“What in the world are you talking about? Calling a sacred phoenix a Magma Dragon?”
“You are saying my Ifrit is a mere lizard?”
“It was definitely a Salamander...... I think.”
Objections poured down like rain. I was the only one who understood what Lucian meant. No matter how much I searched through the compendium and papers, the only creature capable of producing magma on its own was a Magma Dragon larva.
“You keep trying to delude Young Master with utter nonsense...!”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Lucian suddenly rolled up his sleeves and picked up a pair of kitchen tongs and a knife. While everyone stared at his unexpected actions in surprise, he skillfully sliced off a piece of smoked ham hanging from the kitchen ceiling. He gripped it with the tongs and pushed it into the stove.
Then the little squirmer, which had only been lodged in a corner of the stove, sprang up and rushed over at a speed it had never shown before. It took a bite of the meat.
Those who saw it could not close their mouths in shock.
“You are right. It is a Magma Dragon.”
When I nodded, everyone was shocked once again.
“Young Master Iden knew?”
“I only suspected it.”
“No, if you knew, it would have been nice if you had told me! I thought I had caused Young Master Iden to lose five hundred thousand baht, so I have been suffering terribly all this time!”
“You can laugh from now on, Viten. We gained a dragon thanks to you.”
Viten did not look particularly comforted.
“Magma Dragons are an upper species even among Grade 1 monsters. They usually remain only in the underground world, so humans rarely encounter them. However, if that day ever comes, multiple Grand Master-class Awakened and knights will be required.”
Thalia presented a cautious argument. She meant to ask whether I was confident I could control it.
“You seem to have forgotten, but I am not trying to raise a pet. I need monster materials. If it is a dragon, its heart will be useful material.”
The lizard in the stove twitched. Since it could not possibly understand my words, its stomach must have been surprised by feasting after so long.
A Magma Dragon’s heart was a much more valuable material than the Red Dragon heart I had originally wanted.
Of course, the creature’s heart becoming material was a matter for the distant future. For now, it was not a dragon, but merely a lucky lizard.
“It seems it still had the strength to eat, but we must give more attention to its environment. Not this stove... A proper home.”
“What kind of home would be proper?”
Lucian pointed to the stove with the kitchen tongs.
“It needs to be at least ten times hotter than this. The larva is highly active, so the more space it has, the better.”
“You know a great deal about Earth Dragon ecology.”
The claim that Earth Dragons evolved from lizards was clearly not accepted theory in academia, yet Lucian somehow knew even such detailed advice.
“In my position, I naturally hear all sorts of stories.”
“The people who gathered at the auction house also held positions of their own, yet no one knew.”
“Well, my circumstances are a little special.”
Lucian did not give me a clear answer before leaving the palace.
Beginning the next day, construction of the lizard enclosure began. Since the creature’s future seemed exceptionally promising, the garden was selected as the site for the enclosure.
In other words, we had decided to burn down the whole thing because we lacked the money to repair it all.
“No! My Mystic Rose! My Starlight Iris!!”
The gardener tore at the few strands of hair he had left as he watched the shrubs burn.
I did feel sorry, but I could not build a place ten times hotter than a stove inside the palace. I had at least transplanted as many valuable plants as possible to the rear garden, so he could demonstrate his abilities there.
There were two tasks.
First, provide an endless supply of heat.
Second, ensure people remained safe from that heat.
The first task was solved with a flame-based Daoist Art called Scorching Flame Thousand Forms. When I heated black stones mined from the underground world, called Ignition Stones, with the Daoist Art, they radiated heat and light for a considerable time.
Heating the entire garden required a great many Ignition Stones. Buying a great many Ignition Stones required a great deal of money.
Specifically, fifty thousand baht per month, or more than six hundred thousand baht per year, was invested solely in keeping the enclosure’s environment hot.
The maintenance cost exceeded the price I had paid to buy it... In other words, the navel had grown larger than the belly. Still, as long as I could raise the lizard into a dragon, it would be a profitable investment.
The second task was not difficult. I only needed to expand the area of the formation I had already installed.
The completed enclosure was quite impressive.
From the outside, the palace appeared peaceful and entirely normal. However, the moment one entered the garden, its true form was revealed. The ground bubbled like boiling red-bean porridge, hot steam burst from the pond’s thermal vents with a PSSSSHHH, and every sight before one’s eyes shimmered in waves from the heat haze.
It looked as though the underground world had been lifted up and transplanted onto the surface.
Watching the lizard scuttle across this scorching land filled my heart with pride.
“Young Master.”
“Yes?”
When I turned around, Lily was standing there with the lizard’s food container.
“The cook says he put in a generous amount today.”
“Thank you.”
I accepted the food container from her. Only Karoi and I could enter the formation and feed the lizard.
“Have you given that child a name, by any chance?”
“No. Why would it need a name?”
“You cannot keep calling it a lizard forever.”
“Why not? It comes just fine when I call it a lizard.”
“It is a precious friend. If you give it a name, it will become more special.”
A precious friend? There was an enormous difference in perspective here.
It seemed she did not know that I was raising it to extract materials from it. She probably thought it was one of the ornamental animals nobles usually kept by their sides...
“Lunchbox.”
“Yes?”
Looking at the lizard peeking at me from a distance, I repeated myself.
“From now on, that creature’s name is Lunchbox.”
“That is a cute name. The sound of it is a little strange, though...”
She smiled as though troubled.
There was no need to find it strange. Its purpose for being raised had simply become its name.
“Come eat, Lunchbox.”
I called to it as I entered the formation. However, something was strange. Normally, it would catch the scent of meat and come running madly, but it hurriedly fled into the pond.
It could not have suddenly become startled upon seeing me now, so perhaps it had seen a cloud’s shadow.
I set the food container by the pond and spoke gently to emphasize that I meant no harm.
“Lunchbox, eat plenty and grow quickly.”
The creature did not come out of the pond that day.
***
Wooden swords clashed rapidly in the air. After blocking dozens of storm-like consecutive attacks, Karoi stepped back and spoke in a satisfied tone.
“You have improved quite a bit.”
“That is thanks to having a good teacher.”
“You certainly have talent. However, you should exert yourself more. Your father’s situation is not easy.”
“Is Father in great danger?”
Father left the Ducal Estate about once a year to fight the Demonkin. The situation at the front did not seem good, but until now, I had never heard that Father had been injured or that the Duchy’s army had been defeated.
“That bastard is quite tough for a human. However, if I were you, I would never be at ease. If I were you, then yes... I would work to master Crimson Blade as quickly as possible.”
“I am doing my best.”
Among all the subjects I was learning, I was putting exceptional effort only into swordsmanship. If Master were alive, he would think his disciple had strayed from the path.
“Work harder. I will not play your nanny forever.”
“You are going to quit as my swordsmanship teacher?”
“I will raise your abilities to the level where you can at least lead a knight order. I will leave after that.”
“A knight order? Is that not a matter for much later?”
Karoi laughed without making a sound. Black smoke billowed through his parted lips.
“My people are not as soft as I am. There is no later. When the time comes, it will be too late.”
After swordsmanship class ended, I reflected on the conversation I had shared with Karoi.
His words that it would be too late when the time came felt painfully true.
Father was not invincible. He was a human made of flesh and blood. And a human made of flesh and blood could die at any time.
If bad news arrived from the front today, who could I blame?
Thinking that way made me anxious. Father was someone precious I had only just gained. I did not want to lose him as I had in my previous life by taking my time.
I summoned Viten and Thalia and asked them in more detail. When could I command a knight order, and how would I maintain one?
“Every House is different.”
Thalia said.
“The previous generations of House Esterji often established personal knight orders at the age of fifteen. With a ducal House’s prestige and financial resources, it is possible to establish and maintain a knight order at an earlier age than children of other noble Houses.”
“Oh, I heard that Young Master Mabel is currently circulating knight order recruitment notices.”
Brother Mabel was fourteen this year, so considering the precedent of earlier generations, it was an appropriate time.
“Have you read what was written in the notices?”
“Are recruitment notices not all the same? He has likely written that he is seeking physically strong Awakened.”
“Hmm.”
It seemed one could not even become a knight without being an Awakened. From my perspective, that was an enormous waste of talent.
There were surely ordinary people with talents for Martial Arts or Daoist Arts.
For example, Laszlo, the eldest son of House Avaro.
The blue-haired child with the remarkably sad eyes.
***
A few more days passed. Lucian came to the palace.
“I have one piece of good news and countless pieces of bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”
“The countless bad news.”
“The economy is in a very difficult state.”
“Why is the economy difficult?”
“The economy is always difficult. As you know, war and famine never cease. However, the reason it has become especially difficult recently is because of crows.”
I stared at Lucian’s sly face. He could not have come to me simply to blame an animal that could not speak, so this was surely a metaphor.
“Explain it in a way I can understand.”
“A trading company called Ravenshade is rapidly expanding its influence by deploying mercenaries. They use the raven as their symbol, and their methods are so rough and unreasonable that they are negatively affecting the entire market. I suspect that Young Master Chris stands behind them.”
“Evidence?”
“Ravenshade’s money goes into Young Master Chris’s pocket.”
“That is difficult evidence to deny.”
“There is more. Ravenshade was created through joint investment by several nobles, and every one of them is classified as part of Young Master Chris’s faction. So......”
Lucian lowered his voice subtly. It seemed he was about to tell me the good news.
“Have you heard the name ‘Young Saint’?”
Instead of answering, I gave a bitter smile.
How could I not know? The ‘Young Saint’ referred to the mysterious healing Awakened who had appeared in the marketplace recently.
“The items the Young Saint sold then have now soared immensely in price. They are at the point where people will pay whatever price is named. They have become items that can never be obtained again.”
“So you are asking me to give you some items?”
“If you know that person, I am asking you to pass on some words. I believe it could help overcome this temporary crisis.”
Lucian knew my identity. Even so, he spoke as though it were someone else’s story. It seemed he was leaving room for me, and that attitude was not bad.
“I will consider it.”
“Thank you.”
Lucian left.
Using mercenaries to seize commercial influence. It was an idea fitting for Chris.
It seemed I truly would need a knight order.
Karoi had guaranteed that his people would not be as soft as he was.
The longer the war with the Demonkin lasted, the more chaotic the territory would become. Chris cared only about profit, while Brother Mabel’s faction was too weak to restrain Chris.
In the end, this would become my problem.
I could not hope for someone else to solve it.
I had to fill Father’s absence.
I had to grow stronger and protect my people.
Of course, I could not establish a knight order immediately. First, I was too young, and Brother Mabel was currently campaigning to found one.
For the time being, I should focus on learning swordsmanship diligently and regaining my Daoist Power, so I could advance that time by even one year.
My goal was five years.
I would be a little more ambitious than Brother Mabel.
At the latest, I would establish a knight order within five years and consider what I could do for Father and for this land.
So that the Udumbara Flower would never be taken while I slept again.
I would strengthen the power of my group and protect the things I loved.