For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 110
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 110
The space where my group entered was a dome-shaped chamber sealed on all sides except for the entrance. Mana seeping into the stone walls glowed softly, illuminating the curled skeleton of a dragon. Through that ethereal light flowed a solemn, pristine silence.
“A, a dragon?!”
The Grimoire of Magic sprang up with a start, then bolted behind me like an arrow and hid.
Leaving the trembling Grimoire of Magic to its panic, Kevenriak and I conversed.
“It must have been dead for at least a thousand years. That’s the minimum time required for a supreme-grade mana stone to develop.”
I spoke while observing the mana stone nestled within the dragon’s ribcage. Its purity seemed higher than the other supreme-grade stones we’d mined ten years ago. The pure mana rippling within the transparent stone resembled a dragon’s blue heart.
So that’s why supreme-grade mana stones gathered so abundantly in Lindraham Mine….
‘It was because of the dragon. When its mana heart dissipated, some of the mana seeped into the cave and caused the stones to grow.’
Kevenriak’s gaze swept across the surroundings and caught sight of the entrance we’d just come through. It was about the size of two front doors from Vivian’s House placed side by side. Since a supreme-tier magical barrier had been erected, it must have been the dragon’s entrance.
“The entrance is small compared to the dragon’s size.”
“It frequently transformed into human form to move about. Its original body was simply too massive.”
That dragon had used this entrance at least a thousand years ago. The dragon was dead, and the mana stone remained—all we needed to do was take it and craft an elixir.
‘I need to create the elixir quickly and extend Keri’s lifespan….’
Just as I, growing impatient, moved forward to retrieve the stone, both Kevenriak and the Grimoire of Magic grabbed my shoulders from either side.
“Why?”
“The mana concentration ahead is too dense.”
“Damn it, a body without a mana heart has ruined everything for our master.”
“Ah.”
I let out an embarrassed exclamation. Of course I couldn’t sense mana with Vivian’s body—that was only natural.
It felt strange not knowing what they both understood.
“Then perhaps we should wait outside the entrance, um….”
The mana concentration was thick, and it was at that moment when I was about to suggest we go outside to find a way to retrieve mana stones.
“…Ah.”
My vision blurred. Dizziness swept over me as the floor seemed to surge upward and the ceiling to sink downward. Kevenriak Heteroven and Zikhard scattered like watercolors into my distorted sight.
Fragmented memories of body and soul swirled together in my mind.
“I thought you were a beggar, but… a dragon quarter.”
“Look there, Raina Hart. Just because you can do a little magic, you think you can reach the heavens. A commoner of unknown origin, no less.”
“A dragon beneath Tunchar? How am I supposed to trust you, an enemy mage?”
“Our daughter really loves butterflies. Vivian, have you seen any butterflies that look like your mother?”
“Vivian, you mustn’t tell anyone what you saw. You were just dreaming.”
Gasp, gasp.
The elderly mage who found young Raina Hart, people envious of the genius mage, the Emperor of Tunterra who couldn’t trust her, Vivian’s kind biological mother, Simona Asperada’s dark magic….
I couldn’t bear the torrent of memories pouring down like a waterfall and gasped for breath. My vision remained distant, and the memories isolated me. Keri—what happened to Keri—.
My concern for him and the fragmented memories that appeared caused my head to throb as if it might shatter.
“The princess was sent by my Master to kill me.”
“I was admiring you.”
“My Master is someone precious to me.”
“I will become a great mage….”
“My disciple….”
“Greetings, Fourth Prince.”
Then every scene went dark as if someone had simultaneously turned off a projector. A single frame thick with noise flickered into view for just an instant.
“…, oh… fire.”
Ando Hwa.
Someone calling my name from the forgotten memories of my past life.
[…Who are you?]
Then came a flustered voice, and my vision, which had shown nothing, gradually began to return.
Gasp, gasp.
I blinked my eyes. What appeared in my clearing vision was Vivian’s hand holding a short sword—the very blade Kevenriak Heteroven had given me this morning to use in place of a wooden sword.
‘How… did this happen?’
I surveyed my surroundings.
The Grimoire of Magic suspended in mid-air, Kevenriak sprawled on the ground. I stood before him protectively, short sword drawn.
The blade’s sharp point was aimed at someone—a silver-haired boy with crimson horns and golden hair, his orange eyes bearing the elongated pupils of a predator. He regarded me with complete indifference to the sword threatening his throat.
[What are you doing, human?]
***
“Shana, how is Vivian?”
“She’s ill again today.”
This was already the sixteenth time Shana had given the same answer. There was good reason the villagers asked so eagerly after Vivian’s condition.
“Is that so? Then the banquet will have to wait for another day…”
The day before, Vivian had defeated the Mountain Lord. They had planned to hold a celebration commemorating the birth of a hero.
「Cold」
「No Visitors」
Yet this very morning, a note bearing those words had been posted on Vivian’s doorstep. Vivian’s handwriting was surprisingly neat, which was beside the point.
The two-story house with its drawn curtains remained silent.
“It must be the aftereffects of defeating the Mountain Lord. Let’s leave her to rest today.”
Knowing that the hero had always been frail, the villagers refrained from visiting Vivian’s house as they normally would.
A day passed, and this morning.
Shana visited Vivian’s house on behalf of the villagers to check on her condition. After knocking anxiously for some time, a commotion erupted from within before Vivian cracked the door open.
“Cough, cough. Shana, what is it?”
Watching Vivian emerge hastily and cough, Shana narrowed her eyes. The performance resembled exactly how her younger siblings faked illness, so she pressed further—and Vivian confessed.
“Shana, this is really, really a secret.”
“Okay.”
“I’m helping with the fateful love of some truly extraordinary people, you see?”
“…Okay?”
“So it looks like I won’t be able to leave the house for a while.”
Shana couldn’t quite understand Vivian’s words, but she decided to help her friend’s feigned illness. After all, her friend’s face looked so genuinely happy as she shared her secret.
“Well, there’s nothing to be done about it. Autumn colds are particularly stubborn, after all.”
Shana shrugged at the villager. The man closed his mouth, clearly disappointed that the banquet couldn’t be held without the main guest.
“Come now, sir. You can hold it once Vivian’s better. Why are you so disappointed?”
“Shana, it seems you don’t know yet. There’s a reason why now is the perfect time to hold a banquet.”
“What reason is that?”
At Shana’s question, the villager brought his hand to the air and made a gesture of plucking a string.
“This morning, a wandering musician came to our village. Her skill is so remarkable that you’d wonder why she’d stop in such a remote mountain village.”
The villager recalled the woman who had been playing while seated on the ground by the roadside. Her beautiful melodies captivated the ear, and her enchanting appearance captivated the eye.
She was a beauty with a beauty mark that seemed to carry a hint of sorrow.
***
“Oh dear, oh dear.”
“….”
I gazed at the short-haired boy before me, his head clutched in his hands. Red horns protruding between golden locks—one of the typical humanoid forms of a dragon.
But judging from the dense concentration of mana and the bones of a dead dragon,
‘It’s a thought-form created before the dragon died.’
It seemed to maintain its form even now, infused with the dragon’s mana.
After all, a thought-form’s personality was influenced by its original body.
The crouching boy and the dragon reduced to bones—the skeleton looked more dignified, but that wasn’t the problem at hand.
Zikhard had stopped suspended in mid-air, and Kevenriak had collapsed to the ground. From the sounds of Kevenriak’s groans, as if caught in a nightmare, I realized he had simply lost consciousness. But that didn’t ease my mind.
I shielded Kevenriak from the dragon’s line of sight as much as possible, holding my dagger at the ready as I spoke.
“What did you do to us?”
“What did you do to me?”
The dragon turned the question back on Raina, as if accusing her instead. With both hands pressed against its head, the dragon suddenly lifted its gaze.
“I was merely indulging in my hobby!”
“…Your hobby?”
“Yes! My pastime is sifting through the impressive memories of humans! It’s been one thousand three hundred and seven years since I’ve seen a human—surely I’m entitled to do that much? Besides, that one you’re protecting is merely asleep!”
“…”
Kevenriak was merely asleep. At those words, Raina’s intensity subsided slightly.
Dragons were said to be an incomprehensible race, yet here was a thought-form indulging in hobbies. As I pondered this peculiarity, tears glistened in the dragon’s orange eyes as it looked at me.
“Ugh. But I touched something strange.”
The dragon wrapped its golden hair in its hands again. Oh dear, oh dear. Even as it groaned in discomfort, it spoke its mind.
“A soul that repels my power? You’re the strangest of all, but the rest are odd too. That one stopped thinking entirely when I touched even a single memory. And this one…”
The dragon glanced at Kevenriak and shook its head slowly.
“Every impressive memory is connected to nothing but a single woman. Is that why you harbored such intentions?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Life-sharing.”
I flinched at the word that fell from the dragon’s mouth. The orange eyes regarded me with mischievous amusement. The dragon, having glimpsed my thoughts within my own memories, teased me with its question.
Orange eyes gazed at Raina Hart mischievously. The dragon, who had peeked into her thoughts from her memories, teased her with a question.
“This man is your companion?”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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