The Disciple Has Unknowingly Come to Occupy an "Important Position"
First of all, William's prediction had been wrong.
But it hadn't been entirely wrong, either.
…Igraine.
Just as William had expected, when Sera heard the report about the dragon egg, her mood soured so badly that killing intent spilled out of her—William had to draw up his mana just to endure it, while Riel dragged the foaming, unconscious Leo farther away. But it wasn't because she felt anxious that the dragon egg might steal her place. It was because she was bound to that dragon egg by a bitter, blood-soaked fate.
The Red Dragon Igraine.
One of the Four Heavenly Kings who had sworn loyalty directly beneath the Demon King and commanded the Demon King's army—the holder of that seat—had been a dragon that should never have existed in this world.
At first she had assumed it was a dragon that had survived in the Demon Realm. But after countless regressions, Sera learned that the Red Dragon Igraine was not a being of the Demon Realm at all.
The last Dragon Lord had cast a grand magic designed to activate when someone suitable to care for the dragon appeared, layered together with a time-stasis spell. The dragon egg protected inside that magic in a state of frozen time—that was Igraine's true identity.
Sera had reached the truth only after long investigation across countless loops. Had it been a being of this world, she would never even have sensed that grand magic's existence. Unfortunately, the demons—creatures from another dimension—had felt it, and over time they had forcibly torn the magic open and seized the dragon egg. No matter how powerful a dragon's spell might be, once the caster was dead there were bound to be gaps, and in the end the last dragon had fallen into the hands of the Demon King's army. Thus the Four Heavenly King known as the Red Dragon Igraine had been born.
Naturally, Sera had wanted to recover that dragon egg somehow. But as a being of this world, no matter what she tried, she could not sense the grand magic's presence. She had even captured demons and threatened them into helping her track it, yet the grand magic rejected her to the very end. As a result, Sera had always died after bloody, desperate battles with the Red Dragon Igraine—and had always had to kill it.
And yet, of all things, that very dragon egg of Igraine's had appeared before her master.
…That dragon egg is no longer the Igraine I know. But I still can't rest easy.
She could trust her master, of course. Would that man ever use a child he had raised for his own desires? If he were that kind of person, he never would have given up the Aura Heart he had spent a lifetime building for a disciple who wasn't even related by blood. Under her master, a hellish monster like the Four Heavenly King Igraine could never be born. On the contrary—the complete opposite would come into being. Because it was her master. Sera didn't doubt that for even a moment. It was simply that obvious.
But…
For Sera, it was not an easy matter.
She couldn't simply brush aside an opponent she had fought madly against countless times, been killed by, and killed in turn, with a casual the guardian has changed, so it can't become that kind of monster anymore. On the contrary—even if it was her master, he might fail to change that monster, and it might harm him. The mere thought of that possibility shook her mind and heart.
I need to check.
"Mm…"
She would have preferred to visit during the day, greet her master properly, and talk with him face to face. That desire had dominated Sera—but she overcame it and snuck in at night. Compared to when she had parted from her master, she had grown so tremendously it was almost incomparable. Even so, she was still a long way from looking like a woman.
Her master still saw her strongly as his disciple and a kid. To escape that, she had judged that the path with any real hope was to present herself in a completely new form—one that wouldn't call up her previous appearance at all—and thereby build a new line of relationship. So Sera had painfully overcome her own desire.
I thought controlling my emotions was easy by now… but when it comes to anything related to Master, I can't do it anymore.
There was no more troublesome existence than a Hero swept up in emotion. That was why Sera had first had to master methods of controlling her feelings, and as a result she had refined the skill to such a degree that no one in this world could possibly control their emotions better than she did now. And yet even with emotion-control skills at a superhuman level, the feeling called love could not be suppressed. She found it truly troublesome—and yet it also meant her feelings for Jade were that strong, so it was good, too. Sera was left with a complicated tangle of emotions.
Is this enough?
She had plastered the place with every kind of magic so as not to disturb Jade's sleep. Even if someone shook him awake, he probably wouldn't come to.
Tap!
"…?!"
Coming back to herself, Sera realized she had been touching Jade's cheek without knowing it, and she panicked. She was the one who had casually cut off the heads of a Succubus Queen and an Incubus King even under their coordinated seduction assault—and yet something this simple had drawn her into temptation. Sera couldn't help but be astonished by Jade's special ability(?). Or had the World Tree granted him a spirit of seduction? Even knowing that non-elves couldn't receive such spirits, she sat there entertaining absurd fantasies.
Sera cast a physical barrier magic entirely, completely cutting off the distance between herself and Jade. For her it was an act that made her feel what a waste, but the most important thing was Jade's safety. She needed to quickly confirm whether that dragon egg was truly free of problems.
The target dragon egg lay close to the sleeping Jade.
I'm jealous.
Sleeping in the same room as Jade. How enviable…
Sera sincerely thought so.
Because she herself had never done it even once.
On the day she had arrived, Jade had made a separate space for her to stay. If only she had said then that it was fine to stay together… No—given Jade's personality, he would have insisted that a girl needed a space where she could stay alone and made one for her for sure.
In other words, this was a privilege only this dragon egg could enjoy. Even though the other party was an egg, Sera felt genuine envy.
"…I should talk to it first."
Dragons are perfect beings.
To be perfect means one can only be called perfect if one is perfect. If there is even a slightly incomplete part, or even a slightly incomplete moment, it cannot be called perfect. A perfect being must always, everywhere, at every moment, be perfect. Only then can it exist perfectly as a perfect being.
In other words, a dragon is a perfect being that is already in a perfect state of existence even before birth. That means even in the dragon-egg state, a dragon possesses a perfect self. And even in that state, it can use magic. Being still inside the egg, it cannot use high-level magic—by dragon standards—and forcing magic in that state would adversely affect the main body inside, so it wouldn't use it unless the situation was truly critical.
Because Sera had tried every means to get her hands on Igraine in its dragon-egg state, she had investigated all of that and stored it in her memory. In the end she had never once obtained the dragon egg, so even an infinitely regressing Hero had never expected a day would come when she would put this information to useful use.
That dragon egg was a single barrier magic. It wasn't that the main body inside had done anything in particular. It was simply carrying it out by protective instinct. It was something unimaginable for a human, but as befitting a perfect being, it was performing tremendous magic with nothing but protective instinct. Therefore connecting to the main body inside through communication magic would normally be extremely difficult—but that didn't apply to an infinitely regressing Hero.
Connection complete.
At last she could speak with the main body inside the dragon egg.
In that moment, Sera's mind filled with memories of the Igraine she had fought so fiercely, blood flying. The Four Heavenly King Red Dragon Igraine, whose mind had been corrupted by the Demon King—or something like it—who desired destruction, yearned only for destruction, and lived only for destruction…
She had spent long ages fighting, fighting, and fighting her, but she had never once had a proper conversation.
No—there had been times when something like a conversation that wasn't a conversation had been established.
…It's quiet.
That had been Igraine's answer when, at the hour of her death, Sera had asked, "Is there anything you want to say at the end?" Because Sera hadn't understood the meaning, it couldn't be called a proper conversation.
Anyway, a truly proper conversation was something she had never managed even across infinite regressions, so this was truly the first time it was happening.
So Sera was slightly on guard.
She had no idea what absurd thing it might suddenly say.
Yes—she was on guard.
"Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
…But the infinitely regressing Hero had not expected in the slightest that she would hear something like this, so it was only natural that she panicked in a way completely unlike herself.
The dragon egg had realized immediately upon being born that it had been abandoned. The two dragons who had birthed it had not the slightest intention of shouldering parental responsibility. In the midst of endless boredom their eyes had met, and thus it had been born. But the boredom had not been resolved in the least. So they had desired annihilation—even though they had a child like itself. Therefore the dragon egg had judged that those two were not parents to it. It had no choice but to reach that conclusion.
"Then you can choose your own parents."
The Lord who alone had cared for it and taken an interest in it had said so. It wasn't such a strange thing, apparently. Dragons falling into the hell of boredom and showing no interest in the dragon eggs they had birthed had long since become an everyday occurrence. So dragon eggs had come to naturally regard not the ones who birthed them, but the ones who cherished them, as their parents. The dragon egg had tried to choose the Lord as its parent. But the Lord had shaken her head.
"I'm sorry. I don't have much time left, so it would be difficult. I'd love to take a cute child like you as my own as much as I want, but… I'm truly sorry."
Instead the Lord had given a special gift—a grand magic. A grand magic that would put it into time stasis while it slept, so that when a person suitable to become a parent appeared, it would be delivered to them. The dragon egg had been grateful for the Lord's special gift.
And so the dragon egg had fallen asleep.
When it came to its senses…
It could instinctively tell that a very long time had passed.
And it could also tell that it was in the hands of a human male.
Humans… That was unknown territory for the dragon egg. It wasn't that it knew nothing about the existence called humans. A short-lived, foolish race overflowing with desire despite that—and yet a race that had never once gone extinct from the world. To the dragon egg, humans were an interesting subject. Interesting enough that it had put I want to observe them up close once I get out of this egg on its life-goal list.
And yet the one the Lord's grand magic had chosen as the parent to care for it was a human male… The dragon egg couldn't help but be interested.
As a result, the dragon egg had taken a liking to this human male. It was frustrating that communication didn't work because he wasn't skilled in magic, but even so, it could feel it. His warm embrace, his touch, his soul… The dragon egg could tell without experiencing all that much time that this human male caring for it was a special human—special enough that it was only natural the Lord's grand magic had chosen him.
Therefore the dragon egg had acknowledged the human man who sincerely cared for it as "Dad."
So the dragon egg had wished.
Dad was warm and nice, but still, the frustration of not being able to communicate was frustrating. So it had hoped that "Mom" would please be someone it could communicate with.
But no matter how it looked, there seemed to be no "Mom."
So just as it was feeling disappointed…
The dragon egg sensed the intrusion of a human woman. If she was targeting itself or Dad, it had been prepared to use magic and attack no matter how much side effects it would suffer. Dad was already family it had to protect, so it could make that resolve. But it quickly let down its guard. Because the look in that human woman's eyes as she gazed at "Dad" overflowed with affection, and it could feel how carefully she treated him. It was very similar to the warmth it felt when "Dad" cared for it.
Therefore the dragon egg could realize.
It's Mom!!!!
Mom has finally appeared!!!!
So the moment the one who looked like "Mom" connected with it through communication magic, the dragon egg had shouted without hesitation.
"Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
…Like that.
"Mom" had seemed briefly flustered, but…
Soon she regained her composure and asked it,
"If you're calling me Mom, then Dad is… the one sleeping over there?"
"Yeah!!! Dad! And Mom!!"
"……"
"Mom" looked at the dragon egg with a face full of thoughts, then said,
"…Want me to rub some holy water on you?"
"Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The dragon egg thought it was truly lucky. It seemed "Mom" knew better than "Dad" what a dragon egg liked. And it couldn't help but feel sincere gratitude to the Lord who had cast the grand magic for its sake so that things would turn out this way.
Thank you, Grandma!!!!!!!!
To it, the last Dragon Lord Roael was the maternal grandmother it had chosen for itself.
…In many ways, it was a scene that could only leave one with the impression that a perfect being had been perfectly, thoroughly a perfect being.