Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: How to Become Stronger
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Aurelion's words were clearly directed at Lady Elysia.
But there wasn't even a single drop of what could be called love mixed in.
It wasn't obsession or desire, either.
Just curiosity.
Like when a craftsman discovers a new material, or a scholar wants to test a hypothesis from an ancient record.
He had so casually uttered, "I want to try making one."
Referring to his own child-to-be as a mongrel without any hesitation.
At that moment, I realized.
In Aurelion's eyes, we weren't people or even lives.
We were just processes to verify results, subjects of observation, or expendable samples that could fail without consequence.
The gaze of a god looking down on insects.
Pure arrogance, devoid of pity or guilt.
That made it all the more repulsive.
Miya's face had hardened, and Lady Elysia's hand trembled faintly.
I felt a chill settling in my gut as well.
This wasn't a threat. Nor a temptation.
Just a judgment handed down like a god selecting lab rats.
The fact was terrifyingly clear.
"Dragons sure know how to pick a great inn... right?"
"……."
"Everyone... it's been a long day, so let's get some rest. Good night."
It started from the moment those words were spoken.
After that, no matter how Aurelion dragged us around his dragon's nest, explaining this and that, nothing registered in our ears.
There must have been sounds, but they felt stripped of all meaning.
Like people sitting in a funeral home after someone's just died.
Words are exchanged, but no one truly listens—a silence like that.
Time passed that way, and before we knew it, evening had come. Aurelion dropped us off in front of what looked like a lodging made from a massive felled log.
With a casual "See you tomorrow," he flew off without a care.
Only after he was completely gone did Lady Elysia finally speak, forcing a calm tone.
But—
As she began unpacking, Miya couldn't hold back any longer and cried out with a tear-streaked face.
"What do you mean, just go to sleep like this?!"
"……"
"Miya…."
"That winged white lizard said we have until tomorrow to decide! Whether to force his child on you or just have it or not!"
She wasn't wrong.
A choice?
What a joke.
It wasn't a choice—it was a threat dressed up to look appealing.
What would a typical noble have done?
They wouldn't have even acknowledged a threat using the lives of two slaves as bait.
They'd probably have lifted their head proudly, claiming it was honorable to die for their master.
But Lady Elysia wasn't like that.
Even by this era's standards, she was unusually so.
She treated slaves not as objects, but as people.
She respected their will and choices, not their utility or status.
That made it all the crueler.
This situation was especially harsh on her.
"Just… Lady, run away at least! You could do it!"
Miya's voice was nearly a wail.
"But… then the two of you…."
"We're slaves anyway!"
She gritted her teeth and shouted.
"Dying for our master is only natural!"
Tomorrow, the lady we'd served like family our whole lives would be forced to bear a child she didn't want, all because of a god's whim.
That must have been utterly unacceptable to Miya.
Even if it cost her own life, she wanted her to just run.
To escape this place.
Her cry held loyalty, fear, despair—all of it.
…I felt the same.
So I just bit my lip in silence, unable to speak. Yet Lady Elysia shook her head to the end.
"Still… he made a promise."
Her voice was quiet, but strangely firm.
"If I bear Aurelion's child, he won't invade our duchy for the next hundred years."
"A hundred years…!"
Miya's voice cracked.
"By then, you'll already be gone!"
With that, her tail drooped limply.
Unable to hold back any longer, Miya threw her arms around Lady Elysia.
Her face had given up even trying to stifle the sobs.
The moment I saw that, the lady broke too.
The two embraced, bursting into childlike sobs.
"I'm sorry… I'm too weak…!"
"No…!"
Miya sobbed.
"I'm the one who's sorry… for not being able to do anything…!"
Watching that scene, I couldn't stand any longer.
So—
Clang!
The metallic ring shattered the silence inside the lodging.
"?!"
"Jinwoo…?"
I set Balmung down gently on the floor without a word.
Its cracked blade.
The holy sword that had withstood a direct clash with the ancient dragon just moments ago.
I first opened the pouch at my waist and pulled out the small blacksmith kit I'd always carried for emergencies.
Thin mana-sensing needles.
Diagnostic tools to read the internal structure of metal.
I lightly pressed one against the blade.
Then.
Hummm.
'…As expected.'
The visible cracks weren't simple damage.
The metal itself hadn't shattered.
It was the myth-infused grain that had twisted under the strain it couldn't handle.
A problem that hadn't existed in Siegfried's time.
His body had been the myth first, and Balmung had merely followed.
But the current wielder was human.
And this sword couldn't endure the gap.
I steadied my breath, then retrieved a small hammer, polishing stand, and fixing clamps from the inner pouch.
I had no intention of just patching it up.
What was needed now wasn't repair, but 'redefinition'.
My hands didn't shake.
If anything, they were unnaturally steady.
Cling.
Very lightly, the hammer tapped the side of the blade.
No sparks. No song.
This wasn't forging—it was verification.
I already knew.
What I was hammering now wasn't metal, but the 'limits of myth'.
If Siegfried's legend ended with this sword, the next chapter had to continue in a different way.
Without lifting my head, I muttered lowly.
"…It's not over yet."
Not even sure who I was saying it to.
Clang.
The hammer rang out once more.
How much time passed?
I didn't know.
But I knew that in deep focus, the very concept of time blurred away.
Like in my past life, glued to my desk day and night to earn that PhD.
The same sensation as churning out papers like a madman in a single day.
The surroundings vanished, leaving only one answer in my mind.
In that state, I kept swinging the hammer.
How to confront a being Lady Elysia couldn't even resist.
The god of dragons, the white ancient dragon Aurelion.
The senses of an awakened mythic blacksmith whispered the next steps, as if following a preordained blueprint.
This wasn't weapon crafting.
It was paving the path she had to take.
They say a true craftsman doesn't discriminate against tools.
I'd turned this lodging into a makeshift forge and lost myself in the work for hours.
That was when it happened.
Squish.
'……?'
No matter how masterful I'd become, I was still a man—I couldn't ignore that sensation.
The soft, springy warmth pressing against the nape of my neck.
My focus snapped instantly.
Ah, this.
I knew this feeling all too well.
Or rather, it was so familiar from experiencing it constantly.
Miya's "Cheer up!" back-hug breast press whenever she thought I was down.
'…Miya. Got nothing better to do, so she's cheering me up like this?'
I appreciated the sentiment.
I really did, but I needed focus right now.
This was a distraction in every way.
Though as a man, it did give a little morale boost.
Still.
There was Lady Elysia in the room too.
That white ancient dragon didn't care about such things as gender, tossing us all into one room.
I didn't want to risk showing her something unseemly, so reluctantly—
Shake, shake.
I lightly shook my head to signal her to back off.
That instant.
A soft, firmer-than-expected bounce hit the top of my head again.
And simultaneously.
"Eep?!"
'……?'
I thought I heard a moan I shouldn't have.
'That sound just now… too girly for Miya.'
It wasn't Miya's usual playful "Kyaa~♥" act.
A short, startled, pure whimper that slipped out in panic.
And a voice I'd heard faintly but consciously many times.
No way, but.
I glanced back.
A chill ran down my spine with a bad feeling.
"D-Did it feel bad? Jinwoo…?"
"L-Lady?!"
It wasn't Miya standing behind me.
The princess of Valenhardt.
My one and only master.
Lady Elysia.
She hadn't even properly dressed in her outer clothes in her haste, standing so close that her body heat seeped through her thin undergarments.
And that's when all the pieces fell into place.
The identity of that soft, warm pressure pressing against the back of my head until just now.
In other words, it hadn't been Miya's padding—it had been Lady Elysia's 'breasts'.