Chapter 36
I had intended to go to the research institute and get some hints about cotton gins or spinning machines….
- Whirrr~!
“Look. It dries incredibly fast, doesn’t it?”
Having suddenly been dragged to the Eternal Palace, the residence of the Seventh Princess Flare,
Akion was watching her attendants do her hair.
- Whiiiiir~!
Of course, it was not a bad sight to watch.
First, he had felt both pleased and amazed upon seeing Flare’s attendants make good use of the wave technique Goldie had written in the manual.
Akion resolved that if he ever made a cheaper version to sell to the middle class, he would be sure to include a booklet with it.
And the second thing was….
“Here, feel it! It’s suuuuper soft, right?”
They had known each other for barely an hour or two, but simply watching the Seventh Princess act so overfamiliar with him… was not entirely unpleasant.
There was a reason she was called the Empire’s seventh blessing.
Her beauty was so extraordinary that anyone would have called her a heavenly maiden.
“It’s like the silk said to come from the Eastern Continent.”
“Ahahaha! Isn’t that a little too much praise?”
“Absolutely not.”
Was it that even merely watching her was enjoyable?
Anyway, Akion did not mind it.
“And what about you? You even made a hair dryer like this! Isn’t that amazing?”
For all that praise, Flare’s compliments did not stir any particular feeling in Akion.
“It is no different from disassembling and reassembling things I developed previously.”
Because that was all he had done: carefully disassemble things he had developed beforehand and reassemble them.
From this side, it might look like innovation… but in truth, Akion was merely following the technology of the modern era.
“I merely implemented on a small scale the phenomena God arranged so that we could use them.”
He did not consider it something worthy of praise.
So he had remained humble, but
- Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!!
Akion wondered whether eyes could really shine this brightly.
Flare was looking at him as if he were an incredibly amazing person.
“Amaaaazing…!”
“I do not think it is all that amazing. It is a field anyone can understand if they begin with the fundamentals.”
“Magi-engineering?! Really?! Then if I study it, could I become a genius like you?!”
Not magi-engineering, but engineering.
Akion had tried to correct her out of habit, but the person before him was a member of the imperial family, even if she was last in the line of succession.
So he summoned all his patience and somehow managed to phrase it indirectly.
“I am no genius, but it is widely rumored that Your Highness is exceptionally clever… so perhaps you may become a genius magi-engineer.”
“Waaah……!”
Flare looked like a child delighted by seeing a science experiment for the first time.
Ah, now he wanted to teach her everything.
Akion desperately suppressed his professor—or rather, science teacher—mindset.
She was the Seventh Princess. The Emperor’s daughter.
If he let her enroll herself in his lab, who knew what sort of order to hunt him down might be issued?
- Grab!
“I want to work at that workshop too!”
“Your Highness!”
“Oh, come on, Bai! You said social status means nothing when it comes to learning! I want to try living outside the Imperial Palace this time too─.”
But if she was volunteering to become a research slave—no, a graduate student—how could he, as a professor, simply sit back and do nothing!!
Just as Akion was at a loss while Flare begged him, even taking hold of his hand….
- Kraaaargh─!!!!!!!!
“Gaaah?!”
“Eek!”
A tremendous roar rang out across the entire capital, beyond even the Imperial Palace.
For a moment, Akion thought some colossal flying demon from an ancient text had arrived, but
“What is that…!”
“Your Highness!”
Judging by the bright expression on Flare’s face as she ran outside, it did not seem to be anything serious.
Akion followed Flare out with the chief maid, and
- Flap! Flap!
“Good grief, what in the world is that?”
“Ancestor…!”
A colossal black dragon the size of a fifteen-story building was circling above the Imperial Palace, casting its shadow over the enormous structure.
*
‘The Empire has reached its thousandth birthday thanks to Your steadfast support, Pillar of the Empire. If it would not be an imposition, might You give a congratulatory address around noon tomorrow, Elder?’
That was when Tower Master Ridasid had secretly come up without Akion’s knowledge.
In truth, she had come up after receiving a letter from the Emperor, and when she met him, he asked her to give a congratulatory address on the second day of the Millennial Founding Festival.
Honestly, the Tower Master had followed him without Akion knowing, but she had no desire to take on such a troublesome task….
‘I know that You have recently shown particular affection for Enersis. I also intend to support that count’s son and the Ridasid Tower… I humbly ask this despite the imposition.”
‘That Theodore fellow is just as smooth-tongued as he was when he was young.’
The Ridasid Tower, of which she was the master.
And if she was going to grant benefits to Akion Enersis, her favorite human, could she really refuse?
Above all, the Tower Master was not so cold-hearted a dragon that she could reject a cute request from her grandnephew—though he was technically a very distant descendant.
- Flap! Flap!
Thus, at noon on the second day of the Millennial Founding Festival,
the Tower Master made a surprise appearance above the Empire in her original dragon form.
“Small yet strong children. Behold the radiant Empire you have built.”
“Ohhh…!”
“O dragon…!”
With a dragon’s senses, capable of seeing and hearing from dozens of kilometers away, she could see countless people bowing to her as they praised her.
“The children who dreamed of taking flight beneath the shadow of our wings have now built a thousand years of prosperity. What a blessed and precious thing.”
Seeing such a sight, even a dragon who had lived for ten thousand years would naturally puff out her chest with pride.
Just think about it. Hundreds of thousands of adorable creatures gazing at her with sparkling eyes and bowing nonstop.
They were so cute she felt like making them burst.
“May all life upon Kalid flourish forever beneath the blessings of God and me!”
- Whooosh!!
But since that would really make them burst, she settled for spreading her wings wide and sending out a wave of mana.
“The glorious flame of Kalid shall never be extinguished, not even in ten thousand years─!!”
“Waaaaaaaa!!!”
“Long live Kalid!!! Long live the dragons!!”
“Long live His Majesty the Emperooooor─!!”
Even that alone made those adorable creatures jump up and down with their arms and legs, cheering happily.
The Tower Master found it utterly endearing.
“Ahem.”
It had been a short speech, but the Tower Master’s throat was slightly dry nonetheless.
Just as she was about to descend slowly to the banquet hall, feeling a little embarrassed,
“Hmm?”
The Tower Master sensed the presence of one of her kind near the palace where the imperial family resided.
She focused her senses and examined it….
“Flare? And….”
She had nearly failed to recognize him, but it was the Emperor’s child whose blessing the Tower Master herself had weakened more than a decade ago.
Beside that fellow….
“……Akion?”
Why was her favorite human standing there?
He was hers.
- Throb!
Her dragon heart and an impulse suddenly began to throb.
As if entranced, the Tower Master began descending toward the Seventh Princess’s Eternal Palace.
*
“Uh, uhh?! Uhhhh!!”
A fifteen-story-tall dragon was approaching awkwardly at roughly two hundred kilometers per hour.
The word ‘embarrassment’ might have made it sound nicer, but to Akion, who was actually experiencing it─.
“It’s dangerous, Your Highness!”
it looked exactly like a meteor falling from the sky.
Whether or not it had just given a speech, a mass that size crashing into them would mean instant death!!
Akion hurriedly tried to evacuate the princess, but then remembered the difference in their physical strength and drooped dejectedly.
The one fortunate thing was,
- Ssshhh….
- Tap.
“Huh? Huh? Tower Master?”
the black dragon gradually shrank and landed in the form of someone familiar to Akion.
“Ancestor!”
“Ah, so it really was Flare.”
The next fortunate thing was that the Seventh Princess and the Tower Master at least knew each other.
The unfortunate thing was….
“Your hair has gotten shorter. Have you had something good happen recently?”
“Yes! Hehe, thanks to Young Master Akion─.”
The instant the Tower Master heard Akion’s name, she glared toward him.
Why was she so angry?
The princess did not even know enough to teach Akion like a professor.
Akion could not understand it at all.
“So… it was a hair dryer?”
“Yes! Here, this is the hair dryer Young Master Akion made himself! Oh, right, Ancestor, you said you were researching with Young Master Akion, didn’t you? Then did you make this together too?”
“Hmm. It is a magi-tool that benefited from my advice.”
The Tower Master accepted the hair dryer.
For some reason, Akion was worried that the hair dryer would be smashed to pieces on the spot.
But perhaps she had a great deal of patience, because the Tower Master returned it intact and approached Akion once more with a benevolent smile.
“So, why is Akion here?”
“I wanted to show you how to use it myself… hehe.”
And when she heard that Flare had dragged him here too….
“Hehe. You always wanted to show your father how pretty you looked. I’m glad it no longer remains a source of pain for you.”
For some reason, the Tower Master had to summon all her patience.
She could no longer withstand the unpleasant tickling sensation that continued to prickle at her dragon heart.
- Grab!
“Oh.”
“So you’ve finished what you came here to do, then? In that case, I’d like to take my Akion away now.”
She even linked arms with Akion!!
“Ah, did you perhaps have some arrangement with Young Master Akion…?”
“Hmm. Not exactly, but wouldn’t it be a good idea to show those blue-blooded nobles in the banquet hall whose protection Akion enjoys?”
The Seventh Princess vaguely noticed it here.
Chief Maid Beatrice and the attendants, however, noticed it clearly.
“S-surely… the Tower Master…?”
Young Master Akion seemed to have noticed something, though his interpretation had gone badly astray, making it seem one-sided, but
judging by the Tower Master’s movements, it was obvious.
“No… then does that mean the princess…!”
“Do not jump to conclusions. But even so… sigh. How am I supposed to report this to His Majesty…?”
At the very least, the Tower Master definitely felt something for Akion!!
And though only vaguely, the princess had also received a hint from the Emperor beforehand.
“If you are willing, I would like you to become friendly with that young master from Enersis.”
“Yes, Father! Leave it to me!”
She felt more of the responsibility she bore as a member of the imperial family than romantic feelings, but
after seeing Akion’s words and actions in the garden… she rather liked him.
Unlike the arrogant noble boys who did nothing but bow and scrape, she also liked that he was humble.
So even though they were not dating or engaged─.
“Ah! Then!”
- Squeeze!
At the very least, she instinctively knew that she must not let this man get away.
So she wrapped her arms around Akion’s other arm, the one the Tower Master had not embraced.
“I’ll go with you too!”
“Huh?”
“If we do this, Young Master Akion’s greatness will stand out, right? Although I’m a young princess who is farthest from the throne and less mature than the Ancestor… at least I can lend Young Master Akion my support!”
“Haaah?”
For some reason, the Tower Master felt stung.
Especially by the word ‘young.’
“……Very well. Let us.”
Even so, as the elder(?) of the family, she had her dignity to maintain.
The Tower Master endured it through transcendent patience and displayed a benevolent smile on the outside.
And Akion, caught between them,
“Well, Akion? A flower in each hand. You must have experienced such luxury before, so surely you won’t give up being escorted by Flare and me, will you?”
“Hehe, please, Young Master Akion?”
“Ah…….”
wanted to go home immediately.
On one side was a dragon who was the Pillar of the Empire and had ground down a treasonous family as powerful as a kingdom.
On the other was the Seventh Princess, who was still a member of the imperial family despite being farthest from the throne.
Regardless of whether he was close to the Tower Master or not, what would happen if he went to the banquet hall like this?
It was certain to be a truly exhausting situation, but….
“I am extremely! inexperienced with this sort of etiquette, but I shall do my best to escort you.”
Akion had no choice.
He could shamelessly refuse, but what sort of troublesome rumors would start afterward…!!
“Hehe, I shall rely on you.”
“Heehee, thank you!”
Was this what it felt like to have one’s blood run cold?
Akion felt like crying.