Chapter 15
The Black Dragon Society (1)
“……”
Lucis and Simon quietly looked at each other.
Come to think of it, this was the first time Simon had gazed so closely into Lucis’ eyes.
Within those golden pupils was a time span so immense that Simon couldn’t even begin to fathom it.
Only then did Simon recall that the child before him had existed nearly fifty times longer than he had.
Then… could that be called wisdom of age? That faint glow deep inside Lucis’ eyes?
“Are you telling me to forget and forgive?”
“……”
“That pain is only temporary, so I should let it all fly away?”
Lucis didn’t answer.
Simon didn’t protest either. He just quietly looked at Lucis and slowly nodded.
“I should listen to Aunt’s words… right?”
“Yeah.”
This time, Lucis answered right away.
Simon let out a faint chuckle and said half-jokingly,
“Yes. I’ll blow it all away. I’ll try.”
“Mm. Good boy. Such a good child.”
Lucis nodded and tapped Simon’s chest in praise.
Strangely enough, Simon felt his heart ease.
Ever since he had spoken those words aloud—since he said he would try—he felt lighter.
Maybe I was just waiting for an excuse to make a decision.
An excuse to stop hurting.
An excuse to forgive his brother.
Maybe that was what he had wanted to hear all along.
He felt a burden lift from his chest.
Yes—thinking about it now, it was simple. It was only a matter of choice, wasn’t it?
Why had he tormented himself for so long?
“Aunt. Um…”
Since he was feeling better anyway, Simon decided to be a little selfish.
“When things get hard sometimes… may I… come into your arms like this?”
“Oh?”
Lucis looked a little surprised, as if she hadn’t expected that request.
Then her expression twitched, painting a very distinct emotion on her face.
“Fufufu.”
Lucis puffed herself up proudly.
Her expression clearly said: See? Humans can’t live without me! or I’m amazing after all!
Simon couldn’t help but burst into laughter at how adorable she looked.
Lucis tapped her little chest with her tiny hand.
“My nephew is always welcome.”
“Hahaha. Then I’ll count on you, Aunt.”
Simon hugged Lucis tightly.
“Hehe.”
Lucis also wrapped her arms around Simon in return.
She was so small, yet unbelievably warm.
So warm that even scars that had already become part of him seemed as if they could heal.
* * *
Marco returned to “normal” after just a few days.
That is to say, he became the genius Marco from the original story.
By the third day, he had already surpassed middle school mathematics with ease, and by the fourth day he was working on high school level material. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
What on earth made him misunderstand like that?
Apparently, Marco had thought I was planning to make him my successor.
—“Such confidence.”
When I told him that, his face flushed bright red and he didn’t know what to do.
—“I’ll let your younger siblings choose what they want to be. Butler, knight, engineer, whatever. If they want to study, I’ll even send them to the academy. Of course, that’s only if you prove yourself useful enough.”
Upon hearing that, Marco regained his full concentration.
After the Black Dragon Society is over and I go up to the capital, I’ll have to find him a proper teacher.
Not just in mathematics—Marco also needed to learn about management and administration.
He had to learn enough so that when I brought in new talent later, Marco could teach them himself.
“Hmm…!”
Meanwhile, I didn’t neglect going up to the hilltop from time to time to play with Lucis using magic.
Rumble—
When our mana collided, even the trees on the hill bent as if they would be uprooted.
My mana was growing rapidly and surely.
What was surprising was that Lucis, a dragon, was also growing stronger.
The more powerful I became, the more refined and sophisticated Lucis’ own power became.
Status Window
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Faint Dragon Bloodline
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Basic Gravity Magic (64%)
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Basic Mana Affinity (38%)
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Basic Mana Control (33%)
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Well-Educated (17%)
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Sturdy Physique (67%)
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Superior Willpower (32%)
It hasn’t even been two weeks since I possessed this body, and my basic gravity magic has already grown past 60%.
At this rate, reaching three-star within a year wasn’t just an empty dream.
And now… only three days left until the Black Dragon Society.
Just as quickly as I was growing, the day of the gathering drew nearer.
The tension within the mansion rose higher with each passing day.
Just yesterday, I saw Alfred loudly scolding a servant. That was the first time since I possessed this body that I had seen the old man raise his voice.
The branch families avoided showing themselves, likely because they knew I suspected them.
Let this storm pass safely… please.
I hugged Lucis tightly as I prayed.
* * *
The day of the Black Dragon Society gathering finally arrived.
The servants had been cleaning all night in preparation, and we blood relatives woke up at dawn to bathe and polish ourselves.
Feels like we’re putting in even more effort than at the funeral.
Since the last time the Black Dragon Society had gathered was a century ago, it wasn’t surprising that everyone was this tense.
“Sniff sniff.”
In my arms, Lucis twitched her nose in every direction.
Since dawn, the kitchen had been cooking countless dishes for the meat-loving black dragons, and the smell of roasted meat filled the mansion.
“Slurp.”
Lucis looked up at me, drooling.
“I’m hungry.”
“Wait a little longer. Let’s eat with the elders.”
Lucis, unused to waiting, pouted unhappily but still nestled her head obediently against my chest.
All of the blood relatives gathered in the family hall, waiting for the meeting to begin.
As the appointed time drew near—
“Hm?”
Lucis perked up his ears and raised his head.
At that moment, the great doors of the hall swung open.
Whoosh—
The first thing that rushed in through the open doors wasn’t a person, but mana.
Fragments of mana fields, released by the dragons who had teleported right to the entrance.
As expected.
The depth and breadth of that mana field were incomparable to Lucis’.
If Lucis’ mana field could fill a hilltop, this one filled the entire mansion and spilled out into the gardens beyond.
So this is the difference between a hatchling and an adult dragon.
I swallowed hard as I watched them step through the doorway.
To be honest, their attire was… laughable.
They were clad in clothes at least a generation or even a century out of fashion, as if they were attending a masquerade ball.
One even wore an old-fashioned baroque cape, the kind only royalty of that era would have worn.
The old man in a thick wizard’s robe looked the most “normal” of the bunch. Fashion terrorists, the lot of them.
But the moment I saw their faces, all thoughts vanished.
“W-wow…”
Someone from the branch family let out a dazed murmur.
Even among the Mausoleum family, known for unmatched beauty, we were left speechless.
No wonder—even a thousand years later, when the blood of the progenitor dragons has thinned, they’re still the most beautiful beings in the Empire.
They were breathtakingly beautiful.
And what made me strangely proud was that every one of them, despite their beauty, had the same black hair and golden eyes as me.
I cleared my throat, went down on one knee, and spoke while feeling the blood relatives behind me follow my lead.
“These humble descendants greet the great ones.”
I held my posture until I heard a voice from above.
“Raise your head.”
I straightened myself and addressed the dragon standing foremost.
He wore an ancient hunting outfit and a wide-brimmed hat whose era I couldn’t even guess.
“We have prepared a feast for you, great ones. Please, first enjoy the meal—”
“No. I would rather see the hatchling first.”
The dragon’s gaze was not on me but on Lucis in my arms.
And not just his—all of their eyes were fixed on Lucis.
Lucis, too, stared back at them without flinching.
“…As you wish.”
I carefully set Lucis down on the floor. As he stood on his little feet, the dragons stepped closer.
I instinctively tensed up at the sight of giant adults surrounding the small child.
“Oh… so this is truly the Mausoleum child?”
“The mana does feel familiar.”
The old dragon in robes knelt on one knee to meet Lucis at eye level and asked,
“Child. Will you show me your wings?”
Lucis looked at him for a moment, then clenched his fists tightly and exerted strength.
Rip—!
The back of his dress tore open, and a pair of small white wings burst out.
From behind, I heard a faint gasp—probably from Shia, who had spent hours since dawn finding the perfect outfit for Lucis.
The dragons murmured among themselves as they beheld the white wings.
“He truly has white dragon blood.”
“Astonishing… a mix of black dragon and white dragon blood.”
“Which white dragons were active a thousand years ago?”
“Omodor, Demeter, Akafar… but wasn’t that an era when every dragon indulged in the human world?”
“Which of them worked closely with the Mausoleum?”
“You know the answer. Only Ishtar.”
At that name, silence fell, and the dragons’ faces turned grim.
A thousand years ago, it had been Ishtar who stopped the catastrophe caused by the Mausoleum and gained ascension by slaying them.
Afterward, the dragons had made a pact never to meddle in the human realm again—the Mausoleum Pact.
And because the Mausoleum had birthed that calamity, the pact weighed most heavily upon the black dragons.
That’s why, in the original story, the black dragons only appeared after Lucis died.
Only after both Seymour and Lucis were gone did they learn a hatchling carrying black dragon blood had roamed the world.
In their fury, the black dragons burned every human associated with the Mausoleum family to ash.
And for once, no one dared object to them breaking the pact.
For dragons, hatchlings are precious beyond measure.
Their birth rate was so low that a hatchling was considered more important than anything else.
The sudden summoning of the Black Dragon Society must have been because someone leaked information about Lucis.
No doubt it was one of the branch families I had humiliated at the banquet.
I already had a good guess who. But with the gathering ahead, I couldn’t spill blood yet, so I had delayed their punishment.
No matter how this Black Dragon Society ends, that traitor won’t leave this family unscathed.
And then—
Crash!
A young dragon suddenly stepped forward and roughly grabbed Lucis by the base of his wings.
“Oh?”
Startled by such rough hands for the first time, Lucis flailed his arms and legs.
The dragon glanced irritably at Lucis squirming in his hand and said,
“I was wondering why you’d wake a sleeping dragon… tch. Why are we wasting time talking here? Shouldn’t we just take him already?”
At those words, the old robed dragon let out a small sigh.
“Locarium. Put the child down.”
“Why? Whether we chatter here or back home, it’s the same. Why waste ti—”
Locarium, the young dragon, cut himself off. His eyes landed on me.
“What is this, human?”
Without realizing it, I had already taken a few steps forward.
“Step back.”
“……”
“And release the mana in your hand.”
My hand was glowing with magic.
From behind, I heard someone gasp—it was probably Simon.
“……”
Locarium bared his teeth at me. It wasn’t a smile—it was a threat.
“I won’t warn you three times. Step—”
I activated my magic.
Locarium’s eyes narrowed as his free hand twitched.
But—
Clack.
The robed elder blocked his hand.
Voom—
The gravity magic I had manifested lifted Lucis slightly upward.
“Oh?”
Lucis, at last a little more comfortable, stopped struggling.
I exhaled and glared at Locarium.
“Holding him like that makes him uncomfortable.”
“…Hooh?”
Locarium smirked as if amused.
“……”
Meanwhile, the old robed dragon watching me had a gleam in his eyes.
