The Dragon of the Pleasure City - 2
Cheongdamgak, known as the landmark of Yuran.
It was a high-rise building crowned by a stone statue of the Blue Dragon, a place also called the nest of Sestia, daughter of the Blue Dragon and ruler of the south.
The top floor of Cheongdamgak was furnished with the finest furniture and the latest facilities imported from Ainharden. One of those facilities was a magic-powered telescope, and a woman had her eye pressed close to it.
"Lady Sestia. We have a report that our organization and the opposing faction have clashed at the city entrance."
"Yeah, I'm watching it right now."
"Lady Lin has taken the vanguard and the situation isn't bad, but an elf who wasn't in the data intervened and flipped everything in an instant."
"I know."
"So this time, the munitions development team has newly developed a weapon that—"
"Hey."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
At the cold, sunken voice, the secretary's babbling mouth snapped shut. Sestia lowered the telescope for a moment and shot him a sidelong glare. The sharp vertical pupils made every muscle in his body seize up. The pressure of the strongest race. Even with human blood mixed in, a dragon was still a dragon.
"I said I know, didn't I? So why do you keep distracting me?"
"I-I'm so sorry!!"
"Don't bother me. Even if you don't spell everything out one by one, I already have a rough idea."
"Yes, ma'am…!"
"If you understand, get out."
"Excuse me!"
The secretary spun around and fled outside in a hurry. Certain that lingering any longer would get him eaten, he ran for his life.
With the annoying secretary gone, Sestia returned her gaze to the distant scene through the telescope. Far below, the White Dragon faction and the Blue Dragon faction were locked in battle. She watched the countless people fighting, yet her expression remained utterly indifferent. The clash was far too meager to set the dragon blood in her body boiling. Lin, the one Sestia had been watching with some interest, was fighting flashily enough, but her opponent was so unremarkable it left her disappointed.
"Boring."
Even though a force had appeared intent on dragging her down, Sestia felt not the slightest tension. There simply was no enemy who could threaten her. Hollow. Pointless. That was the impression she held—until a spark of interest lit in her eyes.
Her gaze had landed not on the battlefield, but on a carriage far behind it. From inside stepped a man who was heaving deep sighs.
…Strong.
On the surface he was full of openings, yet if she actually attacked, she felt certain he would evade no matter how she came at him. A true powerhouse was not someone who simply radiated overwhelming presence. A powerhouse, in Sestia's mind, was someone who possessed the composure to handle any variable and who hid their strength so thoroughly that no one could predict them. And a man who matched that image exactly had just arrived in the city.
"This should be fun…."
A smile curved across Sestia's previously rigid face. She began to laugh under her breath, as if she could barely contain her anticipation for everything that was about to unfold in Yuran. For a long while she could not tear her eyes away from the man.
"What am I supposed to do about this…."
With Marianne joining the White Dragon faction, the power balance between both sides had evened out nicely. The problem was that a balanced fight did not improve the situation at all. My goal was to stop the fighting, not to pursue a fair match.
"The best way to stop a fight is to take down the enemy general."
The enemy general, huh….
The Blue Dragon faction's general was Lin, but the White Dragon faction had no clear leader in sight. That left things awkward. I couldn't exactly harm Lin, and I had no idea who to take down on the White Dragon side.
That method's out.
"Then the only option left is to overwhelm everyone on the battlefield with sheer force and stun them into stopping."
So it's that method after all….
The best approach would be to fire off sword aura and split the ground, but I couldn't openly reveal a magic sword in front of everyone. If the sword was off the table, the only power I could show was magic. While I was at it, I planned to use a spell that would physically end the war.
"What do you intend to do?"
I'm going to turn this entire area into an ice rink.
"Oh ho?"
Balance was a critical factor in determining victory or defeat. Once balance collapsed, openings appeared and you ended up offering your neck to the enemy. In that sense, if I shattered everyone's footing with ice, the fighting would pause for a moment. Once they all fell, I would raise an ice wall the size of a fortress wall in the center and separate the two camps. Then everyone would revere me. A perfect plan.
"Power-wise, something around the level of a 5th-Class Mage should be fine."
"Fifth-Class?"
"Well then…!"
"W-Wait just a moment!"
"Ice Field."
Snap—!
I flicked my fingers and manifested the spell that turned the ground to ice. Starting from me, sheets of ice stretched out like tree roots. In an instant the ice reached the battlefield and touched everyone's feet. Now all they had to do was fall over together nicely….
"Huh?"
Crack-crack-crack—!
Far from falling, everyone's feet were stuck fast to the ground. The ice path I had created was not content with the earth alone; it climbed their legs and spread across their entire bodies.
"What is this?!"
"S-Save me!"
"Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold!"
One by one they were turning into ice statues, and Frach's lament reached me.
"Did you forget that as a follower of Prihart, the power of your ice magic is amplified?"
N-Now that you mention it….
"Even if you tried to hold back, when it comes to ice magic your level jumps an entire rank. That is why you ended up freezing every last one of them solid."
….
"It seems you have at least some awareness of what you did wrong."
A thought just occurred to me—if I thaw only certain parts and stimulate them, would the pleasure still remain even after they're fully thawed later?
"Contractor, have you finally lost your mind?"
In the end I got thoroughly scolded by Frach, and the war between the White Dragon and Blue Dragon factions temporarily came to a close.
"This way, please."
With the incident settled for now, we were being guided by a man who appeared to be an officer of the White Dragon faction. I had decided to visit the White Dragon side first so I could give Rene a sharp word or two.
That was how we arrived at a pleasant-looking tavern. Built entirely of wood like a saloon from a western film, the interior had a bartender and dancing girls preparing for business.
"Is this the right place? It looks like a tavern still getting ready to open."
"No need to worry. This is without a doubt the White Dragon faction's hideout."
Without so much as the owner's permission, the young guide casually stepped into the liquor storeroom. He walked to the right-hand corner of the warehouse, crouched, and pulled on a small stick protruding from the floor. A staircase leading underground appeared before us.
"Please continue following me."
He took a torch from near the entrance and skillfully lit the oil-soaked cloth. It seemed to be a secret passage leading to the White Dragon faction's base. Given that Sestia was the ruler of Yuran, the White Dragon faction were rebels. To avoid being purged by the Blue Dragon faction, their hideout had to stay hidden.
"Mind if I ask a few questions on the way to Rene?"
"Ask as many as you like."
"Why did your White Dragon faction raise a banner against Sestia?"
"…There are many reasons, but if I pick out the main ones: extortion, fraud, and frequent beatings."
"The leader of Yuran did that?"
"Aside from the beatings, most of it was done by people under her, but when the upper stream is rotten, the lower stream naturally rots as well."
"So you're overthrowing her?"
"Yes. Countless people have suffered under Sestia's tyranny, and some even took their own lives because they couldn't endure it."
Grind—!
Seeing the young man clench his molars in genuine fury, it did not seem like he was making anything up. That was an expression only pure anger could produce. Asking further would only stoke his rage, so I kept quiet. With victims overflowing, I had no leisure to listen to every single sob story. I had no intention of offering half-hearted sympathy either.
"This is the place. Beyond this door, Lady Rene is waiting for Lord Bern."
"Ah, thanks."
After sending the guide off, I grabbed the doorknob and stepped inside. Only after opening it did I realize I had forgotten to knock. Still, given the relationship between Rene and me, it should be fine, right?
"Hoo…! Have you lost all sense of fear? Barging into my room without even knocking—you've got some nerve."
Rene stood with her back turned, swirling a wine glass. Wearing a black fedora and a black suit, she looked exactly like the boss of a mafia organization. The outfit screamed, I am the boss of this place.
"I'll give you a special choice. Bow your head right now, or if you don't like that, leave the organization."
"…What the hell are you doing?"
"Eek?!"
The moment she heard my voice, Rene—who had only been showing her back—jumped in shock and spun around at once. Facing me, she opened and closed her mouth, chewing over her words again and again. Fully aware of the embarrassing act she had just pulled, her face flushed bright red in an instant.
"B-Bern! It's not what it looks like…!"
"Congratulations. You've evolved from Radiant Dragon into Black Flame Dragon."
It was the moment Rene's dark history was updated once again.