Chapter 23

“So… you pretended to be dead?”

“Is your head just for decoration? I just said it’s a technique called the Dormant period.”

Ono was alive.

One of his innate abilities, the ‘Dormant Period,’ seemed to slow the body’s metabolism so he could slowly recover from fatal injuries.

“So he pretended to be dead.”

When Daniel chimed in, Ono opened his mouth and then abruptly turned his body.

“…You idiots. I was foolish to try to explain this to you.”

His flaring ears were flushed red.

Finding the reaction amusing, Daniel snorted and exchanged glances with Hamel.

Hamel just shrugged with an expression that there was no helping it.

The three who had come out of the study were searching the mansion.

The ward had been lifted and no one was unharmed, but they searched in case of any lingering dangers.

Thus, in the study there remained only the dead Chief priest and Antonio guarding his side.

He was offering prayers for the deceased priest.

“…He was a remarkable man.”

“Yes, brief as it was, it was enough to know.”

Hamel murmured, and Daniel slowly nodded.

The senior priest coughed blood and, until his dying moments, recited prayers for Antonio and Hamel.

Of course it didn’t affect the dragon’s blood, but Hamel felt his prayers reach him.

“…”

He had neither exceptional Divine power, nor great knowledge or strength; he had risen to that position purely by his character.

He was the very example of a clergy member who always sacrificed himself and set an example for others.

No matter how much it concerned the domain, what Chief priest would personally go to such a dangerous scene?

Hamel thought that the title of saint befit a priest, not someone like himself.

After a short silence to offer their respects, the group continued onward.

How long had they searched? The carefully inspected mansion was as ordinary as could be.

There were no longer any flying knives in the mansion.

No ceilings crushing people.

No monsters turning people into wax figures.

“Let’s head outside.”

“All right.”

Their last stop was the mansion’s garden.

This was the place where David, the mastermind behind everything, had fled.

The party scrutinized the area.

But all they could determine was that the man had fled in haste the moment he jumped down.

There had been no hesitation in his movement.

“You must have been pretty terrified of him.”

“…I suppose.”

Daniel teased, but Hamel answered with reluctance.

The memories were vivid, but he didn’t want to recall them.

To be honest, he feared the exhilaration from that time might surface.

That intense sense of liberation and pleasure was not something easily forgotten.

He had to be even more careful.

That was after they finished searching the mansion.

“The mission is complete. I’ll return to the order first and file a report.”

Ono, with a hollow look, moved to leave the mansion at once.

Hamel, however, decided to stay longer in the mansion after entrusting Ono with the report.

There was still much to investigate.

Hamel grabbed Ono, who was about to leave, and explained what had happened.

“Reteil’s appearance and defeat… that confirms the Saint.”

After hearing Hamel’s account, Ono looked at him with a strange expression.

For a moment he muttered to himself as if he’d suddenly remembered something.

“The eldest son, the heir, fled and the Lord of the house is dead… then perhaps….”

After a moment, as if struck by another thought, Ono hurriedly spoke.

He pulled the reins urgently and said.

“Wait just one week. I’ll be back by then.”

“Eh? What do you mean…?”

“Giddy-up!”

In a rush for unknown reasons, Ono ignored Hamel’s question and hurried off.

Hamel and Daniel watched in astonishment as his figure receded from the mansion in the blink of an eye.

Hamel, recovering first, finally asked Daniel.

“Sir Daniel…?”

“Find something to eat and fetch some firewood. The mansion’s empty.”

The exorcism was over and debts repaid, so they could leave,

Daniel chose to stay.

He had decided to help Hamel.

Hamel bowed his head to him.

“…Thank you.”

Honestly, in his weakened state, it was a relief that he would stay.

Daniel patted his shoulder and went off to do the tasks, saying not to worry.

Hamel paused for a moment, lost in thought.

Stairs leading to a basement hidden behind the bookshelf.

As expected, there was a door firmly locked with a seal.

A key was needed, but David had stolen it and fled.

The magic on it was too strong to force open; trying to forcibly remove it would blow apart not only the mansion but the surrounding area.

Therefore Hamel changed his plan.

He would gather more information he didn’t know by searching the mansion.

‘So where should I start….’

Not the first floor.

They had already searched it; it contained nothing tied to the mansion’s secrets.

‘If I rummage through….’

The second-floor study with the safe he couldn’t open.

It was the room Hamel had used.

With the conclusion made, there was no reason to hesitate.

Hamel headed straight to the study.

The study, where many demons had been sealed, was unchanged from before.

Hamel approached the safe behind the collapsed researcher.

It was a safe that could only be opened with the head of the family’s signet ring.

David had said there was nothing in the safe without even opening it.

What had he wanted to hide?

Hamel took out the signet ring that David had left in the patriarch’s chamber.

With a click, the safe opened very easily.

“What’s this… a potion?”

Curiosity flashed across Hamel’s face as he examined the contents.

Although potent potions were expensive, he wondered if they were worth keeping in a safe.

‘It’s not the elixir they talked about in rumors.’

Hamel picked up one of the potions divided into five small vials.

As he inspected the vial closely, he almost missed something.

‘This is…!’

A red liquid sloshing within the vial.

A faint magical aura emanated from it…

It was dragon’s blood.

‘It’s heavily diluted, but it’s unmistakable.’

Hamel’s eyes throbbed.

His pupils contracted and his breathing grew rough.

At the same time, the world began to look different.

“Not again….”

Hamel groaned, quickly put the potion back, and stepped away.

The world was all blue.

No, more precisely, this space felt peculiarly that way.

Mana.

The blessing given to humans that forms the basis of magic and aura.

In a mage’s mansion, especially a study, traces of it would be thickly present.

But what Hamel saw was plainly strange.

He couldn’t feel mana.

‘I’ve wanted to see it my whole life….’

Hamel briefly furrowed his brow.

He had become able to see mana.

The reason was fairly clear.

Hamel turned his head and looked at the broken full-length mirror inside the study.

His reflection was cast over the shattered fragments.

Even in the dark room, his eyes shimmered blue as if lit by a flame.

His vertically slit pupils were enough to evoke a legendary being.

Dragon’s blood.

Since drinking it, for a time mana had seemed almost tangible.

As time passed, his pupils had finally returned to normal and the mana no longer appeared.

But now, having touched dragon’s blood again, he began to see mana once more.

‘Why on earth….’

Why did his father have something like this?

And why did his body react so strongly to dragon’s blood?

He had to continue the search to unravel that mystery.

After some thought, Hamel decided to take the dragon’s blood with him.

David had consumed dragon’s blood and seemed unaffected.

His father had stored dragon’s blood in the study.

And Hamel’s own body reacted to dragon’s blood.

He couldn’t just discard a clue so intimately tied to this incident.

Fortunately, unlike when he had directly ingested it, his eyes quickly returned to normal.

Relieved, Hamel moved on to the next room.

‘It’s been a while since I was here too.’

Until six years ago, this had been Hamel’s room.

‘Of course its form and purpose have likely changed now.’

Feeling bitter, Hamel opened the door.

And then he froze.

‘Unchanged…?’

The room was exactly as Hamel had left it.

Dust had settled, but it seemed to have been maintained—no mold or cobwebs.

Someone had clearly taken care of it.

Hamel stood silently at the entrance for a moment, then slowly stepped inside.

A bed a bit large for a single person.

A leather-upholstered chair and a hinoki wood desk.

The magic staff he’d begged his mother to buy was still there.

‘I didn’t even know how to use magic then.’

Hamel couldn’t help but smile and lifted the staff.

There were words carved into the staff that appeared to be from his mother.

[Happy 12th birthday]

“…”

Hamel looked at it for a moment, then quietly tucked it into his chest.

When he left this place before, he hadn’t taken the staff.

At the time he thought warm memories would make him weak.

Memories of his mother were painful as well.

No, perhaps that still remained true.

However.

Hamel no longer believed memories would weaken him.

It still hurt, but he knew the pain came from having loved his mother.

He knew his memories with her had made him who he was.

He no longer wanted to deny the past.

‘Have I grown a little?’

Hamel gave a faint smile.

He had learned much from this incident.

From Daniel: patience and courage.

From the Chief priest: tolerance and devotion.

From Antonio: faithfulness and sacrifice.

From their examples, Hamel saw the path he had walked and the path he should take.

Though brief, the companions’ influence on Hamel was far from small.

“I know you have guided me. Ehuurshika.”

Hamel quietly offered a prayer to the deity who had arranged this path.

─Srrrk

Having finished that short prayer, Hamel opened his eyes.

A worn notebook suddenly caught his eye.

‘I’ve never seen this before.’

It wasn’t his.

The worn notebook on the desk seemed placed there as if hoping someone would look at it.

When Hamel picked up the notebook, another book was revealed underneath.

‘A picture book?’

It was a thin picture book that a child might read.

Normally he would have passed it by, but the picture and title on the cover nagged at him.

‘Dragon….’

On the cover was an illustration of a boy and a dragon.

The title read, ‘The Boy Who Embraced the Dragon’s Power.’

For some reason the illustration looked familiar.

As Hamel glanced at it, he finally recognized the source of the deja vu.

It was that picture book.

The night his mother died.

The picture book Hamel had taken to his mother asking her to read to him.

The book his mother had read to him many times—the one he loved most.

“The contents must be….”

Hamel hastily opened the picture book.

His fingers turned the pages faster and his breathing grew shallow.

This is….

This was not a simple picture book.

‘Who is it? Who wrote this book…!’