Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: A Dragon's Satisfaction
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The realization that he had fallen for the promise of food and shelter and signed a one-sidedly disadvantageous contract was short-lived.
These days, Lepidus had not only adapted to this leisurely lifestyle but was thoroughly savoring it.
What kind of race were dragons, after all? On average, a single individual was stronger than anything else on this continent.
No, they were beings who could ascend to demigod status simply by accumulating years.
Any stimulus lost its edge once the novelty wore off.
That was why play and dreams were necessary—to grasp hold of things that faded and wore away over time.
Thus, Lepidus found his current situation quite satisfying. Aside from the fact that part of his power remained sealed.
If that had been freed, he could have done so much more. With these mad bastards.
"Do humans normally live like that? Everyone like you? Like that Adelrian?"
Alkaido opened his mouth as Lepidus laughed without hiding his arrogance, casually slicing open his own palm with a knife, gripping the blood, and letting it drip into a glass vial.
"What do you mean by living like that?"
"I mean acting like you're burning yourself up without regard for means or methods to achieve your goals."
One vial, two vials, three vials.
A doppelganger held the contradiction of its memories breaking apart even after devouring a whole person.
But if it fed slowly over a long time, consuming far more than one person, how much closer could it get?
Alkaido spoke with his usual serene expression.
"There is a flaw in what you say, Lord Lepidus."
"What do you mean?"
Lepidus playfully shook the spellbook that served as proof of his false identity as a mage hired by the Kruger family and asked.
"The part about not regarding means or methods for a goal."
Alkaido placed the blood-smeared dagger on a dry cloth, then sprayed potion on his deeply torn hand and recited in an even tone.
"That statement is incorrect."
Lepidus tilted his head, taking in the sight of the man with pale gray-white hair, gray-blue eyes, and an upright posture.
"Where is it wrong?"
Alkaido stroked his beard once with his now-healed hand, then began slowly wiping the blood from the blade, one side at a time, with the dry cloth as he spoke.
"Because there has never been a time when means and methods were disregarded."
Lepidus. It was a question he could ask precisely because he was a dragon ignorant of the lives of the lowliest.
Alkaido continued as he watched the silver blade slowly reveal his face, the red tint fading away.
"With Duke Kaiman absent, everything in the Kruger family is now in Young Master Adelrian's hands."
That was the position of acting family head, after all.
Though Kaiman had viewed Adelrian as utterly insignificant—a living ring holder, a ring vault with legs that couldn't easily run away or be stolen.
"The Kruger family has dominated the continent's commerce for a very long time, amassing gold and wielding equivalent influence."
In a world where many revered strength and wisdom, another power hidden beneath the image of gold-obsessed merchants.
The might of money.
If they resolved to embrace the condemnation of all, they could bring at least half the continent to its knees with mere food supply manipulations.
The only reason they didn't was because it was obvious the Kruger family—lacking an absolute powerhouse—would be the one to crumble if pushed to the end.
'But things are different now.'
Alkaido slowly turned to look at Lepidus.
Kaiman conducting some experiment, Adelrian investing in the future.
Though headed in different directions, their destinations would both lead to the family's glory.
That alone made Alkaido smile deeply.
"We are still hiding our means and methods all too well, Lord Lepidus."
Lepidus, perched on the windowsill, parted his lips slightly before bursting into laughter.
"No matter how I think about it, I see you lot as the villains."
"Or perhaps saviors."
Depending on which of the two—headed in different directions—truly became the family's master.
Alkaido slowly tucked the glass vial containing his blood into his bosom.
* * *
"No matter how many times I emphasize it, it's not enough, everyone. Traits grow more powerful the more you use them. They become more beautiful the more you hone them. That is talent. That is effort."
The professor, wearing oversized round glasses, waved his staff like he was singing a song, continuing his chant.
"That's how I see it. Nothing is more 'me' than my Traits. Because they manifest in my actions, personality, values, mindset—everything. They let me know even the parts of myself I don't recognize."
So don't stop. Keep moving.
The eyes beyond the round glasses gleamed ferociously. As the professor struck the floor with his staff, vines sprouted from all directions, writhing like hands and surging forward.
"Hoo."
Gadia instantly froze the approaching vines trying to snatch her body, shattered them with arrows, and swiftly retreated backward.
Dodging the countless vines slithering across the floor to grab her ankle, she twisted her body like a dancer, conjured several ice arrows in the empty air, and fired them in all directions to clear a space to stand.
Then someone lightly leaped into that spot, crouched low, and swung a long spear in a circle, whipping up a spray of water infused with wind-attribute power that shredded the oncoming vines to pieces.
"Feia."
"Gadia."
Gadia's ice-blue eyes met Feia's deep sapphire ones.
"...What's this about?"
The two—distant relatives on their mothers' sides—stood back-to-back in the same space, ripping apart the snake-like vines crawling toward them from every direction as they began whispering lowly.
"Gadia, about your younger brother."
"...Adelrian? How do you know that guy?"
A flicker of bewilderment crossed the cold Gadia's face.
The aloof, icy Gadia and the shy, expressionless, quiet Feia pressed their backs together.
"...I'm curious about what kind of person he is."
"What?"
In that instant, Gadia's arrow struck not a vine but the floor, creating and then vanishing a palm-sized frozen zone.
Feia thrust her spear into the air, grinding vines with infused wind, and bit her lip.
Did Gadia know that the one commanding such terrifying figures was her brother?
Given what Gadia had heard from the academy until now, she likely had no idea her brother was such a fearsome existence.
Feia couldn't speak plainly and hemmed and hawed.
But her poor conversational skills made Gadia's gaze waver.
"What do you mean by that, Feia?"
"It means exactly what I said. I want to know about your brother, Young Lord Adelrian."
How strong he was. How greedy, how cruel. The rumors called him a wastrel, but the one she'd seen seemed different.
Frightening, immense, inscrutable.
Feia turned her steadfast gaze back at Gadia behind her, but Gadia was shooting arrows with a thoroughly confused expression.
"I, I don't approve."
"What do you mean?"
"That guy isn't someone you should be interested in, Feia."
Not worth her interest?
Meaning something even greater?
Something even an imperial of this nation couldn't afford to concern herself with?
Feia's deep blue eyes rippled.
"What does that mean, Gadia?"
Gadia grimaced awkwardly at Feia's question. That wastrel catching the eye of Feia, one of the more normal royals?
'For Feia's sake, too.'
Gadia snapped coldly.
"Don't be curious about Adelrian. Treat him like he doesn't exist."
No matter what secrets he held...
Feia bit her lower lip slightly.
If she got tangled with that wastrel, the innocent Feia would just be used.
Gadia furrowed her brow.
And so spear and arrows flew past each other.
* * *
"Old man, you're impressive."
A single drop of red blood trickled down Cain's forehead and beaded on his eyelashes.
He had been staring without even blinking once, so the droplet clung precariously to his lashes before plopping to the floor.
How many days had it been in this space already? An existence he couldn't catch no matter how he chased, couldn't reach no matter how he thrust his sword.
A clear gap in power. Not talent, but a wall built from years and experience.
Yet he had no intention of giving up just because he couldn't catch up immediately.
Cain had always been indomitable, after all.
How long had it been since he read the twisted space's mana, twisted himself to close in, and extended his sword?
Cain's eyes flushed red, his golden pupils gleaming.
"Boy. You're the impressive one."
And at that sight stood perhaps the continent's strongest man right now.
The Emperor's Sword. His shadow. The dagger. The continent's war deterrent.
The elderly Ganax laughed hollowly, hands clasped behind his wrinkled back.
Despite his astonishing mana reserves and attained realm, his gaunt frame and slightly hunched back signaled his remaining days were few.
But that didn't signify weakness by any means.
"Heh heh, boy. You're a monster too."
Ganax chuckled as he watched the sword slowly piercing into his unique domain, blending his Traits [Space (SSS)] and [Time (SS)].
An absolute domain of authority.
A power usable only when Ganax converted all mana to defense rather than offense.
The closer one approached Ganax, the slower time became, the farther the distance grew.
A force solely for safeguarding the imperial bloodline.
Cain tore through the tangled space with his innate genius and monstrous senses, twisting mana to unravel, widen, and shred it.
Inch by inch, he pushed that sword tip toward Ganax.
To an onlooker, Cain might seem frozen in an infinite stretch of time, unsure if it would ever connect.
But Ganax laughed heartily at that sword drawing ever closer, thread by thread as the tangle unraveled, inching toward him.
In that space filled with twisted, entangled, solidified mana, as the hunched elder Ganax released his power, Cain's sword tip—which had moved slowest of all—surged toward him faster than anything.
Clang!
Ganax parried the blade with his jade longsword and spoke.
"Won't you walk the proper path even now? I don't know who you've sided with, but it surely isn't to your benefit."
Cain spun his body from the recoil of blocking Sca, instantly shifting it to meteor hammer form, and Ganax retreated as Cain swung the weight fiercely with centrifugal force.
The hammer grazed past Ganax's face, leaving a finger's width of space, and the mana-infused gust sliced a thin red line across Ganax's cheek.
"I refuse."
"I can't understand it, boy. Let me guide you myself. I don't know who you serve, but their glory can't surpass His Imperial Majesty the Emperor."
Cain twisted his lips in a sneer at Ganax's words. Who was he trying to patronize with that condescending attitude?
"I'll judge that. I'll decide."
"You're still young and know nothing. I'll remove the blinders from your eyes."
At Ganax's words, Cain steadied his breath and gripped Sca, now reverted to sword form.
His disheveled black hair framed golden eyes gleaming with resolve.
"Then try breaking me."
Ganax's jade sword clashed against Cain's matte black blade.