Windsor Knights Bankruptcy (2)
“First, I’ll go gather everything I can scrape together. Sisilia, get serious about this already.”
Edward rushed out of the vice-captain’s office, and Beatrice, her face pale with fright, looked at Sisilia.
“Wh-what do we do, Lady Sisilia?”
“Huh? We just need to make 150,000 gold.”
Sisilia stated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Beatrice asked in disbelief.
“……By selling those dragon goods or whatever?”
“Yeah.”
“…So there’s no real plan after all?”
Sisilia narrowed her eyes.
“That is the plan.”
“I’ll take my leave then. I need to contact my parents and fill the coffers somehow.”
Beatrice stood up, her expression darkening. Sisilia tilted her head.
“Not going for cake?”
“Lady Sisilia.”
Before leaving, Beatrice finally couldn’t hold back.
“I know I’m partly to blame for not stopping you… but this is just too much. And.”
Beatrice took a deep breath and shouted.
“Lady Sisilia is an idiot! There are no dragons in this world!”
With that, Beatrice ran out in tears.
“……”
Sisilia sat there, a question mark practically floating over her head.
“……Why is everyone getting mad?”
Sisilia couldn’t understand it. Sure, she’d wasted money, and the interior stuff was her personal indulgence. But it was all useful. The artifacts that ate up most of the budget were genuinely valuable. Above all, money was just money. You couldn’t buy anything truly worthwhile with it. You couldn’t kill the Demon God or raise newbies with it.
Sisilia didn’t think money was that important. This wasn’t a capitalist world—it was the medieval era.
But.
“……Betti’s never snapped at me like that before.”
Sisilia slumped her shoulders glumly.
“Still not giving up on the dragon goods, though.”
Sisilia trudged out of headquarters. Her destination—the dragon’s lair.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“How’s the investigation going?”
Freya, her eyes glowing red, rose from the dragon’s corpse and looked at Sisilia.
“Done.”
“And Liliana?”
“I-I’m finished analyzing too, Master. I can turn into a dragon now.”
As she’d told Edward, Sisilia had separated the two. The only difference was the separation spot: the dragon’s lair.
The moment Sisilia reached the capital, her first move was sending them here. And—
“A masterpiece. Sisilia, especially telling them to erase the humans’ memories—brilliant. Perfect, as expected from my contractor.”
She’d wiped all memories related to the “dragon” from everyone who fought in the Ashumar subjugation. Simple reason: after calculating the breadcrumbs, this dragon had huge potential to play a decisive role against the Demon God. She couldn’t reveal something that big without preparation.
“Results first.”
“The lair’s space matches your guess. A space thoroughly severed by magic. If you hadn’t left your scent, we’d never have found it again.”
The dragon had cast spells upon its death. One activated when the “desired target” appeared. But Sisilia saw it as magic severing the “space itself.” The dragon expected it to take a thousand years. A mere concealment barrier couldn’t block all variables. If this space had been found before Sisilia arrived, everything would’ve been ruined.
“Honestly, I’m shocked. A dragon existing in such pristine condition. I saw them in an era so ancient even I can barely recall.”
“How to revive it?”
“Impossible. Restoring a soul lost a millennium ago? Even the goddess couldn’t.”
Sisilia thought what a shame and squatted in front of the dragon.
“But the body’s as fresh as if it were alive. Sisilia, you thought a dragon’s body could last a thousand years, but you were wrong.”
Freya tucked a flower into Sisilia’s hair—one found here.
“Time flows so slowly in this space it’s practically stopped. The flower didn’t wilt over a millennium because time barely moved.”
Freya’s red eyes stared coldly at Sisilia.
“You lost the bet, so I’ll honor the contract.”
Sisilia sighed and stood.
“Do you think the contract’s still valid with me?”
Freya smirked.
“Demons and devils are different. Unlike demons, devil contracts can’t be broken by anything.”
“……”
Right, that was the lore.
Sisilia blinked.
“Now, fulfill it quick.”
Freya spread her arms firmly. Sisilia reluctantly hugged her. Freya beamed with utter bliss. Sisilia stared at her, utterly baffled why a demon would crave this.
“Hug delivered. Now send me back a thousand years.”
Freya gaped at her in disbelief.
“You really think that’d work…?”
“……”
But Dragon Lady copied my double peace sign.
Sisilia puffed her cheeks sulkily.
If she gets mad, it’s trouble. Books say it tanks lover potential.
Freya decided to explain gently.
“Time exists perfectly as past, present, and future. Those timelines are divided by dimensional rifts.”
“Intervening in those rifts is impossible.”
But Freya left a loophole.
“Communication… might be possible.”
“Communication’s fine. A quick chat’s all I need.”
“……Even that’s tough. Both parties must be demigod-level to communicate.”
Sisilia stared piercingly at Freya, silently saying you doubting me? Freya chuckled.
“You also need a clear medium. Something tangible, visible, with shared memories. Maybe give up this time…”
Sisilia pulled out a magic tome. Freya took it calmly at first, then panicked.
“……This contractor pulls off the impossible so casually.”
“If I’ve got it right, this means pen-pal letters with the dragon from a thousand years ago, yeah?”
“No idea what ‘pen-pal’ is, but yes, messages are possible.”
Sisilia’s face lit up. Freya, secretly pleased, placed her hand on the tome and closed her eyes.
"——"
Words beyond human ears. After Freya whispered several times, a thread of endless time bound the tome tightly.
Flip.
The tome floated, pages opening.
“Coincidence, or did the dragon intend this?”
Freya eyed the tome with red mana.
“Conveniently user-friendly.”
It stopped at the last blank page. Sisilia leaned in and wrote.
Sisilia: Are you the last-generation dragon?
Dragon: A script undecipherable even by magic. A first.
“……”
“As expected from my contractor. First line and you’ve already rattled the dragon.”
“Freya, you write. I don’t know ancient language.”
“Why assume I do?”
Freya stepped up, pen in hand.
“……I do, though.”
She wrote as Sisilia dictated. The reply came fast.
Dragon: Use my corpse as you will. I arranged it that way.
Dragon: Living dragons exist even in your time.
Dragon: And you’ve already met one.
Dragon: Ask anything else anytime. You’re the companion who broke my eternal curse.
“……Companion?”
Freya answered this time.
“Dragons have one wish: to end their immortality. The one who grants it is their companion—the one carrying their will forward.”
“Can’t they just off themselves?”
“Impossible. Dragons have a duty to protect the world. The only way they die is being killed by someone after fulfilling that duty.”
Freya sounded amazed.
“A living dragon still? ……I thought they all died 300 years ago.”
“What happened?”
“There was this Heavenly Demon. The man who granted all dragons’ wishes.”
Heavenly Demon.
That oddly out-of-place name had its reasons. Probably a major episode. Something crucial for slaying the Demon God.
But Sisilia didn’t ask Freya. Spoilers ruined the fun.
“……One still alive means its wish isn’t death. One hell of a freak. Anyway.”
Freya grinned devilishly. Beyond her affection for Sisilia, pure demonic glee.
“Sisilia. You just got a pristine dragon corpse—freshly ‘dead.’ Beyond impressive. Dragons usually return to nature, so intact ones are rare. So, what now?”
Excited, Sisilia playfully pressed Freya’s cute horn back into her head with her thumb.
“What can I do with it?”
“Dragon corpses have standard uses.”
Freya reached into the air. Rumble—.
The lair shook with a roar unfit for this world as something emerged.
A single sword.
“This is like forging a god into a blade. It can even slay gods—and this corpse can make one too.”
Sisilia blinked and pointed.
“Give me that.”
Freya smiled knowingly.
“Easy contract, and it’s yours.”
“Terms?”
“Marry me.”
“……”
A god-slaying sword for marriage? Insanely favorable. Freya thought she’d finally won Sisilia.
But.
“Nah.”
Sisilia’s face screamed rejection. Freya was utterly crushed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Sisilia’s next stop: the knight order warehouse. Piles of fresh artifacts towered like mountains.
“These?”
“To reforge a dragon corpse, you need top-tier mages.”
“No great human mages in this era.”
“What if not this era?”
“……Huh?”
Sisilia pulled out a quill pen.
“What’s that?”
“Windsor Knights supply item. Draw a line around stuff, and it finds the most valuable. Used for dungeon loot checks.”
Sisilia drew a line around the items, grabbed Freya’s shoulder, and positioned her.
“Pretend these exist 500 years from now.”
“……Ah.”
Freya finally got it and admired her.
“……You think a great mage made one here. Not now, but someday.”
Sisilia grinned.
“Lots of events coming up.”
Thousands of artifacts from various mages, but Sisilia bought what she deemed most talented—using knight order funds. Her allowance couldn’t cover multiple prodigies.
Assuming they survive 500 years, use the pen.
“Find the most valuable here.”
Humm—.
Blue light leaked from the pile. Even Sisilia was surprised.
“You, huh.”
The glowing item: a magic staff. One she’d bought on a whim to support a kid mage’s dreams—Ariana’s.
“The hero party’s mage.”
Sisilia smiled brightly. Every newbie had potential.
One thing left.
“Make dragon goods now, Liliana. She’ll be famous soon—gotta preempt.”
For that, people needed to “naturally” discover the dragon corpse.
Luckily, easy.
“M-my god! Hey, everyone! Something’s here!”
Sisilia had dug a perfect, massive pit.
Finding a pristine dragon fossil? Inevitable.