Valentia is a nation with a very strong religious character.
It possesses the most holy relics, a country that, in its own words, is ‘blessed by God.’
Perhaps because of that, Valentia was also the first to notice our existence.
They were the ones who were snooping around, saying something was suspicious even before the nation’s founding declaration. ‘Until now, I thought they must have used some holy relic…’
I didn’t find it particularly strange.
Holy relics containing God’s miracles.
If it was a miracle caused by that, I thought it wouldn’t be impossible to break through my magic barrier.
I lightly dismissed the sudden reconnaissance, thinking, ‘Ah, these guys must have used a holy relic… but…
“The ‘one with two souls’ mentioned in the prophecy. Is that Teonar?”
“……?”
‘If it’s two souls, it’s almost 100% me, isn’t it?’
The words spoken by Queen Lykke of Valentia.
The question of whether the one in the prophecy was me.
…Isn’t that a perfect fit for me, an Otherworlder?
I lived as a human and was reborn as a dragon.
It wouldn’t be strange to have two souls.
My swaying tail immediately calmed down.
I intended to approach this more seriously than ever.
“Tell me in detail. What does that mean?”
“About ten years ago, a prophecy descended upon our Valentia. The one with two souls…”
Noticing that I was serious, Lykke continued without hiding anything.
A prophecy that descended upon Valentia.
From the center of the continent, one with two souls will rise.
In his hands are light and darkness, creation and destruction.
The continent can either open a new era and illuminate the world, or cast a dark curtain and lull the world to sleep.
“The fate of the continent rests in your hands… or so it says.”
“…….”
‘What are you even talking about?’
I understand that it’s talking about me, given the circumstances.
The two souls are me, the Otherworlder, and the center of the continent is, without a doubt, the Millias Great Forest.
But, what? Light and darkness, creation and destruction?
Just hearing it made my scales prickle.
I wondered if prophecies were always this childish.
“The clergy has warned that ‘a serious crisis has come to the continent’ because of this. They also said that this is the first time such a clear prophecy has appeared, and that we should not take the will of the main god lightly.”
“…Aren’t the other prophecies like this?”
“They say it’s the first time in history.”
“Hmm, I see.”
‘Transparent Dragons are all like that, I guess.’
Even though this one is special, well. I was born with 10,000 times the magic power, after all.
It didn’t seem like something to worry about.
The most important thing is,
“The fate rests in your hands? Not the one with two souls?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
‘This feels like they’re trying to incite me to be subjugated?’
The fact that the prophecy sounded strangely like it was targeting me.
It’s natural if the main god is on the side of humanity, but…
Who am I? A dragon who lived as a human and became an Otherworlder.
If there’s someone who made me an Otherworlder, God is the most likely candidate, isn’t he?
But, what? One who can lull the world to sleep is coming, the fate of the continent rests in your hands?
That’s practically saying, ‘He’s dangerous, kill him.’
That’s why Valentia is trying to subjugate me right now.
I wondered why they made such a prophecy.
‘Are there two possibilities? Either God wants to torment me, or he’s not the one who made me an Otherworlder.’
The former… probably not.
If he wanted to torment me, he could have just left me as a human.
Even in this state, I’m much happier than when I was human.
Then the latter?
God isn’t the one who made me an Otherworlder?
‘This is a bit strange too. If it’s not God, then who else would do this?’
Even I, a Transparent Dragon, couldn’t do that.
The more I thought about it, the more questions I had.
‘Mother, do you have any guesses?’
[I propose the hypothesis that Teo was originally a dragon, and it was just a delusion that she was human.]
‘Are you saying that I’m a crazy dragon who thinks she’s human?’
[That wasn’t my intention. In any case, it’s very difficult to imbue a human soul into a dragon.]
‘Why?’
[Because of the difference in the soul’s class. With the lowly class of a human, it’s difficult to even move a dragon’s body.]
‘So you’re saying someone made that possible… who could it be?’
There weren’t many people I could think of.
At best, the developer of Leia, the Dragon Lord?
If it’s him, who created ‘Transcendent Magic’ that even I can’t follow…
[Transcendent Magic is not magic that can be done with the power of an individual dragon.]
‘That’s right. In the first place, Mother is an artificial intelligence that has nothing to do with Otherworlding.’
Tsk, who could it really be?
I have no idea.
“Teonar-nim, so are you the one with two souls?”
-Be quiet. I’m thinking… Krrang!?”
‘I messed up!!’
Perhaps because of that, I suddenly made a slip of the tongue.
I used Dragon Speech on Queen Lykke.
It was an uncharacteristic mistake.
‘I need to fix my habit of getting grumpy when my curiosity isn’t satisfied.’
“Cancel what I said earlier! Sorry, I was a bit confused and misspoke!”
I immediately dispelled it before I was caught.
Our conversation was being heard by the other monarchs.
If it was known that I used Dragon Speech, it would all be for naught.
“…? I understand.”
“….”
‘I’m glad I put up a fear immunity spell…!!’
Fortunately, Lykke didn’t seem to notice.
She probably didn’t even know that Dragon Speech had been cast on her, thanks to the fear magic I had cast earlier.
[……!!!!?]
[Th-there, Lykke, you….]
[Ahem, ahem!!]
‘Why are they suddenly like that?’
The audience was the one in an uproar.
They were even coughing to show their displeasure.
…..I can’t say anything since I was the one who did something wrong.
I quietly lowered my head.
“I’m sorry to you all too. For making a mistake on such an auspicious day. I’ll compensate Valentia.”
[Teonar…? No, right now that person is.]
“There’s no need to worry, Leopoldus. I’m fine.”
[You don’t look fine in many ways, but?]
“I don’t even blink an eye at this much. Rather, it’s a good thing since I’ve earned Teonar-nim’s favor thanks to it.”
[…If you say so.]
Thanks to Lykke’s support, the public opinion quickly subsided.
It was the moment when Lykke firmly took second place in my ranking of favorite monarchs.
‘She’s a bit reasonable too. About 0.3 Leo.’
“Thank you. In return, you can give us a more generous tariff when we trade with you.”
“……!!! Such a great favor.”
“You don’t have to feel burdened. I was planning to give it to other countries to some extent anyway.”
“Then I will gratefully accept it.”
Thanks to that, the atmosphere became amicable.
Lykke and I both smiled warmly.
“I’ll send a clone of our officials to the other countries soon. Let’s adjust the tariffs so that we can all benefit.”
[…Then I will gratefully accept it.]
[Lykke, I won’t forget your sacrifice. I swear on my honor to keep what I saw today a secret.]
“……?”
‘What sacrifice?’
Something was questionable, but anyway.
The summit ended safely with this.
* * *
It was long after Teo had left that Lykke finally relaxed.
“Haa….”
‘Truly a monster. I didn’t think even the holy relics would be ineffective.’
She let out a belated sigh.
The holy relic she wore. A dress that unconsciously evokes favor, regardless of age, gender, or race.
She knew what it meant that this didn’t work at all.
‘All holy relics that directly affect the target are useless. We cannot defeat Teonar.’
A monster beyond common sense that even God’s miracles avoid.
Even if Valentia’s entire force was mobilized, they couldn’t win.
That was the conclusion she came to.
She felt all the strength drain from her body.
“I’m exhausted….”
‘My muscles are heavy. My body won’t move.’
No, she actually lost strength.
She had been maintaining a state of extreme tension since Teo’s intrusion.
She couldn’t feel anything on her body.
It was natural that she had no energy.
“……Krrang.”
‘The fear immunity will wear off soon, I hope there won’t be any problems?’
In fact, this was due to Teo’s psychotropic magic, but anyway.
After that, she sat in a chair and rested.
She kept her gaze fixed on the ceiling for a long time.
It was a part that showed how stressful it was to face a living meteor one-on-one.
‘The only fortunate thing is…..’
[I think I’m the one in the prophecy? But don’t worry. I’m thinking of coexisting with you.]
[That means….]
[I think I’ve shown enough of my favor, haven’t I?]
[I understand.]
‘That it is not hostile to humanity.’
Even so, the reason she held on to her mind until the end was because Teo was very friendly.
They were the ones who tried to kill him.
In that position, it would be natural to invade the entire continent with the Chaos Ogre, wouldn’t it?
But Teo didn’t do that.
He did teleport the monsters, but this was only to show off their strength.
He threatened her, but pretended not to know about the subjugation itself and turned a blind eye.
In medieval standards, it was almost like a saint.
That was the only thing she could rely on.
‘From today, Valentia will liberate all non-human slaves. All persecution of non-humans will be completely prohibited. In order not
to be at odds with it.’
‘As the prophecy says, the fate of the continent is in our hands. If we offend it, the continent will enter a dark age.’
‘Fortunately, unlike the Kaiser Empire, it seems to really want coexistence for now… If we don’t want to die, we have to follow.’
Creak-She slowly raised her body.
Now that her strength had returned, she was going to move quickly.
For Valentia, for humanity.
To survive.
In her eyes, moving her tired body, was a sense of duty befitting a monarch of a nation…
-Squish.
“…?”
‘Why does it sound like wet cloth?’
But that was only for a moment.
Her eyes turned downwards.
She looked at her lower body, which she had never looked at because she was looking at Teo, at the sky.
Her proud holy relic.
It was stained with yellow stains.
‘What is this……?’
Lykke, who was momentarily frozen because she didn’t understand the situation.
But she soon realized the whole story.
‘Because of the magic it used?’
The magic that miraculously made her forget all fear.
It must have dulled her senses as well.
Her body instinctively reacted to Teo’s anger…
So much so that she didn’t even notice the extremely natural physiological phenomenon.
[-Th-there, Lykke, you.]
[-You don’t look fine in many ways, but?]
[-Lykke, I won’t forget your sacrifice.]
‘All those reactions were…’
She belatedly realized the reactions of the other monarchs.
At first, she thought it was a trick to check Valentia, but that was her delusion.
In reality, it was consideration for her, who had committed a faux pas in a formal setting.
Her face flushed belatedly.
‘How ridiculous I must have looked, pretending to be dignified with my dress soaked… It’s a disgrace to Valentia…’
[By the way, Teo, did you intend to do that on purpose?]
‘Huh? What?’
[I’m talking about ruining the Queen of Valentia’s dress.]
‘Her clothes were ruined? I didn’t know.’
[…Are you really sure you didn’t know?]
‘Yeah. I see with echolocation, not with my eyes. I try not to recognize women’s important parts on purpose.’
[I see. Well done, Teo.]
‘What’s wrong? Did her clothes get torn?’
[Teo doesn’t need to worry about it.]
‘If Mother says so.’
It was a diplomatic disaster that only Teo didn’t know.
And, another disaster that Teo didn’t know.
[Seras, never utter the words I’m about to tell you.]
[…Your Majesty?]
-Gulp.
[——From now on, Arkenia will unite all of humanity and devote all its efforts to subjugating Teonar.]
[……!!!!!?]
Leopoldus resolved to betray them a second time.