"Professor Aman."

"Ah, Lucas!"

Aman, who was pacing the academy's rear garden with a serious expression, recognized the owner of the voice calling him and smiled brightly.

"To think you'd come looking for me first! How surprising!"

Aman, placing both hands on his chest with a deeply moved expression, bent his waist to meet Lucas's eye level.

'That good-for-nothing lizard bastard.'

Aman's exaggerated behavior made irritation creep up on him, but right now, this was the only place he could ask for help.

"What is it?"

"They say the children have disappeared."

"Ah, that? I heard about it too. That's why our Lucas shouldn't go outside either. Got it?"

Aman knew. He knew why Lucas had come to him.

Lucas also knew. That this current attitude was just to tease him.

"Are you being serious?"

"Of course~ Your professor was so worried about what would happen if our Lucas went outside and something bad happened... I couldn't sleep all night."

Aman, smiling sweetly, gently ruffled Lucas's hair.

"May I spit on you?"

His own true feelings slipped out at Aman's action.

"Our Lucas, sometimes when I see him... he's very..."

Hearing Lucas's words, Aman didn't finish his sentence, but frowned and stared into the air for a moment before finally speaking.

"Charming. A charming child."

"Crazy..."

That composure, completely unshaken even by Lucas's insulting words.

That behavior, completely unconcerned with pride, as a dragon.

He had thought Aman had a rough idea of his identity, but seeing that attitude now, he was certain.

'It seems this mindless lizard won't do. I should think of another way...'

Just as Lucas, seeing that behavior, shook his head and turned to leave.

"The missing kids. Don't you want to know what happened to them?"

When he whipped his head around at Aman's words, Aman was fiddling with his silver-blue hair and grinning.

'Damn lizard bastard!!!'

***

"Lucas!"

"...Mother?"

Lucas, who was heading to the dormitory after class, lifted his head at the familiar voice calling him.

It was his mother, Blaine.

"How did you get here..."

Before he could finish his sentence, she ran to him and hugged him with all her might.

"Son... my son..."

Releasing him from her embrace, she turned him this way and that, checking his condition.

"Are you alright? I rushed here after hearing that children were disappearing around the imperial capital."

Since coming to the academy, they had exchanged letters at least once or twice a week, keeping each other updated.

Even when he didn't visit home during the vacation, she had only expressed her great disappointment in a letter and had never once visited the academy.

"Let's go home."

"What do you mean by that? I am fine."

"No, I can't bear it. You can always come back to the academy later, but... the day I lose you... that can never happen."

As if having a terrible thought, she gritted her teeth and shook her head.

"Let's go. Let's go home with mom."

Blaine's gaze, as she held his hand tightly, was resolute.

"I'm not going."

"You have to. If you don't go, I'll drag you away by force."

"I'm not going."

Blaine's expression gradually contorted, and the rims of her eyes turned red.

"Please... let's go, son..."

It wasn't that he didn't understand Blaine's feelings.

There wasn't a single person around the imperial capital who welcomed his family.

She, who had rushed into what was no different from the heart of enemy territory, would try to take her son with her by any means necessary.

But Lucas's position was the same.

He had decided to properly live out this last given life as a living being.

Of course, it wasn't that he hadn't thought about just dying right away and becoming a god whenever Aman's antics went too far.

The reason he had steeled his heart each time was now right in front of his eyes.

He could accumulate wealth gradually at any time. But there was something that couldn't be achieved with that.

It was the story of 'family honor' that his father, Sivier, would sometimes tell him while sitting him on his lap.

To restore the honor of the family that had been forced to flee to the frontier to save their lives, he had to become something.

"I am..."

"Rookie!!!"

Just as Lucas opened his mouth to soothe his mother, Paula's shout came from behind him.

"Rookie! You didn't eat lunch, and you didn't eat dinner."

In the hands of Paula, who was running towards him, was a bag containing a sandwich.

"Oh? Hello!"

"Hello. Are you our Lucas's friend?"

When Paula, having spotted Blaine, greeted her brightly, she responded softly.

"Hehe. Yes, that's right. I'm close with Lucas!"

"..."

Close. He had consistently ignored her until now, yet this cheerful human was calling herself his close friend.

"Really? A friend of Lucas's… it's so nice to meet you."

Blaine, who smiled warmly, gently let go of Lucas's hand and affectionately stroked his back.

"Ma'am, are you Lucas's mom?"

"Hoho. That's right. Lucas, aren't you going to introduce your friend?"

"...Paula Pelleve. Thirteen years old. Same basic class."

At the sudden word 'introduce', he first blurted out information about her and then rolled his eyes.

'This is so awkward.'

Introducing a friend to a parent. It was so awkward he could die.

"R-right. Thanks for the introduction, Rookie!"

"I'm sorry. Our Lucas is just shy. But he'll be a good friend. Right, Lucas?"

Lucas's cheeks flushed red as he silently nodded at her question.

"But ma'am, why did you come here? Did you miss Rookie?"

"Um... that's right."

"Rookie is so lucky!"

Blaine, who smiled brightly at Paula's question, gently stroked Lucas's hair.

"Then... mom will be going now. I'll be staying near the imperial capital for a while, so if you ever change your mind, will you come to me?"

"I will."

Blaine bent her knees to meet his eyes and smiled bitterly.

"I'm glad you've made a good friend."

***

"Whew-ha! The night air is quite nice."

"I don't think this is the time to be enjoying the night air."

"Oh my. It seems all kids these days are like this..."

"Let's just stop and go."

There was no choice. His mother, who had entered the heart of enemy territory worried about her only son's safety, was a problem, but he couldn't just let this situation be.

There were too many risk factors to move alone.

If Aman wasn't the one capable of changing the trajectory of an already fired spell, he didn't know who might be behind it.

With Aman accompanying him, most other risk factors could be considered gone, but it was extremely detrimental to Lucas's mental health.

"By the way, why do you switch between formal and informal speech?"

"Inside the academy, Lucas, you are my student, so I do that..."

"Then what about outside?"

"I do it because I don't know who you are."

Aman's eyes curved like a bow. As if he was having a great time.

"Are you curious about who I am?"

"I'm very curious. But!"

"But?"

"I will find out myself, Lucas."

For a moment, Lucas felt the urge to shatter his curiosity in one blow.

If he revealed his identity here, he would be able to see Aman's crestfallen face, robbed of his fun.

But he quickly changed his mind.

'If I reveal my identity... it will get tiring. Very.'

Lucas let out a deep sigh and silently followed behind Aman.

"As you know, I am Lucas Rodrigo. Nothing more and nothing less than the eldest son of the Rodrigo Count family."

"I suppose so."

His tone sounded as if he didn't believe Lucas's words at all.

"Shh."

Aman, who suddenly stopped walking, brought his index finger to his lips.

The blowing wind was thick with the smell of blood.

"We're a step too late."

The place they cautiously approached was gruesome. No, gruesome was an understatement.

"What... is this..."

Lucas felt a wave of nausea at the horrific scene of slaughter he had encountered after such a long time.

It was the missing children.

A total of sixteen. All the children who were said to have disappeared were lying on the cold ground deep in the forest, their eyes not even closed.

Aman's expression as he examined them was not good either. They were all young children, not even fifteen years old.

As if to show the pain they had received in life, all the children's hands had deeply dug nail marks and were beaded with blood.

Their lips were chapped from how much they had screamed, and their eyes were full of small scratches from how much they had wiped away their tears.

"Damn human bastards!!"

A curse automatically flew out. Starting with that, unspeakable words poured out uncontrollably.

When he came to his senses, the ground around him had caved in.

He had become so uncontrollably angry that his mana seemed to have run rampant without him realizing it.

Aman, who had been watching, seemed to have used defensive magic to protect himself and the surroundings.

"Are you feeling a bit better now? Are you done being angry?"

As Lucas lifted his head and looked around, Aman, who had dispelled the defensive magic, approached him.

"...I have to hunt them all down and kill them."

"Yes, yes, hunting them down and killing them is one thing... but the way you cursed so well..."

Aman cupped his cheeks with both hands and feigned innocence.

He was probably trying to calm his anger, even just a little.

"Huu..."

Lucas let out a deep sigh and approached the children lying on the cold ground.

The reality he faced again after coming to his senses was too disgusting.

The only species that would harm its own kind without a second thought for its own gain. Humans.

At this moment, he even hated himself for being trapped in such a human body.

"Do you know who did this?"

Instead of an answer to Lucas's question, a hint of bitterness appeared on Aman's face as he gave a small nod.

***

"Rookie's mom is really pretty!"

"My mother is also very pretty."

"I wasn't asking if your mother is pretty! Can't you just stay quiet for a bit, will it kill you?!"

"...Alright."

The three of them were walking down the hallway to their potions class, same as always.

The lively Paula, Skire who would get thoroughly scolded for saying one unnecessary word, and Lucas who remained silent.

"But for what reason did the lady come?"

"...Just because."

"To say it's just because... Ouch!"

Skire, who was about to say something, couldn't finish his sentence due to Paula's side-pinching attack and just kept rubbing his side with his hand.

"I told you to just be quiet! Ugh, I wish you and Rookie were mixed half-and-half!"

"That hurts!"

"It hurts, right? The words you say can also hurt someone. So always that mouth! Be careful with your mouth!"

At Paula's rebuke, Skire only pouted his lips and said no more.

"It's okay. Actually, my mother came because she was worried about me. Because of the missing persons case that happened around the imperial capital."

"..."

"...I just got goosebumps all over my body."

Paula, hearing Lucas's words, showed her arm to Skire to confirm.

"Me too. I think this is the first time I've seen him speak for so long."

Lucas smiled softly at their words.

"Aaargh! He smiled!"

"Wh-why are you like that? Could it be that the sandwich Paula gave you yesterday was spoiled..."

Their reaction, unable to cope with Lucas's sudden change, was quite cute.

In fact, this change was not familiar to Lucas either. But Paula's words from last night had changed him.

Friend. That unfamiliar yet familiar word melted Lucas's heart.

In truth, the weakness he experienced while living as a human had made him sensitive and sharp.

That weakness, which he had never felt during his long life as a dragon, kept making him difficult.

But as of yesterday, he had changed his mind.

There was one thing missing from his resolve to live properly.

Not just surviving, but living.

Not a short life that he was ready to throw away at any moment, but living as if this was the last time, just as all humans do.

The reincarnation of L

Ranos Albrante.

Lucas Rodrigo. He had finally returned as a true human.

(End of Chapter)