right conversation.
The conversation where no one was being fooled and there were only people fooling others was a bit suffocating, although I didn’t show it outwardly.
It’s not like I can go and blatantly say, “I know you’ve regressed anyway, right?”
It’s been frustrating.
“Well, you can stop eating if you want.”
“If you say it like that, it sounds like I don’t like the food. I’m really full, that’s all.”
“What a shame.”
I glared at Lassiel, who replied nonchalantly.
Just because you say that doesn’t mean I, who normally eats lightly, can suddenly increase the amount I eat.
“If you’re really done eating, shall we get going?”
“To the capital, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. There’s probably someone who’s been waiting since morning, about to lose their mind. Oops, strictly speaking, not a person.”
“Was it Sylphia’s turn today…?”
“Probably.”
I shrugged after roughly stuffing the last piece of bread into my mouth.
I didn’t particularly like the idea of taking turns with me like I was an object being shared, but I decided to make an exception for now since it was a special circumstance.
There was no need to stubbornly make a fuss here, saying “I don’t like it.”
In a way, I couldn’t stay in the Imperial Palace during the birthday festival anyway, and if I think about it from a slightly different perspective, couldn’t it be seen as them entertaining me?
“It’s not even 9 a.m. yet, they wouldn’t be waiting already.”
“Really?”
Lassiel’s expression changed strangely upon hearing my words, and she took out a magic artifact commonly used for communication from her pocket.
And as she seemed to be skillfully manipulating the artifact, Lassiel soon muttered.
“7:40 a.m.”
“What?”
“That’s when this message arrived. Judging by the fact that they left a message like this even though I didn’t respond separately, it seems they’re anxiously waiting.”
As soon as Lassiel’s incomprehensible words ended, she seemed to manipulate the artifact again, and a shrill voice leaked out.
– When are you coming! What time is it now! You better keep your promise!
A clear shouting voice came from the artifact.
I asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“Is this a message that just arrived?”
“No, it’s a message that arrived at 7:40 a.m. I told you, right? That they would be anxiously waiting.”
“…Sylphia definitely didn’t have that image at first.”
“You haven’t properly experienced it yet. It’s all pretense. Anyway, let’s get going.”
“Alright.”
Lassiel, who chuckled, put on her uniform coat over her shoulders and stood up.
Hmm.
By the way, whenever I see that coat, I feel like it would be a perfect fit if it had the Chinese character for “justice” written on the back.
People’s thoughts are similar wherever you go.
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“You’re late.”
As soon as I stepped onto the teleportation magic circle, a light flashed.
The admiral of the navy who oversaw the southern fleet of the empire.
There were few clearer proofs of identity than that in the Esgelant Empire, so we skipped all the complicated procedures and flew straight to the capital using the magic circle.
Before the light had even dissipated, Sylphia, with her arms crossed, was looking this way, more precisely at Lassiel, and reciting in a skewed manner with a dissatisfied expression.
“Isn’t this too rushed? It’s not even 10 a.m. yet. Live with a bit more leisure. You have the longest lifespan among us anyway.”
“Who knows who will live longer when compared to a Nosferatu? Don’t say it like it’s been confirmed.”
“It’s all the same anyway. Whether it’s you or Arwen, you’re both non-human.”
“You really won’t let it go until the end. I don’t like it.”
“As if there was ever a time you liked it.”
In contrast to Sylphia, who had a very skewed face, Lassiel retorted smugly.
I sighed as I watched the two, who never got tired of giving and receiving refreshing sarcasm straight in the morning as soon as they met.
When will they ever grow up?
I didn’t bother trying to stop their fight, feeling like it would only shorten my lifespan.
At this point, I was starting to seriously consider the possibility.
What possibility, you ask?
The inference that I might have died from anger disease due to stress rather than because of my innate constitution in my previous life.
Doesn’t that make some sense?
“Then I have some things to look into. Have a fun time, Rudrick.”
“Oh.”
I was unexpectedly pushed by the hand on my back.
As I turned around, Lassiel, who was standing there with her usual bright smile, lightly waved her hand and winked at me.
“I told you, Rudrick. What to say if that conscienceless dragon tries to do something weird.”
“Don’t make me out to be a weird person!”
Sylphia, who had suddenly become a conscienceless dragon, shouted loudly, but Lassiel, who didn’t care, was quickly enveloped in the light of the teleportation magic circle that had started operating again and disappeared.
I had returned to the capital after just one day.
Sylphia, who had been glaring at the spot where Lassiel had disappeared, grumbled about her.
“How petty.”
“…What’s petty?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Rudrick? She keeps reminding me that I’m not human. She’s been keeping me in check like that for a long time. As if being a dragon, not a human, changes anything.”
Sylphia grumbled and naturally held out her hand.
The feeling of holding a different woman’s hand every day was quite strange, but I couldn’t reject the offered hand and embarrass her.
As soon as I took her hand, Sylphia asked.
“So, what should we do today?”
“Isn’t that usually my line to ask?”
“I guess you’re right.”
Kick.
Sylphia, who let out a short laugh, shrugged her shoulders.
And then, mana began to gather around her.
The mana, which had gathered with enough density to be visually identifiable in an instant, had materialized.
The eyes of the mages managing the teleportation magic circle widened, and I could realize that the mana gathered around her was a sign of some phenomenon.
“…Teleportation magic?”
“I wasn’t just sitting around playing for the past two days. I came up with a few hypotheses to test in the early stages of the symptoms, so let’s start with that first.”
Sylphia smiled with her eyes.
And as soon as the heavily gathered mana exploded, a pure white glow instantly filled my vision.
By the time the light that had obscured my vision dissipated, the surrounding scenery had long since changed from the capital to somewhere else.
“…Where are we?”
The surroundings were a place I had never visited even once in my life.
A dense forest where it was difficult to find traces of humans.
Rather, it felt similar to the forest where I had wandered in search of magical beasts during the previous subjugation.
As soon as I asked with a puzzled face, Sylphia answered immediately.
“It’s near my lair.”
“Lair…?”
The lair of a dragon.
In the numerous legends and folktales passed down in this world, it was known as a place where a greedy dragon hides the treasures it has collected throughout its life and drives intruders to death with numerous traps and magical beasts.
In simple terms, the home of a dragon.
Perhaps misunderstanding my counter-question, Sylphia kindly added an additional explanation.
“You can’t directly teleport to my lair because there’s a variable coordinate magic cast on it. The coordinates in the dimensional axis are constantly changing in real-time, so you can’t teleport there at once with magic. But it only takes about five minutes to walk there. Is that okay, Rudrick?”
“…Is this a dragon?”
It was a simple explanation, but for me, who was said to have the qualifications of a great mage, it was a culmination of advanced magic that I couldn’t even imitate.
I could confidently bet my left hand.
Even my mentor probably couldn’t follow that, right?
In the first place, the magic my mentor showed me last time was of a similar level of difficulty.
Opening the door to the origin to explore the truth could also be considered a magic that opens a passage to another dimension in a way…
The fact that she casually cast such magic on her lair for security purposes made me realize how outstanding the dragon race’s magical abilities were.
“Even a hatchling can use it, that’s how simple the magic is.”
“…Then let’s say I’m below a hatchling.”
“…That’s not what I meant. But with Rudrick’s level of talent, it won’t take long. About a year?”
“That’s not comforting at all.”
“…”
Sylphia made an expression of being at a loss.
An expression of not knowing what to say in response.
Seeing that expression, I reflexively laughed.
Sylphia, who finally realized it was just a simple joke, cleared her throat with a reddened face.
“…Ahem, anyway, the reason I brought Rudrick to the lair is simple.”
“Didn’t you say you had something to test?”
“That’s right. Rudrick seems to be taking it lightly, thinking there’s plenty of time, but I’m not.”
Sylphia’s expression became quite serious.
“The dragon race doesn’t get deeply immersed in pastimes in the first place. But do you know why getting deeply immersed in pastimes is treated like a taboo for the race?”
“Because you’re dragons, right?”
“That’s right.”
It was a question I could answer easily.
It was obvious that it would cause a big ripple effect if a race that could use magic at the level of human great mages for simple security purposes began to seriously get involved in the human world.
Maybe it was just my feeling, but Sylphia’s expression seemed a bit ominous.
“It was a rare experience to break the taboo and decide to get involved, only to fail…”
“…Ah.”
“So Rudrick, don’t take it too lightly either.”
Sylphia drew a firm line.
“I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ll find a way somehow, so you don’t need to worry. However, keep in mind the fact that even I, a dragon, have already failed once.”
…Saying it like that makes me anxious.
Is she giving me a disease and then a medicine?
“So before the symptoms seriously worsen, I’ll be testing various methods today.”
“…When you say it like that, it sounds like I’m a lab rat.”
“It’s different. I’ve thought of some plausible methods over the past two days.”
The corners of Sylphia’s mouth rose.
…I’m really anxious.
Praying that she didn’t have the qualities of a mad scientist that even I, who had been by her side, wasn’t aware of, I pondered as if resigned.
“Just don’t make it painful.”
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