“The one who inherits the blood of the dragon will fulfill the long-standing wish of the royal family… Iris is obsessed with this prophecy, the authenticity of which is vague. ‘Royal family’s wish’? To act on such a mad plan….”
“His Highness Bulteon doesn’t seem particularly interested in realizing the royal family’s wish.”
“Can I say it bluntly?”
With a thud, Bulteon put down his cup, forcing a wry smile.
“Iris’s dream is antiquated. To mass-produce Masters and minimize variables? That’s just a pretext. To kill thousands, tens of thousands of talented youths to become the true ruler of the continent….”
There was a subtle anger in the voice of the man muttering those words.
The calm expression was pierced by a sharp sneer.
“That kind of blood-soaked era of glory is over. The stage where humanity fights among themselves has long passed… Yet, we still have a common enemy known as ‘Monsters’; what do they plan to achieve by spilling blood across the continent again?”
That was the last straw.
Tsk, Bulteon clicked his tongue and tilted the bottle again. As the cup filled, he immediately drank in a bold manner.
He was, in all respects, a magnanimous man.
“Moreover, to use that tool as his own sister? Shi-en is still at an age where she has much more to learn and realize. So, I hope you’ll take good care of the wonder known as Shi-en.”
With that, the man slowly began to rise.
It was a signal to start wrapping things up. In any case, I had many tasks ahead, so it was a welcome suggestion.
Yet I felt a strange sense of regret.
This stemmed from the unexpectedly beneficial meeting with Bulteon. Until now, he had only been a name to me, but having had a brief conversation, I felt much more enlightened.
The reasons why Princess Iris especially dislikes Bulteon.
And what future Bulteon dreams of.
He was a man aiming in a direction completely opposite to that of Princess Iris. It was as if some intellectual entity had deliberately set the two to oppose each other.
However, I still had an unresolved question lingering in my mind.
“Then, would it be better for His Highness Shi-en not to become the apprentice of the Great Witch?”
It was a genuine curiosity.
Until now, I had only thought of making Shi-en the apprentice of the Great Witch. After all, wasn’t it a chance to learn the vision of one of the only three Masters in the continent?
I wanted to help Shi-en seize the best opportunity possible.
But that could potentially turn into poison.
This perspective was something I had never heard before, so I wanted to hear more of Bulteon’s thoughts.
It didn’t take long for a response to return.
As Bulteon tidied his clothes, his hands paused momentarily before he let out a slight sigh.
“Ian Fercurus, do you know? Those who are born with the blood of dragons must choose one of two paths.”
Farewell.
A hand swayed lightly above the shoulder of the departing man. His voice left a lingering echo of his presence.
“To become a dragon, or to become a human.”
Finally, he turned his blue eyes towards me.
They were clear and pure, so much so that I wondered if I were gazing into a pristine lake.
“I hope Shi-en becomes a human… Because a dragon cannot be happy.”
The sound of his footsteps echoed on unyielding ground.
How much time had passed?
I was the only one left in the colorless garden. Like a wine bottle barely holding its contents, my eyes were also likely to be empty.
After pondering for a long time, I eventually snatched the wine bottle left by Bulteon and poured it into the cup that remained for me. As I poured to the last drop, the cup filled halfway.
I gulped down the wine.
There were so many issues I needed to contemplate. Too many.
Time was like natural disasters.
No matter how much one wished otherwise, time flows, and tragedy inevitably arrives. The academy, standing on the eve of a storm, was already shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.
The Emperor had set off in haste.
Although he could not explain in detail due to fears of chaos, the academy was planning to evacuate the students soon. They just hadn’t resolved a few obstacles yet.
The curse of the vampire amplifies feelings toward me.
Whether it be affection, jealousy, or anything else, it was nothing short of pure ingredients that could strengthen the vampire’s enchantment. Naturally, a vampire would never easily let go of such a tempting prey.
Obsession.
That was likely the strategy laid out by the vampire.
“In the end, most students refused to leave the academy. I can understand affection, but how exactly does jealousy connect to obsession?”
After exhaling a cloud of smoke, it was a question cast forth.
The speaker was none other than the Great Witch, one of the only three Masters in the continent.
“Who knows? According to the Intelligence Department’s investigation, it seems the cursed students are suffering from a peculiar obsession. They’re trying to unearth the truth of the hero’s tale.”
And responding to that question with a bitter smile was the Swordmaster.
Like the Great Witch, he was one of the three Masters.
He had finally shed the body of a girl and regained his true form. The Swordmaster, looking more substantial than when he was a girl, carried a heavy aura.
Though in essence, he had not changed much.
The Great Witch shrugged her shoulders at the Swordmaster’s downcast tone.
“Hmph, well… The amplification of emotions is basically a form of hypnosis. It would be a piece of cake to plant a small suggestion during the process. Thanks to that, I’ve got one more worry.”
“The academy’s instructors must protect the students.”
A heavy assertion.
Unlike the seemingly unconcerned Great Witch, the Swordmaster was displaying a more serious demeanor.
The blue eyes looking at the Great Witch were gradually deepening.
“And I must protect my foolish niece… It means that we’ve almost exhausted the forces we can mobilize. Do we even have a chance, old lady?”
There was a pause before an answer came.
The Great Witch silently inhaled and exhaled the smoke.
After a while, she spat out a thin laugh and asked back.
“…What if there isn’t one?”
“I’ll have to prepare for the future.”
“You mean to say that with this carefully crafted plan, you didn’t consider the possibility of me running away? Without me, the young ones at the academy will all become offerings to the Dark Cult.”
“The ones left at the academy can be forcibly sent away…”
“So, you’re asking if a vampire wouldn’t have thought about that level of contingency?”
Only then did the Swordmaster, perhaps at a loss for words, let out a grunt.
His expression still showed dissatisfaction.
“The more people that leave for refuge, the larger the openings become. If it’s a vampire, they’d certainly have set up enough countermeasures for that. No, rather they might even be hoping for it…”
“Still, isn’t that better than a fight with no hope!”
Before I knew it, the Swordmaster’s tone had returned to the usual bravado.
It might well have been the manner of speaking he employed when dealing with the Great Witch for a long time. Breaking an old habit all at once must have been difficult.
“The enemy is a monster that borrowed the power of sorcery! And you’re telling me we have one Master who can’t even display their true ability, and one High Expert? We lack numbers absolutely. Both of them need to survive…!”
“Swordmaster.”
The one who cut off that pleading was not the Great Witch but me.
My voice broke the silence, firm and heavy. It was as if to prove that my resolve was unshaken.
“I don’t even know the whereabouts of Celin and Ceria yet. I won’t run away during this battle.”
That was the truth.
I had no place left to flee.
Right now, Celin had been abducted and her whereabouts were unknown, and Ceria had also been drained of Shi-en’s blood and vanished. And both were precious to me beyond compare.
Even if I were to die, I couldn’t turn back.
The Swordmaster surely understood my feelings. Therefore, he was likely making a frustrated expression.
He wanted to stop me, but he also knew he couldn’t.
The Great Witch exhaled a puff of smoke, nodding along with me.
“Well, it turns out that someone who’s leaving has a lot to say. And aren’t you the one who’s actually in the position to abandon us?”
“No, that’s… there are circumstances…!”
The Swordmaster strongly resisted the Great Witch’s remark. It was only natural; he probably didn’t want to leave either.
But that very point only spurred the Great Witch’s playfulness.
“Tsk tsk, what a pity. How I wish there were just a few more trustworthy people. At least one person who could find a spot where the flow of magic is unstable and could destroy the barrier’s stronghold.”
In the end, the Swordmaster fell silent in response to the Great Witch’s continued lamentation.
An unstable point in the flow of magic.
To perceive this required a keen sense. Vampires are superb sorcerers who have lived for hundreds of years, and their intricate sorcery made it incredibly difficult to notice anything amiss.
Even I might not notice it and simply pass by.
Such talent was rare even within the continent’s Intelligence Department. At the very least, the Swordmaster couldn’t immediately summon an alternate force.
And that was when the abnormality occurred.
“Um….”
A small voice.
Those two syllables filled with hesitation echoed in our room. The source was the owner of this space, lying on the bed.
The Empire’s Fifth Imperial Princess, Shi-en.
Even though an unexpected debate arose, this was, in essence, the room where the princess was receiving intensive treatment. The three of us who had come to visit happened to start exchanging opinions.
And this was the outcome.
Shi-en had been unable to join in the higher-ups’ conversation for a long time and had been sitting idly on the bed like a mute with honey in her mouth. After holding her silence for quite some time, she finally broke it.
There was sufficient reason for all our attention to shift toward her.
The girl seemed tense under the intensity of our gazes and gulped visibly. Her slightly huddled body was pitiable, yet Shi-en bravely spoke with resolve.
“If it’s just that, I can do it too! My eyes are special!”
However, the content was so sudden.
Our three gazes crossed in the air. Each one reflected shock.
A storm was approaching. From afar, or perhaps right in front of us.
The ambush began the very next day.
In the deep underground where day and night could not be distinguished.
Celin barely managed to open her heavy eyelids.
“Hello.”
She knew well that the scenery awaiting her was always the same.
A woman with black hair and red eyes was crouching in front of her with a smile.
A woman whose beauty was breathlessly alluring.
Celin referred to this person as such.
As ‘the Demon.’
