episode_0004

Episode 4. What are you doing here? Vulture?

It became night.

Andrion lay quietly on the bed, closing his eyes with a calm expression.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Only the clock made of magic tools was ticking in the quiet room.

Then Andrion’s eyes slowly opened.

He slowly got up and, with eyes accustomed to darkness, stared at the clock.

“It’s midnight.”

Since being bound here, he had learned that the mansion became the quietest around midnight.

“Let’s go.”

Andrion slowly got off the bed and cautiously opened the door.

The corridor outside was silent.

Even the moon in the sky was hidden behind clouds, leaving the mansion pitch dark without a trace of light.

“It feels eerie…”

Oh well, it must be nothing.

Thinking that way, Andrion activated the magic tool in his hand that emitted light and proceeded cautiously, holding it.

Passing through a long corridor, he reached a large door.

“Is this it?”

Today, the tree drawn on the door looked majestic.

After briefly gazing at the tree, Andrion carefully pushed the door open.

Creak!

As the door opened, the dim interior of the library came into view.

Andrion walked inside and soon stopped in front of a room.

Although the entrance was open, strangely, the interior didn’t appear pitch black.

It was completely immersed in darkness as if it didn’t want to reveal what was inside.

Andrion tried inserting the light-emitting magic tool inside, but the inside remained dark.

“There might be several devices besides the main entrance and restricted areas.”

Even so, this place is part of the library.

There probably aren’t any life-threatening devices.

“Maybe it’s just an alarm spell indicating that an unauthorized person has entered.”

A smirk appeared on Andrion’s lips.

“Yeah. I’m the eldest son of the mansion owner.”

And judging by the librarian’s reaction, Andrion was practically a newcomer to the library.

“Getting lost and entering the wrong place is definitely not a strange situation.”

Andrion finished his thoughts and stepped into the room, one step at a time.

The room felt somewhat musty. Although all the large windows were closed, there was a chilly and eerie sensation. Andrian took a deep breath. “Then should I quickly find the original book written by Yerni?” As he looked around and stepped inside, something caught his eye. “Oh.” There was a book placed in a glass case right by the window. It looked incredibly old at first glance. Andrian examined the cover and saw familiar letters on the faded cover. “[To my future descendants] ‘I found it.’” Andrian’s lips curled up into a smile. He gently opened the glass case, carefully reached under it, and took the book. “If I drop this by accident, it’ll be screwed.” It seemed like it would shatter if dropped, given how old it looked. Trembling fingers, Andrian struggled to take out the book and, stealing a bead of sweat from his forehead, placed it on top of the glass case. “Where did I stop reading?” As Andrian flipped through the pages, his finger stopped. “[They demanded the creation of a shrine as a condition of the armistice. To make humans aware of the existence of gods and imprint it upon them.]” “Gods…” Andrian murmured softly. In the setting of this novel, there was a supreme god, ‘La Luna,’ who was both the creator and destroyer, and below that god were seven gods created directly by La Luna. The gods of love and deceit, Eilin. The gods of truth and the future, Secreta. The gods of courage and the present, Patum. The gods of knowledge and the past, Veritas. The gods of wisdom and struggle, Aeternalis. The gods of light and punishment, Liderre. The gods of darkness and hope, Lysus. Among them, Liderre and Lysus were sometimes referred to as the celestial and demonic gods, respectively. “For those gods to demand the creation of a shrine…” There was a possibility of some sort of surveillance. Andrian turned to the next page. “[Laour and I reluctantly accepted that proposal. My world was already crumbling beyond repair to engage in further war. Instead, we proposed to stop creating humans with divine blood, and that proposal was accepted. Thus, the long and arduous battle with the gods came to an end.]” “Wait a moment. What did it say?”

“We have decided not to create any more humans with divine blood, right?”

“Then what is Isaac?”

Andrion quickly handed over the paper.

[However, Laour always felt uneasy.

He had a gut feeling that someday the gods would break their promise.]

Andrion bit his lip.

[So, just before his life ended, Laour created a pact with his soul as the price, producing a spell of containment.]

“Could it be…”

[As time passed, when a human with divine blood was born, it was predicted that a descendant of Laour, the divine dragon, would be born in the same era.

Laour knew well that only his descendants, those with dragon’s blood, could prevent humans with divine blood.]

According to this statement, it was true that dragon’s blood could prevent divine blood.

“But why couldn’t Nellac stop Isaac’s explosion at the end?”

Wait, hold on.

“What evidence was there that Nellac had dragon’s blood?”

A mage from the 8th Circle.

Other than Nellac transforming into a dragon or using dragon-related language, there was never a single mention of it.

That means Nellac wasn’t a descendant of the divine dragon.

“It clearly stated here that he was a descendant of the divine dragon.”

That meant he was a descendant of Laour, the divine dragon, and a member of the royal family.

“…Ah!”

Besides Nellac, there was one more person among the descendants of the royal family.

With blood-red eyes like blood and pitch-black hair like darkness.

Cruel, ruthless, and wicked.

The flower of the royal family that everyone despised and rejected.

“Rubia…”

It was his fiancée, the villainess Rubia de Perion.

* * *

“So that’s why.”

Piece by piece, the puzzle came together.

Since Rubia died, there was no one to prevent the explosion of divine power.

“But why wasn’t it mentioned in the novel that Rubia had dragon’s blood?”

Thinking that way, Andrio flipped through the book.

[The dragon’s blood possessed by Laour’s descendants does not manifest easily.]

“Then…?”

Andrion’s gaze moved restlessly.

[To awaken the dragon’s blood…]

“Yes, this is important from now on.”

Andrio swallowed hard.

Yes, awakening.

Even if they knew all these facts, if they couldn’t awaken Rubia, it would all be over.

As Andrion was about to read the next part.

The light was wrapped around the book.

“What, what is it?”

The book, emitting a dazzling light, quickly flipped its pages automatically.

As the cover was completely covered, the light gradually faded away.

“…What was that just now?”

Confused, Andrian tried to open the book again.

“Oh dear!”

The book didn’t budge.

It wouldn’t open at all, as if someone had meticulously sealed it with glue.

Then, the cover shimmered and the letters changed.

[Summon the First Elemental King]

“…”

Andrian couldn’t say a word.

Doesn’t this mean that you have to summon the Elemental King to read the next part?

“This can’t be true.”

No way, what kind of Elemental King is this?

‘The humans who have summoned the Elemental Kings don’t even reach five fingers…’

Moreover, if they call it the first Elemental King, they’ll probably ask to summon the second one too.

Except for Yervi Berdo, the current host, no one has ever summoned multiple Elemental Kings.

It didn’t make sense.

Andrian chuckled in disbelief and let out a deep sigh.

He had to find a way to deal with this situation somehow.

“Yeah. I have to awaken Rubia by any means necessary and stop Isaac.”

Originally, he planned to escape to another empire, but it would take several months to travel to the opposing continent without an airplane.

‘If Isaac’s divine blood bursts early, I’ll just die.’

Since it turned out like this, he had to awaken Rubia, change his plans after stopping Isaac, and find another route.

“Yeah. If I search well enough, there should be something about dragon blood in other documents.”

While thinking like that, Andrian tried to put the book back into the glass case.

But the moment he lifted the book.

Thunk.

Something fell below.

“Huh?”

It was a brooch with a large gemstone embedded in it.

And it was an incredibly huge sapphire.

Was it together with the book?

With a puzzled mind, he put the book inside and tried to put the brooch inside as well, but the moment he held the brooch.

A refreshing sensation spread throughout his body from his fingertips.

It felt like dipping his hands into cool, gentle water.

Then, a voice whispered in his ear.

-Give it…to me!

“What?”

Andrian’s whole body shivered.

“Is it a ghost?”

It wasn’t strange to have a ghost in such a gloomy atmosphere.

The magical tool that illuminated the place gradually lost its light, as if it had exhausted its power.

“Ah… If I had known this would happen, I should have come secretly during the day.”

As my eyes squinted, moonlight poured in through the window.

The clouds had cleared.

“Let’s just put this in and go back…”

Before I could finish that thought, someone grabbed my shoulder.

“Ugh!”

I turned around with difficulty, clutching my pounding heart.

“What are you doing here? You brat?”

Under the moonlight, a girl I had never seen before was glaring at me.