CHAPTER 48: A PLAN SET IN MOTION.

"Tell me about this child you want to protect," Dorian asked, his eyes glimmering with passion as he peered at the crawler.

The monster seemed hesitant at first; however, soon it spoke, revealing everything as Dorian had wanted.

"Must stay here to protect the child of Ragnor. The child must be born healthy. Can’t protect anymore, running out of mana. Child destroys the world if incomplete. Birth in 200,000 years with my mana. Your mana, shorter, Complete birth."

Dorian was certain those were the words the crawler spoke to him.

Then it went on to say—

"Strange being. You. Good energy source to replenish water. Sustain the child of Ragnor, human help. Can’t guarantee the safety of world."

It pointed to the glowing water source right behind Dorian.

...

Flip~

Dorian opened the pages in front of him, flipping and flipping in haste as though he was racing against time.

His eyes were bulging and veiny, showing how tired he was since he had been up for two nights straight.

’Where is it?!’ his eyes kept scanning the pages.

Lili lay on the bed, her head tilted slightly, sucking on a piece of candy as she watched her master, who was probably on the verge of losing his mind.

True, she wouldn’t be wrong to think that.

Since he arrived from the mine exploration, he had locked himself inside his room, only coming out when he wanted to get a new batch of books from Seraphina.

Many people in the mansion were worried about his health, but it wasn’t like he gave them any opportunity to approach him with concern.

Skrr!

Dorian dug his finger into his hair.

’It’s just like Seraphina said, the history of dragons has been buried. People of lower classes can’t have access to them. Why the hell are the higher-ups hiding the education of dragons from their people? There is nothing in these books!!!’

He angrily flung a book to the side, its pages violently slamming against the door.

Lili was so confused as to what she should do that she just remained on the bed, sucking her candy while her face was contorted with worry.

’According to what that crawler told me. It doesn’t know how it ended up there. But its duty has been integrated into its mind. Which was to guard the cave and keep giving mana to the dragon egg under the glowing water.’

Dorian leaned back against the chair.

’That explains the first theory I had about the mining ground and dragon ore. The egg emits mana, capable of creating these dragon ores, especially if that crawler has been feeding it for who knows how long.’ His brow frowned. ’It also needs my mana to stay alive; apparently, my mana is some sort of worthy fuel.’

Thinking about it, Dorian realized that regardless of what he chooses to do, the risk he fears still remains.

If he chooses to kill the crawler and then destroy the dragon, there is an almost 100% chance the dragon would hatch prematurely, and it would destroy the entire territory, if not more.

Since there were no studies of dragons, being able to determine their supposed strength would be impossible.

But if he chooses to feed the monster with his so-called chosen mana, then he would be nurturing a dragon that could awaken to, once again, rid humanity. It’s nothing but a gamble.

The fact that no books have any mention of dragons must mean these creatures were a force to be reckoned with.

’Chosen mana, uhn, makes no sense...’ Dorian closed his eyes.

’If the others knew there was a dragon egg ready to hatch right under us, this would definitely cause an issue.’ Dorian opened his eyes, an idea popping into his head. ’Looks like that is the only way forward, uhn, tsk. Inasmuch as I hate it, I have no choice.’

Without uttering a word, Dorian stood up from the chair and turned to face Lili, the dark circles in his eyes still evident.

"Lili..."

"Y-Yes, Master!"

Panicked, she flung her candy to the side and knelt down with respect.

"We can share mana, correct?"

Lili raised her head. "Yes, as your summon, we are connected; I can. Does master need me to do something?"

Dorian put one hand beneath his jaw and the other on his waist.

’This should work then. After I got my second summon, I noticed my mana pool seemed to have increased significantly. If what the crawler said is true, then this might be a good way to start.’

His tired eyes shifted back to Lili.

"I need you to do something for me," he continued. "I may not be in the barony for a while, so I need you to stay in the mining hole and ask the crawler to show you the dragon egg. Feed it with mana, and don’t assist the crawler in doing so."

Upon hearing this, Lili frowned. "Master, don’t tell me you are planning to revive it with your mana?! I don’t know much about this world, but it took that animal years to feed it right, do you re—"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes, with my life."

Dorian smiled, patting her on the head gently.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I have thought it through. I won’t fail."

"Y-yes, Master, heeh~," she wiggled her butt, enjoying the comforting sensation of her master petting her.

Though he managed to put on a brave front, Dorian still couldn’t ignore the unsettling feeling he was getting from the whole thing.

Why was his mana the one chosen amongst the others? Could it be because he was from another world? Or could there truly be something he was missing?

He sighed, moving his hand slowly away from Lili’s head.

The next phase of his plan was to be set in motion as quickly as he could.

....

The following day, Dorian had managed to get a good amount of sleep. The dark circles that once haunted his eyes were gone.

He made his way to the mining ground, where a lot of the workers had already resumed their work as quickly as possible.

Thanks to the blueprint Dorian gave Seraphina, they were able to understand what they were building and were doing it quite well.

At least for the most part.

While they knew what to build, there were a few materials they lacked and were difficult to get without drawing attention to the mining ground.

Which was what Dorian had expected to happen.

With his arms folded, he uttered to Maria.

"Ready the carriage; we are going to visit the Viscount."

...

[A/N]

Thank you for reading, see you in the next Chapter.