Chapter 53
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The council attended only by those of ducal rank and above came to an end.
Ferda left the council hall with the other nobles.
“Regent.”
Zed and Arwen, who had been waiting for Ferda, approached him.
Zed, who had been studying Ferda’s complexion, asked,
“Did you suffer some kind of insult in there? You look like you’re about to kill someone.”
“If you mean an insult, then yes, I suffered one.”
He had heard Valdrova insulted as an evil dragon and been forced to let it pass.
It was not easy for the man who had become an archmage through revenge to ignore his surging emotions.
So it would be better not to become the subject of gossip in the first place.
Ferda changed the subject.
“Where’s Ruri?”
“Miss Ruri was… Come to think of it, where did she go?”
“She said she had something to take care of before the council ended and left. I’m… not sure where she went.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m sorry. I should have found out beforehand, but….”
“No need. She isn’t an easy woman to deal with, after all.”
Ferda did not press him.
In any case, he already knew where she would be going.
If what Ruri had said beforehand was any indication, she had gone to speak with Silverwind.
‘A conversation.’
Ferda recalled the look Goz Silverwind had given him when he brought up that conversation.
He had been suppressing his anger with the clumsiest restraint imaginable.
If Ferda had spoken to Silverwind there, wouldn’t it have turned into a brawl?
If it had not been Blancaros’s neutral territory, he might have suffered something far worse.
‘I wonder if the conversation will go well.’
It was just then that someone spoke.
“Regent Ferda Valdrova?”
A pure-white man who suited the pure-white space.
His posture was measured and dignified, befitting the trusted servant of the absolute ruler of the neutral territory.
He was Blancaros’s Hand.
“My master wishes to see you. Would you accompany me?”
“In private?”
“Yes. He wishes to discuss the proposal from a moment ago.”
It was unusual.
Blancaros did not summon humans to private meetings, if only to preserve his neutrality.
‘Even so, this is a situation that demands it.’
Since Blancaros, who claimed to stand in a neutral position, had arbitrarily passed over the proposal, the proposer would need to provide additional clarification.
That was precisely why Ferda had endured the injustice in the first place.
“Very well.”
“I’ll escort you. This way.”
Ferda followed her lead and set off.
* * *
Blancaros’s reception room was not what one would expect of a dragon’s dwelling.
A dragon’s abode should be lavish and enormous.
It should be so delicate and magnificent that even emperors would not dare compare themselves to it.
The Grand Council Hall had certainly possessed an appearance worthy of that grandeur.
But Blancaros’s reception room was different.
It was a place overflowing with humanity.
It was neither unnecessarily large nor unnecessarily magnificent.
It was small and practical, like a lesser lord’s office.
“Come in.”
Blancaros, seated before a marble desk at the far end of the room, greeted him in person.
Ferda’s steps came to a halt as he entered.
Blancaros was not the only one inside.
A being glowing blue amid the pure-white space.
Erika Iorga.
She was seated in one of the chairs.
Erika was looking at Ferda.
When she saw Ferda, her fierce expression became even more displeased.
Zed and Arwen, standing behind him, began sweating for no reason.
“Why is she glaring at you like that? Did you do something wrong?”
Ferda shrugged.
“Me, do something wrong? Surely not.”
“It sure looks that way.”
Ferda did not answer and walked forward.
Ignoring Erika, he politely greeted Blancaros.
“I’m deeply grateful that you invited me here, Lord Blancaros, but….”
Ferda subtly turned his head toward Erika.
“I have nothing to say to this woman. May I leave?”
“Pfft….”
“Ahem!”
Ferda hurled insults while Zed and Arwen, who had been standing behind him like decorative screens, burst into laughter.
Even if they were dragon spawns, the status of their representative was comparable to that of a dragon.
Ferda had just called a dragon ‘this woman.’
It was the sort of thing only someone desperate to die before their appointed time would do.
“Hmm….”
“Wh-what did you just call me…?”
Blancaros gave a low groan as though he had expected this.
Erika, the person in question, glared at Ferda with an incredulous expression.
But she endured it.
This meeting had been arranged for the sake of discussion, and above all, no one could use force in this space.
Erika forced a smile.
“I look forward to seeing you again, Regent Ferda. Let’s speak in person instead of using such childish mind-to-mind messages.”
“Do as you please.”
Ferda covered his ears.
Erika’s smile vanished completely.
“Are you going to keep acting childish?”
“It’s only fair. You insulted my fiancée and expect me to say something nice? What would you do if I called Lord Iorga a water lizard?”
“Gasp.”
“Ahem-ahem….”
Zed and Arwen nearly choked to death.
They wanted nothing more than to run out of there immediately.
At those words, Erika endured once again.
She bit her lower lip tightly and forced herself to take a deep breath.
“Let’s consider us even as far as insults go. I’ll also apologize for my abusive language. But I had a reason for it.”
Ferda removed his hands from his ears.
She had endured his insult and let it pass, so it was clear that she was willing to talk.
“First, let’s send the attendants away and discuss this among our superiors.”
“Understood. Both of you, step outside.”
“Yes!”
The moment Ferda gave permission, they hurriedly withdrew.
Only three people remained in the white space.
“Since we’re both agitated, I’ll be brief and clear. I’m on Lord Valdrova’s side.”
“How very reassuring.”
Ferda responded sarcastically.
“The Iorga as a whole is taking a stance of keeping Lord Valdrova in check, but our key executives have always held his contributions in high regard.”
Yeah, right.
“You don’t believe me. I stood on the front lines of that war. I witnessed and felt the sight of every dragon fighting with these very eyes. Their image is still vivid before me.”
The fine hairs on her arms stood on end.
“The sight of Valdrova being the only one to stop Godwin at the moment he was trying to take the continent down with him….”
Blancaros silently closed his eyes upon hearing those words.
He had also witnessed it after taking part in that battle.
Erika continued speaking.
“Delivering the final blow to Godwin, who sought to destroy everything without distinction between evil dragons and guardian dragons, was an enormous risk. Every dragon knew that. And we hesitated. But Valdrova threw themself into it without a second thought. It was like watching a black mass scatter after being pierced by a red spear. Of course… the end was horrific, as it led to yet another tragedy. Even so, Valdrova was not someone who deserved to be branded an evil dragon.”
“I saw you mocking her as though she were spouting nonsense, desperate to tear her apart, and you expect me to believe that?”
“That is why I’m apologizing for insulting her. But it was something I had to do.”
“You had to humiliate her? Does that even make sense?”
“It was dangerous if I didn’t ridicule and suppress that claim!”
“What was?”
“Silverwind.”
Another dragon faction.
Ferda thought of Silverwind, who had not said a single word.
“If I hadn’t stepped forward, Silverwind would have. I refuse to let those idiots with nothing but ice in their heads turn this council into a complete mess. They would have demanded a war between the dragons before you even declared the conquest of the Far Eastern territories.”
“You mean you challenged and mocked everything solely to protect me?”
Erika was rendered speechless by his words.
She seemed to be debating whether or not to tell him this.
“It wasn’t only for you, Regent Ferda. If, as you said, Valdrova became deranged after being corrupted by Godwin rather than acting according to their own nature….”
For an instant, Ferda saw a wounded beast in Erika’s eyes.
“The precedent of a perfect being becoming imperfect is far more dangerous than you can imagine. Dangerous enough to destroy the balance of the continent.”
Ferda understood upon hearing that.
Why she had been so hostile toward Valdrova.
And why Blancaros had unilaterally brought the matter to an end.
Ferda summarized his understanding in a single sentence and threw it at her.
“It seems Lord Iorga has the same symptoms.”
Erika nodded with a pained expression.
“At first, the symptoms were limited to a sense of discomfort. Many dragon spawns still suffer aftereffects from the battle with Godwin. But for the past thirty years, Iorga has begun to lose the struggle against that pain. They’re becoming unstable.”
“So what has become of Iorga now?”
“They are in hibernation. They chose not to move until a solution could be found.”
That meant Iorga, the pinnacle of magic, was absent.
Ferda suddenly became curious upon hearing that.
“Then what about Lord Odograsado?”
“I don’t know for certain. They have no spawns, and a being who is themself the faith they represent would never reveal their weakness to anyone.”
Those armed with faith would naturally believe themselves to be whole.
That made everything fall into place.
This was not merely a personal problem for Valdrova.
‘It was a problem capable of shaking dragon society.’
When Ferda appeared somewhat convinced, Erika lowered her voice and explained calmly.
“If the claim that Valdrova’s nature isn’t that of an evil dragon, but that they’re being shaken because of Godwin, gains traction… then everyone is in danger. Valdrova’s position, as well as the positions of the others, will be shaken. They’ll become easy prey for those who cause confusion, like the Jaryong and Jeonryong. So we’re buying time until we find a cure.”
“Is that so?”
Ferda stood as though he had nothing more to hear.
“Then I suppose all that means is that you’re nothing more than a coward.”
“A coward…?”
Erika could no longer hold back and began to lose her temper.
But that thought lasted only a moment.
The instant she saw Ferda’s eyes, she was overwhelmed.
“What will you do in the end?”
he asked.
“What do you mean, ‘in the end’?”
“When the danger of concealing it all catches up with you, when it reaches an irreversible stage, what were you planning to do?”
“That….”
“You would even sell my fiancée’s life to conceal the secret you’re keeping.”
“Do you think I would commit such a shameless act!?”
“Then you wouldn’t?”
Erika could not answer.
She could neither affirm nor deny it.
Like someone who had swallowed honey and lost the power of speech, she merely kept her mouth shut and clenched her fists.
“Let’s end the conversation here. May I leave?”
Ferda asked Blancaros.
Nothing had been resolved, but it was not something that could be resolved immediately, either.
“…Very well.”
With Blancaros’s permission, Ferda walked out.
Erika stood rooted to the spot.
She could do nothing.
To bear the name of a dragon spawn leader and yet be overwhelmed by a human.
How pathetic.
Yet if the same situation arose again, Erika would surely freeze up in exactly the same way.
In Ferda’s disgust-filled eyes,
she saw a fragment of her distant future.
* * *
Cerdess Human Magic Society.
Seated in the society president’s office was not a brash young woman, but a sturdy man.
“Uaaah….”
The man moved his pen while making a groan like a ghoul risen from hell.
He had been working without rest for four days on the documents left behind by the society president, Erdes.
“Uaaah… Huh?”
A moment later, round sparks began to crackle before him.
He knew whose hand was causing the phenomenon.
Ordinarily, he would have risen to greet her, but Lu no longer had the energy even to think of doing so.
“Blue! I’m back!”
The bright greeting came from Erdes.
“You’re back already?”
“I clocked out the instant the council ended. Isn’t it boring when they leave me out of all the fun?”
“For someone who attended the council, you look rather strange….”
She had arrived with all sorts of things dangling from her, more like someone returning from a sightseeing trip than a council meeting.
“How fussy. I did a little sightseeing around the city after it ended. Jealous?”
“…Would I be?”
Lu sighed, signed off on the last remaining document, and collapsed face-first onto the desk.
“Are you done with the work?”
“I’ve finished everything that had piled up.”
“Look. Isn’t it wonderful when the division of labor is this clear? I take care of resting, and Blue takes care of working. The division of labor is perfectly clear, right?”
“It is clear, but something about it seems wrong….”
“Besides, I stopped by somewhere nearby and bought the local specialty honey bread. What other boss is as angelic as me?”
She raised and lowered her eyebrows with an expression that asked, Well?
Sure, let’s eat something tasty.
Lu opened the box she had handed him.
“…Isn’t it empty?”
“It is? Ah, it must have been so delicious that I ate it all. Sorry. Make sure to throw the box away properly, okay?”
Lu nodded like a man who had made a momentous decision.
“I quit. I’m resigning.”
“Ah, no, you can’t do that. Blue has to serve me for another thousand years. You have no right to refuse. That’s the contract we made, remember?”
“Damn it.”
Lu pretended to sob miserably, his face devoid of hope.
“So… how was it?”
“What was?”
“You didn’t go there because of that man named Ferda Valdrova?”
“That man? Hmm….”
She touched her chin with her index finger, swayed her head from side to side, and answered,
“He was unusual.”
“Unusual…?”
Lu’s eyes widened.
“Was he really so unusual that even the strongest archmage in humanity would use that word?”
“Flattery won’t get you anything, you know? He just seemed kind of fascinating.”
Erdes sat on the edge of the desk and looked down at Lu.
“That man had a Red Circle, you know?”
“A Red Circle!”
“And he’d learned black magic, too. I could smell it all over him.”
“Bl-Black magic!?”
Lu’s face turned deathly pale.
It was not black magic itself that frightened him.
“Is he alive?”
“Of course. Do you think I’m some kind of murderous lunatic who goes berserk at the drop of a hat?”
“Well, since you came back without causing any particular problems, President… he must really be an unusual human.”
“I couldn’t touch him right away. He’s the husband of a mad dragon. What kind of fate do you think I’d suffer if I provoked him carelessly?”
Erdes frowned in displeasure.
Her dangling legs began splashing the air above the floor.
“Blue. What do you think would happen if your parents suddenly left you?”
“Uh… I suppose I’d be angry?”
“Would you only be angry? Huh? Would you merely shout, ‘My parents abandoned me! I’ll never forgive them!’?”
“You probably would, President… but an ordinary person would also feel heartbroken.”
Erdes snapped her fingers.
“Yes, exactly. It’s what people commonly describe as their emotions being thrown into turmoil. Ordinary humans are overwhelmed and crushed because they can’t feel that one side is superior to the other. Even if they try to determine which is better, it’s almost impossible for them to be consumed by only one thing.”
“I suppose so?”
“You don’t understand what I’m saying?”
“I’m sorry. My dull mind has trouble understanding….”
“Want to write fifty pages of punishment work?”
“Ah, wait. I think I might remember now…?”
“Idiot. I mean that something like that alone could never create a Red Circle.”
“Ah, I really was able to remember.”
“Stubborn despite being an idiot. You’re writing a hundred pages.”
“Gah! That’s too cruel! I even handled all the official work while you were gone!”
“Merit is merit, and private matters are private matters.”
Lu muttered under his breath, and Erdes clicked her tongue.
“So you mean that Ferda Valdrova shouldn’t be able to possess a Red Circle?”
“That’s right.”
“But emotions are subjective, aren’t they?”
“That’s right. Everyone has a different standard. But even taking that into account, that Ferda fellow went far beyond my limits.”
“Was he really that exceptional?”
“A Red Circle is created when the scales called emotions break. But that adolescent was too young for those scales to break. For the scales to shatter from rage, you have to be so damaged that you firmly believe even the reason you stand straight every morning is caused by anger, you know?”
“Um… that’s a rather petty analogy, but wasn’t there also the incident where he was cast out by his family? That seems like it could explain it.”
He became Valdrova’s fiancé.
That was essentially a death sentence, and it should have been enough to unleash Ferda’s grief.
“He accepted it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Accepting something means you still have reason. Which also means your anger isn’t sufficient.”
“So you’re saying that because there was no event capable of breaking the scales, a Red Circle shouldn’t have been able to form?”
“That’s right.”
“And yet the regent has a Red Circle.”
“That’s true.”
“A Red Circle formed even though the conditions weren’t sufficient….”
“And he achieved a fourth Circle in less than a year.”
“And there were… several other incidents as well.”
The execution of Thesallos Waltzer.
The battle that took place inside the imperial treasury.
“Black magic is present in all of them.”
“Black magic….”
As they stared at each other for a long while, Lu suddenly realized it.
Even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years.
Having served under her for ten whole years, he had finally learned to read Erdes’s mind.
“Are you saying you think Regent Valdrova made a contract with a demon?”
Seeing that he had reached the conclusion, Erdes smiled.
“Don’t you smell it?”