The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 385

The Dragon Lord’s nest and the sanctuary of the Gold Dragons were in a state of emergency.

[So, an agent has been selected.]

[And of all the outsiders… it had to be a human waiting for punishment. What on earth is going on…?]

Smaraeg and Nix could only sigh deeply at the results of the election.

The position of the Dragon Lord, passed down through generations of Gold Dragons, had been taken by an outsider… and worse, by a human.

While listening to the two, Forma suddenly stood up and spoke.

[Isn’t it truly astonishing?]

[Huh? What do you mean?]

[We didn’t even notice how sophisticated the Polymorph was… Experience is truly not to be underestimated.]

Skill from experience? A Polymorph so refined we couldn’t even detect it?

Nix couldn’t comprehend what Forma was suddenly talking about.

[Polymorph is praised as a power that cannot be distinguished by other mortals, but that’s limited to mortals alone. Among Dragons, we can all recognize when another has transformed into a Polymorph.]

[Yes, that’s true.]

[However… I couldn’t notice his Polymorph at all.]

Perhaps it was because he was a human not under a Polymorph.

[To think there was a Gold Dragon who lived that long… Even I who have lived for two thousand years feel small. Perhaps he could help that one awaken once again.]

Forma genuinely seemed to believe that human was a Dragon.

Assuming he was a Dragon resolved all strange points, making it odd to suspect him otherwise.

His nonchalance in confronting a Dragon close to transcendence and how the memories of the ancestors of Gold Dragons recognized him as a Dragon was perplexing.

Many indicators suggested he was a Dragon, and doubting this seemed like merely holding a bias based on the fact that he appeared human the first time they saw him.

[Do you really think that human is a Dragon, Forma?]

[There couldn’t be any other answer.]

Thus, Forma was confident in calling him a Dragon.

No other answer could exist.

[If you still doubt it, think about it. That was definitely a Polymorph. Can any existence other than a Dragon use Polymorph? Even gods cannot wield Polymorph. They can imitate it, but it is an entirely different technique.]

Techniques that alter appearances exist in plenty in this world.

Change, Metamorphosis, and others can change forms, but among them, Polymorph is exceptional.

Polymorph, a magic usable only by Dragons, is famously known to be impossible to tamper with.

Indeed, there are records of research on Dragon Polymorphs from long ago, but they angered the gods by crossing lines in their studies, leading to their downfall long before they could see their results.

Seeing a Polymorph used right before their eyes left no room for denial.

It would mean denying not just that he used Polymorph but that Polymorph even existed.

[Can we really claim that what he used wasn’t a Polymorph?]

[It was certainly a Polymorph.]

Yet, they clearly sensed it was a Polymorph.

——————

Sal, forcibly expelled from the sanctuary, holed up in his nest.

Naturally, it was an unwelcome act, but he had no other choices.

The three-forked tattoo etched on his chest felt like the brand of a slave.

[How… how does this make sense?! A Dragon who lived for twenty thousand years?? How can that be real?! Where… where did that come from!!!]

Unable to contain his rage, Sal rampaged within his nest.

His fury manifested physically, as he gathered precious materials to his liking, leaving behind a nest that was unrecognizable from its old form.

Treasures like rare statues made a thousand years ago and the self-portrait commissioned from the genius painter eight hundred years ago could not withstand his wrath, crushed into nothingness, yet Sal’s destructive actions did not cease.

This anger, boiling from deep within him, threatened to uproot everything in his nest.

[How is it possible that I woke up in a place I don’t even recognize?! Aaaagh!!!!]

It should be said that since this morning… no, since yesterday, Sal had been sensing something was off.

A strange human suddenly appeared and beat him up, and when he woke up, he found himself in an entirely unfamiliar place, just managing to reach the sanctuary.

If it weren’t for the ‘they’ who had always helped him, he surely wouldn’t have arrived on time.

But what followed was even more absurd.

The existence of Gemma made him uneasy about being the Dragon Lord’s closest blood relative, but aside from that, he expected he would be elected as the representative being the most experienced Dragon. Instead, someone unexpected was elected as the agent and even kicked him out.

Now everything was over.

“Seems like things aren’t going well for you.”

At that moment, someone appeared behind Sal.

[You…!]

As soon as Sal heard the voice, a loud explosion rang out where he had been standing.

The explosion from the 6th Circle spell, Explosion, was unleashed simply because Sal was looking.

The blast filled the area with thick black smoke.

Just yesterday, he was beaten senseless by a mere human, but this time, facing a worthy opponent, he was still a Gold Dragon.

He was an absolute powerhouse capable of killing hundreds of ordinary humans at a thought.

“This… If we take an attack like this, we’re seriously going to die, you know?”

But beyond the black smoke, a man in a black robe casually walked out, unfazed.

Sal didn’t even find it odd that he suffered no damage, dropping down to the ground to look at the man beneath him and began to vent his frustrations.

[You said if we followed your plan, things would go well!]

As Sal shouted, the black robe’s fabric fluttered.

The pressure was so intense it could have blown him away if it were any stronger, but the man seemed completely unbothered.

[Why is Gemma wandering around fine while an unknown has taken the representative’s position? Why?!]

Maybe it was the thought that they were alone, but some risky conversations spilled out.

The man in the black robe approached Sal, who was wasting time, and proposed a plan about what he wanted most.

If it had been a terrible tale of merely assassinating the Dragon Lord to snatch the Lord’s seat, he would have refused.

The position of Lord was something Sal had wanted but gave up on because he never had it.

He was only curious about what the view would look like from that seat.

But what they spoke of was a playful story of being able to temporarily gain ‘Dragon Lord’ power without any significant feelings of guilt.

At this point, if things went awry along the way, he could just laugh and say, “Ah, looks like this isn’t happening.”

The plan was to forcibly put the Dragon Lord into a deep sleep for about five years and send Lord’s daughter Gemma off to a resort or something before Sal took the Lord’s place as the representative.

It wouldn’t require killing his kin, nor would it put a significant strain on their health.

He took this lightly, yet his anger about how the plan went awry was directed towards that human.

If only the plan had gone astray along the way, he’d have laughed and moved on. But having some unknown individual randomly show up, beat him down, and take his place made him feel as though something that was never his was suddenly taken from him.

“It’s not over yet. Don’t lose heart.”

[Ha… it’s not over?]

As Sal poured his rage over how things went wrong, the man coldly began to speak of the next steps.

But that tone irked Sal immensely.

It wasn’t just that the plan had gone awry; a terrible insignia was now etched onto him that he couldn’t erase for a long time.

[Do you know what this is? This is the Lord’s ‘Orders.’ If I break this, 90% of the magic I’ve gathered in Dragon Heart will disperse into the air! It’s already too late! That guy is holding my lifeline!]

The three-forked tattoo on his chest symbolized the power of the Lord, just like the three-forked light appearing on the representative’s forehead.

The Dragon Lord’s orders forced upon someone carry the insane weight of immediate penalties if disobeyed.

Thanks to that, Sal was rendered unable to leave his nest for five hundred years.

The man, listening to Sal’s lament filled with rage, seemed entirely unsympathetic.

“Then, should you not have prepared for such a risk when trying to rise to the position of Dragon Lord?”

[What?]

“Let’s try it once more. This time, I’ll help directly. If it succeeds, everything will be resolved, right?”