What Do You Want to Say?
Rune finished speaking.
“I want to see and experience many other worlds besides the elf lands and the deep sea.”
Perdikion’s chest swelled with emotion as he watched him.
‘As expected, my brother. My hunch was right.’
Logically, it was absurd for Rune, still so young, to take on adulthood tasks.
But the more Perdikion saw of his brother, the more he felt he had to go with him.
He turned to Christina and opened his mouth.
“I humbly request your permission as well, Lady Christina.”
“…”
Christina’s narrowed blue gaze looked down on them both.
“Fel, you must have a very good reason to say that.”
Perdikion spoke with eyes full of certainty.
“Yes. I know Rune is still very young. But I’ve always believed my brother’s potential is enormous.”
He continued with a meaningful look in his eyes.
“Perhaps you can contain this entire world.”
To contain the world.
Only a few people would ever say such words.
Christina intuitively sensed that Perdikion was at the Dragon Lord level.
Just as she once had been.
With a slow breath she let out a faint laugh.
‘Premature judgments and expectations are forbidden.’
Christina, still lost in thought, spoke with a gentle smile.
“Yes. Come back after you’ve seen the world. Experience loving it and even difficult times, and you’ll understand him better.”
“!”
Rune’s eyes sparkled.
He answered quickly, afraid she might change her mind.
“Thank you for believing in me, Christina.”
With Christina’s approval, there was nothing left to worry about.
“Hmm! As expected of my brother. It worked out perfectly.”
Perdikion added words of celebration.
But the world was never that simple.
“Of course, that’s not enough.”
‘Tsk.’
Rune let out a dissatisfied sound in his heart.
Though his expression only showed a slight startle.
“This time there are conditions too?”
Christina nodded slowly several times.
“Just being strong isn’t enough. You’ll be taken down every time. There’s something else you truly need to learn to enter the human world.”
‘It means it’s not just simple combat ability.’
She still had no idea what that something was.
But no matter what trials came, her thousand-year training would never be enough to overcome Rune.
Rune asked confidently.
“What exactly do I need to do?”
Christina raised her hand and began counting on her fingers.
“The very first thing is to study transformation magic. The moment you enter another race’s domain, you must transform into their appearance naturally.”
‘That’s basic, sure.’
Rune nodded with eyes full of understanding.
“True. As long as I take off this bracelet, my identity will be exposed, so it makes sense.”
Perdikion nodded in agreement, seeing the logic.
Before Christina could continue.
“Rune, you must be able to transform into many more species besides this one.”
“…?”
“Elves, beastkin, even animals. It should be possible if you really want it.”
Perdikion looked puzzled by the unexpectedly long list of things to learn.
“Is that really necessary?”
“Of course.”
Christina crossed her arms and continued as if it was only natural.
“Not just that. You must also learn other skills to the point of being able to survive on your own. In the end.”
She smiled brightly.
Rune’s confident shoulders twitched on their own at the sound of her laughter.
“You need to be able to slip away from me without me noticing in the lair, right?”
“From Christina?”
An uneasy feeling was already creeping up on him.
“Just pretending to hide would be too simple. After you come back, I’ll give you something more like real training.”
Unlike the earlier reluctance to leave for an outing, she was actually enthusiastic.
Precisely, she meant it only for the kind of ‘hiding’ she had in mind.
‘If I get caught, what kind of punishment am I in for?’
She couldn’t brush it off easily with ‘it’ll be fine.’
There was a past record of her leaving marks on his back.
Seeing Rune’s wary eyes, Christina spoke kindly, trying to reassure him.
“Just relax. Although it’s training, it’s completely different from fighting.”
“…”
Unlike her words, a strange unease lingered in her kindness.
Someone who had once been a divine being couldn’t simply ignore such an odd aura.
“For more thorough stealth training, it’s a lesson you’ll learn together with Perdikion too?”
“N-No, thank you.”
Perdikion already looked like he knew what it would be.
He turned his head away, avoiding Rune’s gaze.
Rune glared sharply at Perdikion.
‘If he’s acting like this, it’s definitely another pointless lesson.’
Unlucky guesses never fail.
***
The day had come for Belianus to ascend to the throne.
Rune and Perdikion had agreed to only show their faces in the designated order.
The time was still early morning.
Rune arrived at the royal kitchen.
Moving around the kitchen while clinking sounds, Rune held each ingredient in turn and spoke the Word of Power.
“Awaken!”
No more tainted recent ingredients remained.
What was left were dried fruits or grains stored for a very long time.
Items that once carried the scent of age now gave way to freshly harvested crops in Rune’s hands.
“Not many, are there.”
To awaken the last old seed, Blackmi and Perdikion entered together.
“Lord Rune! We’re here!”
“Ppyak!”
Blackmi, smiling brightly, waved her hand while holding Baekya.
Perdikion approached Rune with quick steps the moment he saw him.
“Are you really here at dawn just to help with cooking?”
Seeing Perdikion’s dissatisfied tone, Rune shrugged his shoulders.
“Most of the cooking was already decided with Elin and Jeff.”
“Won’t they come in late today? Instead, you promised to prepare the pre-meal dishes.”
As Rune blinked in surprise, Blackmi smiled and waved her hand.
Rune immediately understood the situation.
‘Blackmi must have told him.’
Elin and Jeff were for Baekya.
Baekya passed it to Blackmi.
Blackmi would have passed it to Perdikion.
Rune scratched his cheek with an awkward look and said.
“I’ll help a little as practice for cooking too. I came to pick up Baekya myself, but when I got back it was only a few days and the fur was already thinning out.”
Elin and Jeff, the royal chef couple, had been exhausted from making healing dishes with Baekya’s tears recently.
Sleeping for a week without rest while cooking made complete sense.
Even after running through a whole week eating World Tree fruits, there was a limit to the medicine.
If they pushed themselves, they would collapse mid-cook.
‘I sent them here to get some rest too, while doing Word of Power training.’
Fortunately, the royal chef couple trusted Rune, who knew the Lucky Moon Piece and cooking well, and entrusted the kitchen to him.
‘The ingredients for Word of Power practice were fewer than expected, which was a bit disappointing.’
If there had been even a few ram bones like in the dwarf royal palace, it would have been ideal, but sadly there were none.
Instead, they had practiced sprouting many different grains and seeds.
“Coming to the elf royal kitchen is rare anyway. I came to do some training too.”
To Rune’s answer, Perdikion looked at his little sister with a nostalgic gaze.
“You’re such a soft one.”
Perdikion clicked his tongue and crossed his arms.
At this point, Rune was worried about what kind of person Perdikion saw him as in his head.
‘That’s not it.’
Unable to say he had only awakened the Word of Power with a hundred-year-old body, Rune muttered to himself.
Perdikion looked around the kitchen and spoke.
“Anyway, I’ll help. If it’s cooking, I’ve handled it before.”
“Brother…?”
Perdikion’s gaze sharpened at Rune’s doubtful tone.
“Why? What do you want to say?”
“…”
‘You’re really the one who has complaints.’
Rune recalled a memory from long ago, when they had cooked together in Christina’s lair.
‘He was on the verge of burning down the kitchen.’
Back then they had just counted the potato slices.
Now, while hesitating whether to count the strawberry slices this time.
“Lord Rune, I’ll help too, Blackmi!”
“!”
Suddenly, Rune’s eyes caught a red brooch on Blackmi’s chest containing a spirit.
‘If that’s the very spirit of living fire?’
Rune looked back and forth between Blackmi’s brooch and Perdikion with sparkling eyes.
“Brother, I just had a good idea.”
“Tell me.”
“What if we cook more conveniently using the spirits?”
Perdikion readily agreed after hearing the whole idea.
“Good. Salamanders too, living in my lair. If it helps, I’ll gladly let them assist.”
Beside the nodding Perdikion, Blackmi also looked excited and tightly clasped her small hand.
“I think it’ll be fun too!”
Both of them were full of enthusiasm.
Rune explained the in-the-moment cooking method with spirits, then handed the ingredients and pots to Perdikion.
“Ready, brother?”
“Of course.”
Perdikion held the pot and ladle with a determined look.
Rune, receiving that look, turned to Blackmi.
Waiting Blackmi smiled mischievously and grabbed the red pendant on her chest.
“Children!”
Shok!
Shok!
Shok!
Shok!
Shok!
Decent-sized fire lizards took their poses and sprang out.
“You all heard the story, right? Take your positions!”
Sho shok!
Sho shok!
Sho shok!
Sho shok!
Sho shok!
The little dragons of the flame clan looked at the ones attached to the furnace and Perdikion, took a deep breath, and then flashed their eyes.
“Go!”
Hwa ruruk!
Flames rose in the furnace.
Intense fire like dragon breath.
Salamander, receiving the order from Blackmi, opened its mouth as if shouting.
“Come on, little one!”
Salamander wagging its tail in response to Blackmi’s cheers.
Salamander that had received the dragon’s fire kept its mouth shut and puffed its cheeks.
Then the power adjusted perfectly and the size of the fire became suitable.
Perdikion, sensing success, asked.
“Good. Now we just need to stir-fry the oil and vegetables first.”
“Right.”
Perdikion, glancing at Rune’s answer, pushed in the leeks, onions, potatoes, and carrots refined with his artisan knife skills all at once.
Pwa!
Chi iik!
The scent of vegetables frying in oil was appetizing.
Huuruk!
Hwa a a a!
Next, the colorful fire.
‘Wow, he actually did it.’
Rune looked at Perdikion with amazed eyes.
The one who always burned the food because he hated weakening the fire.
He had never caught the rhythm, but by syncing with Salamander, the spirit of fire, he began cooking with amazing skill.
“Brother! Now we pour the stir-fried vegetables into a big plate!”
“Got it!”
With a strong shout, Perdikion took Blackmi’s fire lizard out of the furnace.
Hwa ruk!
The flame lizard that licked its tongue shook its body after cooking in hot spring water.
‘Good. Thanks to the spirit of fire, this guy is actually quite good at cooking.’
Rune watched Perdikion plating the food and felt satisfied.
“Try it, Rune.”
“Got it.”
Rune picked up a fork and speared a well-cooked mushroom.
Hup!
The mushroom coated with fire flavor from the fire.
The taste was exquisite.
“Brother, it tastes good.”
“!”
Perdikion smiled at the corners of his mouth but held back his joy.
“Look. Didn’t I say anything I do is done?”
Rune laughed and agreed.
“Yeah, it really turned out delicious, brother.”
“Blackmi, let me try too!”
Even Blackmi, who preferred meat over vegetables, took a bite and her eyes widened.
---