episode_0154

The heart of the green land. There was only silence in Argen’s Lair. Of course, the place called Dragon’s Lair was far from a lively atmosphere to begin with, but it was the first time in a very long time that there was no sound of conversation.

“…Krrr….”

What broke the long silence was Arjen’s meaningless growling. It was a sound he made out of frustration with the quiet situation, but it didn’t improve anything.

Arjen closed his eyes to the fact that it only further emphasized the fact that he was alone now.

‘Eugene… I miss you already.’

Arjen, who already felt like his heart was sinking even though not even an hour had passed, let alone a day, sighed heavily and focused his mind on the energy inside his body. I feel the flow of mana, not my own will.

The life form inside her womb, which was ready to consume all of her body’s magical energy, was the only thing she could rely on right now.

‘Eugene and my child… hehe….’

Perhaps because the child inherited Eugene’s blood, Arjen surprisingly did not feel like he was going crazy even though Eugene was not by his side. However, it was quite painful to lose the magic power that one could actually use due to the magic power being concentrated on the child.

‘I want to use magic to see Eugene or talk to him… but I can’t use my powers at all.’

The anxiety that comes with it. If something threatening appears at this moment when she is the weakest in her life, Arjen and her unborn child will die.

Of course, to prevent such unfortunate events from happening, there is a defensive magic that is applied to the rare with maximum power before the magic becomes unusable. Even though this prevented Eugene from entering Rare, it was an unavoidable choice for safety.

“……I want to sleep.”

Arjen, faced with the reality that no matter what happens, will not be able to meet Eugene for the time being, the choice he made was to sleep.

50 years. Even though he was a dragon, Arjen hoped to have a pleasant dream for a time that could not be said to be just short.

***

“Ha….”

I sighed as the ground fell. It’s been about a week since I left Argen’s Lair and started living in Eletrobe. I was missing Arjen much faster than I thought.

“What is the sense of liberation of a married man? I want to see it so I can’t wait to see it. Wayne, you said your father said that, right?”

“Yes, it’s because you’re special.”

Wayne is calling me out as a weirdo in order to somehow justify his family. But I really wanted to see it, so I couldn’t say no.

“I had a vague idea, but I guess I was surprisingly frustrated with Arjen’s obsession with me.”

” Well… we were forced to separate for hundreds of years along the way, so I think it’s a bit unreasonable to compare it one-to-one with other cases.”

“That’s how you get away with it?”

“Anyway. Why don’t you at least do some more Eletrobe sightseeing? It might kill some time.”

“Arthur, it’s already been a week since I came here. There’s no place I haven’t visited.”

I don’t know, but it really won’t happen. It wasn’t anyone else, but the lord himself, who was right next to me and guided me around the place. Was there anything I missed? Considering that I visited the place I visited on the first day again yesterday, it is probably true that there really is no place to visit in Eletrobe anymore.

“…Well, I think I enjoyed everything I could enjoy while traveling abroad in 7 days, but I’m sure I’ll get tired of just one city.”

Moreover, it was important to note that the city was not a tourist city but a trade city created under thorough planning. To top it off, I participated in the plan, so finding new things to see is bound to be difficult.

“Feeling a small sense of pride while looking at the wagons filled with food brought in from the green land is all I can do right now… Huh?”

While I was looking at the wheat and barley piled up in the wagon, a thought crossed my mind.

“Wayne. Didn’t I tell you that pregnant dragons can’t use magic because their magic is concentrated on the eggs in their stomachs?”

“Yes. Why is that?”

“The ones working in the agricultural fields in the green land are Argen’s automatons, right?”

“That’s right.”

“…Arjen’s automaton is powered by Arjen’s magic, right?”

“Why do you keep asking such obvious things from earlier… Ah.”

Wayne, who was about to complain about my series of questions, made a frustrated sound as if he had reached the truth I had just remembered.

“…Are there going to be food shortages for 50 years?”

“Well, it’s not the time to be so resigned. Let’s go to the forest first.”

It’s been a long time since I stopped working as a warrior, but I still have a strong mind for humanity. Unlike me, who stops at ‘I feel a little sorry for Stella’, Wayne went about it like it was his job.

“Okay. That would be more fun than watching the parade of carriages stop here.”

The time to get back to the farmland was an instant. It took about three hours to arrive at the green land, where, contrary to concerns, there were automatons still working hard.

“Huh. It’s going well.”

“What happened?”

I grabbed one of the dolls I was working with and looked around to see that, unlike the objects in the rare, it had an organ for storing magical power. Could it be that Arjen had this situation in mind?

“Is it because you asked me to? It was made very thoroughly.”

“It sure took quite a while to make one…”

“If you look at the horsepower consumption, it will probably last 30 years, right?”

“Then what about the remaining 20 years…?”

“Uh… As far as I know, you probably have 3 months worth of reserves and surplus per year.”

If you add it up, it’s 7 years and 6 months’ worth. In the end, it was said that 12 years’ worth was not enough.

“If you add in the amount already stockpiled, it will be roughly the same, right?”

Because crops were produced before the city was completed, the amount of crops currently stored is considerable. Wayne’s calculations were spot on. That is, if one variable was not taken into account.

“…my drink.”

The stockpile was what I had planned to use for making alcohol. Wayne smiled awkwardly, probably sensing that I was becoming sullen.

“Haha… I can’t help it. Keeping the promises made between the gods comes first, right?”

No, whiskey comes first for me. Of course, I didn’t say these words out loud. Considering the love for humanity that remained in Wayne’s heart, it was calculated that it would be best to keep quiet.

“Ah! If I can still meet Arjen, there will be no problem. Maybe I can charge the doll with more magical energy.”

I headed to Argen’s Lair with such little hope, but what greeted me was an iron-clad defense shield. On the outside, it seemed transparent and there was nothing, but I couldn’t go inside at all.

“…I already blocked it.”

“It’s probably a barrier created by squeezing out the remaining magical power. Even if we could meet, we might not have been able to recharge magic power.”

Actually, alcohol wasn’t that important of a problem. How about giving up a little bit? What was more problematic than that was the reality that even though I came to briefly see Arjen’s face using this as an excuse, I couldn’t meet him.

“This won’t break under any circumstances, right? If Arjen decides to use magic, it’s like this…”

Wayne didn’t know anyone else’s speed and was just amazed by Arjen’s magic. Well, from what I can see, it is a magic of great perfection. Even if I used all the faith I had, it seemed impossible to get past it.

‘…Wait a minute, then is there a reason why I’m fighting Eletrobe?’

It’s been 50 years. When I thought about enduring 50 years in Eletrobe, which I had grown tired of after only a week, my future became bleak. At the same time, what caught my eye was my beloved distillery. To be exact, it was an oak barrel that had been separately distilled using magic to give to a dwarf as a gift.

“Wayne. I got a good idea.”

“Huh? What are you thinking?”

“Looking at it now, it looks like no one will be able to go inside the rare for 50 years, even if I stay by your side. Is that what you think too?”

“Yes. Unless it’s really the same dragon… No, I think even most dragons would have a hard time?”

To begin with, killing a pregnant member of one’s own species was taboo among dragons. This is confirmed in Akasha’s Memory Corridor, so it must be correct.

“Seeing that Arjen doesn’t move even though we’ve come so far in front of Lair, he seems to have made up his mind. Let’s stay away from Lair for 50 years.”

“Is it because you’re tired of being at Eletrobe?”

” That feeling isn’t completely gone… but since it’s near Rare, my desire to see it keeps growing.”

“Hey~ Even though you’re a god, you don’t even have that much self-control?”

“Even if it’s God, it’s nothing special. To put it bluntly, I’m just an ordinary person with a lot of faith.”

I had a desire to tell Wayne, who was making fun of me, the shocking truth. If he knew what Stella, a god he once trusted, was doing to relieve her boredom in outer space, he would probably turn a blind eye.

‘…Let’s not talk.’

For the sake of Wayne’s mental health and Stella’s honor, I didn’t bother to say that out loud, so I took the whole small oak barrel and said,

“We have a lot of time, so let’s go to the village where the dwarves live. I already had an issue to resolve without Arzen’s knowledge, and now seems like the perfect time.”

It seemed like the time had come to resolve the issue of the wedding ring that I had promised Arjen.