Chapter 369: Nest (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 369: Nest (3)
He liked the color black.
That was why he always chose the black pieces. It was a simple preference that had solidified into a habit, so he naturally took black. And so, against Franz, he had chosen black as well.
“Bishop to g6. Checkmate.”
And he lost in exactly eight moves.
“…Hahaha. You’re really something else, Brother.”
Calian accepted his defeat with a graceful smile. He was, after all, an adult who knew how to lose a game.
They were on the road to the land of Siegfried.
In accordance with their promise to Suleiman, the teleportation circle they’d used was set up more than a day’s travel from the Siegfried duchy. From there, it was another three days to reach the Duke’s mansion and the nest. Their journey was urgent, but not so urgent as to conscript Rachel. She was busy with her studies, and it wasn't worth pulling her away just to save a day or two, especially when they were only now visiting Sispanian after months of silence.
As a result, they were left with long hours on horseback.
The first time they had passed this way, Calian had pointed out various flowers and trees to Franz, explaining what they were. He had shared that clouds shaped opposite to the ones currently floating were a sign of a sudden shower, and discussed where and how to take shelter from a downpour. He had pointed at everything in sight, teaching all he knew as they went. And the clever Franz had remembered every last detail.
Because of this, traveling the same road a second time, there was little new information to share.
“When spring comes, the tips of those thorns turn red, just like you see now. If your skin touches the red part, it stings and burns quite a bit. It’s toxic.”
“I see.”
“Those small, blueberry-like berries over there taste quite good. If you brew alcohol with them, the aroma is truly… No, never mind that. Anyway, they’re good to eat raw, too. But there are often beehives near the bushes, so you have to look carefully before picking them.”
“Understood.”
There was absolutely no reason for a prince of the continent’s largest nation to be crawling into thorn bushes to pick berries with his own hands. However, Franz knew Calian was just babbling to cope with a mix of boredom and anxiety over Sispanian, so he quietly listened and learned without complaint.
That didn’t last long. Once Calian finished sharing the few other things he knew, silence fell between them once more.
Franz glanced at Calian, who had gone quiet and was now staring at Raven’s saddle, tapping his fingertips.
“Let’s play again.”
“Play what, Brother?”
“Chess. Like back in the cavern.”
And so, they started again.
They resumed the game they had played in the cavern Sispanian created—chess without a chessboard, an extraordinary feat only the two of them could manage.
Calian, who had habitually chosen black and lost every game, pursed his lips.
“Let’s play one more game.”
“I don’t mind. But perhaps you should take white, little brother.”
“I refuse.”
“…You’ll just keep losing.”
But this was Calian, after all.
Franz was simply more intelligent; Calian was by no means a fool. He stubbornly moved his black pieces a few more times.
“King to b4. Captured your bishop.”
“Queen to b3. Check.”
“King to a5.”
“Queen to b5. Checkmate.”
And he lost a game for every ounce of his stubbornness.
After that, he meekly took the white pieces.
“I’ll place my rook on f7, next to your king, Brother. Check.”
“King to g8.”
“Rook to g7. Check.”
“King to h8.”
“Rook to h7. Captured your pawn. Check.”
“I resign.”
“Yes.”
Only after accepting reality did he manage to win the occasional game.
He felt he might stand a chance with black if they had a real board, but manifesting a complete chessboard and all its pieces from aura while on a galloping horse proved impossible. He decided to stick with white.
Of course, that didn’t mean Calian hadn’t tried.
Arsen’s expression told the whole story. His master, whom he’d sworn to serve for life, had just performed a miracle by simultaneously manifesting two types of aura—red and black. And what did he use this monumental achievement for? To draw a tiny chessboard and place cute little pieces on it, all to stave off boredom on a long journey with his brilliant older brother. The fact that he’d then given up entirely only made it funnier.
“As expected, your spirit of challenge is truly extraordinary, Prince.”
Not that Arsen disliked it.
Utterly exhausted from long hours of overtime, Arsen drifted in and out of sleep. Watching Calian’s antics, he offered a habitual compliment before collapsing back onto Roro’s back and passing out again.
In any case, there was a good reason this man insisted on being that man’s lackey.
“I don’t know how to make white, but I wondered if channeling Pier’s energy into my aura would produce black. And it actually worked. I’ve learned something useful. Once I can properly manifest the chess pieces, I’ll win even if I take black, Brother.”
“…You did all that for such a trivial reason?”
“You should use gentler words, Brother. You won’t become a good adult if you use such harsh language.”
Calian beamed.
He smiled brightly.
“I wonder what kind of man you’ll grow into, barking like that every day.”
“Ah. Unlike you, Brother, I’m already an adult.”
“Barking again, I see.”
At any rate, that was how they passed the time.
Giving up on creating the chessboard, Calian quietly kept playing white while Franz took black, winning some and losing some. When the horses grew tired, they would stop to eat the bread prepared by the royal palace before setting off again. Once the sun dipped below the horizon, they would light a campfire and share four wild chickens—one brown and three black—caught by a fully rested Arsen. They would chat about things like the lunar halo in the sky, a sure sign of rain the next day, before falling asleep.
Sure enough, it rained after they entered the Siegfried duchy, forcing them to spend an extra day in the city of Citren before resuming their journey. Every evening, they visited the mayor of the next city, explaining the… sensitive eating habits of a certain delicate member of their party. After diligently traveling for three more days, they finally arrived.
The master of the elephants.
The mansion of Suleiman Hon Siegfried.
“I greet the Crown Prince and the Third Prince. I am Sir Ronansite, the Chief Knight Commander of Siegfried.”
“It’s a pleasure. I didn’t know you were here, but it’s good to see a familiar face.”
“Ah, you remember me?”
“We’ve met several times, of course I do.”
“Thank you. Ever since the Duke began staying in the capital, I have been stationed here in his stead. Please, come inside.”
Ronansite, who had always trained the knights by Demirea’s side, was indeed here. Even though he couldn’t have known of the situation beforehand—since they had traveled faster than any messenger bird could have—Ronansite showed no panic and welcomed the royals flawlessly.
After checking the letter from Suleiman that had been delivered to him, Ronansite looked out the window and spoke.
“As you may know from your previous visit, the path to the nest is very dark and rugged. Would it not be better to set out tomorrow morning?”
“About that…”
Neither the darkness nor the ruggedness of the path posed any problem for Calian. He trailed off and glanced at Franz, who immediately caught his meaning and stated it as a fact.
“I’m going too.”
“Yes. We will go tomorrow morning.”
Directing his first word to Franz and the rest to Ronansite, Calian let out a small chuckle.
Whether it was to find his memories, to help Calian, because he disliked the royal palace, or because he wanted to know every detail about Sispanian—Franz accompanied Calian without offering any particular reason. Calian, who had originally planned to set out with only Arsen, leaving Yan and Kyrie behind just in case, didn’t stop Franz when he naturally mounted Estina to follow.
Since Franz insisted on tagging along despite being so busy after leaving the Wilhelm Pavilion, he surely had his own reasons. There was no need to pry.
* * *
He had brought along Arsen, who, when asked if life was bearable lately, had nodded with a look that suggested he was ready to drop dead.
“It’s not that I don’t trust Duke Siegfried. It’s just that he’s far too lenient when it comes to overseeing his territory. I’ll have to ask you to handle it instead.”
“Yes, I understand. Just please know, Prince, that I desperately want to go inside with you to see Sispanian, but I am holding myself back to guard the entrance.”
“Why? You want to meet Sispanian, regain your memories, and ask her to break your spoon?”
“Ah. You’ve already noticed?”
Calian burst into laughter, unsure whether his lackey’s worsening eccentricity was his fault, or if the veil that had made him seem normal was simply slipping away.
Making him work so much overtime that he didn’t even have time to spend his allowance on dating, dragging him along whenever needed, and even making him catch wild chickens—on top of all that, refusing to break one measly spoon did seem a bit cold-hearted. Calian paused his steps toward the cavern and spoke as if granting a great favor.
“If I’m in a good mood when I get back, I’ll break it for you. That spoon of yours.”
“Understood, Prince. Have a safe trip. I will guard this place well to ensure no one in the territory can enter.”
While Franz silently processed the fact that his fiancée seemed to be the only sane person he knew, Arsen took his post, wearing a grin that betrayed no hint of his fatigue. Calian, pretending not to notice the deep shadow of worry on Franz’s face, walked toward the cavern visible in the distance.
Unlike his first visit, the entrance was firmly shut.
Stopping in front of it, Calian looked up at the towering, colossal rock. Franz, looking up at the same spot beside him, spoke first.
“It’s closed.”
“Indeed. If we hadn’t been here before, we wouldn’t even have recognized this as the entrance.”
“How are you going to open it?”
“Well, we can’t exactly knock… Shall we call out?”
In other words, he had come without a plan.
Even though he knew it would be closed now that Roselita had ended.
Looking around with a nonchalant expression, Calian took another step toward the rock blocking their path. Then, he spoke in a low voice.
“If you are there, please open up. We are coming in.”
He actually called out.
Just like calling out to the owner of an upstairs room.
As expected, the rock before them did not budge. Sispanian’s voice did not echo, nor did the rock split open like magic to welcome them.
Franz slowly turned his head toward Calian.
Sure enough, Calian’s lips were curved into a wide arc, his face completely devoid of embarrassment.
Franz knew that expression.
“If you don’t open it, I’m going in. By breaking it.”
Yes.
That was the face he made right before saying things like that.
“…You.”
A place guarded by the Siegfried family for five hundred years. The dwelling of the ancient dragon who stood in for the gods. As his younger brother threatened their ancestor with breaking and entering, the ever-rational Franz—who had the misfortune of standing right beside him—racked his brain for something, anything, to say. Just then:
Rumble…
The massive rock slowly began to move.
Ah.
Thank goodness.
“Thank you for opening it.”
There was no time to ponder whether “opening it” was the correct term. The moment a gap wide enough for a single person appeared, Calian, grateful for the hospitality, slipped inside.
Glancing once at the blue hair of the crazy mage standing in the distance, then at the sky which was less blue than that hair, Franz let out a low sigh. Then, he followed Calian into the cavern.
Step, step.
It was dark.
Though two people had entered the cavern, only one set of footsteps echoed.
“May I ask what you talked about when you first came here?”
“That it was enough.”
No voice from Calian followed Franz’s brief reply. Although they were in pitch darkness, Franz knew Calian would be looking at him with a puzzled expression, so he spoke again.
“She didn’t say anything else. Just that it was enough now. That’s all Sispanian said.”
“You didn’t ask what that meant?”
“I didn’t.”
“Weren’t you curious?”
“I was.”
“I see.”
Recalling how different Franz was back then, Calian nodded. For a long while, only one set of footsteps echoed through the cavern again, until a low voice joined them.
“What about you?”
“I asked about the Axis of Time. Since she already knew everything about me.”
Sispanian had sought him out, questioning how someone who shouldn’t be here had arrived with a soul that shouldn’t exist in this place. Recalling the dragon he had met back then, Calian answered.
“And other things?”
“I only asked if she knew of the Axis of Time, and who had moved it. I didn’t know what else to ask, and back then, I wasn’t curious about anything else.”
“And?”
“I didn’t get a single proper answer.”
“Why?”
“Because Serenti silenced Sispanian. Sispanian spoke, but the words didn’t reach me.”
A soft chuckle escaped Calian’s lips after his obedient replies.
“To think someone with so many questions…”
He had felt it when they went to the elven city as well.
When Franz had visited this cavern. When he had simply spent his days on the fourth floor of Chermil Palace. Calian wondered how suffocating it must have been for Franz during all those long days.
“…Not really.”
At the reply, which came as if Franz knew exactly what Calian was thinking, Calian nodded.
“Right.”
Their steps continued.
They walked for a long while, well past the point where Calian remembered being summoned before Sispanian.
Just as the thought that they might have been granted entry but denied an audience began to seep into his mind:
You are just the same.
Finally, Sispanian’s voice was heard.
Crunch.
Only then did the sound of Calian’s footsteps resume.
Were you worried?
“That is why I came,” Calian answered.
At his words, a warm wind blew.
“Where are you?”
Are we not together?
Having walked forward blindly, unable to discern his surroundings even with his night vision, Calian gave up trying to look around and fixed his gaze on a random spot.
“You are different from usual. For someone so considerate.”
Perhaps it was a complaint that she wouldn’t even show herself, let alone dispel the darkness, after they had come all this way. At Calian’s grumbling, a wind like a spring evening blew once more. Both visitors shared the same thought: it felt like the ancient dragon’s laughter.
I did so because the sleeping one dislikes the light.
Before they could fully grasp the cryptic meaning of her words:
Whoosh!
A sound like a massive sail catching a typhoon descended over the spot where the wind had lingered. At the same time, light flooded in.
Closing his eyes briefly against the sudden brightness, Franz opened them. The first thing he saw was Calian, who had already adjusted and was staring somewhere. Turning to follow Calian’s gaze, Franz caught his breath.
Calian didn’t tease him for it.
I did so out of concern that you might be startled.
Black scales that seemed to devour all the light in the world.
Her thin, membranous wings were like gathered volcanic smoke, yet also resembled the pitch-black depths of an ocean untouched by light. And…
Red eyes, crafted to hold a life either just reviving or sinking into slumber, were split vertically by black pupils.
It was a form they had seen countless times—as a statue in the artificial lake of Chermil Palace, and in drawings engraved in innumerable places. Yet, it was a form they had never truly seen. To call it colossal was an understatement; it was a form that deserved to be called divine.
The sleeping one. And you all.
Cradling a transparent egg as if to protect it, Sispanian’s true form welcomed the two.
“The most magnificent…”
Most.
In a most magnificent form.
“I greet the great Sispanian.”
On behalf of Franz, who was clearly at a loss for words, Calian bowed his head.
Only then did he understand Sispanian’s words about being together.
On their way from the cavern entrance, they had walked alongside the curled, long tail of Sispanian. They had walked past claws as large as houses. They had passed beneath black wings spread wide like the sky, blocking the faint light from the ceiling. Throughout that long walk, Sispanian had been right beside them.
Folding her wings and letting them drape, Sispanian raised her head.
Calian raised his head as well. He observed Sispanian. He saw the transparent egg cradled in her embrace. He saw a red bird sleeping within a halo of shimmering, multicolored light.
Massive wings.
A long, flame-like tail cascading toward the ground.
“…Could it be?”
It was a form Calian recognized.
Franz recognized it too.
He remembered the description in the scriptures he had once skimmed and cast aside. He remembered the statue perched atop the roof of the grand temple. The being sleeping before his eyes possessed that exact same appearance.
The sleeping god.
“Is that… Serenti?”
Serenti.
Confronted with the one he thought he would never encounter as long as he drew breath, Calian’s red eyes narrowed.
It is not long now. Thus, I am watching over him.
Franz’s breathing hitched once more.
Calian, who had long since forgotten to breathe, paid it no mind.
“Will Serenti… awaken soon?”
The deep, profound red eyes blinked once.
It was an affirmation.
“I assume ‘soon’ does not mean hundreds of years from now.”
Not forgetting that the time scales of humans and dragons could differ, Calian asked with a face feigning composure. To his voice, which was delivered like a joke but remained flat and rigid, Sispanian gave a quiet reply.
Before winter returns.
The deep, dark red eyes closed slowly.
Calian closed his own heavy eyes for a moment.
He chose to close them.
“…Calian.”
Though he wasn’t as clever as Franz, Calian was no fool. Because Calian had realized the same thing Franz had. For once, he had realized it even sooner.
Even at Franz’s call, having immediately guessed what Calian was thinking, Calian did not answer.
“Calian.”
He did not answer.
Instead, other words escaped his lips.
“…Sleeping.”
The sleeping god who had never answered. The god who could not answer because he was asleep. The god Calian had believed in, the one he had tried so hard not to resent.
God.
The moment Chase had desperately searched for Serenti…
“He wasn’t… asleep?”
The moment Bern died and Franz approached the Axis of Time.
In the moments Serenti was needed most.
He wasn't?
Serenti had not been asleep.
He had merely been watching everything, as if looking down at a chessboard.
The end of the king. The end of the world. That tragedy.
Serenti had.
"Why?"
Calian opened his eyes.
A killing intent that seemed to crave the end, and an aura that seemed to bring it about, engulfed the cavern.
"Calian."
"...Serenti."