Chapter 4
The Qualifications to Become the King’s Consort
After leaving the dragon’s lair, Luri guided Ferda to another location.
It was inside the castle built halfway up the mountain, visible even from a great distance.
There was a path leading directly upward from the cave connected to the lair, and after following it, they soon arrived at the main entrance.
“It is well maintained.”
Ferda could tell that Valdrova had been more sincere about marriage than anyone else.
Otherwise, she would never have built such an impressive castle above her own lair, much less designed everything according to human standards.
I heard it was built for her engagement to the Third Prince.
It must have been intended to become their home after the marriage.
Then the incident occurred in which he was practically disassembled into individual consonants and vowels.
As a result, the castle had become a place no one used.
Even so, despite the passage of time, the building remained spotlessly clean.
“Who manages this castle?”
“I do.”
“Is there anyone besides you?”
“I manage all of it myself. That should sufficiently answer your question.”
Luri continued replying curtly.
She clearly found Valdrova’s acceptance of the engagement deeply displeasing.
She’s like a dog.
Ferda meant that literally rather than as an insult.
She resembled a dog that growled because it felt threatened when the affection it had received was directed elsewhere.
That was why Ferda could simply overlook her behavior.
It does not matter as long as she does not bite me.
A guard dog only needed to guard the house properly.
Luri led Ferda into an extremely spacious bedroom.
“This room is about five times the size of the one I used before.”
It was comparable not only to his father Erembalt’s bedroom but even to the imperial bedchamber.
“This is a guest bedroom.”
“A guest bedroom is this luxurious?”
“The guest is being received by none other than a dragon—a Ruler.”
Dragons were beings who stood at least on equal footing with the Emperor.
In any case, the fact that Ferda had been brought to this room clearly indicated his current position.
“For now, I am merely a ‘guest’?”
“Yes. Since you are not yet her fiancé, you are exactly that—a guest.”
“Do you normally show this much hostility toward guests?”
He asked out of genuine curiosity.
“No. I simply dislike humans.”
“You are honest.”
“And among humans, you are the one I dislike most.”
“......”
Luri shrugged with an expressionless face.
Her irritating behavior almost seemed like a deliberate invitation for him to strike her.
“Yes. It is better not to hide it.”
Ferda genuinely believed that.
It was a hundred times preferable to nobles who smiled pleasantly while plotting to stab someone in the back.
Luri studied his reaction carefully before speaking again.
“There is something I am curious about.”
“What is it?”
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
Ferda tilted his head at the question.
“Why should I be?”
“I tried to break your neck. Had Master not sent me a signal, I would have snapped it without hesitation.”
Crack.
Luri repeatedly clenched and unclenched her slender hand, producing an ominous sound.
I would have died...
Ferda had already known that Luri intended to kill him.
Nevertheless, he had not considered avoiding her hand.
“......”
At the time, he had thought dying would not necessarily have been a bad outcome.
Keeping that thought to himself, he changed the subject.
“We can settle any pointless matter of hierarchy later. When will the engagement ceremony take place?”
“The engagement ceremony with Master will be held one month from now.”
“Will it be an official ceremony?”
“If inviting people who do not truly care and creating an enormous commotion is what you call ‘official,’ then no.”
“Then?”
“Master, myself, and the guest.”
She helpfully gestured toward Ferda with her chin.
“Understood. One month from now.”
“Since we are already discussing it, there is one more thing I should tell you.”
Luri continued.
“The engagement ceremony will take place in one month, but that date is also your deadline.”
“What kind of deadline?”
“The deadline by which you must prove that you possess the ability to become Master’s fiancé.”
Ferda thought about it once more.
Getting married is absurdly difficult.
“Was this ordered by the Dread Queen Valdrova?”
“No. This is my own decision.”
“Then you are acting independently. Is a servant permitted to impose her own will?”
“It is something that must be done when necessary. Master is far too softhearted.”
She really is brutally honest.
“You must already realize it yourself. A human capable of standing before a dragon while displaying such an attitude has likely never existed before or since.”
“I see.”
“Since Master was the one who wished to become engaged to a human, I allowed it to pass. But unlike Master, I am not softhearted.”
Luri’s eyes gleamed sharply.
Her gaze felt as cold as a finely honed blade resting against his throat.
“As the consort of a great and exalted being, you must possess a corresponding level of dignity.”
A dragon and a human.
The gap between them was far greater than anything that could be compared to the difference between an emperor and a beggar.
In other words, she was presenting him with an absurd requirement.
“And?”
“Do you think I expect you to become powerful immediately? Of course not.”
Luri snorted.
“You merely need to show me that you possess potential.”
She raised one small clenched fist as she spoke.
“Willpower is unnecessary. Willpower alone cannot solve everything. What matters is that you prove within one month that even someone as utterly frail as you possesses at least a sliver of potential.”
She emphasized every word in a crisp, unambiguous tone.
“That is the first trial for the fiancé who will inherit the name of Valdrova.”
After taking in everything with his own eyes and ears, Ferda thought,
My fiancée has truly found herself a good attendant.
Although Luri had a vicious tongue and despised him intensely, Ferda found himself liking her.
She hated humans, yet she did not hide what Ferda needed as Valdrova’s fiancé and openly demanded it from him.
In other words, her loyalty to Valdrova outweighed even her hatred.
If she was this loyal... why did I never see her before?
When Ferda attacked Valdrova’s lair in his previous life, Luri had not been there.
He tilted his head at the strange discrepancy, but since it was not important at the moment, he set it aside.
“Then how far must I rise? Must I become the Emperor of the Empire?”
Luri shook her head.
“At the very least, you must become someone the other ‘Authorities’ cannot look down upon.”
In other words, he needed abilities that far surpassed those of the Emperor.
“I see.”
When Ferda accepted that calmly, Luri tilted her head.
“Aren’t you being far too arrogant? Are you stupid, or do you simply think dragons are insignificant?”
“Neither.”
“Do not assume it will be easy. Especially for a human as frail as you.”
“Coincidentally, I do not think it will be easy either.”
“So do not worry about me.”
“......”
Luri pouted.
She had no choice but to feel displeased after having her own words thrown back at her.
He is overflowing with confidence.
Luri considered it, but she could not understand where that confidence came from.
She already knew how Valdrova’s engagement was used within the Arken Empire.
It had become a euphemism for casting out incompetent halfwits. How could someone like that possibly possess talent comparable to an Authority?
But Ferda was different.
This should be enough.
He had reached the Eighth Circle at the youngest age in the continent’s history and had cast the Ninth-Circle spell of wish fulfillment.
He was a man who had once forced the Emperor himself to kneel at his feet.
“......”
As long as it was possible, it was nothing to Ferda.
Certainty settled upon his face.
“What an unpleasant human.”
Luri said so with a thoroughly exasperated expression.
The castle built above Valdrova’s lair was named after her and called Valdrova Castle.
Ferda stayed there for a week.
His life there was not bad overall.
The only inconvenience was that he had to handle almost everything himself.
Nobles always traveled with servants to attend them. If they did not bring at least one person with them, they could not maintain their dignity as nobles.
Most nobles would have thrown a fit at the thought of living without an attendant.
But this was not a problem for Ferda.
I have already grown accustomed to living alone.
If anything, having someone approach him and offer to dress him would have been more uncomfortable.
For Ferda, who had grown accustomed to supporting himself, life at Valdrova Castle was largely free of inconvenience.
It is actually better than living at the Rosnova estate.
While he had lived with House Rosnova, he had always been restless.
He was already hated, and there had not been a single person he could trust.
Whenever someone pretended to befriend him, they were invariably eager to drag him into some trap.
“......”
At least Luri did not hide her hostility.
That alone made her no different from an adorably straightforward little puppy.
Though I do not know how long that will last.
Luri had given Ferda a single task.
He had to prove that he possessed potential and was not an irredeemable failure.
The deadline is one month.
What could he possibly demonstrate within that period?
Ferda considered everything he was capable of.
However, he reached only one conclusion.
Magic.
Ferda possessed talent for magic.
If he showed Luri even a fragment of that talent, she would acknowledge him, at least to some degree.
To use magic, I must open a Mana Circle.
A Circle was formed by gathering the mana chaotically moving through one’s body, rotating it into a ring, and turning it into a circuit.
The problem was that Ferda did not know how to create that Circle.
No. I know how.
He simply needed to possess an overwhelming desire for revenge and hatred.
If he followed the path he had walked before, he would become an Eighth-Circle mage even faster than he had in his previous life.
But I cannot do that.
Ferda recalled something his master had once told him.
—The first button is the most important. Whether your first Circle is red or blue will determine the course of your entire life as a mage. Though I suppose you have no reason to trouble yourself over that choice.
His master had been a fat, lecherous man who cared for nothing but money.
Even so, he had fulfilled his role when it came to teaching magic.
A Red Circle was a mana circuit created through emotional upheaval.
A Blue Circle was a mana circuit created through calm meditation.
Each possessed distinct advantages and disadvantages.
A Blue Circle formed slowly but was stable.
It allowed the mage to remain calm and assess the situation under any circumstances. Through training, around eighty percent of all mages formed Blue Circles.
A Red Circle, on the other hand, formed quickly but was unstable.
Unlike the Blue Circle, which emphasized composure, emotional upheaval served as its primary driving force.
It allowed someone to become strong quickly, but they were also likely to be consumed by those emotions and become insane.
What I need to do is open a Blue Circle.
That was the correct choice if he wished to avoid repeating the same future.
However, the circumstances were not in Ferda’s favor.
“......”
He had to produce convincing results within the remaining three weeks.
The time was absurdly short, but Ferda did not become impatient.
He would find a way somehow.
“Are you making preparations?”
Luri, who usually delivered breakfast in silence, asked him a question for the first time.
Ferda quietly stabbed a piece of salad with his fork and answered.
“I am preparing.”
“There does not appear to have been any change.”
“I am proceeding under the assumption that I will eventually succeed if I continue.”
“Understood.”
Luri did not appear to expect much.
Over the past several days, Ferda had studied and experimented with various methods of opening a Mana Circle.
The only problem was that the methods required him to become someone different from who he was now.
At this rate, he will not even qualify for the engagement ceremony.
It was unlike Ferda to make a bold declaration and then accomplish nothing.
Nevertheless, he remained calm.
Today, like every other day, he would continue searching for a solution.
Just as he was about to begin another morning—
Rumble—!
A deafening collision and violent tremor shook the heavens and earth, traveling through the castle.
It had occurred nearby.
“What is happening?”
Luri answered.
“Master is currently subjugating demonic beasts.”
“Subjugating demonic beasts?”
Rumble—!
Ordinarily, Ferda would have simply thought, I see, and ignored it.
But today was different.
Perhaps...
Ferda had a feeling.
Perhaps the answer he had been searching for was there.
“I would like to see that battle.”
Luri replied with an expressionless face.
“It would be better if you did not.”
“Why?”
“The minds of mortals are fragile.”
Ferda recalled his former self.
Back then, he had been gripped by madness.
He had encountered the dragons known as Rulers numerous times.
But among them, the one who had chilled him most deeply was the Red Dragon.
Perhaps that was because she regarded me as an enemy.
Even so, differences in stature undeniably existed.
He had felt fear even when he was a Grand Mage.
What would happen to him now?
He might wet himself and let out an ugly scream.
“So do not indulge in pointless curiosity.”
Ferda shook his head at Luri’s warning.
This was not pointless curiosity.
It was an investigation conducted to find the answer.
And—
“I want to watch that battle.”
It was the duty of the man who intended to become her mate.