Chapter 22
You Want to Believe as Well
Grrrrrrr—
The growl of a savage beast echoed from deep within the lair.
Had anyone else heard it, they would undoubtedly have described it as a terrifying roar of rage.
However, Luri, who stood inside the lair, knew what the sound truly meant.
It was Valdrova’s groan.
She was suffering.
Instead of lying curled up as she normally did, she was pressed flat against the ground.
Her body trembled as her sharp claws scraped helplessly against the innocent floor.
—Luri…
Valdrova cautiously called for her servant.
As always, Luri answered calmly.
“Yes.”
—Are there… no monsters approaching today either?
Luri shook her head.
“Unfortunately, no.”
—Is that so? It seems a difficult period has begun.
Valdrova carefully raised herself.
Her mind felt as though it were wandering through a fog so thick that she could not see even a single step ahead.
Wanting to divert her thoughts elsewhere, if only briefly, she asked,
—What is… Our fiancé doing?
Luri answered,
“He is meeting every lord in the Dread Queen’s territory. Though calling them meetings would be generous. It is closer to threatening them. He is telling them that if they prove incompetent, he will expose everything they have done.”
—Is that so? It seems he is doing well.
A peculiar smile blossomed across Valdrova’s face, which until then had shown only pain.
It was an expression both happy and sorrowful.
Luri had never properly seen such a look on her face before Ferda arrived.
“Lord Ferda appears to have noticed.”
Valdrova’s expression stiffened.
—Noticed what?
“That you harm yourself, my mistress. It seems the entire castle shook once last night when you struck your body against something. He appears to have guessed what you were doing from that.”
—Is that so?
“So… I believe it would be best if you were particularly careful this time.”
—Yes. Thank you for telling me.
Valdrova turned her head and retreated farther inside.
—You have worked hard. You may leave now.
“…Yes.”
Luri bowed lightly and turned away.
Her steps were heavy.
She knew what Valdrova would do from this point onward.
With the overwhelming power she could not contain, she would ravage her own body.
—Luri.
Valdrova called her once more.
“Speak, my mistress.”
—No matter what happens… do not allow Our fiancé to enter this place. That is… an order.
Her voice was majestic.
Yet within it lay a profound sorrow.
Luri could feel it.
The specter of the Third Prince still lingered around her.
“Understood.”
A loyal servant could only obey her orders.
Late that night, Luri stood silently before the entrance leading into the lair.
—Kroaaaaaar!
A distant roar reached Luri’s ears.
Her neatly folded hands tightened.
She forced strength into them to keep them from moving elsewhere of their own accord.
I must not cover my ears.
Luri hated hearing those roars.
They did not sound like the cries of a warrior charging onto a battlefield.
They resembled the screams of a woman who had lost her child.
Being forced to merely listen to her mistress’s screams was agonizing even for Luri, her loyal servant.
There would be nothing I could do even if I went inside.
Luri had striven to become a capable servant.
She kept Valdrova Castle in perfect condition so that it could be used at any time.
She constantly studied the political climate and current trends so that Valdrova would not find herself left behind when she returned.
She had lived for Valdrova without wasting even a single second of the twenty-four hours in each day.
Even after doing all that… there are still things I cannot do.
There was nothing Luri could do about the murderous intent pouring out of Valdrova.
The only thing she could do was enter after Valdrova had finished harming herself and treat her wounds.
Luri had no way to prevent it from happening in the first place.
—Kroaaaaaar!
Another scream rang out.
That is why I must listen.
It was the punishment given to an incompetent servant who could only stand by and watch her mistress suffer.
At some point, Luri’s hands, which had been clutching the hem of her skirt, had become clasped together.
She knew what that posture meant.
Am I… praying?
It was laughable.
Dragonspawn did not believe in gods.
Their gods were dragons.
The great rulers and Aspects of the continent were living, breathing gods and objects of worship.
Luri was no different.
Silverwind, who had shared her blood with Luri, was her god.
At the same time, Valdrova was also her god.
One was dead.
The other was powerless.
Luri wondered,
Then to whom am I supposed to pray?
No answer came.
She merely prayed silently to some nameless god in whom she did not even believe.
Please.
Let someone end my mistress’s suffering.
At that moment—
“What are you doing here?”
Awakening from her prayer, Luri raised her head.
Pale moonlight streamed in through the window.
Within that pallid light stood the silhouette of someone she knew well.
It was that man.
The man who had fearlessly forced his way into her mistress’s life.
“Go back.”
As always, she warned him coldly.
“I am afraid I cannot. The place behind you is where I need to go.”
After remaining quiet for several days, the man had suddenly appeared with such a demand.
He had realized that Valdrova was suffering at that very moment.
He heard her? Even I can barely hear those sounds.
How could this man have noticed something that should have been inaudible to him?
Putting aside her doubts, Luri answered once more.
“You cannot enter. This is my mistress’s order.”
“The Dread Queen told you not to let me inside?”
“That is correct. She said she did not wish to see a human like you.”
Luri had added words that Valdrova had never spoken.
That was how greatly shaken she was.
“I yielded yesterday. Today, you will yield.”
“This is not a transaction.”
“Nor am I treating it as one.”
Ferda instead took a step forward.
“Do not move any farther.”
A moonlight-like gleam appeared in Luri’s silver eyes.
Pure-white wind coiled around her body like blades.
Ferda instinctively understood.
The instant that wind struck him, his body would be sliced apart as cleanly as reeds in late autumn.
“I can stop it.”
Ferda spoke.
“What exactly do you believe you can stop?”
“Your mistress—and my fiancée—from harming herself.”
“…!”
Luri’s eyes widened for an instant.
However, she quickly regained her composure.
“This is not a problem that can be resolved so easily. How could a mortal like you suppress the nature of a dragon?”
“It is possible.”
“No. You are merely trying to see what you wish to see.”
“Yes. I look only at what I want to see and run toward it.”
He took another step.
“Is that not what life is?”
“I told you to stop!”
The razor-sharp wind wrapped around Luri’s arm and shot toward Ferda’s right hand.
Ferda’s arm jerked violently.
It fell limp and mangled at his side.
Luri was momentarily startled at the sight.
I only intended to strike him lightly…
The wind’s sharpness should have disappeared just before impact, leaving only a heavy blow against Ferda’s body.
She had used no more force than what should have left a small bruise.
“Do you see now?”
Nevertheless, Luri pressed her advantage.
He should now understand that she was not a woman he could easily overcome.
“I can knock down someone like you with my own hands. This is my final warning. Return quietly.”
Ferda looked down at his dislocated right arm.
“…Are orders truly that important?”
“I am a servant. I have a duty to obey my mistress’s commands.”
“I see.”
When Ferda raised his head again, Luri flinched in surprise.
He continued moving forward, one step at a time.
“Then make certain you cut me this time.”
Determination filled his blue eyes.
Luri once again prepared her blades of wind.
“Do not wager your life on something so meaningless.”
“You say that without even knowing the value of what I am attempting.”
“You are nothing more than a mere human. Dragons have spent eons studying this problem and trying to discover an answer, yet even they failed. How could someone like you possibly solve it?”
It defied common sense.
Mortals could not surpass immortals.
They were pitiful creatures who could die helplessly from the mere movement of a finger.
The role of mortals was to live while remaining grateful for the mercy of immortals.
How could such a mortal possibly solve a problem that even immortals could not?
“I once asked you whether you believed humans could suddenly attain enlightenment.”
“What did you answer then?”
Luri remembered.
But she could not bring herself to say it.
And so Ferda answered in her place.
“You said humanity survived because it possessed flashes of insight that could never be attained through the mere accumulation of knowledge.”
Again.
This man was once again returning her own words to her.
Ferda, who had once stood far away, was now only three steps from her.
If she released the spell, his arm would be severed.
There would be no time to control its strength.
Luri’s hand began to tremble.
The razor-sharp wind coiling around it wavered.
“Why…?”
Luri looked up at him.
Her face held neither its usual blank expression nor its customary contempt.
“Why… do you keep coming closer?”
It was the face of a helpless child.
“The answer is simple.”
Ferda placed his hand atop Luri’s head.
“Had you truly intended to stop me, you would have done so long ago.”
Luri’s physical abilities surpassed those of the frail Ferda by several dozen times.
It would have been effortless for her to knock him unconscious or send him flying before he ever drew close.
There had been no need to threaten him with wind magic or exchange words with him.
She could simply have used force.
“You also wanted to believe in what I believe.”
In the miracle a mortal might bring.
Ferda passed Luri and descended the stairs.
Unable even to object, Luri merely watched him disappear.
The tapping of his shoes gradually faded along the passageway.
This hurts like hell.
His hand throbbed from the deadly wind Luri had fired.
The impact had traveled all the way to his shoulder and dislocated it.
I have suffered dislocations often enough since I was young.
He was accustomed to setting his bones back into place.
Ferda grabbed his arm, pulled it sharply, and forced the joint back into position.
Crack—!
“Urgh… Haa…”
Ferda took a deep breath and steadied himself.
There was still something he had to do.
He raised his head and looked upward.
A massive iron door entered his field of vision.
“It is… very different from usual.”
Ferda recalled the first time he had stood before this door.
Back then, he had been weak and had not even drunk the engagement wine.
Yet the situation now was far more severe than it had been then.
Ferda felt as though he were standing before the gates of hell.
If he entered, he would undoubtedly die.
Kroaaaaaar—!
The sound chilled him to the bone.
Merely overcoming his fear of dragons did not mean he had become completely immune to such murderous intent.
As expected of the Aspect of Strength.
Ferda opened the smaller door and stepped inside.
The interior resembled an ordinary cave.
It was dry, comfortable, and dark.
—Luri… Why have you come here? We told you not to come here—
Her words cut off.
She realized that the one who had entered was not Luri.
The sound of her enormous body jerking could be heard.
—Why… are you here?
Fluster seeped into the sovereign’s voice.
—Why… Why must you come at a time like this?
Ferda opened his mouth.
“I will not say, ‘It is a pleasure to meet you.’”
He stared ahead.
His human eyes could not pierce the darkness.
“My night vision is too poor to see your face.”
—Leave this place at once!
Her roar was imbued with Dragon Fear.
However, it was not enough to shake Ferda.
“Your Majesty, I have found a way to resolve your suffering.”
—We do not need it. Who told you that We desired such a thing?
Ferda stepped forward.
He heard Valdrova’s body shift.
She had retreated.
—We… We do not wish to hurt anyone. So please, do not come any closer!
Valdrova pleaded with him.
“I cannot do that.”
Ferda refused.
—Please…
“I do not care who dies or who gets hurt.”
—Do not come closer.
“But I cannot stand by and watch you harm yourself.”
Golden eyes flashed within the darkness.
—Did We not tell you to stay away?!
The bloodlust she had been suppressing erupted.
Along with Valdrova’s savage roar, something burst out from the darkness.
It was Valdrova’s claw.
It flew toward Ferda’s small body.
Boom!
The claw smashed down upon the place where Ferda stood.
—Ah!
Valdrova belatedly regained her senses.
But the damage had already been done.
—Ahh…
Valdrova groaned in despair.
The specter of the Third Prince whispered into her ear.
You have killed your fiancé once again.
She fell into confusion.
The voice of Valdrova, the immortal Red Dragon who had lived for eternity and soared across the skies, began to tremble.
—We… did not mean to…
The bloodlust that had been directed at him instead wrapped around her own body.
It went beyond self-loathing and threatened to become a rampage.
But then she saw something standing between her claws.
It was Ferda.
He remained standing in place, looking down at Valdrova’s foot.
“Thank you.”
He spoke.
“To think you would reach out your hand before I even had the chance to ask.”
The exact moment Ferda had been waiting for had arrived.
He placed his own hand upon Valdrova’s.
—There is a logical reason why you may become Ferda Valdrova.
Mori had explained it to him.
—Lord Ferda, you rotated your Red Circle by recalling your emotions toward the Red Dragon Valdrova. Is that correct?
“Yes, that is correct.”
—The reason the Blue Circle is called cold mana is because it produces a consistent effect across all forms of magic. The Red Circle, on the other hand, specializes in particular elements, and its effectiveness varies significantly depending on the nature of the spell and the philosophy behind its creation. This is because its mana is not entirely pure. It contains emotion.
Ferda already knew that.
That was why his destructive magic was more powerful than that of other mages.
—Red Circles are generally created from negative emotions. For that reason, contact with their mana is forbidden.
“Because it may cause mental corruption.”
Mori nodded.
—If your mana was created from your emotions toward a dragon, I believe it may produce an effect if it is infused into that dragon.
Ferda thought the idea was absurd.
This can be solved using mana created from emotions that even I do not understand?
“Is there no other method?”
Mori shook her head.
She denied it without hesitation.
Only one possibility had been given to him.
“I see…”
Then he had no choice but to believe in it.
Ferda released his mana.
He focused his entire mind on forcing it from his fingertips and into Valdrova’s skin.
—What are you doing?
As Valdrova questioned him, she felt something surging upward within her body.
The instant that reverse flow reached her heart, her golden eyes opened wide.
—What… What is this?
Valdrova’s voice, which had been distorted by pain, became noticeably clearer.
—The thing inside Us… the thing that had been boiling over is disappearing. Ferda, what exactly is this?
“I do not know either.”
Ferda quietly silenced her.
“But if it benefits you, then all you need to do is accept my mana.”
—Very well…
Through her skin, Valdrova focused on the changes taking place within her.
Her violently pounding heart gradually calmed.
The uncontrollable bloodlust subsided.
Her destructive urges, her very nature—everything sank beneath something called tranquility.
It seems the hypothesis was correct.
The mana generated by Ferda’s Red Circle could suppress Valdrova’s bloodlust.
There is something I can do.
If he could suppress her bloodlust, she would no longer have to destroy herself.
And… she will no longer have to suffer.
She would no longer need to drag up her painful past and torment herself with it.
To achieve that… I need to pour as much mana into her as possible.
Meanwhile, the Red Circle within Ferda’s lower abdomen was rotating violently.
It generated mana several times faster than usual.
Ferda poured every last bit of it into Valdrova’s skin without restraint.
—Ferda!
Valdrova cried out in alarm.
—You are bleeding!
Blood streamed from Ferda’s nose.
He was suffering from mana burnout.
—Stop now. We are already fine!
Normally, Ferda would have stopped before reaching this point.
But not this time.
Just a little more…
He wrung himself dry and gave her everything he had.
Ferda refused to stop until she had completely stabilized.
Even if it killed him.
“Ahh…”
At last, the overload struck him.
His vision blurred as though covered in thick fog.
Driven beyond what his willpower could endure, Ferda would likely be unable to rise for several days.
I had already made my decision.
He had no regrets about this impulse or his recklessness.
Ferda was about to close his eyes.
At that moment, something beneath his palm shifted.
The sensation conveyed a single piece of information.
Is it getting smaller?
It was not his imagination.
The dragon’s rough, hardened skin gradually softened and shrank.
It continued growing smaller until it finally took a shape similar to a human hand beneath his own.
“Small.”
The hand was so small that it could not even fully wrap around Ferda’s.
“And soft.”
Those sensations made his heart pound in a way he had never experienced before.
She polymorphed into a human.
This was the moment he could finally see her bare face.
“Why…”
Her sweet voice was filled with moisture.
She spoke as though she were on the verge of tears.
“Why will you not listen to me…?”
It was a fragile question that did not suit Valdrova.
But even though she asked, her voice did not reach Ferda’s ears.
His consciousness had been driven to the edge of a cliff.
He could barely keep his blurred vision focused.
Only one powerful yearning held him conscious.
No matter what happens…
And one selfish desire.
I want to see her.
Ferda squeezed out the last of his strength.
He gripped the hand touching his own.
He intertwined their fingers tightly so that she could not escape, then pulled her closer by the waist.
Between the blurring edges of his vision, a red-haired woman came into clear view.
“Ah…”
A cry of wonder escaped Ferda.
That single sound contained every emotion within him.
It was a sigh of repentance for how shallow and arrogant his imagination had been.
And it was joy at realizing that this world contained beauty beyond anything he could ever have imagined.
“Now I can finally see you.”
Ferda smiled.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, my heart.”