Chapter 36
I had intended to visit the research institutes and get some hints about cotton gins or spinning machines….
- Whirrr~!
“Look. It dries incredibly fast, doesn’t it?”
Suddenly dragged to the Eternal Palace, the residence of Princess Flare, the Seventh Princess,
Akion was watching her attendants style flowers into her hair.
- Whiiiiir~!
Of course, it wasn’t an unpleasant sight.
First, he had felt both pleased and amazed when he saw Flare’s attendants making good use of the wave-styling technique Goldie had written in the manual.
Akion resolved that if he ever made a cheaper version and sold it to the middle class, he would be sure to include a booklet with it.
And the second reason was….
“Come on, touch it! It’s sooo soft, isn’t it?”
They had only met an hour or two ago, but simply watching the Seventh Princess act overly familiar with him was… not all that bad.
It was not for nothing that she was called the Empire’s seventh blessing.
Her beauty was so outstanding that anyone would have called her a fairy.
“It’s like the silk said to come from the Eastern Continent.”
“Ahaha! Aren’t you praising me a little too much?”
“Not at all.”
Should he say that even watching her was enjoyable?
Anyway, Akion was not having a bad time.
“And what about you? You even made a hair dryer like this! That’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Unlike 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 before.”
It was essentially no different from carefully taking apart things he had developed in advance and putting them back together.
From this world’s perspective, it was innovation… but in truth, Akion was merely following the process of recreating modern technology.
“I merely implemented, on a small scale, phenomena God arranged so that we could make use of them.”
He did not consider it something worthy of praise.
So he remained humble, but
- Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!!
Akion wondered whether eyes could really shine so brightly.
Flare was looking at him as if he were an incredibly remarkable person.
“Amaaaazing…!”
“I don’t think it is anything amazing. It is a field that anyone can understand if they start with the basics, even someone who knows nothing about it.”
“Magi-engineering?! Really?! Then if I learn it, could I become a genius like you?!”
Not magi-engineering, engineering.
Akion tried to correct her out of habit, but she was a member of the imperial family, even if she was the lowest in the line of succession.
So he summoned all his patience and phrased it as obliquely as possible.
“I am not a genius, but it is widely rumored that Your Highness the Seventh Princess is exceptionally intelligent…. 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 forcibly suppressed his professor—no, science teacher—mindset.
She was the Seventh Princess. The Emperor’s daughter.
If he let her enroll in his laboratory of her own accord, who knew what kind of execution order might be issued against him?
- Grab!
“I want to work in that workshop too!”
“Your Highness!”
“Oh, Bai! You said status differences have no meaning when it comes to learning! I want to live outside the Imperial Palace this time too—.”
But when she was volunteering to become his research slave—no, graduate student—how could he, as a professor, simply stand by and do nothing?!
Just as Akion was at a loss for what to do with Flare, who had even taken his hand and begun pleading,
- Kwooooooaaaaaah─!!!!!!!!
“Ghk?!”
“Eek!”
A tremendous roar rang out over the Imperial Palace and the entire capital.
For a moment, Akion thought some enormous flying demon from an ancient text had arrived, but
“This is…!”
“Your Highness!”
Judging by the bright expression on Flare’s face as she ran outside, it could not be anything too serious.
So Akion chased after Flare with the chief maid, and
- Flap! Flap!
“Good heavens, 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 castle.
*
‘The Empire has reached its thousandth birthday because of the steadfast support of the Pillar of the Empire. If it would not be an imposition, might I ask you to deliver a congratulatory address around noon tomorrow, Elder.’
It was when Tower Master Ridasid had secretly come up without Akion’s knowledge.
In truth, she had come in response to a letter from the Emperor, and after meeting her, he asked her to deliver a congratulatory address on the second day of the Millennial Founding Festival.
Honestly, the Tower Master had come without Akion’s knowledge, but she had no desire to take on such an annoying task….
‘I know that you have recently shown particular affection for Enersis. I also intend to lend my support to that count’s son and the Ridasid Tower, so I humbly ask this favor despite the imposition.’
‘That Theodore fellow is still as smooth-tongued as he was when he was young.’
The Ridasid Tower, which she owned.
And if he was offering benefits to Akion Enersis, the human she cherished most, could she refuse?
Above all, the Tower Master was not such a cold-hearted dragon that she could refuse the adorable request of a descendant of her grandnephew—though he was an extremely 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 but strong children. Behold the brilliant Empire you have built.”
“Ooh…!”
“O dragon…!”
With a dragon’s senses, capable of seeing and hearing tens of kilometers away, she could see the countless people bowing in praise of her.
“The children who once dreamed of taking flight beneath the shadow of our wings have now built a thousand years of prosperity. What a blessed and precious achievement.”
At a sight like this… even a dragon that had lived for ten thousand years would naturally puff out its chest with pride.
Think about it. Hundreds of thousands of adorable animals were bowing to her with shining eyes.
They were so cute she felt like making them burst.
“All life upon Khalid shall prosper forever beneath the blessings of God and myself!”
- Whoosh!!
But if she actually made them burst, that would be a problem, so she settled for spreading her wings wide and sending out a wave of mana.
“The glorious flame of Khalid shall never be extinguished, not even after ten thousand years─!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“Long live Khalid!!! Long live the dragon!!”
“Long live His Majesty the Emperooooor─!!”
Even that alone made those adorable creatures jump up and down with joy.
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 toward the banquet hall, a little embarrassed,
“Hmm?”
The Tower Master sensed the presence of one of her kind from the palace where the imperial family resided.
She focused all 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 had personally weakened over a decade ago.
Beside that fellow was
“…Akion?”
Why was her beloved human standing there?
That one was hers.
- Throb!
Her dragon heart and an impulse suddenly began to throb.
As if bewitched, the Tower Master began descending toward the Seventh Princess’s Eternal Palace.
*
“Wh-wha?! Whaaaa?!”
A fifteen-story dragon came awkwardly toward them at roughly two hundred kilometers per hour.
‘Embarrassment’ was a flattering way to describe it, but to Akion, who was actually experiencing it─
“It’s dangerous, Your Highness!”
it looked exactly like a meteor falling from the sky.
Speech-giving dragon or not, a mass that large colliding with them would mean certain death!!
Akion hurriedly tried to evacuate the princess, but then he remembered the difference in their physical strength and his spirits sank.
The one fortunate thing was that
- Ssshhh….
- Tap.
“Huh? Huh? Tower Master?”
the black dragon gradually shrank before landing in the form of someone familiar to Akion.
“Ancestor!”
“Ah, so it was Flare after all.”
The next fortunate thing was that the Seventh Princess and the Tower Master at least knew each other.
The unfortunate thing was that
“Your hair has grown shorter. Have good things happened recently?”
“Yes! Thanks to Young Master Akion─.”
the instant Akion’s name came up, the Tower Master glared at him.
Why was she so angry?
The princess didn’t even know enough to teach Akion anything, let alone as 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 to which I contributed some advice.”
The Tower Master took the hair dryer from her.
For some reason, Akion felt anxious that she might smash it on the spot.
But perhaps she had a great deal of patience, because the Tower Master simply returned it and approached Akion again with a benevolent smile.
“So, why is Akion here?”
“I wanted to show you how I use it myself… Hehe.”
And when she heard that Flare had dragged him there as well,
“Hehe. You always wanted to show your father how pretty you looked. I’m glad that no longer remains a source of pain for you.”
the Tower Master had to summon all her patience for some reason.
She could not overcome the unpleasantly ticklish sensation that kept stirring in her dragon heart….
- Hug!
“Oh.”
“Then you’ve finished what you came here to do, haven’t you? In that case, I would like to take my Akion away for a while.”
She even linked arms with Akion!!
“Ah, did you perhaps have some sort of arrangement with Young Master Akion…?”
“Hmm. Not exactly, but wouldn’t it be best to show the bluebloods at the banquet whose protection Akion enjoys?”
The Seventh Princess vaguely realized what was happening here.
Chief Maid Beatrice and the attendants, however, understood it perfectly.
“C-could it be… the Tower Master…?”
Young Master Akion seemed to have noticed something—but unfortunately, in an entirely different direction—so it appeared to be one-sided.
But judging by the Tower Master’s movements, it was obvious.
“No… Does that mean Her Highness…!”
“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 felt something for Akion!!
And although it was only a vague impression, the princess had also received a hint from the Emperor beforehand.
“If you are agreeable, 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 had 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 brats who did nothing but act entitled or fawn over her, she liked that he was humble as well.
So even though they were not dating or engaged─
“Ah! Then!”
- Squeeze!
she instinctively knew that she must not let this man get away.
So she hugged the arm opposite the one the Tower Master had taken.
“I’ll come along too!”
“Huh?”
“This will highlight Young Master Akion’s greatness, won’t it? Though I am a princess who is farthest from the throne, and younger and less mature than my Ancestor… at least I can lend Young Master Akion my support!”
“Haaah?”
For some reason, the Tower Master was offended.
Especially by the word ‘younger.’
“……Very well. Let us do that.”
Even so, she had her dignity to maintain as the elder of the family(?).
The Tower Master held herself back with superhuman patience and showed a benevolent smile on the outside.
And Akion, caught between them,
“Well, Akion? A flower in each hand. You wouldn’t give up the luxury of being escorted by Flare and me after such a lavish experience, would you?”
“Hehe, please, Young Master Akion?”
“Ah…….”
wanted to go home immediately.
On one side was the dragon who was the Empire’s pillar and had ground down and swallowed a rebel house equivalent to a kingdom.
On the other was the Seventh Princess, who was farthest from the imperial throne but was still a member of the imperial family.
Regardless of whether the Tower Master and the princess were on good terms, what would happen if he went to the banquet hall like this?
It was certain to be an extremely 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 kind of unsettling rumors would spread afterward…!!
“Hehe, I look forward to it.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
Was this what it felt like to have one’s blood run cold?
Akion felt like crying.
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