Chapter 23

I Want to See Her Again

“What did you do last night?”

The one who asked was Zed.

The brown-haired man looked down at a certain spot with an incredulous expression.

Ferda lay there on the bed.

“Nothing happened.”

“Nothing happened? Does someone who had nothing happen to him lie completely motionless in bed?”

Ferda could only move his face, as though everything below his neck had lost all strength.

Ferda always made his rounds in the morning.

He had shown his face every single day without fail, so when he suddenly failed to appear, it was only natural to assume that something had happened.

And just as Zed had suspected, Ferda was lying in bed, unable even to move.

“If I say nothing happened, then nothing happened.”

“I am sure that is the case.”

Since Ferda stubbornly insisted that nothing had happened, Zed could no longer question him.

There is no need to tell him about it.

He had been struck by the servant who blocked his path, nearly crushed to death by his fiancée, and then almost genuinely died after pouring all his mana into that same fiancée.

In the ordinary world of nobles, that story could easily be summarized as something only an idiot would do.

So Ferda kept it to himself and savored the memory in solitude.

What an intense night.

The pain from being struck in the arm had yet to fade, but he had received a fitting reward in return.

“The dragon’s countenance.”

The phrase was normally used to refer to the face of a monarch, but this time, it truly was the face of a dragon.

Just as a tenant farmer might consider beholding the sovereign’s face the greatest honor imaginable, Ferda considered seeing the dragon’s countenance his greatest honor.

That was my final memory.

Ferda recalled Valdrova’s face from the last moment he remembered.

After seeing that face, his consciousness had cut out.

When he came to, the ceiling above his bed was the first thing he saw.

Then Zed’s face.

The man was still hovering nearby.

“I have one request.”

“What is it? Just say the word.”

“Move your face out of my sight. You are interfering with my appreciation.”

“…”

Ferda did not want the lingering afterglow to be overwritten by the face of some handsome man.

Zed moved his face away as requested, wearing a sour expression that seemed to ask whether Ferda had gone insane.

“How is Burnell’s research progressing?”

“That? He said he no longer has to keep cutting tendons and slicing flesh in that dreadful manner. He did well.”

Zed had attended to Burnell so that he would experience no inconvenience during his research.

He had done enough work to claim a substantial share of the credit.

“Are you certain?”

“It is probably certain.”

“Do you realize that ‘probably’ and ‘certain’ are not words that can coexist?”

“I did not even let that Brother Burnell sleep properly. Most people would go mad and give up after being kept awake for about four days, but he was unbelievably stubborn. He desperately wanted to sleep, yet he kept clinging to the research, saying it was too important to handle carelessly. He cried and begged, but he still kept working. So I imagine it is reliable.”

“I see.”

Burnell might have suffered under Zed, but Ferda was not particularly interested.

All work was painful by nature.

He simply focused on the joyful fact that they had taken a significant step forward in magitech.

“So how long do you plan to stay in bed? Are you unable to work today?”

“It seems so. I should recover naturally after a day or so.”

“Hmm… Do I need to take care of you?”

His voice was filled with obvious reluctance.

“No. I would like to be alone. There are matters I need to consider.”

“I have been desperately waiting for you to say that. Ugh. I am leaving, so please do not look for me for the next two days.”

“Very well.”

Zed clicked his tongue and withdrew.

Still lying in bed, Ferda closed his eyes.

He was not trying to sleep again.

He wanted to recall his memories more vividly.

It was a great harvest.

Ferda sank into recollection.

Truly, an enormous harvest.

An image formed around a pair of small, glossy lips.

Two black horns and crimson hair.

Golden catlike pupils set within two large eyes.

They had glittered with moisture.

That was the polymorphed form of the Red Dragon, Valdrova.

There were many unexpected details.

When Ferda first saw her, she had appeared wearing armor.

She had also stood well over two meters tall.

Yet in truth, she was only about a head taller than Ferda, the height of an ordinary woman.

And… she did not have a frightening face.

As the Aspect of Strength, Valdrova possessed the most terrifying form among all dragons.

She was so fearsome that no one would ever dare underestimate her.

It was said that when a dragon polymorphed, their human appearance changed according to their temperament.

At rest, she should have resembled a woman of iron, an alluring rose.

The sort of woman whose thorns would pierce anyone foolish enough to seize her carelessly and make them regret their arrogance.

…But she did not.

Her face was gentle, entirely unlike that of a sovereign.

The corners of a woman’s eyes often defined her overall impression, and Valdrova’s eyes slanted downward like those of a puppy.

It was a face more suited to a bright, childlike smile than a mature one.

Considering her timidity and fear of people, perhaps it suits her.

Everything about her had defied his expectations, yet everything had also felt exactly as it should be.

Remembering her beauty, Ferda thought,

I want to see her again.

It was the first time he had felt such an emotion since developing the habit of remembering everything in detail.

Her image was engraved clearly within his mind, and yet he still wanted to see her with his own eyes.

I want to see her again.

For the first time, Ferda understood how men suffering from lovesickness must have felt.

He wanted to tear at his hair or leap out of bed and rush toward her immediately.

“It appears you are imagining something strange.”

At that moment, the voice of a young servant suddenly reached him.

“I would appreciate it if you stopped at once.”

When Ferda opened his eyes, a silver-eyed girl was looking down at him.

Her attitude and expression remained as businesslike as ever.

“How is your body?”

Luri asked.

“I believe I am feeling better.”

“Of course you should be. I personally treated you, after all.”

“Impressive. It could not have been easy.”

“It was more difficult than treating my mistress’s injuries, but it was still manageable.”

Luri frowned as she looked down at him.

Strangely, the way she regarded Ferda felt quite different from usual.

“You could have died.”

Her tone was worried.

“To suffer an overload while your mana circuit was active… An ordinary human would have stopped long before that due to the burning agony.”

“It was nothing significant to me.”

“I know. You are someone who enjoys such things.”

Ferda muttered something she could not understand, then continued.

“Thank you.”

The expression of gratitude came without warning.

“For what?”

“It was the first time my mistress’s screams had stopped.”

Her face remained expressionless.

“And it was also the first time I saw her fall asleep peacefully. That night, Lord Ferda, you did a great deal for my mistress.”

Yet sorrow lingered in her eyes.

“And I apologize.”

Her gaze slowly lowered toward Ferda’s right arm.

“For nearly tearing my arm off?”

“…”

Luri bit her lip and nodded.

A dragonspawn acknowledging her wrongdoing and apologizing to a human.

“It is fine. I would not hold a grudge against you or hate you over something so trivial.”

“…Are you really fine after being hit that hard?”

“My body has always been weak. This happens often, so there is no need to worry. I should be able to move well enough.”

“Can you move now?”

“I probably will when the time comes.”

For now, he still could not move anything except his face.

“Have I not always told you? I hold your loyalty in high regard. Like a—”

“Like a dog?”

“Yes.”

Luri nodded at those words.

“That is correct. I am a dog-like bitch.”

“I did not go quite that far.”

Only then did Ferda realize it.

That certainly does sound like an insult.

“In any case, you have always done your utmost within the limits of what you can do. You never recklessly attempt something beyond your abilities and make matters worse, do you? That is enough.”

“…”

“I am expressing my gratitude for taking care of her until the day I could finally meet her.”

“If that is what you mean, then thank you.”

Luri’s expression brightened slightly.

The heavy atmosphere also eased to some degree.

“So, how is my fiancée?”

“I was just about to speak to you regarding that…”

Her expression grew heavy once more.

“Do not even think about meeting her for the time being.”

Ferda’s face also became serious.

“A moment ago, you were talking about how much I had done for her.”

“That is one matter, and this is another.”

Luri had returned to being the firm little maid.

Ferda asked her the reason.

“And why is that?”

“The problem is what you did when you met her.”

“What I did? Is this merely because I held her hand?”

Simply holding hands was hardly grand enough to be called an “act.”

“I am referring to giving her your mana.”

“Did that cause some sort of problem for your mistress?”

“If I must be precise, both things were problematic.”

Her eyes stared intently at Ferda.

Realizing the seriousness of the matter, Ferda asked,

“Did something happen to the Dread Queen?”

“After coming into contact with you, Lord Ferda, my mistress began making the sounds of a female.”

Question marks filled Ferda’s mind.

“The sounds of a female?”

“They are the sounds furthest removed from those of a king. They are the sounds I hate second only to her screams.”

Ferda had no idea what sort of sound she meant.

Nor did he attempt to find out.

“And what is my problem?”

“To save my mistress, you squeezed out so much mana that you nearly lost your life.”

“Yes. As long as I did not die, it is fine.”

“That sort of result-oriented argument will not work. If you wish to stand proudly as her fiancé, then speak after reaching at least the Fourth Circle.”

The Fourth Circle.

The stage often described as the true beginning of a mage.

Ferda wondered why she had drawn the line at that precise level.

He mentally recalled the amount of mana he had released and roughly calculated it by sensation.

That was almost exactly the mana capacity of a Fourth-Circle mage.

It would have been an impossible amount without the Red Circle.

The speed at which his mana had recovered would also have been impossible had the Red Circle not rotated so rapidly.

Had even one part of the process fallen out of rhythm, Ferda would have ended up either dead or permanently disabled.

At the same time, it was possible only because I was the one doing it.

He had managed to endure and extract such a violent flow only because he had once reached the Ninth Circle.

But because I squeezed it dry like that, it will be difficult to rotate the Red Circle properly for some time.

According to Ferda’s estimation, it would take about a month for him to return to his original condition.

“If you intend to become her husband, then you must begin taking better care of your body. Do not expose yourself to needless danger.”

Luri smoothed the wrinkles in his blanket and tucked it warmly beneath his neck.

It was a service she had never provided before.

“And for the rest of today, you will rest without thinking about anything. If you need something, call for me and I will come. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Ferda obediently nodded.

“And congratulations.”

“For what?”

“Have you not reached the Third Circle?”

Ferda did not understand what she meant.

At least, not until he focused on his lower abdomen.

…What?

Just as she had said, three circles were rotating inside Ferda’s body.

He had reached the Third Circle.

***

The following day, after confirming that his body could move again, Ferda returned to his office and spoke with Burnell.

“I heard that your research has made significant progress. Congratulations.”

“N-No. I have barely reached the starting point…”

“Has it been a month and a half? You are progressing at a truly revolutionary pace.”

“Y-Yes. It seems so.”

Burnell answered in a trembling voice.

It truly was revolutionary progress.

The past month and a half had been more meaningful than the previous seven years he had spent researching.

The equipment is better, as are the environment and the specimens, but…

Above all else, the pressure driving him forward had been the greatest factor.

Am I the sort who becomes stronger when pushed to the limit?

Being deprived of sleep had nearly driven him insane.

Yet it had not been entirely bad.

He had discovered blind spots that he had never identified before and had been able to correct various weaknesses.

By carrying out work that could only be done while no longer entirely sane, he had strengthened his hypothesis enough to move on to experimentation.

“From this point onward, I will no longer require living specimens. Instead, I will need a large quantity of monster corpses…”

“Monster corpses?”

It was like searching for sand in a desert or trees in a forest.

If there was one thing abundant in the Far East, it was monsters.

“The Dread Queen Valdrova is active on the front lines. Would it be enough to capture the ones coming from there?”

“I heard she is fighting creatures as large as houses. For me to research those… there would be many problems. They are simply too large…”

“Then why not make yourself larger? A gigantification spell should work. Echidna seems likely to know one.”

“Ah, size enhancement is not the issue. The greatest problem is that if corpses of that scale remain in the east for too long, they may cause erosion and transform the region into something like the black lands of the Far East. I would rather not go that far. Besides, something so large may have an entirely different structure.”

“What do you mean by a different structure?”

“Yes. Since those creatures grow larger by consuming junk mana, there is the matter of the hardness of the materials formed from it. If they become too hard, their structures too dense and compressed, and they eventually crystallize, they may actually become useless for research.”

The conversation seemed about to descend into technical detail, so Ferda grasped the general context and shortened it.

“I believe I understand the rough meaning. You are saying that, to proceed step by step, you should begin with smaller creatures?”

“Yes. What I am currently researching consists mainly of creatures similar in size to the one you captured, Regent, or even smaller. They are also more widely known and easier to acquire…”

“So approximately how many hundred monsters do you require?”

“Well…”

Burnell cautiously studied his expression.

“At the very least… I think it will need to exceed one thousand…”

Upon hearing that, Ferda thought,

He truly is a bottomless pit for money.

It was a demand so outrageous that not only ordinary nobles but even wealthy magnates among the upper aristocracy would recoil.

Had Ferda not known who this man was, he might have kicked him straight out through the castle gates.

However, Ferda knew that this man would ultimately succeed.

“Understood. I will speak to the lords first.”

“Y-You can acquire that many?”

“At least several dozen monsters are killed every day. Do you no longer need any living specimens?”

“I-It would be helpful to have some, but they would require management…”

“Do not worry. Zed appears to be handling that aspect well, so I will assign him to you.”

“No! That will not be necessary! The progress from this point will not be as visibly dramatic as it was during the early stages! Yes! I do not need him! So please do not tell him! Hahaha! I am begging you! Spare me!”

Burnell recoiled in horror and begged him to withdraw the offer.

“If you insist.”

“T-Then how do you intend to obtain the corpses? Will you go hunting again?”

“Hmm…”

Ferda had captured one alive only because a single specimen was within his abilities.

He could not personally go hunting every time.

“The most conventional method would be to place a bounty…”

However, large amounts of money were already being spent on facilities and equipment.

Even a small additional expense would be burdensome.

“For the initial supply, it would be better to make people offer them as tribute.”

“Tribute…?”

Burnell asked with a vacant expression.

Ferda answered him.

“The world is overflowing with fools.”

Ferda also knew how to lure those fools.