Chapter 72
It’s a Misunderstanding
An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.
Ferda pressed his index finger against his forehead and rubbed it repeatedly.
‘I understand.’
People talked behind others’ backs.
When a group gathered around a single target and gossiped about them, it could strengthen their sense of belonging.
Doing it was one thing.
Getting caught was another.
Especially when the person being disparaged was someone’s beloved fiancée.
Even so, Ferda did not become enraged.
Instead, he grew calmer.
Was it because Erdes had already pushed his anger too far, or because this was merely something from the past that he had no intention of holding against them?
For now, he decided to ask what he was curious about.
“I have a question.”
“…Go ahead.”
“Do the other dragons think of my fiancée this way as well?”
“…Please just understand that dragons generally do not get along very well with one another.”
“No. I simply require objective facts. If you intend to help me, then tell me without filtering anything.”
Ferda spoke seriously.
Erika could not tell whether the seriousness in his gaze came from anger or simple curiosity.
Nevertheless, she gave him the answer he wanted.
“Yes. Looking at her past actions, it is difficult for them not to say such things.”
“The same is true even now. She wishes to take a human as her mate and marry him. It is so absurd that it is not even suitable material for a joke.”
An Aspect of Power who could not use her power.
When put that way, the contradiction was indeed absurd.
Valdrova was a being composed entirely of contradictions.
“Let us set aside emotional matters.”
There was no benefit in remaining trapped in the past, so Ferda decided to discuss the present.
“What advantage would an alliance with Iorga offer us?”
“We can support your campaign to conquer the Far East.”
“You and your people?”
“We have been researching the Far East for a very long time.”
Pride could be heard in Erika’s voice.
Along with the characteristic arrogance of a Dragon Spawn.
“The reason the Far East cannot be conquered is because it is saturated with demonic energy.”
Ferda already knew that.
The junk mana rising from the Demonic Lands destroyed both the mind and body.
“To enter the Far East, the blessings of every god and every form of magic were required. That was why only a tiny group of the most elite individuals could form the hero’s expedition into the region.”
The twelve heroes.
The high priests serving each god and all the dragons had protected them by invoking blessings.
Among those twelve expedition members had been the Dragon Spawn Erika Iorga and Erdes Roton.
“While researching Project Hestia, we recently achieved a meaningful breakthrough.”
A meaningful breakthrough.
Ferda felt himself grow slightly excited at those words.
“What was it?”
“We call it demonic resistance.”
Demonic resistance.
It was not a bad name.
Since Ferda had never heard the term before, it was likely some sort of strategic weapon that Iorga had kept hidden.
“Can it be used as a cure?”
“No. It does not solve the fundamental problem of someone already being eroded by demonic energy.”
“Didn’t you say it was a meaningful result from your research into a cure?”
“That is simply how research works. Discoveries in unintended directions are still considered achievements.”
Was she joking?
When Ferda shot her a look that said as much, Erika vaguely brushed it aside with, “In any case…”
“To explain our discovery simply, it is the difference between prevention and treatment.”
Prevention prepared for something that had yet to happen.
Treatment resolved something that had already happened.
“Then how is the cure progressing?”
“That… still has not advanced. Since the research had to begin entirely from scratch, the direction of its results remains uncertain.”
Erika let out a long breath through her nose.
“So the point of this conversation is that, should you truly intend to approach the Demonic Lands, we would focus more heavily on researching a resistance drug rather than a cure.”
“What would you do after developing it? Have the Principality of Valdrova take the risks?”
“No. I intend to involve the Adventurers’ Guild more extensively.”
“The Adventurers’ Guild?”
“We have already brought the Adventurers’ Guild into the project, but until now, we have only continued assigning them trivial errands. We have done nothing but apply temporary measures, but it seems the time has finally come to make proper use of them.”
Adventurers performed all kinds of work.
They delivered mail and completed minor errands, but they also hunted monsters and even defeated Guardians that protected entire regions.
The cost of a request varied greatly depending on the required skill and difficulty.
“Would they willingly enter the Demonic Lands?”
“If this works, there is no reason they would not.”
Erika formed a circle with her thumb and index finger.
“What if they were allowed not only to conduct investigations, but also to retrieve the mysteries of the East from before the region was consumed by demonic energy? Even worthless scraps would create a frenzy at auction.”
Mysterious records from the East were items capable of captivating not only mages, but knights as well.
Even Ferda had once wondered whether learning Eastern magic might lead to significant progress.
‘The demonic energy made it impossible, though.’
Because no one could cross the enormous barrier posed by demonic energy, such things had been dismissed as little more than legends.
Adventurers were the sort who would leap into a burning pit if enough money awaited them.
It was an excellent idea.
Until now, people had only observed the current ecosystem of the Demonic Lands from afar.
Who had actually set foot there?
If they could map the terrain and discover what lay within, it would be of great assistance when they later attempted a full conquest.
Based on her proposal, Ferda continually drew out possibilities for the future.
The things he lacked were gradually being filled in, and ideas he had never imagined became increasingly substantial.
Even so, one suspicion remained.
‘Can I truly trust this woman?’
The emotions he had felt during the Grand Council remained vivid in his mind.
“You are wondering whether you can trust me, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You truly are direct.”
She lifted her teacup and closed her eyes, pretending to savor the tea for no particular reason.
Then, as though reaching a decision in her heart, she opened her eyes and spoke.
“I have continued thinking about what you said. You asked what I intended to do in the end.”
Those were words Ferda had thrown out in the heat of the moment.
“My conclusion is that I will not think about that end at all.”
Ferda was dumbfounded the moment he heard it.
Was avoiding the future really something a leader should say?
However, he soon realized that was not what she meant.
What filled her eyes was a leader’s sense of responsibility.
“I want to do everything I can in the present.”
Seeing those eyes, Ferda became certain.
He could trust this woman.
“Very well. Let us form an alliance.”
Joy spread across her face.
Yet, like an experienced leader, she replied with a calm expression.
“I hope we can develop a good relationship.”
“Now that we are allies, may I ask you for a favor?”
Erika, who had been preparing to conclude the conversation, appeared slightly startled by Ferda’s request.
“I did not expect you to require assistance so soon.”
“The timing is rather unfortunate.”
Ferda had Luri bring in the items he had seized from Director Rinne and showed them to Erika.
“What are these?”
“Items taken from the demons’ research facility. The research director’s journal and several samples.”
“Demons!”
Erika was noticeably startled.
Ferda briefly explained what had happened inside the research facility.
The longer the explanation continued, the more shaken Erika became.
“My goodness… Are you saying the demons developed a drug capable of instantly creating knight-class demons?”
“It is still a prototype, but a Bouncer-class demon fought evenly against two of our knights.”
“There may have been a difference in skill, but if it had truly possessed the full strength of a Bouncer, your knights should not have struggled to that extent. Since it was a prototype, either its effects were incomplete or it carried side effects…”
Erika stared into the liquid inside the vial.
Several layers of mana and magic circles appeared over her eyes as she attempted to analyze its composition.
However, all that returned was a frustrated expression.
“More importantly, this is something that imitates Godwin’s power. My goodness. To think I am only learning about an object like this now. Erika, you stupid bitch. What have you even been doing all this time?”
Her eyes widened, and her body bobbed up and down.
She could not contain her excitement.
Then she met Ferda’s gaze and sucked in a breath.
“Oh!”
“My apologies. I displayed an unsightly side of myself. Before I am a leader, I am also a researcher, so I become overly excited when I see something like this…”
“I am accustomed to it.”
He had already dealt with a man who ran outside naked while screaming and a woman who claimed she could absorb ingredients by smelling someone’s hair.
Compared to them, Erika’s behavior was almost endearing.
She examined the journal next.
The moment she saw the writing inside, she furrowed her brow.
“This is… a High Elven language.”
Unlike Ferda, Erika recognized it immediately.
Perhaps she could interpret it.
“Can you decipher it?”
“Unfortunately, I can only tell that it is High Elven script. The language of the World Tree’s guardians exists for the sake of secrecy.”
“Then it is impossible?”
“Not entirely. No matter how closely guarded the secret may be, Elven minds must always remain connected. That is the principle. Those closest to the root from which they sprang oversee everything.”
Ferda understood what she meant by the root.
“The High Chieftain.”
“Yes. That person should be capable of deciphering it. We would have to venture deep into the western region, but that should not pose a major problem…”
They had found a possible solution, but it was not as promising as Ferda would have liked.
High elves occupied the highest ranks among all elves and were an intensely isolationist group.
Their High Chieftain could not possibly be easy to deal with.
“If we can persuade the High Chieftain, perhaps something can be done…”
“There is no need for persuasion. We can threaten them.”
“If we tell them we will reveal to the entire world that a high elf became a dark elf, they will come running out barefoot.”
“That is… quite…”
It was a difficult suggestion to judge.
Should he call it a good idea or complete insanity?
“Let us discuss it again later. The high elves are currently in the middle of their Autumn Festival, and they will also be preparing for the Winter Festival.”
They offered prayers celebrating autumn’s abundance and winter’s desolation, and the rituals did not end until the first sprouts of spring emerged.
They would have to wait well beyond the first quarter of the year at the very least.
Even so, Ferda found meaning in the fact that they now had at least a slim possibility.
“I will return the journal, but I will take these samples with me. Perhaps they may provide a clue toward developing the cure.”
The excitement on her face made it seem as though she might genuinely accomplish something.
Perhaps that was why Ferda continued.
“There is one more thing.”
“What else is there?”
Erika’s eyes sparkled like a child receiving a birthday present.
“My mana.”
“…Pardon?”
Her disappointment resembled that of a child who had received a present suited to an elderly grandmother.
“What do you mean by your mana?”
“My mana can disperse Lady Valdrova’s bloodlust.”
Her eyes widened.
Her vertically slit pupils contracted like those of a cat beneath the midday sun.
“Do you mean you healed her?”
“No. It only disperses the bloodlust that emerges under those circumstances.”
Rather than excited, Erika now looked confused.
The claim was so extraordinary that she found it difficult to accept at face value.
The blue-eyed mages were elites.
Every last one of them had devoted themselves to research, yet they had failed to create even a method of suppressing or dispersing the condition.
And now a mere human claimed to possess such unusual mana?
Mana capable of affecting a dragon, no less?
“I knew that the mana of a Red Circle possessed unusual properties because it was formed from emotions. But to think it could suppress or disperse Godwin’s chaos…”
She thought.
And thought.
And continued thinking.
Yet she still could not understand it.
Iorga was the Aspect of Water and Magic.
For Erika, the leader serving beneath Iorga, to fail to comprehend this was a devastating blow to her pride.
In the end, Erika discarded that pride.
“Very well.”
She spoke.
“Let us try it.”
“Are you serious?”
“Your mana. We need to determine what it is, so I should experience it directly, shouldn’t I?”
Erika removed her glove and extended her hand toward Ferda.
“It probably will not have much effect. It only works on Lady Valdrova.”
“Are you certain? One hundred percent?”
It had affected Valdrova.
However, it had produced no effect on Luri, who was a Spawn of Silverwind.
Therefore, it would either have no effect or only a minimal one on Erika, who was also a Dragon Spawn.
“I am reasonably certain.”
“‘Reasonably’ and ‘certain’ cannot coexist in the same statement. Let us test it directly. It likely will not mean anything significant anyway.”
True.
What special meaning could there possibly be in transferring mana?
Thinking that, Ferda took Erika’s hand.
“My prediction is that there is nothing inherently special about your mana. Perhaps, like shamans who inherit their abilities through blood, you unconsciously cast some kind of spell or—Hyeeeaaagh!?”
The instant Ferda injected mana into her, a piercing shriek erupted from Erika’s mouth.
It sounded like the cry of a sheltered young lady startled by a cold gust of wind blowing beneath her skirt.
The strength drained from Erika’s legs, and she collapsed into her seat.
From the floor, she looked up at Ferda.
Ferda was equally startled by the unexpected reaction and immediately released her hand.
The usually composed leader’s face was flushed crimson with humiliation, and her pupils trembled.
Staring at each other would not produce an answer.
Ferda and Erika simply looked into one another’s faces.
“Womanizer.”
Luri condemned him with an icy glare.
She had remained silent, but she had watched everything while holding her breath.
Ferda was visibly shaken.
“What nonsense is this about womanizing?”
“Did you not just cheat with that arrogant woman?”
“We merely held hands, and the leader screamed.”
“That was no scream. Anyone who heard it would call it a moan.”
Even Ferda had to acknowledge that.
“I only passed mana into her. It was what the leader of Iorga requested.”
“You have recited the exact script used by unfaithful men.”
This is driving me insane.
“You have experienced it yourself.”
“And did I cry out like that arrogant woman?”
“No.”
“There was nothing special about it. It was simply mana. Yet when you did it to the leader of Iorga, something was clearly different. Could it be…”
Luri narrowed her eyes.
“Do you like that woman?”
“Are you insane?”
Ferda instinctively scowled and cursed.
“It was only mana.”
“Then why was I the only one unaffected?”
“Does that matter?”
“It does.”
Luri irritably pulled off her glove.
“Try it. Even if I feel only the slightest sensation, I will scream with all my strength just like that woman.”
With Luri behaving that way, Ferda no longer wanted to take her hand regardless of the truth.
He decided to respond firmly.
“Why are you being so sensitive?”
“Do not change the subject.”
“I did not mind your questioning at first, but today you are being exceptionally persistent.”
“…Is it not because you are acting this way despite already having a fiancée?”
“To me, this appears to go beyond ordinary concern. Did I whisper words of love to her? Did I drag her into my bedchamber? It was merely an unknown reaction born from something neither of us understood, so why are you treating me like some accursed scoundrel?”
Ferda spoke calmly, but his anger was evident.
At his words, a trace of agitation appeared beneath Luri’s expressionless face.
She considered what he had said, then lowered her head.
“I apologize. You are correct. I am merely Lady Valdrova’s attendant…”
Watching her mumble like a dejected puppy reminded Ferda of everything that had happened that day.
Luri had endured a day just as difficult as his own.
The pressure of a potential war.
Goz Silverwind’s gaze.
She had been forced to endure both.
‘That is right. Today was difficult for her.’
That must be why she was acting so unusually sensitive.
She was simply trying to remain strong as always.
This was not something for which he should rebuke her.
He should praise her instead.
Ferda looked down at Luri, who stood before him with her head bowed.
“You worked hard today.”
Then he placed his hand on her head and gently stroked it.
“…”
Luri neither lifted her head nor reacted.
The moment his hand touched her head, she froze completely.
Only after placing his hand there did Ferda think,
What is this insane behavior?
My body moved on its own, but why did I do this?
Then he realized why the action felt familiar.
Hadn’t Mori said that stroking a child’s head was effective when an adult man praised them?
That was why she had requested it when Ferda praised her.
That was it.
Ferda had treated Luri like a child.
She already became irritated whenever he treated her as one.
She would undoubtedly become furious.
“Ugh…”
Yet contrary to his expectations, she did not.
Do not treat me like a child. I am a Dragon Spawn, and you are merely human.
That was how Ferda had expected her to respond, but Luri said nothing.
She remained with her head bowed, quietly feeling Ferda’s touch.
‘Why?’
He did not know.
They said animals felt comfort when grasped by the scruff of the neck.
Was it because it reminded them of a mother’s affection, or simply because of instinct?
Or had her anger overwhelmed her to such a degree that his hand now functioned like the trigger of an explosive, and she would kill him the moment he removed it?
Countless possibilities filled his head before she finally spoke.
“P-Please leave quickly. I need to clean.”
“Very well.”
Only then did Ferda remove his hand, allowing Luri to move again.
She immediately spun around and began sweeping the floor.
For the briefest moment, he glimpsed the skin that was not concealed by her hair.
Her face was bright red.
…
Luri thought to herself.
All humans changed.
The heart could not resist the passage of time.
It was as fickle as a reed, to the point that consistency was praised as a virtue worthy of respect.
Ferda was no different.
She could no longer understand what that man was thinking.
He had changed so drastically in less than a year.
Despite having Lady Valdrova, he had begun behaving like a womanizer, holding other women’s hands.
He continued doing nothing but things that made her dislike him.
No.
Luri knew the truth.
That man had not changed.
She knew he had felt nothing in particular when holding their hands.
She also knew he had no intention of being unfaithful.
It had merely been something she used whenever she needed an excuse to torment him.
Yet now a suffocating emotion had begun rising within her.
Yes.
The one who had changed was Luri herself.
She had noticed it subconsciously.
Whenever she became anxious, instead of thinking that she could handle it herself, Ferda’s name naturally came to mind.
And when Goz arrived at the castle, she had even grabbed Ferda’s clothes without realizing it.
That change had begun after Ferda killed Abel, when she had wept uncontrollably in his arms.
‘Lord Silverwind.’
For a moment, Ferda had felt like Silverwind.
It was an absurd delusion.
Her emotions had overwhelmed her, causing confusion in her memories.
That was what Luri believed.
What she had to believe.
Mistaking Ferda for her father, Silverwind, was an act of irreverence.
‘I really do need to scrub myself raw.’
She would fill the bath with lavender and soak herself thoroughly until the feeling disappeared.
Whatever the truth was, this was all Ferda’s fault.