The Sealed Dream
Rune opened his mouth first.
“If it’s Father, I have a rough idea.”
Perdikion nodded in response.
“No matter what task you aim for, it might require violence, or conditions that even I couldn’t handle alone.”
“So you’re saying you want to release a bunch of my guys ahead of time to the continent?”
Rune flashed a small smile at Perdikion’s agreement.
“Yeah. They’re all part of my ‘power’ too.”
Perdikion stared at Rune with his mixed eyes.
The black-haired boy of the Fire Dragon clan furrowed his brows and moved his lips for a long while.
He had never thought about receiving help from those weaker than him. His father probably felt the same. But he understood what the words meant.
At least that was clear. Perdikion nodded.
Rune looked at him and thought.
*You’ve never been threatened with your life by a human, so you don’t understand. A seemingly insignificant being can become an unforeseen threat.*
It was a lesson learned the hard way. How ironic.
I already understood the situation. Jed let out a long, theatrical sigh.
“This means the dwarfs have a chance to repay their debts! Jed’s proposal has become quite useful.”
“Everything comes down to this.”
Rune pointed out each point one by one.
“Jed’s goal is to make the dwarfs who have entered the continent settle down, form families, and live completely as humans. To do that, we’ll make female dwarfs able to settle in the human world.”
“Yes! Exactly!”
Rune nodded lightly in agreement.
“Father’s goal is to have the dwarfs he once ruled as the Fire Clan grow stable power on the continent, form groups, and help with his tasks.”
Perdikion listened with a nod.
“That’s right. It’s nothing bad to have prepared a variable that Father didn’t think of.”
Even if Pasiyas heard this proposal, he would probably throw out curses about gathering useless ants and what he would do with them.
It would interest Perdikion to use him.
*Make him suffer by being bitten by ants and he’ll learn what’s scary.*
While Rune was thinking that, Jed asked.
“So what’s your purpose, Rune-nim?”
“Mine?”
Rune smiled purely at the world.
“As long as I can help Father and Jed, that’s enough.”
“!”
“Kwak!”
An innocent little boy with jet-black hair had broken his usual shy smile!
While Perdikion and Jed felt heart pain from admiration and purity, dark thoughts sprouted in Rune’s chest.
*I’ll use this as an excuse to explore this world. I’ll have the future dwarfs I’ll need settled here in advance.*
As the clan’s elder candidate and one who received the Seal of Fire, helping Perdikion would be a perfect reason to go out.
As if reading that thought, Perdikion spoke up.
“Then Rune. You should come with us. We might even face humans. I wonder if Lady Christina will allow it.”
Perdikion’s words received a confident reply from Rune.
“She will. It’s something I promised with Father.”
Even his face, which made people say “Oppa!” when they saw it, was adorable.
Perdikion looked a bit uneasy.
“Rune, do I feel like a pass?”
That wasn’t true at all.
Of course, Rune couldn’t say that.
Rune answered with an innocent smile.
“A pass? What are you talking about? I’m your precious older brother.”
Perdikion stepped back with eyes full of surprise.
“Hmm. Well, that’s true.”
*What a naive kid.*
Rune thought that and waved at Jed.
“How many female dwarfs have gone to the continent?”
“Eek. Actually, just one while I was there.”
It wasn’t many, of course.
But it was far fewer than expected.
Rune spoke again.
“Just the one who married Maron, right?”
“I’m afraid that’s the case.”
Still, there were no female dwarfs who actually moved.
“Much lower than I thought. I heard they took those with special skills or talents, so I assumed they had settled in quite well.”
Jed scratched his head sheepishly.
“It was during the times I could work. But I did try bringing several female dwarfs at once.”
He clicked his tongue, looking a little regretful.
“Still, I died in the middle and things got messed up… Maron as my successor probably had the same situation.”
Rune recalled the dwarf who gave him the will, Maron.
He was fairly old, so even a strong dwarf wouldn’t have the energy of his youth.
*It was possible because that was the best time for activity. Perdikion must have thought it strange to bring so many.*
The lack of travel opportunities might have pushed them to bring as many as possible.
Rune identified the most important point of the problem.
*We need better accessibility. Mentally and physically.*
He conveyed that thought in his words.
“First, making movement easy would make it much easier, don’t you think?”
Rune’s face turned to Perdikion.
The red-haired boy with red eyes showed worry upon meeting his gaze.
“It won’t be that easy. Only long-range teleportation magic is useful, and even that requires someone like me or you.”
Jed jumped in with caution.
“Aigoo, long-range teleportation magic? You’re kidding. We did use help from the tower mages, but it’s neither cheap nor easy.”
Jed recalled the amount they had to pull out back then.
His dwarf cheeks looked sunken in.
“Money vanished to the point where my legs shook. Sigh.”
Rune thought.
*It must be because he was a big client, the tower cooperated well, and the relationship was good.*
Thanks to that, Jed probably received a lot of help with research.
Since he was the kind who revealed money so openly, he hadn’t just handed over his fortune.
Either way, a method only usable when both Rune and Perdikion were present couldn’t be the best option in many ways.
“I’ll handle that.”
When Rune stepped forward, both Jed and Perdikion looked at him.
“What are you planning?”
Perdikion’s question received a confident smile from Rune.
“I happen to have something.”
*I didn’t expect it to be used like this.*
Rune smiled confidently and rummaged through his pocket dimension bag.
“Here.”
“?”
“?”
A jet-black pearl was placed neatly on the small palm of a child.
A very familiar bead.
Perdikion, who had realized something, opened his mouth.
“That one you were carrying around before?”
Rune nodded.
“That’s right. But to use this, I need Christina’s permission.”
That wasn’t hard at all.
Rune smiled leisurely while thinking that.
A week later.
“Kyuak!”
Thud!
Rune, in his true hatchling form, lay curled on the floor like a string of light.
Perdikion held the end of the string and looked at his wrist.
At the end of the blue gaze was a black butterfly knot of magical power.
Christina spoke with a displeased face upon confirming it.
“You managed it. This much restraint magic should be sufficient.”
“Kyuwoo…”
Rune, who had been training alone with Christina, was completely different from the energetic boy a week ago. His tail hung limply.
*Of course it wouldn’t be easy. It’s Christina.*
A week of learning various restraint and binding magic.
Even if he hadn’t fully escaped her light strings, the goal was to reach a level where he could at least face her.
And Rune had just managed it.
Rune secretly raised his head and asked.
“Kyu?”
[Are you giving permission now?]
“Yes. Since you did so well.”
Christina shook the black magical string on his wrist.
It looked like a bracelet at first glance, but it was a magic that embedded restraint-type magic power.
Rune had bound a full adult Gold Dragon with this, even in human polymorph form.
Of course, many hardships had been involved to reach this result.
*I never imagined a restraint duel with Christina.*
In just one week, Rune had grown the ability to bind stronger than mere dismantling for the first time.
At first he would get angry whenever she bound him before he finished his corner magic.
*It was a terrible week. Truly.*
Rune exhaled with a long “Kyuhaa,” and Christina offered praise.
“Rune, I was really enjoying teaching you because you have talent.”
“Kyuuk.”
*Just because of the talent?*
Had she learned specialized binding techniques somewhere?
She demonstrated various ways of binding, so much so that he thought she might have.
*Don’t mess with Christina.*
When the light string disappeared, Rune groaned and stood up.
He then rummaged through his pocket dimension bag and offered the jet-black pearl.
“Kyu!”
[As promised, wake this guy up.]
The displeased gaze grew even darker.
“Yes. Since I ‘promised,’ I’ll keep it. Are you sure?”
This was the kid who had been rolling around tied with strings until now.
Rune nodded firmly.
“Kyuwo.”
[Of course.]
Christina blinked her blue eyes once after facing the innocent gaze of the young hatchling.
“■■■■■.”
Then, with her white hand extended over the pearl, she muttered in her own language.
Several parts of the mana chant were hard to hear, but the final sentence came through clearly.
“…Light that disturbs time and space, return to your master.”
Flash!
A very thin thread of light was pulled from the jet-black pearl.
And.
“Kyaaaak! Ah, ah?”
The deep night fairy.
She was excellent at creating paths in places where the power of the Dark clan existed, so she was also useful in water dungeons.
However, her heart was somewhat twisted, and the silver-haired fairy woke up.
*Still so noisy.*
Rune waited a little while for the fairy to come to her senses and spoke.
“Kyu kyu.”
[You’re awake now?]
The fairy, standing only about one palm above the pearl, looked at Rune and Christina.
“Kya, kyaaaak! Save me!”
Tock!
She tried to dive back into the pearl, but Rune had blocked her from entering, so she collided with her forehead and bounced backward.
“Kyu kyuwoo.”
[Calm down. I won’t eat you.]
At that, the trembling fairy checked their eyes alternately.
[Th- then…?]
Rune smiled softly with the intention of comforting her, curving his eyes.
“Kyu!”
[I have a request.]
Of course, this was not a request but a command.