“Ugh… I… I understand… Understood. Well… You’ve done well… You may leave, your reward will come later…”
“Yes, sir!”
Pya! Katrina left the audience chamber at high speed.
“Then I’ll also take my leave here…”
“You stay.”
Hiiiin…
“You… that… um… you…!”
The light had vanished from Count Missgancia’s eyes.
Recently, everything had been going so well, and he seemed to be in good spirits, but now he’s back to this.
“Hey, now, isn’t this not my fault???”
Squeak, squeak!
But still, it’s not my fault. I protested while being hugged by the Dragon (Ability).
“Seriously… really! What is this! What should I do?!!!”
“That’s what I came to ask you…”
“I don’t know, I don’t know! A ‘Dragon (Ability)’ is completely beyond the scope of what I can handle!”
Well, that’s true.
“Hmm… indeed, this is… a bit, troublesome.”
Saying that, pinching the tip of his white beard with his fingers, was Gaspard. Gaspard of the ‘Noble Citadel’.
This old man, a first-rate Mage and Count Missgancia’s advisor, didn’t have his usual “kind old man” face, but a deeply furrowed brow.
“Old man, can’t we just pass this off to the country?”
“Impossible. No matter what we do, a huge uproar is inevitable. And, the moment the uproar starts, everyone who was at the origin will be punished in some way.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought…”
And then…
A woman.
A beautiful woman of marriageable age, so to speak.
A flashy woman with wavy red hair…
“Then why don’t we just kill it here? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
Count Missgancia’s retainer, and his ultimate weapon.
A combat-type Mage, rare among Mages, who “treats magic as a weapon”…
It was ‘Fire Serpent’ Roxanne.
She offered a barbaric opinion, as befitting a combat Mage.
“Killing it! Simple elimination creates nothing!”
Gaspard rarely gets angry.
He has a sense of morality, but more than that, he has a sense of politics.
I’m an amateur when it comes to politics, but I think that means like “killing” is a last resort, to be used only after exhausting all other options. I understand that much, at least.
“Then what are we going to do? Are you old men going to sit here, furrowing your brows, and somehow solve this?”
She has a harsh attitude…
But, she’s right…!
“Yes, that’s right… For now, we have to move the discussion forward… What do you think we should do?”
“Well, I’ll follow Count Missgancia’s lead. But, I agree that it’s better not to kill it so easily.”
“I agree with Andrews-kun. Killing it is a bad move… but, what would you like to do as Lord?”
“As for me… I, in the first place, will use anything, regardless of its origin or past, as long as it’s profitable. That’s how I’ve grown my house. But… something like this… a ‘Dragon (Ability)’! Even for me, the story is too big to accept!”
“Then, shall we distance ourselves from it?”
“I’d like to. But, how? Besides… Strider and the ‘Blue Comet’ have already seen it. Even though Andrews (he) was considerate enough to pack it into the carriage and hide it, we can’t deny the possibility that the people saw the Dragon (Ability)’s figure before it arrived at this castle.”
“Indeed, that’s true…”
“By the way, Andrews (he). Will that Dragon (Ability) not run away? It seems awfully attached…”
That’s the thing.
That’s really the thing, Count Missgancia.
But, you know.
“It seems… it thinks of me as its parent…”
That’s right.
This Dragon (Ability)… I somehow used magic to peek into its thoughts and tried to have a conversation.
Apparently, it seems to think of me as its parent.
This is probably because I’m the individual with the most Magical Power in this area, so it mistook me.
“Ugh, um… I see…”
Count Missgancia said with a face that showed he truly hated it from the bottom of his heart. I hate it too, though…?
“If that’s the case, why not turn it into a weapon? If you train it and teach it how to breathe fire and fly, it would be a major asset.”
Roxanne is starting to say violent things again.
I really don’t like combat Mages…
Magicians are elite and intellectual class. If you compare it to Earth, it’s like a scholar.
Combat-type Mages are, for example, “scholars who develop the technology to kill people by choice.” In other words, like weapon developers?
They are rare, but basically, they have this kind of thinking, and they abuse the overwhelming power of magic to harm people and make money! That’s all they want.
Well, even this Roxanne is quite mild…
“Fool. If you do such a thing, it would be like publicly declaring rebellion against the royal family!”
And, Count Missgancia gets angry.
This, too, is true.
Probably, the most peaceful solution is to present it to the royal family…
Well, if we did, some kind of political fault-finding would be activated, and a considerable minus would be forced on us, and I and the ‘Blue Comet’ would be blown to smithereens.
‘Dragon (Ability)’… huh.
I can’t explain it well, but, like… what is it?
There’s no way to describe it, but it’s definitely more dangerous than “picking up a nuclear bomb.”
In addition to that, it’s like adding “the existence of God has been proven” and “a nuclear weapon was launched during the Cold War” and not dividing them by half…?
Well, it’s a huge bomb in every possible way.
“Then, should we hide it after all?”
“How?! Tell me!”
That’s… um…
“In my ‘Garden’?”
“What?!”
Gaspard and Roxanne seemed genuinely surprised.
Both of them are first-rate, no, Gaspard is a top-notch Mage, but even Gaspard can’t use it… of course, Roxanne can’t use such a great magic either…
The art of creating an alternate dimension and entering and exiting it.
That is, the art of the ‘Garden’.
“…So, that’s why, I have a private world of my own.”
“Hmm… hmmm…! I want… you to take it… but! However! That means we’ll be concealing it, doesn’t it…!”
Well, he’s hesitating…
If we tell the truth, we’ll only be half-dead.
If we hide it, we’ll be unharmed as long as it’s not discovered, but the moment it’s discovered, we’ll die.
What to do?
That depends on Count Missgancia’s decision…