Chapter 185
After finishing his dinner with Emmanuel, Felix gazed out the window of the carriage taking him back to Serendia Academy.
For now, everything was going according to plan.
〈Gemstone Magician〉 Emmanuel Darwin had fallen to his side. All that remained was to poison Duke Clockford and ascend the throne the moment Felix graduated.
Duke Clockford was Felix's greatest patron, but Felix had already used the connections he had made in the entertainment district to establish ties with Baron Grimton, Count Moran, Count Ashente, and Marquess Baldia. Even if Duke Clockford died suddenly, they would surely support Felix.
(…Just a little longer.)
The throne was not the goal for him. It was the starting point.
His final destination was the moment he died, his name etched into history as a wise king.
Until then, he could not afford to stop moving forward... no matter what he had to sacrifice.
Felix took a pocket watch from his pocket and checked the time. It was a little past noon. He would probably arrive at the academy around evening.
He had submitted permission to leave the academy in advance, so he could return straight to the dormitory, but there were some documents he wanted to organize in the student council room first.
Felix instructed the coachman to head for the school building rather than the dormitory, then leaned back and closed his eyes.
There was still plenty of time before he reached the academy. For now, he wanted to take a nap.
Before long, rain began falling outside the window.
The sound of the rain, the rumble of the wheels, and the carriage's characteristic rocking lulled him into a nostalgic dream as he drifted into a doze.
What returned behind his closed eyelids was the scene from the first time he had ridden in a carriage.
Of course, the first carriage he had ridden in had been nothing like this elegant one.
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Isaac Walker was the son of a doctor in a small town in eastern Ridill Kingdom.
His father was gentle and kind, and loved by everyone in town. His mother was renowned for her beauty and her skill at cooking. There was also his baby brother, Colin, who was not yet a year old, and Isaac, who had just turned six. They were an ordinary, happy family of four.
He still vividly remembered the day that ordinary happiness fell apart.
It had happened on the day of the town's yearly festival.
He had gone to the festival with his father, mother, and baby brother, and was delighted when his parents bought him a venison skewer. As he stuffed his face with the skewer, getting grease all over his hands and mouth, his father wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, a wry smile on his face.
"Isaac, you should hold the skewer sideways, not upright."
"Okay!"
Following his father's advice, Isaac turned the skewer sideways and looked up at his baby brother in their mother's arms.
"The skewer is really tasty. I wonder if Colin would like some?"
"Hee-hee, Colin's still too young for skewered meat."
Isaac wanted to play the part of a big brother to his baby brother, so he was a little disappointed. Still, he vowed that he would share some skewered meat with Colin once he grew a little bigger.
Just then, the sound of a bell rang out in the distance. Unrelated to the festival, it was a signal announcing an emergency.
Amid the violent clangs of the bell, someone shouted.
"A dragon! A herd of dragons is in town!!"
The town, which had been filled with laughter only moments before, was instantly overtaken by screams and commotion. The panicking people rushed away in all directions, each looking out for themselves.
"Come with me!"
Isaac's father took him by the hand, while his mother hugged the baby tightly and began to run.
The skewer slipped from Isaac's hand, was stepped on by someone, and vanished from sight in an instant.
The creatures attacking the town were a herd of earth dragons. They could not fly, but their scales were hard and their legs were fast. To make matters worse, they were vicious dragons that became impossible to handle when they moved in a herd. They were far beyond what the permanently stationed guards could deal with.
The town had little military strength, and was soon reduced to ruins. Many people died.
From that day onward, Isaac and his family were forced to live in a shelter at the edge of town. But his father, a doctor, had to go to the front lines to treat the wounded.
"Dad, are you going to be okay? There are still dragons out there, aren't there?"
His father gently explained to the anxious Isaac that most of the herd had moved outside the town.
Even so, several dragons that had strayed from the herd remained inside the town. On top of that, the Dragonrider Corps from the royal capital had yet to arrive.
"Dad, don't go. It's dangerous."
"...Even so, I'm a doctor. If there are injured people, I have to go."
His father stroked his son's head with his large hand and spoke with a gentle smile.
"Isaac, while I'm gone, will you protect your mother and Colin?"
Isaac held back his tears and nodded firmly.
"Yes, I can. I can do it. Because I'm a big brother."
"That's my good boy."
His father gave him a hearty smile, then left the shelter, the hem of his white coat fluttering behind him.
The next day, Isaac's father was crushed beneath a collapsed building and never came home.
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His mother mourned her husband's death, but for her son's sake, she quickly packed their belongings and prepared to leave the town.
People swarmed the shared carriages, pushing and shoving as everyone tried to climb aboard before anyone else. It was two days before Isaac and his mother finally managed to get on one after waiting their turn.
The carriage they finally boarded was a covered wagon with no seats, packed so tightly that the passengers were pressed against one another. Every time the middle-aged man sitting beside Isaac moved his arm even slightly, his elbow thudded painfully against Isaac's head.
Sitting perfectly still inside the carriage, Isaac fought back the urge to cry as he thought of his father.
He really wanted to burst into tears. But he was a big brother. He had to protect his mother and his little brother, so he could not cry here.
But perhaps he had picked up on the anxiety around him, or perhaps he was hungry. Little Colin, who was being held in their mother's arms, began to whimper.
"Oh, Colin, what's wrong? Are you hungry? I'm sorry. Just a little longer, just hold on a little longer."
His mother did her best to soothe Colin, but his soft sobs gradually began to grow louder. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he started bawling.
Isaac took a handkerchief from his pocket, rolled it into a ball, and pulled one end taut.
"Look, Colin. It's a little bunny."
He wiggled the improvised rabbit puppet beside Colin, drawing the baby's attention to it.
Colin reached out his tiny hand toward the rabbit puppet and squealed with delight.
After entertaining his little brother for a while, Isaac made the rabbit puppet kiss Colin on the cheek.
"What should I make next? A flower? Or maybe a cat?"
Colin moved his drool-covered mouth and kept repeating, "Horsie."
"You want a horsie? Hmm, that's difficult... Just wait a moment."
As Isaac struggled to make a horse from the handkerchief, the horse suddenly gave a loud whinny, and the carriage lurched hard.
People crushed against the edge of the tilted carriage cried out in pain and cursed, but a ferocious roar rang out, drowning them out.
There was no one present who did not know what that roar meant.
"...It's a dragon!"
The instant someone shouted, the carriage lurched violently to the side and overturned. A dragon's tail had swept across it.
The people inside the carriage piled on top of one another and screamed. Some of those pinned beneath the wreckage lay motionless, their necks bent at unnatural angles or blood pouring from their heads... Isaac's mother was among them.
"Mom! Mom!!"
His mother had shielded Isaac and Colin by embracing them, and blood was pouring from her head. Her ankle was also swollen dark red and purple.
Even so, she did not utter a single complaint. She pushed Colin toward Isaac.
"Take Colin... and run..."
"Mom, you too..."
"No, my legs... won't move... Hurry..."
Clutching Colin, Isaac was at a loss. He was a clever, sensible child, but he was still only six years old—still at an age when he wanted to cling to his mother.
For a little boy who had only just lost his father, being forced to abandon his mother and flee was an unbearably cruel choice.
"No, no, nooo...!"
In Isaac's sobbing arms, Colin began to wail.
──At that moment, a large hole was torn in the carriage.
A dragon had brought its sharp claws down upon it.
Isaac watched as the tip of the enormous claw, brought down carelessly, gouged into his mother's body.
At that moment, his feet moved before he had time to think.
Turning his back on his mother's remains, he hugged his baby brother and leaped out of the carriage, which had fallen on its side.
The scene outside the carriage was like something out of a nightmare. Three earth dragons surrounded it. Every time those brown-scaled creatures casually brought down their claws, blood sprayed through the air.
Beneath their legs, each thicker than a log, the people they had trampled cried out in agony.
"A, ah, a, u, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Isaac tried to flee by weaving through the gaps between the dragons. But the dragons mercilessly brought their claws down at the tiny boy.
Isaac tried to dodge at the last possible moment, but the tip of a dragon's claw tore away the right half of his face.
"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!"
The pain was unbearable. He could not keep his eyes open, and the blood pouring from his wounds stained his baby brother's face.
"Ah, ah, waaahhhhh!"
As Isaac screamed while hugging his little brother, a dragon's tail slammed brutally into his back.
Isaac's consciousness faded away.
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Rain fell on Isaac's bloodstained body. The rain washed away the stench of death and blood hanging in the air around him.
...Colin... Colin...
Isaac desperately clung to his fading consciousness and held his baby brother against his chest.
He stretched out his short arms to keep Colin from getting wet as much as possible.
...I'll protect you... I'm a big brother, after all...
The sound of hooves came from far away. There was more than one horse. Ah, it must be the Dragonrider Corps. The Dragonrider Corps had come to save them.
Voices of adults could be heard overhead.
"What a terrible sight..."
"I heard this was the work of earth dragons... but earth dragons weren't supposed to live around here, were they?"
"The dragons probably came across the border from the Empire."
"Are there any survivors...? It looks hopeless... Wait, I hear a voice over there!"
The knights heard Isaac's hoarse voice and immediately propped him up.
Ah, now he would be saved. Somehow, he had managed to protect his baby brother. Isaac thought this hazily.
"The older brother is barely alive, but..."
"Ah, and the younger brother..."
Only then did Isaac realize.
The body of the little brother in his arms had grown cold. He had not heard Colin crying for quite some time.
There was no way such a young child could have survived for days, left exposed to the elements.