Chapter 256 : Chapter 256
Side Story 15. Dejan Berger (1)
Sylvia went into her workshop to make the restraint device I had asked for.
Meanwhile, Leviar was cleaning every corner of the mage tower’s laboratory.
Of course, he was not cleaning by ordinary means.
He was stirring up mana to purify even dust too fine to see.
Naturally, Leviar’s expression was sour.
“This is truly absurd. I never thought the day would come when a dragon used magic to clean.”
“Stop grumbling and clean properly.”
“Isn’t it clean enough already? I believe Sylvia would think so as well.”
“No. Not even close.”
I knew Sylvia’s obsession with cleanliness better than anyone.
It was an almost extreme fixation on cleanliness.
When Leviar had polymorphed into a puppy, she had watched him with hawk-like eyes the entire time, worried that dog hair might scatter about.
Keeping an eye on me, Leviar continued casting Purification Magic.
“By the way, are you sure this is all right?”
“What is?”
“That you keep traveling with me like this. When my kin come to Kalia, they will come looking for me first. Can you handle them? There is not much time left now.”
That was practically a threat.
He seemed to expect me to be properly cowed.
“Isn’t this the situation you want? You’re calling me Young Master and bowing your head now, but the moment you get the chance, it looks like you’ll go mad wanting to kill me. Isn’t that right?”
“Th-that is...!”
Perhaps I had struck a nerve, because he flinched.
“Try it later if you get the chance. Just be prepared to have both your wings torn off.”
“Haha. Young Master, you certainly make frightening jokes!”
Leviar tilted his head as he said that.
Naturally, it would be beyond his understanding.
A human who did not fear dragons.
I was even using him as bait to lure in other dragons, so it was only natural that he was dumbfounded.
“By the way, this person you call your master. Does he truly exist?”
“Why?”
“It is impossible that there is a human at a higher realm than you are.”
Just because I had not seen it with my own eyes did not make it impossible.
In any case, my future self would be stronger than I was today.
“You, a dragon, being dragged around in such a sorry state. Before you met me, did you think that was possible?”
“Of course not!”
“Then take that as your answer.”
Leviar scratched his head with a front paw, looking as though he could not understand at all.
“Then are you trusting this master of yours? I mean, are you not afraid of the arrival of our Red Clan?”
“No. I’ll be on my own when I meet your kin.”
“Wow, what is this confidence of yours?!”
It was not solely because of confidence.
The Red Clan’s rise would happen because of me, so I believed I had to bring it to an end myself.
I had also considered the possibility of a situation I could not handle.
I had no way of knowing just how powerful an Ancient-grade Red Dragon would be.
At that moment, Sylvia reappeared.
“All done.”
The satisfied smile on her face left no doubt that she had succeeded.
‘As expected.’
She had returned only three hours after entering the workshop.
She was holding a dog leash in her hand.
It had taken her only this much time to make a device capable of restraining a dragon. Sylvia truly was a genius among geniuses.
“Another dog leash?! Let me make this clear: I am not a puppy!”
The moment Leviar saw the dog leash Sylvia had brought out, he immediately bristled.
I lowered myself and gently scratched his neck.
“I told you. This is better than being dragged around by me in your dragon form. Didn’t you agree?”
“You’ll regret this!”
Ignoring him, I accepted the dog leash from Sylvia.
“Good work. It couldn’t have been easy to make.”
Sylvia, however, looked unconcerned.
“The question is whether you can get a dragon to put it on willingly. Making a device like this is nothing.”
“Then that settles it. This one will put it on willingly. Right, Leviar?”
“Woof!”
He looked resigned.
CLICK-
The instant the restraint device was fastened around Leviar’s neck, mana reacted.
“It is very simple to use. If he tries to break the dog leash and run away, whether by physical strength or magic, the mana woven throughout the leash will surge and send you a signal. You only need to wear one end of the leash around your wrist all day.”
I especially liked that I could not feel it at all when wearing it.
“But what if this Hatchling tries to secretly dispel the magic placed on the restraint device?”
“Would that be possible? He is not even a dragon, merely a Hatchling.”
“WOOF!!”
Leviar bristled at once.
His pride had been hurt.
His eyes made it clear that he would undo this dog leash no matter what it took.
But this was surely what Sylvia wanted.
Her needling Leviar like this was an intentional provocation, a challenge she had issued.
Naturally, I intended to bet on Sylvia.
If it was a contest of will rather than physical strength, Leviar could not be Sylvia’s match.
That was what an Archmage was.
***
My next destination was Galsen Province, where Dejan Berger’s mage tower was located.
[Quest Progress: 0/2]
The quests I had been assigned upon coming to Kalia numbered two.
Defeat Kalia’s greatest swordsman and greatest mage, one each. There was a high chance I would complete one of the quests here.
There were only two Archmages in this world.
Naturally, Leviar attempted to escape even while we traveled to Galsen.
More precisely, while I slept, he tried to secretly dispel the magic placed on the dog leash. In the end, however, he could only whine and failed to remove the restraint device.
After that, he went around with his tail down, looking dejected, but I decided to pretend I had not noticed.
‘And yet Dejan Berger is at a higher level than even Sylvia.’
It was enough to make me suspect the Demon King’s aid.
For now, I decided to stop by a nearby Cheonra branch.
The scale of this intelligence organization, spread across all of Kalia like a net, was truly astounding.
In fact, if Reina had not guided me here, I would have had no way of knowing that this ordinary-looking tavern belonged to Cheonra.
“Please come this way.”
I was led to a secret space beneath the tavern.
The man who greeted me was a bald middle-aged man who introduced himself as the branch head.
Judging by how deferential he was, he seemed to have been properly given advance information about me.
“The main duty of this tavern is to observe the Mage Tower of Wishes. Is that correct?”
“That is correct. However, the mage tower master rarely appears in public, so there is little to investigate.”
Dejan Berger was one of the most prominent figures Cheonra could not help but watch.
Yet little recent information about him was known.
In fact, I had likely learned more after hearing Sylvia’s stories.
Still, I wanted to know whether anything unusual was happening around the mage tower.
If Dejan Berger had indeed formed some sort of relationship with the Demon King, there was a strong possibility that the Demon King’s clutches extended beyond that place.
“There is something strange. It is not significant enough to report to headquarters yet, but...”
“What is it?”
“It concerns the nearby villagers.”
His tone made it sound as though he considered it trivial.
That was because no persons of interest were involved, but after hearing the details, it was not a matter that could simply be overlooked.
“A fundraising campaign with a bizarre purpose is spreading among the villagers.”
“What purpose could possibly be so bizarre?”
“The construction of a temple.”
“Why is that bizarre? If they are constructing a temple, the purpose is clear.”
“The problem is that it is unclear which god the temple will serve.”
“What do you mean? Are they keeping it secret until the temple is built?”
“No. Even the people collecting the funds have no idea which god they intend to serve. More surprisingly, no one is threatening them into contributing. They are doing so voluntarily.”
“How is that possible?!”
It was certainly strange.
‘There’s something going on.’
Above all, this was happening around Dejan Berger’s mage tower.
If the Demon King was involved, the puzzle might be easily solved.
“This is happening, and you still have not reported it to headquarters?”
“It only concerns ordinary villagers...”
It was not my place to interfere, but he was an incompetent fiend.
Well, this branch did not have much time left anyway.
This mage tower was soon fated to be dealt with by me.
“I want to meet the person among the villagers directing this fundraising campaign.”
“Th-that...”
“Why? What is the problem?”
“I will look into it immediately!”
He did not know at all.
I had a feeling that once this branch was dealt with, this bastard would be dealt with as well.
***
According to the gathered information, the villagers were indeed quite strange.
As though possessed by something, they were devoting nearly their entire fortunes to the fundraising campaign with blind faith.
They had neither an object of faith nor any doctrine, yet the fact that their following continued to grow with time was even more astonishing.
‘And they’re all living their normal daily lives, too.’
One option was to storm Dejan Berger’s mage tower immediately, but nothing was certain yet, so I intended to approach this more carefully.
As it happened, tonight was the night of their gathering.
The location, however, was far from ordinary.
A meeting on a mountaintop in the middle of the night.
“Do you have any idea what this might be?”
“Why are you asking me?”
Leviar played dumb.
But he seemed to know something.
In truth, Leviar was a Hatchling with a little more experience than Rosie.
If anything, he would know more about the Demon King, not less.
“I thought you might know because you’re a dragon.”
“How would a dragon know anything about human religious practices?”
The current Kalia was a world without a Demon King.
Naturally, Leviar could not imagine that I knew about the Demon King.
Perhaps he was simply waiting for me to come to harm.
It was a bright, moonlit night.
One by one, people began gathering at the mountaintop.
Each of them held a torch.
Not a single one had trained mana.
No one had an especially strange look in their eyes or an unusual air about them.
They were utterly ordinary villagers.
During the day, they likely worked for their livelihoods. Some were likely heads of households, while others were ordinary wives or precious children of their families.
‘There’s nothing.’
The countless demonfolk I had seen in the Demon Realm before.
I could not find in these people any energy similar to the demonic energy those demonfolk possessed.
It seemed that everyone had gathered by the appointed time, yet there was no suspicious presence here.
That did not mean the gathering would proceed normally.
Some part, deep inside them, had to be mad.