Chapter 447 : Return (3)
Serdea Polantisia recalled a memory from long ago with a dazed expression.
When she was very young.
When her father was still alive and the Empire was resplendent, when the siblings had not yet slaughtered one another, she had encountered the guardian dragon.
The moment they met was not long.
It hadn’t even lasted five minutes.
However, that brief memory had been etched very deeply into her mind.
To that extent, that meeting with her was, for Serdea—
No, for the other siblings included, it had been a shock.
For those who bore the duty of leading the Empire forward, it was rare to feel their own helplessness merely by standing before a single living being.
As she traced back the past, she soon recalled Alon.
Certainly, Alon Palatio was quite a special existence, both in rumor and in person.
He was special, but..................
That Alon was the father of the guardian dragon was a bit..............?
No matter how she thought about it, it was strange.
Tilting her head, Serdea looked ahead.
There stood her loyal retainer, who, like her, was tilting his head as if he also found it unbelievable even while delivering the information.
“Is the information certain?”
“Honestly, I also found it hard to believe, so I checked multiple times... but for now, it is said that Contanias expressed it that way.”
“Isn’t that idiot just mistaken?”
Serdea asked again.
Her retainer pondered for a moment before answering.
“There is a possibility, but I believe it is not high.”
“Why?”
"If that prideful Contanias lowered his head in front of all his vassals, then that means—"
"He heard it from the guardian dragon?”
“Yes. In truth, isn’t he all confidence but actually a complete coward? For someone with that temperament to recklessly come all the way to the border like that...”
At the retainer’s explanation, Serdea eventually nodded.
Indeed, his words were correct. Contanias’s actions were too strange to dismiss as simply having heard information somewhere and acting on it. There were far too many things that were unlike him.
In other words, if all the circumstances were put together.
“Then the claim that Alon is the father of the guardian dragon… is true?”
“For now, that is the conclusion, but................”
Since it ultimately meant the information was true, Serdea became even more confused than before.
She pictured the two.
‘No, do they look alike......?’
...like?
The guardian dragon and Alon Palatio.
Naturally, starting from their aura, there was nothing alike between them.
On top of that, Alon didn’t even have that characteristic draconic energy.
‘But if Alon is the father of the guardian dragon.................Then conversely, the rumors he has built up in that small Allied Kingdom would gain credibility.’
After continuing her thoughts with a confused expression for a while, Serdea—
“I suppose I should meet him one more time.”
made her decision.
“How long would it take to go to the Allied Kingdom after finishing this matter?”
“It will probably take about four months.”
“Four months....…”
Muttering at her retainer’s answer, Serdea—
“Alright.”
soon nodded firmly.
***
A week had passed since Alon crossed the northern Empire’s border and began moving.
“My Lord, I think I should stay here.”
".......Stay here?”
Yutia suddenly said her farewell.
“Yes, there is a temple in this northern Empire that serves the goddess Sironia.”
“If it won’t take long, I don’t mind waiting.”
However, Yutia smiled and lightly shook her head.
“No, I think it will take some time.”
"Is that so?”
“Yes. I heard there’s something to take care of here. It seems it will take some time to resolve, so please don’t worry and go on ahead.”
At her words, Alon hesitated.
If it were the Allied Kingdom, it wouldn’t matter much, but this was the Empire.
However, insisting on staying by her side even when she said it wasn’t necessary would also be strange.
“Alright.”
“Then I’ll be going, My Lord.”
“Okay.”
Yutia quickly disappeared into the crowd in the plaza.
Shortly after, as they left the territory once more and exited the castle—
[Puha~!]
[Meow-!)
As if they had been waiting desperately, Basiliora and Blackie popped out.
[Thought I was going to die from being stuck in there so long!]
[Meow!Meow-!)
Perhaps stifled, Basiliora and Blackie panted as they chattered.
As the two began shouting and playing, the previously quiet carriage quickly became noisy.
“It really feels different when Yutia is here and when she isn’t.”
“Well, that can’t be helped.”
Penia gave a bitter smile at Alon’s words, then suddenly asked as if something came to mind.
“More importantly, Lord Alon. Didn’t Cardinal Yutia seem a bit strange?”
“Yutia?”
“Yes! Um— it’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but it felt like she couldn’t remember things well overall...............?”
At Penia’s words, Alon let out a low exclamation.
“Indeed, there was something like that.”
“Right?”
Alon recalled Yutia’s face.
‘...............She didn’t seem to have any particular problem.’
During this journey, Yutia had not been much different from usual.
And yet, the reason Alon agreed with Penia was that Yutia occasionally showed signs of not remembering the past well.
‘Of course, she answered well and moved on.’
At times she hesitated, as if nodding along to something she didn’t actually remember.
“Well, forgetting things happens to anyone.”
“I think so too. But this is Cardinal Yutia we’re talking about.”
Alon agreed with that as well.
Forgetting things wasn’t a big issue, but because it was Yutia, it stood out more.
After pondering for a moment.
“Ah, are we completely done with our schedule now?”
At Evan’s question, Alon quickly set aside his thoughts and answered.
“More or less. There is one place to stop by on the way.”
“Oh, really?”
“It’s on the way anyway, so we won’t be spending extra time.”
‘I should meet the golden dragon before going.’
Before he knew it, Blackie had climbed onto Alon’s lap.
As he gently stroked it, Penia asked.
“How is the ‘law’ now?”
“I’ve learned how to use it, but handling it isn’t easy yet.”
“Hmm— it’s definitely something that’s both easy and difficult to handle. There’s a lot to think about in many ways.”
Penia soon fell into thought, tilting her head.
“But in the end, I think you made the right choice. It’s definitely an ability that could become a variable in one way or another.”
“That’s true. Though the restrictions mean I’ll have to think carefully about many things.”
As Alon agreed, Penia raised her eyebrows and brought up her main point.
“Actually, there’s something I’m a bit curious about.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the ‘laws’ of mages and the ‘laws’ of divine-bloods we talked about before.”
“Ah.”
They had indeed talked about it before crossing the border.
“As we thought back then, it seemed like the laws possessed by divine-bloods come with restrictions as the price for using the ‘law,’ while the laws created by mages use mana as the price, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Of course, aside from that, there are differences like the strength of the law, and that mage laws have clearer characteristics compared to divine-bloods.”
“And?”
At Alon’s prompt, Penia continued.
“The ‘Reverse Heaven’ you use is a mage’s law, right? And mage laws use ‘mana’ as the price.”
“Yes.”
“Then, doesn’t it seem strange that the price of that law, which generates infinite mana, is... a bit odd?”
“That’s….to begin with...... uh......?”
Trying to refute her logic instinctively, Alon suddenly widened his eyes.
Until now, he hadn’t paid attention to it, but the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
A brief silence fell inside the carriage.
“......It does seem that way, right?”
“I hadn’t thought about it carefully before, but indeed..”
“Yes. Even I think ‘Reverse Heaven’ is............... contradictory, assuming that mage laws and divine-blood laws operate as we expected. It’s almost like—”
Only Penia’s voice rang clearly.
“Like a law created by divine-bloods.”
***
A month had passed since they parted ways with Yutia.
Alon reached the border faster than expected and, thanks to Contanias’s consideration, was able to exit toward the wasteland without difficulty.
“This trip was quite long. It’s basically like we were away for nearly half a year.”
At Evan’s words, Alon nodded.
“It has been a while.”
“Right? We didn’t really do much, but we spent a lot of time traveling. By the way, where are we going now? You said we’d stop somewhere briefly.”
Alon organized his thoughts for a moment and said.
“We’ll head south.”
Without further words, Alon’s group moved toward the southern wasteland.
After several more days passed.
As Alon continued traveling endlessly through the barren wasteland—
“!”
he sensed a strange anomaly.
Mana began to wrap around the entire carriage.
However, Alon soon realized what it was and stopped Penia, who was about to use mana at the ominous sign.
And then—with a flash before their eyes, the entire group realized they had been moved somewhere.
“Lord Alon?”
“Could this be—”
Evan’s shocked voice came from outside, and Penia’s eyes widened as she seemed to grasp the situation.
Alon rose and stepped outside the carriage, and there—
[............It has been a while, mage.]
“Indeed.”
he faced Lainisius.
Lainisius looked down at him with the same expression as before, one devoid of any emotion.
As silence settled between them.
A sudden look of confusion appeared on Lainisius’s face.
[??]
As if faced with something incomprehensible, Lainisius tilted his head several times.
“What’s with him all of a sudden?”
Alon asked first, though he somewhat understood the reaction.
‘Well, a lot has changed since I came here years ago.’
A long time had passed.
But Alon’s current growth was something that couldn’t be achieved in just a few years. Surely, that must have surprised him.
Alon felt oddly proud inside.
It felt like being acknowledged by a dragon, something that could be called magic itself.
However.
[............Mage, let me ask you something.]
“What is it?”
[Is there perhaps a dragon outside? No, are you—]
Unfortunately, the dragon’s question went far beyond Alon’s expectations.
[...............Did you marry a dragon?]