Creeeak—
Thud.
Jake returned to Ellen’s room and closed the door. Then his legs gave out and he slumped down against the door, his back leaning on it.
“Huaaah….”
As the tension released from his body that had been stiffly rigid from the meeting with Nordin, it was burdensome to even put strength in his legs.
Jake sat there slumped, taking deep breaths and organizing the contents of the conversation from moments ago. The last thing Nordin said, the information that his daughter Neria was a Half Dragon, was probably added to reassure Jake. Even though Neria was a Half Dragon, she was closer to human than dragon, so he was likely trying to explain that there wouldn’t be a situation where Jake would have to flee while carrying a giant dragon.
However, Jake had obtained information many times more than what he had intended.
“Half Dragon Neria….”
The Neria that the Dragon mentioned must be the same person as the author of the forbidden book he’d been searching for. But….
‘Wasn’t that person’s name Ainel?’
He had thought ‘Neria’ was the pen name. Perhaps Ainel was the alias and Neria was the real name.
Jake, who had been asleep for most of his time staying at Ainel’s house, didn’t know much information about him. Having deduced the situation and reached a conclusion within the knowledge he knew, Jake forced strength into his trembling legs and stood up.
‘There’s no time to be doing this. Time is not on my side. I need to move as quickly as possible.’
The first thing he needed to do was, of course, find out the whereabouts of Half Dragon Neria. There was only one way to find that out.
He needed to steal from Duke West.
‘It won’t be easy.’
But it wouldn’t be difficult either. His current status was that of his son, and the Duke was pleased with his son’s changed appearance.
Not even knowing that it wasn’t his personality but the person himself who had changed.
‘Forcing me to meet the Dragon was probably to awaken Ellen, who had a wandering habit.’
If the Duke’s goal was ‘raising his son Ellen to be a suitable heir for the West family,’ the situation becomes even simpler. As long as he showed the appearance of the son the Duke desired, the trust directed at him would become solid.
If it was the Duke he had observed so far, he wouldn’t find the changed Ellen suspicious. Instead, he would be delighted. That his son had grown as a result of his efforts. That all of this was thanks to him not giving up.
‘The ideal heir’s appearance that the Duke desires.’
Guessing this wasn’t difficult either. High-handed, having no hesitation in deceiving or exploiting people for wealth and honor. An attitude that wouldn’t hesitate to kidnap a Dragon’s family for the sake of power. To act out such an appearance required a lot of preparation.
“Huuu.”
Jake took another deep breath and headed toward the bed.
Klad always pointed to rest as the most important preparatory process before putting important plans into action. If Jake tried to move forward without resting, Klad would even forcibly lay him down in bed to make him sleep.
Right now, since he was inside Klad’s memories, this was a situation where he needed his advice more than ever. So he decided to carry out on his own the advice Klad would have given if he were by his side.
Jake wiped his body, dirtied from the outing after a long time, and went to bed with a reverent heart.
And the next day, Jake’s face as he went to find Duke West had the arrogance and confidence befitting a bloodline of West.
***
“Look at this, Ellen. This is our family’s treasure.”
It was the second day since Jake started acting as the heir who pleased the Duke’s heart, using his own father as reference. Perhaps because Jake’s acting was perfect, even though not much time had passed, the Duke began to completely trust Jake.
All of this was because Jake had a reference subject for his acting. Thanks to that, even Jake, who wasn’t particularly good at acting, could play an ‘ideal West.’
‘Thank you, Father.’
Jake threw an insincere word of thanks toward his father, who was probably eating and living well somewhere in that other world.
“Since you seemed to have no interest in the family’s development until now, I kept it secret, but our family has been managing the world’s truths for a long time. The history recorded here is the only truth, and it is everything.”
The place the Duke brought Jake to was none other than a secret space in the Duke’s room. It was a place where parchments recording the real history were piled up. The Duke trusted Jake enough to show him that space without hesitation.
It was truly a grateful matter. Thanks to that, he would be able to achieve what he wanted more quickly.
“Splendid.”
“Hahaha. I’ll register you to the magic circle that gives access to this place, so feel free to visit anytime, Ellen.”
The Duke placed both his and Jake’s hands on the magic circle together, taking measures so that the magic circle would respond to Jake’s mana from now on.
When Jake discovered that magic circle in the future 750 years later, it didn’t have this function. It was probably because the magic circle had been partially damaged over the years and its function had been altered. It was fortunate that the Duke didn’t trust Ellen enough to ‘register’ him in the magic circle in advance. If he had, the magic circle wouldn’t have responded to Jake’s mana, and the Duke would have found that strange.
Instead of suspecting Jake, the Duke patted him on the shoulder.
“To think the day would come when I’d bring you to visit this place. I’m proud.”
“I realized a lot from seeing the Dragon last time. If possible, I’d like to visit that place once more.”
“Hahaha, that’s not difficult. How about it, Ellen. Shall we make a bet on how long we can stand in front of it during the next visit?”
Good. The topic about the Dragon had come up.
Jake smiled at the Duke’s words and smoothly shifted the subject to the main point.
“Rather than that, I’d like to know Father’s thoughts. How you caught the Dragon, what your future plans are. I’d like you to tell me everything. What are you trying to gain through the Dragon?”
“Hmm….”
The Duke didn’t answer right away. It wasn’t that he was hesitating because he didn’t want to reveal the truth to Jake. Rather, it was closer to building suspense to draw out the other party’s interest more before bringing up an exciting story.
Jake created eyes full of anticipation as the Duke wished.
“Haha, if you’re that curious, I can’t not tell you. Do you know that there have been many mercenaries setting out to hunt Dragons recently, Ellen?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Of course, he was learning about it for the first time. So that was a trend.
“Part of a Dragon’s corpse that was discovered by chance was sold for an enormous amount. After that, everyone started making a fuss about hunting Dragons. However, no one has ever succeeded. Except for me.”
The Duke boasted as if celebrating a great achievement. But all the Duke had done was order knights to kidnap a single Half Dragon child who was no different from a human. Being able to insist on that as his own achievement and boast without shame could be called an ability if it was an ability.
“I heard news that one Dragon had snuck into the capital pretending to be human, and Dragon hunters had begun hunting, so I immediately sent the knight order. And I succeeded in capturing alone the Dragon that the hunters had failed to hunt.”
As expected, the Duke didn’t seem to have any intention of honestly revealing the truth that he had kidnapped a child to lure and imprison the Dragon. Still, he couldn’t bring up the child’s story first.
“Also… you asked what I’m trying to gain through the Dragon, didn’t you, Ellen?”
While Jake was pondering, the Duke moved on to the next topic on his own.
“My plan is to obtain the strongest and most beautiful Dragon in the world.”
“The strongest and most beautiful Dragon…?”
The Duke seemed pleased with Jake’s puzzled reaction and laughed heartily.
“As you’d know, being beautiful doesn’t only refer to appearance. What I’m talking about is rarity. Originally, the rarer something is, the more beautiful it is, isn’t it? There are many beautiful gems, but the most precious black diamond looks more beautiful. What would be the Dragon equivalent to that ‘black’ diamond?”
“You’re saying that Black Dragons are the rarest individuals among Dragons.”
“Exactly. We will obtain a Black Dragon!”
The Duke, who had consistently attributed the achievement of hunting the Dragon to himself alone, used the word ‘we’ for the first time, including Ellen in the plan. If his reaction was any indication, the Duke would continue to include Jake, who was wearing Ellen’s mask, in the plan from now on.
Everything was proceeding in the direction he wanted, but Jake couldn’t smile easily.
‘Black Dragon… he’s talking about Klad.’
If left like this, the Duke would succeed in his plan. And Klad would become bound by the shackles called a ‘covenant.’
It was unpleasant.
“There’s no need to have two Dragons. I’ll keep the precious one alive and taxidermy the other to display as decoration. I heard a Dragon’s heart contains mana with higher density than the highest-grade magic stone… it would be good if I could obtain that. With the byproducts not needed for taxidermy, I’ll make weapons and protective gear. Ellen, if by any chance you become the Hero, how about taking them to hunt the Demon King? They would make armaments that suit the Hero’s sword very well.”
Perhaps because he had a lot he wanted to say, the Duke rambled on for a while even though no response was coming back.
Thanks to that, Jake was able to avoid the Duke catching his face scowling from unpleasantness.
“Ellen, I’m glad you’ve come to your senses. Truly glad! The timing is also absolutely perfect.”
“The timing… you say?”
“Didn’t you ask about the plan regarding the Dragon? Today is the day to carry out the next stage.”
“Which means…….”
“That’s right.”
The Duke continued with a meaningful smile.
“Rejoice, Ellen. Today happens to be the day the Black Dragon’s visit is scheduled.”
