“Haah!”
When he opened his eyes, he saw an enormous ceiling where a splendid chandelier glittered dazzlingly.
Sound came rushing in with a roar.
The bright clatter of tableware, the murmuring voices of people.
His dazed consciousness soon returned clearly, and Eugene realized that he was in a bustling party hall.
He quickly looked around.
A vast party hall, with expensive carpets laid across the floor and tables piled high with food placed here and there.
And countless young people were enjoying the atmosphere of the party hall as they chatted.
Eugene could tell at once when and where he was.
Dragon Imperial Calendar 1325, the banquet hall of the Dragon Knight Order.
And the day when Eugene Brace, who had just left the Magic Tower, was chosen by a dragon and became a rider.
A waiter passing by held out a tray as if asking whether he wanted a drink.
Eugene naturally picked up a glass from it and laughed.
“This…… really succeeded.”
He recalled Nidbolg’s face from several days ago.
The appearance of the dragon who, despite being an old man who had lived for centuries, had looked about the same age as Eugene himself.
‘He really sent a person back to the past.’
As expected of an Archmage. Following his arrangement had been worth it.
Eugene drained the glass in one go.
Then he immediately searched for ‘her,’ who should be here.
This gathering was not an ordinary party.
It was the dragon partner-selection party, also known as the ‘Dragon Master Assembly.’
About a thousand years ago, the emperor of the Dragon Empire had formed a covenant with Azren, the sage of the dragon race.
The contents of that covenant were simple.
The dragons would lend their strength to the Dragon Empire, and in turn, the Dragon Empire would help the dragons who lent their strength settle into human society.
Unlike human society, which continued to expand and fill the continent, the dragon race was gradually being weeded out of the ecosystem because of their lives of self-reliance. It was the choice they had made in order to survive.
That ancient covenant gave birth to the Dragon Knights.
Young dragons became knights of the Dragon Empire, served for a set period, and lent their strength to humans.
And the Dragon Empire came to bear the obligation to accept such dragons as its citizens, protect them, and guide them so they could blend well into human society.
A rider who climbed onto a dragon’s back was not simply someone who gave orders to the dragon.
A rider was someone who always stayed with their dragon, taught them how to adapt to human society, and devoted themselves to them—a kind of guardian.
The Dragon Master Assembly was a place where young dragons who had just joined the Dragon Knight Order chose the riders who would climb onto their backs in the future.
From a human perspective, becoming a Dragon Knight was a great honor. After all, Dragon Knights were the finest elite soldiers of the Dragon Empire, surpassing even the Imperial Guard.
And if one performed the role of rider well, it could also become an opportunity to draw the dragon into one’s own faction after the dragon completed service and entered society.
Because of that, the party hall was crawling with people trying to hook a young dragon.
All of them were young people.
Even if they were called young dragons, while transformed into human form, they appeared to humans to be no more than youths.
Perhaps in order to approach such dragons more familiarly, only those who had just become adults were basically allowed to become riders.
After pushing his way through the crowd and wandering around the party hall, Eugene found the person he was looking for before long.
Over there was Bella.
Tall stature, dazzlingly glittering silver hair. And a dignified bearing that seemed as though she would never bend her waist to anyone.
Her blinding beauty was the same even at this time.
Bella was surrounded by a crowd of people, and those who wanted to become her partner were whispering sweet words by her side.
All of them were beautiful women.
At a glance, it looked like a gathering of beauties chatting together, so it was truly a pleasant sight.
The men’s side was the same.
Male dragons were surrounded by fine-looking men and being treated to this and that.
“……Ah.”
Only then did Eugene realize that there was another obstacle before him.
‘Damn it, I even forgot the basic rule.’
It was so obvious and old a rule that he had forgotten it.
A dragon rider and partner dragon had to be of the same sex.
In the early days of the Dragon Knight Order, when people could choose partners of the opposite sex, there had apparently been all sorts of problems because of romantic relationships and the like.
When the Order’s prestige fell to the ground because of romantic scandals and various incidents that occurred inside the Order at the time, the emperor and the Dragon Mother had become furious.
After that, it became the principle to take someone of the same sex as one’s partner.
That was why both Eugene and Bella had originally had partners of the same sex.
But as for that outdated rule—
to Eugene, who had returned to the past, it was none of his concern.
Eugene began moving again after having stopped.
Then he tapped the backs of the women who were anxious to exchange even one more word with Bella.
“Excuse me, ladies?”
“Ah, sh…… what?”
“Who are you?”
Annoyed at having their business interrupted, the women turned around angrily without even properly looking at the person behind them.
But that anger soon subsided in an instant.
Eugene smiled and spoke gently.
“May I pass through for a moment?”
“Ah…….”
The faces of the women who met that smile flushed like carrots. They seemed too breathless to know what to do, then moved aside while letting out incomprehensible scream-like cries such as, “B-by all means!” and “Please pass through!”
In that way, Eugene pushed through the group of women and approached Bella.
Then, suddenly, he met Bella’s eyes as she turned to look this way.
At that moment, a thought flashed through Eugene’s mind.
He had clearly returned to the past.
But had Bella?
He remembered the sight of her crashing after their final Charging, her head dropping. He did not know whether Bella back then had definitely died.
That was not all. Eugene had activated the magic circle at a place rather far away from her.
‘……There’s a chance she didn’t regress. I’ll need to test her.’
Thinking that, Eugene shifted his gaze away.
Then he stopped while approaching Bella and spoke to a woman beside her.
“I am Eugene Brace of the Arcane Magic Tower.”
“Yes? Eh?”
“You are a beautiful lady. May I ask you for a dance?”
This was a party hall.
Although nominally it was the Dragon Master Assembly, it was also a place where ordinary socializing happened often. The young lady, suddenly invited by a handsome man, turned bright red and had no idea what to do.
But instinct could not be hidden.
Just as the dazed woman was about to unconsciously take Eugene’s outstretched hand—
For an instant, her face went pale, and she stepped back.
“I-I’m fine! I’m sorry!”
The woman fled in a panic.
“No, if you don’t like dancing, perhaps we could have tea together……”
That was when Eugene stretched a hand toward the back of the woman fleeing like that.
“Do not ignore me, you impudent man.”
A firm voice lodged itself straight in his ears even in the noisy banquet hall.
Eugene turned his head.
Before he knew it, Bella had come up behind him.
Bella spoke with her nose held high.
“I did not die. Well, I was exhausted enough that I could have died.”
“……Ha!”
A laugh came out on its own.
When he saw the silver dragon’s ruby-colored eyes, he suddenly felt as though his heart eased.
Eugene scratched the back of his head and smiled.
“What a shame. I was going to torment the life out of you while you didn’t know anything.”
Bella snorted.
“Did you think such petty tricks would work on me?”
She squared her shoulders and stepped even closer to Eugene.
A bold dress with the shoulders and chest cut open. Between them, skin like pearl could be seen.
Her swaying silver hair seemed to shine with radiance.
Bella’s beauty from up close was breathtaking. Eugene himself had never been inferior in looks wherever he went, but as expected, the appearance of the dragon race was something humans could not follow.
Eugene whistled and said,
“Now that I’m looking again, this isn’t something you put together yourself, is it?”
The Bella Eugene remembered was always a boring woman who wore only martial uniforms or the Order’s uniform. As though she had no concern whatsoever for how others saw her.
But her current appearance, just looking at her outwardly, made her seem like the queen of high society, thoroughly versed in trends and fashion.
Bella snorted.
“Monica dressed me like this. I am not used to this sort of thing.”
Monica was Bella’s original rider. Before participating in this Dragon Master Assembly, she had been Bella’s friend, someone Bella already knew.
But Monica was nowhere to be seen here right now.
“Where did Monica go?”
“Who knows? I imagine she went off to eat some dessert or something. She’s a child who usually has to endure so much. It seems that when she comes to a place like this, her desires run wild.”
After muttering that, Bella glanced over Eugene’s appearance.
He had dressed so carelessly that, despite being in formalwear, he was sloppily disheveled.
“Tsk. You are as untidy now as you were then.”
As she said that, she straightened Eugene’s clothes for him. Eugene watched her with an amused expression, then discreetly gestured with his eyes for Bella to look to the side.
Murmur, murmur.
People’s gazes were gathering on them like mad.
Not only the women trying to seduce Bella, but everyone around them was focusing their eyes on the two.
“Ugh……!”
Bella’s face flushed bright red.
Bella was confident and therefore dignified wherever she went, but in truth, she was weak against people’s gazes. Fundamentally, she was a woman who holed up in a cave and did nothing but train like mad.
Even being surrounded by women until now must have been quite an ordeal, though she had not shown it.
Perhaps thinking that she had shown weakness to the people, she blushed and did not know what to do.
He heard people whispering nearby.
“What’s with them? Do they know each other?”
“Even if they do, they look way too close, don’t they?”
“They’re not trying to become partners, are they?”
“No way! Partners of the opposite sex are taboo!”
Taboo.
Hearing those words, Eugene let out a small laugh.
He was going to form a bond with a partner with whom he could feel resonance of the soul, so what did that tradition matter?
Eugene looked at Bella.
Judging from her expression, she seemed desperate to get out of this place right away.
‘Honestly, I’d like to tease her more with some jokes, but……’
<<End this quickly. If you try any useless trickery, I will strangle you to death.>>
……That was what Bella was saying with her eyes, so Eugene suppressed his desire.
Eugene searched inside his chest.
What he took out was a small ceremonial box.
A box containing the token of contract to be given to the dragon who chose him.
When a rider offered the gift and a dragon accepted it, a pair of Dragon Knights was born.
Originally, handing over the entire box was basic etiquette.
Perhaps because people’s eyes were on him, or perhaps because the person before him was Bella, his body moved on its own.
Eugene opened the box and picked up the ring set inside.
Then he knelt and looked up at Bella with a gentle gaze.
“Lady Bella. Will you take me as your rider?”
“Mm……?”
Bella seemed briefly flustered by Eugene’s sudden action.
But she had already fallen into a slight panic under people’s gazes, and because of that, she could not think calmly and ended up moving according to Eugene’s lead.
“V-very well.”
Bella thrust out her hand as if telling him to finish quickly.
Despite having a personality duller than most men, the sight of her not knowing what to do because she feared people’s gazes was fairly cute.
Eugene smiled and slipped the ring onto Bella’s finger.
A handsome man with refined features knelt and placed a ring on a peerless beauty’s finger.
Everyone around them watched with dumbstruck expressions.
“Uh…….”
“……Uuuh?”
A mixed-sex pair of Dragon Knights, born for the first time in roughly 700 years.
And, on top of that, a gift-giving ceremony that looked just like a proposal.
And this place was filled with young people at an age where they were deeply interested in the opposite sex.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Oh my, my, my, my, my!”
A frighteningly loud cheer erupted as if exploding through the banquet hall.