Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Death March
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Cradle's early morning.
Voices were echoing shrilly through the corridors.
It was Vespa and Gray, whom he'd run into right in front of his dorm room door.
“Nee?! Mr. Carlyle disappeared somewhere in the meantime?”
“That's what I said. I've never seen anyone busier than the Hero.”
Gray let out a sigh as she spoke, and Vespa pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.
Since he wasn't in his room, she'd grabbed nearby people to ask around, only to learn he'd gotten another summons from the Dean and vanished somewhere.
This guy had gotten into the habit of slipping away the moment he turned his eyes.
“I had something I wanted to talk about...”
Vespa fidgeted with her fingers as she mumbled.
Gray, who had been listening quietly, narrowed her eyes.
“This early in the morning?”
“......”
“Something you two needed to discuss alone?”
“......Th-that's, um, about how to serve the Lady well—”
“Shouldn't that be something to discuss with me, not him?”
“......”
She was right on the money.
But Vespa had her own point to make.
“—Aren't you here at Mr. Carlyle's door first thing in the morning too, Lady?”
“......I have business with him.”
“It's when most people are still asleep, though?”
“......”
“......I doubt there's anything you'd need to instruct him about alone at this hour...”
It was a rare counterattack from Vespa, and even rarer—Gray fell silent without a retort.
Anyone overhearing would find it suspicious.
Truth be told, it was more believable they'd come up with some excuse just to “spend more time together.”
......It applied to both Vespa and Gray.
“......”
“......”
A tense silence stretched between them, like walking on thin ice.
But as always, Vespa was the first to change the subject when she noticed Gray's expression souring more than usual.
“W-well, he's probably fine, right?”
“......Yeah, he wouldn't run into anything dangerous. That guy's no ordinary fellow.”
“Right?”
As they exchanged those words, another set of footsteps interrupted.
“Comrade, you're he— Hm?”
Panhaima, who had been standing blankly in front of the dorm door, let out a heavy sigh and turned away.
“Looks like he's not here, from the looks of it.”
“......”
“......”
She didn't say it outright, but anyone not a fool could tell she was looking for Carlyle too.
Hm.
Three women already knocking on his door this early in the morning...
Before he could dwell on that thought, yet another person approached Carlyle's door.
Someone he'd never seen before. Wearing a rosary from the Orthodox Church around her neck.
“Is this the room of student Carlyle Bellfast?”
“......It is, but who might you be...?”
“Ah, I'm a priest from the Orthodox Church stationed nearby. I've been asked to keep tabs on student Carlyle's movements.”
“......Asked by whom?”
“Hoho. Can't go revealing that. It's someone in a position where such things aren't shared lightly.”
“......”
Someone high up in the Orthodox Church with keen interest in Carlyle's whereabouts.
Wow. No idea who.
“......How the hell does this guy have four women knocking on his door before he's even slipped out?”
No, what kind of lunatic is this?
Gray, one of those four, ground her teeth as she spat it out.
A vein throbbed menacingly on her forehead...
But Vespa seemed to think of something else at the sight.
“You don't think he's... added more in the meantime, do you?”
“......Added what.”
“......”
“......”
They hadn't said it outright, but both knew exactly what went unsaid between the lines.
A strange rapport formed between them.
“That guy isn't spraying pheromones or anything. What could possibly happen in that short time?”
“......Yes.”
“......Right.”
“......”
“......”
Somehow.
Her ominous words left both Vespa and Gray silent.
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Putting together what Leona had said, it went like this.
“I've never hated my sister or anything?”
“......Pardon?”
“When she killed our father, I was so young I don't even remember it.”
“......Wouldn't most people hate someone who killed their father...?”
“He was called father, but I don't even remember his face...”
“......”
“Compared to other races, we dragons are instinctively drawn to the ‘strong’ ones like crazy. So family bonds end up way looser than in other races.”
One newly learned fact.
Blood ties among dragons were extremely loose.
“That leads to some pretty freewheeling aspects too.”
“......Freewheeling how?”
“Uh... sexually?”
“......”
“Like, an insanely strong male can go around spreading his seed freely.”
“......”
“Oh, and the reverse holds too. Female dragons with multiple husbands they ‘use’ as they please—”
“......Yes. I get it.”
Even that much made it clear he shouldn't judge by human standards.
What a terrifying race.
Anyway, the conclusion was one thing.
Leona held no particular feelings about Siona killing their father.
Siona thought Leona hated her for it.
But Leona's reaction to hearing that was utterly nonchalant.
“I don't hate her or anything...”
Though what followed showed it wasn't perfectly nonchalant.
“......I do have some grievances.”
“Grievances?”
“......Yeah.”
Leona's lips twitched a few times as she said it.
She had something to say, but it was hard to put into words.
“Leona?”
“No, it's nothing. Just a childish promise.”
“......?”
She wouldn't reveal what that childish promise was, no matter what.
‘......Both of them are such headaches.’
Among the humans who'd warned him the status windows might connect, these two were the least cooperative.
Carlyle thought that as he eyed the window floating before him.
-Quest Info
■ Family Issues
The ‘Libel’ dragon bloodline, which has carried on its legacy for ages, now has only two descendants left. But they don't seem to get along. The older sister avoids the younger, and the younger fears the older.
What on earth happened in the past?
Make peace between them and claim both dragons for yourself!
“......”
The phrasing was pretty ridiculous.
Claim them for himself? What did that even mean?
This status window sure had a knack for saying things that couldn't be unsaid.
Anyway, a quest like this had popped up.
[What do you plan to do?]
“......Well, if I can help, I'd like to.”
Siona wasn't a stranger. They'd bumped heads a few times. He'd help if he could.
But the Hero's view was clearly different.
[You there.]
“Yes.”
[Have you ever considered if this is truly urgent?]
“......”
[I know you're a good person, but you're marked by the folks in the imperial palace. You've got a lot on the line to meddle in personal matters that might not even help you much right now.]
Hm.
Fair point.
Neither Siona nor Leona were people he was deeply entangled with yet.
But.
“Hero.”
[What.]
“It feels like you don't like me getting close to those two?”
[You crazy bastard. Why do you pick up on this stuff so fast?]
“......”
Huh.
Weird.
He'd seen through the Hero's shady intentions, so why was he the one taking the hit?
......Anyway.
“I can't really help unless they open up more themselves.”
Carlyle scratched his head as he said it.
As the Hero said, whether this needed urgent handling was secondary. Unless they truly wanted help, he couldn't insert himself into something so sensitive.
Unlike Vespa or Panhaima, with ties from past loops, he wasn't that close to those two.
Might not get that entangled in the future either.
......That's what he'd thought.
“Excuse me, are you Carlyle Bellfast?”
That evening, until someone from the ‘command post’ preparing for the Death March came looking.
“Yes, that's me. What is it?”
Someone from the command post eyed Carlyle Bellfast with a complicated mix of emotions...
Envy and pity blended in that subtle gaze...
“......Your companions are Siona Libel and Leona Libel? Both dragons, I heard.”
“Yes, that's right.”
“May I ask about the relationship between the three of you?”
“......”
Something.
He could instantly sense impure motives behind the question.
Perhaps it showed on his face, because the messenger quickly added an explanation.
“It's a question from the Black Lion Margrave commanding this ‘subjugation.’ We can prove there's no personal bias involved.”
“......How could there be no bias in asking that?”
Afterward, a stream of jargon-heavy info followed.
And summing up what the man said simply:
“So.”
Carlyle parroted back in a soulless voice.
“The ‘power of love’ between me and the dragon sisters is required for this subjugation to succeed?”
The messenger's voice was half-soulless too.
An attitude acknowledging the sheer absurdity of the topic.
“Yes. Your close bond is of utmost importance.”
Yet his tone remained utterly serious.
“......I hear dragons often have polygamy or polyandry. How is that even possible? You just seduce both or something...?”
“......”
“This is a serious matter, Carlyle Bellfast. Thousands of lives are at stake.”
“......”
“......I'll explain why from now on.”
What bullshit is this?
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