Chapter 27

“You want the scale of a silver dragon……”

Leniar de Volmark swept her proud silver hair behind her ear.

Her eyes had sunk into a light as cold as her hair.

“Putting aside whether I have such an item, that’s quite a rude request.”

“Oh dear. In what way was I rude?”

“You must have known that I disliked the name ‘silver dragon’ before you came.”

Ah, I clapped my hands in an exaggerated manner.

My tone was as if I had just realized.

“That’s what’s known to the public. But the reality is different, isn’t it?”

“…Reality? I don’t know what you’re trying to say, Zionis.”

I cut another piece of the fish dish and put it in my mouth.

Then I gestured with my eyes at the servants lined up around the room.

“Talking is not difficult. However, there is a need to be a little more secretive.”

“You have a sharp tongue.”

Leniar gestured.

“Everyone, leave.”

As soon as her words fell, the servants scurried away.

Only three remained in the dining hall.

Leniar, me, and Yosef.

I felt the presence of magic.

It was because some kind of barrier had begun to surround the dining hall.

“That should be enough.”

“It’s much more private.”

“Then start talking, now.”

The gaze was piercing.

Yosef Haider had already drawn his axe.

With my second secret still locked, Yosef Haider was a truly great threat.

If I dragged the conversation on any longer, I might lose my life in an instant.

Nevertheless, I opened my mouth without losing my smile.

“There was a rumor. That the First Princess Leniar was kidnapped by the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom when she was a child. No one knows what happened, but since then, she shivers at the mere mention of the two words ‘silver dragon’……”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“The truth is, the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom never kidnapped you, sister, but it’s a fitting story for a cover-up.”

“…That rumor is all a lie? Interesting. They say you read a lot of books and your imagination is quite rich. Go on, spit out some more.”

Her voice was cold and sharp.

And she glared at me with piercing eyes.

I was not intimidated.

Her attitude, on the contrary, proved that my words were the truth.

The regressor, the man who had seen the truth from the future and returned, continued to speak.

“It was you who went to the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom, sister. For your younger brother who was gravely ill, to make a deal with the Great Witch.”

“……”

Leniar’s face was nonchalant.

At least, on the outside.

‘When you hit a nerve, you tend to go quiet.’

I gave a faint smile.

I had noticed that her momentum had faltered for a moment.

That Yosef Haider’s grip on his axe had tightened.

It was because my words had accurately pierced their deepest secret.

“…Zionis, how much do you know?”

“That’s a very vague question.”

I crossed my legs nonchalantly.

“Would it be enough if I said I know the name of Etsi de Volmark?”

“……!”

“And what else should I say I know……”

He began to spill.

“That Prince Etsi, the sickly only son of the Duke of Volmark, is actually the son of the Great Emperor and not the Duke. That he is your twin brother and also my older brother?”

“……”

“That you, sister, made a deal with the Great Witch to cure your brother’s illness and hide him from the Empire’s power struggles and that the silver dragon’s scale is the proof of that? Now that I say it out loud, it doesn’t seem like much.”

Leniar raised her head and looked at the ceiling.

Then she let out a single, sigh-laced word.

“…Lord Yosef.”

“Yes.”

The short old man was suddenly next to me.

There was no time to notice.

A blue axe blade pressed against my throat, and a single stream of blood flowed.

“Do you know, Zionis?”

Leniar shot at her half-brother coldly.

“I have no choice but to kill you now.”

“Oh, I can’t die. I have things to do.”

“How many people do you think die because they want to?”

“Then since I’m going to die anyway, let me talk a little more.”

I gave a sly smile.

“I’m a cute younger brother too, aren’t I?”

The princess gestured with her chin.

Yosef’s axe blade moved a little further away.

But it was still touching my throat.

So that he could separate my head from my body at any moment.

But I laughed.

I laughed even more excitedly.

“To put it simply, sister, you are being deceived right now.”

“Explain.”

“Twice a year, the Great Witch’s familiar comes with the medicine, right? And you, sister, treat the familiar with splendid tributes.”

“You, just how much……”

Yosef Haider felt a strange sensation.

It felt as if the axe pressed against my neck was being pushed away slightly.

It was strange.

He couldn’t feel anything, so how?

It was the work of the ‘Fantasy Finger’, but the old man couldn’t know.

“The Great Witch, at the time the deal began, let’s see, one, two……. hmm, about thirteen years ago. At that time, she had already created a perfect cure. So that she could cure Prince Etsi’s illness in an instant.”

“…What!?”

Leniar was flustered and asked again.

“Do you know what you’re saying? That the Great Witch deliberately deceived us for thirteen years?”

“No. It’s not the Great Witch’s doing. Her familiar coveted the tributes and dragged out the time.”

“…Nonsense! There’s no way such a thing could happen……!”

The silver-haired princess could not hide her bewilderment.

She was not the Leniar known for her composure and calm.

Yosef Haider was no different.

So much had been revealed in an instant that he felt his head was a mess.

“…No, but, no, still……”

The Fifth Prince Zionis.

Her half-brother, whom she had considered just a kid, had exposed her deepest secret.

Etsi’s name, the deal with the Great Witch.

And on top of that, he was revealing the truth, saying she was being deceived.

“…Alright. Let’s say it’s the truth. Let’s say everything you said is the truth.”

What was it?

What on earth was happening?

She was so full of questions that she didn’t even know what to ask.

But Leniar de Volmark.

The noble First Princess composed herself.

She raised her silver eyes and pierced through to the center of the question.

“…Then Zionis, how on earth do you know all this?”

“As expected of you, sister. Truly a sharp intellect.”

All the questions and contradictions led to my identity.

The deal from thirteen years ago, the inside story that no one but the Great Witch should know.

Things that the eleven-year-old Zionis could not and should not know.

“But it’s a secret.”

I playfully placed my index finger on my lips.

“I can’t answer that question. There are many things I can’t explain.”

“Is that so? Then Yosef will have no choice but to take your head.”

“My, you’re in such a hurry. I can’t explain, but I can prove it.”

The blue-eyed prince said, as if reciting.

“Summon that familiar right now.”

***

“To summon the Great Witch’s familiar……”

“I know. The date is still far off, and the tributes are not ready. But I’m telling you, it’s all a scam.”

Even with an axe to my neck, I still did not lose my composure.

It was because everything I said was the truth.

Leniar was already realizing it.

I was telling the truth.

Otherwise, there was no way I could know in such detail.

“If you hold the silver dragon’s scale and chant the spell even now, he will appear immediately.”

“…Alright, I’ll fall for it once. If it’s a lie, you won’t be able to leave with your limbs intact.”

Leniar de Volmark took a pocket watch from her pocket.

“Lord Yosef, make sure Zionis doesn’t try anything funny.”

“I am already doing so, Your Highness.”

After lightly brushing the second hand three times, the watch face opened with a click.

There was a scale that shone with a chilling light.

The proof of the deal with the Great Witch that could not be broken, the silver dragon’s scale.

“…A promise made with spirits and tin.”

What she chanted was the spell given by the Great Witch.

“You, dragon of ice. You, witch of silver. You, the last magician. You, answer the promise.”

Fwoosh-!

As soon as the spell was finished, the scale began to pour out a silver light.

It was so bright that Leniar’s hair looked transparent.

“…This is.”

“I was right, wasn’t I, sister?”

“…Was I, really, being deceived.”

The Great Witch’s familiar had said so.

That she would not appear unless the tributes were prepared on the designated day.

But what was this?

She had just chanted the spell and the familiar was revealing itself.

I shrugged my shoulders as if to say, ‘see?’.

“Have I ever been wrong?”

“…Zionis, I believe today is the first time you and I have spoken.”

“Since we’ve never spoken, I couldn’t have been wrong, could I? Logically perfect.”

“Lord Yosef.”

“Ouch! Will you please remove the axe now?”

I grumbled as I pushed the axe away with my ‘Fantasy Finger’.

Yosef Haider, feeling the invisible force, tilted his head.

I gestured with my eyes at the halo of light and the form beyond it.

“Because I will make the Great Witch’s familiar confess her scam.”

“…Alright, do as you please.”

Yosef Haider withdrew his axe.

I rubbed my neck.

I roughly wiped the blood that came off on a napkin.

My eyes glinted blue.

“You won’t regret it.”

***

“Hmm? Hmm-hmm?”

A low mumble was heard from within the subsiding silver light.

“What is this? The transaction day is still quite a ways off?”

A raw chicken walked out.

“I came because you called, but… wait, the tributes aren’t even ready!?”

No, it was really raw chicken.

Featherless, bumpy skin, a neck without a head, cute wings, and plump legs.

It looked as if a delicious broth would be rendered immediately if it were boiled thoroughly.

“This is troublesome, Your Highness the Princess! You’ve always done so well, why are you suddenly acting like this?”

The raw chicken, having looked around, expressed its dissatisfaction.

I didn’t know how it could see without a head, but it flapped its wings and sulked.

The cute bowtie below its headless neck was very comical.

“…Zionis, you said you would handle it.”

“Of course, sister. Just watch.”

Leniar and Yosef stepped back.

I, with a strange smile, stepped in front of the raw chicken.

The raw chicken seemed to dislike that.

“Oh? Who’s this kid?”

The raw chicken tilted its head.

More precisely, it tilted its severed neck from side to side.

The name Zionis was not unfamiliar.

It seemed that one of the imperial princes had such a name.

I looked at the raw chicken and let out a soft laugh.

“Still as noisy as ever, Jeberk.”

“Well now. How dare you call someone’s name so casually? You must think I’m a joke because I’m in the form of a raw chicken, right?”

“So you know you look ridiculous.”

The raw chicken, Jeberk, jumped.

When it flapped its short wings, it even hovered in the air for a moment.

It swung its plump chicken legs and flew into a rage.

“What a fearless kid!”

“You’re the fearless one.”

I let out a soft laugh.

“No matter how fearless I am, am I as bad as the one who tampered with Beluchian’s deal, blinded by tributes?”

“…Huh?”

“Really, how much guts must one have to do such a thing. There’s a limit to being fearless.”

“…What are you, you brat?”

The voice of the raw chicken, which had been noisy all along, was cut off.

My eyes shone blue, as if to pierce his heart.

“Beluchian already knows. She’s just waiting for you to confess.”

“…I asked what you are.”

“Who I am isn’t important. Hurry up and give me the cure. The original, undiluted one.”

I threatened him.

“If you do it now, you can still undo your scam, Jeberk.”

“U-ugh, what’s going on all of a sudden. What’s with this brat……”

The raw chicken Jeberk twisted its body here and there.

It seemed to be in agony.

“You called me when it wasn’t the transaction day and now some kid I’ve never seen before is spilling my secrets……. no, wait a minute.”

Jeberk suddenly raised its head.

A fierce momentum, comparable to Yosef’s, filled the room in an instant.

If it had a head, its eyes would have been blazing with murderous intent and anger.

“Come to think of it, I’m getting really angry.”

Scales began to cover the raw chicken’s body.

They were resplendent in five colors.

Its size also swelled in an instant.

A beaked head shot out from its severed neck.

“What in the world are you?”

Sharp teeth were packed between its beak.

“What are you to be so insolent, kid?”

Jeberk had already taken the form of a giant bird.

The table was shattered, and plates and forks clattered to the floor with a loud noise.

Jeberk opened its beak, large enough to swallow me in one bite, and roared fiercely.

“I, Jeberk.”

The atmosphere froze.

“King of the scaled birds.”

A blue halo of light shot out from its toothed beak and tore the surroundings to shreds.

Yosef hastily gripped his axe and protected his master.

If I hadn’t been wearing Mana Armor Valziart under my clothes, I would have also been seriously injured.

“Choose your words carefully from now on, kid.”

Jeberk, one of the Great Witch’s five familiars.

An ancient beast, a mythical creature among mythical creatures, that would make even Yosef Haider’s face turn pale.

“The great Jeberk is not one to be afraid of Cordisias’s bloodline.”

The tooth-filled beak was thrust in front of my nose.

As if it would swallow the eleven-year-old kid at any moment.

The king of the scaled birds growled fiercely.

“I’m sorry, but I had no intention of relying on my bloodline.”

“Ugh!”

The first Ars, ‘Fantasy Finger’.

Invisible hands pushed Jeberk’s jaw away.

His bad breath was so strong that there was nothing I could do.

Before Jeberk could get angry, I recited.

“But I do have something to rely on.”

“Hah? What the……”

“It’s originally a secret, but if you want to hear it, I’ll tell you and only you.”

The black mana armor under my clothes writhed.

Jeberk recognized that it was Valziart, something a kid like this shouldn’t have.

The blonde prince looked at Jeberk and gave a faint smile.

“How about it, don’t you want to hear?”

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