Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: Purple City, Aurelinople
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The Purple City, <Aurelinople>.
The dock district of this city, where the bounty of Bellisor Bay and the sea converged, was bustling even in the dead of night, alive with constant foot traffic.
With all the chaos upriver and in the Red Mountains—reconstruction efforts, relief supplies, security personnel—the traffic seemed to have multiplied several times over.
“It's already midnight. Shouldn't we just crash and eat tomorrow?”
“You think a republic metropolis shuts down at night? You'll learn the hard way if you assume that.”
The city was indeed rowdy even at this late hour. It had been the same last time we visited.
Miria led us to a dockside eatery popular with sailors, so it wasn't the cleanest place.
But the food was so good it impressed not just Aki, but even me.
Quail steeped in honey, freshwater fish grilled with garlic seasoning, goose marinated in wine...
Dishes you'd only see on an imperial noble's table, served here in a place like this.
Even as the Age of Dragons waned and declined, the republic's vitality remained impressive.
“Pipi, come try some. There's tons of stuff you'll like.”
But Pipi wouldn't touch a single bite. She just perched on the dock railing, staring endlessly toward Mythpeak in the Red Mountains.
'She still hasn't shaken off her grief. Of course... she spent even more time with Tureina than I did.'
Who could possibly heal a wound like that? Even I struggled just to hide my own sorrow from Aki.
“Still, eat something now. You can't mend a broken spirit without a healthy body first.”
But trouble struck when I went for the last piece of goose liver on the final plate.
No sooner had my fork pierced it than another fork stabbed it too. I looked up with a scowl, and across the table, that bastard narrowed his eyes defiantly.
“Don't you know to respect your elders?”
“It's mine.”
“Mine—I—said.”
“Oh dear, I can't wait to see what kind of dragon that spoiled whelp grows into without knowing the first thing about yielding.”
Miria, who'd been watching our childish standoff, sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Just order another plate.”
“No, that's not it. I don't want more food. I want to end on exactly this liver piece and feel perfectly satisfied.”
“Couldn't agree more. This is a matter of mages' pride.”
“Exactly. Let's settle it like mages, you bastard.”
“A mage-like showdown? You wanna fight right here? Are you insane?”
Worried it might escalate, Miria tried to intervene, but Valencides, who'd slipped a hand into his pocket, flicked a coin and snatched it from the air.
“Tails.”
“Heads for me.”
“Tails it is. I go first. 1113 times 148?”
“You call that a challenge? 164,724. 1844 times 339?”
“625,116. What a pathetic opener. 9699 times 9611?”
This childish game was their idea of a mage's duel?
The impromptu multiplication showdown drew every eye in the restaurant in seconds, and soon laughter erupted from all around.
“Whoa, those imperial guys are nuts!”
“No way they're just spitting out numbers like that.”
“Checked with an abacus—it's all spot on!”
Miria—the only sane one left—sighed into the floor and just fed Aki her meal.
“Don't you go learning that stuff and turning into a dumb grown-up, Aki.”
“Aki.”
It was a stew of plump garlic-seasoned mushrooms in butter, and Aki was on her third bowl already—she loved it that much.
“Pipi, come on and eat something.”
That was about when it happened.
A swordswoman in gear much like Miria's crept up behind her, her presence perfectly masked, brushed past, and murmured:
“Dur-Morris, Slime Slayer. Where the hell have you been? The Slayers are looking for you. Think you ran off or something.”
The moment 'Slayers' hit the air, Miria's face went stone-cold.
Right there, just that spot, a chill silence descended. Amid the raucous din of the tavern-restaurant, it felt utterly isolated.
After a suffocating quiet, Miria buried her face briefly in Aki's hair, as if memorizing that warmth one last time.
How long she stayed like that, who knows—but then she lifted her head with a deep sigh.
“I'll head back tonight.”
* * *
「Long time no see, eh?」
It was right as my consciousness sank into sleep, belly full and Aki's warmth against me.
「Like last time, there's a reason I keep you from speaking aloud. Can't take questions. If I stick around too long manifesting like this, they'll catch on.」
Suddenly the hazy dreamscape cleared against my will, replaced by a dim, foggy void undulating mysteriously.
And at its center, a 'god' in an otherworldly white robe perched on a table of graphite, gazing at me.
The instant I registered it, heat surged in my throat. A sensation impossible in a dream... and Black Sun Lin...
「Do you resent Haraderiman?」
The Black Sun Carenden waited for me to grasp the situation, then dropped that out of nowhere. Without waiting for an answer, of course.
「If you're gonna resent someone, resent me—not Haraderiman. That child pitied you all so much she begged me to tell your disciple I'd revived you.」
Probably only this one god in the world could refer to Haraderiman—one of the Three Divine Dragons—as 'that child' like that.
「But by then, your disciple was already corrupted by the Abyss. I couldn't allow it. Letting your intel leak to the Abyss would've wrecked my plans fatally.」
I understand, I wanted to say.
Burying the faint sorrow—maybe a god, a divine dragon, could've reversed it somehow.
The god watched me bow my head, then spoke again.
「Not sure if it'll comfort you, but here are two facts.」
As Carenden rose from the formless table, the black mist composing it rippled and reshaped into a hatchling.
Not Akireia.
Not Mirngadia.
This form felt far nobler, more majestic... Could it be the spiritual form of Water Dragon Yeriserika?
As if answering my thought, Carenden scratched the hatchling's chin and said:
「Yeri scared you more than necessary, it seems. But the threats on the Arcrad Continent are mostly gone now—thanks to you. Any left over aren't a real danger to you.」
Fair enough...
Unlike the fight with Shar'kas, battling Nariaduk had felt properly transcendent, my body moving as it should.
Carenden might find my thoughts petty, though.
「So no need to rush your journey. In fact, don't. Head to the Adrion Continent now, and you and Akireia will be in mortal danger.」
My life in danger?
Were there enemies that formidable on Adrion?
「The Shar'kas you faced had been mortally wounded by Alakish, so only 20% power. Nariaduk, borrowing a human body, barely mustered 40%.」
Alakish again, huh.
If Shar'kas hadn't been one-armed, if he'd webbed with both hands and doubled his attacks...
Chilling just thinking about it. I'd have been butchered before landing Jesochaeryeon and Hwajangbanghyeol.
「But the one you might run into on Adrion now... hard to explain. Retrace the past as you head south. You'll figure it enough.」
The past? What past?
Carenden snapped his fingers instead of answering.
Black mist coalesced into vivid, nostalgic backs—Rista, Kies, Fride...
My jaw dropped slack.
「True Dragons need happy memories from their spirit phase. They feed on them to endure immortality.」
Alakish had told me that.
But how to give happy memories? No clue.
「Overcomplicating it? Just do for them what your old comrades did for you. And this... not sure if it's the right call, but better safe.」
Another finger snap, and suddenly my arm felt heavy.
Somehow, an egg nestled in my arms.
A blindingly white dragon egg—Yeriserika's Mirngadia.
Carenden approached, exuding cozy yet absolute pressure, and caressed the egg tenderly.
「The reason Yeri's final egg hasn't hatched yet is a shortage of soul shards to inhabit it.」
Soul shards?
No idea what that meant.
「Because I ordered her to create the World Tree with my interference in the world.」
So while other divine dragons made five True Dragons from soul shards, Water Dragon used one to make the World Tree?
「Sharp as expected—the child I chose. No time, so back on track: that egg will hatch soon. Why do you think?」
When Carenden explained, I doubted my hearing—or rather, the info hitting my consciousness directly.
「Because your disciple Tureina's soul entered it, completing the missing shards.」
Tureina...
A name buried deep in my heart. One I'd sent far away. One to miss, but not cling to.
「She won't remember you. Even vague soul-memories won't resurface clearly. That's how soul fusion works.」
Not a space for words anyway, but something hot surged from my soul's depths, choking me.
Tureina.
Tureina becoming a dragon.
Even without memories, if we could be together again, that alone...
「But her feelings, her affection for you, remain in the soul. She'll follow you devotedly, no effort needed.」
Carenden placed a hand on my shoulder.
His face obscured by holy radiance like our first meeting, but it felt like a wistful smile.
「This is the only comfort I can offer your tragic bond.」
Thank you.
I bowed repeatedly, saying it.
Even if he'd allowed speech, no voice would've come. Just stifled sobs.
「No need to order it, but cherish her plenty. Without favoring over Akireia. Alakish is the one I truly treasure.」
Wait, hold on.
If new souls can be placed, then maybe Miria and Rista—
“───?!”
I reached out to ask—and suddenly the dark void vanished, replaced by the familiar inn ceiling.
'No questions, huh...'
I touched the still-burning Black Sun Lin in my throat. Not a dream.
Careful not to wake Aki, I rose and pulled the pristine white egg from Seresia's subspace, where it'd been blanketed.
Pressed my ear to its surface. The pulse was stronger than when Yeriserika gave it—definitely.
'Ha...'
I beckoned Pipi, who was perched on the windowsill staring at Mythpeak.
My throat was shot, no voice, but she flew over and nuzzled my cheek.
'Tureina's inside this.'
I whispered the precious secret.
Pipi tilted her head, confused.
'Tureina's soul went into this dragon body and was reborn. Carenden said so.'
Not fully reborn, just a part merging... but that was enough.
More than enough.
Maybe sharing my thoughts, Pipi pecked the egg, then settled atop it like brooding, swaying her head warmly.
'Our little secret.'
I grinned foolishly, forehead to forehead with her; she rubbed back.
'Tell no one. Even when it hatches. Just us who know.'
I lay back in bed. This time with the pure white egg and Pipi atop it.
A youth cradling a red-haired hatchling in one arm, his disciple's soul in the white egg in the other, drifted to happy dreams amid tears.
In his heart's constellation, faint and small but real, a star once buried in those tears twinkled anew.