Chapter 154

Beluchian Pollinglight is a dragon.

Regardless of the era, people would often indiscriminately call beasts they did not know well, dragons.

As such, the definition of the fantastical animal called a dragon has an ambiguous feel to it.

Even considering this, she was clearly a dragon.

A long body covered in scales.

Forty-eight wings made of light.

Crystals of mystery draped over her entire body.

Beluchian Pollinglight, having revealed her true form, had a long, silver body.

Her body, long enough to wrap around a mountain peak several times over, was beautifully covered in dense silver scales.

The silver scales shone transparently and shimmered with a strange, bewitching mana.

When the wings, a cluster of light, were flapped, the crushed space screamed and distorted.

As they fluttered gracefully, imbued with such immense mana, things like the atmosphere and space were all stirred up.

“You carry a familiar scent.”

A dragon’s nose smells the lingering traces of connections.

“Let’s see, hmm….”

She slowly attached names to the lingering scents.

“…A human who is not like a human, the Great Emperor Continua. There’s also the smell of a very old snake, the scent of Lacrosha. This stench, so familiar even though I don’t like it, is Beila Beile, that Last Clown fellow… my, this distinct scent of sunshine belongs to the guardian deity of Aretion. Did you met the Breath of Light as well?”

The dragon’s face contorted into a frown.

“You even carry a scent I never expected. Why is Valziart inside you? It should be sealed in the basement of the Cordis Imperial Library.”

“The one who sealed it told me to try using it well.”

“I sealed it.”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m your disciple.”

“And I told you, didn’t I? I don’t know you.”

Beluchian Pollinglight was somewhat confused.

Shion’s words had to be lies, yet they approached with a strange persuasiveness.

The more she mulled it over, the more the questions inflated without any sign of disappearing.

She did not hesitate to bring the discomfort in her heart to the surface.

“You’re an utterly unpredictable secret-keeper.”

“You’ve seen me accurately.”

“It’s best not to exchange words with a secret-keeper. What if I just rip your mouth wide open right now?”

“You won’t, will you?”

Shion grinned.

“You may not know me, but I know you.”

He knew the woman named Beluchian Pollinglight very deeply.

She was the type who could not bear to leave a question unresolved.

Had she disposed of Shion before the questions arose, it might have been different, but now that she held doubts about his identity, she could not easily kill him.

To her, covering up an unresolved question was an act similar to hiding a garbage can smeared with all sorts of filth in her own closet and considering it fine because it was no longer visible.

“It seems you’re still uninterested in the outside world. The Cordis Empire is causing all this chaos in the West, and you know nothing.”

“The Cordis Empire has been in chaos for a thousand years. There was never a moment it wasn’t, little one who resembles Cordisias.”

The silver dragon exhaled.

Frost formed on Shion’s skin.

Soon, sharp crystals formed as well, causing red beads of blood to form all over Shion’s white skin.

There were even some cuts.

However, it was only a stinging sensation.

It was a pain that passed without him even needing to bite his lip.

“You know me? Shion, you little brat who dares to call yourself a Pollinglight. Go on, talk.”

Whenever Beluchian Pollinglight whispered, her fangs glinted.

She had already taken on the complete form of a dragon and was draped in the majesty of an ancient god, so her breath alone had a way of crushing a person’s soul.

“What in the world could the likes of you know about me?”

In the face of the silver majesty, Shion did not back down.

He is a liar.

He has so many secrets that they have even rotted away in his heart.

He is the regressed prince who has lived with lies, deceit, and mockery as his weapons, even prodding himself with those weapons, but there are very rare moments when he speaks only the truth.

Now was such a time.

“You have several names.”

“What names?”

“Shall we start with the easiest one?”

Shion knew that silver dragon.

He knew her inside and out.

“You are Beluchian Pollinglight.”

“Yes. The Great Witch of the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom is me.”

Even higher than the Duchy of Volmark, the northern Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom of the Empire is her country.

It is a place she belongs to and, at the same time, a place she owns.

“Your oldest name is the Last Mage.”

“Hmm. I don’t openly talk about it, but it’s not a huge secret either.”

The Hotus Eight Gods.

Eight human gods who once ruled all the lands.

In those days, the silver dragon was worshipped as a goddess by the name of the Last Mage.

That was a thousand years ago, when she was a colleague of Beila Beile, the Last Clown who pops up from time to time and ruins the mood.

“Your most famous name is Sen Sorti.”

“Hoh.”

The silver dragon’s eyes gleamed.

Not many know that she was the court mage of the Cordis Empire 400 years ago and the founder of the Imperial Academy of Magic.

Even counting the dead, the number is very small, and among the living, there might be ten at most.

“Yes. I discarded all the names the Empire gave me, but there is one I still like.”

She is Sen Sorti.

The eternal First Mage, Primus Magus.

“I am the First Mage.”

It was not confidence, and certainly not pride.

It resembled self-esteem, but it was a deeper, more unwavering declaration, something akin to a conviction.

“No mage can surpass me.”

There are three most important figures in the history of human magic.

The ancient god who sowed the seeds of magic.

The Last Mage.

The First Mage who made magic what it is,

Sen Sorti.

The Great Witch who came into life with magic,

Beluchian Pollinglight.

These three are all one person.

She is the one before Shion’s eyes.

“The name you’d most like to be called is Artis Atea, but alas, you’ll never be called by that name.”

“…You even know that name?”

“Pilgrim of the Abyss, it’s not interesting.”

“I worked hard on it!”

The silver dragon inadvertently shrieked.

She had lived for over a thousand years.

Born with a disposition that hated to be tied down, her soul had taken on a more unique form after experiencing various things.

This manifested in the form of wanderlust.

For a thousand years, she had wandered here and there, experiencing all sorts of names and all sorts of lives.

As a result, she always had strong liquor on her lips and even developed a terrible artistic disease.

It was because the desire to be recognized by the world through her writing had sprouted, even though she was unparalleled in magic.

It was a terrible tragedy for herself and for the entire literary world.

The silver dragon desires most to be called by the name of the novelist Artis Atea, but, well.

Numerous attempts over long years only brought about strange realizations.

Realizations like, even a silver dragon who was called a god has things that are impossible.

She just wanted to write an interesting story, but she couldn't understand why that was such a difficult thing to do.

“The end wasn’t bad, but the beginning was just not it. It felt strongly like you were trying to ride on a good idea you happened to think of.”

“…Ugh!”

It was a painful truth she couldn't deny.

She had no choice but to admit that Shion knew her very well.

Shion, who had been thinking of revealing even more intimate secrets (such as drunken ramblings too embarrassing to speak of) if her suspicion did not fade, felt relieved that his master could save face.

“Hmm….”

The silver eyes looked into Shion.

How does he know so much?

Secrets that she herself would never have known unless she told them came pouring out of Shion’s mouth.

It was natural for her contemplation to deepen.

“Is there really something…?”

The fact that his mind could not be read was also unnatural.

She could see through the thoughts of most humans just by looking at them, but Shion’s mind had a barrier.

It was a mental barrier so skillfully crafted that even the silver dragon could not break through unless she was determined to dig in.

"Hmm, no need to trouble my head with such worries."

As if her life didn't have enough to worry about.

“I just have to test it.”

The silver dragon’s lips twitched.

“Hulohelle.”

A sprout shot up, breaking through the stone floor.

The sprout quickly became a stem, grew thicker and tougher, and then became a leafless tree.

The tree, as if it were a person, extended arms and legs and even made a face.

The Great Witch nodded at the appeared retainer.

“That thing says he’s a Pollinglight. Give him a chance to prove it.”

“How… should I give it…?”

“Kill him.”

The silver eyes are cold.

“If he’s real, he’ll survive. If not, he deserves to die, doesn't he?”

***

Hulohelle, king of the dancing trees.

One of the Great Witch’s five retainers.

“Hmph, hmm….”

The tree grows.

Humming a tune, it began to take steps with its roots.

For a tree’s dance, it seemed rather flashy.

Soon, it even stretched out its branches and rustled its leaves, filling the entire view with Hulohelle.

“Hmph, hmm, hmmm, hmm….”

The branches extended along with the humming.

They headed for Shion. It seemed slow, but in an instant, it was at arm’s length.

Shion lightly dodged it.

It wasn’t difficult, as he had long participated in Amethus’s grueling training.

The low humming of hmph, hmm, hmmm continues.

Hulohelle continues to extend its branches.

Their number is in the hundreds.

Each one extends sharply.

They were tough enough that a sword would not cut them, but it was meaningless since they couldn't touch him.

“How long are you going to just dodge?”

The silver dragon quickly looked bored.

“Disappointing.”

“I’m being careful.”

Shion twisted the corner of his mouth upwards.

A thick vein bulged on his neck.

The seven arts born from the Seven Secrets.

Seven flames flickered in Shion’s soul and at the sight, the silver dragon’s eyes widened.

“Just in case I… your precious retainer, Master….”

He grabbed and tore at his blood vessel.

When held in his hand, it became a thick, tough rope.

Too hot for a blood vessel.

Too tough for a blood vessel.

The disgustingly hot and disgustingly heavy third Ars,

‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’.

“…end up annihilating him!”

Shion swung the ‘Iron Bloodline’ with all his might.

Hulohelle had its branches spread wide, so there was no way to avoid it.

The ‘Iron Bloodline’, imbued with immense mass, ran rampant, breaking all of Hulohelle’s branches.

“Uh, uum…!”

The humming turned into a groan.

Shion did not stop.

With a slight twist of his wrist, the trajectory of the ‘Iron Bloodline’ changed greatly.

Among the widely spread branches was Hulohelle’s main body.

Shion found him without difficulty.

The ‘Iron Bloodline’ coiled tightly around Hulohelle’s main body.

“…Uuuugh!!!”

Hulohelle let out a scream.

The ‘Iron Bloodline’ began to crush the king of the dancing trees while simultaneously burning him black.

The smell of burning filled the air, and the parts directly touched by the ‘Iron Bloodline’ had already turned to charcoal.

The heat of the soul digs in lethally.

Hulohelle, now caught, writhes instead of dancing.

A silver light, imbued with anger, was scattered.

“You….”

The silver dragon let out a harsh breath.

Even as a gust of wind blew, the ‘Iron Bloodline’ did not waver due to its weight.

Shion withdrew his Ars.

There was no reason to harm Hulohelle.

Looking at the blackened retainer, the Great Witch gave a nod.

It was a sign for him to disappear.

Hulohelle, with a heart full of apology, dug into the ground and hid his form.

“That power….”

She had seen it.

The moment Shion brought out ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline,’ she saw the seven flames flashing in his soul.

A deep secret that was all too familiar, a secret Shion should not possess.

“…The form has changed a lot, but it’s unmistakable. Why in the world do you have that power…?”

“Shall I answer you?”

“…No. You’ll just say I gave it to you again.”

The silver dragon descended.

She approached Shion’s side with majesty and power.

She had gotten serious.

If so, Shion could not stop her, nor did he intend to.

The silver dragon approached slowly, scattering a silver light.

“I’ll have to rummage through your soul myself.”

“As you wish.”