Star Child's Parenting Diary - Chapter 5

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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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Episode 5
Part 2. The Dragon of the Imperial Palace (2)
Bell had survived undetected by *them* all this time precisely because she hadn’t properly wielded her power.
[If the Guardian uses her strength, they’ll sense it.]
[But the connection to the stars will not be severed.]
The Spirit spoke with unwavering certainty.
[This child is the one seed that can repel the Calamity. That is why her parents sacrificed themselves to protect her.]
The dragon’s pupils trembled minutely.
Argares—the oldest dragon still living in the world.
He understood what the Spirit meant.
[……There is no guardian to guide her through Awakening.]
The Star Clan could not wield their full power without Awakening.
Moreover, their very lives could be endangered.
Normally, the clan’s elders would have helped, but the Star Clan had vanished after the Calamity.
……They were likely annihilated.
Because they maintained the world’s balance, he could sense it.
[This child needs you.]
The Spirit was right.
A dragon could provide the aid Bell needed for her growth, standing in place of her parents.
Indeed, Argares possessed knowledge concerning the Spirit’s Awakening.
“Dragon, dragon…….”
Bell clutched the dragon’s claws tightly with her small hands.
A pale, luminescent light began to seep from where her tiny hands met his.
“Ow. Don’t hurt.”
A child so young she could barely form complete sentences clung to him desperately.
Don’t die.
Don’t suffer.
The child’s pure heart, woven from such simple words, flowed into the dragon.
Though she scarcely knew him, Bell genuinely grieved for the dragon.
[Guardian of the stars.]
The dragon exhaled quietly, his eyes squeezed shut.
[So you insist on binding me to you.]
How could he find solace alone with something so small in his care?
How could he abandon the last hope remaining in the world?
[If your life has grown wearisome and you desire rest, then from this moment forward, live for this child who stands alone.]
The Spirit placed a hand upon Bell’s head.
For the first time, it would draw upon Bell’s power.
Once her power was used, Bell would undergo her first Awakening.
[By my life, I swear devotion to the Guardian.]
The moment the dragon made his vow.
Crash—!
The door shattered, and a mass of green Ether shot through.
The Ether was sharply honed, violent, and aggressive.
And its owner was—
“Bell.”
Ethan Aibeck.
* * *
Fiderio, Emperor of the Oriana Empire, kneaded his aching brow with his palm.
“We found the Temple Ruins that the Star Clan was supposed to be maintaining.”
“How was it?”
“It had already been burned to cinders without a trace. A ghastly sight—as if they meant to erase its very existence.”
A grim report came back.
‘Were they truly wiped out?’
Ethan sank into deep thought.
Three years ago, a terrible Calamity had engulfed the entire continent.
The name given to that event was the Eternal Night of Eternal Voyage.
The stars vanished from the sky, and the seas raged.
Ships lost their way and drifted aimlessly, torrential rains poured down with fury, and beasts ran wild.
People trembled in terror, gazing up at the sun that would not return and the light that had fled the night sky.
Everyone had lost their way.
And as if to accelerate that dread, dragons—the most noble creatures in all creation—suddenly rampaged in unison, sweeping across the city.
Dragons were among the beings that maintained the balance of Ether, the elemental force that composed the world.
That such a sacred existence could rampage was unthinkable.
It was as though the very foundations of the world were crumbling.
“Stop them!”
Those who had lost all hope declared that this world would perish.
Some even took their own lives, unable to overcome that terror.
“Arm yourselves. We march now to slay the dragons that have overrun the city.”
Someone had to step forward as a hero.
That someone was Ethan’s father—the Previous Duke Aibeck.
But before such immense calamity, human lives evaporated like morning mist.
“Father!”
The Previous Duke Aibeck was no exception.
Ethan drew his blade for vengeance.
“The Young Duke has slain the dragon!”
“We have succeeded in slaying the dragon!”
And at last, he severed the creature’s life.
In the moment when he drove his blade into the gap between the dragon’s scales, releasing all his Ether in a torrent of power—
Stars miraculously returned to the heavens.
The calamity had withdrawn.
“Young Duke Aibeck has repelled the disaster!”
He became a hero, blooming from his father’s shadow.
“Your Majesty, the Emperor’s vessel has gone down.”
And the age changed.
Those who remained had to inherit this new era and live through it once more.
They came to understand that they must prepare against the return of past calamities, and they pursued the traces of disaster.
The force behind the calamity was a group that called themselves the Dwellers of Dark Night.
Yet despite uncovering this single thread, however slender…
“Another dead end, it seems.”
“At this point, we’d be better served hoping the dragon underground regains its sanity.”
“How are the temple priests’ Purification research progressing?”
The Emperor exhaled heavily, shaking his head.
“No progress.”
…
It was hardly surprising.
Only one entity possessed the power to purify corrupted Ether—the Star Clan alone could accomplish such a thing.
But the Star Clan appeared to have been completely wiped out on the day of calamity.
If the Ether remained corrupted, the world would slowly sicken and die.
“Then perhaps we might seek the cooperation of the other Spirit races…”
“Aaaaagh!”
A piercing scream suddenly shattered the silence of the corridor.
At the sound of Aspe’s cry, irritation flared behind Ethan’s eyes and he ground his teeth together.
“Your Highnesssssss!”
“That madman. Today I’m either ripping his mouth open or tying it shut—I’m done with this.”
As he reached for the Decorative Sword standing against the wall, the Emperor rose from his seat as well.
“No, no. You be patient.”
Ethan strode into the corridor to deal with his insufferably loud subordinate.
Yet his anger was not to last.
“What in the…”
The scene in the corridor defied all comprehension.
Aspe, who had been bellowing his lungs out searching for him, stood in the middle of the hallway with his feet planted firmly on the ground, flailing about—while the guards beside him thrashed as if their shoulders had been locked together in an embrace.
“Do you all have a death wish?”
Unable to make sense of the situation, Ethan’s face darkened into a scowl.
“Does it look like I’m playing around, sir?”
Aspe fired back without yielding.
“Disaster, sir! The child—the child has vanished!”
“For all your years, you can’t even keep watch over a single child?”
“Please, just pursue him at once!”
Aspe ignored Ethan’s reproach and spoke the heart of the matter with urgency.
“The child appears to know how to use magic!”
The moment his words ended, Ethan’s body moved.
Finding Bell’s whereabouts proved no difficulty at all.
Guards and knights lay scattered through the corridors like breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel.
Their direction was unmistakable.
The Underground Chamber.
The Underground Chamber where the Cursed Dragon lay imprisoned.
Ethan’s eyes turned to ice.
“If anything happens to the child—”
He would make them beg for execution instead.
His grip tightened around the hilt of the dull sword.
‘What if we’re already too late?’
Dense green Ether gathered and enveloped the blade.
‘What if that cursed beast has already harmed her?’
The door to the Underground Chamber came into view.
His anxiety had reached its peak.
A torrent of razor-sharp force erupted forward, tearing through the Underground Chamber’s door like tissue paper.
His pupils, contracted with excitement and fury, found the child’s form first.
“Bell.”
Thankfully, it wasn’t too late.
Bell stood directly before the Dragon’s snout.
Her tiny hands rested upon the Dragon’s pearl-white talons, her innocent eyes blinking in complete incomprehension.
“Come here—it’s dangerous.”
“Ow-ee!”
Bell pointed at the Dragon as she spoke.
‘Hurt?’
Ethan, misunderstanding her meaning, scrutinized Bell with a hawk’s gaze.
There appeared to be no injury visible to the naked eye.
“Ow-ee!”
Bell spoke again.
‘It’s hurting.’
Yet Ethan remained a novice father, utterly unable to decipher her words.
“All the more reason to put it down cleanly.”
“Ow-ee. Do-oo.”
To Bell’s earnest plea—’The Dragon is hurting. I want to help’—Ethan responded with formidable stubbornness.
“Right. I’m executing that Dragon now, so come here.”
He spoke with chilling finality.

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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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