“Who is the greatest being in this empire?”
The answer to that question was all too obvious.
The six masters of the Mage Tower, the cardinals and the pope of the Holy Kingdom, and even His Majesty, the emperor who ruled this empire, would all answer in unison:
“The most noble being is that proud dragon.”
Despite possessing the power to overwhelm an entire nation single-handedly, the dragon was never arrogant.
It did not force others into submission with sheer might, nor did it compromise its beliefs and will.
What mattered was not martial strength but chivalry.
Instead of being driven by selfish desires intoxicated by power, it acted according to its convictions, performing acts of good.
That was the great progenitor dragon before me.
***
“…What were you thinking?”
And simultaneously, it was also the crazy, perverted principal who had groped me, intoxicated and in a state of diminished capacity.
Whatever respect I had left shattered completely.
No matter how impressive one’s achievements were, attaching the crime of groping a boy far younger than them utterly erased any awe I might have felt.
“Th-that wasn’t my intention! Do you remember the mark I engraved last time? I momentarily sensed the aura of kinship from you and lost my rationality!” Sion hurriedly tried to explain.
She even began pleading her case, asking me to consider her loneliness as the last of her kind.
But there was no way such excuses would work.
If you’re going to lie, at least do it convincingly.
I hadn’t even evolved into a dragon species yet.
Even if I generously conceded and assumed the progenitor dragon mistook me for one of her kind, her argument was fundamentally flawed.
“Dragons don’t have breeding instincts in the first place, do they?”
Dragons, who stood apart from petty desires and lived as if they were immortals, became too transcendent and thus extinct.
They could reproduce but simply didn’t feel the need to.
Unlike humans, they were fundamentally immortal, so they lacked the basic instinct to leave their genetic legacy for future generations.
“You weren’t overwhelmed by instincts. You’re just a pervert who’ll go down in dragon history as a disgrace.”
A pervert who couldn’t resist young boys.
Even though I wasn’t even the same species, she somehow found herself attracted to me.
By human standards, it was like being both a pedophile and a furry enthusiast.
In this clear-cut situation of who was the deranged pervert and who was the unfortunate victim, she lowered her head.
‘Was this her last attempt to resist?’
She tried to claim that it wasn’t because she found any human male attractive and that there were other reasons she was shaken.
However, when I asked her to elaborate, all she did was blush.
Sion eventually looked at me with a pitiable expression and asked:
“Could you… consider pretending this never happened?”
Sweat trickled down her neck.
Her trembling hands and desperate gaze reflected how distressed she was.
With the face of someone who looked as though she’d lost everything in a gamble, the girl tightly gripped my hand and made a heartfelt offer:
“If you agree to memory erasure, I’ll grant you anything you desire! If there’s a treasure you want, you may take whatever you like from my vault!”
It was an offer dripping with depravity.
Groping someone against their will, robbing them of their dignity, and then trying to cover it up with money—truly the disgusting ploy of a corrupt adult.
The appropriate answer in such a situation was clear.
I looked her in the eye and nodded.
It wasn’t because I lacked pride.
I had two good reasons to accept the offer.
“Then, if you could provide an artifact usable as a backup source of magic, I’ll gladly accept your proposal.”
The first reason was securing insurance for my life.
Using external magic sources was highly inefficient.
Without an item on par with the dragon heart necklace I used last time, the results would be lackluster.
On the flip side, if I managed to acquire such an item again, I could unleash my full potential, just like before.
The rewards of success far outweighed the risks.
‘What value does dignity have when your life is on the line?’ I closed my eyes quietly before her.
She hastily began drafting the spell, fearing I might change my mind.
A memory-erasure spell would wipe out the progenitor dragon’s embarrassing incident.
But events didn’t unfold as planned.
That was my second reason for accepting the deal.
I never intended to go through with the trade fairly in the first place.
Recently, my magic power had grown, albeit slightly.
Even against a spell cast by such a great progenitor dragon, I could effortlessly neutralize it without being detected.
Her ridiculous statement—that my mere presence stirred feelings within her—remained fresh in my mind.
‘Still, I should put on a convincing act.’
I adjusted my expression to appear dazed.
Convinced that I had lost my memory, the progenitor dragon sighed in relief and lightly tapped my cheek to wake me up.
“W-why are you suddenly acting this way, dear professor of mine?”
Her attempt at theatrical formality was awkward to the extreme.
Sion continued to speak as she gazed into my eyes.
“Didn’t you invite me to your room, claiming you’d serve me a meal you personally prepared? What happened? Did you suddenly get sleepy? If you’re tired, I can cast a recovery spell for you.”
I almost lost my poker face at Sion’s words.
Frankly, after causing such trouble, one would expect her to reflect, but here she was, shamelessly acting as if it was natural to enjoy the meal I had cooked.
Of course, I’m a man, and Sion, as the progenitor dragon, was undeniably attractive if she kept her mouth shut.
I wasn’t particularly upset about her earlier transgression.
Still, something about this situation rubbed me the wrong way.
Though I took pride in my cooking skills, I set that aside this time and deliberately concocted an abomination.
I served her noodles drenched in a sauce so unbearably spicy that even someone like me, a proud child of the “fire noodles” nation, found it overwhelming.
It was essentially a toxic substance disguised as food.
Sure enough, the moment she stuffed the noodles into her mouth, tears welled up in her eyes.
The progenitor dragon, now utterly defeated, seemed sure to learn a lesson in humility.
“This… this is exquisite. A taste I’ll never forget in my life….”
Despite the tears streaming down her face, Despite the trembling in her voice, Despite the way her right hand, holding the chopsticks, shook as if it wanted nothing more than to stop shoveling food into her mouth, The white-haired girl forced a smile.
She showered me with excessive praise, claiming it was delicious.
Watching her, my face went pale.
I wasn’t so oblivious as to miss the obvious.
Sion, capable of freely manipulating magic, could have easily suppressed her sense of taste if she wanted to.
But she didn’t.
She was worried that if I found out, I’d feel hurt after putting effort into making a meal for her.
She was concerned that seeing my face, saddened at the thought that my cooking was bad enough to warrant blocking her taste buds, would be unbearable.
‘This is serious.’
The web novel protagonist’s alpha male charm.
While I don’t doubt its existence, this situation was ominous.
If Ciel doesn’t manage to seduce this progenitor dragon and add her to his harem, my dismissal will remain a distant dream.
No matter what trouble I caused, she would do her best to cover for me.
This teary-eyed spice-intolerant girl was undoubtedly the biggest obstacle to my plans.
I had to find a way to lower her favorability toward me.
Quickly, I began thinking of a solution.
Fortunately, an idea came to mind before long.
I just needed to exploit a dragon’s nature.
‘Dragons are inherently possessive of their treasures.’
Dragons, by nature, are creatures that hoard gold and jewels in their lairs, guarding them fiercely.
Losing a cherished treasure would undoubtedly cause them great distress.
The plan was to help a thief break into her cave and steal her gold.
In short, I would orchestrate the disappearance of her treasures.
It was a simple plan.
***
After finally finishing the meal, Sion, her lips still red from the spiciness, looked at me with wary eyes.
I cautiously asked her, “I know of a promising investment opportunity. Are you interested?”
My plan failed spectacularly.
As soon as word spread that Professor Riyan had invested, a stock that had no potential whatsoever skyrocketed endlessly.
Thanks to me, people who made huge profits couldn’t stop smiling as they praised the new professor at the academy. Everywhere I looked, it was a horrifyingly ridiculous scene.
Still, my face remained calm.
I wasn’t stupid.
The stock market, an enigma that defied logic.
While I’d thrown out a random suggestion to lower Sion’s favorability, with my luck, things never go as planned.
I had already anticipated as much.
Thus, I had prepared a secret trump card.
A strategy to turn this failure into an opportunity.
The plan hadn’t failed.
This was just the beginning of the real plan.
I cleared my throat. “Ahem.”
Channeling the persona of a fiery businessman, I practiced the words I would deliver publicly tomorrow.
“While I did say this stock had potential, I didn’t expect this. In my opinion, the current price needs to drop by at least ‘95%’ to reflect its fair value.”
The anguished cries of shareholders already echoed in my mind.
Enraged crowds, demanding the return of their money, would soon surround me.
A wicked grin crept across my lips.
It was time to become the chaos-bringer who would go down in history.