Chapter 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: A Lair of My Own
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Erannis covered her mouth with her hand and laughed elegantly.
One second later, she picked up the chair she had been sitting on. Three seconds after that, she charged at Eirana. By the time four seconds had passed, she was swinging the chair at her.
Exactly five seconds in, Erannis displayed her chair-swinging form in all its glory.
Eirana used her quick reflexes to grab the chair leg, barely managing to defend against Erannis's violence.
Erannis beamed brightly at her.
Her face was smiling, but the veins bulging on her forearm gripping the chair back were anything but friendly.
Cold sweat dripped down Eirana's face as she saw it.
It went without saying, but even though Eirana already possessed strength surpassing that of an adult dragon, there was nothing she could do against Erannis, who was over 3,000 years old.
Erannis released her grip on the chair and stroked Eirana's head.
"Our Eirana, you've grown so much?"
"I was wrong."
Erannis patted the head of Eirana, who was making a pitiful face and begging for forgiveness, then sat back down in her chair.
Eirana knelt before Erannis and looked up at her.
"Hm."
Erannis crossed her arms while seated in the chair.
And fell deep into thought.
"Hm."
Erannis kept humming as she pondered, then suddenly tilted her head.
"Why is that?"
Eirana tilted her head at Erannis's sudden remark.
Erannis looked at her and spoke.
"I don't know. When I first laid the egg, I worried endlessly. I figured I'd raise you for about a hundred or two hundred years and then just hand you off to Karman."
Eirana blinked.
Erannis smiled softly at her and extended both arms, rubbing Eirana's cheeks with her palms as she continued.
"But as time went on, I didn't want to anymore? Hmm... it just felt like such a waste."
"A waste?"
Erannis nodded at Eirana's puzzled expression.
"Yeah. You grow so much every single day? It felt like a shame to miss even a little of that."
It was certainly an unexpected statement.
Time gone by does not return.
That is an equality granted to all beings.
But for a being like a dragon, promised such vast spans of time, it was natural to become indifferent to it.
In that sense, Erannis's words about time feeling precious were truly astonishing.
"Think of it as this mom's love running deep."
Erannis withdrew her hands from Eirana's head and flashed a radiant smile.
It was the most beautiful smile Eirana had ever seen from her.
Eirana stared blankly at it and unwittingly asked,
"It's not just because you have less time to torment me?"
And then she really got beaten with the chair, or so they say.
After visiting Leranas's territory once, Eirana started going there more often.
And naturally, her visits to the elven city increased as well.
In the process, she naturally became friends with the high elves Leria and Rocana.
One thing Eirana learned from her frequent visits to the elven village was spirit arts.
For elves, spirit arts were a racial trait of sorts, but not for dragons.
No matter how much of a dragon one was, without affinity, contracting with spirits was impossible.
There were workaround methods using tricks, but they were inefficient with mana.
Fortunately, Eirana had innate affinity.
And so, time continued to flow.
After fighting with Erannis, Eirana had once run away from home, only to be found in Karman's lair and beaten half to death.
Elencan and Erannis had a massive fight upon seeing it, yelling about why she was abusing the child.
She was living a pretty satisfying life.
Of course, that didn't mean Eirana was free of worries.
Her worry was her own power, which had stagnated.
Eirana's mana, which had been growing endlessly, suddenly stopped increasing at some point.
The dragon heart mana in the left chest that all dragons possessed, as well as the dantian created through training, had both ceased growing.
Even as a hatchling, Eirana already had mana stronger than an adult dragon's, but she couldn't help feeling puzzled and worried about the halt in growth.
The one who resolved Eirana's worries was none other than Elencan.
"Dragons have growth limits, but other subraces in the middle realm strengthen their bodies—the vessels holding their power—when their strength grows too much for their flesh to bear."
Eirana knew of this phenomenon.
It was what they called shedding bones and renewing marrow in the central plains.
"Depending on time, effort, and given talent, subraces can grow stronger."
It's just that time wasn't always granted.
Eirana paid close attention to Elencan's words.
"But dragons don't have that. If the body can't handle it, they cut off their own growth. It means there's a limit to developing their abilities. Of course, most don't even reach that limit."
Elencan's explanation was that the capacity of a dragon's vessel was incomparably larger than that of ordinary subraces.
As he said this, Elencan stroked Eirana's head.
"Our granddaughter has truly outstanding ambition for a dragon. Don't worry too much. Time will solve it in the end."
Hearing that, Eirana set aside her worries.
But the fretting didn't stop entirely.
As peaceful days continued, Eirana's peers were gradually becoming adult dragons one by one.
Eirana's own time to become an adult dragon was approaching.
And on the day she turned 450 years old.
"Huh? A lair?"
Erannis nodded at Eirana's puzzled question.
"Yeah, Rakan—the elder of the Black Clan who just woke from hibernation—said he's moving his lair. Your father asked if you could use it, and the old coot agreed."
With Eirana having grown so much that her lair felt cramped, Karman had suggested it would be good to move to the now-vacant one.
And Rakan had readily permitted giving the lair and its territory to Eirana.
"A lair."
Eirana tilted her head.
Did she need a lair already as a hatchling?
Erannis sighed at Eirana's pondering expression.
"Truth be told, you would've gotten one around your age anyway. Physically, you're basically fully grown."
It was true.
When manifesting in her true form, Eirana had grown to the point where she was almost the same size as Erannis.
Of course, that didn't mean Eirana could match Erannis in a physical brawl.
As repeatedly stated, in dragon society, age was everything.
"So, you're becoming independent now?"
Erannis puffed out her cheeks full of air and grumbled in dissatisfaction.
"It's not independence. Just think of it as having another house to live in. With a warp gate installed, it's practically next door anyway."
She sulked after saying that.
"Why make such a fuss about giving a kid a lair already? Tch!"
Eirana smiled faintly at Erannis.
For all her words, it was essentially independence.
Erannis clearly disliked that.
And there was no small amount of regret too.
It felt a bit upsetting that Eirana, who seemed like she'd scamper around her lair forever(?), was getting her own so soon.
Parents were parents, after all.
Erannis began explaining the lair.
"The lair's bigger than Mom's. The territory's much larger too, and it'd be boring if it's empty, so I'll copy some books for you. Hmm, that'll take a lot of blank pages."
Erannis muttered to herself, then suddenly spoke up as if struck by an idea.
"Ah! Right, there's a dwarf village in that territory."
"Dwarf village?"
Leranas's territory included the great elven city of Breysarun, along with five large and small cities and villages.
But sadly, no dwarves.
However, the territory that would become Eirana's lair had dwarf villages established there.
Some even interacted with humans, so she might see humans too.
Dragons' territories weren't off-limits to humans.
It was just that guardians around the lair would attack anyone approaching.
Eirana, who had never seen a dwarf before—only knowing them as short, master blacksmiths—widened her eyes.
Knowing dwarves lived in her territory made Eirana feel a bit excited.
Erannis chuckled at her.
She gently stroked Eirana's head and said,
"You can start living there in about a week. Want to go see it now?"
"Now?"
"Yeah. It's where you'll live from now on, so checking it out isn't a bad idea, right?"
"Yes!"
Erannis nodded at Eirana, who nodded brightly.
Hummm!
Rakan, tidying up his lair, suddenly felt a ripple of mana and turned toward it.
Seeing the two silver dragons appear, he smiled warmly.
He didn't recognize the child, but the one who seemed to be the mother was a dragon he knew very well.
"Long time no see, Erannis. Five hundred years?"
Rakan greeted the mother and daughter happily.
Erannis spoke to him.
"Long time no see, Grandfather. Sleep well?"
"Hahaha. Yes, I did. I heard from Karman—this lair's for my granddaughter?"
'Huh?'
Eirana's eyes went wide at Rakan's words as she stared at him.
Rakan's face twitched slightly at her reaction.
"What? You didn't tell her?"
Erannis responded to Rakan's reaction.
"Eirana, this is your paternal grandfather."
"Ah, hello."
It was her first time meeting her paternal grandfather.
Rakan scowled at Eirana's awkward response.
"Not telling her anything about her paternal grandfather! That Elencan bragged about my granddaughter like she was his own for ages! I sleep for five hundred years, wake up, and not only is there a granddaughter, she's almost grown! Wake me up or something! It's not like I'd die! Now the kid doesn't even know I'm her paternal grandfather!"
Erannis stared blankly at Rakan's outburst, then relayed someone's words verbatim, without any filtering.
"Karman said there was no need. Something about the old coot living fine without seeing his granddaughter?"
Karman had indeed said that.
But Erannis had agreed with it.
Though she had asked if he really shouldn't see her.
Sparks flew from Rakan's eyes at Erannis's words.
"What did you say?"
His rage and mana surged.
Eirana flinched.
Erannis, over 3,000 years old, was fine, but Eirana was still young.
Even with her strength at adult-dragon level, it was too much to handle the fury of Rakan, who was over 8,000.
Considering Eirana, Rakan instantly withdrew his aura.
A handsome man in his mid-thirties with short, jet-black hair and deep black eyes.
That was Rakan's polymorph form.
Anyway, Rakan looked at Eirana and said,
"Sorry about that, kiddo."
Being called "kiddo" when she was nearly an adult dragon felt awkward, so Eirana smiled awkwardly and replied,
"It's fine."
After stroking her head once, Rakan turned to Erannis.
"So, here to see the lair?"
Erannis nodded.
"Yes, I thought it'd be good to look around."
Rakan nodded.
"Hmm~ Makes sense to check out where she'll live ahead of time."
Muttering that, Rakan began showing them around the lair.