“Lucas!!!”

The moment Lucas stepped into the library, Brandy rushed over, gnawing his fingernails in anxiety until he saw him.

“Yes, Librarian.”

“Are you alright? Let me see, let me check!”

Being pulled into the old man’s arms at first was tolerable—it was just a worried elder showing emotion. But being spun around, shaken, and even having his clothes tugged at? That was too much.

“St-stop it!”

“Oh, forgive me. I didn’t realize…”

At Lucas’s outburst, Brandy’s wrinkled face twisted in embarrassment.

“But what happened to those men? Did they truly let you go, as they claimed?”

Lucas hesitated. Should he tell the truth, or ease Brandy’s guilt with a lie?

“Librarian, you must listen carefully.”

“……”

Lucas sat at a table, and Brandy cautiously followed, taking a seat across from him.

“As you know, the Empire strictly forbids any magic that uses even the lowliest soul. Do you know why?”

Brandy only stared at the corner of a book on the table, lips sealed. That silence meant he knew the reason.

“Not just the Empire. Most nations see soul magic as impure and punish it severely. You understand that, don’t you?”

“…I do.”

“Mistakes happen. Whether intentional or not.”

The old librarian bowed his head deeply. In that moment, it was Lucas who seemed like the elder, and Brandy like the child. The man who had lived seventy years felt the weight of his sin before a boy of eleven.

“But what’s done is done. Now comes the cleanup. We can’t turn back time.”

“Cleanup…?”

“Who knows what those people are truly planning. But whatever their intent, their acts are abominable. Their roots must be torn out.”

“Khuhk…”

Brandy broke down in tears. When he’d handed Lucas over, he’d clung to the faint hope that perhaps the cultists had been truthful. That maybe the boy wouldn’t be harmed. But now, after hearing Lucas’s words, the reality sank in: he had nearly sacrificed a child, a budding soul, to demons—just for a spark of magic.

“I… I must be ready to die. This old fool has lived too long.”

“Don’t say that. If not for you, someone else might have fallen victim elsewhere.”

Lucas rose and gently patted his shoulder.

“But don’t think that excuses you either.”

He reached into his pocket and placed a small gem in Brandy’s hand.

“A mana stone. It will help with your studies.”

“T-to me…? Something like this… Khhuhk…”

Brandy sobbed harder, clutching the stone. His cries turned from weeping to wailing.

Lucas hadn’t needed to do this. But after centuries as a magical being, he felt a sense of responsibility toward this old human who loved magic so deeply.

“I’ll come here every day, like always. Until the day you spark a flame with your own hand, I’ll stay by you. As long as you don’t repeat your mistake.”

At that, Brandy mumbled broken apologies and gratitude through his sobs. Lucas simply said, “It’s alright,” and left the library with a long sigh.

I don’t know if this was the right thing to do…

That mana stone would likely be of little real use to Brandy. Lucas could cultivate mana the size of a grain of rice, but the old man could not. Maybe he had just given him false hope.

All this, for magic…

Before the sheer cliff, Lucas once again stood at the entrance to his lair from a former life.

This time, when teleporting, he cast tracking magic to check for Aman. He repeated the spell upon arrival, but sensed no one.

“Ahem… I know you’re there! Show yourself!”

He even shouted into the air in case Aman was masking his presence, but only the wind answered.

At last…

Lucas placed his hand on a small boulder and focused. A trickle of mana seeped forth as he traced the pathways of memory.

“…Gone?”

It was gone. The secret vault he had hidden so carefully in his past life.

No matter how he searched, the maze-like chamber could not be found.

He collapsed to the ground, shut his eyes, and retraced his memories again and again. But the answer was the same: this was the right place. He even checked other mana lines, but the vault was nowhere.

“Damn it…”

The hope he had clung to shattered like glass. It was like losing a winning lottery ticket.

—Rustle.

He had no idea how long he sat there with his head in his hands, until a noise stirred nearby.

He leapt up and cast detection magic, but it turned out to be just a beast passing through.

“…Irritating.”

Irritation boiling inside, Lucas raked his hair back with a rough hand and teleported.

By now, Aman had become an expert at tailing Lucas.

Casting invisibility once, twice, even thrice to erase his presence, he shadowed the boy through teleportation.

Again, the cliff. The lair of the previous Lord.

His curiosity toward the small human flared to its peak once more.

Lucas frequently cast detection spells, wary of being followed—but how could a mere human ever pierce the magic of a dragon?

“Ahem, ahem… I know you’re there! Show yourself!”

He even shouted into the air, as though certain of a hidden watcher. Aman almost revealed himself, but when the boy simply nodded to himself and went back to work, Aman stayed silent.

Watching that, Aman grew more convinced.

He’s no god, nor a dragon…

Before following him, one of Aman’s theories had been divine play.

The gods, too, sometimes descended into the middle world or other realms for diversion. Vacations from their eternal lives. Aman had wondered if Lucas was part of such a meticulously scripted divine game.

But the boy before him was sloppy. Too sloppy.

Unless… the clumsiness itself was part of the script. A deeper kind of mockery.

As Aman pondered the names of notoriously mischievous gods, Lucas laid his hand on a boulder, shut his eyes, and muttered curses when nothing happened.

Again, and again—until finally he slumped in despair.

If that’s all acting… then he’s a terrifying god indeed.

Gooseflesh prickled his arms as he hugged himself, watching.

Lucas buried his head between his knees, clutching at his hair, muttering constantly. Aman strained his ears, only to realize more than half the words were curses.

Hearing such vile language live made chills run down his spine.

No… no, he can’t be a god. A god wouldn’t swear like that. Or… maybe he would?

The memory of the robed cultists flashed back, and Aman shook his head violently.

If Lucas was a god, that was another problem altogether.

But if he’s one that swears like that, then surely he must be the god of curses.

—Rustle!

Time passed. Aman shifted his cramped legs, accidentally snapping a twig.

Lucas leapt up, casting another detection spell.

That reaction clinched it.

Not a god. Definitely not a dragon. Then what…?

After Lucas left, Aman crept to the boulder. He poured mana into it, only to find it was just that—a plain rock.

His doubts only deepened, until a thought flashed across his mind.

…Banished god?

The theory locked into place.

He had heard: gods who defied the supreme deity were sometimes cast into the middle realm, condemned to reincarnate for centuries.

Though never confirmed, it was the most plausible explanation yet.

But if he’s a banished god… why is he at the lair of the previous Lord?

His brow furrowed, then smoothed, then furrowed again.

Unless… could he be an angel?

Maybe the late Lord had bargained with the heavens?

But no—that thought crumbled quickly.

Why would an angel live in such a powerless state?

Aman shook his head hard and sank back into thought.

—Clap!

He shot to his feet, slapping his hands together.

“No… yes… that’s it!”

Pacing in a circle, muttering to himself, he finally reached what he thought was the answer.

It’s reincarnation. A god’s reincarnation. A god who knew the former Lord personally!

His conclusion had circled back to his first theory, now nearly conviction.

Nothing else fit. And if any dragon could’ve befriended a god, it was the mighty Lord who had lived for half a millennium.

“Yes… of course, that’s what it is!!”

Relief surged through him like a weight lifted after ten years.

If that boy is truly a god living a mortal life through reincarnation…

Aman’s lips curled into a satisfied smile.

“Then Aman will help you! Yes, I will!”

With a bold voice, he declared it to the air—then teleported, following after Lucas.

(End of Chapter)