Chapter 153

“Will you be alright going alone?”

Amethus asked.

The look of concern was evident on his face.

“She won’t know you as you are now, what if something happens? Your opponent is the Great Witch, one of the Hotus Eight Gods….”

“Yes. One of the eight last remaining divinities in the world.”

There are things called gods.

Their danger is beyond words.

Just as the Breath of Light easily trampled Arete Island even after being greatly diminished, just as the Last Clown toys with time, divinities are beings that surpass the petty imagination of humans.

Even for a regressed prince, there was a part of him that was reluctant to send him alone.

“No worries. I know her well. I know her through and through, excessively so.”

Shion chuckled.

He was as composed as ever.

“It’s much more important not to leave Merion empty. One of us, you or I, must be in this city.”

“It would be convenient if there was someone trustworthy to leave it to.”

“Where would we find such a person?”

Even Dussell Duke, the former Agent of the Original Ladder Church, was far behind Shion and Amethus.

“Shadi, you said? You’d be more at ease staying by her side, wouldn’t you? I’m counting on you, Amethus.”

“…I understand, Your Highness.”

Amethus bowed his head.

When he spoke from the heart, he always addressed Shion as ‘Your Highness’ with respect.

Shadi Shandor, Amethus’s aide, a name that had become a knot in his heart as she hadn't opened her eyes for seven years.

“Where did you say you were going?”

“The Giant’s Citadel.”

***

If one were to speak of the lifeblood of the Bururade Peninsula, it was undoubtedly the Umba River.

The river water, imbued with a mysterious power, made every land it touched fertile, so it was only natural that the Umba Plains became the peninsula’s largest granary.

Why the Umba River’s water held such a mysterious power had not yet been revealed.

If it were revealed so easily, it wouldn't be a mystery. No mage had been able to explain it.

They could only surmise that the special nature of its source had transferred that special quality to the river as well.

The Giant’s Citadel is the name of a mountain range.

This is because a citadel, likely built by giants in ancient times, had truly become a mountain range over the passage of time.

The Umba River flows down from the highest watchtower of the Giant’s Citadel.

“It’s huge.”

The Giant’s Citadel was visible in the distance.

Shion shook his head.

“To think a single brick is the size of a small town, really.”

A citadel, yet a mountain range.

Mulling over this contradictory reality, he rode his horse.

Soon, he arrived at a village near the entrance of the citadel, where a man with dark skin greeted him.

The man had a mustache and eyes like a bird of prey.

“Mushat, Shion.”

“Mushat, Meh.”

They greeted each other.

Meh al-Hmed, the special inspector of the Bururade Peninsula Alliance, had been of great help in Shion’s various activities.

“Thank you for contacting me, Meh.”

“Not at all. I am the one who is thankful.”

Meh lifted his head.

He looked at the Giant’s Citadel.

Clouds hung on the mountaintop.

This alone was not unusual.

The problem was the immense size of the clouds.

A massive cloud, as if a white mountain had been placed upside down on the mountaintop, was writhing above the Giant’s Citadel.

“It is as Shion said. The people are afraid.”

“The unfamiliar is always frightening.”

“I never thought I’d see a dragon cloud in the West either.”

A cloud.

As massive as a mountain and gleaming with a silver light.

The form of the cloud, writhing as if alive, resembled a silver dragon.

Gazing at the cloud’s struggles, Shion continued.

“Have you ever seen a dragon cloud, Meh?”

“It was not uncommon in Horm.”

“That’s because you have many magical beasts over there.”

“Of course, a size like that is a first in my life….”

Magical beasts are rare.

Flying magical beasts are even rarer.

However, when they fly in the sky, their mana draws and soon absorbs the clouds.

From the ground, its shape resembles a dragon.

The name ‘dragon cloud’ has this origin.

“How long has the cloud been here?”

“Three days.”

“That was fast.”

Shion stroked his chin.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“…Alone?”

“Of course.”

Meh did not try to hold him back.

He knew that the man before him, Shion of Merion, was not bound by common sense.

He let go of his worries and bowed his head to see him off.

“Mushat, Shion.”

“Mushat, Meh.”

***

Shion climbed the Giant’s Citadel.

It was not a difficult task.

He walked upside down on the fortress wall.

He walked as if he were taking great strides, bounding up. It was thanks to the Mana Armor Valziart wrapped around his legs, which gripped the wall.

Gravity lacked the strength to pull him down.

Upon reaching the midway point, he entrusted his body to ‘Fantasy Finger.’

Unseen hands in the air grabbed Shion and pulled him up.

It wasn’t quite flying, but he could move through the air to some extent.

‘It’s so high.’

He climbed for a long time like that.

The Giant’s Citadel was the highest mountain on the Bururade Peninsula.

No matter how vertically one climbed, it took some time to reach the summit.

Shion passed through the clouds.

It was not the dragon cloud, but the natural clouds that the mountaintop usually held.

It wasn’t visible to the eye that he was passing through a cloud, but the cold water droplets clinging to his skin told him they were, in fact, part of a cloud.

‘She only comes to a height like this.’

Shion is the Great Witch’s disciple.

He also knew the constraints she bore.

The Great Witch, the last mage, cannot descend below the clouds.

This is because of a promise with the last emperor of the Hotus Eight Gods.

After passing through the clouds, his vision gradually became tinged with silver.

At the same time, a thick scent of mana wafted, making him feel nostalgic.

Shion felt he was getting close to his destination.

‘It’s been so long since I’ve seen it in person… I’m excited, and also nervous….’

Silver, silver, silver.

Everything flashed with a silver light.

Silver lightning swirled around Shion.

‘Still, three days. It seems she flew over as soon as she got the letter.’

Soon, the silver light receded.

The surroundings were completely bright.

It was inside the dragon cloud.

It was the summit of the Giant’s Citadel.

There was a woman with silver hair.

She sat with her back to Shion.

Even though she must have noticed he had arrived, she didn’t even look at him.

Watching what she was doing, she was sipping strong liquor.

She was still a drunkard and she still seemed to have a foul personality.

Shion knew her.

Before the regression, she was his master.

However, she does not know Shion.

Because he had regressed.

Therefore, Shion smiled faintly and greeted the woman.

It was their first meeting, so he should be polite, shouldn't he?

Of course, for Shion, it wasn’t their first meeting.

He quietly called the other’s name.

“A pleasure to meet you, Beluchian Pollinglight.”

The woman sips her strong liquor.

“I am Shion, Shion Pollinglight.”

At the name Pollinglight, the woman’s hand paused.

She had not yet turned her head, but a suffocating power pressed down on the space.

Even this suffocation was nostalgic, so Shion’s smile deepened.

“I am your disciple.”

***

“……”

The silver-haired woman did not answer Shion.

Just as he thought she had paused her hand, she began sipping the strong liquor again.

The navy-blue label was familiar.

It was the strongest of strong liquors, said to be able to get an entire village drunk with a single bottle.

Yet, beside the woman, several bottles with navy-blue labels were rolling around.

Just as Shion remembered, she was a terrible drunkard.

The woman, who had been pouring the liquor into a glass, seemed to find it frustrating and instead tilted the bottle upside down and chugged it.

The smell of alcohol wafted all the way to Shion.

After finishing another bottle like that, Beluchian Pollinglight let out a small burp and opened her mouth.

“Listen carefully, Jeberk.”

“Yes, ma’am…!”

Beside her, a plucked chicken was standing at attention.

It trembled, holding a steel ball with its featherless wings.

A bow tie was tied around its headless neck, giving it a very comical appearance.

“You, the guy who got into big trouble seven years ago, what was his name again?”

“…He was called Zionis. Yes, the 5th Prince of the Cordis Empire, Zionis….”

“Tell me again what that punk did.”

“He exposed me for tricking the 1st Princess, Leniar. Hehe, isn’t that why I’ve been getting punished for seven years….”

“Not that.”

The Great Witch said in a cold voice.

“Didn’t that punk back then also say he was a Pollinglight?”

“Ye-es… surprisingly, when he commanded it, my tongue was truly tied……. That’s why I couldn’t tell you before you asked, Master, so once again, I’m sorr—….”

“I’m not interested in that.”

Jeberk trembled.

It was partly because his master’s voice was murderous and partly because the steel ball he had been holding for seven years was unimaginably heavy.

“Is that punk this punk?”

“…He looks just as pretty as he did back then.”

“Pretty?”

The woman finally turned her head.

Coming to the Giant’s Citadel, Shion saw her face for the first time.

Her hair and eyes were a transparent silver, like ice.

She was so beautiful she didn’t seem human.

With a cool silver light in her eyes, the Great Witch took out another bottle of strong liquor.

“You’re right. He is pretty.”

She slowly approached Shion.

The smell of alcohol was overwhelming.

She examined Shion’s face from all angles and he did not stop her, instead offering his face as if to let her look all she wanted.

“This blond hair, these blue eyes… you are clearly of Cordis blood. You resemble Cordisias. Yes, you really look just like him….”

Cordisias, the founder of the Empire of Cordis.

The woman speaks as if she had seen Cordisias, a man from a thousand years ago, in person.

It wasn't strange.

She, too, had been living for over a thousand years.

“Disgustingly so.”

The Great Witch caressed Shion’s face.

Her hands were suddenly covered in silver scales.

Even her long claws glinted.

Both her arms had changed to resemble those of a dragon.

“Descendant of Cordisias, someone dared to send me a letter.”

“What kind of letter?”

“Let’s see, read it for us, Jeberk.”

The punished plucked chicken spoke, its bow tie trembling.

“…Master, I have to put down the steel ball to do that.”

“You may put it down.”

“Phew!”

Putting down the steel ball for the first time in seven years, Jeberk let out a ragged breath.

When the steel ball was set down, a loud thud echoed, and the mountaintop vibrated.

That steel ball was thousands of times heavier than it looked.

If Jeberk had not been one of the Great Witch’s five retainers and the king of the scaled birds, he would have been crushed to death instantly, let alone able to lift it.

Jeberk groaned, moving his shoulders, which had stiffened from the long punishment (to others, they looked nothing more than delicious chicken wings).

“Aigoo, aigoo, my shoulders….”

“What are you doing not reading it quickly? Do you want to hold the steel ball again?”

“N-N-No, ma’am! I’ll read it! I must read it!”

Jeberk answered in a hurried voice.

The headless chicken split open its own belly and pulled out a letter.

“Ahem, we who have lived different lives have now decided to live one life together. We would be very grateful if you could attend the occasion where Shion Pollinglight and Serena de Verchello will form a family. We await the attendance of Beluchian Pollinglight.”

“Well read. What kind of letter does this seem like, Jeberk?”

“…It’s a wedding invitation, ma’am.”

“Has there ever been anyone who sent me a wedding invitation?”

“…At least not in the last thousand years.”

“Right? And he even says he’s a Pollinglight.”

The Great Witch giggled.

“And now he says he’s my disciple.”

She continued to laugh.

The louder her laughter grew, the larger her body became.

It grew and grew until it was more than enough to fill the dragon cloud.

At the same time, she absorbed enough mana to tear the world to shreds, donned silver scales, and transformed into a form befitting the name Silver Dragon.

At her majesty, even her retainer Jeberk trembled in fear.

“I am the only Pollinglight. No one but this Beluchian Pollinglight has ever possessed that name.”

“……”

Shion was calm.

Looking at the forty-eight-winged Silver Dragon, his eyes were instead nostalgic, even appearing somewhat sorrowful.

The Silver Dragon posed a question to the regressed prince.

“And yet, are you truly a Pollinglight?”