The fifth unit conveyed the message from the Demon King to the capital, and it wasn’t long before a response came back.
“They say they will send the Second Knight Order.”
“Can you let them know that we need an army?”
“Yes.”
After hearing the reply that came back, the Demon King sighed.
The response was that since the Demon King was in the capital, there was no need to send an army.
It seemed like they understood the implications of not being involved in the administration of the empire at all.
Furthermore, the Knight Order they agreed to send was the one led by Aila.
In other words, only people connected to the Demon King were providing support.
“Who exactly are you asking for support from?”
Feeling frustrated, I asked the fifth unit, who responded a bit awkwardly.
“It’s an official from the intelligence department; it’s an arrangement made after talking with the Crown Prince.”
“What about the Emperor?”
“He doesn’t have much power anymore. He’s almost done preparing to hand it over to the Crown Prince.”
Currently, the power of the imperial court was in the hands of the Crown Prince.
In other words, his permission was essential for any war or large-scale military operations.
“Perhaps they don’t even have the means to help me right now.”
“Why is that?”
“There are many people in the imperial court who covet power.”
Originally, the Crown Prince was third in line for succession, but his elder brother died of illness, and his sister gave up her claim through marriage.
Some officials were dissatisfied with this situation.
According to the fifth unit’s explanation, there was a brutal struggle happening beneath the surface to strengthen the imperial authority.
The Second Knight Order was supported because it had no political affiliation.
In a way, it could be a bit bittersweet, but perhaps it would bring more peace of mind.
“Is it okay to receive such treatment?”
“They’re providing support, so it doesn’t matter. There’s no point in getting angry; they won’t realize anything now. People usually regret things before they die.”
It seemed there were past instances where the Demon King had been angry.
If necessary, he could overturn the situation himself.
The reason the Demon King wasn’t particularly angry was that he judged it was enough to fend off even an undead army.
“Then, come to the hotel tomorrow.”
“Yes, I’ll prepare and go.”
After leaving the fifth unit’s room, the Demon King and I headed straight to the hotel.
At the hotel entrance, two people who appeared to be part of the Demon King’s royal guard were loitering around.
“What are you doing over there in such a suspicious manner?”
“Who knows? Perhaps strange folks might come by.”
“And that’s why you’re bringing bodyguards here.”
The Demon King pointed at me.
The two guards exchanged puzzled glances as they looked at me.
“I don’t think he looks that strong, though.”
“He meets the qualifications of a bodyguard.”
“Well, understood. There are a few others already in the city, so feel free to call us if it’s urgent.”
They were quite diligent.
Even though they were told to take a break, they had divided into a team guarding the headquarters outside of Raden and another team observing the situation inside the city.
Even dividing the ten royal guards, breaking them into groups of five was the best they could do.
Upon returning to the room, Tenji was dozing off inside.
“You seem tired; go ahead and rest first.”
Having stayed still and just guarded the room all day, it was bound to be boring.
The Demon King didn’t forget to check Isabel’s condition before lying down on the bed.
Before long, the Demon King had returned to a child’s form.
“When will Isabel be able to move?”
“It’s almost time.”
It had already been over a week, but the Demon King kept telling Isabel to not move.
Isabel still had dark bruises all over her body.
It didn’t seem like her wounds were healing at all.
Although it was said to be wounds inflicted by a cursed blade, she was only kicked by Juan.
And one more thing.
How much longer would Aila remain in that state?
I fell asleep harboring my curiosity.
“Wake up, wake up.”
I was awakened by a gentle touch.
“Is it already morning?”
“It’s almost morning.”
Looking out the window, the city was still shrouded in darkness, but the distant sky was gradually brightening.
The one who woke me was the Demon King, but the fifth unit was also there.
I didn’t know why they woke me up, but I got out of bed.
“You’re a dragon, right?”
“I’m a person.”
“Can you transform?”
I could if I drank a transformation potion, but I didn’t know how to normally.
“I can’t.”
“I’ll teach you, so let’s go.”
I thought it was unlikely they would take the initiative to teach me.
The Demon King next to me had a very mischievous smile.
“Oh, of course…”
“It would be nice if a dragon under the Demon King could transform, right?”
“I’m not like that, Demon King.”
We moved to the basement of the hotel to learn transformation magic.
I had always wondered why JS Hotel had a training area in the basement.
After all, it wasn’t like they were raising an army here.
“But why do I have to turn into a dragon?”
In response to my question, both the Demon King and the fifth unit answered simultaneously.
“Because it looks cool.”
“It’s awesome.”
If it was just for the sake of looking cool, I honestly didn’t want to do it.
“Of course, it looks cool, but the most important thing is the intimidation factor. And you’ll be stronger in dragon form than in human form.”
“Will I be stronger?”
“You should be, right?”
Since the Demon King had never seen a dragon before, he could only guess how strong it would be.
“Okay, then I’ll teach you the basics of transformation magic.”
“It’s important to coat your body with mana.”
The basics of transformation magic.
Coat your whole body with mana, then transform. End of explanation.
There were no detailed descriptions whatsoever; just those two sentences were all.
Even though they explained it to me, I could see they didn’t understand why I couldn’t do it.
When teaching other magic, the Demon King’s explanations had been quite helpful.
But for transformation magic, that explanation was too lacking.
I wanted a much more detailed explanation, but they kept repeating that it was all there was.
“Once you get used to it, it’ll be easy. Give it a try.”
“It seems like I can attempt this freely?”
“Failing won’t kill you or anything.”
It was said that if one succeeded once out of ten attempts, they would be deemed somewhat talented.
Typically, it was normal to fail dozens or hundreds of times in order to succeed once.
It was indeed high-level magic, but many questions lingered about its practicality.
The advantages of transformation magic were that you could hide yourself.
However, I thought that there was hardly a merit in transforming on a battlefield where combat took place.
Regardless of talent, the two of them firmly believed I could transform into a dragon without much trouble.
For someone like me, who had never taken the form of a dragon even once in my life, it felt like an unrealistic fantasy.
Coating my entire body with mana was an easy task.
For the average demon folk, when spreading the mana technique, the body is lightly covered in mana.
I also experienced a similar phenomenon when gathering mana.
Sitting down, I began to focus while wrapping mana around my entire body.
“It’s important to visualize it well.”
The Demon King gave me advice from the side, but it didn’t particularly resonate.
I imagined the appearance of a dragon.
A large lizard with wings, breathing fire from its mouth.
Flap!
There wasn’t a big change, but it felt like the wings on my back were extending a bit more.
“Hmm. It’s a little ambiguous, isn’t it?”
The first attempt at transformation was a failure.
The wings and horns grew slightly, and a few scales appeared on my skin.
When I lightly brushed my hand over them, the scales fell off.
“I think I could transform.”
“Yeah.”
The two of them were glancing around me, analyzing the cause of my failure.
“I think it would be helpful if you could show me an example of transformation?”
When I asked, the two made somewhat troubled expressions as they replied.
“We can’t do that either.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s the source of magic.”
Long ago, it was the dragons who passed on magic to humans.
The demon folk learned independently by seeing that magic and developed it.
Magic was broadly classified into two categories.
The original magic passed down by the dragons and magic developed by the demon folk.
In other words, demon folk who learned magic by observing dragon magic could not replicate that original, primal magic.
What remains in the world today is only the magic developed by demon folk.
Unfortunately, the original magic gradually faded as humans received divine power from the gods.
Currently, those who are called wizards among humans are all those who learned by studying the magic of the demon folk.
Moreover, since the dragons have gone extinct, no one can learn it anymore.
“Have you felt anything special while using magic until now?”
“Not really anything special?”
The one thing that set me apart was that I could handle mana without a mana technique.
Aside from that, there wasn’t anything particularly different.
“In that case, do you want to try this?”
The fifth unit created a sword of fire in her empty hand.
“How did you make that?”
“Just create it. It’s much simpler than transformation magic.”
The image of the Demon King generating items out of nothing came to my mind.
Gently gathering mana, I tried to create the same fire sword that the fifth unit had in her hand.
The process was like molding the shape of ice while stacking ice towers.
A sword of fire quietly ignited in my hand.
“Did you do it in one go?”
The fifth unit seemed surprised, as she had expected me to fail.
“Yeah, the magic you use will be closest to the original magic.”
I asked if perhaps my ability to use magic without a mana technique was why that was the case.
“Probably.”
Though I failed at transformation, I got a grasp of the origin of my magic.
Stepping outside the hotel, the warm sunlight bathed the city in a gentle glow.
It was truly peaceful.
The Demon King gave some instructions to the fifth unit and then returned to the hotel room with me.
“What did you instruct?”
“I need to treat Isabel.”
Even though Epiro said that she would heal with time, her condition hadn’t improved, leaving me with questions.
“Haven’t you treated her during this time?”
“I have been. I’ve been slowly separating the cursed blade’s power from her body.”
“The cursed blade’s power seems quite significant.”
“It’s like a strong poison. If you just pull it out, the power will go wild everywhere.”
The fifth unit returned after quite a while.
In her hand was a magic stone that was larger than an adult’s fist.
Opening a bag that hadn’t been there before, she revealed two more magic stones of the same size inside.
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes.”
The Demon King approached Isabel, who was lying on the bed and looking out the window, holding one large magic stone.
